Lauren's Disclaimer en Français

Disclaimer: Je ne possède pas Ella Enchanted. Gail Carson Levine possède Ella Enchanted. Je possède Forever Elly. Je possède tout les caractères dans mon histoire.

(A/N)That was created by a combination of

a.) my rather limited knowledge of the French language

b.) my French textbook

c.) an online translator (which gave me really crappy translations that time for my homework… so… I wouldn't recommend it unless you're desperate… like I had been)

And now... while all of you are rolling your eyes... or busy correcting my French…

Look for Caroline, a new character who will be released in a later chapter… due to my contest… which is no longer active as of 5/15/04.

Now… ON TO THE STORY (heh it's about time right?)… One day my authors' notes are going to end up being longer than the story!

Forever Elly

Chapter 4

"Elly, dear, come on sweet, it's time to get up." Someone was shaking me.

"Go away," I groaned and sleepily pushed them away.

"Love, you have to get up. Today's the day. You remember?" I groaned again and pried my eyes open. Mandy's face blurred in front of me.

Thanks Mandy. What a great way to wake up. Tell me to get up so I can be sure to leave on time.

Reluctantly I sat up, rubbing my eyes.

Mandy's face came into focus. "Love, do you have a trunk packed for the journey? It's going to take at least 5 days."

"Yes, Mandy." She gave me a small smile and left me to get ready.

I got up and dressed in one of my favorite gowns. It was one of the most comfortable ones I had. I wanted to be comfortable and relaxed on my last morning in Ayortha.

I headed into the kitchen for breakfast. Mandy handed me a plate of eggs and bacon.

I sat down and ate it in silence. I was planning in my head how to spend my last 4 hours or so in Ayortha.

I'd definitely have to go see the royal Ayorthan waterfall before I left. I didn't need to see the riverbank spot again. I'd already seen it with Chelsea; which reminded me, I also still needed to say goodbye to a few childhood friends.

As soon as I finished eating, I set out for the waterfall.

As I got closer I could hear the crashing of the water onto the rocks below. They'd better have a good waterfall in Frell, I thought. As the waterfall appeared before my mesmerized eyes, I was transported into the flashback when I had first seen the waterfall.

Flashback

10 Years Earlier

It had been a bright and sunny day in the kingdom of Ayortha.

Mandy and I had gone for a picnic in a park she knew of. I heard the rushing water and, transfixed, I had headed for it; Mandy trailing behind me, knowing that if my heart was set on finding it, then I would.

As I had gotten closer, I'd begun to smell the glorious scent of freshness and freedom that was radiating from the falls.

I took off running, leaving Mandy behind.

I could hear her calling behind me, "Elly! Elly!" but I didn't stop.

I ran and ran. Her voice, far behind me, disappeared. Finally I pushed back some branches, stepped into a clearing…

And stopped, dead still. My jaw dropped. My eyes sparkled in wide-eyed delight. I was mesmerized. Transfixed. Totally and completely awed.

Closer, I thought. I have to get closer.

I stumbled forward on clumsy feet, my green eyes fixed on the remarkable sight.

A gasp escaped my mouth and I walked closer.

It was all I could see. The sight was so beautiful. It had me hypnotized.

I slowly crept closer and closer. Step by step…

And suddenly there was nothing to catch my foot. Only as I began to fall did I snap out of my trance.

There was no way for me to catch myself! I was going to fall!

Suddenly hands grabbed me around the waist and pulled me back.

I stumbled back and fell into the lap of my rescuer.

It was a young boy. He was about my age.

"Thank you." I whispered, almost in tears. I couldn't believe what I'd just done.

"Thank you for saving me."

"Don't worry about it," he said, giving me a grin.

I realized that I was out of any danger but I began to cry anyway. What if he hadn't been there to pull me back?

He patted my shoulder. "Don't cry," he said. "It's okay."

I nodded, swallowing my tears.

He gave me a smile and I wiped the wetness off my cheeks.

"I'm Bree," he told me.

He eased me off his lap and stood up. Then he offered me his hand. I took it and he pulled me up. "Oh, um, I'm Elly."

We shook.

"So I see you got lost in the waterfall," he said with a smile. "Everyone does."

"Did you?" I asked sneakily.

"Well… It's a long story. In summary though… Yes."

I laughed. Bree was funny. I hoped he would be my new friend.

"How old are you?" I asked.

"Six, you?"

"Five."

"Do you live around here?"

And we talked. The conversation just flowed, and from then on we were the best of friends.

When Mandy found us a little later, we were sitting in the grass talking. It turned out that Mandy had gotten lost trying to follow me and had somehow ended up on the other side of the waterfall.

She was mad and I got in trouble, but that didn't make the waterfall any less special.

End Flashback

I hadn't thought about Bree in a long time. When I visited the waterfall for the last time, all the memories had come flooding back.

The waterfall had been unique. It had been me and Bree's spot ever since that day he'd saved me… Until he left. Now I was going too.

I headed back to the house. After seeing the waterfall I'd gone to say goodbye to a few friends, taken last looks at a few places, and then gone to see Chelsea one last time.

When the clock chimed 11, I knew I had to get back to the house.

When I got home, Mandy was carrying things outside and putting them on the side of the road, to make it easier for the footmen who came with the carriage to pack our belongings into it.

"Weet," Mandy called, "Ood you elp me wif sum of ese ings?"

I turned to Mandy, puzzled at what she'd been trying to say. She was lugging suitcases and boxes out of the house. She had several in her hands and also had the handles of a bag between her teeth.

I laughed. She looked hilarious.

Running up to her, I grabbed the bag she was carrying with her teeth.

"What did you say Mandy?" I asked, trying not to laugh.

"Elly! Help me with these things!"

I grabbed two suitcases and a box from her arms and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"You know, Mandy, you could take more than one trip…"

She glared at me and I shut my mouth, holding back a smile.

We carried the rest of our bags, suitcases, and boxes outside. We were leaving the big stuff, like our beds. We'd sold them to a merchant, who would be picking them up sometime in the future. We wouldn't need them when we got to the palace… they had beds there.

By the time everything was outside that was coming with us, they had arrived.

"Princess? Let us know when you get hungry and we will find an inn and stop for the night." The footmen had been waiting on me ever since they'd come to pick us up.

I told them it was Elly, not Princess, but they didn't listen.

When the sun sank and darkness fell, I asked the footmen to stop for the night.

They drove the carriage around until we came upon a suitable-looking inn. We were still in Ayortha and the inn name sounded familiar, but I thought nothing of it.

Upon entering the inn, we were greeted heartily by the family who owned it.

There was a girl about my age and she smiled at me.

She had cinnamon colored skin and cheeks with a rouge tint. Her dark hair was plaited into many tiny braids. Her lips naturally curved upwards, causing her to look kind and friendly.

I smiled back at her and she came over to me.

"I'm Ari," she said. "Short for Areida."

"Hi," I said brightly. "I'm Elly, short for Eleanor." I winked.

She started laughing. It started a chain reaction, and it wasn't long before we were practically toppled over and getting nasty looks from some of the other guests.

We talked and became fast friends over dinner. It was too bad I'd have to leave her the next day when we continued to Frell.

"You know," she said. "You look kind of familiar." She cocked her head, staring at me. "I feel like I've seen you somewhere before." She shook her head. "I can't remember where though. "You've never been here before?"

"No," I replied. "I haven't been in this part of Ayortha before."

"Hmmm… I don't know. Maybe it will come to me later."

She showed me to my room for the night and I invited her to come by after her duties were done to chat some more. She accepted my offer and about an hour or so later she came back.

When she came back, she had something in her hand and her dress was dusty.

"What have you been doing? And what are you carrying?" I asked.

She gave me a weird smile. "I figured out why I feel like I've seen you before," she told me.

She laughed at the puzzled look on my face. "Where?"

She turned around the object she was holding.

From where I was sitting on my bed I saw it as a portrait of me. A recent one.

"Wh-why do you have a picture of me? I haven't had a portrait done recently…

Wh-" I trailed off.

Ari stayed quiet. I walked over to the portrait and took it from her. I held it in the light. "Wh- wait, that's not me…"

I looked helplessly at Ari.

She grinned evilly.

I turned it around and on the back it had an inscription.

Eleanor "Ella" of Frell.

What was this?

"Wh- huh?" Ari laughed at my expression.

"I found it in the attic. I remembered it from when I used to play in there. I asked my mother and she said that this was Queen Ella of Frell. She was married to King Charmont. When the portrait was done she was probably 15 or so and my mother said she had been best friends with my great grandmother."

My jaw dropped. That was my great grandmother. I had a portrait of my great grandmother… The one I broke by throwing clothes at it. But in that, she was a woman, not a girl.

"Do you know why you look so alike?" Ari asked curiously.

I looked at her. I'd forgotten she was still in the room.

Wait. "Ari. Short for Areida" she'd told me. I remembered back to an old journal I had of my great grandmothers. It hadn't mentioned anything about being Queen, but then again she might not have been yet.

I remembered an Areida from the journal. Who was she? I wondered.

I stared into space, waiting for it to come to me.

Oh! Finishing school. They'd become the best of friends at finishing school.

"Elly, you okay?" Ari asked. She looked at me worriedly.

"Oh… Fine. Ari, were you named after your great grandmother?" I asked.

"Yes," she answered cautiously.

"Aha!" I yelled. "Ari, that was my great grandmother. She was best friends with your great grandmother."

Ari looked amazed. "Wow," she said. Then, "Wait! That means you're a princess! Am I right?"

I looked uncomfortable. "Well… Technically."

She gave me a questioning look. "Technically?" She said, asking me to elaborate.

"Um… Yeah… I only just found out about that yesterday though.

The princess topic gave us a lot to talk about. I told her about my whole situation, including my father. We sat on my bed chatting until there was a light knock on the door.

"Ari?" called a voice. "Ari, are you in there?"

"Ooh." Ari said. "Yeah mom, I'm here."

"Ari do you realize what time it is. Elly needs to sleep and so do you."

Ari looked back at me and walked over to the door. "I'll see you at breakfast," she said with a wink. And she left.

The next day, we ate breakfast and left again, heading for Frell. I was sad to be leaving Ari, but we'd agreed to send letters and try to find a time to visit.

Ari had wished me good luck with my father. I hoped it would help.

We were supposed to reach Frell in 4-5 days. I was dreading it and was hoping something would delay us.

Unfortunately, the delay we got wasn't what I'd wished for…

(A/N) Hehehehehehehe… Cliffhanger. I feel evil :( I don't like leaving cliffhangers. It's so mean. But oh well you're going to have to deal with it. I'll give a hint though… You know in Ella Enchanted when it says, 'With any luck you will reach the giants in three or four days. But I had no luck.' Well this is similar but different. For instance, obviously something is going to happen… But I promise to not be unoriginal… It won't be ogres… But that's all I'm saying.

I realize that the flashback seemed kind of sappy for a 5 and 6 year old… but bear in mind that it's more that Bree was providing Elly comfort… nothing romantic in the slightest… it's more a declaration of trust or something… I don't know if anyone else knows what I'm talking about, but I get it in my head.

I also realize that my story is probably kind of boring right now. There's just a bunch of stuff I have to get out before all the 'action' and 'drama' can take place. Plus I wanted to add Ari in… (I keep typing Areida! It's annoying me! Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari… gotta burn it into my brain… and my fingers… Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari, Ari.) as another connection to Ella.

OoOoOo I'm proud of myself. I made myself sit down and type this chapter… After all, I'd promised it. And it's nice and long (compared to the others at least)… Yay…

Reviewers…

Babyjayy – Thanks! Here's your update… Don't forget to R&R this chapter now! Thanks (again)!

C.I. (a.k.a. Caroline) – Congrats… you caught some things in there that I hadn't even realized for myself (… pretty sad right? I mean considering I'm the one who made Elly up in the first place…) Only thing I noticed that you missed was in the prologue, when Bree gave her the gift… Ring any bells? Anyway, great job… and welcome to my story… in a later chapter… I've got big plans for you evil laugh hehe… just kidding, I wouldn't do that. I'm just too nice!

Seriously… I can't even poke people when they poke me first! Of course nobody, except my friends, has any idea what I'm talking about… Well Julie and Leslie (poker-backers) know… And Josh (the poker)of course but they're my friends, so… Heh… my friends are big on poking if you can't tell… So big that I've made it my life's goal to poke someone back… sounds easy but it's a challenge for me! ;) And it's even harder now that we aren't at the same high schools anymore weeps so I never see him or a lot of other cool people (they're really freaks at heart… just like me!)… So… yeah… but that's a long story involving a new school being built and a middle school being split in half (not a cool thing)… can you believe my high school only has freshman and sophomores this year!... and next year we'll have freshman, sophomores and juniors… and only the year after that will we be like a true high school (all 4 grades)… isn't that awful? It sucks let me tell you! They still treat us like middle school people… We literally had to hold a protest in the front hall so they would listen to us! Wow I'm getting all worked up now… I though I was past this… I miss my friends sad face…all right I'll stop now, you all don't need to hear my life/school story… you want to read my made up story!! At least I think so, considering you did click on it to get yourself here.

Wow… I just realized how much I wrote as an answer to a review… Sad thing is that most of it wasn't even about the reviewer… Caroline. I'm so selfish… Sorry!! Anyway…

R&R. Thanks!

Who Really Cares? – Dude I still care. Anyway… thanks!... And sorry about my last response to your review… I realized after I wrote and posted my response that it seemed kind of attackerish… I had just been wondering if you were giving me some kind of enigmatic constructive criticism or just commenting… Thanks for clarifying!

R&R! Thanks!

I have little faith in my writing but even I know it will get better… and you can help me get better through constructive criticism!

Oh and one more thing… If you want me to write faster… you should know, I'm motivated by reviews. So if you write reviews, my ego will soar laughs at herself and I'll feel compelled to update more to please you guys!

So R&R! Right now!

Thanks!

Lauren