Fiona abruptly awoke to the transformation that reconfigured her body back into place. She blinked wearily at her surroundings, fighting the confusion she felt with the knowledge that she had been rescued. Her instinctual jolt of excitement was halted by the fact she was laying on a bathroom floor, rather than snuggled into a new, cozy bed. She rolled over onto her back, groaning at the stiffness in her joints. The emotional whirlwind of the day she'd had, plus a long - mostly sleepless - night on the floor, comforted only by a single pillow, didn't do much for a restful night. Her eyes softly fluttered closed again, she wished nothing more than to return to sleep, perhaps she could… No. Fiona forced her eyes open and sat up. She rubbed the tiredness away from her face, and stared glassy eyed at the door in front of her. She was rescued now, she didn't have the luxury of being able to sleep as long as she wanted. She was also still an ogre at night - a deep breath through the nose confirmed it - she needed to rid herself of the ogre smell.

The princess dragged herself up off of the floor. It wasn't going to be easy considering she was still wearing the dress she needed to continue wearing for the rest of the day… a day spent very close to her prince. The clothes here weren't enchanted like the ones she kept in the tower. She wasn't wearing the nightgown left for her when she transformed, so it didn't grow with her. She had considered removing her dress and sleeping without clothes, but the fear had engulfed her mind - what was worse than seeing an ogre sleeping in the place of a princess? A naked one. What a terrible joke, she had mused. Besides, the dress might help identify her if someone were to invade her privacy so suddenly - that being a far scarier possibility in an inn, in a beautiful town, with lots of lovely, well meaning people.

She shook her head, opening the bathroom door. Her room was as empty as she left it. She quickly removed her dress and replaced it with the nightgown. She thanked her lucky stars that they were only staying in this inn for the one night, after breakfast they were on the road again - anyone who found themselves suspicious of her would likely never see her again. She only needed to fool her prince. She frowned at the thought, her prince wasn't a fool, and she certainly didn't want to treat him like one. Alas, she had to. Fiona took her dress to the balcony, pausing her movement as the orange glow of the rising sun hit her. She had been so enthusiastic about her rescue the day before, she had forgotten how it felt to just stand in the sun. A smile found itself settling on her lips as she looked out to the beautiful fields the inn sat before. The sun was warm, in a different way from the lava. Different to being pressed against someone's armoured body too. It was a gentle warmth, paired with a soft breeze. Fiona would have stood there forever if she didn't have such an important mission to attend to. She snapped herself out of the daze quickly, laying her dress over the stone railing. Fresh air would do as described and freshen it up a little, right? She sniffed the air - not enough… There was still much work to be done. She disappeared inside.

There were various perfumes sitting in a row by the basin, each bottle a new and perplexing shape. She carefully selected a rounded one, and sprayed it - right into her face. She flinched away from the mist that floated around her, keeping her eyes tightly closed. Each breath she drew in tasted awful. She choked quietly, swatting her arms around to clear the air. With a grimace, she opened her eyes, furrowing her brow at the offending bottle and placed it back in line; it didn't even smell good anyway. She grabbed the others, scrambling them into her arms and scattered back out onto the balcony - one by one testing them, careful to point them away from her face. She selected one with a foresty, floral scent; it reminded her of the forest areas in the castle gardens growing up. She read in a book once that a woman must find her signature scent; perhaps this was hers. She took it to her dress and sprayed generously.

A quick, makeshift bedroom cleanup and bath later, she felt much better. She had scrubbed the smell off of her skin and out of her hair. The princess was worried she may have overdone it with the perfume, after all, she had no idea what the correct amount was. Perhaps her overenthusiasm caused her to layer too much on top of her intended generous amount. As she redressed herself she realised placing the garment out on the balcony to air out helped the most. The smell was a little much, but it wasn't the ogre smell, which meant her mission was a success.

She had little time to celebrate, though. She had taken so long to get ready, she was sure her prince would be impatiently waiting for her. He had a carefully planned schedule they were to stick to, and heaven knows what would happen if they didn't reach their next rest stop before sunset. She hurried her braid, her hair still damp, hoping with all her might that her tiara would stay in place. She left the room quickly, running down the hallway and down the stairs, to find… no one. Well, no one wasn't the correct word; there were people. They stared at her again, smiling and bowing at her. She politely smiled back, giving a small curtsy and wishing them a good morning. She looked awkwardly around her, wondering whether they expected more from her; the princess. It had been so long since she'd been surrounded by strangers. Back, many years ago as a child, all she needed to do was wait in silence. She wasn't expected to strike up conversation, people would come to her and she would politely answer. She was an adult now. She recalled her mother making small talk with people in rooms. Fiona would stand next to her, listening, nodding at the correct intervals, speaking when spoken to. How did her mother do it? She realised she perhaps didn't have to as she eagerly caught sight of the innkeep.

"Excuse me?" she headed towards him as he returned to his place behind the desk. She tried to hide her immediate delight at his presence. "Where is… my… uh, Prince Charming?"

"Still in his room, Princess." He bowed at her, answering her question.

"Thank you." She dipped into a small curtsy, turning away, biting her lip. Perhaps he was waiting for her there, though she wasn't sure if she wanted to go investigate. She didn't want to misinterpret his absence and barge in if he wasn't ready; she didn't want him to think barging in her room unannounced was acceptable, there would be far more dire consequences for that.

She wandered anxiously into the dining hall. She was quickly greeted by a polite host and taken to a seat. It helped that people were doting on her so much. Of course they were, she was a guest of honour. The evening before, Charming had seemed to take charge of every room he entered, ordering everyone around. She had simply assumed they were doing as he said. Clearly they needed no such instruction and treated her kindly without any demands. She sipped at the water they offered her and nibbled at the croissant that had appeared on her plate. The anxiety hadn't gone away. In fact, it was only getting worse. A million scenarios ran over her mind. What if he figured it out and jumped from a window onto his valiant steed and rode away without her? Surely it was obvious, she did run away at sunset after all. She dropped the croissant back onto the plate. But what if he was still unaware? And she needed to hide another night? She bit her lip again. She could use the same excuse she had used last night, it was a good one. She would have to keep it up until… until the curse broke.

She felt the tears well in her eyes once more. Her morning task of ridding the ogre smell had been a good distraction from the real problem. She sniffed, blinking the tears back. She couldn't cry with people surrounding her, they would be so kind and ask her what was wrong, and what would she say?

Her true love, her rescuer, hadn't broken her curse. Turns out she was too broken to be cured. Would the curse ever be broken? She sighed, not letting herself give up. Everyone told her that her true love would break her curse. Charming had risked everything to come and rescue her - he fought a dragon - of course he would break her curse. It was clearly more complex than she had first thought. More complex than her parents had thought… even the fairytales too. Perhaps her curse was different; she was different after all. She'd never heard of an ogre princess before.

Lost in her thoughts she didn't realise the room had quietened. Someone approaching her caught her attention. She looked up, and there he was. He was… perfect. His gaze didn't stray from her, he beamed as they met each other's eyes. She felt those little flutters within her all over again, it was like their first kiss. Their first kiss. When he had kissed her. An idea hit her. She hadn't really been the one initiating their kisses, perhaps that was it. They were his true love's kisses, not hers. It was worth a try.

"Good morning, my a-"

She stood and threw herself at his face, holding his cheeks, and kissed him. He seemed startled for a second - but only a second - he very soon settled into the kiss, wrapping his arms around her, returning it with even greater passion.

"Wow," he mumbled as they parted. She waited breathlessly, intently looking at his lips. Nothing was happening. "What was-" She interrupted his speech again, kissing him forcefully.

Locked in the embrace, she could feel the frustration rising within her, nothing was happening. She couldn't feel any curse breaking, not even the faintest smidge of magic. They parted, she looked down at the ground in concerned thought.

"Well, good morning to you too, my angel," his speech broke her thought, "I thought you would leave me waiting for far longer. You're much more perfect than I thought."

She looked at him blankly. "Oh, well, I thought you would have been waiting for me so I hurried," she explained herself, distractedly.

"We cannot rush beauty sleep, dearest." He winked. "You must have gotten so much of it in that dreadful tower, your beauty shone through that dark place." He held her hand, gazing at her.

She smiled back at him, blushing. "Oh, no, I… Thank you." She suddenly became aware of how people were watching them again, like they had before, except more intently this time. A passionate kiss first thing in the morning did that, she figured. Still, standing in a dining hall surrounded by strangers probably wasn't the best place to tell him about all of her sleepless nights and nightmares. That would come later. Much later.

They sat. She tried her best to smile and nod at the correct intervals as he spoke throughout breakfast about his tireless training, and not get too lost in her troubled thoughts and spiraling theories. It was a tough task for the princess, however, the food helped far more than his talking. Despite the food in her tower being magically replenishing, it wasn't very exciting. It was a shame her excitement to eat the poached eggs in front of her was dulled by the looming threat of her curse, much like her dinner being tainted by the stares of everyone around her last night. The princess found herself hoping that when they returned to her home, she could steal food away to her room when no one was looking at her. Just like when she was a child. Hm. Things were becoming more and more like when she was a child, and less like the happily ever after she was expecting. Her curse wasn't the only thing ruining it for her, it seemed.

She recalled the night the curse was placed upon her - she remembered it with such clarity considering she was only a small child. It was horrifying and most importantly incredibly magical. There were sparkles and she floated in the air. She could only imagine the breaking of the curse would be the same. That's what she had always imagined in the tower. She had been silly to just take his word for it when he told her the curse was broken upon their first kiss.

Her thoughts landed on a troubling question; if true love's kiss wasn't something they'd shared already… then what was it?

Her mind was drawn to the previous evening, just before sunset… no. That surely couldn't be it. She wasn't sure she was even willing to give it a try. Not until marriage. Wait. Her eyes lit up. Marriage!

"Hm?" Charming noted her sudden change in demeanor.

"Nothing," she spluttered, "You're just so handsome." She fluttered her eyelashes at him. She wasn't lying - he was perfect.

He smiled that smile back at her, the alluring one. She allowed herself to be melted by it, let the worry wash away. It made sense after all. In fairy tales the wedding was always the conclusion to the story. If the curse broke immediately upon rescuing, the story would end then, right? No. Her reference materials had just led everyone astray, even her prince.

She should just tell him.

"So…" she began hesitantly, "last night…"

"Yes!" He eagerly jumped into the discussion. "What was that, angel cake? Not cold feet I hope."

"Of course not." She choked out a giggle. "The opposite actually."

He laughed. "Could you imagine that I rescued you and then you decided that you don't want to marry me?" He spoke in an incredulous tone. She smiled with him at the thought. "What a fairy tale that would be. Far too Romeo and Juliet for our liking, hm? The only thing worse than that would be your curse not breaking with our kiss, heavens!"

Fiona's smile suddenly turned forced, the dread filtered into her body.

He lowered his voice, leaning in, "It is indeed good that isn't possible, this place is absolutely not fit for an ogre."

She blinked at him, the smile frozen on her face.

He leaned back. "Now I know you're not a you-know-what, and never have been - to insinuate that is an insult to you, my princess. But we wouldn't want to offend the innkeep like that." He threw a glance to the man hovering in the entryway, eagerly watching them. Charming raised an eyebrow at her.

"No, no, of course not." She forced a chuckle. "You're right, it's great that it's gone!" She forced enthusiasm into her voice.

"I'm sorry, my angel, you were telling me what happened…"

Fiona fought the urge to throw up what little she had eaten. She swallowed, clearing her throat quietly. "Oh, it was just what I said last night." The perfume on her dress suddenly seemed stronger, the air felt like it was crushing her. "Given the curse, I thought it would be romantic if the first night we spend together was our wedding night," she reiterated what she said before.

His curiosity dampened, brow furrowing. "But dearest, that-that limits so much of our time together!"

"It would be romantic." She scrambled in her brain to find something.

He paused, thinking about the idea. "I don't think so."

"But I think…"

"Fiona, think about the wonderful things we could do together…"

"I-"

"The late dinners! Under the stars!"

"Charming-"

"Wouldn't that be wonderful?" He took her hand. "You and I?"

"Charming no!" she raised her voice, pulling her hand away from his with such force her chair scooted a little away.

He watched her in shocked silence, wide eyed, mouth slightly agape.

She glanced self-consciously around her. She hadn't been loud enough for people to hear, but the weight of everyone's gazes was only becoming heavier. "No," she spoke forcefully, "I want this for my fairy tale."

She wanted to stand up and leave. She had nowhere to go. Instead she looked back down at her plate, the thought of eating another bite threatened even more nausea.

"Okay," Charming's tone was taught, "Fine."

They finished their meal in silence.

. . .

Thanks for reading! I feel like this was more of a filler chapter, exciting things coming up.