-Trevor-

Trevor had to be the unluckiest person that ever lived. At least, that is what he was thinking to himself as he stood at the castle gates.

Eddie had won the bet and cashed in on the same day. Now, Trevor was working an extra shift, just standing at the gate waiting for nothing to happen. Nothing had happened yet, and he expected nothing to happen for the rest of the night. He could not have been more wrong.

He heard the hoofbeats before he saw the horse. Trevor had his sword out, ready for whatever stranger would come to the castle in the middle of the night. He was shocked when the man on horseback came into view of the castle and promptly fell off his horse.

Trevor looked around momentarily for any signs of life before deciding to go help the old fellow back onto his horse.

"Are you all right?" Trevor asked, flipping the old man onto his back.

"I need help."

"Yes, I saw. That was some fall."

"No, no. I need you to tell someone. Send some guards. There has been a kidnapping."

"A kidnapping?"

"A woman was taken from Bellview."

Trevor felt his skin grow cold suddenly.

"Who was it?" He asked.

"It was Ellanore. He took Ellanore."

"and she is?"

"Treval. One of the ladies of the house. Please, you need to send someone!"

Trevor let out a few curses when he noticed the blood down his shirt. Upon further inspection, he saw that the wound was still bleeding.

"I have to get you to-"

"There is no time. Get help now!" The old man demanded in a crazed voice.

The man pushed at him with all his strength, and Trevor stumbled backward. The Prince. He had said that there was another Lady of Bellview manor.

"Go!" The man ushered.

Trevor jumped up to his feet and ran to the castle.

"Regret your gambling Trevor?" the doorman asked as he drew nearer.

Trevor ignored his question. "Allen, I need you to find a healer. There's a man at the gate bleeding out. Then wake some men up. Something tells me we sre going to have a situation come up."

Trevor rushed past Allen before he could say anything else.

Trevor made it to the Prince's quarters in record time and pounded on the door. It took only a few moments before the Prince opened. He looked wide awake and justly startled.

"I apologize sire. I would not have woken you if I did not think it was an emergency."

The Prince waved him on, "Yes, what do you need."

"It's only that- well- there was a man who collapsed on the road outside the castle. There has been some sort of kidnapping. He says he is from Bellview. The woman kidnapped was someone named Hellen or Emma. I just thought-"

"Ella?" The Prince stepped out of the room and grabbed him by his uniform.

"Uh, yes. Ellanore!" The name came to his mind. "It was Ellanore."

The Prince turned into his room and slammed the door. He was only gone for a few minutes before he reemerged with boots and his sword strapped to his side.

"Take me to him." The Prince demanded. Trevor had to jog to keep up with him.

"At the gate. He refused to be moved until we sent people to go find her."

The Prince was gone before Trevor could even finish explaining the situation.

Trevor trailed behind. When he finally caught up to the Prince, he was already asking the old man questions.

"Where is she?"

"I don't know." The old man struggled out.

"Anything. Tell me anything you can."

Allen ran up with five other men. They all looked bleary-eyed and tired.

"Lady Tremaine must be behind it, but she will never tell you anything. Go to Lyeman and Son's in the city. He knows all her affairs. He knows something."

The Prince turned to Trevor

"Take that man inside and get him help. If he dies, I will hold you personally responsible." He turned to Allen, "You find the grand duke and get him down to the financial district. The rest of you, follow me."

-The Prince-

This all felt like a nightmare that held him captive. He had challenged Lady Tremaine without much thought to the consequences. The signs of abuse were all there, but he was just too self-centered to put it all together. He had caused this.

Charles saddled his horse in record time, but it still felt like hours had passed before he made it to Lyeman's.

The Prince knocked on the door once. There was no answer, so he kicked it in. His men trickled in behind him, all searching for Lyeman. Charles found him first. The weasel man was sitting straight up in fear with his covers pulled over his head.

"Do not kill me. I can help you!" Lyeman was shouting. The Prince wrenched him out of bed and held his sword to his throat.

"Is this him?" Charles asked one of his guards.

"Yeah, it's him."

"Good. If you do not answer my questions, you will regret it. Do you understand?"

Lyeman looked up and met Charles' eyes.

"The Prince?!" Lyeman's eyes grew three sizes.

"Unfortunately for you, I did not come as the Prince tonight."

Charles turned to the men he brought.

"Do you see the Prince here?"

The men looked away, "No, your Highness."

Charles turned back to Lyeman.

"I came to get information or else-"

"I will tell you!" The man screamed, "I will tell you anything. What do you want to know?"

"Where is Cinderella."

"Cinderella? Who is-"

Lyeman was not doing anything to satiate the Prince's desire to use his sword.

"Ellanore Treval. Lady Tremaine's stepdaughter. Where is she?"

"Oh, yes, her. I do not know, has something happened to her?"

Charles pushed his sword into Lyeman's shoulder.

"Fine! Please do not hurt me! She sold her! Arredia sold her to slavers out at the docks."

"We do not allow slavers to dock here!" The Prince growled out.

"It is true, I swear it! They came under the guise of a textile merchant. Take me to the window, and I can show you which ship, and you can be on your way!"

The Prince dragged him at sword point to the window. They both saw the ship sailing away at the same time.

"It's that one." Lyeman pointed directly where Charles was afraid he would.

He could taste his regret in the back of his throat. Panic and horror mixed with his failure, and for the first time, he knew what it felt like to be completely helpless. Charles had promised her that he would come for her. He had gotten torn from his search to handle his family and told himself that he would find her tomorrow. Now tomorrow might not come.

"If you are lying to me-"

"No, it is that one! I promise!"

The Prince withdrew his sword from Lyeman's chest.

"Keep him here until I return." He ordered his men through clenched teeth.

The Prince turned to Lyeman. "I am warning you. If I found out you had anything to do with this, there is nothing you can do to escape me."

Charles left through the door they had broken down to gain entrance.

"Charles!" Derrick rode up from behind him. "They told me what happened. Where is she?"

"Cinderella has been taken. We need a ship. Now."

Derrick nodded. "There are two navy ships in the docks. Either of them will be fit to sail at a moment's notice."

Charles did not waste any more time. He swung up onto his horse and reigned him towards the docks. Derrick was close behind.

-Derrick-

He had ridden up towards his friend and saw a different man than he was used to seeing. His face was twisted with fury.

He pushed his horse hard to keep pace with Charles. He was still trailing behind when Charles pushed past the two navy men who stood on guard at the gangplank. Derrick rushed in behind him to placate the men. He barely caught up to Charles as he pounded on the door to the captain's quarters. The door slammed open.

"Who do you think you are, banging on my door this time of night?"

The captain was still in his night clothes, and his face was red with anger.

"I need your ship and crew. How soon can you be ready to sail?"

The Captain laughed, "You are giving commands? Get off my ship, boy!"

Charles already had a dangerous set to his shoulders. Derrick stepped between the two men and intervened before anything escalated.

"Captain Lorrel, you will remember me. We met once at the shipmaster's council."

The captain's demeanor changed as he snapped to attention in the presence of the Duke.

"Yes, Sir."

"This very irate man is the Crown Prince. Something tells me that if you do not do exactly as he says, you will soon find yourself thrown overboard."

The captain looked between Charles and Derrick in disbelief.

"You cannot be serious."

"I do not care if you believe me. Get this ship out of the harbor. Now."

The captain stepped outside on the deck.

"Where are we going?" The Captain asked, convinced enough to begin giving orders.

Charles pointed to the ship that was still slowly disappearing toward the horizon. "You are going to catch up to that ship."

Captain Lorrel looked out to the ship he was pointing out and then let out a little chuckle.

"Catch up? That ship is long gone."

Charles did not even hesitate. "We will catch up to that ship, and when we do, I hope your men are ready for a fight."

"What exactly are we getting into?" The Captain asked.

"That is a slaver's ship that has been posturing as a textile merchant and abusing our good hospitality. They have taken someone important from me, and we are going to get her back."

The captain's eyebrows shot up, but finally, he nodded. "You could have said that from the beginning and saved a lot of wasted words."

The captain marched over to a bell on the top deck and began ringing it. After a short minute, men poured up from underneath the ship and started to set sails.

"We will be out of the harbor in no time. I will get you to that ship."

-Cinderella-

Ella had retreated into her own mind. She experienced everything in the third person. The man who dragged her underneath the upper deck grabbed her and pulled at her, trying to elicit a response. She was groped and slapped, but she was not present. He took her to a supply cabin where another man held her down while they branded her.

They had an entire area set up for the private branding and marking of slaves. The Brand was a crude figure 8. One man held her down while another heated the iron turned red and gave off waves of heat. Without any fanfare or counting, he pushed it into her arm. A carnal scream tore from her throat. The smell of burned flesh filled the room, and she was carried out and brought down deeper into the ship.

The only source of light was from two burning lanterns hanging from the ceiling. The room was dim, but Ella could still see the mass of people. There were no walls, just one open room the size of the ship, packed with people all chained to the walls and floor. Two women flinched away as the slaver pushed Ella between them and used spare manacles to chain her arms above her head.

The man left and closed the door, leaving them all alone. Every eye turned to her. She heard rumbles of chatter floating around the room in a foreign language she could not identify. Children lined the center of the room, chained to one another. Their eyes held the same unbridled apathy that Ella felt coursing through her. Hopelessness squeezed through her icy wall and wrapped around her heart.

Blood ran down her elevated wrist and trailed onto the middle of her dress. She could not stop the tears that came.

-The Fairy Godmother-

There were still consequences, but no consequence was going to stop the Fairy Godmother. She would be ground up to fairy dust, but she would fix this first. No fairy could cause harm to another person. Her magic could not stop what happened to Ella, but it could help her escape.

When the slaver left, she became visible just to Ella's eyes.

Ella flinched back from her sudden appearance, but once recognition sparked in her eyes, her tears stopped.

"I am getting you out of here." The Fairy Godmother pulled lightly on the chains, testing them out.

It would be the last thing she would do as a fairy Godmother, but it was worth it. She had watched Ella since she was a girl, and she would not continue to sit and watch as she became a slave.

"What about them?" Cinderella asked, nodding to the slaves around her.

"They cannot see me."

"Save them."

The Fairy Godmother felt trapped. If she started using her magic on a massive scale, the balancers would stop her before she saved anyone.

"I cannot save you all. There is not enough magic."

Ella pointed to the small children gathered at the center of the room.

"Then take the children. Leave me here."

Ella's face was miserable and stubborn. She would not relent to being saved.

Options ran through the Fairy Godmother's mind. There had to be something that she could do. An idea sprang to her mind.

"I will save you all."

She magicked herself to the bow of the ship. Slavers milled around her, unaware of her presence. The Fairy Godmother extended her arms out over the ocean, and she called for the Kraken.