-Lady Tremaine-
It was Friday and that meant Ella would be leaving tomorrow and after their meeting with the Queen, one of her daughters would be engaged. Lady Tremaine trusted Lawrence to keep his end of the bargain, and now with the possibility of royal wedding bells in her future, she realized she no longer cared for Bellview. Perhaps she would completely offer him the estate in exchange for his loyalty.
She went up the stairs to the top of the tower. She needed to ensure Ella was packed and ready for her betrothed. Too much relied on Ella's obedience.
The minute Lady Tremaine opened the door, She saw Ella kneeling over her wooden trunk. The trunk slammed shut and Ella stood suddenly and turned, her face guarded and guilty. Interesting. Lady Tremaine stepped forward.
"Are you nearly finished?" Lady Tremaine asked.
"Yes, I just need to-" Ella stopped speaking when Lady Tremaine drew nearer to her.
"Ella?" Lady Tremaine asked.
"Yes Lady Tremaine?"
"Move aside."
Ella froze completely.
"I have already packed."
Lady Tremaine was no longer listening to Ella. She pushed her aside in an instant and opened the trunk. Sitting on the top in all its glory, was a familiar glass slipper.
Lady Tremaine felt her heart thud through her chest. It was the glass slipper. The glass slipper that Anastasia and Drisella had tried on in vain. The glass slipper that promised fortune and fame.
"Where did you get this?" Lady Tremaine asked, her hands cradled the delicate slipper lovingly.
"I found it." Ella said.
Lady Tremaine was intimate with the sound of fear. She heard it now in Ella's voice and her attention turned away from the miracle slipper in her hands.
"You are lying." She said. This was not the Prince's slipper. This was the match. The second slipper.
"Put it on." Lady Tremaine said, holding out the slipper to Ella. Lady Tremaine had watched as dozens of women tried on its pair. Dozens of women who all failed.
Ella must have realized that this was past the point of debate or discussion. She took the slipper, set it on the floor, and stepped into it. Her foot molded perfectly into the slipper as if it was made for her.
Lady Tremaine looked at Ellanore. Really looked at her for the first time in years. She had always been a thorn in her side, but she was no longer a thorn. She was now a threat. A threat to her daughters' happiness.
The Prince promised he would marry the maiden who fit the slipper. He would not get the chance.
-Cinderella-
Ella was terrified. Her heart was racing. She stood awkwardly with one foot taller in the glass slipper.
"It was you at the ball." Her stepmother's voice was low. Ella had only ever heard her voice become this venomous twice before. Once when her father died and she took everything and once when she pushed Ella down the steep tower stairs. Ella did not know how to reign in Lady Tremaine's rage.
"It was harmless. I spoke to no one." Ella whispered. "I just wanted to see what it was like."
Her stepmother advanced on her and Ella backed up until she was against the wall. Lady Tremaine stood over her with her entire body tight with tension.
"We have passed the point of lying Ella. Perhaps if you had been an observer you could have gotten away with it, but we both know your true intentions."
"Please, I truly had no other intentions. I just wanted to forget myself for one night. It will not happen again. I promise."
Lady Tremaine grabbed the bottom of her chin and forced Ella to look up.
"Your intentions were to steal the Prince from Anastasia and Drisela. You wanted him all for yourself."
Ella could not hold back her laugh. The Prince? Her stepmother thought that she wanted to marry the Prince? A house maid and a Prince together? The idea was ludicrous.
"I have not met the Prince. I have no interest in meeting the Prince, and even if I did, a prince would not look twice at me."
Lady Tremaine's eyebrows went up and her hand curled around Ella's wrist.
"I am sick of your lying!" Lady Tremaine shouted.
Ella's eyes were wide and confused. Lady Tremaine just twisted her wrist painfully to draw the truth out of her.
"I am not lying!"
Her stepmother kept her eyes locked on Ella's. Tears welled in Ella's eyes as her stepmother forced her to the floor.
"I am telling the truth." She pleaded again in a strained voice.
Lady Tremaine let go of her and Ella tucked her wrist against her chest. They looked at each other at a stalemate.
"You truly have never met the Prince?"
"No." Ella's voice was clearer than she thought possible.
Her stepmother smiled at last, a cruel wicked grin.
"You are a fool, Ella Treval."
Ella felt sick. There was something her step mother knew and if she was this happy that Ella was oblivious, it had to be bad.
"Take off that slipper."
Ella followed her order, but she held the slipper in her hands. This was her one reminder of the night she lived. She did not want to give it up so easily.
"Give it to me." Lady Tremaine said, holding out her hand.
"But-" her stepmother reached forward and ripped the glass slipper from her hand.
She slipped the slipper into one of the pockets on her dress and took a deep breath, releasing all the aggression she was still holding onto. She straightened her posture and slid her stray hairs into place.
"Perfect. Now that we are done with that, you will finish the laundry, clean the fireplaces, and make dinner for us so that it is warm by the time we return."
Ella was not angry often. Demeaning words and work did not make her angry, but this was past harming her pride. She had every hope of a life ripped from her, and what was worse, is that she let it happen. She let Lady Tremaine move her to the tower. She consented to become a maid. She let her stepmother take all of it.
'What you want matters' that is what Charles had said. She thought he was naive, but the realization came that she was the one who was wrong.
Here she was, having yet another life ripped from her. She had prayed for someone to rescue her from the hellish life she had fallen into, but rescue was not the answer.
She could not be free unless she saved herself first.
"No." She said to her stepmother for the first time in her entire life.
"No?" Lady Tremaine asked like it was a funny joke.
"No. I am going to do something I should have done the day my father died. I am leaving."
Ella went straight for the door. She was not foolish enough to think her stepmother would allow her to take anything with her. She would abandon everything and start fresh if that meant she was no longer trapped in this house.
Lady Tremaine blocked the door.
"You cannot leave. You are getting married."
"I do not care. Let him marry Anastasia or Drisela. I am leaving."
Ella tried to step around her, but Lady Tremaine was unmovable.
"You misunderstand me. You do not have a choice. You are staying and marrying Lawrence Seaver."
Ella smiled, "you cannot make me. If you lock me in here, I will climb down the tower. There is nothing you can do to me anymore. I will not let you control me any longer."
Those words tasted like freedom. They should have been said years ago, but late was better than never.
"You really should not have said that."
"I do not care what you do to me anymore. I will not be your puppet."
Lady Tremaine grabbed Ella's wrist again.
"Twist my wrists. Break them both. It will not make a difference. This is my resignation. I will never let you control me again."
They stared at each other, two unbreakable wills at war.
Lady Tremaine turned and opened the door and dragged Ella down the stairs quickly. Ella pulled back, but Lady Tremaine possessed inhuman strength powered through her spite.
"I thought you understood our situation." Lady Tremaine huffed out while dragging Ella behind her. They got to the bottom of the stairs, and she turned away from the front door and towards the kitchen.
"No!" Ella said, using both her hands to pull against her stepmother mother, but it was no use.
Lady Tremaine moved to the cellar and threw the door open. There was nothing but a pitch-black void.
"You are not my servant. You are my possession."
With those final words she wrenched Ella into the black chasm. Ella fell a short distance and landed painfully on her ankle. Lady Tremaine drew up the ladder.
"You will marry Lawrence Seaver whether it is willingly or in chains. I promise you that you will regret this moment for the rest of your life."
Her stepmother closed the door to the cellar, leaving Ella completely in the dark.
This was it. Her pathetic rebellion was over. She thought she could break free, but she was so wrong. Her stepmother was wrong about one thing.
No matter how much pain it brought her, she would never regret fighting for the things she wants.
-The Fairy Godmother-
The waiting room was torturous. Humans stood around fireplaces at night and told horror tales of wolves and vampires, but every fairy witch and magic creature knew no fears more potent than the balancers.
She sat uncomfortably in a seat carved from a hallowed tree trunk in the forest of neverland. There was nothing to look at but the portal on the ground that opened into the magic court. If she was found guilty they could grind her up into the precious powder they call fairy dust and she would cease to exist.
"This is just a formality, right?" The Fairy Godmother asked.
Seer Helena sat meditating across from the portal. The balancers used the seers as their personal secretaries. There was never any note taking or files stored. The seers could pull up information in an instant.
"Your first two warnings were formalities. You do not need Seer powers to know that there will be consequences this time."
Seer Helena responded without even opening her eyes. Her voice was devoid of all emotion.
"Yes, I suppose you are right."
The Fairy Godmother looked at the sky, wondering if it were the last sky she would see. Nothing was fair. She had just been doing her job. Fairy Godmother's are supposed to personally ensure the happiness and protection of their charge.
She had followed the rules for years, staying out of sight, casting protection charms, and weaving the possibilities of life. It is an silent understood rule that every Fairy Godmother break the code of magic once to ensure a happily ever after, but this Fairy Godmother had pushed her magic far passed regulation.
If balance was to be found, there would have be a severe punishment.
Seer Helena opened her icy blue eyes.
"They are ready for you." She said.
The portal opened.
"Wish me luck." The Fairy Godmother said.
"There is no luck. It has already been written."
Those were the last words she heard before she was whisked away to the courtroom.
The courtroom floated above the skies. The three balancers stood at one end and a simple gold chair sat in the middle of the room.
The three balancers were all pure magic, one was wood, one was stone, and one was metal. Their bodies combined represented every magical creature. Each beastly attribute combined in the center of human faces.
"Fairy Godmother Tooelle, please sit."
The stone balancer said. The fairy Godmother shivered. Names were never uttered aloud in the realm of magic. Whoever owns a fairy name has all power over them. It was never a formality to invoke a fairy name.
The Fairy Godmother sat onto the gold chair.
"You are found guilty Fairy Godmother Tooele." The wooden balancer spoke.
The Fairy Godmother squeezed her eye shut. She would be ground into dust any second now.
"You are pardoned." The metal balancer said.
The Fairy Godmother opened one eye.
"Pardoned?"
"Yes." They all echoed in unison.
"In regard to the human Ellanore Grace Treval, there has been a prior magical imbalance. Your actions have corrected it. That is all."
The Fairy Godmother's mind began to spin. She was not going to be ground into dust. What imbalance were they talking about?
"Leave Fairy Godmother Tooelle. Your record is wiped clean. You will not want to abuse your magic again. There will not be another exception." The stone balancer said.
The Fairy Godmother followed the command and left through the same portal she entered through.
Seer Helena was still in the same spot when she returned.
"What imbalance were they talking about?" The Fairy Godmother asked.
Seer Helena opened her eyes, "Arredia Tanya Tremaine caused two imbalances, one to get a husband and another to kill one. Ellanore Grace Treval suffered these imbalances and now you have repaired them."
The Fairy Godmother felt sick all over again.
"I have not fixed them! My magic did nothing. She is still in the same place she was before!"
"You are lucky Fairy Godmother. In another thread of destiny, you were destroyed today. Take your life and thank the balancers for their fair judgement."
The Fairy Godmother left with the knowledge that she had wasted Ella's second chance.
-Lady Tremaine-
Lady Tremaine had a famed reputation for sharing her opinion freely, aggressively and slanderously. As Lady Tremaine stepped out of her carriage, people skirted around her, afraid to catch the attention of her critical tongue.
She had not planned on visiting Lawrence Seaver before their appointment with the Queen, but Ella had forced her hand.
They needed to come up with a plan to marry off an unwilling participant. Lady Tremaine herself was fond of chains and torture, but it would be Mr. Seaver's decision. Soon Ella would become his possession. He deserved a say in how she was delivered.
She approached the doorstep to Mr. Seaver's three story city home and one of the scullery maids opened the door.
"I have business to discuss with Mr. Seaver." she said, pushing in through the door, but the maid stood as a barrier against her entrance.
"My master is not home at the moment." The maid said, but Lawrence came up behind her and ushered her out of the doorway. He was a gruesome sight as half his face was covered with a deep purple bruise with yellowing edges.
"My goodness!" Lady Tremaine said, "What has happened?"
Lawrence ignored her question. "Lady Tremaine. It is pleasant to see you as always. What can I help you with?"
"May I come in for a brief moment? I have a matter I need to discuss involving my stepdaughter."
"I am sure I do not know what you are talking about Lady Tremaine." he said with a bitter laugh.
She stood aback and frowned slightly. "I am talking about your engagement to Ellanore."
His smile was sickly sweet. "I am not engaged to your stepdaughter."
Lady Tremaine blinked awkwardly.
"We had an agreement-"
"Whatever agreement you think we had is no longer in effect. Now if you have anything else you need to discuss with me, I would be happy to, but if not, I wish you a good day."
Lady Tremaine stood in shock. He did not need to usher her out of the door because she took two or three involuntary steps backwards until she was standing out of the way. He tipped his hat to her after a moment of silence and his door closed soundly.
She turned, her mind reeling over Lawrence Seaver and his actions. They had a deal. She stood on his doorstep for a few moments like a fool.
She mustered up her righteous indignation and whirled on the spot. She stormed away from the doorstep of Lawrence Seaver and stalked back to her carriage.
Ella. All her problems started and ended with Ella.
She got into the carriage and hit the roof with her cane.
"Take us to the castle." She snarled.
The carriage lurched forward and Anastasia and Drisela looked out the windows with wide eyes. They did not dare ask their mother why she was in a poor mood.
Lady Tremaine pulled a glass slipper from her pocket and shoved it into Drisella's hand.
Anastasia and Drisela exchanged looks of surprise.
"Take off one of your slippers and put that on." Lady Tremaine said.
Drisela did not argue or question. She reached down and slipped her foot out of her slipper and pressed into the familiar glass slipper expecting to feel resistance, but to her shock, her foot slipped in perfectly.
"How?" Drisela asked, her heart began to quicken at the implications that came from this slipper fitting her.
Lady Tremaine frowned. Her daughters were both clueless. The answer was magic of course, but that answer would not get what she wanted.
"Obviously it fits you now because you are the Prince's intended. You will become Queen Drisela, mark my words."