"If everybody minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does."― an Excerpt from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis C.

Correction Three: Cinderella and her new family

When Cinderella's dad passed away she gained and lost everything.

She got a new family but this new family was different and dangerous.

Mikael frowned as he held a key in his hand. The child, Caroline had the key wrapped around her neck on a thick piece of twine. He assumed that the key was the one that would open the chest that Finn claimed she rested next to. Mikael spared another glance to the chest. It was a large chest and well taken care of by the looks of it. The glossed cherry wood held no marking and the gold padlock shone as though someone had just scrubbed it thoroughly. With a huff, Mikael pushed himself off the ground and strode towards the chest. Might as well open it. It may shed some light on the background of the girl.

The chest gave a light click and opened easily enough and Mikael had only just lifted the top only to take in a sharp breath at what laid inside. Beautiful dresses, fine jewelry, and a leather bound journal practically spilled out. The trunk was obviously over loaded. Mikael searched through the contents and noted how it appeared that the girl had dresses for when she was older too. Mikael lifted a piece of jewelry to examine.

It was a small locket made of gold. It was made well with a CF monogrammed subtly on to the oval shaped locket. It was finely made like all of the other things the girl possessed.

Well this changed things.

At first Mikael did not want to keep the girl but with all the things that she owned maybe it would be a good investment to care for the girl. He could care for the girl like he would for his own and when her wealthy family (this fact Mikael had not doubt about) came to retrieve her, he would be well compensated for all his troubles.

And what if her family came to get her? Well Mikael was sure that the girl was to marry well. When his old age made him weak and feeble minded he would have Caroline, well married and rich, to take care of him.

There are somethings that will change. The sun will always rise in the east and set in the west. The sky will always be blue and Caroline will never be a morning person.

Caroline awoke that morning with a dry mouth and crusty eyes. She felt dirty and groggy. Caroline idly scratched her head, but kept her eyes closed. She would be at home when she opened her eyes. Her mother would be down stairs sipping coffee, her father would be— Caroline's heart clenched—gone, and Caroline would be back in her room where she belonged. There would be no witches. Everything would be normal.

Caroline opened her eyes and nothing was alright. Instead of her nice princess bed Caroline was on an itchy animal pelt. Her mother was not there and her father was still gone. And she did not have her voice. A silent sob escaped Caroline. She gave one look to her Barbie and cried even more. She could remember when her parents gave her that Barbie. Their smiling faces and how excited Caroline was to have a Barbie that was just as pretty as her that she could bring everywhere. And she did she brought it everywhere. She brought it here didn't she?

And that was it. Her last link to her home was her doll.

Caroline sobbed silently when all she wanted to do was scream and holler and allow everyone to know her pain. But as is Caroline's new motto she can't.

Rebekah waited outside of the room with the platter of food in her hand. She could see the new girl (Caroline her parents had called her) weeping all by herself with her beautiful doll being held to her chest. The only sound coming from the girl was the hitching of her breath. Rebekah pitied the girl. She could not talk and she was all alone in a new place without her family. Rebekah could only imagine what that would be like for a girl so close to her age.

"Be kind to her Rebekah. She is scared and frightened. She needs a friend." But how did Rebekah comfort a crying girl? Only Niklaus and Elijah knew how to handle her tears and even then they did not know how to handle them they only knew how to keep them at bay. However Rebekah could not fumble with this girl's emotions. She had to help.

Rebekah placed the platter down by the entrance to the room and rushed to the girl, engulfing her in a tight embrace. Whenever she was sad, all Rebekah wanted was to be hugged tightly, maybe she did too. Caroline froze and Rebekah began to question her actions. Maybe she was too bold with her actions? Was she wrong to hug her? Maybe she was, the girl was probably used to court etiquette and from what Rebekah knew physical contact seemed like a no-no. Caroline turned her tear stained face to Rebekah and Rebekah felt heat rise to her cheeks. She loosened her hug so that her arms now hung loosely around Caroline.

"I supposed that you may have liked for someone to hug you. I–I always like when my mother hugs me so I just―"

Rebekah had the air knocked out of her when Caroline threw herself back into the hug and into poor Rebekah's unsuspecting frame. Caroline's grip was tight which Rebekah did not expect but the girl was crying so… Rebekah wrapped her arms around Caroline just as tight and allowed the slightly older girl to cry into her clothes.

"Do not cry," Rebekah murmured into her hair. "Everything will be fine Caroline. Everything will fix itself."

The axe's blade shone brightly in the air before it easily cut through the small piece of wood. Niklaus rushed forward, taking the now spilt wood and placing a new log onto the chopping post before moving safely away. Elijah nodded his thanks to him before chopping the new log. And the process repeated.

"What do you think the new girl, Caroline, will be like?" Niklaus asked when he was once more a safe distance away from the chopping post. Elijah split the wood before he answered.

"I cannot say. She can be any type of person."

"I hope she is nice," NIklaus said. Elijah wiped his brow. "I hope she is kind and adventurous."

Elijah gave a chuckle. "Niklaus have you develop some small feeling for this girl?" Niklaus's cheeks burned a bright red as he sputtered.

"N-No! Of course not!" He hardly knew the girl! He had found her just the day before with Finn. And—And he has never even spoken to her! How was he even supposed to develop the feelings Elijah was implying?

"Maybe you have set eyes on your future wife Niklaus." Elijah teased. He gave a small wiggle of his eyebrow which caused Niklaus to flush even more.

"Oh hush up," Niklaus hissed. He gave his older brother a rough shove. Elijah gave a hearty laugh.

It was a slow process but Caroline's tears finally subsided. Caroline felt slightly embarrassed with her emotional display. Sorry is what Caroline wanted to say but she didn't know how to control the power that she had used the night before and didn't really want to. Caroline wanted to be as normal as possible.

"I hope you are feeling quite better now," Rebekah said gently. Caroline blushed and nodded. Her stomached growled loudly. Rebekah gave a small laugh and patted Caroline's stomach. "Do not fret. Luckily mother sent me here with a plate of lunch for you." Rebekah left to go and get the plate and Caroline thought over what she had said. Lunch? So it hadn't been morning when she had woken up.

A small smile appeared on her face. Her mother would have never allowed her to sleep past eleven in the morning. Rebekah returned with the platter of food and Caroline was shocked to see how muchfood was plied on to the plate. There was a mountain of food; an assortment of colorful berries, a soft looking loaf of bread and a bowl of…something was stacked high onto the plate. How could Esther expect her to eat all of that? Caroline could barely finish a bowl of cereal back home!

Rebekah laughed at Caroline's expression before she set the plate down in front of her. "You act as if you have never seen food before," Rebekah tittered. "Go on, eat." Caroline shyly poked and prodded at her food. She wanted Cheerios and pancakes for breakfast. Not…what was that grey lumpy stuff inside of the bowl? Was that supposed to be oatmeal? Caroline was pretty sure that oatmeal was not supposed to look like that. Quaker Oats Oatmeal did not look like that.

"Caroline, stop playing with your food." Caroline could imagine her father's disapproving and annoyed face. She frowned but then thought better of it. Maybe the witch would send her back if she was good. Maybe this was punishment for being a big baby about everything. If she wanted to return home and be with her family she would have to be the best Caroline that she could ever be. Which meant that she would have to follow all of her parents' rules, even the dumb ones. Her grandmother always told her that her behavior was a reflection on her parents and herself and now was the time to show how great her parents were (are).

Caroline sucked in a breath and picked up the wooden spoon that was next to the oatmeal.

…

Dear Lord, that oatmeal was disgusting!

Esther pounded on Ayana's door incessantly. She had touched the girl; felt the fire running thought her veins and the destruction that came with it. The girl was a menace lying in wait and her family was stationed around her. The girl had to leave and with her own self pregnant, Esther knew that Ayana was the only one in range with enough power to do so. Esther continued to slam her fist down on the heavy door until Ayana flung the door open. A heated look was written on her face. "Cease with you constant pounding Esther!"

Esther lowered her fist but glowered at Ayana. "It was rude for you to not open the door when I first came calling."

"You should not have continued hitting the door if I did not answer the first time!"

Esther gave a sigh. "As much as I would like to continue arguing about etiquette I have found the power that you have felt. And she is with me." Ayana's eyes widened and she ushered Esther inside. Dried spices and flowers hung from the ceiling and a large fire pit glowed with the dying embers. Esther relished in the familiarity of the room, the smell of sage in the air brought her back her back to the time when she stayed here working alone to perfect a spell or memorize words.

"You said 'she', it is a person whom held such power?" Ayana asked. Esther snapped out of her memories and nodded to her old mentor. "One? A person alone? I-I expected a horde with the pure strength that the beacon had—but a single person Esther?" Esther sighed.

"The power you felt originated from a girl, only older than Rebekah by a handful of moon cycles. Niklaus and Finn found the girl by the river with a wolf dead by her side. She is blonde and quite pretty―"

"I did not ask for a physical description Esther!" Ayana barked. Ayana began to pace near the door. "So much power…"

"I was able to touch her. Ayana her nature…" Esther began.

"Yeah what of her nature?"

"When I touched her I felt the nature of her being, what type of creature she was, and what I felt Ayana… I felt fire. Fire as hot as those in Hel."

"Are you sure?" Ayana asked. Her eyes were wide with opposing emotions fighting for dominance. Esther when she first felt it was just as shocked as Ayana when she first felt it too, but she had to quickly get over it. The girl was near her family and she could not let something so dangerous stay so close. "Fire in a girl so young?"

"I must also speak of the need that I felt."

"The need? The need to what?"

"To…to destroy and change." Esther shook her head and Ayana let out a growl. Ayana turned away from her to rush to a table that was covered with numerous grimiores and scrolls. She picked up a very large one and began to leaf through it.

"Bring the girl to me when I call. I will search for what she is until then." Esther nodded and knew it was time to go. Ayana was searching for answers now and Esther knew she would be of no use.

Back in present day Mystic Falls, a police offer named Barry stared into the eyes of Esmeralda Schiff. As green and mesmerizing as Schiff's eyes were Barry could not afford to let himself get distracted, it would not do him any favors. Esmeralda sat in a steel chair with her cuffed hands resting on the table. Her mess of unruly black hair shook wildly as Schiff turned her head every which way to look around the interrogation room.

Barry was a little nervous; he was called late at night to interrogate this little woman because no one else could. But could he really blame them for gathering no information? This woman was as crazy as them come.

"You know I could take these off." Barry looked at Esmeralda who was giving her hand cuffs a pointed stare. This was the first thing she had said all night if Barry was informed correctly.

"Really?" Barry asked. "How?"

Esmeralda gave him a wide grin, "Magic obviously."

"Right, magic." Barry rolled up his sleeves before sliding into the matching metal chair across from Esmeralda. "Now Esmeralda―"

"Oh no. Please call me Emmie."

"Okay. Now Emmie," Barry started again. "I'm going to ask you some questions that I need you to answer. You okay with that?" Emmie tilted her head to the left and skewed her lips to the right as she considered Barry's proposal. Why bother think about it, Barry thought. You have no other choice. Emmie eventually smiled and let out a jovial chirp of "okay" and Barry commenced his interrogation.

"What is your name?"

"Esmeralda Natalie Schiff."

"And how old are you?"

"That's rude!"

Barry sighed. "How many languages do you know?"

"Three: English, Spanish, and Latin."

"So I would have to guess you were speaking Latin when they found you."

"I like how you said 'found' like they didn't tackle me to the ground," Emmie giggled. Barry gave a nervous chuckle, unsure if he should have laughed but Emmie gave him a smile and his laugh got a little less shaky.

"Tell me why did you take Caroline Forbes?" Emmie rolled her shoulders. Barry waited patiently. Emmie said nothing and silence dominated the room. Barry leaned back in his seat still waiting for an answer.

"Because I knew she wouldn't die," Emmie said. She spoke so lowly that Barry almost didn't catch her. "I knew she wouldn't die so I chose her." Barry nodded but it was an odd answer that garnered questions.

"So Caroline is alive?" Emmie nodded. "And where is she?" Emmie shook her head. "Esmeralda," Barry said sterner.

"I thought I told you to call me Emmie." Emmie gave him this look as if she was about to cry. Barry shook his head. Nothing would distract him, especially since he had a distraught sheriff on his hands that needed placating.

"How did you do a disappearing act like that? Smoke and mirrors? Holograms? Cheap parlor tricks?" Barry demanded. With each inquiry Barry leaned closer to Emmie until he was out of his seat looking at her face. Emmie looked down.

"An so it begins." Emmie announced and Barry was taken back. Excuse me what? Beginning of what? Barry was just about to ask but a loud screeching sound rang out and a heavy shudder ran through the building throwing both of them to the ground.

"What was that? An earthquake?" a bewildered Barry asked. Esmeralda gave a laugh before crawling towards him.

"This Barry," Emmie said. "is nature fixing itself." Barry stared at her like she was still crazy but found himself against the wall as another quake hit. A bright white light was growing before his eyes and no matter how many times he blinked it would not leave his line of vision, in fact it was growing.

"Shh." When had Emmie gotten so close? Emmie petted his head. "Let nature fix itself. You won't feel a thing." She sounded surprisingly sane. And she was right. Soon enough the bright light consumed his vision, all he could hear was the horrible screeching and then there was nothing. No sound. No light.

Barry wasn't even alive anymore. Nothing and that was because they no longer existed.

After eating all the food (even the really disgusting oatmeal) Caroline and Rebekah made polite conversation well Rebekah talked and Caroline either nodded, smiled or frowned. As it turned out they had a lot in common. The girls giggled (aka Rebekah giggled and Caroling smiled happily) as they played with Caroline's doll when Esther walked in with Niklaus and Elijah trailing behind her, the latter two's arms laden with fire wood.

"Mother! Nik! 'Lijah!" Rebekah chirped in greeting. "Caroline had awoken!" The present Mikaelsons looked to Caroline who gave a shy wave. Esther gave the girl a smile but Caroline had seen that smile before, it was the type of smile adults give when they had bad news but didn't want ti say it. But honestly what could be worse than the situation Caroline was already in? What was she going to tell her, Santa wasn't real because her parents tried that one but Caroline had shot them down.

"Caroline," said one of the two boys. This one was the oldest with wavy brown hair Caroline really wanted to run her hands through. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am Elijah and this is my younger brother Niklaus." Elijah had somehow managed to put down the firewood without Caroline noticing and stood in front of the girl. Caroline smiled at him and kept doing so until Elijah began to look confuse as to why she was not responding back to his welcome.

"Caroline cannot talk. She has no voice," Rebekah clarified. Elijah nodded and shot Caroline a pitying look that made her insides boil. Just because she was mute did not mean that she was any less the Caroline Forbes she was before! "Nik! Introduce yourself to Caroline!" Caroline looked where Rebekah was shouting to and saw a boy with curly sandy blonde hair.

"Hello," the boy said in a headier accent than his siblings. "I am Niklaus. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." Caroline wondered why all the boys here had long hair. Mikael, Elijah, and now Nik―what sort of name was Niklaus anyways!

"Nik and Finn were the ones who retrieved you the day before," Rebekah whispered. Caroline nodded and gave Niklaus a big grin. She wanted to say thank you but hoped that the smile gave away all her gratefulness.

"It is great that Caroline now has seen the face of one of her saviors." Esther said pleasantly. "However I believe that Caroline would like to freshen up, no?" Caroline nodded again. She had been able to ignore the grime she felt on her skin until it was mentioned. Rebekah was kind enough to offer to show her where to bathe and it was with that that the girls quickly left.

Esther's smile fell as soon as the girls had left. Esther turned to start making lunch as it was well past noon. Niklaus and Elijah began to add more fire to the cooking pit.

"Caroline appears to be pleasant enough, Niklaus," Elijah said.

"She is…I suppose," Niklaus drawled.

"What did you expect her to be? A spoiled little girl?"

"Well how I was I supposed to know, with her so finely dressed?"

Esther heard Elijah laugh and but her lip. Three of her children seemed so excited to have the girl with them that it almost hurt her children that Caroline could not stay with them. She was an unknown danger to them. A mother had to do what was best for her children.

"Elijah, Niklaus, I want you to stay away from Caroline." Esther did not have the heart to turn around but she knew her sons were looking at her, Esther continued to peel potatoes.

"But why mother?" Niklaus asked. Esther cursed childish curiousity.

"Niklaus I have my reasons. Please just do as I ask." Esther said. She really hoped that they would listen.

Mikael returned home late that evening with a large deer on his back. Mikael sat outside and then began to work on his sword. The village had been running out of food so he and the other men planned to embark on a voyage in two weeks' time. In the low light of the sunset Mikael could spot Niklaus dragging his feet towards their home. The boy seemed tired and Mikael knew why. The boy had been practicing his swordsmanship on a tree. Mikael knew that the boy would practice for hours trying to become better. It made Mikael proud.

It may be hard to believe seeing the way that Mikael treats his son but contrary to what others might believe Mikael actually loved his son Niklaus. He was hard on him because Mikael knew that Niklaus could be something great. And like his father before him Mikael was tough on Niklaus. He made his son work for everything that he wanted in life. It made the reward that Niklaus received all the more sweeter.

But there was something holding Niklaus back from being truly great. Niklaus had the work ethic, he had the dedication, he had the loyalty to the cause but what exactly was it that was reventing him from moving forward?

Feelings.

Mikael saw that his son was easily hurt. He was too sensitive. Niklaus was not as sensitive as a girl but he still had too much emotion to truly make tough decisions. Niklaus was always the type to act before though whenever something upset him and it angered Mikael that Niklaus would allow something so simple and meaningless be what prevented him from being great. But Mikael knew what to do. He would need Niklaus to harden his heart and to do that he would need to be tougher on Niklaus and work him harder. It was apparently working.

Niklaus stalked away without noticing Mikael or the small smile he had on his face.

What exactly was going on?

Qetsiyah watched as some of the witches that had been on the other side with her for centuries disappear. The current world, the present world, was falling apart. Well, it wasn't falling apart but it was changing.

Though why was she spared?

Travelers that we as old as she was stayed while the new, younger witches disappeared into nothingness.

It seemed that whatever was happening did not go as far back as to when Qetsiyah was still alive.

"I wonder what this new world will be like once it is done being shaped," Qetsiyah said as she watched the world disappear. She would forget everything that was happening in a moment but Qetsiyah had to wonder?

What changed in the past that made the world change so drastically?

It was after dinner and Esther was cleaning up after her family. The whole time Esther could not help but allow her eyes to dart to Caroline as she listened to Niklaus and watched the rest of the family interact with each other.

She needed to get the girl as far away from her family as possible. There was no telling when the girl could explode and do something that could harm her family. The girl had to go and soon. The sooner she told Mikael the fast the girl would leave.

Mikael was sitting down on a chair that was close to the cooking pit. He was doing something to his sword that Esther did not really care to bother herself with. She needed to speak with him about the girl urgently.

"I will be leaving for a voyage very soon, Esther. Prepare my things for me before the end of the moon cycle," Mikael said. Mikael did not look up from whatever it was that he was doing to his sword and Esther frowned.

"So soon? The village still has a lot of supplies―"

"I did not ask for your opinion Esther. I want my supplies ready before the end of the moon cycle. I am understood?"

"Yes," Esther consented. "I apologize. I shall have your things ready by then." Mikael only gave a grunt to show that he had heard her. It really bothered her how Mikael seemed so dismissive of her when not only so long ago he and many other men were vying for something as fleeting as a glance from her. Why had the feeling between the two of them gone? Esther shook her head to erase the thoughts. Now was not the time to contemplate the workings of her marriage.

"Mikael, I would wish to speak to you about the girl," Esther said.

Mikael spared her a glance and a raised eyebrow. "What of the girl? Has she done something that displeased you?" Esther shook her head.

"No nothing like that. I just do not believe that she should…stay with us for an extended amount of time." Mikael gave her a frown and just went back to work.

"And why not?"

"I…I have a feeling―"

"I will not discard a girl because you have had one of your 'feelings' Esther. This girl can bring us security and aid if we so need it."

"Mikael―"

"If you have nothing better to say then quit wasting my time woman." Esther knew that there was no getting through to Mikael now and left. She would have to try another time.

Ayana had no clue how many grimiores she had gone through but she knew that it was almost all of them.

Her grimiore, her mother's grimiore, even her great grandmother's grimiore said nothing about what the girl could be. No one had heard about a creature that held the power to destroy and change. With an exasperated sigh Ayana closed another grimiore.

No one knew what the girl was! To Ayana that was amazing because as well traveled as Ayana's family was no one had heard of a power like this. Picking up the book, Ayana walked back to put the book away but smacked her hip on one of the tables. Papers fluttered to the floor and Ayana cursed, dropping to her knees. She started to pick up picks of paper grumbling the whole while. Ayana spotted a piece of paper close to the fire pit and crawled towards it.

Ayana snatched the paper from a spark that jumped from the fire. The aged witch looked at the paper and tried to see what was written on it just for curiosity's sake. The writing on the scrap of paper was faded with age and Ayana squinted her eyes in and attempt to read it. Ayana held the paper to the fire light and tried again to read the paper. Suddenly, hidden writing appeared and she stopped to read the words. "Reveal the hidden…" Ayana smiled.

If no one in her family knew, it appeared that Ayana was going to be the one to find out.

Cinderella's new family was a pack of wolves lying in wait for a witch to awaken them.

And everyone knows that witches and princesses do not mix.

Author's Note: I have once again managed to make the story progressively crappy as it go closer to the end. But whatever, I tried didn't I? Included the part about present day Mystic Falls and Qetsiyah on the other side because I think we would all like to know what the hell would happen to the present day if time was being altered. I hope you all enjoyed that little bit.

So I would like to wish everyone here on Fanfiction . net a Happy New Year. Also Happy Kwanzaa to those who celebrate it since it starts on the 26th.

Anyways, I would like to take the time to thank all the people you read and reviewed and favorited and followed the story so far. I hope you are enjoying the crap that I am spouting out!

I have one request for all the people reading this. If you know a Beta Reader could you be kind enough to do me a solid and throw them in my direction. If you have not noticed I am in great need of a Beat Reader because I am too lazy to/I don't care enough to actually check my own stories for errors. Also it would be really nice to have someone else to bounce ideas off of other than my brother.

Also is anyone else worried about Katherine. They had better not kill her off because she has not spent enough time with Elijah (who is off frolicking with stupid Hayley of all people) and they had not yet had children yet (because come on if Klaus can have a baby why not them?). I think that if they have to kill off a character like it is absolutely necessary then they should kill Elena. I mean it isn't like she does anything.

Anyhoo, I hope you guys are enjoying your break! I know I am! I got $55 to go spend at Barnes and Noble and I am currently flipping my shit about that. I love books! Any book recommendations that you want to give me? I want to hear them!

So I will leave you will the usual url : miss – wicked – lovely . tumblr . com

Until Next Time,

Miss Wicked Lovely