Hi! So, here comes the first subplot. This will be the focus for the next few chapters before we skip ahead a few years. Let's see what became of the rest of Cinderella's stepfamily.

~Chapter Three~

Silence filled the room as Drizella Charlotte Tremaine stared at her mother's sleeping form, awaiting the inevitable. It would not be much longer now.

Lady Eleanor Margot Tremaine had been ill for a long time, with the same illness that had claimed Lord Pierre Claude Tremaine all those years ago. Except Lady Tremaine had been battling the illness for far longer. Drizella wondered if this was karma's way of getting back at her for being such a horrible mother to all she had been responsible for. It made sense, perfect sense.

Lady Tremaine began to stir from her sleep. "Drizella?... Are you still there?"

"I'm right here, Mother," Drizella said, grabbing her mother's hand.

The old woman squeezed it, looking up at her eldest daughter. "I want to apologize."

"For what?"

"For failing you," Lady Tremaine said with a cough, "All of you."

"Mother, you didn't-"

"Oh but I did," Lady Tremaine interrupted, "I haven't shown you or Anastasia an ounce of love or kindness since your father turned to drinking and Cinderella… I can't even begin to list the ways I've wronged her."

Lady Tremaine was cut off by a series of violent coughs before she spoke again.

"I was angry. Angry that your father had failed to," she coughed again, "Be a father and husband. I felt," she coughed once more, "I felt like I was trapped in a horrible marriage, like he had betrayed me for booze. And then when he died…"

For the first time since she was a child, Drizella saw her mother cry. There was only one other time this had happened in front of her.

Flashback:

"Do, mi, sol," Anastasia and Drizella sang as their mother played the notes on the piano.

Drizella didn't really like their daily music lessons. It was made even worse by the fact that her younger sister was completely tone death. But her mother insisted that they must learn the art in order to become dignified young ladies and secure a suitable husband. Drizella couldn't understand why, though, her mother was so worried about the latter. She was only ten years old and her sister was eight. Still, Madame Eleanor Dupont never ceased to stress the importance of marrying well.

Losing focus in her boredom, Drizella sang a note out of tune and was snapped out of her thoughts as her mother slammed on the piano keys.

"Drizella!" she snapped, "Too flat!"

Anastasia snickered and Drizella stuck her tongue out at her. She had some nerve making fun of Drizella's mistakes. She was even worse.

Just then the door slammed open as they heard a man's voice slurring an old folk song. Madame Dupont sighed.

"We'll resume our lessons tomorrow, girls," she said as she rose from the bench and left the music room.

"Do you want to go outside and play croquet?" Anastasia asked her older sister.

"Maybe later," Drizella said as she too left the music room.

Drizella walked towards their bedroom, figuring she might as well study her language books in this freetime (her mother would like that), when the sound of shouting caught her attention.

"-at all hours of the day!" she heard her mother yell.

"Leave me alone Eleanor!" her father shouted in response, "I'm in no mood for arguing!"

"No, of course not!" Madame Dupont spat, "All you're ever in the mood for is more booze!"

Drizella heard a loud thud as her mother cried out in what sounded like pain.

"Don't you talk to me that way!" Monsieur Dupont shouted, "I am your husband! Show some respect!"

Drizella heard the clattering of bottles before her father shouted, "Where's the rum?"

"You're drunk enough as it is!"

"I didn't ask you how drunk I am! I asked you where the rum is!"

"We're out. You've drank it all and the wine too!"

"Then I will go buy more," Drizella heard him say as he staggered out of the kitchen.

She hid in the shadow of the hall as her mother followed him.

"Victor, no more!" Eleanor cried out.

He turned around and slapped her. Drizella gasped.

"I'll decide when I've had enough," he hissed before grabbing his coat off the hook and walking out the door.

There was complete silence for a moment before Eleanor fell to the ground, weeping. Drizella cautiously walked out of her hiding spot and timidly asked, "Mother?"

"Leave me, child," she whispered.

Drizella had never seen her mother cry before. She didn't like it, so she obeyed her mother's wishes and left her.

Little did either know that would be the last time they saw Monsieur Dupont alive.

End Flashback:

"I wanted you to have what I couldn't have," Lady Tremaine said weakly, "I didn't want you to end up with a man as bad as your father. That's why I spent so much on you and Anastasia. All the gowns, the music and etiquette lessons, the education. I was determined to see you marry a real man. I thought only for the best, but in doing so I forgot how to be a loving mother. I'm no better than your father was."

Drizella wanted to argue, to tell her mother that she was so much better than her father. She never beat them. But then Drizella remembered that she did beat someone else.

"Then I met Pierre," her mother continued, "He was so kind… Everything your father used to be and more. We agreed it would be best for both our children if we married. I had hoped Cinderella's charm and grace would rub off on the two of you. But it never did."

Drizella frowned. She remembered the days when her stepfather was still alive. She had liked him better than her biological father, but he and her mother were always comparing her and Anastasia to Cinderella. "Look how polite Cinderella is. Why can't you be more like that?" was something they heard on an almost daily basis, thus sparking their jealousy for their stepsister.

"No matter what, I couldn't get you to behave yourselves the way she did, or learn your languages as well as she did. And I hated that. And then I began to hate her. So, the moment I had the opportunity to take my anger out on her without any resistance from others, I took it."

Yes, Drizella remembered that too. The abuse of her stepsister was not immediate, but slow and gradual. Lord Tremaine had left them with quite a fortune and they were still able to afford servants for a while. But as the savings decreased, so did the residents of the household. One servant after the next was let go, Cinderella taking on the tasks they had performed, until finally she was the sole slave of the household. Blinded by her jealousy, Drizella had enjoyed watching her stepsister suffer. But now as she looked back, she realized how awful it all was. She deserved to be in the position she was in now: Penniless, unwed, and losing her mother to consumption.

"Yet despite it all, she was kind to us," Lady Tremaine said, almost awestruck, "She never rebelled. She always greeted us with a smile. She even forgave Anastasia and let her live in the castle with her. She's so good… She deserves what came to her. Just as I deserve what's come to me."

Lady Tremaine was wracked by coughs again, blood sputtering onto her clothes and the bed sheets. Even though her mother had not shown love in a very long time, she was the only mother Drizella had and for that she hated to see her suffer.

"Drizella," Lady Tremaine said, her voice the weakest it had ever been, "I only have one wish for you. That you never, ever turn into what I have become. Learn from my mistakes, child," she gasped for air, "And if you should ever again cross paths with your sisters, please try to make amends with them… And tell them I'm so sorry… For everything."

With that, the woman breathed her last breath and, for the first time in fifteen years, Drizella wept.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Anastasia had learnt a lot during her time in the castle. Her tutors were much more patient with her than her mother had been and that had put her mind at ease and allowed her to actually absorb what she was being taught. She was now a fine dancer and could speak Spanish as well as her native French. She could sing rather well and she finally had mastered the flute. But the most valuable lessons she had learnt were what her stepsister and princess had taught her. Love, kindness, forgiveness. The latter of these three was the reason she did not disregard the letter she had received from her estranged sister, requesting that they meet in the town square near the fountain. Anastasia had been more or less disowned by her family when she went to live with Cinderella in the castle. While that had angered her at first, she had eventually learned to accept the situation for what it was, with the moral support of the royal family. That anger had reemerged though when neither relative ever responded to her wedding invites. Still, Cinderella and the prince had been her rock throughout it all.

But Anastasia did not tell her step sister about Drizella's letter. She was fairly certain it was simply a request for financial help, thinking a blood relative was more likely to comply, and if that were the case, she'd rather handle it herself. Her mother was lucky the royal family had not arrested her on grounds of child abuse. They had no right to ask for money from either of them.

And so there she stood, next to the fountain, the last place she'd seen her family before moving out of the chateau. There Anastasia waited, silently reminding herself to remain civil and hold back her anger.

"Hello sister," she heard from behind her.

Anastasia turned around and held back a gasp. Was this truly her sister? It couldn't be. The two of them had always been rather twig like, but this woman was emaciated. But she knew that green dress. It had always been Drizella's favorite dress. Only now it was falling apart, rips and tears covering it like an intricate design.

"Drizella?" she asked, "Is that you?"

"Afraid so," she said.

Anastasia shook away her concern, replacing it with anger as she crossed her arms. "So what do you want after all this time? I thought I was making you and mother the laughing stock of the entire town? Why do you now want to see me all of a sudden?"

"Anastasia," Drizella said, "Mother is dead."

The redhead was silent a moment, feeling like she'd been slapped in the face. "What did you just say?"

"Mother died last week," Drizella said, "She's been sick for a long time."

"Why… why didn't you tell me this sooner?" Anastasia asked, "Are you so ashamed of me that you couldn't let me say goodbye to my own mother?!"

"I'm sorry, Anastasia. I should have wrote to you but I didn't think after all this time you'd want anything to do with us."

"You were the ones that turned your backs on me," Anastasia said, her eyes watering, "All I wanted was to be with the man I loved. Why couldn't you just be happy for me?"

"Because we were stupid. I was stupid," said Drizella, unable to meet her little sister's gaze, "But Mother regretted it in the end. She wanted me to apologize on her behalf."

"There's someone else she owed a bigger apology to," Anastasia said.

Drizella winced. "Yes. Before she died, she admitted that she regrets everything she did to Cinderella. To all of us."

"Seems a bit late for that," Anastasia scoffed, "She's only just now getting over everything. She's had nightmares for years about Mother."

"That's understandable," Drizella said.

"Did you know the prince wanted Mother arrested when he first saw all the scars on Cinderella's back? She had to talk to him for hours to get him to calm down."

"She still has scars?" Drizella asked.

"Of course she does!" Anastasia exclaimed, "You saw how hard Mother whipped her! You saw the blood! Sometimes I think she was worse than Father when he was at his most intoxicated."

Drizella nodded. When she thought about it, she had to agree. When their father was drunk he would push and grab forcefully. He'd hit and slap and, once, even bit. But only when he was drunk. When Cinderella was punished, however, their mother was completely sober. She had a whip that was used only on their step sister. She'd strip her down in front of them and whip her until she bled and then some.

"She was quite horrible," Drizella said.

"And so were you," Anastasia said, "Always laughing when she was punished."

"You laughed too."

"Not when Mother got physical with her!" Anastasia said, shaking her head as she remembered a particularly disturbing time she'd seen her mother physically discipline Cinderella.

Flashback:

"You clumsy little fool!" Lady Tremaine shouted at the thirteen year old girl, "Do you have any idea how much money you've wasted?!"

"I'm sorry, Stepmother," Cinderella said, "It was all so heavy. I couldn't carry it all without dropping it!"

"Don't make excuses for yourself!" the woman shouted, grabbing Cinderella by the wrist, "Come with me!"

In the sitting room, Anastasia and Drizella had heard their mother and saw her drag their stepsister in by the wrist.

"Now what did you do?" Drizella asked snobbishly as she crossed her arms.

"She dropped the groceries on the way home and broke the milk glasses. All of the food is ruined!" Lady Tremaine spat.

"Ha! You clutz!" Drizella said to the younger girl.

"Aren't you gonna get it!" Anastasia sneered.

Lady Tremaine carefully dug two burning coals out from the fire. She blew them out but they still smoked from the heat.

"Take them," she ordered the young girl.

"What?!" she said.

"Take one in each hand," the woman commanded her.

Cinderella timidly reached to grab them and instinctively let go when she felt how hot they were.

"Take them I said!" her stepmother ordered, louder this time, "Take one in each hand and hold them until I say you can let go!"

Cinderella did so and screamed as the hot coal burned her skin.

"Silence!" Lady Tremaine shouted, "Not a sound or they'll be on your feet too!"

Cinderella bit her lip, tears streaming down her face as she tried not to scream. Anastasia was horrified. She wanted to look away but was compelled to keep watching. She turned to her older sister to see that she was laughing. How could she laugh at this? And how could her mother do this?

"Mother, stop!" she pleaded.

"Silence, Anastasia!" her mother snapped at her, "She must be punished!"

Anastasia shrunk back in her seat, watching as her stepsister shook from the pain, breathing heavily to avoid screaming. It seemed like an eternity before her mother finally allowed the girl to drop the coals.

"Make a mistake like that again and we do this all over," Lady Tremaine said harshly, "Now go bandage your hands and then prepare the dinner."

"Yes, Stepmother," Cinderella said and walked out of the sitting room.

"Mother?" Anastasia asked timidly, "How is Cinderella gonna be able to cook with her burnt hands?"

"That's none of your concern," her mother snapped, "Now return to your readings. Both of you."

"Yes, Mother," the sisters said in unison.

End Flashback:

"It was wrong of me to laugh," Drizella said, eyes watering with guilt, "I was just so jealous of her. She was so beautiful… and so smart… and so confident. To see her taken down like that… I don't know. It just made me feel better about myself."

Anastasia nodded in understanding. "Even now I'm a little jealous of her. You're right. She is beautiful and smart and everything I wish I could be. But now I have a husband who loves me just the way I am. We're going to adopt. I'm finally starting to learn different languages. I'm happy now. I wish you could be happy for me too."

"I am now, Anastasia," Drizella said, hugging her, "I've been such a fool all these years, staying away from you just because Mother said so. I know we've always fought, but you're still my little sister and I love you."

Anastasia hugged her back, tears falling from her eyes. "I love you too, Drizella."

"The burial is next Saturday at noon," Drizella said, "At Cinderella and Stepfather's old church. I didn't bother with a funeral service since I know no one would come. We've fallen out of the social circle in recent years."

"I'll be there," Anastasia said.

"I'll see you then," Drizella said, "And please, tell Cinderella I'm sorry. We both are."

"I will."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"That's it Adam," Cinderella said as her nine month old son wobbled on his legs, "Come on! Come to Maman!"

The little prince took a few steps towards his mother before falling to the ground, face first. Cinderella laughed.

"Aww, it's alright, Adam," she said, "You'll get it eventually."

"Princey learn how to walk in no time," Jaq said, "Soon he be walking everywhere!"

Adam smiled at the group of mice in front of him.

"Ja… Jaaa," he said, trying to form the name.

"Jaq," Gus said, "He Jaq-Jaq!"

"J-j…. JAQ!" Adam said loudly.

"Alright!" the mouse in question shouted, "Princey say Jaq-Jaq!"

"Princey learn new things every day!" Gus said.

"Maybe Mary is the next name he'll learn," Mary said.

Adam brought himself up to a sitting position, looked up to his royal mother, and raised his arms. "Up, up!"

Cinderella picked up the nine month old child, pressing a kiss to his temple.

"You're doing so good, my little Adam," she said, "You'll be talking full sentences before you know it."

Adam placed a hand to his mother's face and she turned and kissed the palm. The clock struck one.

"Is it one o'clock already?" Cinderella asked in her baby voice, "Alright, let's go join the others for lunch. Say goodbye to your friends."

She grabbed one of Adam's hands and waved it at the mice who waved back.

"See ya Princey!" Jaq said.

"Bye bye!" said Gus.

Cinderella carried her child to the royal dining room where her father-in-law, the Grand Duke, Prudence, Aubin, and her ladies in waiting sat. She looked around and noticed someone was missing.

"Where is Anastasia?" she asked.

"She had to run some errands," Aubin said, "She said she might be late."

"Alright then," the princess said as she sat Adam in a marble high chair to feed him.

Some time went by before Anastasia quietly entered the dining room, avoiding everyone's gaze as she served herself.

"Is something wrong, dear?" Aubin asked.

Anastasia took a deep breath to compose herself. "Aubin, Cinderella, can I speak with you two alone?"

"Of course," Cinderella said.

She kissed her son on top of his head before the three of them left the dining room.

"What's wrong, Anastasia?" Cinderella asked once they were out in the hallway.

"I saw Drizella in town today," Anastasia said, "She told me that Mother died last week."

Aubin and Cinderella gasped.

"Darling," Aubin said, "I'm so sorry."

The redhead began to tear up. "I never even got to say goodbye to her. I know she was cold and cruel, but… she was the only mother I had."

Cinderella hugged her stepsister tightly. She knew how it felt to lose a parent. "I know, Anastasia. But I'm sure deep down she always loved you."

"Drizella says she regretted everything she did to us in the end. All three of us. I just wish I could've been there to make amends with her."

"I know," Cinderella said again. Anastasia had told her all about Lady Tremaine's first husband. She understood now why she was the way she was, and had forgiven her a long time ago. She only wished her stepmother had died knowing that.

"Will there be a funeral service?" Aubin asked.

"No, but they're burying her next Saturday at noon. I want to go, to be able to have some sort of goodbye."

"I'll come with you," Cinderella said.

"Me too," Aubin said.

"Are you sure?" Anastasia asked, knowing neither had fond memories of her.

"She was important to you, so she's important to us too," Cinderella said.

Anastasia smiled. What had she ever done to deserve such a strong support group?

I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. I have some plans for Drizella that I hope you all will enjoy. Please leave a review so I know you're there. To quote Wotso videos:

Have a magical day!