A/N: This chapter was written by me, Holbyta, SamoaPheonix9, and Wrestlemaniac829.
A few hours had passed and by that time Frederick and Maria had just finished reading the book. By now, they were just at the very end of the story and in all that time Maria was moved through the emotion carried out within these pages.
"When Guinevere heard that Arthur was slain," Frederick read. "She went away to a convent, and no one could make her smile again. The end."
"What a beautiful story," Maria said with a smile.
"I knew you would like it!" Frederick replied, returning a smile.
It was then that Frederick took notice of what was going on outside. He looked out toward the window, noticing the land covered in a blanket of snow as the snowflakes fell from the clouds toward the ground.
"Look, it's snowing," He then turned back to Maria. "Want to go outside with me?"
"I'd love to," Maria answered with a smile. "It's been such a long time since I've played in the snow."
"Great! Let's go."
Excited, Frederick grabbed Maria's paw and they walked out of the library together preparing to greet the dawn of a beautiful Winter Wonderland.
Once the two emerged outside, the ground was covered in a beautiful blanket of white snow and the snow itself was crisp to the touch when they set foot onto the ground. To keep warm, Maria was dressed in her green dress and purple cloak, while Frederick was dressed in his overcoat and tri-cornered hat. It had been so long since Maria stepped outside the castle, to actually enjoy this climate without walking through a blizzard. She twirled all around the snow, as if she felt like a child seeing snow for the first time.
"It's so wonderful out here."
"Yes, it is," Frederick replied. "A fresh blanket of snow is always nice after a snow fall."
It was then that Frederick noticed just how happy Maria seemed, twirling about in a circle from whence she stood. Frederick couldn't help but chuckle at her antics.
"You act as though you've never left the castle in years."
Maria paused from her twirling and turned to face Frederick.
"Oh yes, it's been so long since I've been outside and touched the snow."
Maria then lowered her head and stared at the snow along her feet. Frederick took a look around the area, when he felt a drop of snow on his head. He looked up to see it came from snow that slipped off a branch or two from a tall tree next to him and stepped back. Suddenly, he felt a cold smack against the back of his head, his hat flying off his head and onto the ground. He quickly turned to see that Maria had thrown a snowball at him, softly tossing another snowball in her paw and giggling.
"But I haven't forgotten how to have a snowball fight!"
Frederick smiled and raised an eyebrow.
"Oh really?"
"Frederick then bent down, reaching to the ground. He picked up a roll of snow in his hand and rolled it up around his hands.
"Two can play this game!"
He then threw the snowball at Maria, which exploded upon hitting her in the shoulder. Soon enough, the two engaged in a large snowball fight, which seemed to last forever as they hardly noticed the sun slowly setting. In that amount of time, the snowball fight had ended as Frederick and Maria fell flat on their backs, laughing.
While flat on his back, Frederick moves his arms and legs in and out on the ground. Frederick slowly gets up to admire his imprint; he had made a snow angel. Maria looks at the snow angel and smiles, admiring Frederick's handiwork. She then looks at her imprint, but it made her cringe.
"That's not an angel," She said. "That's a monster."
Maria then lowered her head shamefully, a single tear slides down her cheek and onto the snow.
It was then that Frederick noticed the tear and in that short moment felt sorry for Maria. For some time, he had judged this woman as a hideous monster with hardly a soul to carry. And yet, seeing her in this state made Frederick realized that there was still some humanity within her. A creature with feelings, of a deep sense of longing reaching out for something she lost. Frederick just didn't know how he could help with that… But there was something he could do. Approaching the imprint, he studies the figurine carefully and it was then he had an idea. He bent down as Maria turned to watch him, as he drew a halo with one finger above the imprint's head. He stood with a smile, admiring his handiwork.
"An Angel is no Angel without a halo, don't you think?"
Maria looked at the halo above the imprint, as a change in expression slowly reforms her of her sadness. Whatever Frederick had done, as simple as it may seem, it was as if she could now look at it another way as a smile forms on her face. She turned to Frederick, who's attention is still on the imprint. She slowly reaches out with her paw and grips his hand lightly. He turned around till he's face-to-face with Maria, tears of joy flowing down her face. Softly, she spoke:
"Thank you."
"Your welcome," Frederick replied, returning the smile.
As the day turned to night, growing later with each passing hour, Maria had since returned to the comforts of her room. She had since changed into a pink night gown, just getting ready for bed. A knock on the door drew her attention, as the door slowly opened and Miss Doe peered through.
"M'lady?" She asked. "May I come in?"
"You may enter," Maria replied.
Of course, Maria's mind wasn't so much on Miss Doe passing through. As she was lost in her thoughts, Maria ran a brush through her dark hair and a smile is on her face. It had been such a long day and she could recall every waking hour spent with Frederick: Reading the story together, the snowball fight... It was like whenever she was with him, in a way, Maria almost felt… Human again… Almost. As Miss Doe entered the bedroom, she stopped for a moment and gasped.
"Why Mistress, you're brushing your hair!"
"Why are you so surprised?" Maria asked, cocking an eyebrow at her servant. "Has taking an interest in one's personal upkeep become so very unusual?"
Maria turned away from Miss Doe, winching as she brushed through a nasty tangle. Just one out of the few trouble spots she had gone through attempting to straighten her rather uncontrollable hair.
"Well, no, but…" Miss Doe seemed to recollect herself. "Never mind! Don't pay attention to my ramblings. I'm glad to see you taking an interest again, Mistress, that's all. I believe the castle hairdresser is still around somewhere; if you'd like me to, I could send for her at once."
"Not this time," Maria answered absently. "I think I'd like to do it myself tonight. But sometime soon, certainly, if you'd be so good as to alert her."
With pleasure, Mistress," Miss Doe smiles. "Will there be anything else?"
"No. You and the others can go on to bed." Maria said, wrestling with another tangle.
Growing frustrated, Maria pulled and pulled with all her might. Suddenly, the hairbrush snapped between the bristles and the handle, the bristles stuck in Maria's hair. Losing her patience, Maria let out a frustrated growl and flung the now-empty handle across the room.
"It's no use! All these years of neglect… It's hopeless now."
Miss Doe turned to see Maria, who's head was clasped within her paws. She shook her head and slowly approached Maria, who turned to see her position herself next to her on the bed.
"Nonsense, Mistress. It's not right to give up so easily. It only wants a little patience and care, and soon it will be as beautiful as it ever was."
As Miss Doe came forward, she gently worked the top part of the brush out of the mistress' hair using her teeth and hooves, pulling gently as to not pull out bits of hair off of Maria's head.
"You're not talking about hair anymore, Miss Doe," Maria spoke, with a sigh. "I can tell."
"Try the brush with the teeth spaced further apart, works better for tangles," Miss Doe replies practically. "
Without utter a retort, Maria does so and finds the job much easier. As she works over her hair, her servant ventured to add:
"But you're right. I wasn't really talking about your hair; I was talking about you."
Maria glanced at the mirror for no longer than a second, before turning away with no urge to see her reflection any longer. It took a deep breath to control her tears, which hung around her eyes. Miss Doe took a seat on a nearby stool, smoothing out her apron.
"Forgive me for saying this, Mistress, but you haven't been human for so long that you've forgotten what it was like. And yet you expect to just become the girl you once were overnight. It takes time, and practice, to remember everything that you once took for granted. If only you let us and Frederick help you, it will be much easier. Now, if you'd be so kind, let me summon the hairdresser so that she can see about putting your hair in order. In the future, I'm sure you'll be able to do it yourself without trouble. But getting the tangles out will take an expertise that neither you nor I possess."
"All right, go ahead and send for her," Maria answered.
She glanced in the mirror again and winced. But it wasn't so much of her face or physical appearance that made her do so. Her head was practically a bird's nest of half-smooth, half tangled hair sticking out wildly in all directions. Miss Doe stood from her seat and made way for the door.
"Don't you worry, Mistress. Things will turn out all right in the end."
Miss Doe was half way out the door when Maria calls out in a whisper:
"Wait."
"Yes?" Miss Doe's large ears pricked forward.
"Do you think he likes me?"
"Frederick?"
Maria nods miserably, feeling almost ashamed to ask and even more ashamed knowing if it was so stupid that the answer was so obvious to her. Miss Doe considered and pondered at the idea. To Maria's surprise, Miss Doe turns to her with a soft smile and speaks out her opinion from the bottom of her heart.
"From what I've seen, yes, I think he does. Still, he may not be fully aware of it for he's a man of honor, after all. It may disturb him to realize he has feelings for you when clearly he considers himself engaged to another woman."
"Then what can I do?" Maria snapped. "It's not as if we have time to wait for his betrothed to die of old age. The rose is wilting faster every day!"
"I never forgot," Miss Doe spoke, her tone slightly colder than usual.
The very retort coming from Miss Doe made Maria wince. It was then she remembered that the rose was as much of a time bomb to her servants as it was to herself. And the realization suddenly sent a wave of shame upon her, reflecting how selfish she had just acted towards the servants who truly cared for her.
"I'm sorry," She mumbled unhappily. "I shouldn't have said that."
"It's all right, Mistress," Miss Doe replied softly. "I understand."
Neither Maria or Miss Doe said anything after that, a long silence filled the room during these few moments. No doubt much was going on in their heads, so many thoughts to consider and so many ideas discarded. Until at last, a clear image ran into Miss Doe's head and she declared her thought to the Mistress.
"I think I may have something that might work. With your permission, I wish to discuss this with Cogsworth, Lumiere, Manx, and the other heads of staff and see if they think it can be done. Give or take a few days, we'll let you know. Granted it will require some hard work on all of our parts, but I do believe it's manageable enough that it just might work."
"What's the idea?"
Miss Doe, hearing the anxious tone in Maria's voice, simply smiled and said:
"We'll tell you when we've got a few more of the details ironed out. I don't wish to get everyone's hopes up if the others believe this idea won't work. In the meantime, I suggest you'd keep down what you've been doing with Frederick, just to see what comes of it. I'll be sure to send the castle hairdresser up directly."
Miss Doe soon went out and shut the door behind her.
"You know I'm not fond of suspense!" Maria shouted after her, but reply there came not.
She growled softly to herself, still she held her temper. If the servants preferred to be mysterious and anonymous, she might as well allow them to be as such. In the meantime, she could simply enjoy her days with Frederick, a prospect she didn't mind at all. If what Miss Doe said was true and it would take a few days to plan, the least she could do was make the best of her time. So she settled back on her chair, awaiting for the hairdresser to arrive.