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Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Of one thing Doctor was sure, she wasn't climbing a huge Earth looking tree a second ago. She was... Exactly, what was she doing? Where was she? To her astonishment, the time lady couldn't remember. To made matters worse, the branch, on which she was presently sitting on, suddenly broke under her weight and Doctor soon became a mess of tangle painful limbs on the ground.

"Oh, Heaves! Are you all right?" a familiar female voice shouted in worry.

"B...Bill?" Doctor managed to say though her greeted teeth.

"Yes. That's me." her former companion answered, while kneeling next to her. "Please don't try to move. You might have broken something."

"Where are we? ...what do you have on yourself? No wait, what I have on myself?!"

"Huh? It's my usual costume." Bill glanced at her dress, which resembled clothes wore by people from XVI century Europe. Doctor had similar one, but much more dirtier and destroyed. "And we're in our family garden. Don't you remember? Oh, no. Mother! Sister! Please come quickly!"

Even in pain, Doctor managed to look around and basing on a huge quantity of flowers around them, they indeed could be in a garden. There was also a nice looking Georgian house, from which appeared two other familiar ladies in similar clothes as Bill's.

"Adelaide? Donna! How?!"

"What's the matter, my dear?" the oldest woman asked. "Have something happened?"

"It's Cinderella, Mother." Bill explained. "She fell from the tree."

"My goodness! How are you feeling?" Adelaide crouched next to the time lady as well.

"Better ask - have you gone mad!?" Donna was clearly furious, but Doctor know her long enough to recognize glints of worry in her firm tone. "Can't you see how tall it is!? You could have broken your neck!"

"S...Sorry." Doctor apologized and decided that if everyone around her was behaving quite extraordinary and her companions appeared from nowhere, she would play along, or more precisely - pretend to have a memory loss. "But I'm not quite sure, where I am."

"...Donna, dear." Adelaide told her 'daughter'. "Please ask doctor to come here at once."

"But I'm the Doctor." the time lady might not know, where she was, but of that she was certain.

"Yep. Right away, Mother." Donna exchanged a worried glance with two ladies and quickly ran off.

"Umm... why have you called me 'Cinderella'?"

In the conclusion, Doctor Ronald Pond stated that except of few bruises and problems with memory, the time lady was completely fine. However, he advised to have her rest for another five days.

"So, my name is Cinderella." Doctor said from beneath her covers (She had to admit that she was given a lovely bedroom.) "My mother died, when I was little, then my father married you."

"Very well, my dear." Adelaide praised her from her chair.

"It's ridiculous." Donna commented, who was standing nearby with her 'sister'. "Why does she have to repeat everything?"

"Doctor Pond told us that it's the best way to have Cinderella remember everything." Bill reminded.

"And my father?" the time lady asked. "I don't know anything about him. Is he here?"

"I'm sorry to tell you, but he left city in business two weeks ago and will be returning at fastest in next month." her Stepmother answered. "He loves you very much and would be worried just as we are, if he was with us."

"He is alive. Strange. Are you sure?"

"Umm... yes, I am."

"Oh, OK." Doctor mused, as the father from fairy tale was dead, in most versions anyway. "Then, Bill and Donna are my two stepsisters."

"Who aren't ugly or rude." she added in her thoughts.

"That's us." Donna waved her hand.

"We aren't very rich," Doctor continued. "thus we can't afford servants to take care of the house. So, I'm the only person responsible for cleaning, cooking ... "

"Not exactly." Bill stopped her.

"Huh?"

"We are indeed in... a difficult position, but it's me, Mother and Donna, who do all houseworks."

"What? Why?"

"Dear, you aren't a servant." Adelaide patted her arm. "Even more, you are the lady of the house. Why would you think otherwise?"

"Because I'm Cinderella?"

Another exchange of worried glances between sisters and their mother.

"Girls, please can you leave me and Cinderella alone for moment?"

"Have I said something wrong?" Doctor asked, when there was only her and Adelaide in the bedroom.

"No, dear. I believe that it was me, who might have behaved improperly in the end." the older woman stated. "But let me start from the beginning. Death of any mother is very hard, especially for a small child. You weren't an exception. It had to be even sadder, when the other parent was often absent due to his work. Having a stranger marrying your father wasn't easy as well. Moreover, a person, who had two daughters of her own..."

"And?" Doctor encourage her to continue.

"At first you lost mother, who adored you completely, then your father had to share his attention with new three people, you had a difficult time adjusting... however we all hoped that in the end all will be fine. My lovely Graham always says... are you all right? Your face looks pale."

"Yep. Completely fine." Doctor reassured her.

"As soon as I will come to peace with the thought that Graham is my father." she told to herself.

"You were left utterly alone." the stepmother continued. "What's worse, we also lost a part of our family fortune and we had to move to a new place. As you can see, our current home isn't luxurious, however enough for our five and much easier to manage than a huge villa. If only Graham could spend more time with us. Unfortunately, even when we reduce our expenses, he still has to travel. Being a seller is very hard."

"When did my mother die?"

"You were six then. I married your father three years later."

"Oh, I see. And cleaning?"

"Umm... we wouldn't dare to ask you about such things. Especially, as you are a very stubborn girl."

"That means..."

Adelaide was rather ashamed to say it and tried to avoid the topic. However Doctor insisted. In the end, she was informed that Cinderella behaved more like a naught child, than a poor goodhearted girl from the fairy tale. She didn't respect anyone, even her own father. Furthermore, Cinderella often lied that she is being mistreated by her family. Neighbours frequently complained about her rude behaviour and accused her of stealing their things. The girl didn't want to eat meals, didn't want to take her baths or sleep when needed. (Now, Doctor knew what smelled so horribly). Climbing a tall tree was another sign of her displeasure with the current life.

Because of all those and as Cinderella was always walking in dirty clothes and dishevelled hair, most of people avoided her and even her family. If Graham, Adelaide, Donna or Bill ever approached her with any insignificant request, they all were met with illogical outburst from her side.

"A few days ago, the roof broke right above your room. I had to move you to Donna's and Bill's quarter, but you weren't fond of this idea." Adelaide lowered her head. "In my anger, I told you that you may sleep in the kitchen instead. And you did. On the next morning, you started coughing so strongly. I asked you to take a syrup, but you refused and hid on the tree. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have given you my room, I'm sure that I would have managed squeezing with girls in theirs and you wouldn't have had this awful accident."

"No, please. Don't cry. It was my fault and you showed a lot of patience and caring for me. I will be fine in few days and I'm not coughing now."

Adelaide smiled a little and intended to say something, but then Cinderella's stepsisters suddenly entered the room.

"Mother! You will not guess what we've just received!" Bill shouted as she gave her a letter. "It's an invitation for the ball in the castle!"

"And the Prince is looking for a wife! AAA!" Donna added, making all occupants to cover their ears. "Wait for me my charming, you will faint, when you see me!"

"That's wonderful" the stepmother exclaimed. "It's in a week time. We will have enough time to prepare and our Cinderella should be back to her healthy self again."

"May I come, too?" Doctor asked surprised. It also wasn't in the original story.

"Of course, you may, my dear. We wouldn't want it otherwise."

"Bill, let's see what we can find among our clothes." Donna told her sister. "I already have an few ideas. All will be marvellous!"

Doctor was more than grateful to leave all preparation for her stepsisters, as she could focus only on exploring her surrounding, which unfortunately looked very normal. No daleks. No cyberman. No mysterious entities. (Doctor missed her screwdriver.) What's the most annoying, she still couldn't remind herself where she was before appearing in Cinderella's house. Surely, Doctor and her Fam were in Tardis and if memory served her right (probably not), Yaz proposed that they could go... exactly, where?

Then, came the day of the ball and fake Cinderella rebuked herself for forgetting that she was in a fairytale kingdom.

"A dress?" Doctor eyed her new clothes.

"Yep, do you like it?" Donna asked. "I've spent ages on making it."

"It's pink..."

"Yes, a beautiful colour for every lady."

"Umm..."

"Oh, stars. I remember now." Donna shook her head. "I didn't ask you which colour you prefered. I'm so sorry. Maybe I could find something else."

"In one hour?"

"Fine, we need a miracle."

Yes, it wasn't possible, so Doctor agreed to take what was given. Particularly, as Donna was very proud of her work. However a new problem arise, when her shoes mysteriously vanished. Each of ladies offered her own, but they were too big or too small. In the end, Doctor had to take her garden heavy boots. Truth to be told, the time lady was relieved - slippers were so uncomfortable. Moreover, it was a Cinderella story, losing shoes was a part of it, wasn't it? Or did her fairy Godmother steal them? Where was she anyway?

Master had no idea how it happened, but somehow he woke up as the prince of a fairytale kingdom. It wasn't so bad, the time lord had a huge castle, servants and private army. (Well, he would have it, when the father-king would pass away.) However even with all mentioned benefits, Master wanted to get out. For days, he had been searching for any kind of clue, which would tell him what was going on, but all was fruitless.

"Stuck in a fairy tale, you say?" his 'father' asked, when they both were dining in a huge royal lounge. "It's quite an unique description of your current predicament, my son."

Master only snorted in response above his meal.

"In that case, you may either go with the story or against it." the king advised. "Well, whatever you will choose, at least you can be certain of your valuable role."

"What?"

"Son, you may think of being someone else, but you're still the Prince. If I recall correctly, they often have to kill some monsters or..."

"Rescue a lady." Master finished.

"However, none of these seems to suit. We have peace and no one is being mistreated in our kingdom."

Actually, Master already chose to NOT follow the story, however as it hadn't brought any results and it was difficult to find out in which fairy tale he was, it seemed that the time lord would need to go in other direction. To his dread, he realised that it was leaving only one option.

"I need a wife."

So here he was - on the ball, among many posh looking women, one worst than the other. Disgusting. There passed two hours and Master was slowly loosing hope of finding anything/anyone useful, but then...

The king didn't approve of his solution. He was very upset that he wanted to marry a lady on the whim, however after long negotiations the king calmed down and only advised Master to at least choose the most beautiful woman, which he would see.

She had just entered the ball room.

Chapter Text

"OMG, the price is coming here!" Donna exclaimed, while bowing (almost) gracefully, just as she and her family entered the grand ball room. "We are delighted to meet you, your highness..."

"PRINCE!?" the time lady shouted astonished, when a familiar frustrated person in royal outfit appeared in front of them.

"We need to talk, Doctor." Master told her.

"Doctor?" Adelaide was confused. "Your grace is mistaken. It's only our Cinderella."

The time lord looked at his best enemy up and down, as if only now noticing what she had on herself, and suddenly started laughing so loudly that surely a half of occupants in the huge chamber had to hear him. Then, Master just spared a glance at three women, which accompanied Doctor, and ignoring their shouts, grabbed the time lady's hand and pushed her quickly after himself.

"What are you doing here?" Master questioned her, when they were alone on an abandoned balcony near the palace's garden. (Of course, guards listened to him and would make sure that he and Doctor were not to be disturbed.)

"I could ask the same about you, 'your highness'."

"I'm playing in being a prince, obviously. Instead of a cleaning girl." Master picked the hem of her long skirt up to check shoes underneath it. "Where are your slippers? Yyy... whatever Godmother, gave you this dress, had too be very poor. My kitchen maids have better clothes than this."

"Stop it." Doctor backed away. "So, it's your doing. What kind of evil scheme do you have in mind now?"

"An evil scheme? Look around, idiot! Why would I have to lower myself to use a child's stupid story to catch you, kill you, torture you and kill again?"

"...well..."

"Not a word." Master glared and tried to forget that to survive or torment Doctor, he was actually capable of lowering himself to the lowest. "But know this, I haven't planned it and I want to get out."

"Then, do you remember how you got here?"

"And you?"

"So you don't. Blast!" Doctor threw her hands up. "I thought that coming to the ball will help somehow, but nothing happens. Except of meeting you...Ugh."

"Didn't you ask your Fairy Godmother for help, Cinderella?" Master mocked.

"There was no Fairy Godmother!" she shouted. "There isn't even any evil stepmother, ugly stepsisters and Cinderella's father isn't dead!"

"And coincidentally, all of them look like your former companions (but I don't recognize the old one). Interesting. Haven't you thought that all of this could have been done for a reason?"

"Of course, I have, but to them I'm just Cinderella. Moreover, the story is all wrong." she crossed her arms frustrated. "If I was real Cinderella, then I would be stuck in kitchen from the beginning. Instead, they all are very nice and I was allowed to come to the ball. Donna even made this dress for me."

"It seems that we are the only ones, who are aware that the fairy kingdom is an illusion."

"Is it possible that we are here because we are time lords...?"

"NO!" Master suddenly burst out. "I am the time lord! You're just some ancient organism, who decided to visit my galaxy. You might have forgotten that, but I'm certainly not."

"The link still exists." she had replied stoically after a long pause. "How have you survived?"

"Huh?"

"The destruction of Gallifrey."

"Let's just say that I'm so clever that I can be in few places at once." he answered. "Can we go back to the topic?"

Doctor rolled her eyes. Master never liked to reveal much... Well, she also preferred to not tell him how she ended in Judoon prison, got out and started travelling with her Fam again. Adelaide said that Graham was her father in the current universe, but Doctor doubted that the man was really her companion. Who could have a face of Yaz and Ryan? Wherever her Fam was, she hoped that they were all right.

"Cinderella should loose her slipper on the ball." Doctor stated. "However, one pair of shoes was already prepared for me by Donna and it went missing."

"Start crying and maybe the fairy will hear you."

"You are joking, right?"

"Unfortunately, no. I'm only the price. (Such injustice) My job was only to organize a ball, meet you, find slipper and look for you, finally - marrying you. (Yuck.)" he took a step closer to her. "You must have noticed that it doesn't matter how people are treated, but if we follow the story. You have the main role. Take advantage of it. Lure your Godmother out and catch her."

"She didn't appear to me, she might not even exist."

"You can be really dump sometimes."

"Oi!"

"Cinderella has the contact with the only magical creature in the fairytale. I bet that she is our way out ticket. Moreover, I already know the reason why she ignored you."

"Because I didn't need her. I went to the ball anyway." Doctor realised. "Fine. I'll try TALKING to her. Go hide yourself behind that column, so she wouldn't see you."

"Whatever. Remember to look convincing." Master advised while backing away.

"Ugh, I know, go." Doctor looked around checking if she was only by herself, then started 'crying'.

"Oh, poor me," she wept. "I'm so sad, very very very very sad, I'm the saddest person in the whole world."

Master shook his head with disappointment. He doubted that any fool would fall for this, but then he saw the light, which soon changed into a lady in blue gown.

"Oh, my poor Cinderella." the magical lady said. "I'm your Fairy Godmother, who has come to help you."

"Oh, hello." Doctor greeted her. "Would you by any chance know..."

"I've seen your pain, that's way I'm giving you this." she waved her wand and on Doctors' feet materialized glass slippers."

"Thanks, but..."

"Remember, the magic will end at midnight. "

"No worries, I can walk without..."

"That's why you must leave before that time." Godmother continued, not hearing her.

"Geez, these are just normal shoes. Not completely normal, but still - not end of the world. By the way, I have a question..."

"Don't worry about anything, my dear. Just go and dance."

"Are you even listening to me!?"

"Just grab her!" Master shouted and jumped at the fairy, however she vanished as quickly as she came. "Damn it."

"Funny, I've always imagined her differently. More emphatically, I would say." Doctor mused. "Did you recognize her?"

"Why should I?"

"Everyone around is similar to a person from our past. Thus, logically, Godmother should also be. However, I can't match her face to anyone. Can you?"

"This is your Godmother, not mine." he replied, while standing up from the ground. "She must be similar to your former companion or someone else."

"Come on, I didn't recognize half of people in the palace. They surely are yours, so the Godmother may as well. Who is the king anyway? What? Why are you pointing at that painting,... which actually shows the king... But, it's you! I mean other you. Past you."

"To clarify - yes, it's professor Yana and also... my 'father.'"

"Whoever put us here has a strange sense of humour. " Doctor commented and took off one of her slippers. "Take one, I will take the other. I hope that I'll see you tomorrow."

"Be assured that your prince will scoop you up and save you from your miserable life." Master sneered, while taking the shoe from her hand. "Would you care letting me know, where you live?"

"Cinderella's prince didn't need that, I'm certain that you'll manage just fine." she said with a similar sarcasm.

"Are you sure that you're all right, Cinderella?" Donna asked, when all four ladies sat safely in their coach and were returning home. "because if he did anything to you, I swear, prince or not, he would regret it!"

"Thank you, but I'm OK."

"But he had to mistake you for someone else." Bill insisted. "He called you 'Doctor'."

"...he called me like that because it was my nickname, when we were children." the time lady said at last, deciding that a half truth was the best option in current circumstances. Plus, it was already difficult to explain, why she was barefoot.

"You have never mentioned that you grew up with a member of royal family." Adelaide was surprised. "Neither, your father."

"We were friends once, but we went separate ways... I don't like to talk about it much..."

Hearing a sad tone in Doctor's voice, all three women didn't pressure her more and the rest of the journey was completed in silence.

"You let her go?!" the king shouted. "Son, are you completely our of your mind?"

"Don't worry. I have a plan."

Of course, he had, but after the horrible ball Master was tired and he only wanted to sleep, dreaming that all would be over tomorrow. Unfortunately, his father decided to visit his chamber and question him about the bride.

"I hope that it's a good one, my child. Because when, you meet your chosen one, you can't just allow her to leave. Especially, as you stated that the lady reciprocated your feelings and you don't know, where she lives."

"Chosen one? You're overdramatizing."

"I may so, but remember that life isn't a fairly tale, answers won't come to you just by themselves."

It wasn't a first time, when Master wondered, why he was able to stand the king's fatherly concern. He presumed that mostly because of the resemblance to his past self, however he might be wrong.

"What have you said?" the time lord asked, as if he was suddenly illuminated.

"Please don't make me to repeat myself, son. I'm an old man, but my mind is in the right place. Some thighs are easy to get, but for others - you have to work long and hard or even fight for it. I see that the lady charmed you very much and you're confident in your decision, but have you really overcome all obstacles, which are on the way, to achieve your desire?"

To Master's surprise, the king could be right. Finding Doctor wouldn't be difficult, however what the Godmother would do was a completely different question. She should have helped Cinderella, but the time lady didn't actually asked for any slippers (Doctor wasn't even allowed to voice any requests at all), but she was given them nonetheless. It was possible that the magical creature had a much different 'happy ending' in mind.

"Yes," he admitted to himself. "Life isn't a fairy tale... I will take a few guards just in case."