Author's Note: THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. Read it before you read the story, please.
This story was written by me, specifically for the Neopian Times. I like it a lot, though, and decided to post it on Fanfiction. If there is a problem, I will not hesitate to take proper action, however.
It has not been submitted to the Neopets team for judging. You need to have the whole story written first, and I only have a few parts written. Nonetheless, if I find anyone at all submitting it to the Times, or possibly even getting it published, I will be very unhappy. I take theft very seriously. I'm not going to make one of those silly threats like 'I'm gonna hunt you down and rip off your arms and legs if you steal this!' Because it's not practical. But I will not blink before reporting you. You could very well end up frozen. So DON'T DO it!
Sorry, I had to be mean there for a minute. Maybe I'm just paranoid. Please don't take offense if you're one of my existing friends, I know you'd never steal anything from me. But you never know about other people who could be/are reading this.
Also, what you are reading is the unaltered version that I am submitting to the Times. I will take off the HTML tags off for posting it up on Fanfiction, but if I do happen to miss any, please ignore them.
Because this fic is the unaltered version, the rating will be K+. Neopets doesn't allow anything higher, such as T.
One last thing: I am cen b 905 (that is my Neopets username. Where the spaces are, there is an underslash). I hope that clears up any confusion there.
So, without further ado, let's introduce the main character…
Arabella: Beginnings – Part I
By cen b 905
It was an almost starless night, due to the heavily clouded sky, but to a certain faerie, the near darkness was soothing. Perched on a bench outside of her dorm room, Arabella sighed contentedly; this was her favorite time of the day. The coolness and soft, wafting breezes of the air were comforting. She could hear her roommate and best friend, Rachelle, snoring softly through the screen door. Arabella knew she should be doing likewise, but there was too much on her mind. Bella was nearing the end of her fourth and last year at Miss Naxen's Faerie Academy for the Gifted. And that meant crunch time: preparing for exams, choosing what career to pursue after school, and so forth.
"Caw, caw!" The call of an Airax broke through her thoughts of studying, and pushed them to the back of Arabella's mind. She surveyed the creature with purple eyes curiously; Airaxes were rarely seen in suburban Faerieland.
Her eyes were somewhat famed about the academy – a ring of light violet around her pupil faded to a deep amethyst, the whole iris surrounded by a ring of royal blue. It was the eye of a dark faerie.
Perhaps that could explain why most of the others stayed away from Arabella like she had Neopox. Dark faeries were usually not admitted into Miss Naxen's, but Bella was a special case. She had proven to do exceptionally well in primary school. But even so, a select few were hard to convince to even tolerate the presence of a dark faerie. Namely the prejudiced race's polar opposite, the light faeries.
It wasn't that Arabella was a 'bad' faerie; and many times she wondered how she could even be a dark faerie. If she ever caused any trouble, it was usually because someone had started picking on her first. That wasn't a rare happening.
But time after time, Rachelle had stood by Arabella's side, helping to defend her roommate. A faerie couldn't ask for a better friend. Rachelle was one of the golden few, including the headmistress Miss Naxen, who saw past Bella's dark faerie exterior. The two had met in their first year, and from that time were inseparable.
Noticing that her eyelids were starting to droop, Arabella leaned against the wall and allowed herself to drift into sleep.
--
It was Bella's favorite dream. She watched her dream-self's eyes widen in pure joy as she was crowned the Queen of Faerieland. That had always been her biggest hope, the thing that had made her want to come to Miss Naxen's. The school had a creditable politics course that attracted many Faerie Queen and Royal Court hopefuls alike. Dream Bella rose and walked gracefully over to a podium, ready to start her acceptance address. Before she could open her mouth, though, she was interrupted.
"Bella! Wake up! You don't want to have to skip breakfast, right? Besides, it's the last week of the school year!" A voice the dark faerie knew well cut through her dream.
"Of course I don't want to skip breakfast, Ray," Arabella joked, blinking sleep from her eyes. She used the nickname for the fire faerie she had thought up in first year. "I know you'd throw a fit if I did." Rachelle was known for her healthy habits, and was scarcely seen eating junk food.
"Yeah, starting off a day without breakfast is a big no-no," Rachelle agreed, seemingly oblivious that her friend was joking. "By the way, Etiquette is first today."
Arabella made a face, Etiquette being her least favorite class. There were only so many curtsies and formal dance steps one could learn before having enough. And, to make matters worse, it was taught by a light faerie that loved pointing out errors in Bella's form or posture.
The pair hurried down the great marble stairs to the mess hall, before the bell chimed for breakfast to be over. Arabella loaded her plate up with a heap of faerie pancakes, doused in syrup and butter, and an icing-smothered chocolate faerie cake.
Rachelle looked reproachfully at her friend's tray before launching into a speech about how fattening and unhealthy the dark faerie's chosen meal was. Arabella had learned not to pay attention to her friend's lectures by the start of her second year.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Miss Future Queen and the health nut," a voice declared, drowning out Rachelle's speech. Scattered giggles resonated in the mess hall, and then quieted down to see how Arabella would respond.
The dark faerie didn't even have to turn around to know who it was. She finished her bite of pancake and retorted, "If it isn't the goody two shoes."
"Now, now," the being behind her said, "Is that any way to speak to me ?"
Rolling her eyes, Arabella took another bite of her pancake. Slowly, she finished chewing her mouthful, getting control of her temper at the same time. She turned in her seat. "What do you want, Fyora?"
"Oh, nothing," The light faerie that Bella detested said innocently, lips curled into a coy smile. "I just want to be sure that you don't forget me. But then again, how could you forget such a pretty face?"
Rachelle mimed gagging on her whole oat cereal. "Let's go, Bella, before Fyora's big head can swell up any more. You never know, one of these days it might take up so much room that we won't be able to breathe."
The two faeries scurried off, laughing, before their enemy could say any more.
--
It was not a good morning for Arabella, to say the least. Coming down with a minor sickness, her class' Study of Magic teacher was absent for the day. That meant a double dose of Etiquette, to temporarily replace the missed subject.
"No, no, Arabella," Mrs. Gwyneth said, rather crossly. "Show me again how you would curtsy to someone of second class nobility."
Clumsily, the dark faerie pulled her skirts out, and sank slightly to the ground, left foot behind the right. She didn't remember if this was the particular curtsy where you had to bow your head, but threw it in anyway.
"As I thought," the teacher reprimanded. "You're doing it all wrong. You're supposed to sink about two inches lower than that, and have your right foot behind the left, not the opposite!"
Arabella sighed and stopped paying attention when the light faerie droned on about posture. "How anyone gets this is beyond me," she whispered to Rachelle, who was standing beside her. This produced a snicker from the fire faerie; Etiquette wasn't her best subject, either.
"Now, on to sitting down. When you sit down at a royal feast or event, you must do so elegantly and smoothly, as though it is completely natural. It must also seem to require no effort at all. So, you must smooth your skirts underneath you, and then spread them all around yourself, like so," Mrs. Gwyneth instructed, demonstrating as she did so. "Now, can I have a volunteer? Fyora, of course, go on, dear."
Fyora had to be one of Mrs. Gwyneth's favorite students, not only because they were both light faeries, but because Etiquette was nothing short of natural to her. She sat gracefully on the chair just the way the teacher had instructed, skirts fanned out in a perfect half-circle. This earned raucous applause from everybody but Bella and Rachelle.
"Excellent, very well done, Fyora," Mrs. Gwyneth beamed at her star pupil.
With a smug grin, Fyora returned to her peers. When the teacher's back was turned, Fyora mimicked Arabella curtsying stupidly and falling over. All the faeries around her shook with suppressed laughter. Like so many other times, Bella merely stared straight ahead, pretending not to hear.
--
Much to Arabella's displeasure, the Study of Magic teacher was absent for the rest of the week. The dark faerie felt a little sorrow at this; it would be the last time to see her favorite teacher before graduating.
Nothing seemed to put a damper on Rachelle's spirits for the week, though, the fire faerie being her usual optimistic self.
"Can't you wait for the graduation dance tonight?" Rachelle asked anxiously, practically bouncing up and down in her seat. The faeries were in their last class of the day, the last day of the school year. A grand ball was to be held for all of the fourth years that night, celebrating their rite of passage.
"Actually, yes," answered a gloomy Arabella, unable to push pictures of Fyora and her followers from her mind.
Rachelle looked scandalized. "You mean, you aren't going? But I thought you'd already picked out your dress and shoes and hair, and we were going to get pictures together and…"
The dark faerie couldn't help grinning at her friend. "Of course I'm going, silly. I just implied that I hope a certain light faerie doesn't mess up our night…"
Her fire-empowered friend just shook her head. "Can't you forget about her for at least a couple of hours, and just have fun? It's supposed to be fun, you know, us graduating and everything…"
"Ok, ok, I'll try to have fun. But I want you to know I'm only doing it for you," Arabella added hastily.
Rachelle only smiled.
To be continued…
A/n: Ooh, Fyora can be evil, no? It's about time someone made her out to be something other than a 'wise old queen' and the 'purest being of the land'. I've read a lot of versions of that, too, and believe me, it makes you want to gag after a while. Besides, who says she can't be evil at the Academy? Maybe she changed while she was Queen. :P
I already have some of the nextpart written, so expect an update sometime next week. Remember, a part has to be at least 1,500 words for TNT to accept it.
Feel free to neomail me or email me about the story:D
Until next time!