Shotarella
Summary: Once upon a time in a land far far away lived a lonely prince and a pretty young girl who lived with her two evil step-mother and step-sisters. This is not their story. Oz Vessalius and his two step sisters are invited to a ball. Cinderella/PH parody!
Chapter 3- Dresses and a Bitter-Sweet Memory
"Bye... Have a good time picking up your dress and eating salad, Alice-san!" Oz called as he and Alyss sat on the staircase watching Alice get dragged out of the manor by her mother. "Heh Heh... poor Alice. She has to spend the whole day with that bitch and then the whole night at the ball. Oh well, Alyss to the attic! I have a surprise for you! Come, Come!" Oz says grabbing her hand, pulling her up the stairs to the fourth floor of their manor house where the attic was. "I was up here exploring a couple days ago and found an old trunk full of my mother's dresses. I looked through them and found this one." Oz says pulling a blanket off of a figurine showing a beautiful blue and white ball gown. Alyss's eyes widened slightly at its beauty, the top of the dress perfectly fit the body's shape with a built in corset, exposing the back. The only things on the shoulders were two golden ribbons that looked like straps; at the top of the dress there were red roses from the collar of the dress down to the bottom of the corseted. The skirt part laced out with a deep blue with the roses on each side of the hips with a golden bow at the bottom of each bundle. Underneath that part was white lace that went to her ankles where the deep blue silk fabric went the rest of the way down. Over top of the white lace was a silky light blue fabric that only covered the front of the dress and the back, exposing the sides. Alyss was shocked that such a dress was stuffed into a trunk, to her it was beautiful and she looked at Oz with confused eyes before Oz grinned at her. "You're going to wear it to the ball! I know you like the color red but blue looks so beautiful on you." Oz says smiling gently watching Alyss tear up before stepping forward to touch the dress.
"It might not fit." Alyss says with worry of ruining one of Oz's mother's dresses but Oz only smiled.
"It'll fit, believe me... It will." Oz says with a gentle smile as if he was remembering something from his past. 'My mother was wearing this dress the day she met father... It's good luck.' He thought running his fingers over the lace. "Shall we try it on?" He says looking up at Alyss who blushed embarrassedly. They took it down stairs and had Miss Kate help Alyss get dressed, once she was dressed she almost cried at how she looked in it and Oz grinned cheerfully. "Will you come to the ball now, Alyss? The prince may fall head over heels for you that night." Oz says calmly watching Alyss twirl around in front of the mirror with a joyful smile on her face.
"Yes! I want to! I want to go and dance with the prince!" Alyss says happily running over and hugging Oz tightly. "You're the best! I don't know why Alice is so mean to you!" She squeals squeezing him tightly and Oz smiled softly.
"Let hurry and get this put this in my room so mother doesn't find it. Then we will have to make a plan on when we're arriving and when we're leaving so we can elude mother's arrival and departure." Oz says with a slight grin and Alyss nodded back with a slight grin before pushing him gently out of the room so she could change. 'This is too easy... Something bad is going to happen. I can just feel it in my stomach.' Oz thought uneasily as he looked at the time on the pocket watch Jack had given him for his fifteenth birthday. "They'll be back in half an hour, knowing that stupid woman; she will come in ranting and raving about something that was completely wrong." Oz muttered as he heard the door open and Alyss handed him the dress. "Wow, you're a quick dresser." Oz says with a small chuckle before he took the dress to his room to hide in his closet. Once he was done with that he joined Alyss for lunch as they discussed the last step in their plan knowing that it was probably the most important one. Once they were finished with lunch they went out and sat in the garden waiting for the rest of their family to return.
"Did you speak to Ada-chan?" Alyss asks calmly playing with a flower she had picked from the garden and Oz nodded resting his head against the back of his chair.
"She said she received the invitation and was going straight to the ball from her school so we won't have to worry about her. Miss Kate has set up transportation for us after mother leaves and we'll leave at midnight because I am sure mother will stay until three o clock." Oz says calmly repeating most of the things they decided on and Alyss smiles.
"Tell me what the prince is like again." She whispers resting her head against the table they were sitting at. Oz looked at her with a slight raise of his eyebrow before laughing softly.
"Well... He tall, handsome, lots of girls like him because of his looks. He's not one for hiding his real self though. He's a playful, happy-go-lucky man that will do anything for his friends... He cares deeply for his country and he is able to make a music box into a watch." Oz says with a small laugh knowing he's said that several times to Alyss but she always kept asking him. 'I don't understand girls...' He thought with a small chuckle as he watched Alyss sigh with a longing look. "The ball will be here in a few hours, Alyss. Hang in there. I will make sure you meet him..." Oz says softly as Alyss smiles back at him with childlike eyes.
"This is the first time I've disobeyed my mother... I should be terrified but I feel all giddy inside." She says with a small giggle as they saw the carriage pull into the drive. They sighed knowing that there would be screaming and soon enough they heard just that but to their surprise it was Alice that was screaming. Something about provocative clothing and not going to the ball; then they heard their mother yell back before they heard a slam and then another slam.
"Well they both seem to be in high spirits." Oz says with sarcasm in his voice as Alyss sighs.
"I am not going in there..." Alyss says with a small pout and Oz sighed.
"It's my duty to make sure they don't break stuff... I'll be back in five minutes, if I'm not just assume I'll be back in ten." Oz says with a small laugh before he headed of toward the manor.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Are you sure you do not wish to attend?" Alyss's and Alice's mother says wearing the sultriest attire that you could imagine (Seriously imagine it because I'm not describing it!).
"It seems that I cannot find my invitation... so I am afraid that I will not be able to attend mother. Please make up an excuse as for why I am not there for me." Oz says casually hiding his grin as he watched Alice pull up the extremely low top of her blood red ball gown with a look of disgust.
"Of course, dear... Shall we go Alice?" She says turning to her struggling daughter with a look of satisfaction.
"Yes..." Alice says with an annoyed sound to her voice as the two left and Oz let the grin spread across his face as he turned to Alyss who was sitting on the stairs wearing her nightgown.
"Shall we go get you ready? Miss Kate should be waiting for you." Oz says calmly as he snuck to the window, watching at the carriage with Alice and her mother leave.
"Yes... I shall go get ready." Alyss says quickly running up stairs and Oz smiled sadly as he saw the full moon.
'It's just like the first time I met Gilbert... all we're missing is the bitter cold night right after the ice storm.' Oz thought closing his eyes as he pulled away from the window; remembering his beloved but painful memory.
'All I have to do is jump into the pond... That's all I have to do and I'll be with mom.' A fifteen year old Oz Vessalius thought staring at the partly frozen pond water that he knew was over twelve feet deep. He was at the palace and he liked to sit on the bridge in the summer but currently it was winter and his heart just couldn't take the pain anymore. His mother had died years ago and his father cast him away, separating him from his beloved little sister Ada. With that thought in his mind he slipped his shoes off and set them with his jacket that he had stripped from the minute he had stopped on the bridge. Even though he felt the blistering cold nip at his entire body he only smiled sadly as he stared down at the dark waters knowing no one would probably find him once he jumped, he let out a small sigh letting his breath crystallize right in front of him as he climbed up onto the railing. Gathering up all of his courage he got ready to jump but right as he was about to jump he felt a gloved hand grab his arm causing him to jerk back and almost lose his balance but two hands steadied him.
"Young Master... Why are you standing up there? It's dangerous, you shouldn't do such things." The person says calmly as Oz looked down at the person's messy black hair. He was shocked that someone stopped him but even more shocked because he knew who the boy was. He had just appeared in the garden on day in the fall and the king just took him in without another thought. Oz had never even spoken to him but he saw him working on cleaning the rooms sometimes. "Young master, won't you get down from there? You could slip on the ice that likes to sit on the railings." The boy says softly tugging Oz's arm gently and before Oz even realized it he felt his feet touch the snowy bridge. The boy then looked up at him with teary eyes and Oz felt his heart sink slightly. "Where are your shoes young masters? You need to put them on this instant or you'll get chilblains on your toes." He says quickly scanning the area before he picked up Oz's shoes and knelt in front of Oz sliding the shoes back on to Oz's bear feet. "You should really be wearing sock, young master. Especially when it's cold outside like this... What were you doing out here so late at night? You should be resting for tomorrow..." The boy continued as Oz stared dazedly at him before collapsing beside him. The boy looked at him shocked before Oz collapsed into the boy's chest and began crying.
"Y-You aren't very smart..." Oz mutters realizing how cold he really was when he felt the boy's warmth on his chilled skin.
"If I have to say who has more brains I would say you have less than I do, sir... After all I was not the one playing around in the palace gardens in my bear feet without a jacket or cloak in the middle of winter." The boy says calmly causing Oz to laugh softly as he felt his jacket get draped around his shoulders. "But young master you should return to the palace before you catch your death of cold." He says softly helping Oz stand up and that's when he heard footsteps coming toward them.
"Gilbert-kun! Hey, there you are! I was worried about you! ...Huh? O-Oz, my god what happened?" A teen's voice shouts Oz lifted his head up to see his Cousin Jack staring back at him with a worried look.
"He was playing on the railing, your majesty... I don't know why though, it's dangerous to begin with but in the middle of winter after that terrible ice storm... Young master is must be trying to test his luck." The boy says causing Oz to laugh and mutter about him being really stupid and Jack frowned realizing what Oz was trying to do.
"Let us all go back to the palace and Oz can explain exactly what he was doing out here... Come on Oz, Gilbert-kun." Jack says motioning the two to fallow him back to the palace.
"Oz-niisama." Oz heard Alyss call from the stairs as he looked up and saw Alyss wearing the gown and he tilted his head to the side with a playful look hiding his other emotions from his younger sister.
"You're not going without make up and your hair done are you?" Oz asks as he went up the stairs to help her finish getting ready, already enjoying the blush on her cheeks. 'I wonder if he's realized just how much he had saved me then.' Oz thought with a small smile forming on his lip at the warm feeling in his chest.