Tenshi-Hotaru: Hey everybody! Oh My God!! School is almost here! Oh well, I
have to get used to it somehow.
~*Ok, I need to warn you, that this is *not at all* like the Disney version of these tales.*~
I hope that you all will like this chappie, and please read and review. If you are here to see the disclaimer, I left it on the prologue, oh but, I also don't own Cinderella, or the characters, but I do own my copy of the book 'A Child's Treasury of Tales'. I'm just re-telling this. sort of. Thank you to all the lovely reviewers! Responses to reviews will be at the bottom of this page! Have fun reading!
Chapter 1
"Oh goody! I love my fairytale! Well, here we go!" She started rubbing her hands together and pushed the cover open.
She gave a dreamy sigh and said, "Cinderella." (A/N: Who saw this coming before reading the authors note?) "Illustrated by Annabel Spenceley" She started reading right away.
"'There was once a beautiful girl with golden hair and eyes as blue as the sky. She was very happy, until her mother became ill and died. Her father married again, but soon, he died too, and she was left with her stepmother and her two stepsisters.
They were very ugly, bad-tampered girls' hey Rei! That's like you! But just the bad-tempered part" she laughed.
Rei growled and almost lunged at her playfully, but Wufei held her back. To try to stop the oncoming play-fight, Trowa told Usa to start reading again.
"As I was saying. 'They were very ugly, bad-tempered girls, and they were so jealous of her beauty that they made her wear an old grey dress and wooden clogs. "It's your job to scrub the house, clean out the fire and cook," they told her.
She had to get up very early to fetch water from the well, and she spent all day on her hands and knees scrubbing, or making the meals.
"Ugh! We don't like this stew!" "It's disgusting!" shouted her stepsisters, as they gobbled down the meals she made anyways. No matter what she did, it was never good enough. "Have you turned my mattress? There's a lump in it," said one. "Go and do it now!" "That's nothing! I found a feather in my pigeon pie!" said the other.
They made their stepsister wash and iron their fine dresses and the ribbons in their hair. But even in her old grey dress, her eyes shone out like the blue sky and she made them look uglier than ever.
At the end of a hard day, the girl had no warm bath to soak in or soft bed to sleep in. The poor girl huddled down beside the warm cinders of the fire, so she became known as Cinderella.
*~*~*~*
One morning, Cinderella carried through a steaming pile of toast, trying hard not to drop it. The two stepsisters were sitting at the table waving large white cards with gold crowns on them, and they were pink with excitement.
"There's a Grand Ball at the palace - and we're invited!" "The king has decided it's time for his son, the Prince, to choose a bride," said their mother. "He's asked all the girls in the land to the ball, so that they may choose one to be his wife." "Am I invited then?" asked Cinderella. "You?" screeched her stepmother, "in your rags, with smuts on your face?" and they all laughed so much that Cinderella rushed back to the kitchen and sobbed beside the fire.'"
"Yep! That's Odango Atama! Always crying about something!" Rei butted in, obviously bent on revenge for Usa's earlier comment. Usa glared, but because of the heavy book in her lap, she couldn't lunge at Rei, so she decided to just glare and start reading again.
"'Soon the night of the ball came.
"Pull tighter!" said her stepsisters, as she laced them into their silk ball gowns. She curled their hair with iron tongs, heated in the fire. "Don't burn it!" they cried, "You're not making pastry now!"'" Usa held up her hand to stop any of Rei's oncoming comments, and glared for extra measure, and Rei shut her mouth.
"'At last they were painted and powdered and covered in perfume. Cinderella couldn't help sneezing. "Stop that!" they shouted. "You're only sneezing because you're jealous. Go and see if our carriage is there yet, and make us a snack for the journey."
Their mother appeared wearing bright blue silk, with feathers in her hair, looking like a plump, red-faced peacock. She beckoned to her daughters, then they all swept off in their carriage and, after all the hurry and fuss, Cinderella was quite alone.
She cleared up the powder and perfume and anything else, and went back to the kitchen, but she was too sad to eat her scraps of bread and cheese. (In the background: Odango would never pass up a meal says Rei) She opened the door and threw the bread out for the birds as she did every night. There was already a pale watery moon in the sky. As she stood looking up at it, Cinderella wished with all her heart that she, too, could go to the ball. (A/N: Does this seem familiar to anyone? With the moon and wishes and all?)
Cinderella went back inside and sat down beside the kitchen fire and, as she thought about the grand ballroom and the handsome prince (A/N: that she's never seen before, mind you), a tear fell and sizzled on the grate.
"Why are you crying?" asked a gentle voice behind her. "And what are you doing here when you should be at the ball?"
Cinderella looked round and blinked. Then blinked again. A little old lady in a red cloak stood there, with a round smiling face, and a wand, which sparkled at the tip like a firefly. "How can I go to the ball," said Cinderella, "in theses rags? How can I dance in these heavy wooden clogs? You don't know how much I long to dance!"
"Oh yes I do," said the old lady. "I am your fairy godmother," and she tapped Cinderella on the shoulder with the wand. At once Cinderella's rags vanished, and she was wearing a white silk ball gown that glittered with diamonds.
She twirled round and the silk swished and rustled, leaving a trail of perfume that was so gentle that it almost wasn't there. It smelled like summer rain.'"
"That perfume sounds just like how it smells now." Trowa cut in softly, while inhaling a little to prove his point. Usagi blushed and thanked him.
"Ok. Continuing. 'Cinderella's feet felt as light as air, and when she looked down, she saw beautiful glass slippers, twinkling in the firelight.
"Now you will go to the ball," said the fairy godmother. "But there is no carriage to take me," said Cinderella.
The old lady looked round the kitchen. She picked up an apple and looked at it carefully. "No. Wait a minute, do you see that big pumpkin?" she said pointing to the vegetable basket. "Help me carry it out into the garden."
She tapped it with her wand and, as Cinderella stared, it changed before her eyes into a glass coach that sparkled like ice. But what use was a glass coach with no horses?
Six fieldmice crouched nearby, dazzled by the shiny coach. The old lady tapped them lightly, one by one on their ears. They disappeared and in their place stood six white horses, tossing their manes in the night air.
"You need footmen - one to drive, and one to ride behind and make sure you arrive safely," said the old lady. She lifted a large leaf with her wand, and two frogs peeped out. When she tapped them with the wand, they vanished to be replaced by two footmen with white wigs and bulging eyes. "Look after your mistress," she said. "We will," they croaked.
"Now, off you go to the ball," said the fairy godmother. "But listen carefully ad don't ever forget this - you must leave the palace before midnight. At the last stroke of Twelve, all your fine clothes will disappear and you will be back in your old grey rags." Cinderella promised, and thanked her with tears in her eyes as she climbed into the coach. "Oh, thank you again!" she shouted through the window, as the glass coach swept off in a cloud of dust.
*~*~*~*
At the palace, the ballroom blazed with the light from hundreds of candles. When Cinderella appeared at the top of the staircase, everyone stopped dancing and stared at her (in the background: think of that pressure says Mina), wondering who the beautiful young stranger was. The band stopped playing and the Prince looked round to see what was happening. "I think that she must be a foreign princess," sniffed one of her stepsisters, never dreaming that this was Cinderella.
The Prince at once ran up the stairs, took her hands in his, and asked her to dance. As the music struck up again, and she was swept off in his arms, Cinderella felt that all her dreams had come true.
She had never learned to dance, but the glass slippers seemed to make it very easy and she felt as if she were floating on air. All evening, the Prince danced only with her. When others came up to ask her to dance, he held her hands tightly in his own and said, "No. This is my partner."
The Prince took her in to supper, and she ate a water ice (A/N: Does anyone actually know what that is? If so, tell me in your review) that tasted like violets. At another table, she could see her stepsisters quarrelling over the last cherry in a bowl of ice cream. As she watched, her stepmother reached over and ate it herself. But Cinderella was too excited to eat very much.
The Prince led her off again into the music. As they danced, he leaned down and said, "Did you know that your eyes are just like the sky?" When he whispered in her ear, "Will you be my princess?" Cinderella felt like she could dance with him forever. But then she was startled by a loud noise that sounded like a gong. (A/N: Wonder what that could be)
"What's that?" "Don't worry," laughed the Prince, "it's only the palace clock striking midnight, although it seems only seconds since we met." "Midnight!" cried Cinderella, and she broke away from him and rushed out of the ballroom.
The guests drew back on either side to let her through, and the Prince ran after her, but she raced like the wind down the steps. (In the background: Now that sounds more like Haruka than Usa says Mako) "Quick!" shouted the Prince. "Find her!" Footmen ran in all directions, looking for her, but she had vanished into the night. In fact, Cinderella had climbed into the palace dovecot to hide. The doves knew that she was kind and fed birds in the cold weather, and they didn't make a noise. They sat at the entrance, spreading their feathers and hiding Cinderella, and the footmen ran past and never thought to look inside. At last, Cinderella climbed down and run home, her silk dress replaced.
But back at the palace, the Prince was holding something that sparkled in the moonlight. Cinderella had been in such a hurry that one of her glass slippers had fallen off and been left behind on the palace steps. The Prince held it up. "I have found my princess," he said. "She is the owner of this slipper."
*~*~*~*
When her stepmother arrived back from the ball with her stepsisters, Cinderella was sitting in her old grey dress at her usual place beside the fire. "Quick! Undo our laces!" screeched the sisters, throwing themselves into chairs and easing off their shoes to rub their feet. "Bring me some tea!" said her stepmother, taking pins out of her hair. "So many people wanted to dance with us, we didn't have time to eat. What a ball! Isn't it a shame you'll never see such a thing? You can't imagine the dresses. And the jewels!" "Isn't the Prince wonderful to dance with?" said one of the sisters. "Oh, divine!" said the other, winking. "And there was a mysterious foreign princess," said their mother, pouring her tea into her saucer. "it's so exciting - just like a fairy tale."
*~*~*~*
The Prince carried the glass slipper with him everywhere. He couldn't sleep, and said he would not rest until he had found his princess again. Then he had an idea and he sent for two of his best footmen. "I want you to take this slipper and travel all over the land," he told them, "making sure that every girl in the country tries it on. I don't want to see you again until you have found the girl whose foot it fits." For six days the footmen rushed all over the country, to grand houses, farms and cottages. Every girl tried to make the slipper fit her. The girl in the dairy stopped churning butter and rubbed some on her foot, to try and make it slip inside. Grand ladies soaked their feet in hot perfumed water to see if they would shrink.
On the seventh day, the footmen arrived at Cinderella's house. Her stepsisters rushed to try on the glass slipper. "I wondered where I'd lost that!" said one. "Don't be silly, you know it's mine," said the other. They huffed and puffed and (A/N: blew the house down! Lolz) screwed up their toes, but it was no use. They couldn't jam their feet into the dainty slipper. "Is there no one else in the house?" asked the footmen. "Only Cinderella," snorted the stepmother. "But she's just a servant, and she certainly doesn't go to balls." "The Prince said that every girl must try it on," said the footmen. "Let her try." The sisters went to the door of the kitchen, where Cinderella was peeling a huge mound of potatoes. "You're wanted in the drawing-room," they said, "but don't bother washing, you'll be back peeling potatoes in a minute."
Cinderella went through, and a footman held out the glass slipper. She slipped her foot into it, and it fitted as if it had been made for her (A/N: which it probably was *rolls eyes*). Behind her, the ugly sisters gasped as she reached into a pocket in her old grey dress and pulled out the other glass slipper. It matched perfectly.
"There must be some mistake," spluttered her stepmother. "There is no mistake," said the footmen. "This is our new princess - look how beautiful she is, with eyes like the sky." They took off their hats and bowed in front of Cinderella. "We have a gold coach outside," said one. "Will you come with us now to the palace?" Cinderella was still holding the potato knife. She handed it to one of her stepsisters, who took it as if it were a rose, and curtseyed. "Can we come, too?" They squealed, "We are her sisters."
The footmen placed a cloak of sky blue silk over Cinderella's shoulders and said, "Hurry. The Prince is waiting." The stepsisters and their mother were left in the courtyard, their mouths hanging open, as Cinderella went off in her golden coach.
*~*~*~*
The Prince stood at the top of the Palace steps and held out his arms in welcome. Cinderella ran up the steps, and the doves flew beside her, holding up her cloak. "At last I have found my Princess," said the Prince, holding her to him, "and I'm never going to let you go this time." More invitations were sent out, this time to a royal wedding.
*~*~*~*
In Cinderella's old home, her stepsisters had to make their own breakfast. "How can I make toast when you've let the fire go out?" snapped one. "Oh, do it yourself," said the other. "It's all your fault. If we'd been nicer to Cinderella, we would have been asked to the wedding."
But then there was a knock at the door, and there stood a footman with a stiff white envelope. The stepsisters tore it open and found invitations to the royal wedding inside. Cinderella was so happy that she couldn't bear the thought of anyone being unhappy - even the stepsisters who had been so unkind to her. While they stared at the invitations, the sister with the unbaked bread let it hang from her hand, while the dog nibbled at it without her knowledge.
*~*~*~*
The palace cook made twenty different kinds of ice cream, and baked a cake that was big enough for everyone in the country to have a slice.'"
"That means that there was enough to feed Usa and Duo alone for a few weeks." Rei commented.
"Hey!" Usa and Duo exclaimed. "We don't eat that much!"
"Whatever, just go back to reading Odango."
"Fine! Just stop interrupting! ~clears throat~ 'On the morning of the wedding, the ballroom was filled with so many white lilies and rose trees, that it looked like a garden.
*~*~*~*
At the wedding party, the Prince held Cinderella tightly and said, "You're not going to disappear at midnight again, are you?" (A/N: Lolz, imagine why he wouldn't want her to do that? Lolz, ~jk!) "Never," replied Cinderella, and she went to the top of the staircase and looked through the crowd until she spotted her stepsisters, clinging to each other sadly in a corner. Then she took her wedding bouquet of white roses and threw it down at them. They stretched up, caught it, and for a moment they didn't look ugly at all.
Turning back to the Prince, Cinderella smiled and said, "Wouldn't it be lovely if everyone could live happily ever after - just like us?"'"
"That was a great story!" Mako commented. "But there sure was a lot of white flowers, wasn't there, Usa? You'd probably like a wedding like that, wouldn't you?"
Usagi blushed and said, "Sure, I'd love to get married like that. But there's a problem." Everyone looked at her expectantly. "I don't think that anyone would be willing to make a cake that big."
Everyone burst out laughing. When they all calmed down, Trowa looked to the next page and said, "Ok, the next one is yours Mako."
Trowa helped Usa pass the book to Rei, who was next to her, and then she had Wufei help her pass it to Mako.
"I guess that I should start reading now, right?" After nods from everyone, she took a deep breath, trying to hold in her blush from everyone's attention on her. "Here we go."
*~*~*~*
RubyRedDragon05: Here's the next chappie! Glad you like Rei/Wufei, *almost* everyone does! Lolz.
S: Some people don't like the pairings, but that's ok.
Anne: I'm not sure about the interesting part, that's for you to decide, but it is kinda new, and I'm glad that it's refreshing for you.
Dark Emerald Flame: Ok! Is this soon enough? I agree, Mako/Heero are the best! I love the pairings too, lolz, that's why I did it! Here's Cinderella, want more? And, I know that this is kinda clueless, but what does rnrn mean? ^_^;
Dr.Cricket: Ok, I've updated! And what do you mean, by 'or else'?
Archangela: Yay! Thank you! Here's the next chappie! BTW, I like your name!
baby-bunnygurl: I'm very happy that you liked the couples! And that you liked the plot, and think it's cute! I didn't really think it would be this reviewed!
Firenze: Thx! And that just came out! Lolz.
Firey of Jupiter: I'm very sorry that the couplings aren't the way you wanted them to be, but I'm sticking to them. Sry. Maybe you could write your own fic with Mako/Trowa?
Zaeria: Now you know what fairytale Usa was going to read! Lolz! Update soon enough for you? Thx.
angelicmayuka: Yay! It's interesting! Lolz, that's ok if you don't like one of the pairings, I don't really mention them much. *shrug* I will keep going!
*~*~*~*
Tenshi-Hotaru: Hey everyone! Did you like this chappie? Well, the next one is for Mako. I'm not doing this in any specific order, I'm just writing this in the order I can flip the pages. First was Usa's, and then it was Mako's, next is. someone's. I won't tell you until I get there. So you'll have to wait. See ya next chappie!
~*Ok, I need to warn you, that this is *not at all* like the Disney version of these tales.*~
I hope that you all will like this chappie, and please read and review. If you are here to see the disclaimer, I left it on the prologue, oh but, I also don't own Cinderella, or the characters, but I do own my copy of the book 'A Child's Treasury of Tales'. I'm just re-telling this. sort of. Thank you to all the lovely reviewers! Responses to reviews will be at the bottom of this page! Have fun reading!
Chapter 1
"Oh goody! I love my fairytale! Well, here we go!" She started rubbing her hands together and pushed the cover open.
She gave a dreamy sigh and said, "Cinderella." (A/N: Who saw this coming before reading the authors note?) "Illustrated by Annabel Spenceley" She started reading right away.
"'There was once a beautiful girl with golden hair and eyes as blue as the sky. She was very happy, until her mother became ill and died. Her father married again, but soon, he died too, and she was left with her stepmother and her two stepsisters.
They were very ugly, bad-tampered girls' hey Rei! That's like you! But just the bad-tempered part" she laughed.
Rei growled and almost lunged at her playfully, but Wufei held her back. To try to stop the oncoming play-fight, Trowa told Usa to start reading again.
"As I was saying. 'They were very ugly, bad-tempered girls, and they were so jealous of her beauty that they made her wear an old grey dress and wooden clogs. "It's your job to scrub the house, clean out the fire and cook," they told her.
She had to get up very early to fetch water from the well, and she spent all day on her hands and knees scrubbing, or making the meals.
"Ugh! We don't like this stew!" "It's disgusting!" shouted her stepsisters, as they gobbled down the meals she made anyways. No matter what she did, it was never good enough. "Have you turned my mattress? There's a lump in it," said one. "Go and do it now!" "That's nothing! I found a feather in my pigeon pie!" said the other.
They made their stepsister wash and iron their fine dresses and the ribbons in their hair. But even in her old grey dress, her eyes shone out like the blue sky and she made them look uglier than ever.
At the end of a hard day, the girl had no warm bath to soak in or soft bed to sleep in. The poor girl huddled down beside the warm cinders of the fire, so she became known as Cinderella.
*~*~*~*
One morning, Cinderella carried through a steaming pile of toast, trying hard not to drop it. The two stepsisters were sitting at the table waving large white cards with gold crowns on them, and they were pink with excitement.
"There's a Grand Ball at the palace - and we're invited!" "The king has decided it's time for his son, the Prince, to choose a bride," said their mother. "He's asked all the girls in the land to the ball, so that they may choose one to be his wife." "Am I invited then?" asked Cinderella. "You?" screeched her stepmother, "in your rags, with smuts on your face?" and they all laughed so much that Cinderella rushed back to the kitchen and sobbed beside the fire.'"
"Yep! That's Odango Atama! Always crying about something!" Rei butted in, obviously bent on revenge for Usa's earlier comment. Usa glared, but because of the heavy book in her lap, she couldn't lunge at Rei, so she decided to just glare and start reading again.
"'Soon the night of the ball came.
"Pull tighter!" said her stepsisters, as she laced them into their silk ball gowns. She curled their hair with iron tongs, heated in the fire. "Don't burn it!" they cried, "You're not making pastry now!"'" Usa held up her hand to stop any of Rei's oncoming comments, and glared for extra measure, and Rei shut her mouth.
"'At last they were painted and powdered and covered in perfume. Cinderella couldn't help sneezing. "Stop that!" they shouted. "You're only sneezing because you're jealous. Go and see if our carriage is there yet, and make us a snack for the journey."
Their mother appeared wearing bright blue silk, with feathers in her hair, looking like a plump, red-faced peacock. She beckoned to her daughters, then they all swept off in their carriage and, after all the hurry and fuss, Cinderella was quite alone.
She cleared up the powder and perfume and anything else, and went back to the kitchen, but she was too sad to eat her scraps of bread and cheese. (In the background: Odango would never pass up a meal says Rei) She opened the door and threw the bread out for the birds as she did every night. There was already a pale watery moon in the sky. As she stood looking up at it, Cinderella wished with all her heart that she, too, could go to the ball. (A/N: Does this seem familiar to anyone? With the moon and wishes and all?)
Cinderella went back inside and sat down beside the kitchen fire and, as she thought about the grand ballroom and the handsome prince (A/N: that she's never seen before, mind you), a tear fell and sizzled on the grate.
"Why are you crying?" asked a gentle voice behind her. "And what are you doing here when you should be at the ball?"
Cinderella looked round and blinked. Then blinked again. A little old lady in a red cloak stood there, with a round smiling face, and a wand, which sparkled at the tip like a firefly. "How can I go to the ball," said Cinderella, "in theses rags? How can I dance in these heavy wooden clogs? You don't know how much I long to dance!"
"Oh yes I do," said the old lady. "I am your fairy godmother," and she tapped Cinderella on the shoulder with the wand. At once Cinderella's rags vanished, and she was wearing a white silk ball gown that glittered with diamonds.
She twirled round and the silk swished and rustled, leaving a trail of perfume that was so gentle that it almost wasn't there. It smelled like summer rain.'"
"That perfume sounds just like how it smells now." Trowa cut in softly, while inhaling a little to prove his point. Usagi blushed and thanked him.
"Ok. Continuing. 'Cinderella's feet felt as light as air, and when she looked down, she saw beautiful glass slippers, twinkling in the firelight.
"Now you will go to the ball," said the fairy godmother. "But there is no carriage to take me," said Cinderella.
The old lady looked round the kitchen. She picked up an apple and looked at it carefully. "No. Wait a minute, do you see that big pumpkin?" she said pointing to the vegetable basket. "Help me carry it out into the garden."
She tapped it with her wand and, as Cinderella stared, it changed before her eyes into a glass coach that sparkled like ice. But what use was a glass coach with no horses?
Six fieldmice crouched nearby, dazzled by the shiny coach. The old lady tapped them lightly, one by one on their ears. They disappeared and in their place stood six white horses, tossing their manes in the night air.
"You need footmen - one to drive, and one to ride behind and make sure you arrive safely," said the old lady. She lifted a large leaf with her wand, and two frogs peeped out. When she tapped them with the wand, they vanished to be replaced by two footmen with white wigs and bulging eyes. "Look after your mistress," she said. "We will," they croaked.
"Now, off you go to the ball," said the fairy godmother. "But listen carefully ad don't ever forget this - you must leave the palace before midnight. At the last stroke of Twelve, all your fine clothes will disappear and you will be back in your old grey rags." Cinderella promised, and thanked her with tears in her eyes as she climbed into the coach. "Oh, thank you again!" she shouted through the window, as the glass coach swept off in a cloud of dust.
*~*~*~*
At the palace, the ballroom blazed with the light from hundreds of candles. When Cinderella appeared at the top of the staircase, everyone stopped dancing and stared at her (in the background: think of that pressure says Mina), wondering who the beautiful young stranger was. The band stopped playing and the Prince looked round to see what was happening. "I think that she must be a foreign princess," sniffed one of her stepsisters, never dreaming that this was Cinderella.
The Prince at once ran up the stairs, took her hands in his, and asked her to dance. As the music struck up again, and she was swept off in his arms, Cinderella felt that all her dreams had come true.
She had never learned to dance, but the glass slippers seemed to make it very easy and she felt as if she were floating on air. All evening, the Prince danced only with her. When others came up to ask her to dance, he held her hands tightly in his own and said, "No. This is my partner."
The Prince took her in to supper, and she ate a water ice (A/N: Does anyone actually know what that is? If so, tell me in your review) that tasted like violets. At another table, she could see her stepsisters quarrelling over the last cherry in a bowl of ice cream. As she watched, her stepmother reached over and ate it herself. But Cinderella was too excited to eat very much.
The Prince led her off again into the music. As they danced, he leaned down and said, "Did you know that your eyes are just like the sky?" When he whispered in her ear, "Will you be my princess?" Cinderella felt like she could dance with him forever. But then she was startled by a loud noise that sounded like a gong. (A/N: Wonder what that could be)
"What's that?" "Don't worry," laughed the Prince, "it's only the palace clock striking midnight, although it seems only seconds since we met." "Midnight!" cried Cinderella, and she broke away from him and rushed out of the ballroom.
The guests drew back on either side to let her through, and the Prince ran after her, but she raced like the wind down the steps. (In the background: Now that sounds more like Haruka than Usa says Mako) "Quick!" shouted the Prince. "Find her!" Footmen ran in all directions, looking for her, but she had vanished into the night. In fact, Cinderella had climbed into the palace dovecot to hide. The doves knew that she was kind and fed birds in the cold weather, and they didn't make a noise. They sat at the entrance, spreading their feathers and hiding Cinderella, and the footmen ran past and never thought to look inside. At last, Cinderella climbed down and run home, her silk dress replaced.
But back at the palace, the Prince was holding something that sparkled in the moonlight. Cinderella had been in such a hurry that one of her glass slippers had fallen off and been left behind on the palace steps. The Prince held it up. "I have found my princess," he said. "She is the owner of this slipper."
*~*~*~*
When her stepmother arrived back from the ball with her stepsisters, Cinderella was sitting in her old grey dress at her usual place beside the fire. "Quick! Undo our laces!" screeched the sisters, throwing themselves into chairs and easing off their shoes to rub their feet. "Bring me some tea!" said her stepmother, taking pins out of her hair. "So many people wanted to dance with us, we didn't have time to eat. What a ball! Isn't it a shame you'll never see such a thing? You can't imagine the dresses. And the jewels!" "Isn't the Prince wonderful to dance with?" said one of the sisters. "Oh, divine!" said the other, winking. "And there was a mysterious foreign princess," said their mother, pouring her tea into her saucer. "it's so exciting - just like a fairy tale."
*~*~*~*
The Prince carried the glass slipper with him everywhere. He couldn't sleep, and said he would not rest until he had found his princess again. Then he had an idea and he sent for two of his best footmen. "I want you to take this slipper and travel all over the land," he told them, "making sure that every girl in the country tries it on. I don't want to see you again until you have found the girl whose foot it fits." For six days the footmen rushed all over the country, to grand houses, farms and cottages. Every girl tried to make the slipper fit her. The girl in the dairy stopped churning butter and rubbed some on her foot, to try and make it slip inside. Grand ladies soaked their feet in hot perfumed water to see if they would shrink.
On the seventh day, the footmen arrived at Cinderella's house. Her stepsisters rushed to try on the glass slipper. "I wondered where I'd lost that!" said one. "Don't be silly, you know it's mine," said the other. They huffed and puffed and (A/N: blew the house down! Lolz) screwed up their toes, but it was no use. They couldn't jam their feet into the dainty slipper. "Is there no one else in the house?" asked the footmen. "Only Cinderella," snorted the stepmother. "But she's just a servant, and she certainly doesn't go to balls." "The Prince said that every girl must try it on," said the footmen. "Let her try." The sisters went to the door of the kitchen, where Cinderella was peeling a huge mound of potatoes. "You're wanted in the drawing-room," they said, "but don't bother washing, you'll be back peeling potatoes in a minute."
Cinderella went through, and a footman held out the glass slipper. She slipped her foot into it, and it fitted as if it had been made for her (A/N: which it probably was *rolls eyes*). Behind her, the ugly sisters gasped as she reached into a pocket in her old grey dress and pulled out the other glass slipper. It matched perfectly.
"There must be some mistake," spluttered her stepmother. "There is no mistake," said the footmen. "This is our new princess - look how beautiful she is, with eyes like the sky." They took off their hats and bowed in front of Cinderella. "We have a gold coach outside," said one. "Will you come with us now to the palace?" Cinderella was still holding the potato knife. She handed it to one of her stepsisters, who took it as if it were a rose, and curtseyed. "Can we come, too?" They squealed, "We are her sisters."
The footmen placed a cloak of sky blue silk over Cinderella's shoulders and said, "Hurry. The Prince is waiting." The stepsisters and their mother were left in the courtyard, their mouths hanging open, as Cinderella went off in her golden coach.
*~*~*~*
The Prince stood at the top of the Palace steps and held out his arms in welcome. Cinderella ran up the steps, and the doves flew beside her, holding up her cloak. "At last I have found my Princess," said the Prince, holding her to him, "and I'm never going to let you go this time." More invitations were sent out, this time to a royal wedding.
*~*~*~*
In Cinderella's old home, her stepsisters had to make their own breakfast. "How can I make toast when you've let the fire go out?" snapped one. "Oh, do it yourself," said the other. "It's all your fault. If we'd been nicer to Cinderella, we would have been asked to the wedding."
But then there was a knock at the door, and there stood a footman with a stiff white envelope. The stepsisters tore it open and found invitations to the royal wedding inside. Cinderella was so happy that she couldn't bear the thought of anyone being unhappy - even the stepsisters who had been so unkind to her. While they stared at the invitations, the sister with the unbaked bread let it hang from her hand, while the dog nibbled at it without her knowledge.
*~*~*~*
The palace cook made twenty different kinds of ice cream, and baked a cake that was big enough for everyone in the country to have a slice.'"
"That means that there was enough to feed Usa and Duo alone for a few weeks." Rei commented.
"Hey!" Usa and Duo exclaimed. "We don't eat that much!"
"Whatever, just go back to reading Odango."
"Fine! Just stop interrupting! ~clears throat~ 'On the morning of the wedding, the ballroom was filled with so many white lilies and rose trees, that it looked like a garden.
*~*~*~*
At the wedding party, the Prince held Cinderella tightly and said, "You're not going to disappear at midnight again, are you?" (A/N: Lolz, imagine why he wouldn't want her to do that? Lolz, ~jk!) "Never," replied Cinderella, and she went to the top of the staircase and looked through the crowd until she spotted her stepsisters, clinging to each other sadly in a corner. Then she took her wedding bouquet of white roses and threw it down at them. They stretched up, caught it, and for a moment they didn't look ugly at all.
Turning back to the Prince, Cinderella smiled and said, "Wouldn't it be lovely if everyone could live happily ever after - just like us?"'"
"That was a great story!" Mako commented. "But there sure was a lot of white flowers, wasn't there, Usa? You'd probably like a wedding like that, wouldn't you?"
Usagi blushed and said, "Sure, I'd love to get married like that. But there's a problem." Everyone looked at her expectantly. "I don't think that anyone would be willing to make a cake that big."
Everyone burst out laughing. When they all calmed down, Trowa looked to the next page and said, "Ok, the next one is yours Mako."
Trowa helped Usa pass the book to Rei, who was next to her, and then she had Wufei help her pass it to Mako.
"I guess that I should start reading now, right?" After nods from everyone, she took a deep breath, trying to hold in her blush from everyone's attention on her. "Here we go."
*~*~*~*
RubyRedDragon05: Here's the next chappie! Glad you like Rei/Wufei, *almost* everyone does! Lolz.
S: Some people don't like the pairings, but that's ok.
Anne: I'm not sure about the interesting part, that's for you to decide, but it is kinda new, and I'm glad that it's refreshing for you.
Dark Emerald Flame: Ok! Is this soon enough? I agree, Mako/Heero are the best! I love the pairings too, lolz, that's why I did it! Here's Cinderella, want more? And, I know that this is kinda clueless, but what does rnrn mean? ^_^;
Dr.Cricket: Ok, I've updated! And what do you mean, by 'or else'?
Archangela: Yay! Thank you! Here's the next chappie! BTW, I like your name!
baby-bunnygurl: I'm very happy that you liked the couples! And that you liked the plot, and think it's cute! I didn't really think it would be this reviewed!
Firenze: Thx! And that just came out! Lolz.
Firey of Jupiter: I'm very sorry that the couplings aren't the way you wanted them to be, but I'm sticking to them. Sry. Maybe you could write your own fic with Mako/Trowa?
Zaeria: Now you know what fairytale Usa was going to read! Lolz! Update soon enough for you? Thx.
angelicmayuka: Yay! It's interesting! Lolz, that's ok if you don't like one of the pairings, I don't really mention them much. *shrug* I will keep going!
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Tenshi-Hotaru: Hey everyone! Did you like this chappie? Well, the next one is for Mako. I'm not doing this in any specific order, I'm just writing this in the order I can flip the pages. First was Usa's, and then it was Mako's, next is. someone's. I won't tell you until I get there. So you'll have to wait. See ya next chappie!