Chapter 7
by Starsinger
This is the last chapter. I'd like to thank my Mom for helping me get complementary colors to Kitty's gowns. There has been such a great response to this story that I will, or Peter, will tell his daughters another fairy tale starring the X-Men. I'll let Peter announce who at the end of the story. If you'd like to see your favorite X-Men star in your favorite fairy tale, message me and tell me who, and which fairy tale. I'll, I mean Peter, will see what he can do. Still don't own them.
The elephant in the room, that is what a subject or an object is called when it can't be ignored, but no one is sure what to do. In the Queen's sitting room the shoe was the elephant. Jean Paul, Charles, Remy Brian and Logan had all tried the shoe on. It wasn't to see if the shoe would fit, they all knew that it wouldn't, it was to determine how they could discover if the soft leather shoe would fit. Jean Paul figured that all they had to do was find where the toes were. No one had come close to fitting in the shoe. In fact it tended to flop when the picked up their feet to walk. Jean Paul literally walked out of the shoe. Brian had come closest to fitting, but he still came short.
"You know what they say about men who wear big shoes?" Jean Paul asked with a smirk.
"That they have big feet?" Ororo asked, glaring at Jean Paul.
"Yes, Your Majesty, that they have big feet," Jean Paul retreated under her glare.
The Court Herald, Sean Cassidy, was proclaiming that, "He who fit the shoe, would marry the Princess." They could hear his voice outside as he announced this to the town outside the castle walls.
"Well, mon ami," Jean Paul said quietly as he walked over to Remy, "It's time. There is probably a horde of men waiting to try on this shoe in the ballroom."
"HOW did I get talked into this?" Remy asked loudly.
"Because Jean Paul has a foot fetish," growled Logan. Jean Paul actually looked hurt before Remy pushed him out the door. The line of courtiers standing in front of the chair in the ballroom stretched out the door and out the gates of the castle. Jean Paul sat while Remy hovered nearby, this was going to be a long day.
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Piotr found himself helping Nikolai build fence posts. Some of the sheep had ambled through the old fence and needed to be repaired. He suddenly snapped back to reality as he heard Nikolai call his name sharply, "Piotr! Pay attention, please. Shovel the dirt back into the holes so we can anchor the posts!" Piotr proceeded to follow his order. "What is with you today, if the Duke caught you daydreaming…" He left the warning hanging.
"I talked to the Duchess Frost, yesterday," Piotr confessed. "She told me that there is a Will. She's going to try and find her copy of it. She said it named me the Duke." He spoke this in a low whisper. The last thing he needed was for his stepfather or stepbrothers to hear the news.
Nikolai glanced around carefully before resuming his work, his hands were shaking, "Are you sure?"
"Emma has no reason to lie, my friend. She knew Mother before she married Sebastian. He started in on another hole, "There might be another complication, though. I've fallen in love."
"That's wonderful! The Duchess finds the Will and you bring home a Duchess!" Piotr let the older man's warm feelings wash over him. If he became the Duke, he would take care of his sister and honor his mother's Will. What if Princess Catherine discovered he was the mystery man and they married? Would he be able to insure his sister became the Duchess? He sighed, that had been Sebastian's plan, to make sure the Duchy passed to Illyana. He had a lot to think about.
"Piotr! Nikolai!" both men glanced up as Scott walked confidently across the fields. "When you're done, we need to make sure the house is clean. The King has made a pronouncement! Apparently, a shoe was left last night at the ball. They're going to every eligible man in the kingdom to see if they fit the shoe. We need to make sure everything is ready when they come to take me to the palace." He turned and left the two behind.
Piotr and Nikolai both sighed. They knew that they would need to help Anette clean the chalet. They also knew that Scott's overconfidence was funny. They stopped work and started laughing. There was no way the Princess had fallen for that overly arrogant ninny.
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Weeks passed, and still Jean Paul and Remy had not found the mystery man. In fact, Remy looked like he was about to strangle Jean Paul, the man seemed to never tire of playing with people's feet! On one of their rare breaks from searching, Kitty and Anna joined them in Remy's sitting room. Kitty was examining the exquisite box that Alexandra had given Remy years before. Remy yawned, "If I see another fallen arch I'll scream."
Kitty chuckled, "Go ahead, no one will mind! Remy, what's this red button?" Remy sat straight up. The red button, the one Alexandra had told him about years before. How had he missed it? He watched as Kitty pulled a hairpin out of her hair and poked it at something at the bottom of the box. It popped open. Papers fell from the open bottom. Kitty bent down and picked them up, "The Last Will and Testament of the Duchess Alexandra Rasputin."
Jean Paul and Remy shot up out of their chairs and over to her. Sure enough, the Will detailed everything from making Piotr, her only son and heir, the next Duke. It also allocated income for Sebastian and his sons. It said nothing about Illyana, "That makes sense, she died in childbirth. She never had a chance to alter the will," Remy said.
"Do we have any way of verifying this Will is real?" Jean Paul asked.
"Yes," Kitty replied, "One of the witnesses is Duchess Emma Frost." She headed out the door with the will in hand, Remy, Anna, and Jean Paul hurriedly following her.
Emma, for her part, had spent the last few weeks frantically looking for the Will. She had made a promise, and she kept her promises. She found that Alexandra's attorney had died three years earlier, and was considering going back to her own estate to look through her records when the knock sounded on the door. She wrenched the door open in her exasperation and dropped a curtsey. "Your Highness."
"Your Grace, do you recognize this document?" Kitty asked, thrusting the papers at Emma.
Emma took the papers over to her table, one glance told her what it was. She went through all the papers just to be sure, "Yes, Your Highness, this is authentic. I remember signing it just before Alexandra married Sebastian."
"What do we do now?" Anna asked.
"We go see my parents," Kitty muttered. She set out once again and headed for the throne room. She picked up onlookers as she swept by. They entered the throne room where the King and Queen were holding court and marched up to the throne, just before court was dismissed for the day. Kitty handed the Will to Charles.
Charles looked through the papers and looked up at Emma, "Your Grace, is that your signature?"
"Yes, Your Majesty," Emma replied.
Charles motioned to a page, "Send a message to Duke Sebastian Shaw. He's being summoned to court, tomorrow, along with his entire household. I want everyone, his stepson included."
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The summons to court caught everyone by surprise. Piotr pulled his finest doublets out of the mothballs they had been packed in for seven years. Anette and Nikolai pulled out their Sunday best, and made sure everything was clean. Scott strutted around, very sure that they were being summoned so that they could announce his engagement to Kitty.
Nikolai drove the coach, Sebastian, Scott, Illyana, and Anette rode in the coach. Pete and Piotr rode behind the coach on horses the King and Queen had sent with the coach. They rode up to the castle and left their transportation behind. The followed Sebastian as he strode toward the throne room. This was a private audience, the only ones present were the King, Queen, Kitty, Logan, and Emma. Jean Paul and Remy, as much as they wanted to be here, had crashed in Kitty's sitting room. Everyone stopped before the throne and bowed to the King and Queen.
"Your Grace, I understand you could never find your late wife's Will," Charles said.
"Yes, Your Majesty, lacking that, I had made provisions for our daughter, Illyana," he smile affectionately at the little girl, "to become the next Duchess."
Charles motioned to Emma forward, as she started reading the Will, Kitty and Piotr locked eyes. Kitty caught breath and moved backwards to Logan who hovered, as always, behind her. "Logan, go get the shoe." He looked at her, startled, "Remy and Jean Paul are in my sitting room, get the shoe."
Logan turned and hurried out the back door. He quickly found his way back to the Princess' rooms and nearly fell over laughing. Remy was sprawled on one of the chairs, his tongue hanging out and snoring. Jean Paul was on the love seat. His knees were pulled up under him and his bottom was sticking up in the air. He held the shoe like a teddy bear and was sucking his thumb.
Logan gently disengaged the shoe from Jean Paul's grasping fingers, telling the sleeping man that Kitty thought she found her mystery man, and it might be their friend Piotr. He hurried back to the throne room and down the steps to Piotr. Emma had finished reading the Will and Shaw was debating the legality of it. Piotr found himself in the peculiar position of taking off his shoe and putting on another. It fit. Logan looked up at Kitty and nodded. The entire proceedings came to a crashing halt as Kitty flew down the steps and into his arms. They watched as they kissed. Scott looked crestfallen.
Charles cleared his throat, "Your Grace, if you would care to let my daughter breathe, we, apparently, need to discuss the disposition of your duchy. Apparently, you're about to marry my daughter, and you need to name someone else as the Duke, or Duchess."
Piotr broke the kiss and placed his arm around Kitty, "That's easy, Your Majesty, let Sebastian's plans for the Duchy go forward. Illyana will become the next Duchess upon reaching her majority. Also, let the rest of the Will stand as far as Scott and Pete are concerned. As my stepbrothers, I choose to exercise review of any marriages they wish to make."
Charles nodded, "Well, we have a wedding to plan." He smiled as Piotr got down on one knee and asked Kitty to marry him. He gave her the ring that his mother had left him. The one his father had given his mother when they became engaged.
"Does this mean you're my sister?" Illyana asked.
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Colorful fireworks burst overhead. Piotr stood on the balcony looking up. A crown upon his head, he wore a silver and white doublet. Illyana was in his arms as she giggled. She wore a white dress with a crown of roses on her head. She giggled and pointed at the spectacle. Kitty came in behind them and laughed with the little girl. A sudden poof sounded behind them. Piotr smiled as he turned to see his fairy godfather and Lockheed. "You came!"
"Of course, my friend." He approached the happy trio, "My blessings, on all of you. You deserve it."
Lockheed came face to face with Kitty, "You treat him well, Missy!" he commanded.
"Would you like to come live at the Castle?" she asked him. Lockheed started, this was not what he expected.
"All right," he responded, "as long as I don't have to hunt for my food."
Kitty laughed and took Piotr's arm, her white wedding dress and veil gleamed in the light of the fireworks, "And you are welcome anytime," she whispered to the blue man.
They entered the ballroom and Piotr put his sister on the ground. She ran up to her father who swept up her with a smile of his own. He looked around and found his best man, Remy, approaching him with another grin, Anna on his arm. "You look so handsome, Piotr!" Anna exclaimed.
"I agree, mon ami, and you, Your Highness, are gorgeous. I can't think of anyone who deserved this more than you," Remy said, clasping Piotr's arm.
As the Fairy Godfather watched, Piotr swept Illyana into his arms for a dance and Charles danced with Kitty. He knew that they would live happily ever after.
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Peter wiped his brow, it was finally done. He looked at the twins who remained silent for a full minute. "More, we want more!" Illyana burst out
"The Twelve Dancing Princesses!" Moira burst out. "We want that one!"
Peter kissed his daughters good night and exited the room only to be assaulted by the entire adult staff of the mansion wanting to star in their own fairy tale. He looked up to see the retreating backs of his wife and his sister, he was on his own. "All right, all right, I'll put the hero and heroine as different people in the next fairy tale. You'll have to come back to find out who!"
They left and he wandered into the small room he shared with his wife, "So, who are your next victims?"
"Who else?" he asked with a grin. "Remy and Rogue!"
That's it, I'm done. Hope you've enjoyed! Please R&R!