Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Once upon a time, there was a class full of students who absolutely hated Geography. Mr Hunter’s usual class was a handful as it was, but for the last few weeks of the term, he had decided to make things ten times harder for himself by merging the entire year group together so they could all be involved in a group project.

There were many different reactions to this. When the students started filing into the classroom, there were the ones who looked extremely confused at the layout of the classroom because they hadn’t listened to the notice Mr Hunter had given to them at the end of the last lesson and scratched their heads trying to listen in on other people’s conversations so they could understand what was going on. Then there were the ones who immediately made a beeline for their friends, doing celebratory dances and songs because friendship groups were being reunited. Finally, there were the ones who started being loud and obnoxious, making quite a nuisance of themselves.

Snow White came under the first category, which was the largest because nobody really listened to what Mr Hunter said at the end of the Geography lessons. He had been given the slot right before lunch-time for his Geography lessons and so everyone’s main focus was on getting a good seat in the cafeteria and getting out before Mr Hunter set homework. Neither worked for Snow White - she had sat at the table next to the bins every day of the week so far, and it was only Thursday. The less talked about Snow White’s homework the better. She scanned the layout of the classroom and sighed when Mr Hunter yelled at everyone not to sit down yet and then dashed to the back of the classroom to break up a fight between two boys fighting over who got to stand next to Millicent DuBroch, one of the prettiest girls in the class. 

It was all pointless anyway, because Milly was preoccupied with rifling around in her bag to notice either of them. She emerged victorious with the largest box of tissues known to mankind before straightening up, and noticing Snow White staring at her, offered a small wave. Snow White looked away immediately and then felt bad for not waving back.

 See, this is why she didn’t like people interacting with her. Because she could never react the right way. If there was one thing about Snow White, it was that she absolutely hated attention, and the fact that she couldn’t merge into the shadows and just observe everything without ever getting involved in anything or getting perceived. When she was little and asked which superpower she wanted to have, the answer was always the same: to be invisible. And this was purely so that she could have the ability to curl up into a corner somewhere and never be disturbed ever again. Embarrassed that she had been caught staring, Snow White shifted her attention to Mr Hunter, her curiosity about why Milly had so many tissues fading away.

"... so because there are still some people confused, I am going to explain again. Since we are now coming close to the end of the school year, I decided that I was going to combine all of Year 9 and split you into different groups to do a  presentation on a country of your choosing…” Mr Hunter cleared his throat loudly to try and stop the immediate chorus of groans that rippled across the classroom. "I don’t know why you’re all complaining now, I did tell you last week! Anyway, you can be as creative as you want. I don't just want a presentation where you are reading off the slides word for word..."

"As if you don't do the same thing in your lessons." A dark-haired boy with bleary eyes muttered from the back of the classroom. Unfortunately for him, everyone else had decided to stop talking so his voice was much louder than he had intended it to be. 

Mr Hunter clapped his hands together to stop the laughter and peered at his watch, "You know what, it's alright. I'll just wait, and then you'll all have to stay behind at lunch-time to do the initial planning for your projects. Cloud, this is your first warning. That was very disrespectful considering the amount of time and effort I put into these lessons for you guys."

Snow White began to massage her temples, as Cloud began to protest claiming he “didn’t even do anything” and leaned against the wall, sensing it would be a while before she would be able to sit down. Ever since she had been accepted to go to a new school the next term, she was in a constant cycle of being relieved that she wouldn’t have to deal with this idiotic behaviour for much longer while knowing that she would miss the annoying interruptions every lesson. She picked at a loose thread on her yellow bee jumper absent-mindedly wishing she could just go home. She didn’t usually wear yellow, or any bright colours at all (which was part of her methods of blending into the background) and she was beginning to regret bending to her stepmother’s complaints that she only wore black. Which wasn’t even true, because she wore blue jeans a lot.

Mr Hunter finally ended the conversation with Cloud and addressed the whole class again, "You can get started straight away as soon as I tell you where to sit because you’re sitting in groups, and before anyone asks, I've already decided on the groups. I'm trying to get you to work with different people because you can't choose who you work with when you're in the work-place. There are some colleagues I don't necessarily get along with here, but... No, I'm not going to tell you who. Look, no amount of begging is going to change my mind about the groups, I've already decided." Mr Hunter put on his glasses and then squinted at the piece of paper on his desk. "Right! Everyone stand behind your chairs." There was a reluctant scraping of chairs moving and fussing before all the grumbling year 9 Geography students rose to their feet.

"Sir, what if a group can't decide on a country to do?" A girl with a halo of dark curls fanning around her head queried.

"Simple. I'll choose for you. Right, we have on Table 1: Noah, Galena, Cloud, Milly, Asher, Mara, Asa and Snow White."

Snow White stared at the ground as she made her way across the classroom, feeling everyone’s eyes on her as her bag bumped awkwardly against her leg and the chairs she passed. She could feel everyone’s eyes on her. Staring. She shouldn’t have worn the yellow bee jumper. It was far too brightly coloured. After what felt like forever, despite her speed, she finally made it to Table 1, and slouched in her seat, finally daring to look up and noticing that Mr Hunter had in fact moved on to Table 4 now, meaning she had zoned out his voice in her panic.

 Snow White narrowed her eyes at Cloud when he sat down, making a loud scraping noise with his chair, and then leaned back, chewing gum with his mouth wide open. Cloud was the type of person who everyone always saw in life. And the most confusing part was that he liked to be seen. He would enjoy getting called out by the teachers and have everyone’s eyes on him while he played the bad boy persona. Because it was pretty evident to Snow White that the bad boy act was just that - an act. Snow White just wasn’t particularly interested in finding out why he acted the way he did, which is why she hadn’t done any further digging.

Despite her hatred for being around large groups of people, Snow White was surprisingly good at reading people and dealing with different personalities. She used to babysit for Hilde’s friends, and had been really good at it, leading her to look into working with children and a potential career path leading to her becoming a child psychologist. But children were still people, so Snow White was still keeping her childhood dream job of becoming a vet in mind too. Animals over people any day.

 Besides Cloud and Milly, there were two other boys and three more girls seated around the table and out of these five, there was one person Snow White recognized from her normal Geography lessons. Asher was Mr Hunter's nephew, who was always the only one who looked as though he was enjoying himself and had a constant smile on his face. The girl with the curly hair who had asked the question earlier was in Snow White’s group and was called Asa, but the rest were a faded blur of familiar faces, who she had probably seen in the hallways but never talked to in all her years at Black Forest Comprehensive. 

"Should we start with introductions?" Asher asked, his face spreading into a large goofy grin.

"You know what, that's a great idea, Ash." Mr Hunter exclaimed, overhearing. "I want everyone to give a quick introduction to their group before you start. It should only take around ten minutes though. Ready... Steady... Go!"

"Great, so I'll start! I'm Asher, and my favourite subject is Geography." Asher grinned around at everyone, his smile faltering slightly when nobody smiled back.

Asa took pity on him and smiled back although it was fleeting and looked rather forced, "I'm Asa and my favourite colour is blue." 

"I'm G..G..Galena." A tiny girl with long black eyelashes whispered, barely audible among the chatter from the rest of the class. "And I like drawing."

“She’s Galena and she likes drawing.” Asa repeated a bit louder, turning to give Galena a thumbs up. “She’s really good at it too!”

"Hang on, I'm sure I've seen you two sitting together at lunch before!" Cloud proclaimed, his blood-shot eyes narrowing suspiciously. He stuck an accusing finger in Galena's face causing her to swallow nervously and look over to Asa for help.

Asa moved his hand away, frowning slightly, "Well, yeah. Galena's my best friend."

"Well that's not fair, Mr Hunter goes on about splitting us all up and then puts you two together!" Cloud retorted, rocking on his chair and pulling up his hood on the faded purple hoodie he was wearing. Mr Hunter materialised behind him, setting all four legs on the floor, before rushing off to another corner of the classroom. 

Asa patted the air, "How about we continue with our introductions? Cloud, do you want to go next?" 

"Well I'm Cloud and I think Mr Hunter is a right old..."

"ACHOO!" Milly flew backwards, very nearly knocking over her chair from the power of her sneeze. She sat very still for several seconds looking extremely bewildered and then began to cough violently, swiping away her wavy red hair from her face. She held a handful of tissues close to her matching red face and began to apologise frantically, in between retching coughs into her elbow. "I am so sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me." Towards the end of her sentence, it seemed as though she was wailing, and Snow White felt even worse for not waving back earlier.

“Are you alright?” Cloud asked, even though it was clear that she wasn’t.

“Uhm, you sure you can continue being at school? Are you well enough?” Asher asked, giving Cloud a dirty look when he scooted his chair away from Milly.

Milly grabbed her water bottle and took several gulps, leaning back into her chair with watery eyes, “I don’t know. I felt fine this morning, I…” 

Asa patted Milly’s back sympathetically, “If you don’t feel well, don’t force yourself to continue.”

“Mr Hunter?” Asher stuck his hand into the air and within minutes Milly had collected all of her things and was on her feet.

“I’m so sorry everyone.” Milly sniffled, dabbing at her watery eyes with her sleeve.

“Hey, it’s all good.” Asa smiled, “Get better soon!”

The messy-haired boy who had been sleeping up until this point sat up and yawned, watching Milly leave with a pink slip of paper in her hand, "Lucky."

The fifth girl who had been on her phone ignoring everybody looked up, "I’d give anything to go home right about now. My head is killing me.”

"Being on your phone won’t have helped much." Asher pointed out, his words catching in his throat when he saw the girl’s expression that gave a whole new definition to glaring. “Anyway, uh, do you want to do your introduction?”

“No.” 

"Oh. Okay, what about you?" Asher turned to the messy-haired boy and found him fast asleep, sprawled across the table snoring softly.

"That’s Noah." Asa said, “Grumpy socks over there is Mara - they’re both in my usual Geography class, and that must mean that you’re Snow White!” Asa turned to face Snow White, smiling. "You've got a very unique name."

"It's a dumb name is what it is." Cloud scoffed, "Who decides to name their kid Snow White?"

Asa glared at him, "That's so rude!"

“Fair point though.” Mara murmured.

“Well who decides to name their kid ‘Cloud’?” 

“It’s a nickname!”

Snow White shrugged, "It's alright. I'm used to it."

Everyone at the table fell silent, and turned to look at her as she spoke, even Noah, who woke up to blink at her sleepily for several seconds. Snow White began to chew on the bottom of her lip nervously. Every now and then she would forget that there were people who hadn’t heard her voice before and made a big deal out of it and that was just one of the reasons why she didn’t tend to speak much at school, because it was tiring having to deal with people’s reactions all the time pertaining to something she couldn’t control.

Her name wasn't the only unique thing about Snow White, she also had a fairly husky voice and she had come to realise over many years of comments and remarks (some of which were extremely damaging to her self-esteem) that her voice was not what people expected it to sound like. The reactions usually went to either extreme: either people saying that it was weird and asking if she had done something to her voice purposely to sound that way or feeling entitled to ask her to repeat words like a parrot. Oh, and then one of the most common ones was where people assumed she had a sore throat and began reeling off a long list of remedies which had caused her to become an expert in all things relating to curing sore throats.

Asher cleared his throat, a habit he had no doubt picked up from his uncle, "Anyway, now that we're all acquainted, what country would you guys like to do for the project?"

Cloud stretched and then began to fold a piece of scrap paper on the table into a paper airplane.

Galena dropped her open pencil case on the floor and then went bright red as she scrambled on the floor to pick everything up with Asa ducking down to help her.

Mara popped a piece of chewing gum into her mouth, and looked up from her phone to stare Asher down silently. Snow White prayed that she would never get on Mara’s bad side. The girl was the definition of intimidating. 

Snow White continued to fiddle with the loose thread from her yellow jumper, avoiding eye contact and Noah let out a guttural snore from the depths of his soul just as Mr Hunter came over.

"It's been half an hour since I set you off, so what have you all been up to?"

"Uhm, we were just deciding on what country..." Asher mumbled.

"Half an hour and you've got nothing?! Right, well you've got fifteen minutes left to come up with the country and what each person is going to be doing. When I come back, it had better be decided or you're all staying in at lunch."

"I personally don't think this is fair because we've got one less person than everyone else now Milly has gone home." Mara said to nobody in particular.

"And those two are friends and you've put them together which isn't fair." Cloud drawled, gesturing towards Galena and Asa.

"Fifteen minutes! And can one of you please wake up Noah?!" Mr Hunter growled, jogging over to another table where somebody had started to cry.

Mara smiled evilly and then whacked a textbook down on top of Noah's head, causing Cloud to shriek with laughter.

"Ow! What was that for?" Noah asked indignantly, rubbing his head and swiping at the textbook, resembling an angry kitten.

"Can we please concentrate?" Asher shouted, causing Galena to jump. "We need to choose a country before we have to stay inside at lunch-time!"

Mara rolled her eyes, “We’re going to fail anyway.”

Clearly, Asher didn’t want to get stuck sitting by the bins either. Snow White slid a pen and a sheet of paper onto the table and sighed. There were several seconds of internal turmoil, and then she heard herself saying, "Why don't we do Japan?"

"Uh.. Yeah. Great idea, Snow White, thank you." Asher stammered, taken aback at being paid attention to for once.

Snow White nodded and then wrote Japan across her page in red ink feeling quite proud of herself for speaking up. Maybe becoming more social was something that would come with time. Granted, that Asher was known for being easy to talk to but still! Snow White tilted her head to the side, admiring her handiwork while imagining what it would be like to not have heart palpitations every time somebody called her name. 

"You have a cool voice." Cloud said after a moment's pause.

Snow White grunted in answer, her palms beginning to get sweaty. 

Never mind. 

"What, so you're not gonna say thank you? That was a compliment!" Cloud fussed, tapping Noah's bent head rhythmically with a pencil. 

"You did just make fun of her name." Asa said, zipping Galena's pencil-case shut.

"Yeah, but..."

"Anyway, Galena said she wants to do some drawings for the project." Asa interrupted. "I can do a scrapbook with her."

Galena nodded, smiling for the first time since the lesson had started. She had short, wispy hair that framed her small face and looked much younger than she was and more innocent too. Snow White doubted that she was though. There was a mischievous glint in Galena's eyes that hadn't gone unnoticed.

"I'll do a quiz. What do you three want to do?" Asher asked, looking at Snow White, Mara and Cloud.

"I wanna go home, man." Cloud sighed, dropping his head onto the table with a loud thud. One of his friends from Table 3 tossed a rubber at his head but he didn’t even flinch and it bounced off with a satisfying boing noise. 

"Right. I'm back. Have you decided on what you're doing?" Mr Hunter asked, appearing out of thin air and banging on the table beside Noah causing him to jolt awake, breathing heavily.

"Yep. We're done!" Mara cut in before Asher could open his mouth. She stood up abruptly, the grumpy expression on her face softening slightly, "It's lunch-time, right?"

"I need evidence." Mr Hunter said, looking very unimpressed at how eager Mara was to leave his lesson. "Asa, congratulations, you’ve just been made team leader! What is everyone doing?"

Asa stared at him blankly for several seconds and then stood up too, "Uhm, so Galena and I are doing a scrapbook, Asher is doing a quiz that Milly will be helping him with if she comes back in time, Snow White and Noah will do a presentation with fun facts and then Cloud and Mara will be doing a poster."

Snow White, Cloud and Mara froze, dithering between the joy of finally getting to go to lunch and the pain of all the work that they would have to be doing, particularly with the people they were going to be doing it with.

Noah nodded, "Yup. That's what we decided. Bye sir." He darted to the door, and was quickly followed by the rest of his classmates with Mr Hunter shouting behind them that he dismissed them, not the bell.

Just another typical lesson at Black Forest Comprehensive.

Chapter Text

Snow White had started running to the cafeteria straight away, without even stopping to zip up her bag and yet the cafeteria was already packed. She peered around the multitude of people until she spotted Florian. The one friend she had in this dark, dark world.

"Hey loser!" Florian yelled, standing over by their usual table and waving both hands in the air, his brown hair that was long overdue for a haircut bouncing up and down.

Florian had been her best friend ever since she had moved to the neighbourhood, four years ago. The very same year that Snow White's dad had passed away. Snow White and her mother had moved right next door to Florian and his family. Well. Technically, Hilde was Snow White's stepmother, but she had always treated Snow White as though she was her real daughter and anyway, Snow White barely remembered her birth mother who had passed away when she was very little.

Snow White scoffed and then slid into the seat beside Florian. "It's so cold! Where did you put your jacket?"

"I don't know. I must've left it back in the classroom." Florian muttered vaguely, hunched over an A4 sheet of paper. "Remind me to go back and get it, will you?"

"Yeah." Snow White sighed and opened her bag to get her lunch out. She took out her bagel and peered over Florian's shoulder. "What're you doing?"

"I'm working out how many shifts at the stables I'll need to work before I can afford to buy a plane ticket to Arendelle."

"Awww." Snow White grinned, "You're gonna miss me that much?"

"No?" Florian turned to look at her and grimaced, "I'm going to break into the boarding school, and meet my future wife. Don't worry though, I'll name our firstborn after you."

"It's alright, I know how you really feel." Snow White patted him on the shoulder, watching amusedly as Florian scribbled down an indistinguishable scrawl of numbers on the sheet of paper, his eyebrows furrowing in concentration. Maths was not his strongest subject.

"I'm not going to miss you at all. I have Astor to keep me company." Florian mumbled.

"That poor cat." Snow White sighed heavily, "I don't know how she's put up with you for so long."

"What do you mean? She loves me!"

"That's not what she told me."

"Oh yeah? And what exactly did she tell you?"

"That you're a terrible owner and she prefers me."

"Really? That's the best you could come up with?" Florian shook his head. “So disappointing.”

"That was poor on my part, I can't lie." Snow White admitted, "You know I'm bad at insulting people, it just isn't part of my kind, gentle demeanor." Snow White laughed, fluttering her eyelashes at him.

"Kind? Gentle?" Florian spluttered. "You're talking as though you didn't spend an hour on the phone last night talking about all the ways you want to torture your maths teacher because of the homework she’d set you."

"I have selective kindness." Snow White retorted.

"What you also have is no friends."

"Ouch." Snow White finished her bagel and pulled a shiny red apple out of her bag taking a large bite, just as a tall girl with dark blue hair and sea green eyes approached their table, a big black puffer jacket in her arms. Florian ran a hand through his hair nervously, and pretended not to notice the newcomer's presence, his knee bobbing up and down.

The apple fell to the ground with a gentle thud. It rolled across the dirty cafeteria floor gathering dirt and grime before ending up right beside one of the girl's big black boots, and Snow White barely noticed until she went to take another bite and found that her hand was empty. Because the girl standing before them was quite possibly one of the most beautiful human beings that Snow White had ever laid eyes on, and Snow White spent a lot of time observing people. 

"You forgot this, idiot." The girl said, tossing the jacket on top of Florian's head.

"Oh. Uh... Thanks, Eve." Florian pulled his jacket off from his head and handed it to Snow White. "Eve, this is my friend, Snow White."

"Hi Eve." Snow White waved shyly, nudging Florian excitedly under the table who pinched her back which translated into You’d better not embarrass me! Snow White bit back a laugh. "I love your hair."

"Thank you so much! I like your outfit, it's very pretty." Eve replied, “And your voice. Jesus Christ… Have you ever considered ASMR?”

Snow White stammered out a thanks mingled with a no, fiddling with the loose thread on her bee jumper again while Florian rolled his eyes and began to grumble under his breath, sulking about being ignored. “Uhm, so I've just remembered that I need to go and check on something with my group for this geography project Mr Hunter set us super quickly. Would you mind sitting with Florian while I go and sort this out? He hates sitting alone.”

"Don’t see why not. My normal table group is being annoying today." Eve dumped her bag onto the table and slipped into the seat opposite Florian as Snow White scrambled to her feet, ducking down to pick up the now grey apple. She turned around one last time to wink at Florian and give him a big-thumbs up coupled with her mouthing Good Luck and headed off to the library.

She was on a roll today! She just spoke to another stranger! She could definitely feel her social battery depleting though, and needed somewhere quiet to recover and think because ever since she had gotten her plane tickets to Arendelle a couple of months ago, she had been worrying about who would be a good replacement for her. Because the fact was, that despite Florian saying adamantly that he would be fine by himself, Snow White highly doubted that he would be and had been on the lookout for somebody to join their friendship group since, so that he wouldn’t be alone. Eve seemed like just the right person, although Snow White wished Florian had mentioned her sooner. She would have liked to become friends with Eve as well. Oh well. At least Florian would be happy, whether he ended up just being friends with Eve or if it ended up developing into something more. Florian just needed to comply and everything would be great!

Snow White could feel the conspiring grin slide off her face the second she sat down in her usual corner of the library, because no it would not be great. Her feelings concerning Florian were complicated like a massive ball of string that had been unravelled and tangled up in itself. She knew she didn’t want to date Florian as things were right now. Sure he was good-looking and funny and had a great personality, but she really could not imagine their dynamic as anything other than a friendship. So why did she feel so uneasy about him dating other people? She had always assumed it was because she didn’t want to lose him as a friend, but she couldn’t dispute the fact that there were some times when her thoughts would wander over the border she had set and yet another question would be added to the mixing bowl of unwanted thoughts and questions that rolled around her brain like colourful marbles, tumbling and sliding over each other.

What if my parents were still alive? What if Hilde were my "real mother"? What if I never came to live here? What if I do have romantic feelings for Florian but am in denial and bury them because I'm scared it will ruin our friendship?  

It just wasn’t logical to start dating anyone when she would be leaving to go to Arendelle in a couple of weeks - that would just be setting herself up for sadness and heartbreak. Especially when she was still struggling to come to terms with the fact that she would be leaving everything she knew behind in less than a month. Snow White was still struggling to believe that this was truly her life, and that it wasn’t all just a dream. She looked up at the clock and placed her head on the table to take a nap. Two more hours and then she could finally go home.

»»————-　✼　————-««

"MUM, I'M HOME!" Snow White called up the stairs, placing her coat on the banister. 

"Oh, great, you can start sorting out that pile of old teddies today, then." Hilde remarked, moving to stand at the top of the stairs, "How was your day?"

"Alright." Snow White muttered bitterly, trudging up the stairs.

"Look, the quicker we get some of your tidying done, the sooner that you can spend your afternoons resting and not worrying about when it will all get done. Tidying will make it much easier to pack, not to mention..."

"But there's not even that much left to do, and I've still got time!" Snow White protested. "It's almost like you're looking forward to me leaving."

Hilde frowned, "You know as well as I do that this is an unmissable opportunity, and you are going to have the time of your life once you get there."

"Not this conversation starting up again." Snow White sighed, "I know, Mum. I was joking."

"Well, I didn't find it very funny. I don't want you to ever feel like the purpose behind you going to Arendelle was because I wanted to get rid of you." Hilde said, her voice wobbling.

"Ok, Mum..." Snow White said exasperatedly, staring at the ground as Hilde wiped her watery eyes.

“Did you remember to eat your fruit?”

“...Well kind of. Before it fell on the floor.”

“Snow White! Those apples were expensive!”

Snow White nodded, training her expression to be one of remorse, “Sorry.”

"You can ask Florian to come over and help you tidy if you want." Hilde suggested, still frowning about the wasted apple.

"He'll just slow me down." Snow White griped.

Snow White and Florian were sitting cross-legged in the middle of her room surrounded by a whole herd of plastic farm animals when Hilde came to tell Florian his mum wanted him back home. It had been two hours since they had started, Snow White claiming that they took a "short" break. It took a whole hour for Hilde and Snow White to actually finish deciding which toys Snow White wanted to keep and which ones could be donated, and by that time, Snow White's back felt as though it was going to snap in half.

It genuinely seemed as though the universe was against the idea of her ever getting any rest because at 2am, her phone let out a long shrill alarm, causing her to nearly fall out of the bed in shock. Once she had rubbed her aching shoulder blades and calmed her racing heart she had grabbed her phone and discovered that she had been added to a new group chat  called Geographers.

Snow White gazed at the screen for a couple of minutes, her brown eyes filling with confusion. Then the confusion turned into annoyance, and the annoyance turned into fury. She tapped out a long message to Florian about respect and how she had trusted him enough to not give out her number to her classmates, and didn't have to wait long for a reply which was a testament to just how messed up Florian’s sleep schedule was.

Chapter Text

The week was over in the twinkling of an eye and before she knew it, Snow White was once again sitting at Table 1 in her Geography lesson questioning the purpose of life. Today, the cause of Mr Hunter's headache was Table 3 who had taken it upon themselves to make a tower out of the glue sticks. The tower of glue had come crashing down to the ground within 5 minutes and Mr Hunter took it upon himself to stand over them all giving a long lecture about maturity while they picked all the glue sticks up. He had called for complete silence since, and had begun to write down names on the whiteboard whenever he spotted anybody talking while pacing around the classroom angrily with his hands behind his back. Cloud's name was in bold red ink at the top of the list. Snow White wondered if Northuldra Academy would be anything like this.

She couldn't stop thinking about how in 2 weeks, she would be in a completely new environment with no friends, no family and probably an extreme case of home-sickness. Before, she had tried to blot it all out and "live in the moment", cherishing her last few weeks  at Black Forest Comprehensive, and it hadn't been easy but she had managed it. Plus, there was the welcome distraction of trying to befriend Eve (which she had managed, making Eve an official lunch partner!) Now, the day of her departure was a tall shadow looming around the corner, and it was much more difficult to pretend she wasn't terrified of leaving everything she had ever known behind. 2 weeks. 14 days. 336 hours. 20160 minutes. 1209600 seconds. 

Snow White closed her eyes and began to take deep breaths, steadying herself. Was it too late to decide not to take the scholarship? If she decided not to go after all, would she regret it for the rest of her life? She held her head in her hands and began to have an existential crisis. Would she be able to manage it all? What if everyone was really horrible and she couldn't cope? Snow White shook her head. She couldn't do this. Why had she ever listened to Hilde? Why did growing up have to come with such difficult decisions? She was still torn between whether she wanted to be a psychologist or a vet when she was older, so why did she have to make the decision of whether she wanted to stay in the place where she was comfortable or go out to a completely new realm where she knew nobody, and nobody knew her?

Over the course of the week (with Hilde's help of course), she had managed to create a checklist of everything she would be taking to Arendelle with her and packed one suitcase already using it. She had crossed out the items on the list in red pen and to an outsider it would be just that - a list of items crossed out. But to Snow White, each item was a reminder of the life she would be leaving behind: The red hair bow that her father had given to her on her 6th birthday, the horse keychain that Florian had given her when he first started working at his uncle's stables,  the small pocket mirror that Hilde had gifted her when the letter from Mrs Oldenburg came in the post saying she had been accepted into Northuldra Academy. 

It had all began a year ago when the headteacher of Northuldra Academy, Mrs Iduna Oldenburg, had made a visit to Snow White's school and done a short assembly for all the girls about Northuldra Academy, the prestigious boarding school for young women in Arendelle. Naturally, Snow White's first inclination was to throw away the pamphlet and complain to Hilde about how they had all missed lunch-time because Mrs Oldenburg had gone over time. But somehow Hilde had  persuaded Snow White to apply, and so she did. There had been no expectation of her application to even be considered once Snow White clicked on the website and saw what kind of school it was. The pictures were of glamorous young women in all sorts of positions of work, and the success stories were filled with accounts of going on to make all these massive differences in the world and receiving global awards. She didn't think she stood a chance.

It wasn't as though her grades were particularly bad. She was a good student, who kept on top of her work (mostly) and didn't get in trouble often. It was just that she had just always thought of herself as fairly average. Having to keep up with everyone from Northuldra Academy made her feel exhausted just thinking about it. Speaking of exhaustion...

"Are you alright, Noah?" Snow White whispered, nudging the boy awake. He blinked several times and looked up at her with wide eyes.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good." Noah murmured softly.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but why you are always so tired?" 

"I don't know, I just kinda zone out whenever I'm not interested in something and then before I know I'm sleeping." Noah shrugged, pulling down his sleeves over his hands.

"Fair enough. It's just that, we're supposed to be doing this presentation thing and Mr Hunter is going to come over in a minute and I have only got three facts down right now because the internet on these rubbish laptops has just stopped working..."

"Oh don't worry about that, it's all good." Noah yawned and reached into his pocket, placing a bright pink USB stick on the table in front of her, "My sister and I managed to finish the presentation last night."

"What?" Snow White's eyes widened, as she surveyed the USB in front of her, dazed by this revelation.

"Sorry I didn't tell you sooner, I meant to but then I fell asleep."

"Wow, well thank you." Snow White smiled as he went back to sleep, surrounded by a wall of Geography books so that Mr Hunter couldn't see him. That boy really was a conundrum. As corny as it sounded, she was actually beginning to grow quite fond of her Table 1 partners. Even Cloud and Mara. It was probably just her being really emotional because of her nearing departure coupled with the joint trauma they were sharing over the Geography project, but it was coming to the point where she would count them as friends. Or at least friendly acquaintances. 

 Galena and Asa were in their own little bubble over by the corner with two glue-sticks they had managed to steal before the great collapse of Glue Tower over on Table 3. They had both been really kind to her. Asa was not afraid to tell Cloud to shut up when he began to mock Snow White’s name and tried her best to involve Snow White in conversations while Galena had taught her how to draw a cherry blossom tree, which was the first thing that Snow White had drawn that she was proud of in a long time. Asa and Galena’s scrapbook idea was coming along nicely, and there were photographs, felt-tips and bright, colourful drawings that surrounded them as they hummed along happily to the music that was playing through their earphones. This was a huge contrast to Asher and Mara who were arguing in hushed voices complete with irritated hand gestures and murmured curse words. 

"Give me back my pen, Mara." Asher pleaded, trying desperately to not lose his temper and snarl. Snow White could barely hide her amusement as his voice became tinged with venom and he made another angry swipe for his pen. Snow White could not remember a single time where Asher had not been happy and upbeat, and she was almost certain that Mara was the only person to exist who Asher had ever sworn at. She was actually really funny with a clever, sarcastic sense of humour and far less intimidating once you got to know her. She had made Asher her sworn enemy although Asa and Galena reckoned they would be dating by the end of the year.

"Ask nicely, and then I'll consider it." Mara grinned, tossing the pen between hands enjoying every second of his fury. 

"Eggs are so versatile." Cloud announced loudly.

Mara and Asher stopped bickering to stare at Cloud in disbelief, "What?"

"You've got fried eggs, boiled eggs, poached eggs, deviled eggs..."

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Mara asked. She was so fixated by Cloud’s rambling, that Asher took the opportunity and swiped back his pen, leaning back into his chair to mutter crossly to himself about respecting other people’s property.

"When I get home, I'm gonna have some eggs." Cloud finished, nodding his head with finality as Mr Hunter uncapped his red whiteboard pen to add a tally to Cloud's name.

»»————-　✼　————-««

“There was a lot of traffic today.” Hilde remarked, “Because of that pop star who came from these ends apparently was coming back here to do a meet and greet… What was her name again?”

“I don’t know, Mum.” Snow White grumbled, peering into the mirror by the dining table at a cluster of acne that had begun to form on her forehead. She re-adjusted her bangs and sighed, “That face wash isn’t working.”

“I told you it wouldn’t. You just need to stop eating so many sweets, drink more water, stop wearing so much makeup to allow your skin to breathe and stop being on your phone so much.”

“That doesn’t even make any sense and I don’t eat that many sweets.”

Hilde raised an eyebrow disbelievingly, and took a drink of water, “And also, what did I say about wearing so much black? It really does dampen the mood, Snow White. You need to…”

"I can't do this!" Snow White finally exploded. 

"You can't wear less black?" Hilde asked, peering over the top of her glasses concernedly.

"I can't go to Northuldra Academy. I've decided. I'm not going to do it." Snow White crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair.

"Alright." Hilde nodded and shrugged, "I'll call Mrs Oldenburg and let her know in the morning."

"What?" 

"Is that not what you want?"

"I... Well... It..."

"Tell me this though, why exactly don't you want to go anymore?" 

"I don't want to leave you and Florian and go to a new place where I won't know anybody. I’ve just started feeling comfortable here with talking to new people. What if they all hate me in Arendelle? What if I get bullied?" 

"The whole country won't hate you, Snow White."

"Ok, but what if I don't like them? What if I'm not smart enough? What if I spend the whole time by myself?" Snow White paused for breath, "What if Florian forgets all about me?" A memory of lunch-time re-surfaced and Snow White  scowled, "You know, Eve couldn’t come to sit with us at lunch-time because she had to leave early and Florian just spent the whole time talking about her." 

"I thought that you wanted Eve and Florian to start dating." Hilde rolled her eyes.

"I do!" Snow White argued, "Anyway, all of that is besides the point. I just genuinely don't know if going to Northuldra Academy is the right decision for me anymore."

"Right, that's it." Hilde stood up and gestured to Snow White to follow her. They went up the stairs together and Hilde went to stand in front of the large floor-length mirror by her dressing table. "Come here."

"I don't see what this has to do with..."

"Look into that mirror and tell me what you see."

"I see a girl who has no idea what path in life she wants to take and is really confused right now."

Hilde frowned. "No. Try again."

"Look, I don't know what else to say. That's how I feel!"

"Alright, then try looking at yourself from another person's point of view."

"Fine. I see an average-looking girl with acne, a stupid name, a weird raspy voice and who only got accepted into Northuldra Academy because the headteacher probably felt sorry for her."

"Snow White, that is not true. Anyone who ever looks at you that way is an ignorant piece of garbage who does not deserve your time or respect. When I look at you, I see a beautiful, courageous young woman who has been through a lot during her 14 years of living, but has gone from strength to strength despite the hardships she has had to face. I have seen how selfless you have been to disregard your own feelings towards Florian because you want him to be happy. I have seen how hard-working and persevering you are in everything you do. You are the most beautiful person I have ever met both inside and out and I don't want you to ever forget how amazing of a person you are, young lady. You talk yourself down far too much. I am proud to be called your mother no matter what you decide to do." Hilde proclaimed, her eyes watering as Snow White hugged her tightly as though she would never let go.

»»————-　✼　————-««

Surprisingly enough, the Geography project wasn't a total disaster. Galena and Asa managed to finish their scrapbook in time, Cloud and Mara had managed to get some information down for their poster somehow, Noah's presentation was filled with engaging fun facts and Asher's quiz was taken very seriously by the class, with lots of enthusiasm and friendly rivalry (or mostly friendly anyway). Snow White didn't want to curl up into a ball and never face anyone from the class again once it was all over, and by the end of the lesson, she had upgraded all of her fellow Table 1 classmates to friends - even Milly who made her comeback during the final fifteen minutes of the lesson. At the end of the day, Asher messaged everyone on the group chat congratulating them all, and Snow White had a huge smile on her face as she read it, even though she did exit the group immediately afterwards (she doubted Asher would take it personally since Mara and Cloud had left the group chat the very same day they were added). What could she say? She hadn’t had that significant a character change, and she was sure Asher would add her back in a day or two anyway. 

The last lunch-time at Black Forest Comprehensive  was very emotional, and Snow White almost cried right there and then. She managed to stop the tears flowing at the very last second and even managed to not be awkward when Eve hugged her goodbye. The hardest part was definitely seeing the look on Florian's face as they walked out of the cafeteria together for the last time. Then, the last goodbye at the airport that consisted of Hilde dabbing at her face with tissues, Snow White bawling into Florian's shoulder and Florian promising to tease her about this moment for the rest of her life (as though he wasn't crying for the whole car journey to the airport). When the headteacher, Mrs Oldenburg showed up, Snow White never felt more conflicted in her life, but she grabbed her suitcases and with one last hug goodbye to Florian and Hilde, she blinked away the tears with promises to stay in touch with them both.

Chapter Text

Cinderella hurried down the hallway, cursing under her breath while squinting at the sheet of paper in her hand. She was carrying a large, blue travel bag and her blonde hair was falling out of her carefully crafted bun, a solid representation of her sanity at that precise moment. She paused for breath in the middle of a hallway with light blue wallpaper, finally coming to terms with the fact that she was hopelessly lost. Cinderella glanced at her watch, sighed and called over two younger girls who were standing nearby. One girl had short dark hair and was wearing a t-shirt that had the cutest design of a bat Cinderella had ever seen, while the other girl had long black hair that fell to her waist, brown skin and bright golden-brown eyes. 

"Hi, do you know where I can please find my room?" Cinderella asked, showing the girls her sheet of paper.

The girl with long hair took the paper and then looked up at Cinderella curiously, "Are you new?"

"Yeah, I am." Cinderella took the opportunity to fix her hair and spoke in between the three bobby pins sticking out of her mouth, "I know it seems a bit silly, joining for just the one year, but it's a pretty complicated situation that I'm in. I'm Cinderella by the way."

"Oh, alright. Well these are the Wind dorms but you're staying in the Earth dorms which are down the stairs, then right at the back of the building. Just keep following the wall of paintings. Then, you can just follow the numbers until you find your dorm."

"Oh great, thanks... Uhm..."

"I'm Jasmine and this is Snow White." Jasmine said, pointing to her the other girl who was silently examining the wall behind them.

"Well thank you Jasmine, you're a life-saver!" Cinderella gushed, grabbing the sheet of paper back and sprinting off down the hallway.

It didn't really matter that she ran all the way there because she was still late. Cinderella picked up the note outside her door that said "I'll be back in 5", and placed it in her pocket before unlocking the door to her dorm room and gazing around what would be her room for the next year. A small smile crept up her face and she moved aside her two suitcases that had already been brought up to her room, and flopped down onto the bed to catch her breath, her eyes sliding shut.

"I take it you didn't come here to do anything sports-related?" A familiar voice said.

Cinderella jolted upright with a start and grinned at the dark-skinned girl leaning against the door-frame with her trademark dimpled smile, "Tiana! I'm sorry I didn't get here on time, I got lost."

"It's all good. I suppose you've already basically given yourself a tour of the place." Tiana laughed, "Imagine the odds of you being put on the same floor as me! It was all one messy situation too!"

"Oh? What happened?" Cinderella asked, crossing her legs and settling down in the bed.

"I'll give you your tour and tell you about it all on the way, then we can chill for the rest of the day. Believe me, you're going to want to get as much rest in this place as possible! I'm still recovering from last year!"

"You're doing culinary arts, right?"

"Yup. I'm loving every second of it, but it is definitely not easy work."

"Wait, wait! Before we go, Tiana, I just wanted to say how happy I am that you were at that open day a couple years ago otherwise I'd have never become your friend. I would not be the woman you see before you now if..."

"Stop stalling and come on ." Tiana pulled Cinderella to her feet and they set off down the hallway. They had only walked a couple of steps when Tiana paused to brush her hand against the dark green wallpaper reminiscently. "I can't believe it's my last year here already."

"You'll have plenty of time to look at the wallpaper later. What was the messy situation?" Cinderella urged.

"Alright, alright. So basically, last year on this floor there were four of us: Me, Pocahontas, Rapunzel who is Mrs Oldenburg’s niece and Anna who is Mrs Oldenburg's daughter. Anyway, one night, Rapunzel sneaked out to save her boyfriend from some stupid situation he'd probably gotten himself into and missed her lessons so she got in trouble."

"Why?! Surely, they should allow us to have some sort of freedom..."

"She was gone from school for three days, Cindy."

"Three days?!" Cinderella gaped, "Why?!"

"Who knows? Everyone thought something bad had happened to her, and the police had to get involved and everything, so once she got back, her punishment was that she had to stay in one of the Aqua dorms for a couple of months because they're not as nice as the ones up here. It's not in her character to have done something like that, and she’s family so that's why she got let off so easily."

"Ah, I see." They walked in silence for several more seconds before Cinderella remembered what had been said earlier, "Wait a second, so I took Rapunzel's room?"

"Yup. I'm sure she won't mind though, Rapunzel's a very understanding person and anyway the Aqua dorms aren't that different to our ones."

"Yeah, what are Aqua dorms?

"You'll see in a minute. There's a system where the different age groups stay in different parts of the building. The 12-13 year olds are in the Fire dorms, the 14-15 year olds are in the Wind dorms, the 16-17 year olds are in the Aqua dorms and 18-19 year olds are in the Earth dorms." Tiana explained. "Hopefully there won't be many people back today. Everyone usually comes back either tomorrow or day after tomorrow, so you should be thankful that I came early on your behalf to teach you the ropes."

"Wait, so as soon as it's your birthday you move out of your dorm?"

"No, you're supposed to stay in the dorms you're assigned to for two years. That's one thing they make very clear, that you're not really supposed to go into any of the other sections unless, you know, you're in Rapunzel's situation or if you’ve got a pass." Tiana patted Cinderella on the back, "You do realise you haven't told me what you're studying here yet, and how it all came together in the end. I'm dying to know."

Cinderella shook her head, "It's all a bit bizarre. I'm still trying to process how it's all turned out, that I'm walking with you right now through Northuldra Academy, the place that I thought that I'd never see ever again after my brief visit six years ago."

"Five years ago."

"Yeah, well I didn't come here to study maths, Tiana."

"No? You could've fooled me." Tiana snorted, laughing harder at Cinderella's attempts to keep a straight face. "Alright, I'm sorry. Carry on."

"As you know, when I got rejected the first time, I was devastated for quite a long time. I mean, the only good thing to come out of it all was that I made friends with you. Apart from that, it was this whole whirlwind of drama and headache. The whole reason I'd applied in the first place was to get away from Old Maddie, Anastasia and Drizella. I know the only reason she even let me apply was so that she could get away from me, but it didn't work and I felt like a complete failure. Especially when Drizella got into her dream school soon afterwards."

"That must have been frustrating." Tiana murmured, "I'm so sorry."

Cinderella smiled, "It's alright! I'm here now, aren't I? I got a part-time job and managed to move out, with the help of two of my friends so everything was fine. Anyway, when I got the phone call that there was a free space, and they wanted me to fill it, I immediately packed up everything and was ready to go."

"I'm really proud of you, Cindy. I still really want to know what you came here to study though."

"Oh yeah, well I came here to study fashion design. I really love the whole process: the colours of the material, the planning, the stitching and then how after hours and hours of work it all just merges together to create something so beautiful." Cinderella's eyes took on a starry glow as she described a set of dresses that she had made the previous year.

"And are you interested in modelling as well, or just the designing aspect?" Tiana asked.

"I don't know. Definitely not now because I don't have the confidence, but maybe in the future." Cinderella pondered, "What is this? A job application?"

"I'm just seeing how you've been! It's been a long time since I've last seen you and so I want to catch up. Ooh, and what about that guy you talked to me about over the phone? Are you still dating?"

"Yeah… I mean, for now anyway."

"Uh-oh, that doesn't sound good. Well, I mean since it was like this tour was destined to fail, how about I print off a map for you later and we just go out to the Willow Cafe down the road, and talk about your boy problems over lunch?"

"Sure."

Chapter Text

As it stood, Cinderella currently had 3 major problems in her life.

Problem Number 1 : Her Family

There was a reason why this was top of the list. First of all, Cinderella's biological mother had passed away when she was 10. That in itself was extremely traumatic and difficult to cope with, but life was not done tossing her around just yet. Mr Tremaine re-married the following year, to a woman called Madonna. She had two daughters of her own - one who was the same age as Cinderella named Drizella and one who was a year younger called Anastasia. Both were complete brats that Cinderella wished she had never met.

 For the next 2 years, Cinderella would wonder why on earth her father seemed to get over her mother's death so quickly and held a lot of resentment towards him because of that. Then he died, and it became evident that her father's second marriage wasn't out of love but purely so that Cinderella would have a family who could support her when he died. It was the worst day of her life, and that said something because there would be multiple close runner-ups to come in the future. 

So now, just to recap, at 13 years old, Cinderella had lost both of her parents and was stuck playing happy families with a demanding, unfeeling woman and two of the most selfish, self-centered girls in the world. The two people she loved most in the world had gone, in the blink of an eye and Cinderella was left behind like an extra puzzle piece to the new Mrs Tremaine's life. 

Just hearing her mother's title being given to this woman was absolutely unbearable and there was nothing that she could do about it. Just one example of how much her life had changed was that the amount of chores she had to do, which was more than doubled when her father died, and it was pure torture seeing the smug look on Drizella's face whenever Cinderella dared complain and then immediately got shut down with excuses and claims that it wasn't true and all of the girls were treated equally. 

After a while, it seemed like she was going insane and the only thing that helped Cinderella keep her sanity was taking long walks in the mornings and muffled screams into her pillow at 2am. One of the small mercies she had was that she didn't have to share a room with Drizella and Anastasia, despite getting kicked out of her own room the very day the Fake Tremaines moved in because "Anastasia needs to have a room at the front of the house". Cinderella almost drop-kicked all of them right there and then, but her complete inability to stand up to people of authority in her life, caused her to accept it, mumbling that it was no problem at all. 

By 14, she was completely numb to the world and her saving grace came in the form of the teaching assistant in her fashion design class who called herself Cinderella's Fairy Godmother, though her actual name was Mavis. She was a bubbly, energetic soul who went out of her way to make Cinderella smile, and even though she wasn't an official teacher, she was still a really big help in helping Cinderella believe that there were good people out there along with the bad. 

There was no magical transformation overnight, but slowly and surely, Cinderella began to trust people again and open up more. In fact, it was due to Mavis' constant encouragement and compliments on Cinderella's designs that made her first start to consider the idea of going to a boarding school where she could focus on developing her skills and potentially find a career in fashion design. That way, she would be able to get away from the Fake Tremaines and work on grieving her parents' deaths instead of fighting to be listened to.

That led onto the second major problem of Cinderella's life.

Problem Number 2 : Northuldra Academy 

 Originally, Cinderella had chosen fashion design as an extracurricular activity because she liked sewing and the hours meant that she would be excused from cooking dinner on a Friday, but over time she had grown to love being surrounded by fabric, pattern paper and the way the designs just flowed from her brain onto the paper so naturally, as though she had been doing this her whole life. Along with Mavis as the teaching assistant, there was Mr Lucian as the main teacher who was constantly warning the class about the heavy fabric scissors, peering down at them all with cat-like eyes as he handed out one of the many sheets of paper listing down the safety procedures they had to follow at the beginning of every term. Cinderella had even managed to make friends with two of the boys in the class: Jackson who went by Jaq and Octavius who everyone just called Gus. 

The whole saga with the boarding school being Northuldra Academy specifically began a week before the class showcase was supposed to happen and Mr Lucian had informed them all that there would be a visit from the headteacher of a boarding school who was looking to offer places for some of the girls in the region, and would be holding an assembly to talk about what life at the school was like. He also made sure to mention that the headteacher, Mrs Oldenburg might very well attend their showcase so they should be prepared.

"It's fate!" Cinderella blurted out to Jaq after Mr Lucian had finished his announcement. "I said to Mavis last week that I was thinking about going to a boarding school, and look at this! A headteacher for a boarding school happens to be in the area offering places."

"Wow." Jaq mumbled around a mouthful of pins. Jaq was the kind of person who was always moving around and trying different things, and since he was an incredibly fast learner, he soon had a vast array of skills under his belt. He was, quite literally, a Jaq of all trades. "I reckon you've got a good chance of catching their eye with what you're making, so you probably will end up going."

"Where is Elly going?" That was Gus, who had been rummaging around in his bag for snacks and emerged victorious with a bag of cheese savouries. Technically speaking, they weren't supposed to eat in the lesson which was why all three of them had mastered the art of unwrapping food quietly because Mr Lucian was not messing around when it came to following the rules, and he was a strict believer that lunch-time was more than enough time to eat (said like a true hypocrite because he always brought snacks from the staff-room every single lesson). Gus had chosen fashion design because of Jaq, which meant that he had no real passion for it and preferred to spend his time eating, complimenting everyone on their work and claiming that he was helping Jaq, when in reality, during whole time he had been in the class, Cinderella had not seen him do a single thing. Nonetheless, everyone loved him, and his presence would go sorely missed whenever Mr Lucian lost his patience and sent Gus out of the classroom for not working. 

"We were just talking about Northuldra Academy." Jaq supplied, taking the pins out of his mouth. "I was telling her that she'll probably get in if the headteacher sees what she's putting forward for the showcase."

"Oh, yeah, of course." Gus frowned, "I'll be sad to see you go, though." 

"Well I'm not going anywhere yet. Besides, ours isn't the only school Mrs Oldenburg will be doing assemblies in the area. I'm feeling quite optimistic though." Cinderella said, eyebrows furrowed in concentration, as she set up the sewing machine, really contemplating how much she wanted this. Getting offered a place at Northuldra Academy would be her ticket out of living the Fake Tremaines while getting a good education - Northuldra Academy was not easy to get into. So, the real question here: was she good enough to get in?

"How is everything going?" Mavis asked, as upbeat as ever.

"Alright. I'm just adding the final touches, and then it should be good to go." Cinderella beamed, content with her work. She had made a white and blue summer dress, which she was extremely proud of, and a matching handbag and headband, all of which were carefully placed on one of the mannequins near the table.   

"You've done a great job, and improved loads from when you started." Mavis assured her.

But was it good enough?

»»————-　★　————-««

Mrs Oldenburg was a tall brown-haired woman with a kind face that could just as quickly radiate with authority and power. She arrived with two students who looked like they were a couple of years older than Cinderella, one who had light blonde hair and blue eyes, while the other had dark brown hair and brown eyes.

The 3 visitors went through several of the classes, just looking around and one of the girls even complimented Cinderella's dress! Then, at the end of their visit, everyone was called into the main hall for Mrs Oldenburg to do her talk and Cinderella sat through it, riveted, wanting nothing more than to be a part of this school where everything seemed so organised and special. There were so many subjects available and so many opportunities that she could take if she went there. Cinderella imagined being a famous fashion designer watching as models went to showcase her designs on the catwalk, imagining the astonished look on Old Maddie's face when Cinderella told her that she got into Northuldra Academy.  After Mrs Oldenburg had finished her talk, she moved aside to let the two girls stand in the middle, and Cinderella gaped at them, thinking about how nervous she would be to stand in front of a whole assembly hall full of judging eyes. 

"Hello, I am Elsa..." The blonde girl said in a clear, confident voice smiling broadly.

"And my name is Honeymaren!"  

"We are both students at Northuldra Academy and I can truly say that I am thoroughly enjoying every moment there, and I'm not just saying that because I am the headteacher's daughter." Elsa paused, glancing over at Mrs Oldenburg briefly, "Northuldra has given me the opportunity to really find out what I am passionate about in life and the teachers have supported me every step of the way."

"Not to mention the amazing friends that we have both made!" Honeymaren added, "I have met some lovely girls, and we all support and take care of each other. As corny as it sounds, we're like family, and I can say that as an only child, I love that I am able to experience what it's like to have loads of sisters around. At Northuldra Academy, being around like-minded people has made me want to do my best and succeed. We all help each other do better." 

"Thank you, girls. Remember, even if we don't offer you a place today, you can still apply and see what happens, but remember spaces fill up quickly!" Mrs Oldenburg nodded towards the school's headteacher to signify the end and everyone stood up and clapped. Cinderella felt light-headed as she floated out of the hall and to her locker to grab the last of her things, half-expecting to be called to speak with Mrs Oldenburg. 

But that never happened. 

And what was worse, was the look on her stepmother's face when Cinderella worked up the courage to say that she wanted to go to Northuldra Academy to look around. It wasn't so much what was said, it was more the look of contempt and doubt that Cinderella could ever get into such a prestigious school and that hurt more than words ever could. But Cinderella was determined to prove her wrong. So, she applied the very next day and she packed her bags, preparing herself for the 2 hour flight to Arendelle, ignoring Drizella's complaints that it would be too cold this time of year and Anastasia's bitter remark on how Cinderella always got what she wanted and how she was selfish not to ask where they wanted to go. They were all treating it like a holiday, forgetting what the main focus of the trip was supposed to be, and yet somehow Cinderella was the self-centred one? 

All this time, Cinderella's optimism was beginning to fizzle out, but during the trip as she looked around the building and saw all of the students hard at work, her desire to go to the school increased. This was also where she met Tiana, who also was looking around, and they spent most of the day talking about how exciting it was going to be and how much fun they were going to have together. The issue was that Tiana got accepted and Cinderella didn't. 

The letter through the door informing her that there were no more spaces was like a punch to the gut, and it didn't help at all when Drizella got into the school of her dreams a couple of days later, and didn't stop bragging about it for ages. Cinderella even struggled to speak with Tiana over the phone, despite her being a lovely girl and a great friend, because no matter how hard she tried to stop feeling jealous, she couldn't shake the fact that Tiana was over there at Northuldra Academy having the time of her life, while Cinderella was here. Stuck. Because she wasn't good enough.

"That's not true!" That was Mavis, sticking her nose into other people's business again. "This is just a setback, Cinderella, not the end and they've already said that it was due to there being no more room, not because you lack enough talent! You just need to look at all of the other opportunities that will come your way and snatch them up!"

So, with a weary heart and at a very slow pace, that is eventually what Cinderella had to do. She started by taking commissions from neighbours and people around school who wanted adjustments done or specially tailored outfits, and by the time she was 17, she had managed to move out. Juggling work and school was not easy at all though, and it was not long before Cinderella became extremely overworked and unmotivated. She was snapping at everyone, barely getting any sleep and very stressed because she didn't even know what she was working towards anymore and it was getting more and more difficult to keep going. For a couple of months, she lived with Jaq until she could afford to rent an apartment and moved into her own place at 18. That was when she got the letter that was 4 years too late, saying there was a free spot for her at Northuldra Academy and that they would love to have her if she still wanted to come offering a full scholarship. 

Of course there was 14 year old Cinderella whispering to decline out of spite, but in all honesty, she didn't have the time or the energy to be petty. Northuldra Academy had the resources and the ability to give her a place to stay while she got an education. The paths that she could go down meant this was too good an opportunity to turn down, and she could finally prove to Old Maddie that she was good enough for something. The fact that they remembered her well enough to offer her this place at the school said it all, didn't it?

So, it all worked out for good in the end right? It's not a problem, it's a blessing?

Wrong.   

Because now Cinderella had to learn and grasp what other students had been taught over the course of 4+ years in just 1 and she was still doubting her capabilities which meant that not only was she insecure, she was also going to be working flat out for the entire year to make up for it. The childhood fantasies of midnight feasts, staying up late and having fun were just that - a fantasy. Because she was not going to be last place or last picked ever again.

Problem Number 3 : Her Boyfriend 

 Henry Charming had been Cinderella's official boyfriend for 2 years and secret boyfriend for 3 years, because Old Maddie thought it was unfair that Cinderella should be allowed to date Anastasia's crush. It was a ridiculous excuse because Anastasia got over Henry’s rejection extremely quickly, Maddie was just sore that he had picked Cinderella over her daughter. The Charmings were a very wealthy family, and as always, it was all about the money for the Fake Tremaines, to the point where Maddie had tried to rob Cinderella out of the money her father had left behind for her.  

Cinderella and Henry had met at a dinner party that Old Maddie had been invited to by Mrs Charming and had convinced Anastasia and Drizella to come as well, when she heard that Mrs Charming had a son around their age. Cinderella had not wanted to go, because she had made plans to hang out with Gus and Jaq, but Maddie had forced her to, saying it would be impolite otherwise. So, that was where she met Henry originally, and after introductions, they didn't speak to each other again for the rest of the night. The second time they ran into each other was at the park where Cinderella had escaped to sketch some new designs and Henry had been out jogging.

"Hey, it was Cinderella wasn't it? It's nice to see you again!"

It had taken a while for Cinderella to remember where she knew him from, so there was a long pause as she sat there staring at him, tapping her pencil against her leg anxiously. 

"We didn't get to talk much last time we met. I'm Henry." 

Another awkward pause.

"Henry Charming?"

"Ah, yes I remember now! I'm so sorry. Hi." 

"It's alright. So what are you up to?" Henry flopped down next to her on the bench and Cinderella sighed, immediately returning to her sketch.

"Drawing."

"So, you're an artsy person?"

"Kind of. I like making clothes."

"No way! That's so cool. You know, I like to consider myself a bit of a fashion connoisseur myself."

Cinderella raised an eyebrow as she scanned over the orange and black running trainers that he had matched with a dark green tracksuit and nodded, "Yeah, I can see that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Henry laughed, "Look, let me see that for a second." 

Cinderella passed him her notebook and watched him examine her design, tilting her head to the side slightly as she surveyed the boy sitting beside her. He had dark hair almost black pushed back from his face with a white headband and expressive brown eyes that twinkled with mischief. He was the kind of handsome that went under the radar until you took the time to actually look at him properly. He also had cherry red lips that he kept chewing, and that were incredibly difficult to drag her eyes away from. She realised she was staring a beat too late and looked away to the other side of the park, blushing slightly and praying that he didn't notice.

"Right, so this is a very elegant design and all, but you know what would really pull this whole thing together?" 

"What?"

"Glass slippers."

"Glass slippers?" Cinderella winced, "Do you realise how painful that would be to walk in?!"

"You could make it comfortable!" Henry reasoned, "I can think of at least three ways right now that you could make it work."

"I'm not a shoemaker." 

"I could be your shoemaker."

Cinderella took back her notebook, shaking her head with a very unimpressed expression on her face.

"So anyway, uhm, I was wondering if you wanted to go and get lunch with me?" 

After a sigh, and a fleeting thought that she would definitely regret this, Cinderella nodded, "Sure." 

3 Years Later...

"So you remember that boarding school I told you about that I didn't get into some time ago?" Cinderella asked, tucking her feet up on her sofa, avoiding her boyfriend's gaze.

"Well, yeah." Henry yawned, bending down to pick up a pile of clothes on the floor to transfer it to the laundry basket, "You've mentioned it loads of times." 

"Alright, well I just got a letter from them." 

"Oh?" Henry asked, turning around to open the curtains.

Cinderella covered her eyes and moaned at the sudden attack of light on her eyes. "Well, it's a bit of a weird situation. They've said that they had an open space and they're asking for me specifically."

Henry paused and Cinderella watched as his shoulders tensed, "Are you going to accept it?"

"I want to." Cinderella shrugged, sucking in a deep breath. "I think it's a great opportunity, you know? Even if it is just for the year."

"Yeah." Henry turned around, a huge smile on his face as he bent down for a hug, "I'm only a phone call away, and I can always go down to Arendelle to visit if you need me, alright?"

"Right." Cinderella's bottom lip began to wobble and she wiped her eyes furiously.

"Everything is going to work out."

For their first year anniversary, Henry had given Cinderella a silver bracelet with a glass slipper charm and Cinderella had given him an orange and black tracksuit. For their second, Henry bought some essential items that Cinderella needed to move into her own place, and Cinderella bought tickets to go to an escape room in a nearby castle. For their third anniversary, which was coincidentally several days before Cinderella left for Arendelle, Henry bought them matching watches and Cinderella bought Henry a puppy called Bruno.  

»»————-　★　————-««

"I'm sorry, did I miss something? Why did you say ‘for now’? As far as I’m aware, that guy seems like someone you should hold onto." Tiana asked, leaning back into her chair confusedly. They were in the Willow Cafe around the corner from the Academy having lunch and Cinderella had finally caught her friend up with everything that had happened since they spoke last which had taken almost 2 hours.

"I miss him!" Cinderella exclaimed, dropping her head on the table with a loud thud. "We're going to be apart for a whole year and I am very skeptical about long-distance relationships. The last thing I need to be dealing with is heartbreak and I'm scared it's not going to work."

Tiana rolled her eyes. "You are so dramatic. First of all, you are allowed visits every month, so you're not going to be apart for the whole year. Second of all, you can do video calls and phone calls, and you can text each other!."

"It's not the same." Cinderella sniffed, openly weeping into her lettuce. 

Tiana patted her on the shoulder tentatively, "I know, but coming here so you came here to study what you're passionate about and find your path in life, was the right decision. I am really proud of you and little Cindy would be too, seeing you achieve so much. I know it's hard, but you are going to look back when you're a famous fashion designer and thank your lucky stars that you decided to come here."

"Thanks, T." Cinderella sighed and wiped her eyes, chuckling wryly. "And I really am sorry for ghosting you."

"Don't worry about it," Tiana waved her apology aside, "You needed time, and I completely understand. We're here now, and that's all that matters."

"Yeah, and I'm going to make my time here count!" 

"Attagirl." 

Chapter Text

"Wow, you're early." Tiana commented, opening her door and ushering Cinderella into her room. It was now Cinderella's second day of being at Northuldra Academy, and today was going to be the day that she met the rest of the girls who were going to be on her floor and the resident hall director. 

"Ooh, I like what you've done in here, it's really pretty!" Cinderella exclaimed, slowly sitting down on the edge of Tiana's perfectly made bed. 

The theme for the room was an emerald green, matching the olive green hallways outside. Tiana's belongings were tucked away into neatly organised storage boxes and in the grey shelving units, and the whole atmosphere was comforting right down to the scent of vanilla that was being diffused through the room by one of Tiana's candles. On one of the walls, just by the en suite, was a painting of a forest in a golden frame which Cinderella stood up to examine, marvelling at the skill of the artist.

"Thank you, but I can't take all the credit because Rapunzel helped me a lot. I'm sure she won't mind helping you with yours too if you ask. She did that painting!"

"Wow! I feel kind of guilty that I just waltzed in and stole her room. She seems really sweet."

"Yeah, she is. The problem is that she is also very impulsive and does things without thinking about the consequences. She'll be back here soon, but she'll just have to share with somebody which will probably be Anna since they're the closest." Tiana shrugged, fixing a stray curl from her carefully styled afro.

“They’re cousins too, so that shouldn’t be a problem right?" 

"Yep..." Tiana paused as someone knocked on the door. She got up to open it and a woman with long raven-black hair and twinkling, dark brown eyes waved shyly at them both.

"Pocahontas!" Tiana yelled excitedly, "Welcome back!"

Pocahontas stepped into the room a large smile on her face, "It's good to see you again Tiana, and welcome to Northuldra Academy, Cinderella."

"Oh! Uh, hi!" Cinderella stammered, caught aback by the tall, beautiful woman before her. She wondered if Pocahontas would ever be willing to model for her.

Pocahontas went to sit in one of the velvet bean bags over in the corner of the room, and propped her bag up against the wall, sighing contentedly. "I spoke to the resident hall director just now, she seems really nice! Her name is Megara, but she says to just call her Meg. I think she may have been a student here a couple of years ago."

"Ah, that's nice!" Tiana turned to Cinderella, "There are quite a few members of staff who used to be students here, like Elsa Oldenburg and Honeymaren Nattura. They're both lovely! I think they might be the next headmistresses of the school."

"Personally, as soon as I leave this school, I'm going as far away as possible and not coming back here ever again if I can help it." A loud voice called from outside the door.

"That will be Anna." Pocahontas mumbled, taking her laptop out of her bag and settling down more comfortably into the beanbag.

"Doesn't she like it here?" Cinderella whispered.

Pocahontas shrugged, "Sometimes. Most of the time she just talks about how badly she wants to leave."

"Oh?" Cinderella frowned, "I guess it must be difficult when your mum is the head of the school."

"That's not even half of it..." Pocahontas murmured, pausing when Anna opened the door and began to hug everyone, exclaiming how much she had missed them all. 

"It seems like it's been so long!" Anna exclaimed, flopping on top of the bed beside Tiana, "Rapunzel is coming up too by the way, she's just putting all her stuff in her room. It's going to be so strange without her here."

"Well, apparently the resident hall director of the Aqua dorms is really lenient, so she should be able to come up here whenever." Pocahontas said softly. “Dory, I believe her name was.”

“How do you remember everyone’s names so easily?” Anna marvelled, “I wish I had as good a memory as you.”

"Hi everyone!" A slightly dishevelled looking girl called, sticking her head around the door. She had long unbrushed blonde hair that fell to her waist and had a pencil tucked behind her ear. "Hope it's alright that I'm here too... Oh wow, you've still got my painting on the wall!"

"Of course! I love that painting." Tiana assured her, "And I'll be happy to hide you in here if you ever need to." Anna and Pocahontas agreed and so Rapunzel slipped into the room patting down her hair before collapsing onto the floor beside Cinderella.

"Hi! I'm Rapunzel."

"I'm Cinderella, and I'm really sorry for taking your room. I didn't know..."

Rapunzel laughed, "Don't worry about that, it was my own fault and the girls in the Aqua dorms are really nice anyway. I’ve made a new friend already!" She stopped talking when there was a knock on the door and sat upright groaning loudly, "I'm going to be sent away, aren't I?"

Tiana got up to open the door and a woman wearing a lilac jumper glided into the room. "Oh great, we've got lots of you all in one place already! I just wanted to introduce myself quickly. My name is Megara, although everyone calls me Meg and I'm going to be your resident hall director, so just let me know if you have any concerns at all, and I'll be happy to..." Meg broke off as she spotted Rapunzel and the worried expression on her face, "I'm not going to punish you for being here, so you can stop looking so worried! Lord knows I did much worse... "

Rapunzel let out a sigh of relief, "Thank you."

"Let me just say, you ladies better be careful when you go visiting the boys’ school."

"What?" Cinderella asked, instantly regretting doing so as everyone turned to look at her.

"Well, you know how men are. They think 'no' means 'yes' and 'get lost' means 'take me, I'm yours'." Meg replied, rolling her eyes. 

"No, I meant, I didn't know that there was a boys school." Cinderella explained.

"Oh, then you're the new student, I’ll take it." Meg tilted her head to the side, "Well, anyway, I'll leave you lovely ladies to it. I'm in my room if anyone needs me..." She gracefully waved at them all and then made her exit, closing the door behind her.

"My mum is the headteacher of  Northuldra Academy for Girls, and my dad is the headteacher of Northuldra Academy for Boys which is around half an hour's walk away from here." Anna clarified. 

"Oh, right." Cinderella nodded, "Uhm, so I feel like I should do an introduction. My name is Cinderella Tremaine and I came here to study fashion design."

"Yes, that's a good idea, we'll go around and do that." Tiana enthused, "You all already know, but I’m studying culinary arts and when I leave I'm going to open up my own restaurant."

"I'm Pocahontas and I am studying environmental science."

“And the newest member of the student council! Woooo!” Tiana added, causing Pocahontas to shake her head in embarrassment. 

“Speaking of that, we’re putting in place a new tutoring scheme where older students can sign up to help the younger ones, so if anyone is interested in that, you can apply and have a nice little part time job earning $20 per hour session.” Pocahontas said, “I know Tiana isn’t interested because she’s applying to get a job at the Willow Cafe, but the rest of you should consider it if you have any free time.”

Cinderella nodded, it would be wise to start earning so that she could support herself as quickly as possible without making a large dent in the money her father had left for her. She could already tell that out of the five girls in the room with her, she was the poorest. And while she knew that they were all mature enough to not bring attention to that, Cinderella didn’t want to be struggling financially forever. Tiana gestured towards Anna to continue.

"My name is Anna, I'm studying Geography and I'm going to become a travel journalist when I leave."

"I'm Rapunzel and I'm training to be a nurse, but I also love art so I paint in my spare time and might do interior design on the side."

"Alright, great!" Anna stood up and moved over to the window, "Now we can move onto the important stuff..."

"Here we go again." Pocahontas shook her head, and opened up her laptop fishing her glasses out of her bag.

"Eugene told Rapunzel that there's two new guys who are staying on his floor!" Anna squealed. "So I say that we all go and see what they're like!"

"Is this really a good idea, seeing as Rapunzel just got in trouble for sneaking off to see Eugene?" Tiana asked.

"Yeah, but school hasn't even properly started back yet, and that was completely different!" Anna reasoned.

"Well, I mean, I had a valid reason. Eugene needed help with an assignment that was due. Also, I didn't sneak anywhere, I just walked out." Rapunzel yawned.

"Seriously? All of this happened because of Eugene's overdue assignment?" Tiana asked incredulously.

"I was tired of being stuck in this place, and had been working late into the night anyway. I just wanted to do something, so I went to help him with the assignment and then couldn't be bothered to come back to school the same night. I was going to come back in the morning, but just ended up feeling really unmotivated. So, Eugene helped me feel better by taking me on a date to an ice rink. Then he got us lost on the way back because I had left my phone at the school and his phone had run out of battery." Rapunzel rolled her eyes.

Anna laughed, “And then say what you idiots decided to do after that.”

"Well… Just for the record though, I took the wheel because he was panicking, and managed to drive us back to the town centre. We went to one of the pubs to ask for directions (which had a very cute duck theme), had lunch, then decided we may as well have a bit of a mini holiday because everyone was so friendly, and there was no point in going  back to school just yet because they’d be angry that we’d taken the whole day off.”

“So your solution - to make them less angry - was to take even more time off?” Pocahontas shook her head, “It won’t matter how many times you tell this story, it will never make any sense to me.” 

Anna clapped her hands, “Yeah, but tell Cinderella and Tiana about Pascal!” 

“Oh yeah,” Rapunzel smiled, “While we were there, Eugene and I got into an argument about the difference between lizards and geckos and needed closure, so we went to a pet shop. Then, while we were there, I decided that I would actually quite like a lizard so I bought one, and called him Pascal. He’s back in my room now.”

Anna sighed wistfully, "I wish that I was as brave as you to try something like that."

Rapunzel shook her head, "It had nothing to do with bravery, Anna. It all came down to the fact that I lost all motivation for school and then decided to get into a car with a complete and utter idiot."

»»————-　★　————-««

Anna’s request was overruled in the end, and so Cinderella's first visit to the Northuldra Academy for Boys would have to wait for another day. After a while, everyone went back to their own rooms to finish unpacking and call home to let their families know that they had arrived safely.

After Cinderella finished unpacking, and rearranging some of the things in her room, she went to go and have a walk around the school grounds. Before becoming a school, Northuldra Academy had been a castle and there were traces of the original designs in all sorts of places. These days, Arendelle didn't have a king or queen as such, but the leader of the country was a woman who simply liked to be referred to as Lady Yelena. Cinderella shoved her hands into her pockets and smiled, taking in deep breaths of fresh air and marvelling at how large the place was. Her phone started to ring, and her smile grew wider upon seeing the name on the display screen.

"Hello, Mavis."

"Hey, I'm sorry I didn't call yesterday, it's been so hectic. But anyway, how is everything? Are the people nice? Have you made new friends?"

"Yeah, it's amazing. I honestly can't believe that I'm here right now. It feels like I'm in a dream!"

"That's great, honey. Look, I have to go now, but I just wanted to say that I'm really proud of you! If you ever need advice, don't hesitate to call me, alright?"

"Thank you for everything Mavis." Cinderella hung up and closed her eyes, soaking in the tranquillity of nature around her. Autumn was slowly coming to a graceful end with brown, orange and red leaves covering the floor like a melting pot of gold and bronze had been spilled over the grass. She couldn't help but remember what autumn was like before, though. Back when the bridge between autumn and winter was a time of warm hugs, golden evenings and hot drinks. 

The walk back to her room was spent deep in thought about how far she had come over the years. She set up her laptop and checked in with Jaq and Gus quickly (nothing was new, Jaq's hobby of the month was still butterfly watching and Gus was loving life - particularly his new job working at a bakery) then settled down in bed, to video call the one person she had been thinking about all day.

"Hiiii!" Cinderella sang, grinning stupidly at her screen, when Henry answered.

"Hey! I was just about to call you actually, but you beat me to it." Henry panned the screen to the excited puppy running around the room. "I know you didn't really call to see me, so here is your beloved child." He waited patiently for her to stop cooing at Bruno and then turned the phone back to himself.

Cinderella stayed on the call for hours, and managed to introduce Henry to Tiana, Anna and Pocahontas before settling down in her room and getting ready for bed. The soft blue glow of her night light illuminated the room and Henry hummed along to his music contentedly while Cinderella stared through the window at the blue-black sky, gazing at the stars with the largest smile on her face. All the wishes she had made over the years seemed to finally be coming true. It had been so long that she had felt the overwhelming sense of happiness that she was experiencing right now in this very moment. She whispered a goodnight to Henry and then curled up in bed, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. It was just as well really, because she would need as much energy as she could muster in the morning. 

Because the morning would bring the beginning of the end.

Chapter Text

Interviewer: Thank you for taking the time to talk with us today!

Briar Rose: No problem, I'm happy to be here.

I:  So, we know that you wanted to become a singer when you were 7 years old, but tell me what made young Briar Rose discover her passion for music in the first place, and what kind of music did you grow up listening to?

BR:  I'd say I was inspired by the kind of music my aunts played when I was little. They are very different from each other and so the genres of music that I grew up listening to were all over the place. I think that kind of made me see just how much variation there can be in music, and that was something I wanted to experiment with for myself.

I:  So just going back a bit, you've lived with 3 of your aunts for most of your life, from when you were 5 to now at 16. How would you say that is for you?

BR:  I mean, they've always supported me and helped me to pursue my dreams. I really appreciate all that they've done for me and don't really see it as that strange because they are my legal guardians, and have been taking care of me for so long. I also love my cousins to bits as well, and I always wanted sisters, while my brother always wanted a brother so it worked out great!

I:  That's lovely! Would you say it's difficult being away from them when you're out promoting your music?

BR: Yes, definitely. I miss them loads, but I still try to call home and talk with them all every day. 

I: And what about with their privacy, would you say that it's been hard for them when their cousin / niece / sister is an up and coming pop star, especially with the fans who can be very intrusive at times?

BR: Uhm, not really. My family tends to be very private, and also my fans are very respectful - the best people in the world.

I:  Your fans are called the Sleeping Beauties, right? How did that come about?

BR:  I did a poll asking what they wanted to be called, and that's what they came up with! (laughs)

I:  Well it's got a nice ring to it, Briar Rose and her Sleeping Beauties! We asked some of them to send in some questions, and RoseLover143 asked, "What is an unusual talent that you've got?"

BR:  I can fall asleep anywhere. Give me 5 minutes in a fairly quiet place and I'll just doze off, at any point in the day.

I:  Oh wow, I wish I had that talent.

BR:  Yeah, it's great. I can just get in small naps during the day, whenever I'm tired! 

I:  Well that is very impressive, it takes me ages to fall asleep. Next, we've got dancing_potato asking "How do you find the inspiration to write your songs? Do you write about personal experiences or made up situations?"

BR: Uh... I think it really changes a lot. It all depends on what I feel like putting out there in the world. Sometimes I write about situations I've never been in, but use my imagination to form a particular narrative to put in a song. Other times I'll be going through either a really happy or really difficult time, and I'll sit down and just write from the heart. I think some of my best music has been made through doing that.

I:  And talking about matters of the heart, what do you have to say about the rumours that you and Philip of the boy band, The Princes are dating?

BR:  I love The Princes so much, I am so proud of everything they've achieved over this past year, and I love spending time with all of them. Philip, Eric, Naveen and Beast are all incredibly supportive and amazing friends.

I: It's almost like you can hear all of the Brillip shippers' hearts breaking right now.

BR: (awkward chuckle)

I:  Well, anyway, BriarRoseUpdates asks, "What is the most trouble you've ever gotten into?"

BR: My manager, Mally, is always angry at me for something or the other. It's inescapable, really. She's usually the most irritated whenever I'm late to things. So yeah, I'd probably say getting in trouble for being late.

I:  And for the last question, that everyone's dying to know... What's next for you? How will you be spending your time off, and when will you be back?

BR:  I'll be going back to school, spending time with my family and working on new music! I honestly don't have a set date for when I will be back just yet, but when I do, I will be making plans to go on tour.

I:  Well thank you very much, Briar Rose! Don't forget to go and listen to her latest song, Once Upon a Dream!

BR: Thank you very much for having me!

I:  The pleasure was all ours!

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

As soon as Aurora stepped outside, she pulled up her hood and finally dropped the enthusiastic smile she had been holding for the interview. She put on her dark sunglasses and headphones, then wordlessly got into the sleek, silver car. She nodded in greeting to the dark-haired boy sitting beside her, closed the door and then leaned back, sighing loudly.

Then, a deep voice from behind made her yelp in surprise. "Nice dodge on the dating question." 

"Adam?! What are you doing here?" Aurora squawked, "It was supposed to be just Eric and Naveen! Don't tell me Philip is here too!"

"Your words were so touching! I didn't realise that I meant so much to you!" An irritating voice taunted from the front passenger seat. Philip leaned forward to turn up the radio station that Aurora had just been on which was now playing her song, turned around to smirk at her waggling his head along with the music which was stupid because it was a sad, slow song.

... You'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream… 

Naveen turned off the radio upon seeing Aurora’s furious expression and slapped Philip’s hand away when he reached forward again.

 Eric shook his head, "Naveen invited Adam and Philip because they decided to go back to Arendelle today as well." 

"It's about time that the three of you stopped your constant bickering." Naveen scolded, from the driver's seat. "Anyway, Aurora, the others have already gotten everything they need, so we're going to drop you off at your place so you can get the last of your things, and then we're heading straight to the airport, and I don't want to hear a single argument or raised voice." 

Aurora (or Briar Rose, to use her stage name) had met The Princes at the start of her career, and they had done multiple collaborations during the year, where she had decided to concentrate solely on her music. It hadn't been long before Aurora was in serious need of a break because she had been working non-stop over the course of the year and so Aunt Merryweather requested to speak with her manager, Mally and demanded that Aurora was treated like the child she was and given a break. The Princes all attended Northuldra Academy for Boys, which was ironic because before Aurora decided to focus on music, she had gone to Northuldra Academy for Girls. Going to school in the same area had been a huge part of why Aurora had been drawn to them in the first place, and Naveen would sometimes joke that Aurora was the 5th member of their band. It certainly felt like that sometimes.

  "Alright, I'll give you an hour, Aurora." Naveen said, as they pulled up to a small familiar cottage in the countryside, "We are going on a walk in the woods so nobody can complain about needing to stretch their legs once we start going again."

"I feel like that was aimed at me." Philip said, crossing his arms.

"That's because it was." 

Aurora shook her head, as the argument faded into the distance. “Don’t get eaten by the bears you lot!” She yelled back, putting her key in the lock and opening the door, grinning when two blonde torpedoes came hurtling into her arms.

"RORY!" They yelled simultaneously, bouncing up and down like kangaroos. The twins, Amber and James were Aunt Fauna's children and were the eldest of Aurora's cousins in terms of age, at 10 years old. 

A little girl with brown hair joined the hug next, holding onto Aurora tightly and protesting loudly when James accidentally trod on her foot. Sofia was 9 years old, and Aunt Flora's daughter through and through. She often came across as shy and quiet, but she spent most of her time yelling at the twins. The three of them were sometimes called the Triplets because they were so close, and when they were much younger, for a while they did actually believe that they were triplets, although Amber would never admit to that.

"Hey guys!" Aurora laughed, closing the door behind her, "I can't stay long, I'm just getting a few things and then I have to head off again."

"Awww, why can't you stay?" James pouted.

"Because I've got to go to school. But don't worry we can still do our video calls!"

James did not look very convinced, but he didn't push the matter, and went to go and announce to everyone else that Aurora had arrived while his sister babbled excitedly about everything she had been up to, while Sofia jumped on Aurora's back for a piggyback ride. 

"Rory?" A smaller girl with her blonde hair held back from her face by a black band giggled in delight crawling out from underneath the sofa. Alice was the youngest member of the household at 5 years old and Aunt Merryweather's child. She was dressed in blue a lot because that was Aunt Merryweather's favourite colour, so when she was a baby, she had been given the nickname, Bluebell. When she started speaking, she immediately voiced her dislike of the nickname and refused to answer whenever anyone called her Bluebell, so it was only ever used nowadays to frustrate her by her annoying older cousins. The twins especially, found it especially funny to call her Bluebottle. It was hard being the youngest.

"Hey Alice!" Aurora kissed the top of Alice's head and continued down the hallway, "Where's Noah?"

Alice shrugged and pranced into the kitchen, to get the tablet that had been given to all of them but that Amber had claimed as her own. 

"Hi!" Noah jogged down the stairs, and helped Sofia get down, smiling when he saw that he was now towering above his older sister. It hadn’t been very long ago that Aurora had been taller than him, but within the last couple of months, puberty had hit him like a truck. "Thanks for your help with the Geography project, we ended up doing really well."

"I was happy to help," Aurora squinted through the glass door to the garden and sighed, "I'd better hurry up and talk to them, otherwise I'll be here all day."

"Yeah, you wouldn't want to keep Philip waiting." Noah laughed, waggling his eyebrows.

Aurora punched him and then zig-zagged her way into the garden where her aunts were bickering as usual. 

"Ah, there you are, dear, James just said that you'd popped in!" Aunt Flora exclaimed, cutting off her sister's sentence halfway through. She sent the other children off, and then grasped Aurora by the shoulder bringing her into the centre of the 3 women. "I must say, you have grown quite a bit since the last time I saw you. You're beginning to look remarkably like I did when I was your age. You must be glad that you inherited my beauty. Heaven knows... OH!" Flora stepped back and pointed at Aurora's nose with a trembling hand. "What have you done?"

"I got a septum piercing last week." Aurora said, "I did tell you."

"Well, I didn't know what a septum was! I thought it was a fancy word for 'ear'!" Flora gasped. 

Aunt Fauna shook her head at her sister, "It looks very nice, Aurora."  

 "Yes, it does." Aunt Merryweather agreed, "We were just talking about what we are going to wear to a garden party we were invited to. We were going to match, and so Flora went shopping for outfits yesterday. I didn't have very high hopes when she took it out of the bag, I must say, but I just tried on the outfit that she bought for me, and just look at how terrible it is! I'm not stepping a foot out of the house with this monstrosity on my person! It looks awful!" 

"That's because it's on you, dear." Flora dismissed, "Aurora could pull off the dress, I'm sure."

 Merryweather stomped into the house to change, glaring at her older sister as she went. "I am going to do what I should have done in the very beginning and look online to find a better set of dresses for us to wear!"

"I did wonder about the dress... It's not her usual style." Aurora said, watching her aunt hop into the house wearing the lumpy pink sack with barely concealed amusement.

"Well, anyway, I listened to your new song. It's very good!" Fauna said, "All those singing lessons I had with you definitely paid off."

Flora rolled her eyes, "Won't you look at that! Aurora inherited my looks and your singing capabilities and once again Merryweather passed on nothing." 

Fauna sighed, "Well actually, Merryweather has done plenty to look after Aurora. She went to go and speak to Aurora's manager not long ago because she needed a break, and has taught her many valuable lessons that we weren't able to. Furthermore, Aurora looks a lot more like..."

"MAVIS!" Aurora screeched, spotting her fourth aunt coming up the garden path. 

Fauna nodded, looking slightly bewildered. "Yes, that was who I was going to say."

Mavis rapped on the gate at the end of the garden loudly and waved, "I thought I'd come and see you off!"

Flora crossed her arms, "Well, would you look at who's finally come to pay us a visit."

"Oh don't start." Fauna opened the gate and hugged her little sister, "It's good to see you Mavis. Will you be staying long?"

"Oh no, I completely forgot about the time! I've got to pack my bags." Aurora exclaimed. "Naveen and the others will be back in a minute and I don't want to make them wait."

"Yeah, I only wanted to pop in quickly, to see Aurora off anyway. I'll try and make it to the next visiting day at Northuldra Academy too." Mavis said, breaking out of Fauna's hug.

"Goodness me! You look very different from the last time we saw you!" Merryweather exclaimed from the bedroom window.

“Yeah, I’m trying out different looks.” Mavis replied, pulling her white hair up into a ponytail and adjusting her dark sunglasses. 

“You look so cool! You need to tell me where you got that jacket from.” Aurora gushed.

"I’ll get you one next time we see each other but I need to get going now. I'll see you all soon." Mavis looked left and right before heading back into the trees.

"Alright then, goodbye." Merryweather yelled, fixing her attention back to Flora. “Flora, I’ve ordered new dresses, they’ll be arriving tomorrow. I got blue for me, pink for you and green for Fauna.”

"But I wanted us to be matching!" Flora called back.

Aurora shook her head fondly and went up the stairs to her old room, amidst her aunts’ shouting match. Sofia and Alice shared her old room now, but her belongings were still there, stacked into a large wardrobe in the corner.  

"Hey." Noah tip-toed up behind her, with Alice clinging to his leg.

"Oh, hey Noah. What's up?" Aurora asked, wildly grabbing clothes and tossing them into a suitcase.

"I just wanted to say that I underestimated how difficult it is being the eldest child, and I appreciate all you did for us over the years."

"Are you sick?" Aurora placed a hand on Noah's forehead laughing when he batted it away and stared at the ground with an embarrassed red glow on his cheeks.

"You're going to have a fun time unpacking this lot." Noah remarked, sarcastically.

"Yeah, I know, but I've got to hurry. The guys will be back from their walk soon!" 

"When you marry Philip, I'm going to be a flower girl." Alice giggled, “And I’m going to…”

"WHAT?" Aurora spluttered, "I'm not even dating that fool, and I'm most certainly NOT going to marry him."

Alice pranced away singing at the top of her lungs that she was going to get to throw spaghetti (though Aurora assumed she meant ‘confetti’).

"That girl..." Aurora sighed, standing up and hoisting her suitcases into the hall.

"Oh yes, I forgot to say... She's stopped having those hallucinations I was telling you about."

"Well that's good."

“Yeah, she used to wake up in the middle of the night every five minutes crying about cats and drowning in her own tears. Not to mention that one where she claimed that a card was trying to kill her. We couldn’t play snap for days because she was always crying whenever the queen of hearts was pulled out.”

"Poor Alice. I’m glad she’s feeling better, I’ll be sure to check up on her more often though." Aurora sighed, zipping up her suitcase.  “Alright! I think I’m all done here!” 

Noah helped to carry her remaining bag to the car and then shouted at the top of his voice that Aurora was leaving, causing a stampede as her family crowded into the front garden to wave her off. Aurora hugged them all goodbye, before going into the car, winding down the window to scream back at them waving in the distance. Tears began to well in her eyes but she wiped them away and leaned back into her seat, pressing shuffle on her music playlist and preparing herself for the long car journey back to Arendelle.

Chapter Text

Naveen dropped Aurora off first, but she still managed to be half an hour late for her first class. The reason? Because her cover was blown straight away, and she had to come clean about her identity. 

It all started with Aurora being assigned to her roommate in the Air dormitories, a bubbly girl with dark red hair called Ariel. She had seemed nice enough, and Aurora had a nice conversation with her before heading off to have a quick conversation with the resident hall director, a friend of Aunt Mavis called Tinkerbell. When she came back to her room, there was another girl in their room deep in conversation with Ariel.

"I'm sure that she's that new singer." Jasmine pressed, furrowing her eyebrows down into her concentration face as she scrolled through the image results on her phone for ‘Briar Rose’.

"How could you possibly tell?!" Ariel replied, looking extremely uninterested.

"I'm telling you..." Jasmine was cut off by Aurora entering the room, so she rushed up to her with a massive smile on her face, "You're Briar Rose, aren't you?"

So, for the next half an hour, she was bombarded with questions about everything from how her music career started to her relationship with The Princes. It turned out that Jasmine was a big fan of her music while Ariel had never heard of her but was obsessed with The Princes. 

"You've never had a crush on any of them?" Ariel asked, raising an eyebrow disbelievingly.

"We're just friends, Ariel. It's like Naveen is the dad of the group, Eric is the mum, Beast/Adam is the annoying older brother and Philip..." Aurora wrinkled her nose, like she had just caught a waft of a terrible smell, "Anyway, I can't imagine dating any of them and I'm sure they'd say the same about me."

"You should have seen the chaos that you caused on Twitter with that interview earlier," Jasmine laughed holding up her phone, "R.I.P. Brilip has been trending since then!"

Aurora rolled her eyes, "I don't understand why people even ship me with him! Eric and I are much closer, but there's been no shipping!"

"It's the banter, I suppose. People love a good enemies to lovers romance." Ariel shrugged.

And those were the words that plagued Aurora for the rest of the day like a bad itch. There was one moment where she laughed out loud at the thought of Philip ever crushing on her, even slightly, and the teacher told her off in front of everyone.

"Miss Borealis, if it's all the same to you, I would like to continue my lesson without any further interruptions. Some of us didn't go gallivanting off for a whole year, and it's not fair to then come back and be late and then be disruptive. Some of these students actually care about their education!"

So then the embarrassment of that ensured Aurora couldn't pay attention for the rest of the lesson and when the task was set, she had no clue what to do which meant she spent most of the afternoon with her head on her desk in despair, while Ariel and Jasmine chatted in the background. When it became evident that she wasn't going to get any work done, she picked up her phone and called Noah like she had promised to do before she left.

"Hey."

"Haha, are you struggling with the work already?!" Noah cackled.

"It's really not funny. I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing."

"You were laughing at me when I couldn't do that Geography project. Skipping a whole year of school isn't so fun now is it?"

"This is supposed to be the basics and I'm supposed to be smart! What is happening to me?!"

There was silence on the line for a couple of seconds.

"Noah?"

"Yeah, I'm still here. What did you just say?"

"I  was talking about how I'm redoing the year I missed and I can't do anything."

"No, not that. Maybe someone in the background said it. I heard someone say the name Snow White. Ask whoever's in the room with you."

"Ok...?" Aurora swivelled around to face Ariel and Jasmine, "My brother wants to know whether you know someone called Snow White."

"Yeah, she's my roommate and I was just telling Ariel about how she doesn't like to talk very much and keeps to herself. She seems cool though, probably just shy." Jasmine said.

"No way..." Noah whispered, "Snow White went to Northuldra Academy?! What are the chances?"

Aurora put Noah on loudspeaker and took a sip of her coffee, "Did she go to your school then?"

"Yeah, she was the one I was working on the project with."

"I wonder how she ended up coming here?" Aurora asked,  "Black Forest Comprehensive isn't exactly a place I would've gone to look for potential students. No offence Noah, but that school is one of the most chaotic places ever."

"I guess Mrs Oldenburg changed the way she goes about doing things. Snow White's case does seem a bit strange though." Jasmine sat on the edge of Aurora's desk and started flicking through her work absentmindedly. "Snow White doesn't have any connections with the Oldenburgs, she hasn't done any achievements worth mentioning (and that's in her own words by the way, I'm not being mean), and she doesn't even seem like she wants to be her most of the time. I know it's only been a day, but it seems a bit strange that she was offered a place personally despite all of this and she even said that Mrs Oldenburg personally escorted her here!"

"She's surrounded by new people, she's bound to be a bit shy and homesick." Aurora said, "Either way, you should probably check in on her, Noah and see what she's willing to tell you about why she's here."

"Why don't you do it?"

"Because she doesn't know me. Also, I'm curious and I've got nothing better to do." Aurora took another long drink of coffee.

Jasmine straightened out the sheets of paper, "Nothing to do, huh?" 

"That can wait. So listen Noah, what you're going to do is..."

"Hang on, I didn't agree to anything!" Noah protested.

"I'll tell Aunt Flora that you've been staying up playing games all night, and that all the teachers have been giving you detentions because you keep falling asleep in class and that they've also been sending emails home but you've been deleting them."

"...Fine." 

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

The Next Day's Phone Call

"Why did you start asking her stuff on a group chat?! Do it privately!" Aurora said, after scanning over the messages briefly.  

"Stop yelling at me!" Noah whined, "What do you even want me to ask, anyway?"

"I want to know how she ended up coming here." Aurora snapped, "So just talk about whatever until the conversation ends up there."

"I don't like this."

"It'll be fine, stop worrying."

"You think you're so funny, don't you?" Aurora grumbled.

"I don't think so... I know so."

"What did she say in the last part? It  got cut off in the screenshot."

"I'll have a listen and let you know what I think."

"Not you getting them more streams! You should be promoting my music, not theirs!”

"You're forgetting you've done a song with them, she'll end up listening to your irritating voice whether she wants to or not." Noah retorted.

"Hang on. You didn’t even ask her what I told you to ask!" 

"I forgot! Here's Alice to talk to you now."

“Oh my…”

“Hi Rory!”

“Hey Alice,” Aurora sighed, “Tell Noah to just forget it, I don’t care anymore and also that he should charge his phone, it’s on 3%.”

Chapter Text

"We have arrived!" Stefan sang from the front seat pulling into a parking lot. 

He lifted Aurora out of her car seat while Leah got the picnic basket out of the boot of the car and held her hand while she jumped up and down excitedly in her sparkly pink sandals.

They walked through the park for a bit until they reached the spot they always went to, and Leah dug out a pastel pink sticky note from her pocket and crouched down beside her daughter, "Alright, here's the first clue, princess."

Aurora hunched over it for several minutes, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration, her chubby fingers stabbing at each individual letter. "S-W-I-N-G! Swing! Look, I did it mummy!"

"That's right! Well done! Leah clapped her hands together and they ran over to the swings together while Stefan spread the picnic blanket on the ground. 

When Leah and Aurora got to the swings, there was a small chocolate egg wrapped in blue foil, along with a bubblegum pink sticky note which had another word on it. Aurora giggled with delight, and clapped her hands together, putting the chocolate egg in the basket her mother was holding. She spelled out the second word and then went running to the sandpit, her parents following behind her so that the sunlight bathed the family in a bright golden glow. 

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

 Aurora sat cross-legged on her bed watching as Jasmine dyed Ariel's hair, "You're making a right mess of that."

Ariel immediately made a grab for her phone, chewing her lip anxiously as she turned on the camera.

"It'll look good when it's finished," Jasmine side-eyed Aurora, "Have a bit of faith."

Ariel closed the camera and began to play Candy Crush, "I believe in you, Jasmine, but remember, I've got to go to my ceremony thingy in a few weeks."

Jasmine gasped, "Oh, yeah! Aurora, Ariel is gonna have a title in a couple of weeks because she's turning 16, so her official title will be Lady Ariel of Atlantica, isn't that cool?"

"Oh wow, that's really..." Aurora hoisted her suitcase on top of her bed and tipped everything out, pausing when a sheet of pink paper fluttered down. "...cool."

She picked up the paper, and frowned. The handwriting could only belong to one person, but it was the paper that the words were written on that really confirmed who wrote it.

“And when they gave her ashes, she made herself a flame. 

This is how Cinderella came to earn her name.”

~ Katie Anne Dylan

"What's the matter?" Jasmine asked.

"My Aunt Mavis left this note in my suitcase, but I'm not sure what it means."

Jasmine shrugged, "Maybe it was an accident?" 

"Well I don't know, because she always uses this paper whenever she does Easter egg hunts... She wasn't able to do one this year, I reckon she's trying to make up for it."

Ariel sat up straight, "Aw, that's not fair, you still get to do Easter egg hunts? My big sister refused to set them up for us anymore, because she said that we argue too much and we're all too old for them now."  

"My parents used to do them with me when I was little, and it kind of became a family tradition," said Aurora.

Jasmine patted Ariel's shoulder consolingly, "Well, what does it say?"

Aurora showed her the piece of paper.

"Yeah I have no idea what that means. Sorry." Jasmine continued parting Ariel's hair in silence for several more minutes while Aurora continued to pack away her clothes. "Oh wait, there was this new student I talked to a couple of days ago called Cinderella. She wanted directions to the Earth dorms. I don't know if that's relevant, but..."

"Do you reckon the poem's talking about her, then?"

"I dunno. Is Cinderella a popular name?"

Ariel cleared her throat, "The name is of French origin, and the meaning is 'little ashes'. Nicknames include Cindy, Ella and..."

"Yes, alright, thank you  Ariel." Aurora interrupted, "I don't know how Mavis will have pulled this off. Did she come here to set it up? And why? I am so confused."

Jasmine sighed, "I mean, you were complaining about being bored."

"True... So which one of you is going to come with me to find this Cinderella person?" Aurora asked, rubbing her hands together excitedly.

Half an hour later, Ariel was jogging after Aurora with her hair half done, through the maze of rooms in a part of the building they most definitely weren't supposed to be in. This was confirmed when a woman with a long, wavy brown ponytail came up to them.

"Ah, hello! We're looking for the resident hall director please." Aurora smiled.

Meg nodded slowly, "That's me."

"I really need to speak to Cinderella."

"Are you sure it can't wait?" Meg glanced at her watch, "It's almost 7pm, and technically speaking..."

"It's really important, I promise." Aurora clasped her hands together.

"Fine. 10 minutes and it’s over that way."

Cinderella's door was the most intimidating thing Aurora had seen in a long time. Pretty ironic, because it wouldn't be long before she would be in a stadium singing to thousands of people. Her hand was shaking as she lifted it to knock on the door, and Ariel was very close to bolting and leaving her there. In fact, when she could hear footsteps coming towards the door, that was exactly what she did, with Aurora angrily whisper-shouting at her to come back.

A woman wearing fluffy bunny slippers came out of the room and crossed her arms. Alice would love those. "Hello?"

Aurora continued staring at the floor, "Hi, Cinderella, I'm Aurora. Do you know my Aunt Mavis?"

"Aunt?" Cinderella scrunched her nose, "Mavis is your aunt?"

"Yeah... Do you have the next clue?" Aurora looked up, and was slightly taken aback by the woman before her. Cinderella was much taller than her, which was fair enough considering that she was several years older. Then, Aurora noticed the dark shadows under her eyes and the defeated slump of her shoulders and began to regret coming to disturb her. In her arms, she was hugging a stack of paper to her chest, and on the top Aurora could see a picture of a spinning wheel which meant she was probably doing the fashion course.  

"Clue? What are you talking about?" Cinderella asked, her voice slightly exasperated now, "Look, I'm really sorry, but I've got a lot of work to do. I'd love to chat more, I really would. Mavis has helped me a lot and it's cool to see her niece is here too, but I'm really busy."

"No, yeah, sure. I'm sorry for wasting your time." Aurora backed away, feeling extremely guilty.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

"Is it a coincidence that both Snow White and Cinderella are new and have links with my family?" It was lunch-time, and Aurora was once again pestering Ariel and Jasmine with questions that couldn't be answered. 

"I'm not sure what you want us to tell you, Aurora." Jasmine mumbled.

"It's a small world." Ariel shrugged.

"What if people are stalking me? What if this is a conspiracy against me and they've worked out I'm Briar Rose?!"

Jasmine leaned back into her chair, "Say that a bit louder, I don't think that man outside with his dog heard you." 

"Ha ha."

Ariel stole a sip of Aurora's coffee and then lay her head on Jasmine's shoulder, "Well, I've never spoken to Cinderella before, but Snow White is most definitely not a stalker. You should really meet the girl, and you'll see for yourself."

"If I were stalking somebody, I wouldn't exactly wear a shirt with "STALKER" emblazoned on it in capital letters."

Jasmine threw her hands up in the air in vexation, "Aurora, you need to calm down. You've got two days of work to catch up on. You should be focusing on that! First you blackmail your brother into finding out information about Snow White, which was pointless because you found out nothing! Then you go wandering around parts of the school that you're not meant to, and now you're convinced that there are stalkers after you! I can assure you, nobody knows who you are!"

“You figured out who I was straight away though!"

"Well that's just because I'm smart and good at that kind of stuff. Anyway, have you phoned Mavis yet?"

"I messaged her about Cinderella and the Easter egg hunt, but she didn't answer my questions. She just replied with the detective emoji." Aurora sighed.

"Well I mean, if you want, I'll sit down with you and look over things with you properly over the weekend." Jasmine said gently, "I'm sure I can help you figure it all out."

"Yay!" Aurora's celebratory dance was cut in half by her phone which began to vibrate, and her heart dropped when she saw who it was.

Aurora's self-control was constantly being tested, but any phone call with her management team was always a testimony of just how much self-restraint she had to have. She bit back each sarcastic remark that rose up, and batted away the curse words that fluttered around her brain tantalisingly.

"You alright?" Ariel asked concernedly, when Aurora came back. 

"Yeah, it was just Raven, my manager's assistant." Aurora grumbled, "Wanted to know if I'd checked my emails. He could have been a lot nicer about it though."

She opened up the email that she was supposed to have read two days ago, and scanned over it, her brain only registering the words 'PR' and 'Philip' before she turned off her phone and fished out her French homework with a racing heart, trying to extract the words that she had just read out of her brain.

"Woah, something clearly isn't alright here!" Jasmine exclaimed, gesturing towards the work in shock. "I'm about to see Aurora do work for the first time since she got here!"

"I completely forgot." Aurora placed her head on the table and closed her eyes, "I forgot about the agreement we had."

"Which was..." 

"Mally and Raven only agreed for me to go on break, if I finally did the fake dating publicity stunt they wanted me to do. I thought it was going to be Eric..." Tears began to well in her eyes.

Ariel looked back and forth between her friends, in confusion until clarity filled her green eyes. "Ahhhh, it's with Philip isn't it?"

Chapter Text

"It's due to snow next week, anyway. This will probably have to be your only meet-up for a while." Ariel took a video of herself posing in her new baby blue dress that had her roommate stomping around the room angrily in the background and giggled, sending it to Jasmine. 

Aurora had not smiled or laughed in 3 hours. Instead, she had finally found the time to unpack everything, and restored the room to a somewhat orderly state. Not that Ariel particularly cared. She had 6 older sisters and was used to mess. 

"You need to hurry up and get this over with so that we can come back and sort out the Easter egg hunt thing before it gets dark!" Jasmine shouted on the other side of the door. 

"It'll be fine. It's just a couple of pictures and anyway, you should be happy for me... I'll finally be able to meet The Princes!" Ariel grinned, giggling when Aurora smacked her hand away without a trace of a smile.  

Jasmine, Ariel and Aurora arrived at the boy's school 15 minutes earlier than they were supposed to, so they loitered by the front gate with Aurora's grumbling getting louder and louder. Jasmine had dyed Ariel's hair a deep red slightly different to how it had been before, and had not stopped receiving compliments about it since. Each time, Jasmine would stand behind her looking like a proud mum, smiling modestly when Ariel put it all down to Jasmine and her brilliant hairdressing skills.  

When Philip eventually came out of the school and sauntered over to them with Eric and Adam following close behind, Aurora made a sound that resembled a volcano erupting while Ariel was so starstruck that she almost fainted. Especially when Eric was the first to compliment her hair. Jasmine looked between them with wide eyes, contemplating the pros and cons of ditching them both and going back to school. She fanned Ariel with a long-suffering sigh and introduced them both, watching amusedly as Ariel became a stammering strawberry mess.

"Hello, sweetheart." Philip smirked, slinging an arm around Aurora's shoulder. "Naveen didn't want to come with us by the way."

"What? Why?" Aurora shook off his arm, punched Eric's arm in greeting and hugged Adam.

"He's too busy hanging out with his new friends in the Earth dorms. Because apparently, they're more mature than us." Adam sulked. Adam was the tallest in the band at 6'6, and was often thought to be the most intimidating which is why he was given the 'bad boy persona' and the stage name 'Beast'. In reality, he could not be further from frightening and had the personality of a golden retriever... Except when he was around Philip. They brought out the worst in each other. Or the best. It would depend on how you looked at it.

"Oh yeah. Naveen ditched us." Eric crossed his arms, "Which means I'm in charge now." 

Adam opened his mouth to argue, and then decided against it, "Whatever. Aurora, there's a nice park that you and Philip can take pictures in if you want. I want to go to the cafe across the road from there because they make great smoothies." 

He ambled down the road humming to himself quietly, with Eric tottering after him, hands deep in his jacket pockets. 

"Alright, then." Aurora sighed, pulling out her phone and handing it to Jasmine. "Let's get this over and done with."

Philip bent down to Aurora's height and rested an arm on top of her head, throwing up a peace sign. Aurora forced a smile that looked scarily real, and leaned into Philip making sure to not actually touch him. As soon as Jasmine signaled that she had finished, Aurora threw Philip's arm away, and they both made a dash for the phone. 

"Lemme see!" Philip chortled happily, swiping it from Jasmine's grasp, amid indignant murmurs. He lifted it up out of Aurora's reach and started typing. 

"Nooooo!" Aurora jumped up and snatched her phone back, only to see that he had already posted it with the caption, off to the park with my prince 😍

 "PHILIP!"

"Look at this!" Philip showed her his phone, where the photo had amassed almost 200k likes. "It's been 1 minute!"

Aurora fought the temptation to dash his phone to the ground, and scrolled through the comments, her eyebrows drawn together. "I'm choosing the next caption."

"Haha, now #brilipisreal is trending!"

"Well, there's no going back now." Aurora turned to Jasmine for emotional support but saw that her and Ariel had gone up front with Adam and Eric. She muttered begrudgingly under her breath, "Fake friends."

Philip fell silent and nudged her gently, "Hey, not that it's a problem or anything but, like, why did you choose me?"

"Huh?" Aurora fought to keep her voice even, her stomach churning with nerves as she continued to scan over the comments. 

"Well, I dunno. You're closest with Eric out of all of us, I would've expected you to choose him for this PR stunt."

"I didn't get to choose who it was going to be, you idiot, otherwise I would've chosen Eric." Aurora snapped. "And it's all your fault that I didn't get a say in the matter. I told you to quit flirting with me in interviews and that they'd take it the wrong way and think you were being serious! Next thing I know, everyone is shipping us and making up conspiracies that we're secretly married with four children!"

"I wasn't even flirting with..."

"No, shut up, Philip! I'm not finished. It's hard enough for me to be getting used to managing the Briar Rose part of my life along with the Aurora side, without the stupid ship! I'm being forced to do something I never had any interest in wanting to do, just so that I can take a break! You'll never know how I feel, because you can just laugh off Brilip questions like it's nothing, and take everything as one big joke."

Aurora glanced back at Philip who stopped dead in her tracks when she saw that he was staring at her unblinkingly, with a seriousness that she had never seen before. "I didn't know that they were forcing you to do this. That's messed up. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well it's a bit late for that." Aurora spat. She looked up and saw how dejected Philip looked and felt guilty, "Alright, fine. That was a bit mean. If I'm completely honest, I'm not mad about it being you rather than Eric, it's just that I really had no interest in dating anybody, fake or otherwise right now." The voice in her head said otherwise, but she brushed it away, because even the one person she had ever loved, or thought she loved anyway was strictly off-limits, and that had been made clear leaving her a bitter wreck.

Philip nodded, "Okay. I respect that, and I really am sorry that you were forced into this situation. Is there anything I can do?"

"No, so let's just hurry up and get these pictures taken so I can enjoy the rest of my day please." 

To say that the 'photo shoot' at the park was awkward would be an understatement. It was clear that Philip wasn't acting like his usual self so when Adam popped into the Willow Cafe to get everyone drinks, Eric pulled him aside. 

"I don't want to hear about how you messed up, Philip. I want you to hurry up and fix it. Aurora's going on tour with us next year, and I don't want it to be awkward."

"Alright! It's just a bit disappointing that..."

Eric shook his head, "Nope! I can't hear the full story right now, I'm busy."

"Busy flirting with Strawberry over there. Come on man, I need advice."

"Ariel. And you can tell me all about it when we get back to school. For now, focus on not messing this up any more than you already have!" Eric sauntered back over to Ariel, running a hand through his dark hair, smiling one of the largest and most genuine smiles Philip had seen in a long time. 

Everyone decided to disband soon after Adam came back with the drinks, which even Aurora could admit tasted amazing. As soon as the girls went back inside the Wind Dorms, Aurora went straight to bed saying she needed some space, so Ariel went to Jasmine's room talking non-stop the whole way.

"I thought we were supposed to be sorting out her Easter egg hunt thingy.”

"Well she's tired so we'll do it tomorrow." Jasmine unlocked the door, and poked her head through, "Snow White? I've brought Ariel over for a bit, is that alright?"

A small figure dressed completely in black from her large fluffy jumper to her tall socks nodded from where she was sitting on the windowsill reading. 

"Hello again Snow White!" Ariel waved, kicking the door shut while Jasmine stalked over to the ensuite, to start her skin care routine. 

"Hey." Snow White murmured softly, jumping down from the windowsill to pick up some of her clothes strewn across her bed.

"Ooh, I like your socks!" Ariel babbled, pointing at Snow White’s socks which had a pattern of various designs of skulls with roses in their mouths.

Snow White glanced down to remind herself what socks she was wearing and smiled, "Thank you. I uh... I wear a lot of black. I’m trying to stop, my mum doesn’t like it."

"Well I think you look really cool. Just your whole aesthetic, like your voice and your name... In fact, I aspire to be as cool as you one day!" Ariel flopped on top of Jasmine's bed sighing happily. 

Snow White snorted, “I’m not cool, trust me.”

“I don’t believe you for one second. Also, I am curious now… What percentage of your wardrobe would you say is black?”

Snow White got up and opened her wardrobe, giggling when Ariel tilted her head to the side in confusion. In Snow White's wardrobe, there was a single yellow jumper and several pairs of blue jeans in the multitude of black clothes. 

"Wait, so do you have a separate wardrobe or..."

"Well I mean this is what I brought with me from home, although what’s still at home is not much different.

Ariel looked closer, "Alright, I'm not gonna lie, you have a really different style to what I normally wear, but this is kinda convincing me to change it up a bit... We could do a style swap! Oh my gosh, please can we do that? It’d be so fun, and then you could send a picture to your mum and be like, ‘See, I’m wearing colour.’ We could go shopping! Are you free this weekend?" 

"Um… Sure? Yeah, we could do that."

Jasmine walked out of the bathroom wearing a long cyan t-shirt with tall socks, and was immediately bombarded with Ariel standing on top of her bed in a determined stance, "I'm adopting Snow White, Jas so now I finally have a younger sister!" She turned to Snow White, "If that's alright with you of course."

"Yeah, ok. I'm an only child like Jasmine, and I've always wanted a sibling."

"And I've always wanted to have a younger sibling!" Ariel jumped down off the bed, "I've got 5 older sisters and being bossed around gets tiring after a while." 

Jasmine raised an eyebrow, "You have 6 sisters, Ariel."

"Nah, I cut all ties with Adella."

Jasmine scoffed, finally placing her head on her pillow like she had wanted to all day, bathing in the warm golden feeling of silence. She took a deep inhalation... And then jolted upright when her phone began vibrating underneath her.

Jasmine punched the pillow in frustration, and declared through gritted teeth, "Right, come on then you two. It looks like we're going on a trip down the hall!"

Chapter Text

Snow White, Jasmine and Ariel made for a strange sight filing across the hallway to Aurora and Ariel’s room. Snow White was slightly more at ease now that she had made a friend but still looked very nervous, Jasmine looked extremely tired while Ariel was over the moon, jumping up and down excitedly behind Jasmine. She had even more reason for excitement when she got back into her room because Cinderella had brought cookies from Tiana as an apology because she felt bad for being so dismissive to Aurora. Ariel was a massive sweet tooth as the drawer underneath her desk could prove, being filled to the brim with sweets and her ultimate favourite snack - ruby chocolate.

“Hello Jasmine and Snow White, it’s nice to see you again! I’m so sorry, I don’t know your name, but you’ve got amazing hair!” Cinderella gushed.

“Thank you, I’m Aurora’s roommate, Ariel.” Ariel gushed, flopping down on her bed and gesturing to Snow White to join her happily.

“Thank you for the cookies, I really appreciate it!” Aurora smiled, setting the plastic container down on her desk. 

“It’s no bother! My friend, Tiana, made extra. Uhm… Anyway, I came here to show you the text message I just got, because I assumed it had something to do with you because you mentioned something about clues and hints.” Cinderella held out her phone, “Mavis was the teacher’s assistant at my school’s fashion design class back in secondary school, and she really helped me deal with my parents’ deaths and my stepmother… You know, just being there to talk to, she’s great like that.”

“I’m really sorry to hear about your parents… I didn’t know she worked as a teacher’s assistant though...” Aurora frowned at the text message which consisted of only two words, “Poem Collection? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Probably has something to do with this, right?” Jasmine plucked the pink piece of notepaper between the textbooks on Aurora’s desk and showed Cinderella.

“Oh, so that’s what led you to come to me!”

“I reckon there’s probably more poetry collections where this one about you came from. Might be found in the library?” Jasmine yawned.

“There’s a website that comes up when you type in the poem but the link isn’t working.” Snow White mumbled, scrolling down the search page on her phone, biting her lip nervously when everyone turned to look at her.

 “Looks like the library is the best bet then, right?” Ariel smiled, “Aurora, we can have a look tomorrow because it’ll probably be closed by now surely.”

“I don’t see why we can’t just go now.” Aurora said, standing up and pulling on her jacket. “It’s not that late.”

Cinderella also stood up, “Alright, well good luck girls, I’d better be heading back now. Let me know how it goes, this sounds super interesting.”

“I will! Thanks for your help, Cinderella!”

Jasmine yawned, “Yeah, well I’m going to bed. Coming, Snow?” 

“Yeah, I wanna finish reading my book.”

“Alright, come on then Ariel.” Aurora grabbed her hand and together they jogged down the hall to the stairs. 

They were running down the draughty hallway near the Fire Dormitories that had a large mural with a design of golden trees on it when Ariel broke the silence.

“Aurora, can you please answer honestly if you like anyone right now, or have liked anyone in the past?”

“What?!” Aurora jumped back to stare at her as though she’d been stung, “What’s brought this on?”

Ariel shrugged, “I think I like Eric. Maybe. Possibly.” 

Aurora sighed a breath of relief, “Oh! That’s what you meant. Look, do you mind if we had this conversation a bit later? I just really want to see if we can get any further with this hunt.” 

“Okay. And also, Snow White is super cool, definitely not a stalker so there is absolutely nothing to worry about. She is 100% Ariel approved.”

“Good to know.” Aurora paused in front of the library door and peeked through to see Booker, the librarian with his usual olive green suit and slim grey laptop he carried everywhere with him. The students called him Bookworm, and it was very difficult to keep switching from the nickname to his actual name so most people played it safe and just called him ‘Sir’. She pushed the door open and showed him the poem, “Excuse me, Sir, do you know the book this came from?” 

Ariel raised an eyebrow and whispered, “How is he going to…”

“Just wait there for one second.” Mr Booker adjusted his tie and stared at the ceiling for several seconds without blinking once. He tilted his head and then “Right, I believe it was first written in 1938 by Mrs Minerva funnily enough... `The Chronicles of Fire’ Version 2, it’ll be over there on the left.”

“What happened to version 1? And who is Mrs Minerva?” Ariel whispered.

“That won’t be important, Ari. Thanks Bookworm… Mr Booker, sir.” Aurora stammered, walking over to the right end of the library with her head down in shame.

“Over here, Aurora!” Ariel called from the left side, causing one of the only other people in the library  (a brown-haired girl with a blue bow in her hair who looked like she had been in her small corner for hours) to glare at them both, her head buried in a book. 

“Yeah, I knew that.” Aurora jogged over, scanning the bookshelves with increasing urgency, “Come on then, let’s find this book!” She grabbed the white book with shiny gold pages and sat down cross-legged on the floor to read it. 

The first page had a small gold stamp of a shooting star in the corner that Ariel commented on being really pretty before Aurora began flicking through the book, her expression getting less and less enthusiastic as the pages left began to diminish. 

The one page in the whole book that was of any use was the one with the two lines about Cinderella which for some reason had been changed to be about a girl called Carla instead. 

“UGH!” Aurora slammed the book closed and tucked it under her arm, ignoring the brown-haired girl’s exasperated clearing of her throat. “Maybe Jasmine will know more about it. I’ll ask her tomorrow.”

Ariel crossed her legs, “Maybe. So do you want to talk about Eric now?”

Aurora rolled her eyes, “Ok sure. So you like him, do you?”

“Yeah, or at least I think so. He seems really nice!”

“Well then I’ll set you up with him no problem. There’s nothing happening between us, he’s my best friend.”

“Have you ever thought you might’ve liked him before?”

“At one point, probably.” Aurora shrugged, “He’s a good-looking dude but don’t worry, I’ve long since gone past that phase.”

“And what about Philip?”

“Oh please don’t start!” Aurora started making her way to the self-checkout, “I don’t like him, and the thought has never even crossed my mind.”

“Hmm… Ok!” Ariel stood on her tiptoes to place her chin on Aurora’s shoulder, “You two would be very cute together though.”

Aurora didn’t even bother responding. She was exhausted by the time that she had trekked all the way back to the Wind dorms and was only able to have a shower, get changed and place the book on top of her desk before she climbed into bed.

Ariel stayed up for a bit longer, dithering between messaging a certain someone or going to sleep too. The corner of Aurora’s mouth quirked upwards when she cracked open her eye and saw the glow of Ariel’s phone under the covers.

“Looks like you won’t need me to set the both of you up after all huh?”

Ariel sighed, “Maybe? We’ll have to see how it goes. I’m really sorry we didn’t get further with your treasure hunt today, Aurora.”

“That’s alright. If Mavis wants us to finish it by the end of the year, I’m sure she’ll send some help somehow.”

“It’s nice of her to spice up your school experience a bit more.”

“Yeah… But there are more important things to think about now. Like your ceremony where you’ll become Lady Ariel of Atlantica, isn’t that exciting? That’s in what, two weeks now?”

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t really say I’m excited for it. I’m a bit scared of messing up, I keep imagining all sorts of scenarios where I accidentally trip or say the wrong words.”

“You’ll do great, Ariel. Look, I’ll make a deal with you: If you trip and fall at your ceremony or do absolutely anything embarrassing at all, I’ll do the same thing at my first concert.”

“Okay.” Ariel giggled. “I’m probably just overthinking, and anyway, it’ll help to have you guys there!”

“Alright, I guess I just got invited to this ceremony thingy! Cool, cool. I’ll have to check my diary though, I might not be free that day.”

“You’d better make it, Aurora.”

“Alright, alright."

"You have to promise."

Aurora yawned and rolled over, her voice becoming muffled in her pillow. "Lady Ariel of Atlantica, I promise to attend your ceremony.”

“Okay.” Ariel sighed happily, “Night, Aurora.”

“Goodnight Ariel.”

Chapter Text

She was drowning again. The combination of the water and cold are always too much, draining every drop of energy she has left. She has always been a strong swimmer, but she is no match for the colossal waves that spin her around effortlessly. In between being tossed around, she manages to stick her head above the waves and inhales a quarter of a lungful before being pushed underneath yet again. And in this moment, she knows what her fate will be. 

Ariel sat up in a cold sweat, panting heavily. She patted around on her bed until she found her phone and sighed when she saw that she had around fifteen minutes left until she usually got up. She pulled the covers off anyway, stretching and then tiptoeing to the en suite so she could get a better view of the sunrise. Her phone vibrated and she smiled at Eric’s newest message suggesting 4pm for their date. She tapped out a text saying that she was looking forward to it and then got changed into a red tracksuit and grabbed her water bottle before exiting the room, closing the door quietly so as to not wake up Aurora.

Ariel had developed a strong phobia of the sea many years ago. A huge part of that was because her mother had passed away due to a boating incident, and so her father didn’t like her or her sisters going down to the beach by themselves (something which Adella continued to ignore on a daily basis). However, Aquata, her sportiest sister, had started teaching her how to swim when she was 6, and the rest was history. She actually loved the water, as long as it wasn’t in the ocean, and had actually won the National Young Swimmers competition the previous year. Her coach, Ursula had informed her that she definitely could have a career in becoming a professional swimmer, and while it might very well be an amazing experience to go to the Olympics one day, Ariel still wasn’t completely sure. Being the daughter of Lord Triton was already an extremely demanding task, especially having to live up to the sparkling standard that her sisters had set for her. Her sisters had managed to sustain a near-perfect image to the public for years, and Ariel was terrified that she would be the one to mess it all up.

Ariel had developed the exercise routine she was now following the first year she had arrived at Northuldra Academy, three years ago along with Sister Number 6, Andrina and Sister Number 4, Aquata. Sister Number 3, Adella said she had also wanted to join, but never got up in time. Plus, Adella and Aquata weren’t on speaking terms at the moment because Adella had borrowed Aquata’s motorbike without asking to impress a boy, and then crashed it causing a civil war among them. Sisters 1 and 2 had refused to get involved, since they were the eldest, but the others were all Team Aquata, so it was just as well that Adella could hold her own even when she was clearly in the wrong. 

“Hey Andy!” Ariel whispered, waving her water bottle in the air excitedly as she waited by the door to the school’s gym. Ariel was definitely closest to Andrina out of all her sisters, which was understandable since they were closest in age. They radiated completely different energy, but that was probably why they got on so well. While Ariel preferred to adhere to pink sparkles and unrelenting optimism, Andrina was grumpy and sarcastic 99% of the time and wore black because anything else was “too bright for her eyes”.

“Must I suffer this much just to get abs?” Andy sighed, drooping on top of Ariel like a wilting flower, “I’m so tired.”

Ariel pushed the walking beanstalk that Andy was off and opened the door, “At least it’s Friday now though.”

There were never many people at the gym this early. Most of the members of sports teams came to do extra exercise after their lessons had finished, and out of the ten people there, Ariel only recognised one girl who had just joined the swim team last week in the year above her. Andy had refused to join any sports clubs, although she was actually a better swimmer than Ariel, and Aquata did kickboxing, recently becoming a teacher since she had obtained her black belt and was 18. 

Aquata came into the gym now, walking purposefully towards her locker, absolutely livid with sweat pouring down her face as she pulled out her boxing gloves while muttering angrily underneath her breath. 

“Wonder what’s happened now…” Andy whispered, “Did Adella do something, do you reckon?”

Ariel shrugged, “It might’ve been Arista because Adella isn’t talking to Aquata right now.” They did their warm up stretches in silence as Aquata started pummeling the life out of one of the punching bags, each punch and kick making a resounding boom throughout the gym.

“Well anyway, I’m going to start on the treadmill, maybe that’ll wake me up a bit. If I fall off that thing, can you please kill everyone here so there will be no witnesses?” 

Ariel nodded absent-mindedly and walked over to the other girl on the swim team who was tying her curly brown hair up into a bun. She did it with one mesmerizingly deft twist, stuck several bobby pins in, and then unclasped her green necklace.

“Hello! I’m Ariel. You just joined the swim team right?”

“Oh! Hiya, yeah that’s right. I’m Moana, it’s nice to meet you.” Moana smiled.

“Do you want to do sit-up passes with me?”

“Sure!” 

And just like that, Ariel had made another friend. They spent the next hour and a half ridiculing Ursula, comparing swimming techniques and promising to meet at the pool the following Monday. At one point Moana made Ariel laugh so hard that she had to lie down on the ground until she stopped laughing, and got a disapproving glance from one of the older students, who was probably on the student council. Ariel and Andy had a running joke that anyone who came across as bossy was on the student council and that came about back when Sister Number 1, Attina was elected to be on the student council and became bossier than ever. It became so unbearable that there were some complaints from other members, however Attina’s leadership skills came in handy eventually because she was now owning a company worth billions at 21 and was on the Northuldra Academy brochure as one of the most successful alumna yet.

“Well I hope your date goes well, Ariel!” Moana said, packing up her belongings as the clock hands moved nearer to half past five. 

“Thank you!” 

Andy sauntered over with her hands in her pockets, “Hey. I love your tattoo!”

“Oh, this is my sister, Andy.” 

Moana stroked over the swirls of dark ink contained in a band absent-mindedly and smiled, “Hi Andy, thanks! I got it with my cousin, Maui. He goes to the Boys’ school.”

“I was thinking about getting one myself. I probably will, when I go back home next week.” Andy said.

“Dad will kill you if you do.” Aquata murmured passing by, with her bag over her shoulder.

“You’re acting like Arista, such a goody-two shoes.” Andy replied, grinning as Aquata’s expression darkened. 

“Another sister?” Moana asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise.

“Yeah, there’s 4 more of us as well.” Andy fist bumped Ariel and waved at Moana, “I’ll see you soon though, I’m going to try and get some more sleep.”

Ariel grimaced, “Yeah, I’d better get going too, I’ve got a Danish speaking test for my first lesson. Bye Moana!”

“See you later!”

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

The school day passed in a blur because all Ariel could think about were her weekend plans with Eric and Snow White. She stumbled her way up the stairs to her room at 3pm ducking past the crowds of students that emerged from the classrooms at the same time as her and tucked her homework away in her desk opposite to Aurora’s stacks of homework spilling onto the floor in front of her desk. On the bed was Aurora herself, fast asleep and snoring. Ariel sighed, straightening out the covers on top of her friend and then darted into the en suite her giddiness bubbling fit to overflow. 

She was close to bursting out in song several times in the shower before remembering that Aurora was asleep and had to clamp a soapy hand over her mouth at least four times. It was getting colder in Arendelle which was no surprise since it was the beginning of winter, but winters in Arendelle were never a laughing matter so Ariel pulled on the thickest tracksuit she had brought with her, reapplied her lip gloss and grabbed her purse and keys before heading out dropping a quick text to Jasmine before she left the building. The walk down to the park was one of Ariel’s favourites and it had a lot to do with the amount of red squirrels that were always out and about during this time of year. 

She spotted Eric almost immediately, sitting cross-legged on the grass playing with a sheepdog that belonged to the little old lady standing beside him.

“Granny Willow!” Ariel exclaimed, “How are you?”

“Can't complain. Nobody listens anyway.” Granny Willow accepted Ariel’s kiss on the cheek without complaining this time and looked between Eric and Ariel with a mischievous smile. “Anyway, let me not take up any of your time. Head on into the cafe - Tiana and Charlotte should be able to keep everything under control while I go on my walk. Come on, Max!”

Granny Willow had universally been accepted as all of the Northuldra Academy students’ grandma after her cafe had almost been shut down. Pocahontas had started a project to stop that from happening that involved the students from both sections of the school coming together and only going to the Willow Cafe whenever they went out to eat. Needless to say, Granny Willow was incredibly thankful to them all, and for the past three years, she had only accepted students from Northuldra Academy offering to work part-time. She also allowed certain people to pet her dogs which in itself was a testament to how grateful she was because her dogs were like her children. This especially went for the puppies like Max. 

Ariel waved after Granny Willow, and then turned to Eric who was standing up brushing grass off his jeans, his light blue eyes watering as the wind let out a particularly strong gust of wind directly in his face. 

“Hiya!” Ariel grinned, “It’s very windy today isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Eric smiled back, wiping his eyes, “How was your day?”

“Great! What about you?” 

Eric shrugged, “I don’t actually remember how it’s gone so far, I’ve kinda just been thinking about meeting you all day.” He ducked his head shyly, “Anyway, here we are…”

Ariel flushed, almost tripping over her own feet as she entered the cafe. It was ironic really that she could put on a confident front with literally everyone except for the one person she wanted to appear confident in front of. They sat in the corner by the window in the spot where Ariel remembered she had last sat in with Andy and had laughed so hard that milkshake had spurted out of her nose. 

She looked up to see Eric biting his nails, his knee bobbing up and down his anxiety clearly etched across his face.

“Uhm, so…” Ariel stammered, “I have no clue how dates work, I feel like I should’ve asked Aurora or Jasmine for advice.”

“Me neither,” Eric cleared his throat, “And the worst part is I asked Philip for help but I forgot everything he said.”

Ariel snorted, “I mean, we could start talking about family and what we like doing?”

“Yeah! Uh, well I’m an only child and I started getting into music when I was 7 because my mum wanted me to start learning the guitar. I got pretty good at it I guess, and then when I went to the Academy when I was 12 I met Philip in the music club who liked singing. He was my first friend at the academy actually because Aurora became my friend in the second term during one of the rare times that the schools merged for an event. Anyway, Naveen was one of only other guitar players in the music club (he joined a bit later though), and then Adam was already a friend of Philip’s and a good drummer. We started hanging out and then a couple of years along the line, Naveen went ‘Let’s make a band!’ and then The Princes became a thing. I’m sorry, I don’t know if I’m blabbing on or not, I tend to ramble on when I’m nervous. What about you? What do you like doing?”

Ariel shook her head furiously, “No, it’s fine. I like hearing people talk about things they’re passionate about, honestly.” There was a pause in conversation as Charlotte came to take their orders, (chocolate chip muffin and hot chocolate for Ariel; croissant and mint tea for Eric). “I like swimming, I don’t know if that’s something I want to pursue just yet though. Swimming in swimming pools, that is, I don’t like swimming in open bodies of water. I tend to have lots of different hobbies though I didn’t really stick through with them. I used to have to play the piano in my sisters’ little pretend band back when we were all homeschooled.”

“You were homeschooled? That’s cool.” Eric paused and there was a thirty seconds’ silence where both of them struggled to make sense of the jumbled up words in their brains.

“Ok, Ariel I…”

“So…” 

Ariel winced, “Sorry, go ahead.”

“Uh, ok. Philip told me not to say anything because it is kinda embarrassing for me, but I feel like it’s something I need to get off my chest.” Ariel’s eyes widened, “It’s nothing terrible! Oh god, I’m regretting this already… Basically, me and my mum moved to Atlantica when I was around 9 or 10 and would see you on TV sometimes because obviously, you know, you’re Lord Triton’s daughter, and I had a crush on you back then too.”

“Oh!” Ariel covered her face with her hands.

“I’ve just made things weird haven’t I?”

“What? No! I don’t understand how you could have ever been crushing on the snotty 9 year old I was back then to be honest, I’m just a bit shocked. And anyway, it wouldn’t be fair of me to judge you when I stayed up all night to catch the release of your last album.”

“Wait, you listen to our music?!” Eric laughed, “No way!”

 “I was a pretty big fan before Aurora showed up and then I had to dial it down a bit because I didn’t want to be that person.” Ariel bit her lip, “I’m probably digging my own grave here, but I had a stan account for you a while back.”

“You didn’t!” Eric wheezed. His laughter was so free, so pure and unexpectedly high-pitched that Ariel soon found herself smiling through her embarrassment, “Oh I hope I’m not making you feel bad, it’s just I have a very specific image of the stan accounts and what kinds of things they say.”

“I wasn’t one of the ‘I want him to rail me’ stans, if that’s what you’re asking.” Ariel replied, clapping a hand over her mouth as soon as she realised what she had just said and knocking a fork onto the floor. 

Eric’s laughter rose an octave as Charlotte came to the table with their orders. Eric managed to spit out his thanks and tried to compose himself, taking in deep breaths.

“On a serious note though, I don’t just like you because of the silly childhood crush stuff, I genuinely love your personality and just the way you see the world I guess. You’re always so positive and I think a lot of people really appreciate that about you when there’s so many things that are evidently negative in the world.”

Ariel lifted her hot chocolate with trembling hands and sighed, “I’m having a really hard time believing that this is actually happening right now. But the same thing goes for you, because you’re even more well-known than me at this point I’d imagine, and I’ll admit I was a bit star struck at first but I don’t want you to ever think I agreed to do this and was properly interested in you because of the band.”

“And yeah, about the band, you probably already know this, but there are specific personalities and ways we present ourselves that aren't really how we are normally. Like Naveen is the older brother figure, which is fairly accurate but people think that he literally takes care of us when we’re away from home which isn’t true. And then Adam was given the ‘bad boy persona’ which isn’t accurate at all because he’s a gentle giant and then Philip was the face of the band I guess, and the supposedly massive flirt, which is the least accurate because the guy can’t talk to girls at all. I guess my persona has been the quiet, shy one. I suppose I’ll leave you to find out whether that’s accurate or not in the future.”

“So wait, you’d want to do this again with me even after I’ve been nothing but awkward?”

“Yeah, of course! It was always bound to be awkward right? I mean, I don’t know about you but I haven’t exactly done this before.”

“You’ve never been on any dates?” Ariel raised an eyebrow disbelievingly.

“Not with someone I’ve liked on the same level that I like you, Ariel.” Eric placed his hand face up on the table and Ariel put her hand in his. “I like your nails by the way.”

“Thanks, I can paint yours at some point if you want.”

“I’d like that a lot.” Eric beamed.  

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

“And it was all fine after that! It’s like we’re on the exact same wavelength about so many things. He agrees that the letter ‘q’ should be later on in the alphabet and that bowls are better than plates!”

“Oh wow, that’s great.” Aurora mumbled, half asleep as usual. She had gotten into the habit of taking naps in the middle of the day and Ariel was beginning to get a bit concerned, but when she had asked about it, Aurora had just changed the subject. Which was fair enough, although it had stung a little that Aurora didn’t trust her enough to say what was wrong.

“It is, although I’m still standing by what I said before. He’d better not hurt you even slightly.” Jasmine said, “Anyway, you should probably go and get ready to meet up with Snow White for your trip now. I challenged Violet Parr a few doors down to a chess game and need to prepare for it.  

“You take your chess games way too seriously.” Ariel laughed. 

She went to go and get ready anyway, wrapping a scarf around her neck and then putting on a winter coat before waddling across the hall to check if Snow White was ready. Ariel had barely slept because she had spent most of the night texting Eric but she was still full of energy. Snow White needed to get her transportation pass sorted out with one of the administrative team so Ariel waited outside on one of the benches. The school truly was a sight to behold, with the way the trees were blown to and fro in the gusts of wind. There were several piles of leaves scattered across the front and two gardeners hard at work. Ariel pulled out a pair of pink mittens from her pockets and shivered slightly.

“I’m ready, Ariel.” Snow White said, materialising in front of her, teeth chattering with a bright red nose. “It’ll be snowing down these sides by the time we get back from the two week break.” 

“Yup. It’ll be weird considering it’s spring in Atlantica right now.” Ariel began to speed walk in order to keep up with Snow White’s long strides. They won the battle against the wind and were at the train station boarding their train within 20 minutes. 

The shopping centre was a popular place so Ariel wasn’t surprised to notice more than one fellow student on the train, one of whom was her sister Adella making out with the blonde guy sitting beside her who was definitely not her boyfriend, Stevie. Ariel shook her head in disgust, missing her eldest two sisters who were back in Atlantica now, having graduated. 

“Alright Snow White, I’m paying for this trip since it was my idea.” Ariel jogged into the entrance, “Ta-da!”

Pebbles Shopping Centre was currently undergoing renovations, so the humongous cream U-shaped establishment surrounding them had several signs and barriers pointing them away from the stone figurines being hoisted into the air by the loud smoke producing vehicles. Even so, the shopping centre was a remarkable sight, with the flashing lights of different shops whispering to them both to come in.

Snow White’s mouth fell open in shock, “Are you sure?” She yelled over the noise.

“Of course I’m sure!” Ariel shouted back, grabbing Snow White’s hand and running down to the first clothing store she recognised. “Alright, so now we have to pick out an outfit from here that we would normally wear. Are you still up for doing this?”

“Mhm.” Snow White slowly did a 360 spin marvelling at the interior decoration of the shop they were in, “How many outfits do you want to do?”

“Is three a good number? So we’ll do one full outfit from here to begin with and then do a reveal when we get back to school.”

“Alright sure.”

“3… 2… 1… GO!”

They went to a high end fashion boutique after that, which Snow White felt extremely out of place in and then a streetwear store where Ariel made yet another new friend out of the cashier. 

“It’s like you play a game of how many new friends you can make in a day.” Snow White joked on the train ride back.

Ariel laughed, “It is a bit like that to be honest. It helps me have a better outlook on life, just speaking to as many new people as I can. It helps me remember that there are good people along with the bad, you know?”

Snow White nodded and continued looking out of the window where they were passing the border to the Southern Isles. Her eyes sparkled at the transformation of Arendelle as the evening rolled around, and Ariel began to realise how much she had taken the beauty of Arendelle for granted. Ariel was glad that Snow White was beginning to come out of her shell a bit more though. She was quite the enigma, and Ariel liked solving puzzles. Which reminded her of Aurora’s easter egg hunt which they had gotten no further with because Jasmine didn’t have a clue what the book had to do with anything. The sky was still blu-ish grey but it wouldn’t be for much longer since winter was well and truly here and it tended to get dark by 6pm. Rain droplets streaked down the windows and a foggy mist descended over the countryside. 

Ariel checked her watch and sighed, “We’re going to have to make a run for it if we want to be in time for curfew.”

And run they did. All the way back from the train station and around the building so they could sign in, just in time for dinner in the dining hall area. Then, they had to run all the way back around to the main entrance, but got caught in the rain so that they were both drenched when they finally made it back to the Wind dorms due to the fact that both of their winter coats didn’t have hoods.

 After they had gone to their respective rooms, they caught up with Jasmine who had won all of her chess games against Violet Parr, and was in a great mood, to the point where she agreed to watch Ariel and Snow White’s fashion show with the clothes they had brought. Jasmine even woke up Aurora who had gone straight to bed after she had eaten to come and watch. Aurora did so begrudgingly with her blanket over her head and her pyjamas already on, even though it was only 7pm.

Ariel went first, her outfit being an oversized t-shirt with a design of a black and white poisoned apple on it with black cargo trousers and big black boots. She twirled in the mirror above her bed and then flung herself on top of Snow White nearly knocking her to the ground, “I love it!! Thank you so much!”

“You bought it.” Snow White grunted, “All I did was pick it out, but you’re welcome anyway I guess.”

“If you react like this with every outfit, we’re going to be here all day.” Aurora grumbled, yawning loudly.

“Alright grumpy pants. Your turn Snow White.” Ariel did yet another spin in the mirror and clomped her way over to Jasmine for a cuddle while waiting for Snow White.

The change was far greater to see with Snow White who repeatedly remarked how awkward this was as she hopped on top of a stool to see herself in the mirror because she was too short otherwise. Ariel had picked out a pink and cream knitted cardigan with a matching pink skirt. The last time Snow White had worn something like that was probably when she was still having her clothes bought for her by Hilde, which was saying something because that might as well have been centuries ago.

“You look so cute!” Ariel shrieked, jumping up and down and causing a mini earthquake with the shoes she was wearing. 

The next four outfits were along the same theme, with Ariel’s favourite item being the boots and least favourite being a pair of dark blue jeans that had no pockets. Snow White’s favourite piece of clothing was a giant knitted jumper that had cows on it and her least favourite was a purple crop top that she didn’t even want to try on, and spent 30 minutes in the bathroom panicking because she didn’t want to upset Ariel.

When it was finally over, Ariel pulled out a final bag from under her bed and pulled out four hoodies all in the same style but with different cartoon designs. The one she threw to Jasmine was dark red and had an image of leaves falling off an autumn coloured katsura tree. She handed Aurora a teal one which had a standard oak tree on it and then tossed Snow White a white hoodie which had a pine tree covered in snow on it. Then she held up her own pink hoodie with a cherry blossom on it with such a bright, excited smile that Aurora’s eyes started welling up with tears.

“This is so sweet,” She sniveled, “We could be called the Seasons Squad!”

Jasmine opened her mouth to say something and then changed her mind, disguising a laugh as a cough, “Mhm.”

“You were going to make a seasoning joke weren’t you?” Ariel rolled her eyes.

“You know me so well.” Jasmine cackled, “Thanks for the hoodie, Ari.”

Snow White smiled to herself tracing over the design on her hoodie, “Seasons Squad.”

Chapter Text

Aurora and Snow White were the first to leave out of the Seasons Squad because Aurora offered to give Snow White a lift and then her Aunt Merryweather came to pick them both up as soon as they were allowed out. There were a lot of family members in the reception room, waiting to pick up their children and this was due to the assembly that Mrs Oldenburg sprang on everyone that ran over time because there was a particularly exciting notice shared.

In summary, the weather forecast predicted that Arendelle would be experiencing the worst series of blizzards recorded in 21 years after the half term break and so in order to control the numbers and make sure everyone was safe, both the boys and girls school would be merging until the weather was back to normal. This would work by everyone moving to the new building owned by the school on the other side of Arendelle because it had better facilities to combat cold weather and was larger than both of the Northuldra Academies combined.

The building was located right next to the North Mountain, a popular tourist destination, and so the building’s nickname was simply ‘North Mount’. It was originally going to be a co-ed version of the Northuldra Academies with Elsa Oldenburg and Honeymaren Nattura being joint headmistresses in the new year after some of the classrooms were fixed up, but Mrs Oldenburg said that this was going to be sped up and all students would need to make their way to North Mount when they came back from their two week holiday as the normal Northuldra Academy buildings would be locked.

There were many different reactions to this news. Some were scared that they would be separated from their friends, because Mrs Oldenburg said that you would need to sign up for who you wanted to room with quickly otherwise you would be put with random people. Snow White was mainly just a bit annoyed at the fact that lessons would now be disrupted and a whole new timetable would need to be figured out. Snow White had just started getting the hang of things and now they would be flipped upside down again. Not to mention the fact that now there was going to be a complete lockdown on the school so no leaving for any unnecessary purposes. And who knew how long it would take until things got back to normal.

People such as Ariel’s sister, Adella, heard that the boys would be going with them were over the moon. Others were fuming, and Snow White was fairly certain that she heard a girl in the year above them with a strong Scottish accent and a fiery red mane of hair mutter that she needed to restock on her arrows. At least, that’s what she thought she heard.

Overall, the general outlook was positive though, because North Mount was a beautiful place with loads of space and larger dormitories people only had to glance at pictures of before they were sold on the idea. A substantial number of the younger ones loitered around campus in large groups for ages, excitedly chattering among themselves until Megara, Tinkerbell, Dory and Te Fiti came with megaphones and told them to disperse. However, it wasn’t until Te Ka (Te Fiti’s twin sister and joint resident hall director of the Fire dorms) made an appearance causing everyone to scatter immediately.

Snow White had already called Hilde to say that a friend was going to be dropping her off, even though she wasn’t completely sure if Aurora even classed her as a friend. With Ariel it was obvious, and although Jasmine had taken a bit of time to warm up to her, she would definitely class her as a friend too. It was different with Aurora, mainly because of the fact that she had used her brother to try and find out information about her which she had apologised for to be fair, but it was still weird and slightly unsettling.

To make matters worse, Aurora was also an up and coming superstar who had millions of fans and in a normal setting, you’d imagine it couldn’t really get any more intimidating than that. Unless you were rooming with a girl whose father was a billionaire and had just become the ‘little sister’ of a certain red-haired girl who was going to have an official title soon and who had won several high prestige swimming competitions and was well on her way to becoming an Olympic athlete. And what made Snow White sick to her stomach was how humble they all were, as though these things were standard! Snow White had only heard about half of these things from the other girls in the Air dormitories and if she had a hard time not comparing herself to other people before she arrived at Northuldra Academy, she was struggling far more now. Because realistically speaking, what did she have to offer? What did she bring to the table, and why had Mrs Oldenburg specifically chosen her for the scholarship?

“So, how are you finding the school so far?” Aurora’s Aunt Merryweather was asking, breaking Snow White out of her ponderings.

“It’s alright, thank you.” Snow White smiled robotically, “I think I’m getting the hang of it.”

“Yes, Aurora struggled quite a bit at the beginning of her time there and was very homesick. Same went for my little sister, Mavis, although she just misbehaved until she got expelled. Of course, there were complications with her expulsion because Flora was her legal guardian at the time and Mavis didn’t want to go anywhere else. Flora was much older than us so she got mistaken for our mother all the time which I found very funny but she did have a lot of responsibility at a fairly young age which is why she handled the whole situation so poorly.

Flora had been married off at this point, you see, so she was dealing with her own problems and that left Fauna and I - she’s the second eldest by the way - to deal with this rebellious teenager who was going around getting into fights every other day and vandalising the walls. She was definitely Northuldra’s worst student, that much I’m certain of. Extremely clever but lazy, stubborn and extremely deceitful. There was nothing we could teach the rat, because she’d already learned it all.

But of course, she still needed to be in education so I had to go and find her a tutor because I’d failed most of my exams and Mavis kept making Fauna cry when she’d tried homeschooling. I don’t know how we managed in all honesty, I really don’t! Eventually we found one woman who could handle her, but then she had to go on maternity leave and during that time, Mavis well and truly went off the rails. What’s more... ”

Snow White had severely underestimated the time it would take for her to get back home. Since she had only ever taken the plane, she didn’t realise it was a 5 hour drive, and after Merryweather had told her whole life’s story, every drop of Snow White’s social battery had gone. She ended up hoisting her suitcase and travel bag out of the car boot at 8pm, and was forced to hover awkwardly while Hilde had a half an hour conversation with Mrs Fauna. Aurora smiled apologetically and then wound down her window, pointing to her phone, “We can meet up in the holidays if you want. Text me.”

Snow White nodded and breathed a sigh of relief when Hilde finally said her goodbyes and ushered Snow White inside, “So how was it? I see you made a new friend already! Also, that you’ll be moving to a new location when you go back.”

“Yup.” Snow White felt her body relaxing at the familiar surroundings, “At this place called North Mount.”

“I don’t know if that’s the best idea in all honesty if there are blizzards, don’t you think it would be best to just stay home for the next half term?” Hilde began to fidget, biting her lip.

“I can’t just take 6 weeks off though. I’m actually beginning to kinda enjoy it there.” Snow White peered around, expectantly. “Where’s Florian?”

“I told him it was too late for him to be coming around just now. Just listen to me for a second though, Snow White. It sounds a bit dangerous for you to be in a situation like that, and you know how easily you get cold.”

“I don’t know, it could be pretty exciting. But what about Florian? I thought...”

“There is nothing exciting about getting caught in a snowstorm.” Hilde snapped. “Furthermore, I already said that it was too late for Florian to be coming around!”

“Alright.” Snow White grabbed her bags and started heading up the stairs to her room, gritting her teeth. “I’ll unpack instead then.”

Hilde sighed, “Snow White, come back downstairs please, I’m not finished speaking to you and there’s no need for you to be having an attitude. I haven't seen you for a whole month! I was also wondering about the friend who gave you a lift. When did you meet her?”

Snow White reluctantly came back down the stairs, “She’s on the same floor as me.”

“Oh…” Hilde grimaced, “Well, is she nice? She seemed a bit stuck-up.”

“Uhm, yeah she’s nice.” Snow White shrugged, “I mean, she offered me a ride home after all.”

Hilde frowned, “I need to get some work done now. You can go and do whatever was so urgent that you wanted to walk away from me mid-sentence.”

“Okay,” Snow White went back up to her room.

What was her problem?

Snow White flopped onto her bed with tears prickling under her eyelids so she blinked rapidly and then fished out her phone for a distraction, swallowing the lump in her throat. She couldn’t even find it in her to reply to Florian’s text saying that he’d see her after school the next day so she crawled under the covers still dressed in what she wore on the way down, humming the lullaby her dad used to sing to her before bed each night. She scrolled through old text messages for a while and then stared at the ceiling, wondering who had changed.

»»————-　✼　————-««

In the morning, Snow White was in a far better mood. Maybe having a good night’s sleep was all she needed and she was just overreacting last night. Hilde had already left for work so she poured herself a bowl of cereal, curled up on the sofa and texted Aurora, who she had a missed call from.

The taxi only took fifteen minutes to arrive and so Snow White just about managed to shower and change her clothes before she jogged outside, fingers combing through her hair and shivering at how cold it was. The taxi driver could only drive up to a certain part of the forest but it didn’t matter because Aurora was sitting in the tree at the end of the road waiting for them anyway. She paid the driver, making sure not to remove the dark sunglasses she was wearing and then smiled at Snow White.

“Thanks for agreeing to come even after everything, which I am still really sorry about by the way.”

“It’s fine.” Snow White followed the older girl up a path of flowers which were still blooming somehow and covered in a thin layer of frost.

“There used to be loads of roses up here, that’s where I got my stage name from.” Aurora opened a small white gate and took off the sunglasses, “Well here we are. I apologise for the mess in advance.”

The cottage was a peculiarly captivating build with the perfect mixture of old and new. Snow White stepped into the cosy, vine-embowered house dodging small Lego structures and trying to keep up with Aurora with a small smile on her face, “I can’t lie, I pictured you living in a fancy apartment up in town.”

Aurora snorted, “Nah, this has always been home and always will be. Well, for as long as it can be anyway.”

Snow White glanced at Aurora again, pondering over the fact that she was currently in the presence of a millionaire adored by millions around the globe. It wasn’t hard to believe. Aurora had shoulder-length, wavy, golden hair and violet eyes. Her septum ring was rose gold matching her choker necklace and her face was far less rounded than Snow White’s and more refined, making her appear older than 16. Then there was her voice which had such range that it could switch from innocent and hopeful to passionately heartbroken and then to hauntingly beautiful in an instant. And yet, despite all of her talent and money, she had still invited Snow White to her house.

It just goes to show, you really can’t judge people based upon appearances.

Hilde had taught her that. Which is why it was so uncharacteristic of her to speak about Aurora the way she did last night. Snow White shook herself, and sighed. She had gone over to Aurora’s to stop thinking about Hilde.

“You’ll want to steer clear of that room there,” Aurora’s face took an expression of disgust as they walked across the landing, “That’s the boys’ room and it’s a mess.” She walked up a second flight of stairs and opened the door on the right hand side theatrically to her bedroom which had the best view of the forest that Snow White had ever seen.

Aurora clearly shared with one of her cousins which was evident by the bright pink dolls house in the middle of the room and the duvet cover with cartoon characters on it stuffed into the laundry basket.

“So what do you want to do?” Snow White asked.

“I want to chat,” Aurora climbed onto the window seat and hugged a plush cream cushion close to her chest, “You seem like a really interesting person.”

“I’m really not.” Snow White sat on the edge of the window seat tentatively.

“Bullshit.” Aurora slapped a hand over her mouth, “Agh, sorry. I’m trying to stop swearing, and set a good example but they slip out sometimes. Don’t repeat that.”

“I’m only 2 years younger than you, you know.” Snow White spluttered.

“Two years is a long time. Anyway, how are you?”

“Alright.”

“Yeah, right. You looked like you were about to cry earlier. If you don’t want to talk about it though, that’s fine.”

“It was just my stepmother. She was getting angry at me for no reason yesterday and then left without saying goodbye this morning.” Snow White gritted her teeth, “She’s never done that before.”

“Aw, I’m sorry.”

“And she was talking about me not going back to school next half term because of the snow storms even though she’s the one who pushed me to go in the first place!” Snow White paused, closing her eyes, “I’m sorry. I’m oversharing. I always do this…”

“No, honestly if it’s making you feel better I don’t mind at all.” Aurora crossed her legs and smiled, “I hope she changes her mind though.”

“Yeah, so do I. Then she was being weird about me seeing my friend yesterday too.” Snow White’s phone started to vibrate and they both glanced down at it.

“Is that the friend in question?”

“No, that’s the girl that I was trying to set Florian up with saying she’s looking forward to seeing me later.”

Aurora raised an eyebrow, “Why were you trying to set him up with someone?”

Snow White shrugged and gazed out of the window, “I thought it was because I didn’t want him to be lonely but I’m not so sure anymore.”

“Yeah?” Aurora tossed Snow White the cushion and then grabbed a blanket, “Well I’m getting comfortable for this one, it seems complicated.”

“I used to think I had feelings for him, because him coming into my life has been one of the best things to ever happen to me and I didn’t have any proper friends before him. Then, when Eve became our friend, he clearly had some kind of crush on her…”

“Did Florian ever tell you directly that he had a crush on Eve?” Aurora asked, leaning back.

“Well no, but he didn’t need to. Just look at her!” Snow White switched back on her phone and showed Aurora Eve’s profile picture which was of her with pink box braids sitting cross-legged in a field of pink azaleas beaming at the camera.

Aurora tilted her head to the side, “You know, most girls would be feeling kinda jealous if the guy they liked was crushing on another girl. You don’t seem to be jealous though.”

“Well that’s the thing. I think I’ve figured out that I was confused about liking Florian, and I don’t think I do anymore or did back then either. Now my feelings are all muddled and I don’t know what to think! ” Snow White paused for breath, “I don’t know what I feel or what I want and I guess I haven’t really had the time to sit down and think about any of this. By the way, has anyone said that you’re freakishly easy to talk to?”

“I have been told a few times,” Aurora smiled, looking at Eve’s profile picture again.

“I don’t know, it’s just different, suddenly making all these new friends. I’m not used to it and it makes me really nervous sometimes because I’m just an average person and then you’re obviously doing amazing with your singing and song-writing. Ariel is going to have an official title when we get back, Jasmine is the smartest person I have ever met. I’ve never clicked with someone as easily as I have with Eve before, and you’re all ridiculously pretty!”

Aurora held up a hand, “First of all, you’re the youngest out of all of us so you’re still finding yourself. Also, you’re ridiculously pretty too, what are you on about?!”

Snow White blushed, “Stop it, I wasn’t trying to fish for compliments.”

“I’m being serious! You need to stop comparing yourself to people, obviously, but you’re beautiful. There have been so many people on our floor talking about how pretty you are, especially when you first arrived. How could you not have heard them?!”

“Really?” Snow White hid her face behind her hands, “What the hell?”

Aurora laughed at how red Snow White was getting, “Speaking of, getting into Northuldra Academy in the first place is a huge achievement in itself, and Mrs Oldenburg never makes mistakes when it comes to handing out scholarships.” Aurora coughed and quickly changed the subject, “Anyway, relationships shouldn’t be on looks, personality is the thing to look for in someone, trust me on that one. I’d say the best thing to do is probably to communicate with both Florian and Eve when you’re ready about how you’re feeling, and remember even if things don’t work out the way you think you’d want them to, remaining friends with people can actually be way better anyway!”

“Speaking from experience?”

“Yeah. I dated this one guy last year who was part of my management team and it was nothing but heartache and pain. We lasted for three months.” Aurora’s expression darkened.

“Wait, part of your management team?!”

“Oi, no judging! He was a 17 year old intern working for Mally who’s my manager and we hit it off. Everything was going great until he dumped me saying that it wasn’t working anymore. Which was true to be fair, but it still hurt.”

“That sucks, I’m sorry.”

“Eh, it’s alright. I’ve got loads of song ideas now because of it.” Aurora stared outside with glazed eyes, “Okay, it’s not alright but whatever.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“I mean, I’m pretty sure you’ve seen how much of a mess I am. It was just one stress after the other I guess and the break-up was my final straw. It’s like I was expected to go into the recording studio and make a masterpiece every single time with all these eyes watching me. Then my anxiety got a lot worse because I was so paranoid that the guy would leak something about our relationship or that people would find out where I live or come and harass me whenever I went outside. It got a bit better when it was decided I could take a break and go back to school, but I forgot how much work that was too so I’ve just been sleeping loads to avoid reality. Then the whole fake dating with Philip is hard to cope with too...”

“Oh yeah, how is that going?”

Aurora rolled her eyes, “I haven’t spoken to him since I went to the park with him, Ari and Jasmine. I’ve got to go and have a meeting with him and Mally soon though.”

“He’s not that bad though is he?”

“I don’t know if it’s just a persona or what, but he comes across as incredibly narcissistic to me. I don’t know how the boys deal with him, I really don’t. Naveen always defends him whenever I bring it up, and there’s no use talking to Eric or Adam because they’re his best friends.” Aurora grimaced, “Anyway, I’ve complained enough. Do you want to bake something? We could make apple pies.”

“We could.”

“Alrighty then, come on.”

It turned out that Aurora was the worst baker in the entire world, and Snow White had to watch Aurora hop around the kitchen, her face red from the effort of trying not to swear after she accidentally cut her finger while slicing the apples. Aurora could not deal with the blood and very nearly fainted so Snow White had to rake through the cupboards searching for a plaster while trying to calm Aurora down. Then, Aurora managed to get so much egg shell in the mixture that Snow White had to start again, and so Aurora sat cross-legged on the counter-top blasting music out of the speakers, getting up and dancing every few songs.

“It’s just as well, you’d probably have given me food poisoning.” Snow White said, scraping the contents of Aurora’s bowl into the bin. “You’d better hope that Philip is a good cook.”

Aurora narrowed her eyes, “You’ve come out of your shell now I see. Get back in it before I tell my brother that you’re madly in love with him.”

“What? Where did that come from?!” Snow White spluttered.

“Hey, this is the song the Black Forest kids had to sing at the end of year play a while ago!” Aurora dodged the tea towel flung at her and turned up the volume of the Christmas song blaring out of her speakers, “Noah was a sheep, what were you?”

“I probably wasn’t living here when that play was happening.” Snow White replied, “We only moved to the Black Forest 4 years ago.”

“Wait really? Where did you move from?”

“Castleton, but I don’t really remember it very well…”

“No way! My parents used to live in Castleton! Not for long though, they’re always on the move.” Aurora noticed Snow White’s shocked expression, “Yeah, my parents are still alive and well, but they just didn’t want me and Noah anymore, because they wanted to go travelling. One second my mum was telling me how much she loved me, the next we were being sent away with no warning to my dad’s stepsisters we’d never met before. They send postcards every now and then though.” Aurora shrugged and squealed excitedly at the next song, “Ayyyyy, I love this song!”

But while Aurora danced around the kitchen, Snow White couldn’t get her words out of her head.

One second my mum was telling me how much she loved me, the next we were being sent away with no warning.

»»————-　✼　————-««

“How can’t you see that this is unacceptable behaviour?!” Hilde shouted, turning an unnatural shade of peony the second that Snow White stepped inside the house. “I come back home from a hard day of work to the house being a mess while you’ve been off gallivanting with friends from that fancy school of yours!”

Snow White wordlessly moved to the kitchen to wash up the single red bowl in the sink that she had eaten from and the reason why Hilde was currently throwing a hissy fit. “Sorry, I…”

“No! I don’t want to hear excuses!” Hilde growled, “I am seriously reconsidering you going back to that place if you’re going to come back and expect me to be cleaning up after you like you aren’t fully capable of doing it yourself.”

“It was just one bowl!” Snow White shouted, “And how does that have anything to do with school? Why does seeing me happy for once make you so angry?”

Hilde squinted down at her, taken aback, “Excuse me? Who do you think you’re speaking to?!”

“You.” Snow White muttered quietly.

Not quietly enough.

“Do you know how much I would have loved to go to a place like Northuldra Academy when I was your age? You don’t understand how lucky you are! I didn’t even get any thanks for encouraging you to step out of your comfort zone and go. Instead, you stand here and disrespect me when I’ve been nothing but kind to you!”

“Kind?” Snow White gaped at the woman before her, then turned around and continued to wash up the bowl, her hands trembling.

“Kids like you need humbling, Snow White. I told Kingsley that he was spoiling you, but he wouldn’t listen and I’m not going to sit here and watch you turn into a brat that nobody wants to be around.”

Snow White’s shoulders stiffened at her father’s name and as the familiar, warm voice of her stepmother morphed into a complete stranger’s - harsh and unwelcoming.

“Look at me when I’m talking to you!”

Snow White jumped at the ferocity in the command and dropped the bowl. It fell in slow motion and then shattered onto the black and white tiles. Loudly. Into a hundred tiny fragments. Blood red pieces scattered around Snow White’s feet clashing against each other in slow motion and drowning out Hilde’s infuriated yelling.

“Hilde?” Snow White whispered, wanting nothing more than for this to be a dream and for a hug from somebody.

“Just go to your room!” Hilde roared, throwing open the cupboard doors searching for a dustpan and broom.

But Snow White didn’t go to her room. She put on her coat, grabbed her keys and then left, closing the front door softly behind her. It had just started to snow outside, so she wasted no time in jogging to the next house over and banged on the door until Florian opened it.

It took one hug from him for Snow White to completely break down.

She had not cried so hard since the day that her father died, and Florian had no idea what to do. He led her to the sofa and patted her back, handing her tissues while she buried her face in her hands, hot tears seeping through.

“I’m just happy to see you,” Snow White snivelled, curbing the tears before she got too hysterical. She swallowed and took in several deep breaths before she could face Florian again, “I’m good.”

“You sure?” Florian asked softly.

Snow White blinked rapidly, “Yeah. Is Eve here yet?”

“Not yet, but you should be glad because now you have more time to practise so I don’t absolutely thrash you in Mario Kart again.”

“As if that’s ever happened!” Snow White squeezed Florian’s elbow to show her gratitude for him not pushing the matter, and caught the game controller tossed her way, “King Boo and I are the ultimate duo.”

Eve knocked on the door the second that Toad got launched into the air by a blue shell, flattened and then knocked off the bridge, all happening just before he reached the finishing line. King Boo whizzed past and took the final win causing Florian to throw down his controller in vexation “It’s just because you have the wheel, I can’t play properly without it!”

“Sure.” Snow White smiled, adding a tally to the chart over the television underneath her name. She stood on top of the sofa to do her victory dance, protesting when Florian started punching the button on his controller repeatedly to skip the awards ceremony.

Florian glared at the scoreboard chart where Snow White was now 2 points in the lead and then opened the door for Eve who made her entrance brushing snow off her coat and fluffing out her hair which had been flattened by her hood.

“You forgot your pencil case, idiot.” Eve threw it at Florian’s head and then spotted Snow White who had jumped down from the sofa the minute the door opened. “Snow! Hey cutie, how was boarding school?”

“It’s been fun, I guess.” Snow White sighed, “Tiring though.”

“I can imagine. Noah and Asa from school said to say hi by the way.” Eve flopped onto the rug in front of the fireplace, “I brought Monopoly!”

“Oh, that’s nice of them.” Snow White checked the time and sighed, “Is it alright if I stay the night by the way, Flo?”

“And me! I don’t want to trek all the way back home when this has finished.” Eve added, stroking the cat that started wrapping itself around Snow White’s leg.

“Sure, you can both stay in the spare room.” Florian rubbed his hands together, “Right. Don’t get too upset when you two end up losing horribly.”

“Whatever. I’m rolling first.” Snow White took the dice and Florian immediately snatched them from her.

“Hang on, who said you could roll first?”

“The youngest gets to roll first!”

“Said who?”

“It’s a well-known fact!”

“No, it’s not!”

“Yes it is!”

Needless to say, it was a long night.

»»————-　✼　————-««

“Snow? Are you awake?”

“Mhmm.” Snow White rubbed her eyes and sat up to see Eve on the other side of the room folding her blanket with the curtains over her head. The Monopoly game had gone on until 4am, with Florian winning somehow despite Snow White and Eve targeting him for the whole game. He had been insufferable for the 5 second walk up the stairs even though his eyes were half-closed and he had no energy, so she wasn’t looking forward to facing him when he woke up.

“Look, it’s snowing!” Eve whisper-shouted, pulling open the curtains fully. “It’s so pretty.”

Eve had taken out her contact lenses revealing that her eye colour was actually amber and that she hadn’t been wearing mascara all this time and her eyelashes were naturally that long. She had been wearing her natural hair last night and so she was wearing a red bonnet that she had kept in her handbag and one of Florian’s burgundy t-shirts that was identical to Snow White’s because they had raided his wardrobe together. Snow White had also discovered that Eve had a small birthmark on her leg that vaguely resembled a heart that they had a 30 minute conversation about when they had first stumbled into bed, drunk on the early morning sun rays.

“What time is it?” Snow White yawned, throwing off the duvet.

“Almost 9.”

“9?! Aren’t you going to school?” Snow White asked, wiping her eyes and finger-combing through her hair.

“Nah, I already texted Florian and he said he told his mum he was sick already. My parents won’t care, and I wanted to spend more time with you so it’s all good.”

“Oh, alright.”

“Come and see the snow!” Eve came over and pulled Snow White to her feet and over to the window, “Woah, your hands are so cold!”

“Yeah, I know. They always are for some reason.”

They looked out together, watching the snowflakes floating to the ground and beginning to settle. Snow White’s eyes drifted over to Hilde’s car and her heart stopped when she realised who was getting into it, on her way to work. Hilde got into the car and then looked up at the window straight at her. There was a strange glint in her eyes, conveying emotions that Snow White was still trying to get used to on Hilde’s features that seemed like a mixture of contempt and… triumph?

“I’m gonna go and get changed and go back over to my house to grab a few things. You can come if you’d like.” Snow White squeezed Eve’s hand gently, her hand tingling from the lack of warmth the second Eve let go. She sighed, then grabbed her clothes that had been tossed in a pile by the door.

“Ok. Are you comfortable with people hugging you by the way, Snow?” Eve asked, getting her bag and arranging a set of combs in front of the mirror.

“Wh.. Why?”

“Because, last night… Or technically morning, I wanted to cuddle but I didn’t know if that would be crossing your boundaries.”

“Well yeah, of course I’d be comfortable hugging you.” Snow White cringed and then practically sprinted to the bathroom where she spent ten minutes with her head in her hands.

It was no surprise to anyone when Florian spent the entirety of Snow White’s breakfast gloating about his Monopoly win. She sat hunched over her bowl of cereal while Florian danced around her, singing stupid chants at the top of his voice.

“Alright shut up. Eve and I are going to my house to get a few things. Do you want to come with us?” Snow White snapped.

Florian raised an eyebrow, “No? Charity’s over for the week, I’m going to the skate park with the boys.” He grabbed the rice cracker that Eve was about to bite into and then ran to the door before Eve could react, only pausing to grab his skateboard.

“Good riddance!” Eve called after him, reaching for the packet of rice crackers.

“Ugh.” Snow White washed up her bowl, and then pulled on her sneakers, “I’m going to head over now.”

“Ok, I’ll be there in a bit.” Eve yawned.

There was a rush of adrenaline the second Snow White opened the door. She went straight to her room, running up the stairs with her fists clenched. She didn’t know what she was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t what she saw.

In the middle of her neatly made bed, the red hair ribbon that her father had given her for one of her birthdays was now reduced to confetti. Beside it, the antique pocket mirror Hilde had gifted her lay in gold and red fragments, shattered beyond recognition. At the foot of her bed was her father’s guitar case.

Snow White closed her eyes to stop the room from spinning and prayed that Hilde had some kindness left in her. Her heart was beating out of her chest as she knelt beside the guitar case and opened it with trembling hands.

Her breath caught in her throat. She stopped breathing for at least ten seconds, trying to process what she was seeing and then gritted her teeth. That guitar had been her father’s most prized possession. Long before Snow White was born, he used to make music and although the stories about those days were something Snow White would always complain about, the stories, lullabies and the guitar were the three things that Snow White linked with her father.

The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs made Snow White leap into action. She marched towards the spare room and took the toolbox from the shelf, then went to stand in front of Hilde’s bedroom door, picking up the hammer.

“Snow? Hey! What happened?!” Eve’s voice was fearful but Snow White couldn’t hear a thing, too consumed with rage as she swung the hammer into the door over and over again.

The door was hanging off the door frame within minutes, and Eve was rooted to the spot in shock.

Snow White went straight for the floor length mirror by Hilde’s dressing table which she swung the hammer into, not flinching at the explosion of glass that flew out.

“Snow White!” Eve yelled, stumbling forward, her heart hammering out of her chest, “Come on, please put it down. You’re going to hurt yourself!”

Snow White gazed down at her feet, at her reflection scattered across a million pieces of glass and began to laugh. In each shard of glass, a different girl stared back at her.

The talkative girl, laughing at Aurora’s impression of one of their teachers.

The shy girl who barely ever talked.

The fun girl who couldn’t care less about how other people saw her as she danced in the rain with Ariel.

The awkward girl who depended on her stepmother’s validation.

A high, maniacal sound that echoed and sounded so wrong and twisted escaping from Snow White’s lips.

She began to sway and the hammer dropped from her grasp while Snow White whispered to herself in a frenzied mutter. Her eyes widened as she realised what she had just done, they filled with tears and then she felt herself falling...

»»————-　✼　————-««

“I feel like I should though! I don’t even know how long it’s been... What are you on about?! I’m calling an ambulance… No, shut up, I don’t care...”

“Eve? I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

“Oh, wait, she's awake… Ok well please hurry up, I don’t know what to do!” Eve stopped pacing and crouched down beside Snow White who was now staring at the bandage around her hand with bleary eyes. “Don’t apologise, I’m just glad you’re alright.”

Snow White closed her eyes again, “I miss Dad.”

Eve put an arm around her and placed Snow White’s phone on the ground in front of them. “Do you want to talk about what happened just now? Does that happen to you a lot, or...?”

“Who’s on the phone?”

“Whoever A is listed as in your phone. She called when I was trying to call an ambulance and I accidentally accepted it and then had a panic attack and told her everything that had just happened.” Eve put down the bottle of antiseptic lotion she was holding and sighed, “I’m sorry, she seemed like she knew what to do though.”

“It’s fine. I thought it was someone else.”

“So...”

“Look, I don’t know. I can’t explain it, I just felt so angry at her and couldn’t control it. It’s never happened to me before.”

“Your stepmother? Why?”

“She broke it.”

“Broke what? The pocket mirror in your room? I didn’t know if I was allowed in there but I was panicking and looking for the bathroom so I could get the bandages and...”

“The mirror, the ribbon, the guitar, me…” Snow White shrugged, “I’m so tired of everything, Eve. I wish my parents were still here.”

“Yeah…” Eve sighed, “You don’t deserve this, Snow, I’m really sorry.”

“My cheek hurts. Did I fall into the glass?”

“I caught you before you fell, but I’m guessing that probably came from the shards that flew out.”

The front door opened and Snow White tensed.

“SNOW WHITE? EVE?’’ Aurora ran up the stairs and gasped at Snow White, curled up into Eve in the hallway, “Wait, are you bleeding? Are you okay?”

“No.” Snow White sniffed, “I don’t know what to do. I’m sorry for getting you involved though, I know you’re busy.”

“Oh shut up!” Aurora crouched down in front of her, “What happened?”

“She smashed Dad’s guitar.” Snow White replied, “I suppose I overreacted though…”

Aurora frowned, clenching her fist, “She did that purposefully, Snow White. And you reacted. You didn’t let her walk all over you.” She walked over to the destroyed door and whistled, peering at all of the broken glass on the carpet, “Damn.”

There was silence as Aurora noticed a piece of paper on the floor by the bin. She hopped over the glass, picked it up and smoothed out the creases, “Snow White, would you say your stepmother is well off financially?”

“No. She works at a hat shop in town.”

Aurora whistled and brought over the receipt for a long list of expensive items, “Well this kinda says otherwise…”

Snow White glanced at it and then shrugged, “I don’t know anything about anything Aurora. All I want to do is take all my stuff and put them somewhere she can’t destroy them.”

“Oh yeah, right. So which one’s your room?”

Snow White pointed her in the direction, and Aurora dragged the guitar into the hallway, “I’m sure it can be fixed. I know a guy that managed to save one of the boys’ guitars after it fell out of the window. It won’t be exactly the same but it’ll look way better. Also, my aunts have said they’re cool with it, so if you want, you can come and stay with us until school starts back.”

“Are you sure? There's already…”

“I wouldn’t have asked you if I wasn’t sure. Come on, I'll help you pack everything.” Aurora got to her feet and brushed off wood splinters.

Eve helped Snow White up and then paused, noticing a piece of paper in the sound hole, “Hang on, what’s that?”

Snow White frowned, “Probably a message from Hilde.” She reached inside anyway and pulled out an old Polaroid picture of a couple with their initials “K + A” in blue ink underneath it.

“Aww, are those your parents?” Eve smiled, “That’s so cute.”

Snow White’s frown deepened and Aurora’s eyes widened as they said simultaneously, “That looks a lot like…” 

Chapter Text

Cinderella was the only one on her floor who stayed behind in Arendelle for the half term. Henry had just arrived in Arendelle that same morning and had checked into a hotel so the both of them had made plans to stay there until it was time for Cinderella to move into her dormitory at North Mount. She was outside the Academy waiting for Henry to arrive when a woman with a large white puffer jacket approached her, looking left and right before taking off her hood.

“Hello, Trouble!” Mavis yelled, bouncing towards her former student with outstretched arms.

“Mavis! What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I was just passing through. You know how it is…” Mavis paused when Tinkerbell passed by on her way to her small, mint green car and chuckled to herself.

“What’s so funny?” 

“Oh nothing,” Mavis wiped the smile off her face and then turned back to Cinderella, “So. How’s life been treating you?”

Cinderella crossed her arms, “Why didn’t you tell me that you used to come here? Particularly the part where you got expelled and banned from setting foot on the premises ever again!”

Mavis sighed, “Who told you that?”

“One of your old classmates works there now - Megara.”

“ Oh , I remember her. She was lovely, she was. Very nice girl.”

“You’re changing the subject.” Cinderella frowned, “Why didn't you tell me?”

“Because you were all excited about going and I didn’t want to influence you in any way that it was a bad place to go. It’s not. I regret getting kicked out and I’ll admit I was very immature and ungrateful. I didn’t want to rub it in your face that I got in and wasted the opportunity.”

“But what did you do that got you expelled in the first place?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Mavis sniffed, “Anyway, have you met my niece yet?”

“Yeah I have. It was a bit of a shock considering I didn’t know you even had a niece in the first place. Every day I’m learning just how little I know about you.”

Mavis shrugged, “Well if it makes you feel better, I’ve been far more open with you than I’ve been with most of the other people in my life, including my family.”

Cinderella stared, “That just makes me feel sorry for your family - particularly your niece.”

“Ok, stop pouting. There is something I probably should let you know about.” Mavis rolled her eyes and led Cinderella over to the bench a fair distance away from the school gates. “You’re such a child.”

“Says you. You’re almost 40 and you still act like a teenager.”

“First of all I’m 33. Second of all, shut up, I’m thinking about how to articulate this.” Mavis crossed her arms, “This isn’t even what I came here to say.”

Cinderella glanced at her watch, “You’d better hurry up, Henry is going to be here soon.”

“Your little boyfriend can wait if he gets here and I’m still talking…” Mavis paused, her eyes darting around nervously as more teachers trickled out of the building. She put her hood back up. “Alright. When I got expelled, I needed a tutor and my sister hired your mum for it. She was an amazing person, Cindy. You remind me a lot of her. Anyway, she had to stop tutoring me when she went on maternity leave but she promised that I could be your godmother and that I could babysit and everything. You obviously won’t remember this, but I was your babysitter for almost 4 years but then your family had to leave town. I only found you again because one of my exes went to the same school as your step sister and I recognised the surname.”   

Cinderella stayed quiet, “Wow, well that’s a lot to process. I wasn’t expecting that.”

“I’m sorry for not bringing it up sooner. I didn’t know how to.” Mavis bit her lip, “Anyway, I came here to say that I’ve got to go away for a bit and I might not be able to see you in person for a while, so I wanted to come and say I’m proud of everything you’re doing so keep it up. I’m not good with words so that’s gonna have to be enough. Also, take care of Aurora for me please. Especially with the treasure hunt, because that girl is taking forever to figure everything out.” Mavis leaned in for a hug, smiling down at Cinderella fondly. “Bye, Trouble!” 

“See you soon, Mavis.”

»»————-　★　————-««

Mavis was what you would call a free spirit. She never got attached to places and had a substantial number of friends across the Black Forest, Arendelle and beyond because of the amount of connections she had managed to make over the years. Mavis had attended all of the schools in the area surrounding her house and had either been expelled or just stopped attending every single one of them. Northuldra Academy was Flora’s last attempt. It turned out sending a 14 year old to a completely different country wasn’t the solution.

In this time, Mavis had befriended a fairly large number of people. It was surprising how far a smile or cheeky comment here and there could initiate a conversation that led to lifelong friendships. After Mrs Tremaine had moved away, Mavis was easily able to get a job in hairdressing out of a connection of a friend she had made and eventually made enough money to go where she pleased since by then, her sisters were occupied with their own lives. They occasionally popped in every now and then to make sure she was still alive but once Flora and Fauna gave birth, Mavis was left to her own devices. She didn’t enjoy being a hairdresser so as soon as she was in a stable place financially, she quit. There were a few jobs after that but those were all strategic. 

You see, on the outside you saw a woman getting on with her job as a teaching assistant in Castleton, a jewellery maker in Agrabah, a resort worker in Atlantica, or a bartender in Arendelle but there was a much bigger plot behind what Mavis was doing. Much bigger than she could ever handle by herself, despite being the genius that she was. 

That was why Mavis Borealis had to disappear. 

Her first visit was to Northuldra Academy for Girls, the boarding school that had changed her life forever, to say goodbye to her goddaughter.

Her second visit was to the graveyard in the Black Forest where her parents were buried. 

Her third visit was to an old friend who was now working as a makeup artist to get the package she had asked for.

Her fourth visit was to another friend she had met more recently who was a tattoo artist.

And as she heard the expectation in each person’s voice she met that   they would see her again, a piece of Mavis’ heart crumbled away.

The fifth visit was the hardest.

She opened the gate and was immediately bombarded by Alice who screamed in excitement and proceeded to cling to Mavis’ leg like a baby koala while babbling about a cat called Dinah she wanted from the pet shop. Then Fauna came downstairs to comment on how healthy she looked, Merryweather ruffled her hair and Flora began asking her a thousand questions that Mavis had to either dodge or lie in response to. 

“Oh cut it out, Flora. This is why she never comes home anymore!” Merryweather rolled her eyes. 

“Well forgive me for being concerned about our little sister!” Flora fussed.

Fauna stepped in between then both, “Ladies, come on, let's not ruin it! We’ve finally got everyone here for once and you’re not…”

“Well. Not everyone. ” Merryweather mumbled. When silence fell, she realised she had gone too far and tried to fix it, “But who needs Stefan, eh?” 

Mavis cleared her throat, and started going up the stairs “I’m going to say hi to the rest of the kids.”

Stefan was Aurora and Noah’s dad and their eldest brother. Flora held a lot of resentment towards him for not helping them take care of Mavis and then dumping Aurora and Noah on them. Fauna and Merryweather would occasionally speak to Stefan and Leah about how Noah and Aurora were doing but Flora hadn’t spoken to him in years and being the eldest had forbidden Mavis to speak to him as well.

Mavis being Mavis had gone to meet up with him anyway at a concert in Castleton. It had been very awkward and unproductive. As far as she knew, Stefan and Leah were both currently on a boating trip, living their best lives at the expense of everyone else in the family. 

“Wake up, sleepyhead!” Mavis grinned, crouching beside Noah’s bed where he was fast asleep despite James having a video game on blast in the background.

“Mmmh, hey Mavis.” Noah sat up and rubbed his eyes, “I was expecting you to have a different hair colour to last time.”

“Yeah? Which colour do you think I should go?”

“Pink.”

Mavis scrunched up her nose, “Stop trying to set me up. I should’ve burned those old photographs of me with the fuschia mullet. It didn’t suit me at all and I don’t know why Fauna insists on keeping them.”

“Those photo albums are her pride and joy. There’s no way you’d be able to even pick one of them up without her knowing.” Noah laughed, “Trust me, I’ve tried burning them all.”

“Just as well really, there’s that good one of you sleeping on a washing line.” Mavis hugged James one last time and fist bumped Noah, “Alright I need to be off in a bit. Where’s Aurora?”

“Dunno.” Noah yawned and rolled over, “Bye Mavis.”

“Next time you come, can you please bring me some cupcakes with sprinkles? Mum says I can’t have them anymore and it’s not fair.” James whined.

“I don’t know about that if she already said no.” Mavis smiled, “Maybe you can learn to bake them instead so there can finally be someone in this house who’s good at baking.”

She closed the door behind her and sighed, scooping up Alice who was waiting patiently in the hallway. She took a few seconds to compose herself, climbed up the stairs and knocked on the door. “Rory?”

 Amber and Sofia opened the door and almost pushed Mavis down the stairs in their excitement. 

“Ah! This is our other aunt.” Sofia explained to the person sitting cross legged in the middle of the room who most definitely wasn’t Aurora. “Mavis, this is Aurora’s friend, Snow White. She’s staying here for a while.”

“Oh! Hi! I’m Mavis.” Mavis trained her expression of shock into a sympathetic smile at the girl with the glittery princess tiara on her head. Which was incredibly hard to do, with all of the knowledge she currently held. 

 Snow White didn’t seem to notice and smiled back albeit rather reluctantly, “She said she had to go to an interview today but she’ll be back in a few hours.”

Mavis closed her eyes and nodded, “Alright. That’s fine. I’ll leave a note.” 

She sat at the desk quickly pencilling out a note on a pink post-it and stuck it onto Aurora’s special silver notebook she used to write out drafts of songs while wishing that she had more time. If only she had decided to visit the day before instead… She should have taken Aurora’s schedule into account as well. Briar Rose was becoming more and more of a household name these days. She closed that bedroom door behind her blinking back tears. 

The last goodbyes to her sisters were hurried, and then she was off. Mavis got into her car and drove for several hours without stopping, her eyes clouding over, her heartbeat erratic and adrenaline coursing through her veins. Her movements were robotic and there wasn’t a single thought going through her head other than the road ahead. 

When she eventually stopped at a service station, her movements were fluid and the dark sunglasses she wore didn't leave her face until she was locked in a stall with the package. With trembling hands, she tore open the package and removed the metal scissors and black hair dye. After cursing at how late it was getting, she took off her beanie and began to shear off large chunks of her hair. The platinum blond hair that was removed was put into a plastic bag and she stuck her head underneath the tap, her movements practised and fluid even though she was beginning to space out.

The next step was changing into the grey tracksuit that she knew she would probably be wearing for a while, wincing slightly as the material brushed over her newest tattoo. She folded two more tracksuits and put them in the satchel that had been at the bottom of the package, placed the scissors on top and then stuck her head underneath the hand dryer.

Then, she ran to her car and drove the rest of the way to the airport feeling sick to her stomach and regretting every action of hers that had resulted in her not being able to say goodbye to Aurora.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Aurora had received a lot of criticism over the years, but one thing that had never been up for debate was her fantastic memory. Flora had put it down to the amount of memory games she played with Noah when they were much younger. The pair of them were extremely competitive when it came to games and nothing was taken more seriously than game night in the Borealis household. 

So when Aurora said that she recognised Snow White’s dad as the indie rock artist she had grown up listening to on account of her aunts blasting his music around the house, she was probably correct. She was even more likely to be right because Kingsley had been a huge inspiration to Aurora musically and while she fangirled over the guitar for three days straight, Snow White sat beside her suitcase in the corner of Aurora’s bedroom reading, texting Eve, looking up pictures of cute cats, tidying every bit of mess in the room (that was mostly made by Amber) and mulling over the photograph of her parents.

“Alright, Snow White, what is it?” Aurora finally asked, sitting beside her friend when she turned very pale after typing frantically on the laptop she had asked to borrow for a few minutes.

“I’ve been trying to figure out who she reminded me of. My mum. I haven’t seen any pictures of her in ages because Hilde didn’t like it.”

Aurora clenched her fists, “If I ever see that woman again, it’s on sight.”

Snow White sighed, “Doesn’t she look familiar?”

“Not really.”

“Okay, fine but then look here.” Snow White threw the laptop onto Aurora’s lap, “I’ve done my research. On this article about Northuldra Academy it says Iduna Oldenburg’s younger sister Adelaide Oldenburg died in a car crash on March 12th…”

“Yeah?”

“My mum’s name was Ada and she died on March 12th. Also, you can’t tell me that Mrs Oldenburg doesn’t look like an older version of my mum in this picture.”

“Oh shit!” Aurora clapped a hand over her mouth, “Now that you’ve pointed it out… Wait, your parents must have been filthy rich then!”

Snow White shook her head, “This is crazy. And that’s probably why Hilde married my dad, just to leech off my parents’ money that I didn’t know they even had in the first place.”

“Surely you can sue her.” 

“Look, I don’t know anything about any of that and honestly I don’t want any money Hilde has touched.”

“What? Snow White, money is money! Also, what about stuff belonging to your parents that are back at the house?”

“I’m not going back to that house again if I can help it and I only really care about that guitar.” Snow White closed her eyes, “Well there you go, that’s the reason why I got the scholarship. It makes sense now.”

“I’m sure that’s not the only reason you got in.” Aurora glanced over at the guitar and checked her watch, “I’ll get the guitar to people who can fix it before the week’s over. I need to pop to the recording studio and have that stupid interview soon anyway.”

“Thanks. I can’t stand seeing it like that.” 

Angry footsteps came up the stairs and the door was flung open. Snow White was still getting used to having so many people around, particularly children - it was nice to see the interactions between all of the kids. However, she was not enjoying the lack of privacy. 

Amber stomped into the room, slammed the door in Alice’s face and marched over to Aurora and Snow White with two bright red envelopes in her hand. “I’ve got mail!”

“Those will be Ariel’s ceremony invitations.” Aurora opened the door and picked Alice up, patting her back until she stopped wailing, “You can get the post next time, Alice.”

“I always do it though.” Amber pouted, not a trace of remorse on her face.

Snow White groaned, “I hope Ariel isn’t too upset I can’t come. I just think events like that will be too much for me to handle right now and my anxiety…”

“Oh don’t worry about it, Ariel completely understands. The past few days have been incredibly hard to deal with, the invitation is just in case you change your mind. Plus, I’ll make sure to video call you loads when I get there.” Aurora placed the letter on her desk, “I still need to figure out what I’m gonna wear! It’s only a couple of days away.”

The door was thrown open yet again, except this time it was Sofia looking very business-like with her history homework in her hand and a pencil tucked behind her ear, “You told me to tell you when Noah’s friends arrived.”

“Oh, that’ll be the other Geography project people. Go and socialise, Snow. I need to get ready for this dumb interview with Philip.”

Snow White wearily got to her feet and jogged down the stairs, not even flinching when Alice followed her and tried to jump onto her back. She picked Alice up wincing as sticky hands reached up to prod at her face.

“What’ve you been eating?” Snow White grimaced.

“Jam tarts!”

“Oh. I hope you didn’t make too much of a mess with the tea party you had earlier.”

“It’s not finished yet. I’m going to invite more friends and we’re going to drink tea!”

“Oooh, okay. Just make sure you take them into the garden, Alice, because Sofia can’t concentrate on her homework when you’re too loud.”

“Ok!”

Snow White could hear them before she saw them. Mainly the loud music coming from the video game they were playing and Asa’s voice telling Cloud to stop pestering Galena. Then, a loud assertive voice saying that Cloud was the human personification of period cramps. But there was no way that voice belonged to...

Snow White’s mouth fell open and she poked her head around the door, putting Alice down so she could carry on with her tea party.

Galena was sitting cross-legged on the floor beside Cloud looking extremely peeved while spouting insult after insult and not allowing Cloud to get any room to breathe. She only stopped when she noticed Snow White and even then she looked as though she had more to say. 

“Hey guys,” Snow White waved awkwardly, “Nice to see you all again.”

“Yeah, you just exposed yourself, gallstone. You see, Snow White - she’s not the angel everyone thinks she is.” Cloud grumbled, picking up his controller. “Alright, Asher, 1v1 me.”

“He already did, and won, remember?” Asa laughed, “Also, Galena is an angel just to be clear. Stop calling her names.”

“Thanks babe.”

“Fine, whatever. Mara 1v1 me.” 

“Not the wisest idea.” Asher whispered, laughing when Mara raised an eyebrow.

“And what is that supposed to mean?”

“You both rage too much and never accept defeat. The game would go on for ages.” Asher raised his hands in surrender as Mara opened her mouth, “And yeah sure I’ve started raging a bit more too, but that’s only because you corrupted me!”

“Come on, playing against Mara is an easy win and everyone knows it!” Noah rolled his eyes, dodging the cushion Mara chucked at his head. “Now, Milly would be a challenge because she just plays games every time she’s off sick.”

“Which is always.” Cloud added.

Milly sneezed, “I’ve got to pass time somehow! Stop attacking me.”

Cloud scrunched up his nose and passed her the box of tissues, “Just to let you know, Mills, if you make me get sick, I’m not letting you borrow my skateboard ever again.”

“Who said I wanted to borrow your crusty old skateboard in the first place?”

“Fine, well you’re definitely not having it after that.”

“Ok.”

“Good.”

“Yeah, it is good isn’t it?”

“You two make me sick.” Galena frowned at the both of them and then took the most judgemental sip of water known to mankind.

“Ok, back to the matter at hand, I don’t think it should be Cloud vs anyone because he just played.” Asa looked at Snow White, “I’m calling for Milly vs Snow White.”

“Now this should be interesting!” Noah sat up straight, “Snow White has beaten me in every single game we’ve played together so far.”

Snow White took the controller handed to her and shrugged, “Ok, I’m down to play.”

Noah leaned forward, “This is gonna be good. I’ll be the official commentator. Everyone else shut up, if you interrupt me, I’m kicking you out.”

“Yeah, well expect Alice to come and pester you to be her dormouse at the tea party in a bit, Noah!” Aurora yelled through the door. She heard a chorus of laughter in response and smiled to herself as bits of their conversation filtered through the wall.

“By the way, Snow White we need to fill you in on what’s been happening!” Asa was saying, “Mara and Asher are finally dating!”

“Well… I mean, I wouldn’t say dating. He’s on a trial period.”

“You literally asked me out, Mara!” Asher spluttered.

“Lies.”

“And let’s not forget about how Cloud is deeply in love with Milly but has yet to stop being scared she’s gonna reject him and ask her out!” Galena shouted, “Wooooo!” 

“You’re wrong for that one.” Asa yelled over the laughter. “Completely unprovoked.”

“Honestly, there’s no shame in that. Who hasn’t fallen for Milly, like come on! Let’s be honest here.” Mara shrugged.

“Everyone shut the hell up, ok? It’s not even true. Snow White, start the stupid game already!” Cloud bellowed. 

Aurora shook her head with a wide smile on her face and hoisted Kingsley’s guitar case in the air, shoving her feet into a pair of Noah’s muddy trainers before remembering that she was going to an interview which would be live and would probably have several thousand people watching and judging her appearance. Sighing, she went back upstairs to change her clothes and jogged outside to the black taxi waiting for her.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Aurora was rushed into hair and makeup straight away and then ushered into the interviewing room within minutes, not allowing her any time to prepare herself mentally for the role she was about to play. She crossed her legs and began fidgeting with the bottom of her chequered pinafore dress. She was wearing it over a white turtleneck with a white headband and boots. Philip was already sitting on the sofa chatting to the interviewer but had paused to stare at her when she came through the doors and hadn’t stopped looking at her since then.

“What?” She asked, her voice gruff and shaky.

 “Hello to you too, Briar.” Philip smiled, “You look nice.”

“I do, don’t I?” Aurora hadn’t even looked at him to see what he looked like today but she complimented him on his hair anyway. She had sat on the sofa fairly far away from him and stared straight ahead at the person who would be interviewing them today - a woman wearing a pastel pink jumpsuit called Mary. She was pretending to be busy scribbling in a notebook but Aurora could tell that she was listening to every word and would be confused as to why her greeting had been so cold.

She checked over her shoulder and saw Adam, who had decided to come along for some reason, was sitting in the corner of the room trying not to laugh at whatever it was he was looking at on his phone. How she would love to be in his position right now. Adam and Aurora were most similar out of the other boys in the sense that their real names weren’t ‘out there’ and also that they rarely took pictures or videos of themselves and posted them on the internet. 

For Adam it was because he hated the constant comparisons between him and his friends, so he never allowed photos of himself to be posted that weren’t for promotional purposes and for Aurora it was the anxiety of putting forward the face behind all of her creations onto large platforms waiting for the judgement to pour in. People like Philip didn’t have to worry about things like that. 

Aurora took a deep breath and remembered what Mally had told her before they entered the building.

“This is a performance and you are a performer now, Briar. It’ll be over before you know it.”

Aurora looked up at Philip and forced a smile. He smelled of peppermints and was wearing a dark red jumper, black jeans and a pair of new glasses Aurora had never seen him wear before. He kept running his hand through his light brown hair which was getting more and more fluffy by the day and his trademark dimpled smile never left his face for more than a few seconds at a time.

Give them a performance, Briar Rose. 

“Are you two ready?” Mary asked, looking up from her notebook and signalling to the people working the cameras. 

Aurora nodded and scooted closer to Philip, smoothing down her dress and feeling extremely out of place. Philip, obviously, was in his element - not a bead of sweat in sight. Aurora gritted her teeth, if he could do it, so could she.

Just stick to the script.

3...2…1... 

“Hi guys, Philip here, with Briar Rose…”

“Hey, everyone!” Aurora cut in, waving excitedly.

“And we are gonna be doing a ‘How Well Do We Know Each Other’ quiz thingy.” Philip leaned back, “I think I’ve got this in the bag, honestly.”

“Well, we’ll just have to wait and see.” Aurora shrugged.

“What does the winner get?” Philip asked Mary.

“The winner gets to answer the questions at the end.” Mary raised a finger when Philip started to complain, “Okay, let’s get started! Are we ready? Have you got your questions ready?”

Philip cleared her throat for dramatic effect and smiled at Briar, “Right. Briar Rose, who is my best friend?”

“What? I can only name one person?” Aurora frowned and looked to Mary for help and then rolled her eyes. “Oh wait, you’ve probably put your cat, haven’t you?”

“No need for the sass, Rosie, darling.  I guess that’s one point to you. Also, shoutout to my cat, Samson - you’re a real one.” Philip winked at the camera and Aurora had to fight the urge to shudder. She shuffled the papers on her lap and sighed.

“Philip, what’s my favourite emoji?”

“Oh I know this one, it’s the sparkles emoji. Or the dancing people. Wait...”

“Okay, yeah. It’s the dancing lady.” Aurora pulled out her phone, “And then I’ve used the laughing emoji the most, just in case anyone was wondering.”

“My turn! Briar, what is my favourite thing about you?” Philip maintained eye contact with Aurora for a total of 3 seconds before he started giggling.

“That’s not there, you’re making up questions!”  Aurora protested, “Mary!”

Mary held up her hands, “Don’t look at me, I’m only here once one of you gets to 3 points.”

“What?!” 

“Are you going to answer the question, or should I tell you?”

“This is cheating.”

“Alright, well everybody, my favourite thing about Briar is probably her sense of humour. And also her eyes, and her smile but if I had to narrow it down…”

“Ok, ok, shut up. It’s my turn.” Aurora flapped the papers in his face, “What’s my favourite thing about you?”

“Well, I mean there’s so many things to choose from.” Philip laughed, “I’m going to go with my intelligence.”

“Wrong.”

“Okay, well what is it then?”

“That you’re an idiot so when I’m around you, I seem smart.”

“Awww,”  Philip placed a hand on his heart, “That’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me all day!”

“It’s your turn, and can you please stick to the…” Aurora looked over her shoulder and caught sight of a familiar face out of the corner of her eye. She froze immediately, her mind going blank and filling up with unwanted memories and emotions she thought she'd gotten rid of.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got a good question that’ll guarantee me the win. Briar Rose, who is my favourite member of the band?”

“Yourself.”

“Well I mean… Now that you say it, yeah that is true. But I was going to say Nav.”

“Yeah, Naveen is a sweetheart. I don’t know how he has the patience to put up with you boys though.” Aurora pretended that there was fluff on Philip’s jumper that needed brushing off, now overly aware of the light grey eyes burning into the both of them. “He’d better get his own room when we go on tour.”

“I’m looking forward to that so much!” Philip pointed to the camera, “You guys are going to have so much content when that finally happens so be prepared for vlogs, livestreams and the whole shebang. Right, who’s in the lead so far?”

“Me. You just need to get this wrong and then I win.”

Philip yawned, “Honestly, babe, you can just have the win. I’m not as competitive as you, and you clearly want this a lot for some reason.” 

“I don’t want you to just hand it to me !” Aurora crossed her arms, “You need to try!”

“Nah, you can just have this one.” Philip shrugged, “I guess she knows me better than I thought, Mary.”

Aurora shook her head murmuring that he was a sore loser under her breath while Mary took the spotlight once again to give a backstory to how long they had both been singing for and what music they had made before turning back to them.

“Alright, and so that leads on to the question everyone has been dying to know: How did this…” Mary gestured to the both of them, “How did it happen? Who initiated it?”

“That was me. I guess we’d kinda just clicked in rehearsals and stuff. I mean, at first I remember talking to Eric about her a lot but I didn’t really think of it much. Then I told her how I felt and she felt the same way. I mean, it happened pretty much the same way it would with anyone else.” Philip said.

Aurora nodded, “Yeah, I think on my part, it was a bit difficult to come to terms with my feelings and then we both didn’t want to go public with the relationship until we were sure that this was going to be somewhat serious. I mean we are still only 16 and it’s early days but then again I do think we click and I’m really happy at where we’re at right now.” 

Mary was talking again, something about music, but Aurora had long since lost focus. She had looked into Raven’s soft grey eyes and had gotten distracted. She tuned back into the conversation to say that she appreciated all of the Sleeping Beauties and that she would be back with new music soon and would try to post more on social media. Philip joked that he would hold her to that and then it was over. 

Aurora waved at Raven and began pacing back and forth. She had a text message from Snow White saying that Mavis had come around but wasn’t too bothered that she’d miss the visit except for that she could have gotten more information about the treasure hunt.

“Who’s that?” Philip asked, rising from the sofa to stretch.

“Raven.” Aurora muttered, tensing up when Raven began to walk over towards them. 

Raven’s facial features were as delicate as his eyes causing him to be just as pretty as he was handsome. His black, wavy hair had grown out quite a bit since the last time Aurora had seen him and was now pulled back in a low ponytail by a bubblegum pink hair bobble. He had gotten his nose pierced at the same time as her because she had been too scared to get hers alone. He’d held her hand through the whole thing and then they’d gone to get ice cream. It was only now that Aurora realised how much she’d missed seeing Raven’s face.

Philip was probably just as good looking to be fair to him if not more so, it was just that obnoxious grin and the arrogant remarks that Aurora couldn’t stand and made him seem significantly less attractive in her eyes. There was, after all, a reason why Philip’s face was splashed across every teen magazine these days. 

“Hey, Raven.” Aurora greeted, suddenly finding her throat extremely dry. 

“Hello, Briar.” Raven smiled, ignoring Philip. “It’s been a while, how are you?”

“Great thanks and yeah, it has been a while. I’ve missed you.”

Philip moved aside and went to go and talk to Adam, eyebrows raised.

”Finally. It’s getting difficult to be civil to that guy. I’m almost at my limit, Raven.”

“Briar,” Raven frowned, his raspberry tinted lips downturned. “Come on now, what exactly has he done?”

“Nothing specifically to me other than fuel the Brilip shippers while we were dating which was a very awkward and annoying experience. Other than that, I just have a bad vibe from him and think he’s very arrogant.”

“Ok, yeah I didn’t like it when he did that either. But to be fair to him, he didn’t know you were seeing someone.” Raven laughed, “I’m sure you’ll get along with him eventually. You can’t be around the rest of the guys and not get along with them all, you know?”

“I severely doubt that.”  

“Well anyway, I brought you food. Here.” Raven handed her a pastry and a coffee, “We shouldn’t be here much longer now but I thought you’d be hungry anyway.”

“Aww, thank you.” 

Why did Raven have to be so kind? It would have been so much easier if he was a horrible person, if he was the type of ex that she could say “Thank goodness that’s over” and move on with her life. But he wasn’t and if Raven came to her saying that he wanted to get back together with her, she would seriously consider taking him back. The feeling of loneliness had been inescapable ever since they’d broken up and even though they were still close friends, Aurora didn’t think she’d ever forget the months of emotional turmoil she’d endured.

“So anyway, how are you getting along with that new country singer who just joined?” 

“Stop it,” Raven nudged her, “It’s unprofessional for me to establish romantic connections with people I work for.”

“Uh huh, you’ve said. Repeatedly.”

“Ok, but you were different. Are different.”

“Raven.” Aurora took a tired sip of coffee and sighed.

“What?”

“Stop talking before you say something you regret.”

“Alright, sorry...” Raven looked over at Philip and tilted his head, “I hope everything goes well with Philip. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’ve just seen the way he looks at you is all. It was making me a bit jealous. I had to remind myself that I had no right to be anymore.”

“It’s called acting, Raven.”

“If you say so. Just know I’m happy for you no matter what.”

“Yeah, well likewise I guess and I’m not even lying this time. You were the best boyfriend I could’ve asked for. Any girl would be lucky to date you.” Aurora gave him a watery smile and then bit into her pastry avoiding eye contact.

“Thanks, that means a lot. Also, I’m sorry for snapping at you over the phone when I was telling you about the email you hadn’t responded to. It’s no excuse, but I’d just heard about it and was being a bitter pig.”

“Yeah, that was rude actually, I forgot about that! I forgive you though.”

“Thanks.” Raven smiled “Well, I’ve got to go and help Mally before she pulls out the walkie talkies.” Raven held out his arms and gave a relieved sigh when Aurora stepped into his hug. 

“Not the walkie talkies.” Aurora murmured into his chest.

“See you soon, Rora.”

“Bye Ray.”

Aurora stumbled towards the boys, sighing as she took another bite out of her pastry. 

“There you are! Who was that?” Adam asked, resting his arm on top of Aurora’s head.

“A friend. What were you two talking about? I heard my name.”

“I was saying you should perform a song with us at Ariel’s birthday party.” Philip said.

“Ugh. That sounds like a lot of work. I’m on my holiday.”

“Well don’t then, it doesn’t matter.” Philip watched Raven leave with a pinched expression. Aurora followed his line of vision and tilted her head to the side slightly, smiling to herself. 

“I’ll see how I feel, we can just do one we’ve practised, right?”

“I would’ve thought you’d want to do something nice for your friend.” Adam said.

“Adam. I am on my holiday! I want to go to Atlantica to have a break and enjoy the lovely scenery and swim in the ocean!”

“Stop yelling at me!” 

Philip just chewed on his chewing gum, angrily scrolling through his phone and Aurora watched his jaw movements for a couple of seconds before checking her own phone, disappointed but not surprised at the amount of hate comments from the fans who had been convinced that they were going to marry Philip.

Aurora rolled her eyes. If she was going to have to deal with these idiots, she would have liked to at least actually be dating the guy. All this hate for no reason. And that got her thinking, maybe, just maybe Philip would be a good rebound. 

And technically it wouldn’t even be using him because they were already using each other in the PR stunt and since Mally was already telling her to be more convincing, maybe it wouldn’t be bad on her part. Plus, she was still sore over Raven and seeing him again had made her miss being in a relationship. 

Maybe… Just maybe… 

Aurora glanced over at Philip again. Maybe it was time to be selfish and have some fun.

Chapter Text

There were a lot of differences when it came to Ariel's life in Arendelle and her life in Atlantica. One of the most significant was that in Arendelle she was just another student trying to navigate life away from home like everyone else. However, in Atlantica she was an influential figure in society - someone who little girls looked up to and wanted to be when they were older.

Another massive difference was she was never alone in Arendelle, because she was always out making new friends, however in Atlantica she needed to be with someone else at all times whether it was one of her sisters or a bodyguard. It was one of her father, Triton's many rules although he didn't do much to maintain them. That was Sebastian's job.

The rule about going to the beach alone was just one of the many rules that Triton expected her to follow, and while Ariel understood that she was in a very privileged position and that it wasn't safe to go to certain places by herself, she longed to just be free to go where she pleased. The ceremony would hopefully be the turning point, where Triton realised that she was able to do the things that her sisters were and that she was growing up. She especially hoped that Triton would allow her to date, now that Eric was in the picture.

Ariel was asleep when the car pulled up to the gates of the manor. Another big difference between Arendelle and Atlantica was the weather. Atlantica was a popular tourist destination - mainly for the water parks, resorts and beaches but also for the weather which was bright and sunny most of the time. Andy had to shake Ariel awake so they could both thank the driver and then they hoisted their suitcases out of the back of the car and walked up to the front door to scan their fingerprints and gain entry to the house.

Ariel and her sisters had grown up in a massive house, the kind in which most people dreamed of. Each of the girls had their own bedroom with adjoining offices and their own personal beauty salon. They all had a wardrobe most people their age would kill for and their bedrooms had been specially designed to fit their personal tastes. The house had balconies, a free-standing garage, gym, a pool and their own tennis grounds. Nearly every inch of the property was wired with cameras, security lighting, and motion sensors keeping intruders out. Or the girls inside. It depended on which way you looked at it. None of it really mattered though, because it was mostly all for show. Triton had stopped checking the footage and the girls had long since stopped caring if they were caught sneaking out.

Triton had always been protective over all of them, but with Ariel in particular the over protectiveness was stifling which is why she always made the most of her time away from home. Ariel's eldest two sisters had moved out already at 21 and 20, to a swanky apartment in the city and the remaining four were all leading their own lives as much as they could while fulfilling their duties. They had all been extremely close before Triton finally allowed them to go to boarding school. Some of Ariel's favourite childhood memories included the volleyball team Aquata had convinced them to form, the choir, the fashion shows Arista and Alana would host and the band. However, the minute Ariel and her sisters no longer had to be in each other's space, they had disbanded and found their own interests and friend groups away from each other.

Andy held the door open with her foot (an impressive feat considering it was tall enough to accommodate a family of giraffes and extremely heavy), passed her suitcase to Ariel without breaking a sweat and turned back around. "I have that appointment at the hairdressers today. Cover for me?"

"Fine." Ariel sighed.

The door closed and Ariel was left with two heavy suitcases in the foyer. She wrestled them into the elevator and counted to 10, imitating the 'ding' sound it made when it reached the second floor. Ariel dragged both of them through the hallway, dropping one in front of Andrina's door and then opened her bedroom door to see a woman in a dark blue suit sitting on her bed clacking away at her laptop, her bronze hair pinned up in a neat bun.

Ariel yelped and tripped over her suitcase landing in a sprawled heap in the hall. "Attina?!"

Attina rolled her eyes, her eyes never moving from her laptop screen, "You're so dramatic."

"What are you doing here?" Ariel stood up, wincing and rubbing her side. "You have your fancy place in town now."

"I wanted to be home for the ceremony so it could be like old times. It's the last one after all." Attina said, patting Ariel on the back when she came over for a hug. "Alana is here as well by the way."

"What? Where is she?" Ariel squealed.

"Kitchen." Attina looked up from her laptop for the first time, "Oh, you changed your hair. Very nice."

"Thanks. Jasmine did it for me." Ariel changed out of her travel clothes into a cute pink summer dress, then ran down the stairs to the kitchen. Attina followed behind her, a tablet replacing the laptop in her hands.

Alana was wearing a long lavender robe and had a pale purple face mask on which was nothing unusual because she was always experimenting with new skincare products. She was wearing the gold and purple pomegranate earrings Ariel had given her and was staring out of the window with jazz music playing out of one of the speakers on the counter, the very epitome of serenity.

"Alana!"

"Ariel! Your hair!!!" Alana was the tallest sister and the gentlest. She was at her happiest making beauty creams, tending to her garden at her and Attina's apartment and taking care of her pet turtle, Pearl. Growing up, Attina had always been more firm and bossy when it came to the older sister role but Alana had always been her more lenient counterpart. Ariel had always felt protective of Alana despite being 4 years younger and when it came to public events, she usually stuck to Alana like glue when Attina was unable to because she knew how anxious Alana could get sometimes.

Alana handed both Ariel and Attina a pomegranate face mask and then sat down on one of the stools to share how her day had gone so far.

"So the gentleman took at least 20 reference photos for the portrait. I forget how uncomfortable it is because Father is always just silently staring at the photographer. And then at one point, the photographer told me to move my head to the right and I accidentally moved my head to the left so now he probably thinks I can't tell my right from my left! And then he laughed at me."

Every 5 years, Ariel and her sisters got new photographs taken and portraits drawn of them which could then be put in the gallery. Last year had been Ariel's third time having hers and she could remember how stressful it had been. However, it was a family tradition so they couldn't get rid of it.

"Aw, was he cute?" Ariel asked.

"Very. He had such a lovely smile but it doesn't matter because he probably thinks I'm an idiot now. And then once the whole thing was over, the dress was a pain to get out of. I was on the verge of tears and I had to ask Attina to come and help me before Andy came back and laughed at me... Wait a second, where is Andy?"

"Oh, she went to the hairdressers." Ariel replied.

Attina groaned and picked up her tablet.

"What's wrong with that?"

"Well first of all, she's not meant to be out by herself, Ariel as you fully well know. Second of all, we're going to be attending a ceremony that will be broadcast live to the whole nation next week. Hopefully, she won't have gone with anything too different."

The white box on the kitchen wall by the clock glowed red signifying the front door was open and Alana smiled. "That'll be the rest of the shoal now. You'd better call them now, Attina, otherwise we'll never get them together again for ages."

Ariel wasn't exactly sure when Alana started calling them all collectively 'the shoal' but it had stuck because it was a quick way to refer to all of them at once. Also, their mother had been a marine biologist and once upon a time the house had been filled with ocean related objects so it was a nice reminder of her.

"IN HERE!" Attina yelled.

Adella was the first to come through with the kitchen. "What are you doing at home?"

"I need to talk to you all together. Get the others."

"I can't. I'm going to see Stevie in like 5 minutes so..."

"I don't care." Attina brushed past Adella and stuck her head in the hallway, "YOU TWO HAD BETTER GET IN HERE RIGHT NOW, DON'T MAKE ME TELL YOU AGAIN!"

Aquata skulked into the room with her headphones on, sat on the stool next to Ariel and dropped her head on the table with a loud bang.

Adella and Aquata had looked the most alike out of the sisters with similar brown hair and facial features before boarding school. This was also back when they were inseparable and their nickname for each other had been 'Twin'. Their closeness had probably come from the shared burden of being the middle children and the fact that their birthdays were in the same month. They went around with matching ponytails, wore the same clothes and had secret hideouts but after they started at Northuldra Academy, their differences became more prominent and clashes between them became more frequent

Now, Adella went out partying most nights and was absorbed in her on and off relationship with childhood friend, Stevie. Aquata spent a lot of her time engaging in different sports and running clubs for children. She was much more reserved and shy than Adella but had learned how to put on a confident front for the cameras. In terms of appearances, Adella had started dying her hair blonde now and was curvier and Aquata now had dark blue hair which was perpetually in two french braids and was more muscular.

"Didn't you break up with Stevie?" Ariel asked, remembering what she had seen on the train.

"Yeah, but now I'm bored." Adella gave a long-suffering sigh, "You'll understand the complexities of love when you're older, little sister."

Aquata rolled her eyes, "How many times have you broken up with him now?"

"How many times have you gotten athlete's foot now?" Adella retorted, sliding onto the stool on the other side of Ariel.

Aquata kept silent - they had only just resolved the argument about the motorbike and she had promised her therapist that she would work on her self-control more.

"Ariel will get the chance to experience more things now that Northuldra's becoming co-ed." Arista shrugged, making her dramatic entrance by extracting a tube of lip gloss from her cream handbag and applying it in the reflection of Attina's tablet. "Just don't fall in love."

Arista. As proud as a peacock, as headstrong as a donkey and one of the main sources of entertainment in the household. She was a pain 70% of the time, but had a great sense of humour and was on her way to becoming a decent human being. Arista had been a goody two shoes, sucking up to authority figures and throwing her peers under the bus unnecessarily at every given opportunity and this was something that had only worsened when she first started going to Northuldra Academy. However, she met her match in her roommate Gogo Tomago who didn't stand for Arista's nonsense and soon put her in her place.

"It's becoming co-ed?" Attina crossed her arms, eyebrows raised. "I didn't know about that. Why are they doing that, then?"

"Snowstorm." Aquata supplied helpfully.

"Well actually, none of that matters because I'm already..."

"You're already seeing someone?" Attina put the tablet down. "Who is it?"

"Have you kissed him yet?" Adella yelled.

Alana glided into the room in a floral mini dress with a frown etched into her delicate features, "Ariel! You've had your first kiss and you didn't tell us?!"

"I haven't had my first kiss yet and I was going to say I'm already content with how everything is right now." Ariel patted the air placatingly.

"Hmm..." Attina frowned suspiciously but before she could push the point, the box glowed red then Andy came into the kitchen and started rustling through the cupboards for something to eat.

"Ahhh, it looks so good!" Attina exclaimed, "I didn't know you wanted to get a wolf cut, I could've done it for you."

"Dodged a bullet there, then." Andy whispered to Ariel.

"Right. Now that everyone is finally here, we can get down to business." Attina announced, raising her voice over Andy's intentionally loud chewing. "I managed to pull a few strings so we can choose what we want to wear for the ceremony! So, I was thinking, we could coordinate..."

"No thank you." Arista interrupted, "You said 'we can choose' not that you would just choose for us."

"Well if you would just let me finish..."

"No, she's got a point." Adella said, "We should be able to wear whatever we want. Individually. Within reason of course."

"Alright, well what do you want to wear?" Attina asked, nodding exasperatedly when there was silence, "Exactly. So, I've already got a set of dresses that have been approved - all red because that's Ariel's favourite colour. I just need to send the designs off to the tailor and everything's sorted. Then, you can all wear whatever you want to the after party."

They all groaned.

Alana nudged Ariel, "What did you have in mind, Ari? It's your ceremony so you should have the most input."

"I wanted to go with rainbow colours this year."

Adella nodded enthusiastically, "Ooh, that's a good idea!"

"You're just saying that because you want to leave and go to see Stevie. It's a rubbish idea." Arista said, examining her sparkly red nails.

"Well I'm not hearing you suggesting anything." Ariel snapped. "And I'm taking green."

"Well I'm taking red then." Arista announced.

"Blue." Aquata yawned.

"I want yellow!" Adella declared.

"It really doesn't matter." Andy said through a mouthful of toast. "I'll be okay with anything."

"Even pink?" Aquata asked dubiously.

"What's wrong with pink?"

"Alright, fine! We'll do that then. And since everyone wants to design their own, make sure you all have a description of the type of dress you want along with the colour and your measurements ready for me to get approved and get sent to the dressmaker by the end of the day. If anyone gets stuck, ask each other for help." Attina announced, holding up her arm to stop Adella from leaving,

"Not so fast, Father wants to speak to everyone now."

They got to their feet, and traipsed up the stairs in age order with Attina at the front and Ariel at the back. When they got to Triton's office door, Attina cleared her throat, reminded them all to behave, inhaled deeply and then...

"Yuh neva hear mi calling you?" A tall dark-skinned man smiled, coming up the other side of the hallway with his arms outstretched.

"Sebastian!" Ariel ran into his arms, quickly joined by her sisters who gushed about how much they had missed him.

It had been months since they had seen Sebastian - even more for Attina and Alana, because he had been on annual leave and had gone to his home country, Jamaica. Sebastian had been the girls' babysitter and Triton's adviser/secretary for years. He went as far back to have been the orchestrator to the band the sisters had formed when they were younger and had taught Ariel how to play the piano.

His love for music had been transferred to the girls in a big way, especially for Andy and one of Ariel's favourite memories was of her and her sisters crowding around him as he told them stories about life in Jamaica. Everything about Sebastian was soft right down to the cashmere jumpers he loved to wear all the time. He had been like a surrogate father figure to the girls ever since Triton's wife, Athena had passed and had been a good friend of their mother's too. Most of the stories Ariel had heard about her mother had come from Sebastian.

"We need to go and speak to Father, Sebastian, but I'll be back to speak to you about my solo piece on the harp in a bit." Attina pulled her sisters away back to the office door which opened without her even needing to knock.

Triton ushered them all inside and stood in front of his desk, as they lined up in front of the door with their hands clasped in front of them. Triton was a handsome man in his early 50s, respected by everyone across Atlantica. He used to have long auburn hair that Ariel, Andy and Arista spent hours braiding back in the days when he was still 'Dad'. He wore it in a low ponytail, because he couldn't quite bring himself to cut it - Athena had always loved his hair. It was white now, several shades lighter than Arista's hair, something Ariel thought was quite metaphorical. Triton was never the same after Athena died and it was very much like all the colour had been taken out of his life.

"Attina."

"Good morning, Father." Attina stepped forward assertively, her only giveaway being the twitching of her hands every few seconds.

"I have heard plenty about your successes at your job. Well done. You are growing to be a very wise young lady."

"Thank you, Father." Attina stepped back, beaming. The golden child.

The one time Attina had kicked up a fuss was back when she wanted to go to Northuldra Academy and Triton had refused to let her go. He told her boarding school was nothing like how it seemed, that the grass was always greener on the other side of the fence and that she would be making a big mistake because all the resources she needed to have a good education were right there in Atlantica. She'd gotten what she wanted in the end because it was 8 (Sebastian included) against 1 although Triton still wanted them to come back and finish their education in Atlantica even now. Ariel never understood his reasoning because he barely interacted with them when they were home so it wasn't like he missed them while they were away and they were all doing just as well in their studies as they had when they were home-schooled.

"Alana."

"Yes, Father?" Alana stepped forward, eyes down, heart racing.

"Are you remembering to take your medication?"

"Yes, Father."

Triton nodded, "Adella and Aquata."

"Morning, Father." They said in unison.

"Exams are approaching, make sure you study for them." Triton tilted his head when he looked at Arista. His miracle baby. When she was born, she hadn't been breathing and as a result, her baby pictures were plastered across the front page of every newspaper on the day she was born. It was like she had been born into stardom. "Arista."

"Greetings, Father dearest. Permission to visit my friend who is unwell later today?"

"Just remember to be back by 6."

"Andrina."

"Yeah?"

Attina gasped and Alana's eyebrows shot up but Andy just stared, dark green eyes meeting Triton's cool blue ones.

Triton frowned, "Pardon?"

Andy shrugged, "My bad. Good morning, Father."

"I am waiting for a proper apology. You are 17 years old, you need to stop acting like a child and start being respectful."

"I am respectful to those deserving of my respect." Andy replied, ignoring Ariel's sharp pinch.

"Leave the room!" Triton bellowed, his face reddening with anger, "I'll deal with you later."

Ariel sighed, stepping forward reluctantly when her name was called. "Good morning, Father."

"You changed your hair."

Ariel looked up and opened her mouth to start apologising but Triton's eyes were soft and slightly glazed, "It suits you. You look like your mother." He cleared his throat and sank into the chair behind the desk, "Alright, I shall see you all soon, I need to get several things finalised for Ariel's ceremony."

"Bye Father."

Ariel squeezed Andy's hand when she passed her in the hallway, "Why did you do that?"

"How much longer did you expect me to put up with him acting like he cares? It's ridiculous how..."

"ANDRINA!" Triton's voice boomed from inside the office.

"Do you want me to wait?" Ariel asked.

"What's that gonna do?" Andy stuffed her hands in her pockets and opened the door to the office, "Here comes the confiscation of my phone."

Ariel leaned against the wall and groaned. Andy would be in a bad mood for the rest of the day now and they had agreed to go to the beach together later on. The beep of her phone startled her into movement and she crouched at the top of the stairs squinting down at her phone.

Then came the 15 minute hunt to find out where Alana was, covering her ears to drown out Triton's booming voice filtering through the wall. Ariel found her in Aquata's room watching Shark Tale on the TV while Aquata had her midday nap, snoring noisily with her mouth open.

"I need to tell you something." Ariel announced.

Alana raised an eyebrow suspiciously, "What have you done now?"

"There's a guy..."

"Oh my goodness, Ariel! So you did start seeing someone."

"Kind of. We've been on a date and I really like him. I'm thinking about inviting him to the after party."

"Who is it? Someone from the boys' school?" Aquata yawned.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"It always is." Aquata sat up and rubbed her eyes, "You'd better make sure Father doesn't find out."

"He still doesn't know about Stevie and Adella, I think I'll be alright."

"Yeah but it's different with you because you're the youngest. Anyway, what do you want from me? Advice or transport?" Alana paused the film, shaking her head fondly when Aquata flopped back down on the bed, pulling the duvet over her head.

"Transport please."

"Alright, but you're telling me everything. I'm talking first name, middle name, last name, age, address, parents, aspirations, work experience..."

Ariel couldn't remember why she thought telling Alana about Eric first would be the best choice.

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

Surprisingly enough, Alana didn't scare him off. Eric smiled politely and was his usual awkward self that Ariel found more and more adorable as the days passed. They had an hour of catching up where they laughed over nothing, made fun of Aurora and Philip and discussed moving to North Mount. Then, they bought ice cream and paddled for a bit, waving excitedly at Alana and persuaded her to build a sandcastle with them, drunk on the warm sun rays.

"Thank you for today," Eric whispered when the sun was beginning to go down and Alana began to make gentle hints. "I forget what it feels like to let loose sometimes."

"Thank you for asking me to come here in the first place. I had a lot of fun and I'm glad you could meet one of my sisters." Ariel smiled up at him, "I'll see you soon. Text me?"

Eric kissed the top of her head, "I'll do you one better and call you. Hope the preparations and everything goes well."

Alana's face was screwed up when Ariel got to the car, like it had been when she tried Attina's kelp wrap sandwiches for the first time and pretended that she liked them.

"Ew."

"Ew yourself." Ariel elbowed her, "So, what do you think?"

"He's cute. Looks a lot like a guy that used to be on one of your posters, don't you think?" Alana grinned, reaching for her phone, slapping Ariel's hand away. "I'll let you choose the album because I'm nice."

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

Attina heard about Eric's existence just as Ariel was about to doze off. She had submitted the design for her dress, listened to Andy vent and then played board games with everyone in the living room. Well. Everyone but Triton. It was nice having everyone together like this, drama and all. Ariel couldn't remember the last time where everyone had been available to spend the evening together. She especially loved it when Attina's competitive nature made its entrance and when she abandoned the role of peacemaker, becoming just as petty as everyone else.

Andy had left Ariel's room several minutes earlier after letting her know that if Eric hurt her, she would snap his neck and now she was curled up with her teddy bear, Melody, a small smile playing on her lips.

BOOM

"Ariel!" Attina stomped inside and pulled up short, "Oh, you're sleeping? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up. Although I don't know why you've decided to go to bed so early, it's only 8. Must be the jet lag."

"What do you want?"

"To talk to you about your boyfriend."

Ariel groaned and turned over.

"A member of a boy band? Really?" Attina sat down and put her feet up, "Of all the choices... And the fact that you had childhood crushes on each other? I'm going to be sick. Look at you blushing over someone called Eric! You should be ashamed of yourself. Also, I knew you were lying earlier! Nobody gets their first boyfriend or girlfriend in this house that I don't know about. Don't do anything you'll regret or that you wouldn't be comfortable talking to me or Alana about or I just might pull up the PowerPoint."

"That won't be necessary."

Attina made PowerPoints for everything. The one in question had only needed to be used on Adella and Arista so far and according to them, Attina hadn't left any details out and had covered everything from sexting to a list of red flags they should never ignore. It had lasted for 4 hours.

Attina sighed, "It feels like just yesterday when I was on my knees praying for a baby brother - saying I couldn't bear it if there was another girl and then you were born. I've never quite forgotten the immense disappointment of that day." Attina laughed when Ariel whacked her with a pillow.

They froze when Ariel's phone began vibrating underneath her pillow.

"Ooh, is that Eric?"

Ariel flapped her hand in a panic, "Out, out, out!"

"I'll take that as a yes then." Attina got up and stretched laughing at Ariel's exasperated facial expressions. She got to the door and leaned on the door-frame, watching as Andy struggled to carry a tray of food up the stairs. Aquata followed behind her, glasses propped on top of her head and a smoothie clutched in her hand.

They grow up so quickly.

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

Ariel blinked and the day of the ceremony had arrived.

The caterer and his children, who were good friends of the family, had arrived early in the morning and were preparing for the after party, busy putting up decorations in the two outbuildings in front of the pool allocated for such events as these. One of the outbuildings used to be Ariel's 'secret hideout' when she was much younger and there were three large, neatly organised boxes containing remnants of Ariel's new 'thingamabob of the month' whether it was paintings, books, cutlery or swords (she was forced to stop with that line of interest very quickly though).

The chef, Lynn Loud had been around for Attina's after party and was used to the chaos of a big family because he had 11 children of his own. He had been asked to be in charge of catering ever since then and since his children were extremely talented in their own right as well, they usually came to the afterparty to help out too. The Loud siblings had a lot in common with Ariel and her sisters and not just the fact that their parents afflicted them all with names of the same first letter and that they were all born a year apart.

Attina got up early to go and chat to 25 year old Lori Loud and they spent most of the morning screaming with laughter as they shared stories of the latest catastrophes their younger siblings had gotten themselves into. Lisa joined them a few hours in to share the details of her newest scientific findings which they pretended to understand. Lisa had recently finished a PhD in physics despite only being 17, but was going back to university to study chemistry too. Not because she was learning anything new, but because she wanted to keep on using the university's equipment for free.

Leni and Lola were handed parcel after parcel of Alana's skincare products that almost didn't fit in the back of the van, then they made plans to go to a winter fashion show together.

Lynn Jr dragged Aquata out of bed to play tennis with her and they were very quickly running up and down the tennis court, red faced and sweating. Then Luna wanted to show Aquata a drum solo she'd been working out so the three of them went to the music room and that was what woke Ariel up.

She looked through the sun-soaked windows, the portal of light through which she was able to see the rest of the world and winced at the hammering from the next room which she guessed was Luan and Andy putting some kind of terrible plan into fruition. She washed her face, brushed her teeth and then went to investigate, smiling at the birthday messages pouring in on social media.

"Guess who just got wished happy birthday from The Princes on their official Twitter account?" Ariel sang, dancing into Andy's room and stopping short at the mountain of toys in the center of the room. "What're you doing?"

"Happy birthday Ariel. I'm creating more space in my room so I can fit a popcorn machine in here." Andy explained tossing a space action figure on top of the pile. "Luan! Please detach that thing carefully."

It felt as though in all the years Ariel had known Luan, she had been wearing braces and it was getting to the point where she wasn't sure if she had just forgotten they were there.

"Hang on! You can't throw Jessie away!" Ariel grabbed the stuffed cowgirl and began searching through the pile for more of her favourites. "And Woody as well?! Andy!"

"Oi! You're spreading the pile out. I'm not throwing them away, I'm letting Aquata borrow them to take to the kids at her club because I feel bad. I haven't played with any of these for years. Don't worry, I'm still keeping them in case I decide to adopt."

"Oh alright." Ariel put Jessie down very gently and waved at Luan who came to give her birthday beats.

She found Lucy in a dark corner of an outbuilding reading fan fiction on her phone, her long dark fringe covering her eyes as usual. Then she bumped into Lana setting up Andy's popcorn machine in the kitchen, her iconic red cap on the ground beside her while Lincoln read the instruction manual aloud to her. However as nice as it was seeing them all, the sister Ariel had been most looking forward to seeing was Lily.

"Happy birthday to youuu!" Lily sang, jumping on Ariel's back, "Guess who's gonna be one of the official photographers for this evening? Little old me!"

"That's great! Make sure you get my good angles."

"All of your angles are good angles." Lily replied.

Ariel blushed, "Thanks, Lil. How's your apprenticeship going? Are you still wanting to be a child psychotherapist or are you looking more into painting and photography?"

"Well, I start placement next week so..."

Attina ran past with her phone glued to her ear. "Does anyone have a pen? Pen? Anybody?" She dashed up the stairs and then stuck her head over the banister, "Ariel, wake Arista up right now. Let's get this thing moving people. Makeup and hair will be here in 30 minutes! I said 30 not 13, clean your ears out, Adella!"

Lily grimaced, all too familiar with the contagiousness of an older sisters' stress. "Alright, I'll catch up with you later. Hope everything goes well!"

Ariel thanked her and ran up the stairs after Attina.

"Arista? Are you awake?"

"Yes. What do you want?" Arista frowned looking at Ariel's ratty old t-shirt she'd worn to bed, "You haven't been out talking to the Louds wearing that have you?"

"Yeah, I have, actually. How was your friend?"

"Who?"

"The one you said was unwell. Who you were out visiting."

"Oh, I lied. I went to a surfing lesson. Your friend was there actually, funnily enough. What was his name? The shy one. With the weird nickname."

"Oh, Flounder. He's coming here later." Ariel shook her head, "Anyway, I'm finally 16, Arista! Can you believe it? I can start living life!"

"Good for you."

Ariel went into the adjoining room where Arista kept all her clothes and picked out a pair of suede high heels. "Can I wear these later?"

"No."

"I'm taking them."

"Whatever. Just put them back afterwards, I'm warning you. If you don't I'll tell Eric you're cheating on him."

Ariel pulled a face. "We aren't even official yet. Do you reckon he's going to ask me today? Oh my goodness, Arista! He might ask me to be his girlfriend today!"

"I don't give a rat's ass. Get lost."

"I know it's difficult for you to be civil before 9am but can you at least try? It's my birthday."

"It is?" Arista laughed when Ariel flicked an elastic band at her and began lugging the shoes out of the room.

"Hair and makeup is arriving in 20 minutes so you'd better get a start on your 12 hour long morning routine now. You're going to need it."

"And you'd better hurry up and change out of that crusty old t-shirt so you don't make any more eyeballs suffer. And have a shower too because you stink!" Arista yelled.

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

The row of picture perfect young ladies stepping out of the sleek black limousines several hours later seemed flawless as they glided into the church one after the other, all bright smiles and polite greetings. Ariel repeated "I will not trip" under her breath like a mantra and stayed close to her bodyguard, Gill, so he could catch her just in case. Gill had intimidated her a little bit at first because of the array of scars on the left side of his face but after he let Ariel borrow one of his large silver skull rings, he immediately became Ariel's gossip partner at events like these.

"My feet hurt already." Ariel whispered now, waving at Duke Marlin and his 6-year-old son, Nemo.

"Well nobody told you to stick those stupid pointy things on your feet. You can't even see them under that!" Gill replied, gesturing to the sparkling masterpiece that was the emerald green dress she had decided to wear.

Yeah, Gill was a real sweetheart.

All in all the ceremony went well. She managed to get to her assigned spot without tripping over her dress and listened to the elderly man's boring voice for 30 minutes as he droned on about the responsibilities that awaited her. Then, it was time for her to make a speech and she followed her sisters to the balcony above the crowd of people waiting below. They stepped out one at a time after Sebastian announced them and Ariel tugged at her earring so hard that it came out and almost fell on the ground. By then, her hands were trembling so much that she had to get Andy to put it back in before she went out. The shimmer of Andy's rose pink dress rounding the corner was almost too much to bear and Ariel almost shouted for her to come back.

Lady Andrina of Atlantica

Deep breaths. In. Out In. Out. In...

Lady Ariel of Atlantica

The applause Ariel walked out to was deafening and yet somehow she could still hear the sound of her own heartbeat above it. Everyone on the balcony was clapping politely but it was the crowd of people outside chanting her name that Ariel couldn't believe was real so she stood silently taking it all in, eyes wide open in surprise. She didn't realise she was holding her breath until the chanting subsided and everyone looked up at her expectantly.

"Um." She cleared her throat and set back her shoulders. Remember to project your voice is the advice Attina had given her. "Good morning all, I just wanted to say how grateful I am to be entrusted with such an important role and how honoured that I can serve alongside my family." Ariel caught sight of a sign being ripped from someone's hands with '2 More Years Till She's Legal, Folks!' written on it and had to tear her eyes away immediately so she wouldn't laugh at Gill's facial expression. "I promise to do all I can to help the community and would like to thank everyone in my life for everything you have done for me. I hope to make you all proud. I am so grateful to you all for coming out today to support me and hope you all have a wonderful day!"

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

The real event of the day started when Ariel got back to the house.

Jasmine had arrived early which was such a Jasmine thing to do that Ariel wasn't surprised in the slightest. She had brought a whole pile of luggage with her because she would be staying the rest of the week and then would head up to Arendelle with Ariel afterwards. Jasmine herself was in the outbuilding chatting with Flounder who was holding a blue cocktail that could glow in the dark. Trust him to have gone for the blue option. He was obsessed with the colour. Specifically robin egg blue which is the colour he had dyed his hair several years ago and regretted ever since. When they were 6 years old, they had an hour-long argument about whether blue or red was better and both parties had become so aggrieved by it that Flounder carved "Ariel is a stoopid fish head" onto her mother's wooden jewelry box that Athena had crafted by hand and Ariel dipped his $487,000 Caran d'Ache Gothica pen gifted to him by his deceased father in enamel paint. She'd been on her way to flush it down the toilet because she didn't think it was enough damage when Arista snitched on her.

They could look back on it and laugh now, but when their parents found out what they had done, the screaming match could be heard from the other side of the globe. Both at each other and at their children. It was the first memory Ariel had of Triton making her cry. The last time had been earlier that morning after she had delivered her speech when he hugged her and called her "his little girl". Even if it was probably just for the cameras, she had bawled like a baby on the limousine ride home until her makeup was ruined and there was a large damp patch on the shoulder of Alana's lavender dress.

Apart from Jasmine and Flounder, there weren't many more guests who had arrived so she had time to dash into the main house and change her clothes and redo her makeup. She changed into the sparkly red dress that was as bright as her personality and applied her trademark cherry red lipstick. Then it was time.

There was a large crowd of people already inside dancing to the music Luna was blasting through the speakers, loud voices and chatter filling the atmosphere. For the first time, Ariel was glad that the outbuilding was a decent distance from the house so Triton couldn't come stomping in to shut everything down while complaining about the noise. A few people came over to wish her a happy birthday and Ariel had to dig deep in the back of her brain for their name and yell over the music so she broke away after taking two bottles of pink lemonade from the refreshments table and holding a doughnut between her teeth, began to make her way outside hunched over so nobody else could stop her for a chat.

She spotted Jasmine over by the pool in a gorgeous turquoise halter twist crop top and high-waisted trousers waving off a boy's advances. Aurora was on the other side of her in a light pink jumpsuit and gold sunglasses, spinning a gold handbag around on one finger.

"There she is! Happy birthday, sweetheart!" Jasmine smiled, taking the doughnut out of Ariel's mouth and brushing away the sprinkles left behind.

Aurora tilted her head to the side. "Happy birthday, Ari. Why?"

"These always get finished quickly!" Ariel handed her a bottle of the pink lemonade, "Here, look it matches your outfit. I need to go and hide this one, I'll be right back."

Aurora raised an eyebrow when Jasmine took a sip of Ariel's drink. "She's gonna know."

"Hey, babe. Hi Jasmine." A deep voice yelled over to them from the other side of the pool.

Aurora waited for him to come around and looked Philip up and down, pulling him down to her level to growl menacingly into his ear, almost knocking off his sunglasses which were identical to her own. "I can't believe you've done this! How did you even know what I was wearing today?"

Philip pretended to be confused then looked down at his shirt that was the exact same shade of pink as her jumpsuit. "Oh! What a coincidence."

"You're so annoying."

"I can't do this." Eric blurted, coming up behind Philip looking like he was about to throw up. "Another one of Ariel's sisters just came and threatened me."

"What'd she look like?" Jasmine asked.

"Blonde. Angry eyebrows."

"Arista. Well, I mean at least it wasn't Aquata. Did you know she's taking jiu-jitsu lessons?"

"Oh, stop being such a lovesick lamb, Erry. She's going to say yes and we all know it." said Aurora.

"Yeah. You're right. Piece of cake." Eric nodded, closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. When he opened them, Ariel was standing in front of him and his heart very nearly exploded.

"Ooh, hey guys! Thanks for coming." Ariel took back her drink and squinted at it, eyeing Aurora suspiciously.

"Oh it was our honour." Philip grinned, "Jasmine, did you want to show us the thing now?"

"Oh yeah! Quick. Show us!" Aurora grabbed Jasmine's hand and they darted inside, laughing at the expression on Eric's face.

There is an announcement from Luna within the next few seconds that drifts across to them in fragments, "Next we have a song requested by none other than Briar Rose!"

Percussion

Strings

Winds

Words...

"Eh?"

"Ignore those idiots. Happy birthday, Ariel."

"Thank you."

"I've been meaning to ask... You know, so we're, like, on the same page..." Eric paused and brushed a piece of pink icing that Jasmine had missed off Ariel's cheek, his fingers lingering. "You're such a beautiful person. I've never met anyone like you before and I'm really lucky to know you."

"Aww. You're so precious."

"Huh?"

"Sorry, carry on."

Eric smiled, "Well now I've forgotten what I was saying."

It was Ariel's favourite smile. The personification of sunshine itself that with his lips, and carried on until it reached his eyes. His gaze was always so gentle and he looked at her with a softness she had never experienced from anyone else before, that sparkled with a million loving thoughts. And somehow with one small facial expression, the world was a better place and Ariel began to wonder what her life was like without this adorable human being in it.

The music blasted on and a chorus of voices sang along, loud and uncoordinated:

Sing with me now

Sha-la-la-la-la-la

My oh my

Look like the boy too shy

Ain't gonna kiss the girl

Sha-la-la-la-la-la

Ain't that sad?

Ain't it a shame?

Recognition bloomed across Eric's face and his ears turned bright red, "I hate them so much."

Ariel moved forward and pressed her lips to his, eyes tightly shut, praying that none of her sisters were lurking. Words came to her in fragments.

Warm.

Soft.

Safe.

Gentle.

Mint.

Home.

They broke apart for air and Eric's smile, the one she thought couldn't get any brighter, had been multiplied by a billion.

"Hey,"

Ariel bit her lip, "Hello."

"Can I please be your boyfriend?"

"Alright. Just a heads up though, Jasmine is my wife, Aurora is my side chick and Snow White is our child."

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵︵‿︵‿︵

When they eventually went inside and found Aurora, Jasmine and Philip again, Arista stared at her from across the room with questioning eyes.

How did it go?

Ariel sent back a message back telepathically.

ASHGSDHGDGSJKS!

Remember what I said! Do NOT fall in love!!!

The beginning of the next song dragged Ariel's attention away from Arista and she crammed the rest of her doughnut into her mouth and began to jump up and down excitedly with Aurora who screamed into Philip's face.

"Stop talking! No, you can shut the fuck up! This is my jam! TURN IT UP!"

"Poor Strawberry." Philip replied dryly.

Ariel and Aurora ignored him, too caught up in dancing around Jasmine who put her plate of food down and began singing at the top of her voice too, using one of Ariel's empty lemonade bottles as a makeshift microphone.

The seaweed is always greener

In somebody else's lake

You dream about going up there

But that is a big mistake

Just look at the world around you

Right here on the ocean floor

Such wonderful things surround you

What more is you lookin' for?

Chapter Text

"Five more minutes!"

This had been repeatedly yelled from the office twenty times in the past hour and Belle found herself wishing for the billionth time that she could drive. She clicked off the tab where she had been reading fan-fiction and closed her laptop, sliding it into her brown satchel while tapping out a text to her older sister.

She had been ready for the past two hours and had just received an email from Pocahontas (the student council president) asking to come and see her when she arrived because there was a problem with the tutoring system that she needed to speak to her about since she was vice. Enough was enough. Belle went down the hall to the office and nudged the door open with her foot narrowly dodging the avalanche of books that came tumbling down.

Maurice and the Professor were standing over the desk holding identical cups of tea, poring over a set of diagrams. They didn't even notice her entering the room.

"Remarkable!" The Professor whispered under his breath, taking off his glasses and taking a sip of tea, "I have never seen anything like this before, Maurice! Never in my life!"

Belle bit back a smile. One of her favourite things to do when she had first moved to England was imitate the Professor's famous phrases which were always received well by the rest of the family. "Truly fascinating" and "Remarkable" in his posh, British accent were two of her favourites as well as his introduction, "Greetings, Professor Archimedes Q. Porter at your service. Pleasure to meet you." and his long winded stories about his sister, Isabel.

"Dad?"

"Sweetheart!" Maurice jumped backwards and lay a hand over his heart, "Are you alright? What happened?"

"You were going to drop me off at the airport but I've called Jane and asked her to take me instead because it's getting late."

"Oh, that's what I needed to do this morning." Maurice stroked his beard, "You know, I kept saying '5 more minutes' but I couldn't remember what I needed to do. Sorry, darling."

"This man is a genius, Belle. A genius!" The Professor jumped up and down excitedly, clapping his hands. "We may be on the brink of a truly phenomenal invention if I can just solve this last equation."

Belle peered down at the papers spread across the floor and tried to look impressed. "Wow!"

The front door opened a slightly exasperated voice called up the stairs, "Belle? Are you ready?"

"Janie Jane, you must come and look at this amazing discovery when you get back!" The Professor said, putting his glasses on and settling back into his work again.

"I'll try, Dad. Come on Belle!"

Belle shouldered her satchel, hugged the Professor, kissed her dad on the cheek and made her exit, "Bye Professor! Bye Dad! I'll try and be back for Christmas."

Jane was waiting at the bottom of the stairs looking as though she had just rolled out of bed with tangled hair and a white tank top that had splodges of dried paint on it. Usually, Belle and Jane had a habit of coincidentally choosing similar outfits but today what they were wearing couldn't be any more different. Belle was wearing grey trousers with a white turtleneck and a long cream coat that Jane had given her. Arendelle and London were freezing at this time of year so Belle's suitcase was filled with warm clothing. Not that she was going to get much of a chance to wear them because of the school uniforms being introduced and other than that, Belle planned to be in her pajamas holed up in her room for most of this term.

"Tarzan has taken your bags to the car already. Sure you've got everything?"

"Yep."

"Including your glasses?"

Belle paused and ran into the living room to retrieve her glasses which were tucked behind a cushion. For someone so organised in every other aspect of her life, you would think she would never need to be reminded of the very thing which allowed her to see but the amount of times she had either lost or broken her glasses was ridiculous. She was on her fifth pair of the year.

Jane was yawning when Belle came back. "How long were you waiting for this time?"

"Two hours."

Jane shook her head sympathetically and broke into a jog to avoid being in the cold for any longer than it was necessary to. "You need to get your driver's licence sorted out."

"I know! Believe me, I've been trying." Belle opened the door to Jane and Tarzan's yellow Ford Fiesta and sat in her usual seat, reaching into the storage compartment in between the two front seats and began rustling around for the chocolate bars she had stashed in there.

Tarzan waved from the front seat, "Hey, Jingle Bells!"

Tarzan and Belle had started learning English at the same time and had bonded over their frustration at the many aspects of the language that didn't make sense. Afterwards, Belle and Maurice had taught Tarzan French and Tarzan had taught all of them how to speak his language.

In many ways, Belle's 'origin story' as she liked to call it was very bizarre. For starters, her mother was what Maurice liked to call 'free spirited'. Emma had married the Professor in England first and given birth to Jane, then decided a decade later that she wanted to move to a different country and start a new life so she moved to a small French village where she met Maurice and had Belle but she still wasn't ready to settle down so she moved out when Belle was 5 years old. She passed away several months after that and it was at Emma's funeral that Belle, Maurice, the Professor and Jane met for the first time.

After the initial shock that the other existed, Maurice and the Professor became best friends and they kept in contact even after the Professor's research took him on an expedition to the African jungle for several years. It became very clear that the family was never destined to be 'normal' when Jane brought back Tarzan who she introduced as her husband. They had to compromise with living situations and so they alternated years between London and the jungle. Belle and Maurice had gone back with them a few times before Belle started going to Northuldra Academy and she had also been on many trips to different countries with the Professor to 'study' the environment as a part of her studies which nearly always just turned into a holiday because he couldn't find anything new to teach her. It was on one of these visits that she befriended Mowgli, her best friend.

When Jane brought Tarzan to London, they moved into an apartment around the corner and the Professor invited Belle and Maurice to live with him and began to teach Belle everything he knew. She had already learned a lot about engineering from helping Maurice with his inventions for years and was far smarter than most children her age already so Maurice and the Professor decided there was no point in sending her to primary school. By the time Belle was 7, she had read nearly all of the books in the house and could recite entire chapters of books word for word. By the time she was 8, she had read all of the books in the local library and was sitting in the back of the Professor's university lectures. When she was 9, she was a walking encyclopedia (more knowledgeable than the Professor in some things) and when she was 10, she became the youngest student to ever attend Northuldra Academy.

"Remember to say hello to Mowgli for us in your next email!" Jane called from the car when Belle readjusted her satchel on her shoulder and lifted her suitcase out of the car.

"I will! Bye Jane! Bye Tarzan!"

『• • • ✎ • • •』

Belle had already brought most of her things over to North Mount because she knew she wouldn't have the time to catch a coach like everybody else so she only had the one suitcase to unpack. The rooms were substantially larger in this building and Belle's had a breathtaking view of the mountains behind the building but Belle was most excited about the fact that she wouldn't need to be sharing a room with anybody. She had been sharing with Rapunzel before, when she thought she would be one of the few exceptions in the Aqua dorms who would have their own room and despite Rapunzel being extremely kind and genuinely apologetic about the situation, Belle would be lying if she didn't want to strangle Rapunzel with her own hair every time she came across golden strands in her bed sheets, stuck to her clothes and spread across the carpet.

Belle fixed her own hair in her mirror now, tucking away strands that were coming loose from her ponytail and then made her way to the new student council room. Pocahontas was already there waiting along with three more girls around her age Belle didn't recognise from the student council.

"Ah, Belle! Just the person I needed to see." Pocahontas smiled, her calming voice just the sound Belle needed to hear after her chaotic morning. "These are my friends, Tiana, Charlotte and Cinderella."

"Hello! It's nice to meet you all."

"Charlotte and I used to work at Willow's Cafe but since it's being closed for the winter, we wanted to see if it's possible to join the tutoring scheme for a bit instead." Tiana explained.

"And I sent an application a while back and wanted to see if there were any students available I could get started with." Cinderella said through a mouthful of bobby pins as she constructed her bun.

"Ah yes, Cinderella Tremaine?"

"That's right."

"We've actually had a request specifically for you from Aurora Borealis in Wind. Will you be okay with tutoring her five hours a week?" Belle asked.

"Uhm, yeah. That should be fine."

"Ok, great! I'll get the paperwork to you in just a second." Belle put on her glasses and scanned through a list of names. "As for you two, I'll just add your names onto the system and pair you with a student so you can start sessions next week. Thank you!"

When Tiana, Charlotte and Aurora had left, Belle went to sit beside Pocahontas. "So! What was the issue you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Well, as you know, the boys school is going to be sharing the building and resources for a while so there are going to be a few changes. One of those being that Mrs Oldenburg wants us to merge the boys and girls' student council which means that I'll be given a new title of 'head girl' and Milo Thatch from the boys school will be 'head boy'. Alongside that, I was thinking of putting your name forward to be in charge of managing the tutoring scheme for both sides of the school since there is a wider selection of tutor/student combinations now, some of the pairs will need to be reworked. Are you alright with that?"

"Yeah, I'd love to do that!" Belle assured her. "I can make an Excel spreadsheet and pair everyone up by next week at the latest."

"I knew I could count on you. You're going to make such a good student council head next year." A series of loud noises outside the room made Pocahontas groan. "Sounds like coaches one and two have arrived. Here is the list of people joining the new and improved student council and a spare key for this room. I'll see you soon, Belle."

Pocahontas was one of the kindest people Belle had met at Northuldra Academy so far and it amazed her time and time again how self-assured and driven she was. Pocahontas was one of the only people in the school she considered a friend. They didn't meet up unless the topic of conversation was something to do with their duties and Pocahontas didn't beat around the bush when it came to addressing things. She said what she meant and meant what she said. Most of her other friends had drifted away months ago due to drama or different interests and also because Belle decided to focus on her studies and cut off most of the people in her old friendship group. That wasn't to say that Belle enjoyed being alone all of the time but when it got too much, she had Jane and Mowgli to talk to.

She had English Literature at 4pm so she spent an hour trying to locate the cafe to get a mug of hot chocolate and then went to her room to start making the tutoring spreadsheet.

She added Charlotte and Tiana to the list of tutors and then clicked on the first student's profile which was of a smiling boy with rosy cheeks and brown eyes. Luca Paguro. 13 years old. Italian. Failing physics. Belle typed a few key words into the program she had coded and came up with the red haired girl who had been distracting her from her work in the library a couple of weeks ago. Belle typed Ariel's name next to Luca's and scrolled down.

The next student was a young man named Aladdin with shoulder-length black hair and long eyelashes, his lips curled into a confident smirk. 16 years old. From Agrabah. Orphan. Failing maths. On police records for theft. He matched with two people: Jasmine who Belle had played chess against a few times and Eugene Fitzherbert who Belle recognised as Rapunzel's boyfriend. According to Rapunzel, Eugene used to be a thief as well, under the alias Flynn Rider but had turned his life around when he met her. Belle rolled her eyes and put down his name. Flynn suited him far better than Eugene did.

She clicked on the next student and checked her watch. Five minutes had passed. She would be done in no time. This student wasn't smiling but Belle could still picture the gap in between his front two teeth when he did. He was another person besides Pocahontas who she considered a friend but she hadn't spoken to him nor seen him in months. Hiro Hamada. 14 years old. Robotics prodigy. Orphan. Former bot fighter. Refuses to show up for classes - in need of a positive role model. Belle shook her head. That sounded about right. He was the residential younger brother of a lot of students and one of the brightest kids she knew but after his brother Tadashi's death, he was bound to be struggling to get by. Belle paused and looked up at the sound of knocking on her door.

"Hello?"

There was nobody there but the piece of paper stuck to the door let her know exactly who it was who had knocked. She picked up the familiar piece of artwork, hands trembling with a faint trace of a smile. The drawing was of her, sitting in her favourite armchair in the library, looking out of the window with a copy of Little Women on her lap. It was created on the same day that the artist told Belle he loved her. Belle placed the drawing on her desk and then went back to her laptop, staring at the screen for a while before finally making up her mind. She didn't bother putting Hiro's name into the program. She typed in Adam's name and then moved onto the next student quickly before she changed her mind.

『• • • ✎ • • •』

At 3.30pm, Belle put down the book she was reading and got changed into the Northuldra Academy uniform which was now compulsory for all students to wear to lessons. It was put in place so that there could be less of a differentiation between people's social class at the establishment. One of Northuldra Academy's goals was to treat everybody equally no matter whether people came from royalty or used to live on the streets.

What was compulsory for everyone and was supposed to be collected from Zazu at the front desk was a black or white shirt, a tie, a blazer with the school logo on the upper sleeve and a brooch with the emblem of either the Fire, Wind, Aqua or Earth design depending on how old they were.

The colours of the ties and blazers of those in the Fire dorms were burgundy and the design of the brooch was a red salamander which served a double purpose as a USB stick and had ruby eyes that could change colour.

Everyone in the Wind dorms had to wear either white or grey blazers and ties along with a silver brooch which could be used as a watch and was supposed to be a hurricane, but looked a bit more like an angry snowflake.

People in the Earth dorms had gotten the luckiest with their uniforms in Belle's opinion with black blazers, dark green ties and simple emerald brooches which were magnetic, could be used as a portable charger and to top it all... could glow in the dark.

However, Belle was in the Aqua dorms which meant she had one more year until she could have a coveted emerald brooch. She wore a blue cardigan underneath her navy blue blazer with silver lining since it was so cold around the building at the moment (evidently, somebody had forgotten to turn on the central heating) and pulled on white woollen tights, a checked blue skirt and tied her hair back with one of her trademark bows before pinning the blue and silver horse brooch - which had a photograph of her family inside - to her lapel, buckling up her shoes, grabbing her satchel and heading to her lesson.

She had reached the top of the stairs when she realised she had forgotten her glasses.

Chapter Text

On numerous occasions, Belle's visits to the libraries had ended up with her accidentally overhearing conversations she didn't particularly want to hear and witnessing things her eyeballs could have done without seeing. For example, she definitely could have done without knowing that Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles from the Fire Dorms were planning a midnight feast later because technically speaking, she was supposed to report things like that to a teacher. They were bound to be snitched on anyway and it wasn't going to be worth it if Te Ka ever found out.

Belle had also discovered that Anna Oldenburg's new boyfriend, Hans was cheating on her which she would be sure to inform Anna about later and that General Li and his extremely attractive son, Li Shang were going to be holding self defence classes in one of the gyms (North Mount had 3!) at some point in the near future.

She also had to suffer through long, boring conversations about things she couldn't care less about such as Vanellope von Schweetz gushing to her friends Lilo and Boo about a new mobile game called Candyland she was addicted to. The three of them had left Belle alone in her 'thinking corner' half an hour ago though so Belle managed to get her homework done and was halfway through a crossword puzzle. 

Then, 4 more girls came and sat at the table closest to where Belle was happily curled up in a bean bag with a book. Snow White, Jasmine, Ariel and Aurora. Belle prided herself on remembering most people's names. They were whispering intently among themselves and then Aurora stood up and began walking towards Belle.

"Hi Belle, I don't know if we've met before. I'm Aurora."

"Hey."

"Do you happen to know a woman called Mavis?"

"I mean, there was a library assistant called Mavis I used to talk to every now and then in London. Why?" 

Aurora looked back over to the other three and nodded, "It's her." Then she turned back to Belle, "Do you want to sit with us for a second and then we can explain."

"Ok..." Belle pulled out a chair and gave Snow White, Jasmine and Ariel a small smile, "Hi."

"Hi, Belle. I love your accent." Ariel beamed.

"Thank you."

"Alright. Mavis is my aunt and she used to make treasure hunts for me to complete, so when she gave me a clue that made me go and talk to a girl called Cinderella, I assumed it was just a normal treasure hunt like the ones I was used to. Well, she didn't know anything about anything but she knew who Mavis was. She was one of Cinderella's teachers when she was at school and I thought it was weird but..."

"You're rambling." Jasmine sighed.

"Shut up." Aurora unfolded a pink square of paper, "During the holidays, I got a note from Mavis saying this."

Aurora,

I'm going away for a while. It might be for a bit longer than the trips I've made before so the next time I'll see you will be in the new year. Before you start worrying, I'm fine but I do need to come clean about the 'treasure hunt'. Mrs Oldenburg is hiding something about us all and she's using the school to do it. Don't trust her. I can't say exactly what is happening and I wish there was an easier way to do this. Believe me, I've tried so many times but it doesn't work. There's something special about you, Cinderella, and those three friends of yours. I need you to find the others. They will all know who I am and I have put clues in the second half of this letter to help. Tell them everything you know and work out where she's put the book. If there's an emergency, you know what to do. 

---

Known:

Beautiful (Fr) 

Magnolia 

Colours of the Wind

Ocean - ask Ariel 

Plant related to Winter 

DunBroch 

The younger one 

Her Palace 

(There are 2 more we still need to find)

I love you,

Mavis.   

"Belle means 'beautiful' in French and you were one of the first people named Belle who came to mind." Ariel explained. "You know, being on the student council and all."

"Ok, but surely if something seriously bad was happening with Mrs Oldenburg, she'd go to the police, right? It seems kinda weird that she would put this in riddles like it's a game." Belle said, "Also, how can you be so sure I'm a part of this? What if there's another French girl called Belle in this place who knows a Mavis?"

"You're right, I should have shown you a picture of Mavis. I'll do that next time, you're so smart! This is probably why she put your name first!" Aurora said. 

Belle tilted her head to the side. "And this is all serious, right? This isn't some kind of massive joke?" 

"It's not." 

"Ok, well..." Belle shrugged, "I'm just having a hard time believing that Mrs Oldenburg is involved in anything shady. There's just no way. She's not the type."

"Well she lied and didn't tell me she was my aunt. Also, she was paying my stepmother money for some unknown reason behind my back. I don't trust her." Snow White said.

Belle's eyes bulged and she mentally added Snow White being an Oldenburg as one of the most shocking things she had ever heard in the library. And there were some serious contenders. One of the most noteworthy being that Anastasia Romanova had eloped with her boyfriend, Dimitri soon after her 18th birthday and hadn't gone back home to Russia like the teachers told everyone. 

Belle checked the note again, "Ok, and what book is she talking about?"

"There was a poem that led us to Cinderella that we found in a book in the library by a lady called Minerva, but it had the name Cinderella changed to Carla. We assume she means the original version of that since the only one we could find said 'version two' on it." 

"Right." Belle scanned over the list of clues. "Ok, well I guess I'll think about who the rest of the clues are about. Am I allowed to copy them down?"

Aurora nodded, "That makes sense to do. I think we should only have two copies of the clues though. Just in case."

And that was how Belle became involved in the undoing of Northuldra Academy. 

『• • • ✎ • • •』

Later that evening, Belle and Aurora decided to meet up in a cafe to talk some more and Belle was so engrossed in the conversation that she didn't see Adam approaching the table until it was too late and he was towering above her.

"Hey, Aurora."

Belle held her breath.

"Hello, Belle."

"Wait, since when did you two know each other?" Aurora asked.

Belle shrugged and avoided eye contact. "He's on the tutoring scheme. Hello, Adam."

"Oh right. Well, I've got my first tutoring session with Cinderella next week. I'm failing literally everything and I'm not even working any new music right now. I'm just so drained all the time, you know what I mean?"

Adam rolled his eyes. "It's your own fault. Nobody told you to get involved with Ra..."

"Shhh! This is why I don't tell you anything!" Aurora checked her phone and stretched, "I'm going to get a coffee. Do you want anything, Belle?"

"Can you get me a peach and orange tea, please?"

"Sure." 

When Aurora had gone, Adam sat in her seat. "So. How have you been?"

"Fine. You?"

"Alright, I guess."

"Thanks for the drawing."

"Yeah well it was your favourite one so..." Adam bit his lip. "Belle? Are we good?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean with our relationship."

"What about it?"

"I don't want things to be like this. With you hating me. I can't stand the thought of you hating me."

Belle scoffed and stood up, gathering her things together, planning to go straight back to her room and pair Hiro with someone else as a mentor. She couldn't think of why she thought it was a good idea in the first place to entrust Adam with him. It had been in a moment of weakness - seeing the drawing made her remember the good times she had with Adam and who he really was.

"Belle, please hear me out." 

Belle glanced over at Aurora who was standing in line pretending to be on her phone, clearly curious about what they were discussing so passionately. She sat back down.

"What do you want?" 

"I just... I don't know. Was this a mistake? I want to make things right, Belle. I want us to talk. Like, actually talk."

"You have some nerve." Belle muttered under her breath. "Some. Nerve."

"I think... Well I mean I hope... Agh, the words aren't coming to me right now. One second." Adam began massaging his forehead. 

"You know what really made me angry? The fact that you could be off partying in Atlantica the day after we broke up like none of it even mattered." Belle exploded. "You never really cared about me, did you?"

"Of course I did." Adam caught himself. "I mean, I do! I just... I thought you wanted us to break up!"

"I never wanted us break up." Belle reminded him. "It was all you and it was also you who suggested that we made our relationship public. Not me. I didn't mind that we kept us a secret. You were the one who minded. So for you to then turn around and say that you want to break up is bizarre to me and I still don't understand it."

"I thought it was the right thing to do! I thought that was what you wanted! And you didn't exactly seem upset about it. If you would please just listen to me..."

"No! I'm not going to listen to you! It's not fair! And you know what, Adam? I hope whichever girl you're with now breaks your heart and you're heartbroken and sad for the rest of your pathetic little life!" 

"If you would just stop shouting for one minute so I can explain, maybe we could get somewhere!" Adam yelled. "First of all, it was Eric's girlfriend's party..."

"I know whose party it was!"

"Right, so did you know that I didn't actually want to go and was actually miserable for most of the trip? Huh? Exactly. No you didn't. So shut up and listen! I'm not with anyone else because I still love you and I never once changed my mind about us going public. When I told you I loved you the first time, you pretended you didn't hear me and then didn't speak to me for two whole weeks even though I said there was no pressure to say it back! I thought you were thinking of ways to break up with me so I wanted to do it first so it didn't hurt as much but clearly..."

Belle's face crumpled. "Why didn't you say anything?!"

"Why did you ignore me for two weeks?!"

"I was scared and freaking out about how real things had gotten. We're only 17 and I haven't got a clue about love or how relationships are supposed to work." Belle burst into tears, "And if we go public, I don't want people to send hate to either of us based upon our relationship. I'm sorry, I should have told you how I was feeling but I thought I just needed some space to work through my worries by myself and then one day turned into two and then a week passed and then two weeks and then it was too late."

 Adam tucked strands of hair that were falling out of her ponytail behind her ears and sighed. "I wish you'd told me this ages ago. We really need to work on our communication. I'm sorry for assuming the worst and initiating the breakup and we don't have to go public yet if you're not ready."

"But then I do at the same time! That's the problem! And it's so selfish of me to want that because it could damage your career and I don't know what I want and it's annoying and I'm sorry for being an idiot and crying..."

"Hey, it's ok. I'm scared too and don't have a clue what I'm doing." Adam whispered, "You're not alone in that. All I know is that I love making you smile and spending time with you and how we bring out the best in each other and I don't want to lose that. You know, I've written 4 songs about you since we broke up."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh."

"I wrote a 20k word story about us living on a farm in the countryside." Belle admitted.

"We're such a mess." Adam smiled and looked down at the table. "So... What do you want to do? Do you want to at least start with telling friends and family?"

"I'm not sure if I can though, Addy."

"Why not, sweetheart?"

Belle melted into her chair, "Because this is terrifying. Even if you don't fall out of love with me, there's so many more different things that could go wrong!"

"Okayyy, but what if they didn't?"

Belle sat up straight and wiped her eyes as Aurora approached the table giving Belle a knowing look while putting a cup on the table.

"Here's your tea. I've gotta run, Belle. I'll text you!"

"Ok, bye, Aurora."

"Belle? Do you want us to make a list of pros and cons?"

"It's ok, I've done that already and I've had a lot of time to reflect. I can do this" Belle took in a deep breath and nodded slowly, "I want to do this."

"Sure?"

"I'm sure."

Adam's face lit up and he stood up so quickly he nearly knocked over his chair. "Are you sure that you're sure? You're not just saying that?"

"I am."

"We can tell everyone?" 

"Yes." 

"Ok, but if you change your mind, you'll tell me?"

"I will, I promise. I want to do this."

『• • • ✎ • • •』

"I am so confused." Adam said from Belle's bathroom where he was brushing his teeth. "So this Mavis woman is Aurora's aunt and there's a book that you need to find that supposedly explains everything?"

"Yeah, but you can't say anything to anyone about it." Belle replied from within the cocoon of blankets wrapped around her as she clacked away on the keys of her laptop. 

"What are you writing? A continuation of our love story on the farm?"

Belle rolled her eyes. "I regret telling you about that so much." 

"Seriously, though. What's your newest work in progress?" 

"So the main character is this boy called Christopher Robin, right? And he has this bunch of animal friends. Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Kanga, Roo, Tigger, Eeyore, Rabbit and Owl are the main characters I've got so far and it's basically about their adventures in a place called the Hundred Acre Wood which is based on this place in England called Ashdown Forest where I used to go with Jane and Tarzan all the time."

"That sounds cool. Am I allowed to read it?"

"Yeah, it's just a rough draft at the moment though."

"I'm sure I'll love it. Send it to me." Adam came out of the bathroom and leaned on the wall, staring at her expectantly.

"What?"

"Oh nothing, I was just wondering when you were going to allow yourself to take a break. You've been working all day in that exact same position."

"This is how I relax though." 

"Belle."

"Fine, well what are you suggesting I do instead?"

"Do you want to get up and chat to people for a bit? Philip wanted to have a games night at 9 if you want to go to that and get to know some of that lot a bit better or we could go and explore the place a bit more. Or we could do something else. I don't know, what do you want to do?"

"We can go to the games night." Belle rolled over and patted around on her bed for her phone. "I never thought I'd say this but I actually missed how bossy and annoying you are." 

"Missed you too, baby." 

Chapter Text

If Belle had known that going to Philip and Eric's game night would almost get her kicked off the student council and force her to suffer through the longest night of her life, there was no way Adam could have convinced her to go. But she didn't, so she entered the common room blissfully unaware of what the night had in store for her.

The common rooms in North Mount still had a few improvements that needed to be made, but they were still far better than the ones at the old buildings, so it wasn't a surprise that it was filled to the brim with students. Even with Adam's height advantage, it took 10 minutes to find the tiny corner that his friends had claimed. The sofas, beanbags and cushions were all being used so they sat in a circle on the carpet with their heads bowed.

There was a line of four expectant children still in their red uniform standing in front of Philip, Aurora, Eric and Ariel who each had a Capri Sun in their hands that they were wrestling with. Belle didn't bother asking questions, she just followed Adam's lead and joined the circle.

Aurora managed to get the straw in first and handed the drink back to one of the children with a smug smile, "Do you need my help, Philip?"

Philip ignored her and continued struggling, occasionally looking up to glare at the remaining three children who had started complaining about how long it was taking. After Eric and Ariel finally managed to get the straws in, Philip admitted defeat and handed the Capri Sun to Aurora.

"No manners." Eric commented when the children went on their way without thanking them.

Adam cleared his throat loudly.

"Oh, when did you get here?" Philip nodded at Belle, "Hello again."

"So did you actually bring any games or..."

"Nope. They're by the door in my room still." Philip said.

"Well go and get them then."

"I can't hear myself think." Aurora moaned, resting her head on Ariel's shoulder. "Isn't there anywhere else we could go?"

"Yeah, it is kinda loud." Eric agreed, "Also, I was thinking we could pop out and get food before we started playing anything."

"There's no way you or anyone else is going to be allowed to go out for ages." Belle said. "Look at how much it's snowing."

Aurora stood on her tip-toes to look out of the window and smiled. "It's so pretty."

"That's because you're not out in it." Philip said.

 Eric hung his head. "I really wanted snacks though." 

"Isn't the café open?" Belle asked.

"You know how all the cafeteria staff are on the culinary arts course? Well, they have a super long extended practical lesson today, so it's closed and it's a shame because I really wanted to have some herbal tea before I went to bed." Eric explained.

"HeRbAl TeA." Philip and Adam guffawed.

"Welp. I don't know about you lot but I'm going to go and raid Jasmine's room. She's always got snacks." said Aurora.

"Yeah, and I need to go and get the board games I left in my room." Philip stretched. "Adam, come and help me carry them."

Philip and Aurora stood up and immediately stepped into the puddle of Capri Sun that was waiting for them.

Philip said nothing and stared down at his white trainers in resignation.

"My socks!" Aurora howled. "My lovely fluffy socks!"

"You're going upstairs now anyway so you can just change them." Adam dodged Aurora's uppercut and made a big deal of walking around the mess before turning to Eric. "You can go and see if there's a quieter room that we can do this in. Then, let's meet in the hallway outside once everyone's done."

Philip nodded, bending down to clean up the orange juice. "And let's be quick, guys. It's getting late."

『• • • ✎ • • •』

Belle ended up following Aurora and Ariel to the Wind dorms even though it was technically against the rules. She kept her head down and turned to face the wall every time someone passed them. 

"You good?" Ariel asked, blowing a ridiculously big red bubble. Bubblegum was her new favourite thing, and somehow had managed to acquire a large stash of weirdly wonderful bubblegum flavours.

Belle straightened her shoulders, "Mhm."

Aurora went into her room so she could change her socks while Ariel and Belle went opposite to knock on Jasmine's door.

"Huh. That's weird, she said she was staying in tonight."

"Maybe she changed her mind." Belle suggested, missing her laptop, fluffy blanket, her bed and Adam's warm arms around her.

"I doubt it. She had a video conference with the National Geographic people today about her Save The Tigers campaign." Aurora replied emerging from her room in new socks and slippers.

"Oh, that's interesting!" Belle blurted out, forgetting her resolve. "Does she want to be an endangered species biologist? My friend Mowgli is really interested in that kind of thing. "

"Nah, she just really likes tigers. National Geographic reached out to do a collaboration with her about it so that's what she's been working on."

Belle's eyes widened. "Oh wow! That's a pretty big deal, right?"

Aurora shrugged. "She's probably been doing stuff like this her entire life. Her family is super wealthy."

"Aurora!"

"What?"

"You shouldn't say things like that! I'm sorry about her, Belle."

"Am I lying? Your family is rich too. Why is it so bad to just admit that? It's facts."

"Then what are you, Aurora?"

"I'm self-made, baby."

Ariel rolled her eyes and moved down a few doors to knock on Snow White's door. "Snow? Jasmine?"

"Ugh." Jasmine groaned when she saw who it was. "I thought I'd escaped you two for the rest of the night."

"Hi!" Ariel beamed. "How did your meeting go?"

"Great and now I'm going to close the door."

"The cafeteria's closed. Do you have any snacks?" Aurora asked, pulling the door back open.

"No. Get lost." Jasmine gestured to Belle to come closer. "Watch out for these two, Belle. They're blood-sucking leeches. They'll steal your food, your clothes and your will to live."

"You just wants to hoard everything like a squirrel because all the talk about us being locked in here for an indefinite amount of time has been getting to you." Aurora let Jasmine slam the door in her face and counted to ten. "Fine, well, I'll admit when I've been beaten. Now what?"

"I'm just thinking about all the food that's being made in the kitchens right now that we can't have. It's so unfair!" Ariel's eyes began to water. "And they just started the baking section too!"

"How do you know so much about the culinary arts course?" Belle asked.

Ariel shrugged. "My sister took it on as an additional course last month. She's really bad though so she's probably going to drop it."

"I have an idea. So you're telling me of your sisters is in the kitchens baking right now?"

"Yeah, why?" Ariel crossed her arms.

"Well then all we have to do is find her and get her to give us any leftovers."

"That's a terrible idea, Aurora! They're in a lesson! Let's just go and meet back up with the boys and have a nice night."

"But people go to their friend's lessons all the time! We'll just pretend we have a valid reason to be there. Come on!" Aurora pleaded.

"But it's not allowed! And I don't want to risk getting caught by Chef Remy." Ariel crossed her arms.

"Belle?"

"Whatever we're doing, can we hurry up please? This hallway is freezing."

"So, you'll come with me?"

"I'm going to regret it, but I guess. Just know, if Chef Remy turns up, I'm out."

"We're going to get into trouble." Ariel sighed.

『• • • ✎ • • •』

"Alright. It's a quick in and out operation. We ask which kitchen Adella is in, convince her to give us snacks and then leave. No loitering because if Chef Remy catches us..."

"Alright, Ariel. We get it." Aurora huffed.

Belle put up her hood and followed Aurora's fast paced walk into the hallway leading into the maze of kitchens that were exact replicas of the ones used in restaurants. This was going to be the third key rule that she would be breaking today. The first was Adam coming up to her room, but they had never been caught and the reason was completely innocent anyway. The second was going into the Wind dormitories for no good reason and now she was going to be disturbing a whole class of students for greedy purposes. There was one half of her that didn't particularly care because it was going to be entertaining watching how things played out but the other half of her was shaking like a leaf and panicking that her golden-girl status at the school would be tarnished. 

The chances of them getting caught and Belle getting into get into trouble were high, but then again, she was finally becoming close with people her age who were also a part of Adam's circle. But she couldn't get into trouble! Besides Belle's fear of failure and being a disappointment, she could think of few worse things than Jane and Tarzan finding out that she was breaking school rules. Jane worried enough about her as it was. 

Ariel seemed to be having similar thoughts although it would be significantly worse for her, being in the position she was in. Belle shook herself. She was overreacting. They couldn't get into that much trouble. She had to learn to live a little and stop being such an overthinker. The most entertaining stories she ever had to tell were about things she had overheard in the library. She had never lived out anything exciting in all her years at Northuldra Academy. Maybe it was time to start...

"Excuse me?"

"AGH!" Belle leapt three feet into the air and clutched onto Ariel who was also screeching right into Aurora's ear.

Both were on the verge of making a run for it when their panicked vision unblurred and they saw that the kind-faced woman with greying hair wasn't Chef Remy.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you but I'm not sure that you're allowed to be back here right now." The woman wore a turquoise apron with stitched patterns on it and various herbs and plants were sticking out of the pockets. She seemed familiar but Belle couldn't put her finger on where she recognised her from.

"I'm so sorry, we were looking for my sister, Adella? I'm sorry, we didn't mean to bother anyone. Please don't tell Chef Remy. We know we aren't meant to be here." Aurora discreetly stepped on Ariel's foot to bring an end to her babbling and flashed the woman the smile she reserved for Mally when she arrived at functions late.

"We know we shouldn't have come so late, but Ariel here is going through something very personal that she needed to speak to her sister about straight away." Aurora spread her hand theatrically. "You understand the importance of family bonds don't you, Miss? The indescribable relationship between siblings? Do you have any siblings?"

Belle pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Yes, I'm a triplet." The woman replied patiently.

"Well then of course you would understand the..."

A confused boy with curly red hair covered in flour poked his head out of the kitchen, interrupting Aurora's waffling. "Julieta? I don't think you want to come in here just yet. I think I made a slight misjudgment with..."

"Wait a second, Julieta Madrigal? I heard that you were running some classes here! I'm such a big fan! I've read all your cookbooks and I'm in the middle of watching your cooking show with my sister and her husband." Belle gushed.

"Oh, that's lovely." Julieta smiled, slightly distracted by the student in need of her help. "I suppose you can go and speak to your sister but please be quick and don't distract the rest of the students."

"We won't. Thank you so much." Aurora beamed, frog-marching Belle and Ariel into the kitchen the redheaded boy had just come out of.

Belle sensed that there was something very wrong the moment her eyes adjusted to the absolute ruination of the kitchen. Firstly, it was so quiet that she could hear Ariel's heartbeat. Secondly, there four smashed eggs on the ground. Thirdly, there was a thin wisp of smoke coming from the oven closest to them and there was the fact that the floor was absolutely covered in flour and that there were several trays of burnt cupcakes stacked on top of each other along with a wooden spoon that that been snapped in half and three bowls (or had they been plates?) that had smashed.  

A single corner remained by the door where you could still see the floor, and this was where a student – 19-year-old Colette Tatou was sitting alone with her back against the wall and her eyes closed taking in deep breaths.

"Well, Adella isn't in here. Let's keep it moving." Ariel whispered, attempting to tiptoe past Colette. 

Colette's eyes snapped open, and she fixed her steely blue eyes on Ariel's face with a mixture of disgust, confusion and annoyance. Ariel spotted the knife in her hand that had raspberry jam stuck to it and gulped when Colette tilted her head and said in a strong French accent, "Can I help you?"

"You're French too!" Belle exclaimed, "I'm Belle. Where are you from?"

Colette nodded. "I am Colette Tatou, and I was born in Paris."

"Well, it's lovely to meet you, Colette. This is Aurora and Ariel, and we were just looking for Ariel's older sister, Adella. Do you know her?"

Colette shrugged, "I don't know anyone called Adella."

"Well, that was just an excuse anyway. We're actually here to see if there was any chance there was any extra food you lot had made that we could have since the café's closed." Aurora said.

"You can't go without food from the café for one day?" Colette's eyes narrowed and she gestured to the clutter around them. "Besides, does it look like there is anything to eat here?"

"Okay, but this isn't the only kitchen, right?" Aurora persevered.

Colette sighed, "You are very persistent."

Just then, Julieta and the redheaded boy entered the kitchen. Julieta stood very still for several seconds, blinked and then left again shaking her head.

"LINGUINI!" Colette thundered. "I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU IF YOU STEPPED FOOT IN THIS KITCHEN AGAIN, I WOULD KILL YOU!"

Ariel yelped, clapping her hands over her ears but Linguini seemed unaffected, looking after Julieta anxiously. He smiled at Ariel and picked up a broom. "Don't worry, she's always saying things like that. She doesn't mean it though. She loves me."

"I cannot stand you." Colette spat, her tone significantly softer, indicating that this probably wasn't entirely true.

Ariel nudged Aurora in excitement and Aurora elbowed her back to say that she noticed it too.

"Anyway," Colette stood up, still clutching the raspberry jam covered knife and eyeing Linguini distrustingly, "let me see what I can get for you."

Aurora, Ariel and Belle followed Colette into the hallway to a much cleaner kitchen. Everyone from the kitchen that Linguini had wrecked seemed to have moved there and so it was extremely crowded but the students somehow managed to make it work, moving around like dancers in a choreographed performance with the utmost precision and delicacy. The hum of mixers filled the air along with the aroma of freshly baked goodness and happy chatter of some of the younger students who were thrilled to be allowed to be up and about so late.

The kitchen was filled with students in aprons of all different shapes, sizes and colours. Since it was so late, Julieta had said that they didn't have to wear their official uniform, but she hadn't held in account how similar some of the students' sense of humour were because there were 23 people wearing identical aprons with that said 'Hot Stuff Coming Through'.

Colette's apron was the exact same shade as her shiny brown bob and had tiny red hearts along the bottom of it that Linguini had sewn on. It had taken all night because he kept pricking his fingers and she didn't think she could ever forget the ridiculously large smile he had on his face when he presented the new and improved apron to her. It was so hard for her to stay angry at him for long because just seeing his stupid face was enough to make her heart feel warm and fuzzy. She would never admit that to anyone other than Linguini himself though.

"Wait here." Colette instructed Aurora, Ariel and Belle. She ducked into a small cupboard and took out a breadbasket and some tongs.

"Do you think Chef Remy will kick Linguini off the course?" Ariel asked Belle.

"Chef Remy will probably just let him off." One of the 'Hot Stuff Coming Through' apron wearers nearby said. "Linguini is his favourite student."

"Really? Even though he doesn't seem to be very good at cooking?"

"Yep. Chef Remy refuses to give up on him because he is a firm believer that everyone can cook."

"The motto is anyone can cook." Colette corrected, coming back from her rounds from every corner of the kitchen to collect every disfigured and slightly burnt piece of food and put it in the basket. "Here you are. Now get out."

Aurora, Ariel and Belle thanked her profusely and immediately made their exit back to the safety of the common room. Ariel wasted no time in telling the boys all about their quest, including dramatic impersonations and exaggerations that rivalled Belle's storytelling skills.

Once she had finished and everyone had stopped laughing, Eric cleared his throat. "Well, I didn't find anywhere quieter to go that's not been locked already so I think we should just stay here."

"It's too loud though and Honeymaren will be coming to kick everyone out and lock up this room too in half an hour." Philip said, checking the time. It was 11.30pm which marked 2 hours since the game night was supposed to have started.

"I don't see why we can't just go up to one our rooms. Who's got the tidiest room?"

Everyone looked at Adam.

"No way. Absolutely not. No."

『• • • ✎ • • •』

Five minutes later, the six of them were traipsing up the stairs to Adam's room, strategically placing themselves in places where Adam wouldn't yell at them for being too close to his Lego Eiffel Tower or where they could potentially dislodge the stack of comics at the end of his bed. Belle was the only one allowed to sit on the bed with him so Eric and Ariel shared his beanbag and Philip and Aurora had to share the window seat.

"Don't hate me..." Aurora yawned, "But I'm a bit too tired to play any games now."

Eric, Ariel and Adam nodded and yawned too one after the other. Philip looked at them incredulously, "Well what was even the point of coming up here, then?"

"We could just talk and get to know each other better?" Ariel suggested. 

Belle, realising that by being in Adam's room, she was breaking a fourth school rule in just one day, lay down and stared at the ceiling, chewing on a chocolate chip cookie to calm her racing heart.

"I'm not sure that I want to know any of you better. Except maybe Belle. You seem cool." Aurora said.

"Thanks. You seem to be a decent person too."

Philip scoffed, "I can't believe this. I was so ready to beat you all in Jenga."

"Well maybe you should have actually brought the games when we were in the common room then." Aurora shrugged.

"Oh, shut up. Can someone sit in between me and Aurora because she's actually giving me a headache." Philip threw a cushion at Aurora which she promptly caught and threw back so Adam stomped over to tear it out of Philip's hands.

"No throwing in my room!"

Then Ariel spoke up with the suggestion that would ruin her life. "How about we play Truth or Dare?"

Philip clapped his hands together. "There you go! Strawberry is smart."

Ariel barely acknowledged the nickname. She had stopped arguing with him about it ages ago.

"Alright. Adam starts. Truth or dare?"

Adam shrugged, "Truth."

"Who do you think is the worst-dressed in the room?" Philip asked.

"Aurora." Adam said immediately.

"Oh wow, okay. You didn't need any thinking time for that one." Aurora sniffed indignantly. She was wearing an oversized blue sweater and grey shorts with fluffy orange socks. "I'm comfortable. Plus, you're literally wearing odd socks right now."

Adam ripped off the blanket Belle had placed over them both to expose his stripy yellow and spotted orange feet even more, "I'll have you know, Aurora Borealis, that by wearing socks that don't match, I am in fact leading a revolution against uniform and decorum. I am saying NO to..." 

Belle sighed heavily and moved the blanket back down. "Alright. It's my turn and I'm going to go for truth too."

"What's a nickname you really hate being called?" Philip asked.

"I don't know, probably Jingle Bells."

"Alright, thank you. I'll keep that in mind." Philip grinned and Ariel gave her a sympathetic smile.

"Aurora, it's your turn." Philip said.

"Dare."

Philip opened his mouth to speak but Ariel beat him to it. "Philip, shut up, I've been waiting for this moment for ages. I dare you to let me tweet something from your account."

Aurora groaned. "Nothing stupid, okay? I don't need Mally and Raven complaining about something I didn't even do."

"Ok, ok."

"Ariel, that's the definition of something stupid." Aurora grabbed her phone back and shook her head at the stream of questions that she had answered thousands of times before started pouring in. "Ugh, whatever. Philip, it's your turn."

"Truth." Philip said promptly.

"Why haven't you asked Aurora out yet?" Ariel asked.

Aurora pretended to be busy responding to tweets and didn't look up.

"I feel like you have knowledge I don't." Philip smirked, "Are you saying she wants me to ask her out?" 

"I'm sitting right here you know."

"Alright then, do you?"   

Aurora shrugged. "Not particularly, but you could still try and ask."

Adam yawned. "Okay, we really don't care. Ariel, it's your turn." 

"Truth."

"What's the thing you've found the most annoying about Eric so far?" Adam asked, expecting Ariel to gush about how Eric was perfect and the best boyfriend ever so he could make fun of them.

"Well, there are a few things actually, but to pick a few, I'd say he walks really slowly and he's very indecisive."

"Oh yeah, thanks for that." Eric stood up and pushed the beanbag over, so that she fell on the ground. 

"But my favourite thing about Eric is that he's..."

"Okay, but did anyone ask? NEXT!" Aurora looked over at Eric, "Truth or Dare?"

Eric frowned at her. "Just because you're bitter about being single doesn't mean that you get to be horrible to everyone in a happy relationship."

"Oh calm down, it was a joke!" Aurora went back to answering questions on her phone. "It's your turn."

"Dare."

"I dare you to go public with you and Ariel's relationship right now." Aurora challenged.

"Ariel doesn't want to, so no." Eric turned to Ariel for backup but she was looking up at the ceiling, deep in thought. 

"I don't mind. We can do that."

"What? But Ariel, your dad..."

"You know what, I don't care! Andy had the right idea sticking up for herself. I'm not going to creep around hiding our relationship from him forever and besides it'll be ages until I have to face him because of this blizzard."

"This is a very bad idea, Ari."

Ariel shrugged, took out her phone and sent the post that would land her on the trending page of Twitter for the rest of the month.

Belle's mouth fell open and she contemplated this girl who had been scared of getting into trouble with Chef Remy less than an hour ago deciding to reveal something that Belle herself had been panicking about for months. Whether it was impulsive or not, she couldn't help but admire Ariel's bravery.  

Philip yawned and slapped Adam's arm as if nothing major had just happened. "Adam, it's your turn."

"I'm not playing anymore." Adam pulled the blanket over his head and closed his eyes. "Goodnight."

"Belle?"

Belle stifled a yawn. "Truth."

Aurora looked up from her phone. "Have you told anyone about the Mavis thing."

Belle looked away sheepishly. "Well... Just Adam."

"Oh, well it might be a good idea to say that I told Eric too." Ariel added.

Philip looked at them all quizzically. "About what?"

"Well you may as well just tell him about everything too at this point!" Aurora said, "Come on guys, I trusted you!"

"I won't tell any more people, I promise." Ariel said. "But come on, they were bound to find out anyway."

"And I bet Cinderella will tell her boyfriend too. And what if Snow White has told all her friends? That's easily 20 people." Aurora fussed.

"Do you mind if you have this discussion later? It's late and we've got classes tomorrow." Adam said sleepily.

"Yeah, alright. Well, it was nice hanging out everyone. We should do this again soon." Philip stretched and started walking towards the door.

"Yeah, maybe just be a little bit better prepared next time." Ariel smiled.

"Belle? You staying?" Adam whispered softly.

"Better not." Belle replied. "See you tomorrow, Addy."

"Night, Belle. Love you."

The second Belle, Eric, Ariel, Aurora and Philip took a step out of Adam's room, they walked slap bang into Mr Cogsworth, the resident dorm director of the boys' Aqua dorms.

『• • • ✎ • • •』

Later, Belle would hear that Bubbles, Buttercup and Blossom had held a MASSIVE 'midnight feast' that turned into a full-blown party and when the resident dorm directors noticed that so many people were missing from their rooms, they decided to do a thorough check to ensure that everyone was where they were supposed to be. Ariel, Eric, Aurora, Philip and Belle were not the only ones to be caught by Mr Cogsworth that night and when he had finished writing down everyone's names, he made them all stand in a line while he issued their punishments right there and then.

Belle was put on detention duty for three months for 'disregarding rules implemented for safety' and 'trivialising the role of being a student council member'. Mr Cogsworth had wanted to get her kicked off the student council altogether but when Belle managed to get him to change his mind through the art of flattery. Then, through half-closed eyes, she acknowledged her wrong deeds and stumbled off to bed. It was only in the morning that she became painfully aware of the fact that she had just been in trouble for the first time. 

Eric and Philip were put on laundry duty indefinitely until Mr Cogsworth was sure that they had learned their lesson. Aurora got let off the easiest in Belle's opinion and was barred from both the music club and the common room for a month. He had to think long and hard for a discipline for Ariel but eventually, he just snitched on her to Ursula who put together a vigorous workout schedule for her so that she wouldn't have time to be sneaking around the boys' dorms in the dead of the night. It was as though he kept an assortment of punishments up his sleeve ready to be pulled out when needed at any given time.

But that wasn't the worst part. They all got letters sent home about their 'awful behaviour' and Belle felt extremely hard done by when she heard that Megara just let everyone in the Earth dorms off with promises not to do it again. She should have known that there was no escaping a harsh punishment with Mr Cogsworth. He rivalled Te Ka in strictness.

For the rest of the week, Belle kept her head down and kept to her boring schedule. Detention duty was chaotic which was to be expected but Belle could mostly handle everyone and the one allocated teacher was there too. It was remarkable what people got up to when a blizzard stopped them from going outside.

Bubbles, Buttercup and Blossom were given detention for the rest of the year so they were always there and Belle often struggled not to grab them by their shoulders and scream in their face that this was all their fault. To begin with, Pinocchio was also a regular because he kept on fabricating rumours about his classmates and lying to everyone for no reason. However Belle soon discovered his tell for lying which was that he would rub his nose and from then on it was easy to deal with him. She suggested that he joined the creative writing club and even gave him some pointers for his writing and soon, he started showing up less and less. Hiro was another regular because of him being a smartass in class and embarrassing his teachers. Then there was Giulia Marcovaldo who was constantly fighting with another student named Ercole Visconti. Belle quickly learned that it was best to keep them on opposite sides of the room. Even though Belle would never admit it, she actually started to enjoy spending time with some of the kids there and getting to understand why they behaved the way they did rather than just writing them off as 'bad kids'. 

Belle had learned her lesson about spending too much time around Aurora, Ariel, Eric and Philip and so there were only really two out of the ordinary things that she did after her run in with Mr Cogsworth. The first was getting one of the students from the Earth dorms to slip a note under Anna Oldenburg's door to let her know that Hans was a cheater. And as for the second thing...

When she next saw Adam and had finished her long rant about how unfair Mr Cogsworth was and how lucky he was that he didn't get into trouble, she looked at the multiple hair bobbles he kept on his wrist for them both and the careful way he touched everything and the way his eyes went all soft when he looked at her. She heard his loud unguarded laugh and listened to his long rambles about Star Wars while she worked on her story and all she could do was smile when he tried to relay all of the new French words he had learned on Duolingo... And somehow, she just knew and had never been more sure of anything in her life. 

"I love you, Addy."

Chapter Text

Jasmine glared out of the window in the hallway at the wintry confetti that was currently ruining her plans. No matter how many things there were to do at Northuldra Academy, Jasmine was the type of person who couldn't stand being trapped inside. It had been the cause of many arguments between her and her father who was extremely protective and didn't really understand the urges Jasmine got at random times of the day to walk around outside just for the sake of it. Before, she would go on walks all the time to clear her mind from all of the stresses and problems in life and she was finding it difficult to adjust.

Ariel was kept extremely busy with her swimming training, tutoring Luca, spending time with Eric, trying to convince her father to let her stay at Northuldra Academy, maintaining her thousands of friendships as well as having to keep on top of her schoolwork. Even though she was only across the hallway, Jasmine was seeing her less and less. Jasmine tried not to let it bother her too much though and she was planning on taking self defence classes with her and Andy in the mornings so they could hang out a bit more.

Aurora's obsession with trying to figure out what Mavis' letter meant was a bit tiresome at times so Jasmine wasn't really seeing her as much either but they still texted each other a lot. Aurora was also trying to figure out if she was really over Raven and ready to start a relationship with Philip and to be completely honest, Jasmine was sick of hearing about that too.

As for Snow White, she was perfectly happy with being stuck inside. Aurora had persuaded Naveen to teach Snow White how to play guitar which she was a natural at so she kept busy with that a lot these days. Since Snow White and Jasmine were so used to sharing a room, they still spent a lot of time in each other's dorm rooms but Jasmine was trying to give Snow White a bit more space since she was still struggling to deal with everything that happened over the half-term and needed some space.

Still, with the way things were going, it felt like bit by bit the Seasons Squad was being torn apart.

˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙

Friday marked the end of November.

It was also a day that Jasmine tutored Vanellope von Schweetz so at 4.45pm, she got changed out of her uniform and headed for the silent study rooms. She was 15 minutes early but Vanellope was already in their allocated room with her head on the table and the hood of her favourite mint green hoodie up.

"Hey, Vanellope."

"Ugh."

"It's great to see you too." Jasmine replied, taking a clear folder out of her handbag. "I brought a few worksheets on surds for you to do."

"Oh joy. I really don't see the point of this. I'm going to be a Formula 1 driver not a mathematician." Vanellope sat up and unzipped her pencil case, taking out a pencil and a pack of strawberry laces.

Jasmine held out her hand, "Share."

Vanellope begrudgingly handed a few over and started the worksheet while Jasmine got out her laptop to start her 5000 word assignment on women empowerment.

"Jasmine?"

"Do the worksheet."

Vanellope put down her glittery pink pen. "Did you ever have any problems with the other girls here when you first came?"

Jasmine lowered her laptop screen and frowned. "Why?"

"I was just wondering."

"Yeah right. Who's been bothering you? Because I swear..."

"Nobody!"

Jasmine raised an eyebrow. "Vanellope."

"Ok, fine. I'd rather deal with it by myself."

"Alright, but promise me you'll come to me or someone else you trust if it gets too much?"

"Don't worry about it. I've got it under control. Anyway, have you downloaded Candyland yet?"

"No. It's bad enough that you've got my number, I don't need you annoying me on that game too."

"Come on, Jasmine! Please?"

"Fine. But only if you finish that worksheet."

Ten minutes later, Vanellope held up her finished worksheet triumphantly. "Done!"

"Great. Hand it here."

"You're downloading it, right?" Vanellope took out her phone and flipped it horizontally.

"No, and don't you dare start a new game."

"Lying to a child! Shame on you!"

Jasmine ignored her and stared at Vanellope's phone case. "Wait a second... Vanellope, where did you get that sticker? The one says 'Colours of the Wind'?"

"Pocahontas was handing out free stickers in the hallway. Why?"

˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙

Jasmine was lying in bed, downloading Candyland when someone knocked on the door. "Who is it?"

"Snow White."

Jasmine got up reluctantly and opened the door. "What's up?"

"Hey. I've been thinking."

"Ok... About what?"

"I want to speak to Mrs Oldenburg about why she didn't tell me that she was my aunt and I was wondering if you could come with me tomorrow."

"Sure."

"Thanks. Ok, I'm going to go now. Bye."

"Night." Jasmine leaned on the door and smiled at Snow White's awkward half run back to her room.

˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙

Saturdays were supposed to be Jasmine's rest day. Key words: 'supposed to be'.

The day started off peacefully enough, she had set an alarm so she could get up and get ready on time. Then, Jasmine had a light breakfast at the cafeteria and did a bit more of her assignment before heading over to the gym where the self defence classes were being held.

"JASMINE MY BELOVED!" Ariel yelled in greeting, as energetic and exuberant as ever.

"Can you please shut up? Like, actually? I'm begging you. It's Saturday and more importantly, it's the morning!" Andy groaned from behind her looking like she was on the verge of death.

"You shouldn't have gone out last night." Ariel said. "You look terrible."

"You went out?" Aquata came out of the gym shaking her head. "You need to be careful! Adella snuck out last night too and almost didn't get back inside because the entrance got blocked with all the snow. Also, ever since Ariel's tweet, Father has been waiting for one more slip up before he forces us to come back home and I'm not about to let that happen."

Jasmine held up her hands, "Wait a minute, people have been going out?!"

"Yes and they shouldn't be because it's extremely dangerous so don't you get any ideas, Jasmine. People could get seriously injured or freeze to death or..."

Andy yawned. "Why are you here again? Haven't you mastered every level of combat sport there is?"

"I'm helping out Shang because an adult needs to be present." Aquata frowned. "If I was you, I'd take what I'm saying seriously, Andrina. Don't make me tell Sebastian."

Ariel stepped in front of Andy before she could reply, "Who's Shang?"

"Good morning everyone." Jasmine turned around and almost fainted at the overwhelming beauty of the muscular young man towering above her. He had shoulder-length black hair tied in a bun adorned with a red clip and dark brown eyes that darted around the group of tired students until he spotted Aquata. "Oh, there you are!"

Aquata cleared her throat and held open the door, glaring at Andy when she passed through. "We're going to start now, everybody."

When everyone was inside, Shang stood at the front and introduced himself. "Hello, I'm Li Shang. My father, General Li, had an emergency to attend to, so Aquata here is going to be helping me out today. Now, can anyone tell me the first rule of self defence?"

˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙

2 hours later...

Jasmine was in an immense amount of pain.

She had forgotten that Ariel now had the stamina of an ox now that Coach Ursula had made her training sessions longer and had foolishly agreed to be her partner. It was impossible to keep up and after half an hour, she had to swallow her pride and beg Ariel to slow down. Jasmine had hoped that the long bath afterwards would help but somehow it had made her limbs feel even more jelly-like.

"Are you alright?" Snow White asked, on the way to Mrs Oldenburg's office. "You're limping."

"No I'm not."

Snow White patted her shoulder sympathetically and turned away to hide her smile. Jasmine scoffed. True entertainment would be watching Snow White try to keep up with Ariel in any sort of exercise considering that she complained that she was out of breath after going up one flight of stairs and was always the one whining that her feet were hurting after having to stand up for 15 minutes.

They got to the joint headteachers' office, which was now technically Honeymaren and Elsa's but was being used by Agnarr and Iduna Oldenburg. Jasmine was about to knock on the door when the sound of someone crying stopped her in her tracks, then the door of the office burst open and Elsa Oldenburg stormed out with streaks of mascara running down her face, too upset to even notice their presence. But Mrs Oldenburg noticed.

"Good morning, girls. Can I help you?" Mrs Oldenburg said, strangely composed considering that her daughter looked like she was in the middle of a nervous breakdown.

"Oh, um. It's alright, we can come back later." Jasmine said, backing away.

"No, really I insist. Come in."

"I know that you're my aunt." Snow White blurted out.

Jasmine froze, "Snow White!"

"What?"

"I thought you were going to lead into it or something, not just say it like that."

Mrs Oldenburg pinched the bridge of her nose, "Please take a seat." She stood up and closed the door. Warning bells ran through Jasmine's mind but Snow White had already sat down so she joined her, eyeing the window beside Mrs Oldenburg's huge oak desk just in case.

"Adelaide was my sister, that's true, but we were not close and when she married your father, she wanted nothing to do with me anymore and made it very clear that she wanted me nowhere near you either. I wanted to respect her wishes in her death. That's the only reason why I left you in Hilde's care for as long as I did. I gave her money every month to help take care of you because I thought she was a genuinely good person and as soon as I discovered her intentions to put you up for adoption, I brought you here. I did intend to tell you everything but..."

"She was going to put me up for adoption?" Snow White's eyes glossed over and she gripped the side of her chair tightly.

"I'm very sorry, Snow White." Mrs Oldenburg said, unable to meet her eye. "Truly, I am."

Snow White stood up and wiped her eyes, "So you were just going to let me go home to her every half-term, knowing that?"

"I wanted you to come home with me last half-term and tell you everything then, but something came up..."

"Oh, ok." Snow White scoffed and turned to leave. Jasmine grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

"Snow White, I have always had your best interests at heart, please believe me and I'll continue to only want what's best for you. You can come to me and Agnarr for anything, ok?"

Snow White nodded and left the room. As soon as the door closed behind them, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, shooting Jasmine a quick smile to show that she was okay. As soon as Jasmine hugged her though, she put away all pretence and began to cry like she had never cried before. Jasmine half-carried her to her room, located a box of tissues and rubbed her back in silence until Snow White asked if she could have time to collect herself so, after making her promise that she'd call her if she needed anything, Jasmine made her way to the common room, but had only taken a few steps before Tinkerbell pounced.

"Good morning, Jasmine."

"Morning."

"I have a message from Mrs Oldenburg for you and Snow White. She said that Elsa has been extremely stressed recently because of her and Honeymaren moving into their new roles in the school so she'd appreciate it if you didn't spread whatever you saw around please."

Jasmine clenched and unclenched her jaw several times then smiled sweetly, "No problem, I'll pass on the message."

"Thank you."

Jasmine couldn't help but roll her eyes. The cheek of that woman! When she got to the common room, she managed to charm her way into getting someone to give up their spot on a sofa for her and was in the middle of a game of Snap with her friends, Kida and Esméralda when Belle entered, holding two buckets of paint.

"Anyone want to come help us paint the classrooms around the back they didn't finish?"

So Jasmine went back to her dorm to change into clothes she wouldn't mind getting paint on, grabbed her headphones, checked with Snow White if she wanted to come too (she didn't and was slightly annoyed at the interruption because she was in the middle of a game with Noah and Milly) and headed back downstairs to get her bucket of paint and brush from Belle.

She had thought that it would relieve some of her stress and maybe take her mind off her concern for Snow White and her aching muscles. She did not expect the classroom she was directed to, to already have someone inside happily painting the back wall, humming under their breath. Especially not an extremely cute boy with long eyelashes, black messy hair and the nicest eyebrows Jasmine had ever seen.

"Hi."

"Oh, hey." The guy put down his brush and wiped his forehead, then he turned to face her and almost fell over. He caught his balance at the last second by grabbing onto a dusty chair and stared at her with wide eyes. "Wow!"

Jasmine's slight smile turned upside down. Never mind.

A boy wearing a paint-splattered t-shirt opened the door and dropped a box down on one of the desks noisily. "Hey, Al. I got you the paint rollers you wanted." Then he shut the door behind him and rushed off.

"Ah. Thanks." 'Al' paused for a few seconds and then stared at the door. "Uh oh." He darted over to the door and started pulling at the handle which didn't budge even slightly.

Jasmine could only stare. "You've got to be kidding me. Let me try?"

Al moved aside so Jasmine could try and open the door but it was no use. The door was jammed shut and they were stuck in the classroom.

"It was the one thing. The one thing they said not to do." Al said, shaking his head. He looked up to the ceiling and sighed, blowing hair out of his face.

"Wait a second." Jasmine moved closer. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"No, at least I don't think so. I probably would have remembered you." Al smiled. "I'm Ali. Ali Ababwa."

"Oh." Jasmine picked up a roller and sat cross-legged next to a tray of robin egg blue paint. "Well, somebody will probably come to open the door for us soon, right?"

"Right, right. So... Do you have a name? Or can I call you mine?"

"Absolutely not."Jasmine put her headphones on and turned up the volume of her music. "Paint."

And paint Ali did, for a total of 3 minutes and 18 seconds which was the length of a single song.

"I just wanted to say, I think you're really..."

Jasmine shook her head. Which adjective was it going to be this time? Wonderful? Glorious? Magnificent? Or maybe he would pick one of her features to compliment. She wondered whether it would be her hair or her eyes this time around.

"...Punctual."

Huh. Well that was a first.

"Excuse me?"

"Beautiful. I meant beautiful. Sorry."

Something in Jasmine snapped and she lifted her headphones off of her head. "Yeah and I've got money too."

"Pardon?"

"Or at least, my dad does anyway. And so, for that reason I seem to attract every single swaggering peacock on this earth. You all come, presenting yourselves like you're so great when you're really stupid, selfish, ignorant idiots piling on compliment after compliment trying to win me like I'm some kind of prize to be won." Jasmine threw her paint roller down. "I'm a human being!"

There was silence and Jasmine's phone vibrated. She turned it over and began to angrily attack the wall with paint.

Ali resumed painting his wall. "I'm sorry."

"What?"

"You're right. You aren't a prize to be won. You should be free to make your own choice of who you want to be with. I'm sorry for making you feel uncomfortable, I can go if you want."

"How? The door is stuck."

"I mean, I can text someone to get help."

"I thought you did that already."

"I was distracted. Sorry. I mean, I... Sorry."

"It's whatever. I'm just sick of people thinking I'm just this weak, rich girl they can get with by tossing a few compliments my way that they don't even mean. I thought things would be different here than they were back home, but it's the same thing everywhere I go. It's so suffocating. And now I can't even leave the building, it's like I'm still back in Agrabah."

Ali nodded. "You feel trapped. I get it. I hate not being free to just go out and do whatever too."

Jasmine's phone vibrated again and she put it on silent, muttering angrily under her breath. Ali looked at it questioningly. "My dad. He's always talking about young men he comes into contact with and keeps trying to set me up with them and I don't want to hear it right now. The last one was this guy named Achmed and he was the most selfish, heartless, unkind and snobbish man I've ever met."

"Has Achmed been the worst one?"

"Nah, there was a guy called Jafar who my dad took in as an apprentice not long ago. He was incredibly sexist and entitled and kept making comments about my body that made me very uncomfortable but everyone just said 'JuSt AcCePt ThE CoMpLiMeNtS, hE's BeInG nIcE.' I think sometimes, it would just be easier to settle for someone mildly decent just so that everyone will just leave me alone about my love life" Jasmine sighed. "I really don't know why I'm telling you all of this. I just need to get it off my chest, I guess. Sorry for offloading onto you, you must think I'm really self-centred. So, what about you? What do your parents do?"

"I don't mind. I'm sorry that happened to you." Ali replied. "And uh, my mother is a quantum physicist and my father is a neurosurgeon."

"That's really cool."

"Mhm. Hey, come here for a minute."

"Absolutely not."

"Come onnn, trust me?"

"That's the thing, Ali. I don't trust you. Why do you want me to come over?"

"Because we are going to play pretend." Ali said, unrolling a massive rug and fanning it out on the ground.

"Why?"

"Boy, do you ask a lot of questions. Fine. I'm going to play pretend and you can either continue to cry in the corner about your love life over there or join me."

Jasmine crossed her arms and stared at him with a very unimpressed expression on her face.

"So, as I sit on this carpet..."

"That is a rug, Ali."

Ali ignored her. "And as I sit on this carpet, I realise that this is no ordinary item! It was created 1000 years ago by a legendary sorcerer and carpet weaver and is in fact a magic carpet."

"Woah. This truly is riveting stuff. You have opened my eyes to the magical world of carpet fibres."

"I thought it was a rug?" Ali raised an eyebrow. Jasmine finished painting her wall and moved to sit cross-legged beside Ali, wincing slightly since her legs were still hurting. "You ok?" Ali asked.

"I'm fine. So, now what? Next, you're probably going to tell me the carpet is sentient."

"Yeah, he is actually and he says wants to be referred to as something other than 'the carpet'."

"How about 'Carpet' instead?" Jasmine said, tracing a finger over the patterns in the rug.

"He likes it. Personally, I think it's a bit unimaginative but..." Ali shrugged. "Anyway, Carpet says that he can take us on an adventure that'll take us off school grounds but he's a bit hungry. What do you reckon he runs on?"

"Magic?"

Ali scoffed, "Now come on, Jasmine. I feel like you're not taking this seriously."

"Ok, fine. What does it run on?"

"Carpet is a he not an it. And petrol. Obviously."

Jasmine smacked her head, "Of course, silly me."

"Keep up. Right, I've given him his petrol and he's ready to go."

"Ok, so where are we going then?"

"Why do we have to have a destination? Why can't we just enjoy the view?"

"Because we have a curfew."

"Not true, as soon as we get on Carpet, we become lawless and escape the laws of time. Nobody can tell us what to do! It's the rules."

Jasmine smiled and closed her eyes. "I feel so stupid. Ok. I want to go to Egypt, please Carpet."

Ali waited a few seconds. "Oh, wait! Look, there's the Nile!"

"And the Great Pyramids!" Jasmine joined in.

"And look at all those horses!" Ali gestured towards a bucket of paint excitedly.

"I see them! Ok, ok, let's go to Greece next!"

Ali saluted. "Next stop, Greece!"

Jasmine frowned. "Wait. Ali, are you sure that we've never met before? You seem really familiar. Have you ever been to Agrabah before?"

"Uh... Well..." Ali glanced at the door and stood up abruptly as Belle's voice filtered through.

"I can't believe you closed the door. It was the one thing I said not to do." She yelled from the other side of the door. "Cover your ears and step away from the door."

There was a loud drilling noise for several seconds and then a succession of loud banging noise as though someone was ramming their shoulder into the door. Eventually, it creaked open revealing Belle and a guy with short dark hair who scowled down at them, rubbing his shoulder.

"Eugene! My saviour!" Ali grinned.

"Flynn."

"Legally, it's still Eugene." Belle mumbled. "Just saying."

"Nobody likes a know-it-all, Belle." Eugene/Flynn responded with an exasperated sigh. He put his drill back in its case and sauntered off. "I'll be expecting payment for my services by tomorrow."

"If you keep waiting for that payment, you're going to be waiting forever." Belle called after him. "Make sure you give Rapunzel her drill back!"

Jasmine got up and brushed off the dust from the rug. "Alright, I need to go and check up on my friend. It was nice meeting you, Ali. Thanks for getting us out, Belle. See you around."

"Wait, Jasmine?" Ali bit his lip.

"Yeah?"

"Actually, nothing. Never mind. Bye."

It didn't occur to Jasmine that she hadn't once given Ali her name.

˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙

The power went out at 7.00pm.

Ariel had just plugged in her hairdryer when the lights went out. She located her phone after twenty minutes and turned on the torch then went to go and find Jasmine who was on her knees with tears in front of her laptop with tears in her eyes.

"What's happened?" Ariel asked.

"MY ASSIGNMENT!" Jasmine screeched. "I just wrote 3000 more words and none of it saved. NOT ONE WORD!"

Snow White knocked and came in next looking slightly dazed, "Is the internet out?"

Then, Aurora came inside, frantically plugging her phone into every socket in the room, becoming more and more deflated after every failure. The four girls stood in a circle with equally stumped expressions then Snow White began to pace up and down the room chewing on the corner of her sleeve. Aurora got into bed to take a stress nap and Ariel and Jasmine went to find Tinkerbell.

A dorm meeting was called because the hallways were filled with protesting students holding phones, laptops and other electronic devices above their heads like pitchforks in the darkness.

"Alright, everyone calm down." Tinkerbell cried, shaking her head at the terrifying sight before her and patting the air with her hands, "Everything will be back to normal in a minute. It's just a temporary power outage."

It was not a temporary power outage.

A staff meeting was called next and Tinkerbell ended up having to do rounds to give everyone a torch. Although an attempt was made to calm everyone down, the situation was getting significantly worse with the contagious panic running rampant among the students and the fact that it was incredibly difficult to see and to find one's bearings in the massive building. More than ever, it was stressed that everybody should stay inside and everyone was confined to their dorm area for the time being as well so things didn't get confusing.

The students of Northuldra Academy mourned the deaths of their technology and relished the percentage they had left. Power banks were treated as trophies and lorded over those who didn't have one to the point where resident dorm directors were instructed to confiscate them because some very business-minded people had started to rent them out for ridiculous prices.

The final straw was when Vanellope was caught climbing on top of the roof in an attempt to get signal for her phone. Her excuse was that she needed to stay on the leaderboard for Candyland so the teachers went on a rampage, confiscating everyone's phones.

And so, December 1st went down in Northuldra Academy history.

Chapter Text

Jasmine got woken up at 2am when Aurora fell off the bed. It was ridiculously loud and Jasmine half expected Tinkerbell to come rushing to their room with the master key to see what all the commotion was about. Along with the actual sound made when Aurora hit the ground, the sharp yelp of surprise that came from her mouth made it evident that she was a singer. This was then followed by groans of annoyance/confusion from Snow White and Ariel who reached for their torches and tried to piece together their fragmented sleeping arrangements back to how they had been 4 hours earlier. 

"Ariel. Look at where your leg is. That's ridiculous." Aurora whisper shouted, crawling back into bed.

"Sorry."

Jasmine rolled over. It had taken her ages to get to sleep and generally, once she was woken up, she found it extremely difficult to fall asleep again. Snow White, on the other hand, yanked her section of the blanket back over her legs and fell back asleep within seconds. It took Aurora slightly longer and just when Jasmine thought Ariel had followed suit, she felt a light tap on her shoulder.

"Jas?"

"What's up?" 

"It's Mother's Day in Agrabah today, isn't it?"

Jasmine sighed, "Yeah, thank you for remembering."

"Do you want to talk about how you're feeling?"

"Same as always. The grief never really goes away, you know?"

"Mhm." Ariel reached for Jasmine's hand and squeezed.

There was silence for a few minutes and Jasmine wiped away a few stray tears that trickled down her face. She didn't have to expand on that feeling that came with losing a loved one. Ariel knew. So did Snow White and Aurora, just in different ways. And that was one of the many reasons why Jasmine valued their friendship so much. Because loss is a complicated thing and although everyone loses people differently, to even understand a fragment of her grief was a great comfort. 

Jasmine still remembered the first Mother's Day after her mother had died, or rather, had been brutally murdered. Nearly every single one of her family members had come over to support her, but it was too overwhelming and she had ended up slipping and spending the day at the nearest marketplace instead. Jasmine winced now, remembering the consequences of that particular venture.

"What about you?" Jasmine asked.

"I guess it helps that there's so much to do, I don't really have time to think about how much I miss her."

"I don't know if that's necessarily a good thing, Ari."

Ariel shrugged. "Speaking of there being so much to do, I really need to start revising. Have you started?"

"Nope. So, wait, is your dad letting you stay here after all then?"

"Well no, but what's he gonna do? Fly out here and demand I get on a plane back to Atlantica?" 

Jasmine raised an eyebrow. "I can't tell if you're joking or not, because that  sounds like something he would actually do."

"It is what it is. I don't regret anything and I'm not breaking up with Eric, so he can do whatever he wants, it's not happening. You know, it's crazy how life works. Your dad wants you to get a boyfriend to protect you and mine wants me to stay away from boys at all costs to protect me ignoring what we want."

"Yeah about that," Jasmine paused, fiddling with her pyjama sleeve. "I think I like someone."

"You're breaking up with me?" Ariel gasped in mock indignation. "Who is it then?"

"He's got a really vivid imagination and is really, really sweet." 

"Two reallys, alright. So. When do I get to meet him?"

Jasmine smiled and rolled over, "Goodnight, Ariel." 

"Tell meeee."

"Goodnight."

"Ugh. I hate you. I don't really, I love you, but you're so annoying. I won't tell anyone, I promise. Jasmine, I know you're not really asleep. C'mon."

When Jasmine finally fell asleep, she dreamt that she was flying on a magic carpet/rug with Ali. They sat side by side, holding hands and staring out at the whole new world below them.

What was once just a stubborn onset of icy wrath beating against the confines of the North Mount building transformed into a wintry wonderland where they could witness water in one of its most artistic forms. Ali and Jasmine watched the choreographed ballet performance the snowflakes put on as they drifted down towards the trees to clothe them in the most eloquent ball gowns they had ever seen. The newly clothed trees rose and joined the dance, waving up at the couple, cheerily. Jasmine and Ali soared through the colourless sky, over a lake that had frozen over,  and several snow angels of all different shapes and sizes before fresh snow covered them completely. 

It wasn't long before they were finally outside of Arendelle, gliding on warm winds, not daring to breathe at the unbelievable sights and more importantly, the indescribable feeling that consumed them whole every time one of them dared to glance over at the other while they tumbled through the endless diamond sky. They were lawless here. Nobody could tell them that they were only dreaming. 

Jasmine could hear his voice over the sound of the waterfall right beside them, like dark brown velvet, confident and self-assured. His laugh caused an eruption of butterflies to flutter around Jasmine's stomach, colourful and beautiful pests. Of course he had to come along after her resolute decision to stay single in protest to her father. Then he said her name.

"No way." Jasmine jolted into a sitting position. "No. Way."

"What happened?" Ariel croaked.

"I just... Wait, what happened to your voice?"

"My throat hurts." 

"You should gargle with salt water. I've heard that helps." Snow White said from the window seat.

"I'm not built for this weather. It's too cold." Ariel complained.

"Also, you should stop talking to give your throat a rest." Aurora added putting a pillow over her head.

Ariel narrowed her eyes but didn't argue. She flopped back down onto the mattress like a limp fish, regretting suggesting they have an impromptu sleepover. She had brought forward the idea for them to sleep in Jasmine's room for the night because she was too scared to be by herself with the power off. Then, before Jasmine knew it, there were three extra bags of flesh in her bed, taking up all the space. Though she would never admit it, Jasmine was glad that she could keep an eye on Snow White and make sure she was doing alright after the previous day's revelation. Also, it was nice in an uncomfortably squashed way.

"I'm not going to go to the self defence class today, Ari. I've got to do something."

"Is that what you were saying 'no way' about?" Aurora yawned, "What happened?"

"Nothing." Jasmine went to have a shower, changed out of her pyjamas into three different outfits before she decided on a plain aqua blue tracksuit and brushed her hair into her trademark puffy ponytail. 

 2 years ago today, she had met a boy in Agrabah when she ran away from home on Mother's Day. A complete stranger who had shown more kindness to her in 5 minutes than she had experienced from all 10,000 of her suitors combined. They had talked for hours on a random wall in the marketplace about nothing and everything, from their favourite animals to their purpose in life. He was an orphan, meaning he understood all too well how hard Mother's Day could be. Jasmine couldn't stop thinking about him for months. Every time she went outside, she found herself scanning the crowds for him, wishing to even catch a glimpse again. His gorgeous brown eyes and cocky walk had imprinted itself in Jasmine's mind so that it was completely worth it when she got grounded and yelled at for being so irresponsible.

And now she had found him, because she was 99% sure that Ali was that boy, however impossible it seemed. 

A giddy feeling bubbled up in Jasmine's chest but she stomped it out with a splash of cold water to her face. Unless she was losing her mind and it was all just wishful thinking. Question after question battled its way past the guards in Jasmine's mind, so she grabbed her key and closed the door gently behind her.  

She went to the common room first where she found Cinderella surrounded by a bunch of balled up pieces of paper. Her hair was in a bun that was progressively getting messier and messier as the days went by and she looked like she was on the verge of tears. There was a sketchpad in her lap and she was chewing on the tip of her pencil and staring at a wall, lost in thought. 

"Hey, Cinderella."

"Oh. Hi."

"Have any boys from the Wind dorms come in here?"

"I have no idea, sorry. I've been focusing on this all morning."

"On what?"

"Well I do Fashion and we've got to do a big final piece project which I'm really struggling to find models for. I've only got 4 people willing to do it at the moment and I need at least 10 for what I'm planning to do." Cinderella sighed, "And you want to know the worst part? Cruella de Vil was due to come and do a few workshops with some of us but because of this stupid blizzard, it had to be rescheduled."

"THE Cruella de Vil?" Jasmine gasped. 

"I know. I'm so excited for her to come. She's such an icon. I wish this snow would hurry up and go away." Cinderella shook her fist at the window.

"So, who did you have in mind for models? Because I could help out if you'd like." Jasmine said.

"Anyone who's available is amazing, honestly." Cinderella beamed, "You'd really want to?"

"Yeah, sure. And I think I could get a few more if Ariel and Aurora say yes. I'm not sure about Snow White, but you never know! I'll ask around and send them all your way." 

"That's really sweet." Cinderella blinked away tears. "You're such an angel. I'll be in contact about measurements then, ok?" 

"No problem." Jasmine smiled. "By the way, do you know where Belle Porter is? I really need to find someone and she knows everyone so I feel like she could help."

"I last saw her with Rapunzel in the library."

"Rapunzel?"

"Super long blonde hair. Really hard to miss."

"Ohhh, yeah I've seen her around. Thanks!"

Jasmine hurried to the library and found Belle and Adam straight away, reading together on a pile of cushions in the political science and law section. Eugene was nearby, braiding Rapunzel's hair in an intricate braid down her back with several bobby pins sticking out of his mouth while Rapunzel painted Belle and Adam.

"Hey Belle, sorry to bother you, but have you seen..." The words fell out of Jasmine's mouth and fluttered away when he walked into the room.  

"There you are!" Eugene said, finishing Rapunzel's hair with one last deft twist, "I thought you weren't coming for tutoring today."

"Sorry, I overslept 'cause my alarm was on my phone." He looked like he had just rolled out of bed with his tousled hair and creased t-shirt, yet Jasmine's heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest. Especially after he scanned the room and when his eyes locked on hers, they lit up. "Oh, hi!"

"Hello, Aladdin." Jasmine stared at the stray piece of hair sticking up at the back of his head and tried to breathe normally. 

 It took several beats for the penny to drop. Aladdin scratched the back of his neck sheepishly and cracked his knuckles.

"Do you need a minute?" Eugene asked, tucking a stray piece of hair behind Rapunzel's ear. 

"Uh, yeah. Thanks." Aladdin looked down at Jasmine, "Please can I explain?"

"Ok." 

Aladdin led her away from the others towards the music and fine arts zone and leaned on the wall, sighing heavily. "I'm sorry I lied, it was stupid and I promise I'm not like that. I'm usually a really truthful person, I swear. It all just came out so quickly and then it was too late and I was going to confess, then I..."  

"Hey, it's alright."

"What?"

"I mean, why did you lie to me?" Jasmine asked, annoyed at how her stomach had started doing somersaults. At how soft her voice came out. This was supposed to be a confrontation! What was she doing?

"I don't know. You make me nervous, Jasmine." 

It should be illegal to say her name like that. She was doomed.

"I know you don't really like compliments, but you're honestly such a nice person and I know I'll never have a chance with you but I at least wanted to be your friend."

"I'm not stupid." Jasmine snapped, breathing an inward sigh of relief that she was now in control of her tone of voice. She instantly regretted it though because Aladdin flinched. "I remember you. We met a few years ago, didn't we?"

"Yeah, that's right. I didn't think you remembered."

"Of course I remember. You just look different." Jasmine replied, "And for the record, I choose my friends based on who they are as a person, not their social status."

"Really?" Aladdin raised an eyebrow. "One of your closest friends is basically royalty." 

"Alright, but I didn't know that when I became her friend."

"Well, don't you think we're a bit too different now anyway? It was different when we were younger."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm quite literally an ex-criminal who has no money and you're this super famous, sheltered rich girl who barely even knew the way around a place she'd been living her entire life."

Jasmine frowned, "Ok, first of all, you made it here didn't you? Mrs Oldenburg doesn't let just anyone in here."

"Well yeah, but I'm failing." Aladdin muttered under his breath.

Jasmine carried on. "Second of all, I told you things I've never told anyone else before when we first met and I knew you were stole things for a living."

"So, what, are you saying? You'd want to be friends with me?"

Jasmine straightened her shoulders "Alright, I'm going to be completely honest in a second and possibly regret saying this." Jasmine paused, "You're a really kind person..."

"Um. Thanks?" Aladdin smiled. "You're very punctual yourself."

Wow. Not there being inside jokes between them already. Jasmine took a deep breath. "...And I like you. BUT, I'm not interested in dating anyone just yet. I need to work on some things first."

Aladdin stood completely still for several seconds and then grinned. "You like me?" 

"Yes. Can I have your number?" Jasmine folded up the piece of paper he wrote his number on, put it her pocket then turned to leave. "Ok, bye!"

Aladdin watched her leave with a wide smile on his face that Jasmine caught when she glanced back one last time. Then she stomped out of the library, hating everyone and everything with a burning passion.

˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙

"I hate everyone and everything with a burning passion." Jasmine wailed, 5 minutes later over a bowl of cornflakes at the cafeteria. 

Aurora didn't look up from the laptop in front of her. "That's a shame."

"Where did you even get that?" 

"The IT room."

"How come it has internet connection?" Jasmine leaned over to see what was so engrossing and Aurora slammed the laptop shut. 

"You have to promise to not make fun of me."

Jasmine grabbed the laptop and opened it to reveal an hour long Youtube video uploaded by a user named 'brilipbaby' titled, "Favourite Brilip Moments". 

"You've got to be joking. Are you really acting like this at your colossal age? Just ask the boy out! What is your problem?"

"I wish it were as simple as that." Aurora sighed.

"Oh for..." Jasmine rolled her eyes, "This has gone on for long enough. We're all tired, Rory."

"Ok, but something happened. We were writing this song together and he kissed me."

"And then what happened?" 

"Well, ever since the kiss, I've just been feeling wrong."

"Wrong how?" Jasmine sighed.

"I've been feeling less tired for one thing, and I've been having these super weird dreams that feel really real."

Jasmine ignored her and showed her one of the comments on the video. "Ha! Look at this, 'even if brilip isn't real we've created the greatest love story of all time'."

"And in every single one of the dreams I've been having, we've been princesses and it's like the fairytales we used to read when we were younger except it's us . It's been really freaking me out." Aurora continued.

"Maybe it's just the shock of kissing one of The Princes?" Jasmine suggested. "I mean, Philip is a pretty big deal. There have been full on brawls over who got to sing his parts of songs at karaoke according to Ariel. I'm talking about people from respectable households getting really violent."

Aurora laughed. "I still can't believe you used to listen to us. To me."

"Am I not allowed to have fun?"

"No, but it's just funny, imagining you fangirling over my music, considering how close we are now and how rude you are to me."

"They say never meet your heroes."

"Whatever." Aurora closed the laptop. "Anyways, Ariel said you like someone..."

Jasmine glared at her. "She should be resting her throat."

"Well, I think very hypocritical for you to be telling me to tell Philip how I feel when you haven't told your person."

"I just did actually, not that it's your business. But I'm not interested in dating yet so I told him that I want to start off as friends."

"You told him?!" Aurora squealed. "Who is it?"

"I'm not telling you. Don't ask again."

˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙

Ursula loved her whistle. She was always blowing it for absolutely no reason, and piercing everyone's eardrums. Even when her students looked like they were on the verge of death and Ariel very much looked like she was about to die. Both Jasmine and Moana winced from the grandstand seats after a particularly bad lap knowing what was coming.

"Pitiful. Absolutely pitiful." Ursula bellowed.

Ariel climbed out of the pool and held up five fingers indicating she needed a break.

"2 minutes! And you'd better blow me away when you come back, Ariel. Or else!" Ursula barked.

 Ariel picked up her towel, whiteboard and pen from her seat and sat cross-legged by the side of the pool desperately trying to hold back tears.

"Um. Are you ok?" Moana asked. She had finished her swimming session ages ago now but had stayed behind for moral support. Jasmine found her in the stands, started talking and discovered that she was from an island called Motunui which was where she first learned how to swim. She was the best in the class, although Ariel was a close second and loved the water, but hated snow - part of the reason why she hadn't snuck out like the majority of people in her year group had.

In response to Moana's question, Ariel clenched her jaw, uncapped her pen and started to scribble down words furiously.

My voice is gone. My dad is mad at me and wants me to stop seeing Eric and stop coming here. Exams are coming up and I haven't revised. I'm 16 now so my responsibilities in Atlantica have increased and I'm scared that I'll let everyone down. My sisters are sick. We're all trapped inside this place and nobody knows when the snowstorm will stop. Coach is trying to kill me. Yes I know I'm not swimming my best, I need a break! It's all too much.

Jasmine rubbed her back, "Look, your health comes first right, so why don't we ask Ursula if you can leave a bit earlier?"

I can't!!! Ariel threw down the whiteboard and started to cry.

Moana sighed, "I'm really bad at comforting people so sorry if saying this makes you feel worse but I had this old swimming coach who told me that sometimes happiness is just a teardrop away. It'll be alright."

"Wait, I've heard that before. A friend of my aunt's in Agrabah owned this jewellry shop and she... Wait a second, what was your swimming coach's name?" Jasmine asked.

"Mavis. Why?"

"I'll tell you later." Jasmine leaned forward to hug Ariel and then remembered that she was still wet and grimaced at her now damp hoodie. "Ariel this has gone on for long enough. I'm going to sort this out with Ursula, alright?"

Before Ariel could protest, Eric jogged towards them smiling, "Hey! Sorry I'm late. I brought you a smoothie... Are you okay?" 

Ursula blew her whistle and they all went flying backwards. "Ariel, get back in the water. I don't want any more excuses - you need to go all out!"

Jasmine stood up, ready to argue but Eric beat her to it.

He frowned, placed the smoothie down on the chair next to Moana and walked towards Ursula in full mum mode. "Excuse me? She's clearly unwell!"

"Excuse me? Excuse yourself. If you are going to disrupt my lesson, leave. As I was saying..."

"She's not capable of doing anymore! Look at her - she can barely walk, let alone swim!"

Ursula put her hand on her hip and stared him down. "You and your teenage hormones need to leave at once before I lose my patience."

"Would you like to explain to Lord Triton why you're pushing her so hard when she's feeling sick, then? You should be grateful she even bothered to turn up at all for your stupid lessons." Eric continued. Behind him, Jasmine and Moana were slapping each other in excitement, and Ursula was getting more and more purple with every passing second while Ariel got more and more green.

Ursula stomped forward angrily like a baby hippopotamus and bellowed, "I will be informing Mr Cogsworth of your insolence. It seems that your few seconds of fame have gone to your head. While you are a student here you will abide by..."

Eric ignored her and knelt down in front of Ariel. "Do you think you can stand?"

Ariel nodded weakly but Ursula pushed Eric out of the way and turned to shout at him some more when Ariel stood up and vomited all over Ursula's custom black and purple trainers.

˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙

"And then she threw up ALL over her!" Jasmine cackled, retelling the story for Aurora and Snow White.

Aurora covered her mouth, "You're joking!"

"She did. She did." Jasmine clapped her hands gleefully. "I'm talking, hair, clothes, it was practically dripping down her face."

"No it was not!" Ariel weakly protested from Jasmine's bed.

"Rest your voice!" Aurora and Jasmine instructed her simultaneously.

"I don't know when my room became the place for everyone to gather." Jasmine added. "I noticed you've left your toothbrushes here - last night was a one time thing!"

"Yeah, yeah." Snow White stood up suddenly and stared at Jasmine's desk suspiciously, "I heard buzzing."

"Oh yeah, that's my second phone. I taped it under the desk so Tinkerbell wouldn't take it."

"WHAT?" Aurora grabbed Jasmine's shoulders and shook her. "You had a second phone all this time and didn't tell us???"

"Say that a bit louder please, I don't think the whole building heard you!" Jasmine crawled under the desk and pressed the answer button, "Good afternoon, Father... Yes, I'm alright thank you... No, I haven't written my letter to Mother yet... Ok, I will... Yeah, I miss her too... Alright then... I love you. Bye."

Jasmine put the phone back and nearly hit her head in fright when someone banged on her door.  The second the door opened a crack, Adella rushed inside, clutching her chest and gasping for breath.

"Sorry, I know I shouldn't be here but I just ran like five marathons. Ariel, you won't BELIEVE who's just arrived." 

Chapter Text

It was the most glamorous entrance ever.

The doors to North Mount were flung open to reveal two men in dark suits and sunglasses. They stepped aside and there was an explosion of red, gold, black and white. Then, emerging out of the enormous red fur coat that threatened to swallow her whole, strutted the woman herself, instantly recognisable by her half black, half white hair - a fashion trend that had taken the world by storm.

Cruella de vil.

Underneath her coat, which she shrugged off and handed to one of the men beside her, she wore a simple, black dress which somehow managed to amplify her beauty more than a sophisticated dress might have done. In one pale hand was her iconic opera length cigarette holder and two dalmatians trotted on either side of her.

Then came her entourage. Aside from her two bodyguards, there was a couple in matching black and white winter spotted coats and a young man with silver spiky hair looking very out of place in a blue hoodie and jeans.

Iduna Oldenburg was immediately notified of what was happening and she put up a brave fight but it was evident that a battle against Cruella could not be won. She tried the distraction tactic for a while, "How could you have travelled all this way with the snow? You really shouldn't have!" ,"How do you plan to get back? ", "Well, are you sure? There's been a power outage, you know." However, all it took was one nosy student to wander past reception before word had spread across the school and she couldn't very well kick Cruella out after that.

Despite Adella coming in to let Ariel and her friends know ("AND SHE BROUGHT A GUY!"), the news of Cruella's arrival didn't really sink in until later that evening when Jasmine was getting her measurements taken in Cinderella's studio. Cinderella was in the middle of telling a story about her friends, Jaq and Gus when all of a sudden, Cruella was knocking on the door and stepping inside, filling the small space with the smell of sandalwood, vanilla, and light notes of cherry amaretto. Blinding Cinderella and Jasmine with her dazzling smile and glittering earrings.

"Am I right in thinking you're Cinderella Tremaine?" Cruella asked, in her posh British accent.

"Yes, that's me. Hello." Cinderella flushed, "Lovely to meet you. I'm a big fan."

"How delightful. I'm just making my presence known to all of the students. Hope you're ready for the workshop tomorrow!" Then, Cruella had nodded at Jasmine and said, "You're very pretty. Beautiful cheekbones." then left just as quickly as she had arrived.

After Cinderella had finished asking questions about cultural clothing in Agrabah (and after they had fangirled over Cruella de vil for half an hour), Jasmine was more than ready to call it a night and head straight to bed but there was one last thing that she needed to do.

She drafted the letter out in pencil first and then uncapped her gold fountain pen, sighing heavily.

Hi!

Happy Mother's Day!

I miss you. So, so much. That goes without saying I suppose, since I'm writing this in the first place, but I feel like it's necessary to put that at the start of these letters so you know that I'm not just moving on and forgetting all about you. I'll never forget you.

I made some new friends. Their names are Ariel, Aurora and Snow White. They're all really lovely, and  I've been trying to open up a bit more. It's hard, but I think I'm doing alright. I'm also tutoring a girl a few years younger than me called Vanellope who is like a little sister to me. Also, I'm doing a collaboration with National Geographic which involves trying raise awareness about tigers being endangered. Yes, tigers are still my favourite animal.

Father is still trying to get me married off. I really wish you were here to talk some sense into him. I really wish you were here full stop. I met the boy again today. Aladdin. He makes me feel so... UGH. I hate it. I really don't know what I'm doing, so we're starting off as friends for now and seeing where that takes us. I hope I won't regret telling you about him.

I'm not having therapy every week anymore. At the end of the month, when I (hopefully) go back home for Christmas, I'll be having my last session for the year. I reckon I'm going to need it after what I'm going through over here. A s I'm writing this, I'm snowed in at North Mount and it'll make for an exciting story later but right now, I'm so sick of it all.

Last update: Aurora's aunt, Mavis set up this 'treasure hunt' thing that's been a bit strange to say the least. We're meant to find a book and other girls 'like us' whatever that means. It's all a bit strange but we've found 3/10 so far.

I love you THIS much,

Your Favourite Flower

Jasmine sealed the envelope and placed it in her suitcase so that when she finally got to go back home, it could be put with the other letters. Then, her 'one last thing to do' turned into one more last thing. It was only supposed to be a 3 second diversion. When Jasmine, went under her desk to get her second phone and typed out the message, she wasn't exactly expecting a reply.

Jasmine crawled into bed, only realising when her cheeks began to ache that she was smiling. The thought occurred to her that she was behaving a lot like Ariel did after she kissed Eric and she grimaced. Well, as long as she didn't start behaving like Aurora. Jasmine snorted remembering Aurora's shame at being caught watching Brilip videos. Of all the... Wait. Jasmine sat up straight. He'd responded.

Jasmine started writing a response when a voice message came through interrupting her thought process.

A: "I got tired of typing but the last thing I wanted to say is that while I'm honoured, you must have ZERO social life if you remember me from that long ago."

Jasmine's mouth fell open. The Ali act had well and truly been shed. This was the boy she remembered. Sarcastic and quick-witted with the type of humour that went over quite a lot of people's heads, leaving them guessing as to whether he was serious or not. He was the type of person who, when walking through a hallway would be on friendly terms with so many different people; the shy, quiet artist with one friend to the popular rugby player surrounded by adoring fans, that you wondered when on earth their paths could have crossed.

J: "It wasn't that long ago, don't even try it! Plus, you remembered it too and I have a great social life thank you very much."

A: "Alright... Hey, c an I call?"

J: "I don't know, after that comment."

A: "Please?"

J: "Do what you want. But I'm warning you, I might fall asleep mid-sentence."

Jasmine waited for the call to connect and lay down, pulling the duvet up to her chin. "You you're really confident all of a sudden. A completely different person to the shy guy earlier. And by the way, I'm taking back my promise to be nicer."

"I'm only confident now because your beautiful face isn't here to make me forget all of my thought processes."

"Sorry, my what? I didn't quite catch that."

"You heard me."

Jasmine put her hand up to hide her smile before realising she was alone in her bedroom. Goodness gracious. What was happening to her? 

"I can hear you smiling."

"I'm not. I'm actually holding back the tears and trying to get over the fact that I basically just got called a loser."

"No! Who called you that?" Aladdin gasped. "By the way, I've just realised I didn't say that I liked you too. So, yeah... Just in case my act of identity theft didn't make it painfully obvious already."

"Good to know. You know, it's crazy to think that there's probably a real Ali Ababwa out there."

"Probably. I bet he's a prince who owns like 75 camels."

"53 purple peacocks." Jasmine laughed.

"95 white Persian monkeys."

"Don't forget the 60 elephants."

˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙

The power went back on again the following day and everyone's phones were given back. Everyone pounced on them like starving hyenas, except for the few who already had them and all was well... For a few hours.

Aurora noticed the problem first (probably while she was trying to sneak in some more Brilip videos) when she turned on her phone and couldn't access the internet. Upon further investigation, she also found that the group chat she made with Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Moana and Pocahontas had been deleted (she was the only admin).

"This is just hard, cold PROOF that something shady is going on!" Aurora exploded to Jasmine when she came back from her Geography class. "They hacked into my phone!"

"Alright I know it's ridiculous, but you've got to calm down!" Jasmine set both of her phones down beside each other. The one she'd just gotten back had a red 'no signal' sign, the other she'd hidden was green with 4 bars. "You think they tampered with them all? Or just ours?"

"Definitely just ours. Everyone I've asked in the Wind dorms, except for Ariel and Snow White had their phones handed back to them in perfect condition. Coincidence? I think not! Nothing missing and perfect internet connection. And when I spoke to Tinkerbell, she was all like, 'Well it must be the network you're with.' " Aurora leaned in conspiratorially. "I bet the power never even went off to begin with!"

"You'd better pray that they haven't gone through everyone's search histories."

"No, because why would you say that?" Aurora turned green. "Why?"

"Ok, I'm sorry. I was joking." Jasmine backtracked, seeing the genuine panic on Aurora's face "Let's change the subject. Have you and Philip written any more of that song that you were telling me about?"

Aurora shrugged, "We asked Adam for help with some of the lyrics and we've been bouncing off ideas. He's kind of just taken the whole thing and made it into another love song about Belle though."

"I mean, you can't really blame him. Belle is an absolute sweetheart."

"True. Speaking of, do you want to come to the next songwriting session? It's in half an hour."

"Yeah, sure."

Jasmine was astonished by the sudden change in Aurora when she was in the mood to be professional. Gone were the disrespectfully loud yawns in the middle of conversations and loud, contagious howls of laughter. Armed with a sharpened pencil, her songwriting notebook and a freshly brewed coffee, this was Briar Rose. Joining them in the makeshift recording booth today, were Adam and Philip who were busy setting up the DAW. Jasmine sat cross-legged beside Aurora, glancing between her Geography homework and Aurora's notebook.

"I don't mind you looking." Aurora said after a few more minutes. "I wouldn't have asked you to come if I did. I trust you."

"Alright, so what is it about?"

"So you know how Once Upon a Dream was my goodbye to Raven? I wanted to do something a bit happier this time. So it's about two people who are complete opposites of each other falling in love."

"Wait, Philip knows about what happened with Raven?" Jasmine asked, questioning why Aurora hadn't whispered his name for once.

"Of course. Literally everyone knows at this point." Aurora shook her head. "I trust you all to keep your mouth shut though. Someone's career will be on the line if this gets out and I'm not talking about mine or Raven's."

"Alright, come on guys. We need to wrap this up." Adam said, his laptop balanced on one hand. "When I'm writing by myself, it doesn't take this long. How have we only now finished the first verse?"

"Ok, wait, Jasmine needs more context. So obviously, the not liking each other at first part is about me and Philip. Then, we switch to Belle and Adam's relationship where..."

"I'm starting the music." Adam interrupted.

"Wait!" Aurora grabbed her headphones and went to sit beside Philip on the other side of the room. Jasmine shuffled over to see what was being displayed on Adam's laptop, unable to hide her excitement."

"So, Aurora begins with a run because she likes to show off." Adam gave her a thumbs up and a bright smile before continuing. "Get ready for the exaggerated hand movements!" He pressed play and they waited.

"Tale as old as time
True as it can be
Barely even friends
Then somebody bends
Unexpectedly"

Even Adam couldn't continue to be a hater once Aurora had started singing though. Her voice was a soft, angelic mixture of gentle whispered notes to effortless riffs. Weightless and free, soaring high above the clouds. Then it was Philip's turn.

"Just a little change
Small to say the least
Both a little scared
Neither one prepared."

Philip's dark and husky baritone was the perfect match to Aurora's soft, light soprano. Now, Jasmine made no claims to be a musical genius but the way that their voices sounded together was clearly a match made in heaven. Adam, held up a finger as if to say 'it gets better'.

"Beauty and the Beast..."

And there it was. The most beautiful harmony known to humankind. Jasmine could almost see the musical notes twirling around each other like ballet dancers. She could feel herself ascending higher and higher until...

The music stopped. Aurora and Philip jogged over like nothing had happened.

"That sound good?" Philip asked.

"You always sound good." Adam replied. "I think that's pretty much close to perfect if you ask me. We just need to work on one more verse and that's a wrap."

˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙

Later, a Season's Squad meeting was called to discuss the fact that their phones had been tampered with and Ariel got right down to business with her thought of the day.

"Jasmine, you need a nickname other than Jas."

"No, I don't think I do actually." Jasmine replied.

"Ha, if you cut out the Jas, you're Mine." Aurora said.

Ah. Aladdin's 'pick up line' from when they were locked in the classroom together finally made a lot more sense.

"How about Min?" Snow White chimed in. "That's a pretty name."

Ariel gasped, "Minnie! Wait, that's so adorable."

"Our chair of governors' name is Minnie." Jasmine said absently. "Well it's actually Minerva but..."

Aurora turned to stare at her. "The book! The book where the poem was! It's written by her!"

"So she'll have the original copy right? The first one she ever wrote. That probably has whatever Mavis wants us to find in it." Snow White said.

"Yeah, that makes sense." Jasmine nodded. "Also, I've been thinking, you know how it's just us in the Wind dorms whose phones aren't working? Well, Ariel and I were speaking to Moana at the self-defence class and she has the same problem. So, since the clues are taking too long to figure out, why don't we just find everyone who lost internet connection when their phones got given back?"

Aurora held up her hand for a high-five. "Jasmine, you are a genius."

Chapter Text

Pocahontas nearly always started her day by watering her plants. She had racked up quite the collection, her favourite being a lacy-tree philodendron. Her first one was a bonsai gifted to her by a florist (Mavis) and that marked the beginning. Her plants were small fragments of the outdoors that she could keep inside with her and more than ever before, she was relying on them to stay calm.

The snow storm was affecting everyone differently and for Pocahontas, the easiest way to try and distract herself from the fact that she wasn't able to come and go as she pleased anymore was to focus all her attention on her Head Girl duties. Since she had no internet connection on her phone, she turned on her computer and put on some background music while she did her stretches. Once that was over, she put on the playlist that Tiana had made for her and started making a checklist for all the things she needed to do during the week.

First on the list was having a meeting with Milo, Mr and Mrs Oldenburg, Honeymaren and Elsa so she had a shower, put on her uniform and favourite turquoise necklace, then sat on the edge of her bed staring into space for several minutes contemplating the meaning of life. For breakfast, she kept it simple with a bagel and hot chocolate then went to find Milo.

He was waiting with Kida outside the office reciting verbs in Atlantean. Pocahontas would never forget the first time Milo had spoken to Kida in her language in an attempt to impress her and gotten brushed off immediately with the response, "Boorish, provincial and you speak it through your nose." 

Pocahontas jogged up to them, smiling. "Hello!"

"Oh, good morning." Milo adjusted his large, round glasses and gave her one of his quick, awkward hugs. 

He and Pocahontas were both 5'8 but every so often, it was like Milo shrank into himself and became far smaller than her. Pocahontas and Kida were forever telling him to stand taller and take pride in his accomplishments. He was currently studying various languages (including Atlantean) and a combined course of History and Geography. Alongside this, he was also on the debate and chess team, meaning he was just as booked and busy as Pocahontas these days. 

"Pocahontas! We need to bring back our weekly lunch-time meetups." Kida said, pulling Pocahontas into a massive hug. She hadn't gotten changed into her uniform yet so was wearing a bright blue jumper which matched the blue tattoos under her left eye and white leggings which matched her hair. 

"I know, I've missed you so much." Pocahontas replied just as the door to the office creaked open.

"Right, I'd better get going." Kida squeezed Milo's hand and mouthed to Pocahontas, "Text me"

Iduna stepped outside of the room and gestured to Milo and Pocahontas to come inside, before taking her seat beside Agnarr. Opposite them, Honeymaren and Elsa were sitting together one of the leather sofas so Milo and Pocahontas sat in the other one.

"Pocahontas and Milo, I'd like to begin this meeting by saying that I am very proud of you for how seriously you are taking your roles. Agnarr and I never doubted once that the two of you were the perfect choices and you've honestly gone above and beyond in everything." Iduna said.

"So without further ado, let's proceed!" Agnarr clapped his hands together. 

The meeting was supposed to be an hour and they were just wrapping up the conversation initiated by Pocahontas about raising the amount that tutors were paid per hour when Agnarr put down the pencil he'd been twirling around his fingers.

"Before we end, Milo, I believe that there was an idea you said you'd like to bring to the table?"

"That's right. I've had quite a lot of students come to me and ask when they'll be allowed to go outside again and I'm a bit worried about their mental health. I've been keeping up to date with the weather and it's not as dangerous to go outside anymore. So I was thinking that groups of students could take supervised walks. I've also mapped out some routes that aren't too icy and thought of the different groups we could split people into."

Iduna glanced over at Agnarr and cleared her throat. "I'm not sure that..."

"I think it's an excellent idea." Elsa spoke up suddenly. Her face brightened suddenly and she sat up straighter, eyes sparkling. 

Iduna gave her a side eye, "I see your perspective, Milo, but the building is surrounded by snow right now. I don't see how it will be possible."

"Well, actually it was brought to my attention this morning that some students have managed to find ways to sneak out." Honeymaren said. 

"What? That needs to be brought to an end immediately. Which students?" Agnarr frowned, getting out a notepad, ready to write down names.

"I'm not sure." Honeymaren lied. "Either way, I agree with Elsa and Milo. It's about time that students started getting back to some kind of normality."

Pocahontas nodded, "I also think it's a good idea. People are wanting to go home for Christmas and whether or not that will be possible, I think it will help for people to have something to look forward to in the meantime."

Iduna shrugged, "I'm clearly outnumbered so alright then. Milo and Honeymaren, you're in charge of this endeavour. Milo, you are to report to me with the full report, including the risk assessment as soon as possible please."

"Alright! Anything else?" Agnarr paused for half a second and then continued "And that concludes the meeting for today. Good work today everyone." 

◂ ❚ ⊱ꕥ⊰ ❚ ▸

The second task on Pocahontas' list was to attend her lesson.

Ironically, it began with her teacher putting a definition of conflict resolution on the board: A way for two or more parties to find a peaceful solution to a disagreement among them. Pocahontas was an expert in conflict resolution. She had always loved problem solving and her original career path had originally been to become a mediator, however her love for nature and the environment was what she was truly passionate about. Still, her talent was recognised when she was joined the debate team and was promoted to the discussion moderator after the first session.

In her time as Head Girl so far, she had helped to squash the bad blood between two groups of students in the Fire and Aqua dorms (Anna wouldn't stop making jokes about how fire and water don't mix for days). She had helped to promote Northuldra Academy in better ways than they had been doing previously. She had set up her own charity called Colours of the Wind with a goal to develop ways to combat pollution. The list went on.

After the lesson was over, Pocahontas printed off her notes so that she could stick them on her wall later to memorise the concepts learned and then went to find Belle in the library.

"Bonjour." Pocahontas said, flopping down onto the beanbag opposite her. 

"Wingapo." Belle tucked up her feet to make room and smiled. "How did the meeting go?"

"Your pronunciation is getting a lot better. They've agreed to raise the amount tutors get paid."

"Oh, that's good."

"Yep." Pocahontas then relayed Milo's plan for the supervised walks idea and Belle flung down her book and jumped out of the beanbag. "Will you please sit down? And remember, we're not allowed to talk to anyone else about it yet!" 

"I'm so excited. We can finally do everything that we took for granted before!" 

"You can go on your first official date with Adam!"

Belle blushed, "It feels so strange having everyone know."

"I can imagine."

"What, have you been secretly dating someone too?" Belle asked.

"Nah." Pocahontas grimaced, "I think Meg and Anna's situations have put me off wanting to be in a relationship for the next few years at least."

"Poor Anna."

"By the way, I know it was you who wrote that note." Pocahontas said. "I haven't told Anna, but I recognised your handwriting."

"How is she taking it?"

"Quite badly. She's been so quiet and withdrawn recently. I've been trying my best to be there for her but it must be especially difficult when she's surrounded by so many happy couples. There's Cinderella and Henry; Rapunzel and Eugene; Tiana and..."

"Hold on, Tiana's seeing someone?"

"Well no, but... Anyway, that's besides the point. Hans was Anna's first boyfriend, you know? And she's the type of person to give her all in relationships. Hans is the worst kind of human being for doing this to her."  

"And what's so sad in this whole situation is that the one person she probably wants support and advice from right now is her sister but they're not on speaking terms." 

"What? Since when?" 

"When Rapunzel was my roommate, she told me the whole backstory of the family. Anna and Elsa were very close when they were younger but Iduna started pitting them against each other all the time so they drifted apart. Iduna and Agnarr are extremely controlling. Did you know, Elsa never wanted to be the headteacher of this place? She's only going along with it because Honeymaren was going to be fired if she didn't agree. That's why I wasn't overly surprised when Aurora told me about The Thing."

"Wow." Pocahontas leaned back into the beanbag, deep in thought. 

She thought of the way Elsa had behaved in the meeting earlier, silent up until Milo made his suggestion causing her mask of ice to slip. Elsa was the most calm and collected teacher in the entire school. She never raised her voice. She never complained. She never made a fuss. But there was a sadness that Pocahontas sometimes caught in her frosty blue eyes. Probably because she often caught the same expression in her own eyes in the mirror sometimes. Responsibilities were burdensome and Pocahontas would be lying if she said that there were never days where she woke up and didn't want to have to do what she did anymore. 

"Have the girls figured out any more of the clues?" Pocahontas asked.

"Yes. A girl called Moana was the ocean one. She does swimming with Ariel." Belle replied. "Why? Do you think you know who any of the others refer to?"

"No, but I can try a bit harder to figure this whole thing out. In the meeting, Mrs Oldenburg was the only one against Milo's idea and it doesn't sit right with me that she's trying to keep us all trapped inside."

Belle nodded, "I agree. If I can help with anything, let me know."

"Ok, I'd better go and get lunch. Au revoir."

"Ana."

◂ ❚ ⊱ꕥ⊰ ❚ ▸

While she had lunch, Pocahontas brought the clues back to the forefront of her mind and tried to think. 

Magnolia

Plant related to Winter 

DunBroch

The younger one

Her Palace 

She opened her laptop, tore out a sheet of paper from her notepad, then booted up the program Hiro and Belle had developed to help with the tutoring scheme. There were no registered students named Magnolia but when she typed in Dunbroch, four results were found. Merida, Harris, Hubert and Hamish. Clearly siblings from their red hair and the varying levels of mischievousness in their expressions. 

Pocahontas remembered Merida's first day of school. She had arrived with her bow and arrows in a shiny, blue dress which was muddy and torn because she had slipped away from her dad and gone exploring. She had been the talk of the entire school for weeks, with her fiery red hair and Scottish accent which had only really ever happened before with Belle who came and made history by being the youngest student to ever attend.

Next, Pocahontas pencilled in Rapunzel's name next to 'Plant related to Winter' then poked her bottom lip with the end of her pencil, wondering what she was missing. Then it hit her. So far, in the Earth dorms, the answers to the clues were herself, Rapunzel and Cinderella. The only two in their immediate friendship group left were Anna and Tiana. Anna's clue could be 'the younger one' which made sense because she was Iduna and Agnarr's youngest child. Then, Tiana's clue made sense because when she was thinking of ideas for what to name her restaurant she'd come up with Tiana's Palace.

That left 'Magnolia'. 

◂ ❚ ⊱ꕥ⊰ ❚ ▸

At 6pm, she made her way to Cinderella's studio since getting her measurements was the next task on her list and this was where she bumped into Ariel on her way out. It was perfect timing because this meant she no longer needed to go to the Wind dorms and tell Aurora what she'd figured out. Being Head Girl meant she had the privilege of being able to go between dorm sections but she rarely did because the Earth dorms were so far from the others.

"You're so smart." Ariel gushed. "You have no idea how long we've been trying to work this out. Anyway, how have you been? I feel like I haven't seen you in ages."

"Not too bad thanks for asking. How are you and your sisters? I heard all 5 of you got unwell and had to go to the Health Hub for a few days."

"Yes, that was a thing that happened. I completely lost my voice and felt like I was going to die. We're all good now though, except for Aquata. She's still in there."

"Aw, I'm sorry to hear that. I'll pop in and visit her tomorrow." Pocahontas said, mentally making a note of that for tomorrow's checklist. "So wait, who's running the self defence classes with Shang in the meantime?"

"The classes have been put on hold."

"Really? And nobody has sorted out a replacement yet?"

"Nope."

"Alright, I'll sort that out."

"Thanks, Pocahontas!" Ariel hugged her tightly and skipped away.

Pocahontas had been friends with Attina when she was at Northuldra Academy, despite the 3 year gap and learned a lot from her. Since then, she had been on friendly terms with all of Attina's sisters, particularly Alana who she befriended in the Gardening Club during her second year. 

Cinderella was sitting in front of her sewing machine when Pocahontas entered the room with tendrils of damp hair falling out of her bun. There was a determined glint in her eyes as she flung navy blue material around deftly underneath the sewing machine and then tossed it to the side on top of an already existing stack of the same material. About a thousand pieces of craft paper were scattered across the floor and even more photographs of all the models she was including in the project. They were stuck on every single wall with measurements beside them on blue post-it notes. All that was missing was red string and it would look as though she was in the process of solving a crime.

"Hey." Pocahontas said uneasily, stepping over a mannequin that had fallen over. "How's it going?"

"Perfect." Cinderella said through gritted teeth. "Right. Measurements." Cinderella brandished her tape measure like a sword and got to work, furiously scribbling down numbers in her notebook. Then she snapped several photographs and was done. The whole thing took less than fifteen minutes.

"Make sure you get some rest, Cindy."

"Yeah, right. Funny joke." Cinderella sat back down and started back up the sewing machine.

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At this point it was only 6.30pm and Pocahontas wasn't tired so she decided to sort out a replacement for Aquata there and then. First, she called Kida, who loved telling the story of that one time when she floored a man at the train station who tried to steal her handbag. 

"Hey, can you do me a favour?" Pocahontas asked.

"Depends. What is it?" 

"Do you think you'd be able to help run a self defence classes with Shang for a few weeks?"

"I'm going to be honest, I don't think I have the patience for something like that."

"You'd only have to assist him." Pocahontas pressed.

"Fine. When are they held?"

"Before lessons start, so around..."

"Wait! This is a morning thing? Forget it." Kida cackled. "I love you very much, Pocahontas but not enough to sacrifice my mornings."

"Wow, thanks." Pocahontas huffed.

"No, you don't understand. I am a different person when woken up before 8am. I am doing everyone a favour."

"Ok, fine. I'll find someone else, don't worry."

"When you're done for the day, do you want to come over to my room and watch something?"

"Ooh, that sounds fun. See you later then. Love you!"

"Love you too!"

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The name came to Pocahontas when she was trying to remember who had beaten Merida in the last archery competition and shocked the entire school. Fa Mulan.  

She was in her room, taking a nap so she was extremely dazed when Pocahontas came knocking on her door.

"Sorry for the mess." Mulan yawned, picking up a discarded blanket on the ground and banging her foot on the bed-frame in process. "Ouch! Oh wait, sorry." She changed the colour of the LED lights hanging around the room from red to green. 

 "Ok. Um. Sorry for waking you up. I'll be quick. How do you feel about temporarily helping Li Shang run a self defence class?"

"Li Shang? Who's that?"

"General Li's son. Here, let me show you." Pocahontas pulled out her phone to pull up Shang's Instagram. "Oh wait, never mind, I can't. No internet."

"You too?"

"Your internet isn't working?"

"Nope. Ever since we got our phones back."

"Oh right, well I would have thought you'd seen him. He's in the gym closest to the Aqua dorms all the time! That's the one you like going to, right?"

"Yeah, but I don't recall anyone called... Wait! Is he the hot guy? With the hair?"

Pocahontas rolled her eyes, "So you'll do it?"

"Sure."

"Great. Thank you so much. I'll text you the full details tomorrow." Pocahontas turned to leave and then she realised. No internet connection. Magnolia.

The meaning of Mulan's name.

And just like that, the last official clue was solved.

Chapter Text

3 years ago

Pocahontas' first ever job was as a helper at a summer camp. Mavis had suggested it to her after she came into the florists one day ranting about how nobody ever wanted to hire people under 18. It was a lot of fun and a great experience overall, especially because she got to work alongside someone she already knew. 

"I have a question for you, Pocahontas." Mavis said, one day, tossing Pocahontas a pack of marshmallows for the campfire later on. "Ever heard of the trolly problem?"

16-year-old Pocahontas caught the marshmallows with ease and put them beside the tin of hot chocolate. "No, what's that?"

"So, imagine this: You're an onlooker and you have the choice to save 5 people in danger of being hit by a trolley, by pulling a lever to divert it and kill just 1 person. However, let's add an extra factor. That person is the love of your life. What do you do?"

"I don't know. I'd feel responsible for someone's death either way and that's not something I think I could ever handle. I'd probably leave it alone, right? Then I'm not directly responsible."

"Yeah, but you still have to watch at least one person die." Mavis sat down for a few minutes, staring off into the distance and popped a marshmallow into her mouth, "I just wonder sometimes, how that one person would feel if the lever got pulled. Dying alone doesn't sound fun on a good day let alone when you're killed by someone claiming they love you."

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That exchange had never left Pocahontas' mind. Partially because the question was so different to the ones Mavis normally threw  at her which went along the lines of,  "What is your favourite letter?" or "Would you rather fight a goose or a cat?". Partially because Pocahontas was haunted by the expression on Mavis' face before she went back inside herself and slapped the mask back on. It was like she was a completely different person.

"Yeah, she'd get really weird and gloomy out of the blue sometimes. She had a really difficult upbringing, you know? Sometimes I forget that because she's acts so happy all of the time." Aurora explained during one of the rare occasions that they caught each other in the common room. "My grandparents weren't good parents and Aunt Flora was basically your age when she became Mavis' legal guardian so she had no idea what she was doing."

"Have your grandparents passed?" Pocahontas asked.

"Grandpa has. Grandma is in prison."

"Oh."

"Yeah. It's best not to ask." Aurora said. "Anyway, Anna snuck in and got us 'The Chronicles of Fire, Version 1'  book from Mrs Oldenburg's office and there's a map on the first page that we were looking into."

Pocahontas crossed her arms, about to give a disapproving speech but her curiosity stopped her. "Do you have a picture of it?"

"Yeah." Aurora put Jasmine's second phone on the table and pulled up the picture. 

"Huh. Well, Milo Thatch knows a lot about cartography."

"Jasmine thought the same thing. So we went to see him yesterday and he said a whole lot of stuff that none of us understood and then showed us how it mapped out a route to a place called 'Valley of the Living Rock' which is known in Arendellian folklore to be where mystical trolls with magical powers live."

"Right." Pocahontas laughed. "And what did the rest of the book have in it?"

"There's a whole collection of stories that have unnamed girls as the main characters. Belle said she'd take a look at it so she has the book right now. She thinks the characters are linked to each of us." 

"And have you tried to speak to Mavis at all?" 

"Yep. Multiple times. And so I've been thinking, if Belle doesn't find anything then maybe we should leave this alone. We've got exams coming up and I've been so focused on this that I've barely revised. Plus, Cinderella has been so busy with her project that she had to cancel tutoring a few times and..."

"She did?" Pocahontas sighed, standing up. 

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to talk to her."

"Oh. Goodbye then."

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She was in her studio. As always. Hunched over her sewing machine, looking like she hadn't slept all week. 

"Cinderella."

"Oh! Hi. Sorry, I can't really talk right now. I'm really behind with my..."

"Enough is enough. You are overworking yourself."

"I'm not." Cinderella sighed.

"Yes you are! Have you even been outside for a walk at all?"

"Yes!"

"How many times?"

"I don't know. A few times!"

Pocahontas put her hand on her hip, "I'm worried about you."

"There's nothing to be worried about. I'm perfectly fine! If I push to finish this early, I might get asked to be one of Cruella de vil's new assistants. She came to speak to me the other day and I really think I have a chance."

"And that's an amazing opportunity and I'm really proud of you but..."

"But I'm nowhere near done with this project and she might change her mind if she sees I can't do something as simple as this."

"Ok, but still! How are you supposed to think clearly if you're exhausted? Please take a break, Cindy and then when we get back we can rally some of the girls together and help you!" 

"But I don't want to bother you all, I know you're busy too and..."

"Cinderella. Let us help you. We all hate seeing you so stressed and anxious all the time. Ok?"

Cinderella started to argue but all of the fight evaporated out of her and her shoulders slumped. She nodded slowly, wiping at her face frantically when tears started rolling down her cheeks. "Ok."

"Alright, come on then." Pocahontas pulled Cinderella out of her seat and guided her up to her room. "Get your coat. I'll meet you back here in 10 minutes."

Pocahontas put on her green duffel coat, a scarf she had knitted herself and gloves then went back to Cinderella's room, pausing briefly to message Anna, Rapunzel and Tiana. 

"I'm back!" Pocahontas beamed, knocking on Cinderella's door. "You ready?"

Cinderella opened the door, her eyes red-rimmed and watery, "Yeah. Wait, Anna, are you coming too?"

"Yeah." Anna gave her a small smile. "I need to get out of my own head for a bit."

Rapunzel joined them at the door and after much convincing, Tiana came along too, although she was barely recognisable with her scarf wrapped over half of her face and her bobble hat pulled down low over her box braids. 

They slipped and slid down the mountain until they could see the snow-quilted cottage roofs, chatting amicably among themselves and then Rapunzel dropped to the ground to make a snow angel, dragging Anna down with her. 

"We're way too old to be doing this." Cinderella grimaced when Rapunzel beckoned to her, Tiana and Pocahontas to join in.  

Tiana crossed her arms. "See this is a set up because if I lay down with the amount of layers I've got on, there's no way I'm getting back up."

 Pocahontas lay on her back and stared up at the silvery grey sky, enduring the bite of the winter breeze hurtling around her. She moved her arms up and down, catching stray snowflakes on her tongue.

"Hey, Pocahontas!" Someone yelled from below.

Pocahontas peered down and saw Kida and a small group of her friends from the Earth dorms pelting each other with snowballs and immediately leaned back to avoid one that was whistling towards her at 90mph, but it was too late.

Within seconds, the air was thick with compacted balls of snow, zooming around like missiles. Upon impact, showers of sparkling fragments filled the air until it looked like a glitter cannon had been exploded. When Pocahontas found a hiding place to catch her breath, brushing frozen crystals off her woollen gloves, she glanced over at Cinderella who was laughing at Anna falling over. Her cheeks and nose were bright red, a startling contrast to the pale zombie-like creature who she found in the studio. She watched her friends skidding around in their damp coats and trailing scarves and couldn't help the massive smile that spread over her face... Which was quickly wiped off by a simultaneous attack from Kida and Tiana. 

The girls made their way back inside with lips slightly tinged blue and numb fingertips which had to be defrosted with cups of hot chocolate. They brought their frost-encrusted clothing to the laundry room and decided on a limit of 15 minutes for their showers because Rapunzel and Tiana took ridiculously long showers normally. Then it was time to get to work.

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Tiana was tasked with transferring all the pattern markings to the fabric. From there, Rapunzel did the cutting, wielding the fabric shears threateningly whenever Anna tried to put on her sad music playlist filled with songs about heartbreak instead of Tiana's which was a perfect mix of everyone's tastes. After Rapunzel cut out the pieces of material, Pocahontas tacked them together and passed them to Cinderella at the sewing machine. 

Meanwhile, Anna ate chocolate and sorted through the buttons and flipped through Cinderella's designs exclaiming how amazing everything was.

"I can't believe I'm going to get to wear this! Is it going to be, like, a whole fashion show?"

"That's the plan." Cinderella replied. 

"That's so cool. I'm going to be on a runway!" Anna squealed, kicking her legs in the air. "Oh my goodness, Rapunzel, do you know what I've just realised?"

"Is it that you could actually be helping?" 

"I am helping! Look at all of the buttons I've organised. I just came to the realisation that Snow White is your cousin too."

"Well, yeah."

"It's just that I never really made the association."

 "Yeah, so she'll be able to suffer with the rest of us during Christmas family dinner this year." Rapunzel said.

"I didn't make the connection either, which is why it took so long for me to understand the 'plant related to winter' Mavis clue."

"Huh? Lamb's lettuce isn't a winter plant is it?" Tiana asked.

Cinderella raised an eyebrow. "Lamb's lettuce? You mean, corn salad?" 

"No, I mean lamb's lettuce."

"I'm so confused." Anna said, throwing a piece of chocolate into her mouth.

"Rapunzel's name is a vegetable." Pocahontas explained patiently. "She's related to Snow White whose nickname is Winter because the 4 girls in the Wind dorms started calling themselves the Seasons Squad and have nicknames after the 4 seasons."

"Oh." Anna stifled a laugh and went back to button sorting.

"Stop acting like you weren't their age once." Cinderella said reproachfully. 

"I didn't say anything!"

There was a loud knock at the door and Belle's voice filtered through. "Um, Cinderella? Is Pocahontas in there with you?"

"Yes." Cinderella called, opening the door. "Hey. How are you?"

"I'm alright, thanks." Belle greeted the others quickly and then shuffled over to Pocahontas, squeezing down beside her in the cramped space. "I don't know if Aurora has caught you up, but I was looking at the book Mavis wanted us to find and I'm very confused."

"Yeah, she did." Pocahontas passed the half sewn together pieces of material to Anna and turned to face Belle. "Ok, so what's up?"

"I'm 90% sure that each story has something to do with us. It's really far-fetched, I know, and I have no idea how Mrs Minerva could even do this, but I suppose that's what Mavis is trying to tell us about. Here, take a look." Belle reached into her satchel and brought out the book, flipping through the pages until she found what she was looking for. "Look, it says 'Soon afterward she had a little daughter who had skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony wood, and therefore they called her Little Snow-White.' so that one's pretty obvious."

"Right..." Pocahontas frowned, skimming over the story briefly, "And this was written in 1938?"

"Yes. And at first I thought, fine, maybe Snow White's parents knew about this story and just named her after this character..." Belle turned a few more pages, "But it's too much of a coincidence - 'In the evening when she had worked herself weary, there was no bed for her. Instead she had to sleep by the hearth in the ashes. And because she always looked dusty and dirty, they called her Cinderella.' "

Pocahontas grabbed the book, a deep frown etched in her forehead.

'All the fairies began to give their gifts to the princess. The youngest gave her for gift that she should be the most beautiful person in the world; the next, that she should have the wit of an angel; the third, that she should have a wonderful grace in everything she did; the fourth, that she should dance perfectly well; the fifth, that she should sing like a nightingale; and the sixth, that she should play all kinds of music to the utmost perfection.'

Aurora.

'When she was little everybody admired her, and called her "The little Beauty;" so that, as she grew up, she still went by the name of Beauty.'

Belle.

There was a story about Jasmine, Mulan, Tiana, Rapunzel, Merida, Moana and even Pocahontas herself. That left Anna. And the final story.

"And see, this is where I'm confused, because this makes no amount of sense." Belle whispered, "Anna isn't in here."

Pocahontas scanned over the story, her eyes lingering on one paragraph in particular. "You're right. There's no way this is about her."

The flake of snow grew larger and larger; and at last it was like a young lady, dressed in the finest white gauze, made of a million little flakes like stars. She was so beautiful and delicate, but she was of ice, of dazzling, sparkling ice; yet she lived; her eyes gazed fixedly, like two stars; but there was neither quiet nor repose in them. 

"I've been freaking out all day. Mrs Minerva must be a soothsayer! Which means that magic, or at least some kind of foretelling ability is real and logically, you know, I never could have imagined..." Belle paused when Cinderella and Tiana glanced over, looking concerned.

"Belle. Take a deep breath, alright? This is okay." Pocahontas said in a quivering voice. 

"Sorry." Belle inhaled deeply and lowered her voice. "In Version Two, everything is written in poems and our names are changed, but it's the same kind of thing. Mrs Minerva knew that we were all going to be born, and for some reason, Mrs Oldenburg brought us all here to be at the same school. So now, I've got two main questions are 'How?' and 'Why?' and two side questions which are 'Why has Anna been left out and is that significant?' "

Pocahontas closed the book and leaned against the wall. There was only one person who came to mind after reading that description. 

Chapter Text

I want to quit. Those were the words that Aquata wrote down on a whiteboard when Pocahontas went to go and visit her at the Health Hub.

"Quit what?"

Everything.

 And as overdramatic as she was being, Pocahontas deeply resonated with that statement in that precise moment. 

Cinderella was far less stressed now that everyone was helping out and Anna was slowly but surely getting over Hans. Her music playlist was far less depressing and her optimistic outlook on life was gradually returning. Rapunzel was thriving and discovered that her purpose in life was to live as a multipotentialite. Tiana got offered a place at a prestigious cooking training camp over the holidays so she was living her best life.

Pocahontas was confused, tired and really missing home. Exams before the Christmas holidays were right around the corner and it felt like she had been spending the majority of her time revising. However, for the first time in her life, she wasn't sure that she was going to pass all of them. Her heart just wasn't in it and as soon as she memorised one theory or study, her mind wandered somewhere else and the information was replaced with something else.

Everything came to a head when she was getting ready to go out for a walk to clear her head and passed Elsa who was standing extremely still at the front window, pressing a gloved hand against the frosty window with a haunted expression on her face.

"Hello, Elsa." Pocahontas said lightly in passing.

"Good afternoon, Pocahontas. How are you?"

"I'm alright, thank you. You?"

Elsa wiped her face with a gloved hand and it was then that Pocahontas realised that she had been crying. Straight-faced, without a single wobble or crease in her facade save for her the slight dampness around her eyes. 

"Hey, what's the matter?" Pocahontas asked.

Elsa allowed herself a wry smile. It was a strange expression, very unfamiliar on Elsa's face. "Have you ever just gotten tired of caring?"

Pocahontas frowned, "Not really."

"You will one day." Elsa muttered under her breath. 

"Pardon?"

Elsa turned back to stare out of the window again, her eyes glazing over. "A word of advice to you all - leave it alone. Some people are just too far gone." 

"What do you mean by that?"

Elsa just continued to gaze out of the frosted window, miles away. 

Pocahontas raised her voice impatiently. "We know something weird is centred around you that your parents are hiding about us all. What is it? What did Mavis discover that she's not allowed to say? Why can't anyone just say what's going on?"

"I can't tell you. And even if I could, you wouldn't understand." Elsa said, staring down at her gloves.

"How do you know that?"

"Just, please, leave it alone." Elsa backed away from the window, wringing her hands. "For your own sake."

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Pocahontas didn't know where she was going, she knew she just needed to get away from North Mount for a few hours at least. She put her headphones in and let the wind carry her forwards. Then, she spotted a boy in Northuldra Academy uniform a few paces ahead of her drinking beer. She tried putting up her hood and walking past more quickly but it was no use.

"Pocahontas?"

"Gaston." Pocahontas sighed at his feeble attempt to hide the can of beer. "You know you shouldn't be drinking that."

"Drinking what?" Gaston tossed it into the bushes behind him and shrugged nonchalantly, "Dunno what you're on about."

"Hey! Pick that up!" Pocahontas heard herself yelling after him in a sudden vomit of words.

"What?" Gaston smirked, tilting his head to the side in amusement.

"You heard me. You shouldn't litter. It's not good for the environment. Go and pick it up." Pocahontas said, clenching her fists. "Now, Gaston. I'm not in a good mood."

"Calm down, sweetheart." Gaston laughed. "No need to get so mad over nothing." 

Pocahontas stared at him, eyes full of disgust. "Also, before I forget to tell you, Belle isn't interested in dating you so leave her alone."

"Didn't she just break up with her boyfriend?" Gaston sneered. "They'll break up again and then it'll be my chance."

Pocahontas took a step closer. "Did I say anything about that? Boyfriend or not, she doesn't want to date you! I'm leaving now. That can had better be gone by the time I get back."

She continued walking, getting immersed in her music and soaking in every rock, tree and creature that she passed. She sat on the tree stump of a sycamore tree for a while when she got tired and only then did she realise that she was near to the old Northuldra Academy building so she decided to go to The Willow Cafe. There was a closed sign on the door but when she looked inside, Granny Willow was mopping the floor so she knocked and waited to be let inside.

"Good morning, child. I was hoping you'd visit today."

"I'm sorry I haven't been to visit for a while, there was a lockdown at North Mount."

"So I heard." Granny Willow rolled her eyes. "I didn't realise that Iduna was that afraid of a few snowflakes."

Pocahontas raised an eyebrow, "We were really worried about you being down here all by yourself."

"Oh, I've been just fine. You, on the other hand... What happened?"

"Is it that obvious?" Pocahontas sighed. "Recently, I've been so confused and I can barely sleep. I've been having this recurring dream..."

"Oh, a dream! Let's hear all about it."

"Well, I'm running through the woods and then right there in front of me is an arrow. As I look at it, it starts to spin."

"A spinning arrow? How unusual."

"Yes. It spins faster and faster and faster until suddenly it stops."

"Hmm. Well, seems to me this spinning arrow is pointing you down your path."

"But Granny Willow, what is my path? How am I ever going to find it?" Pocahontas asked, dropping her head into her hands.

"You listen to the wind. That's how you find it. 

"I don't understand." 

"You will." Granny Willow stood up and opened the door, handing Pocahontas a container filled with frybread. "Well, thank you for visiting. Take care now."

"Thanks." Pocahontas sighed. "See you soon."

"Remember, Pocahontas, you have a lot more influence than you think you do. People respect you." 

◂ ❚ ⊱ꕥ⊰ ❚ ▸

That night, Pocahontas listened to relaxing wind sound audios to get to sleep. In the morning, she opened her window and spent 15 minutes in silence, reflecting. Then, as a last resort, she went to the Wind dorms to see if Ariel, Jasmine, Aurora and Snow White had figured anything new out. 

"Pocahontas? Thank goodness! Are the rumours true?" Ariel asked, eyebrows knit together in confusion. "Oh please tell me it's not true."

"What? What's happened?"

"Apparently, someone fell over the cliff and died last night." Jasmine said sombrely. "A boy called..." 

"Gaston." Pocahontas finished, putting her hands on top of her head and closing her eyes. She shook her head, trying to shake out the first thought that came to her mind. He was a shitty person anyway. At least it was only him. Pocahontas spotted Snow White looking at her suspiciously out of the corner of her eye and tried to stop looking so guilty. She hadn't killed him! 

"Yeah, how did you know?" Aurora asked.

"I saw him on my walk yesterday. It was probably just before. Oh my goodness..." Pocahontas inhaled deeply. "Have any of the teachers said anything?"

"It's not confirmed." Snow White whispered. "It might not be true."

"Don't you think it's strange how many people we know have died?" Jasmine suddenly stood up and started pacing around the hallway. "How many of us have both parents alive and present in our lives?" 

"Do you think this mean that we'll be put back into another lockdown?" Ariel asked.

"How could you say that? What's wrong with you?!" Aurora snarled. "Someone has just lost their life and all you're concerned about is that we can no longer go on walks? Use your brain for once in your life and think before you speak!"

"I'm sorry." Ariel stepped back as if she'd been slapped. Any amount of shouting, whether directed at her or not always took her back to the days when she would get yelled at in Triton's office for the smallest of things and it made her feel like she was two inches tall. 

"Don't you dare yell at her like that again!" Jasmine exploded. "It's a practical thing we need to be thinking about. If it's not another lockdown then we might all be sent home and if that happens..."

Snow White shook her head. "That can't happen. I can't live with the Oldenburgs."

"You won't have to do that." Pocahontas said firmly. "Aurora, I understand that you're on edge but the last thing we need is to be snapping at each other like that. Could you please apologise?"

"No. I don't care. I shouldn't even be here right now. I should have just focused on my music career and not come back." Aurora grabbed her bag and marched off, barging past Ariel and Jasmine.

"Hey! Who do you think you're shoving like that?" Jasmine yelled after her.

"Aurora..." Pocahontas tried, glancing between Snow White who was sitting with her head in her hands and Ariel whose fists were clenching and unclenching by her sides.

"No because who does she think she is?" Jasmine fumed. "Actually, you know what, I'm not going to take that. Come on, Ariel. She needs putting in her place. See, I knew those early morning classes would be useful." 

"No fighting!" Pocahontas called after them.

So much for respect.

"What's going through your mind?" Pocahontas asked Snow White who had disappeared back inside her room.

"Absolutely nothing. I give up." Snow White replied. She began taking her clothes out of the wardrobe and threw them on the bed. When Pocahontas gave her a quizzical look, she shrugged and pulled out her suitcase from under the bed. "Whatever happens, I don't see us staying here for much longer and to be completely honest, I'd like to be one of the first to leave."

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Nothing was confirmed or denied but Gaston was nowhere to be found so everyone got their answer. Once again, nobody was allowed to leave the premises but since Anna and Elsa were being hounded for information, they were sent home since it was only half an hour away. All of this was told to students in the general assembly which was called to try and calm students down but only served to cause more panic.  

As they were leaving the assembly hall, Pocahontas found herself walking next to the young man with white hair who had arrived with Cruella de vil.

"You're Pocahontas, the student president aren't you?"

"Something like that." 

"I'm Jack Frost."

"Nice to meet you." Pocahontas forced herself to smile and made a point of turning the next corner. He followed anyway.

"Mavis sent me."

Pocahontas stopped right in her tracks. "You've been here for weeks. Why haven't you said anything up until now?" 

"I was given very specific instructions. I tried to speak to Aurora but she doesn't seem interested."

"Oh give me a break." Pocahontas sighed. "Were the very specific instructions to wait until someone at the school dies and then reveal all? All Mavis has done is cause confusion and I think we're all a bit fed up of the riddles and mind games. If it's that important, she can just come out and say it directly."

"She said she can't." Jack said.

"Yeah, well she says a lot of things!" Pocahontas said. "A lot of things that simply just don't make sense."

"Do you want to hear what she said to tell you or not?" Jack asked, losing his patience. "She was very clear with her instructions. She said to either tell Aurora, Pocahontas or Belle, so I can go and find Belle if you're not interested."

Pocahontas crossed her arms. "I'm not."

"Well, I'm going to tell you anyway. She said to get out and go home and to tell the others too." 

"Ok, and I've got a message for Mavis. Tell her to leave us all alone." Pocahontas glared at him. "I'm sick and tired of this. I'm done."

◂ ❚ ⊱ꕥ⊰ ❚ ▸

"So I guess the big question here is, how exactly do I end things?" Pocahontas asked herself in the mirror while adjusting her tie. She shook her head and made her way to Agnarr Oldenburg's office to address the Gaston situation once and for all. 

"Hello, sir. I hope I'm not bothering you..." 

"Not at all, Pocahontas. I was actually about to come and ask you something so you've just saved me a trip."

"Oh?"

"I was wondering what Mr Frost had to say to you earlier." Mr Oldenburg said. "There have been a few complaints about him you see and I just wanted to make sure that he wasn't causing you any trouble. You seemed a bit distraught."

"No, it was just... It's fine." Pocahontas frowned and tilted her head to the side. "Not to be disrespectful but were you really going to come and find me to ask about that? When a student has just died? People have been asking me all day about what happened, what am I supposed to be telling them? You sent your daughters back home so they wouldn't have to deal with the stress of this whole thing but what about Milo and I? We're stressed too!"

Agnarr examined the pen on his desk and nodded slowly. "I'm sorry you feel that way."

Pocahontas gritted her teeth. "I also wanted to say that there are a significant amount of other students who are quite concerned about your daughter." 

"And why would that be?" Agnarr sat up straight, looking very on edge all of a sudden.

"Well, it's a bit unlike Anna to go anywhere without sharing every single detail to everyone first." Pocahontas noted the way Agnarr's shoulders relaxed and his grip on the pen in his hand loosened.

"Ah yes, well it was a very sudden decision." Agnarr moved his chair slightly so he could look out of the window to the front where a bunch of leaves were floating around eerily in the wind. He immediately looked away.

"Why did you assume that I was talking about Elsa?" 

"Excuse me?"

"You being so concerned about me asking after Elsa and not Anna tells me that there's something about Elsa that you don't want me to know about. So, Mr Oldenburg. What exactly is going on? What is the reason that Mavis Borealis got expelled all those years ago and why are you all going to such extreme measures to keep whatever this is hidden?" 

The door behind her creaked open and Iduna Oldenburg glided through, shutting the door behind her. "Oh. Sorry, I didn't realise that you were in here, Pocahontas. Is everything alright?"

"Yes." Pocahontas glanced out of the window and noticed the leaves slowly floating upwards to form a three letter word...

RUN

"Uh. I was just leaving." Then, as she stood up to leave, she heard Iduna say in the faintest of whispers, so quiet that she almost missed it.

"I'm sorry."

Then everything went dark.

She was on top of a cliff, standing by a waterfall and then all of a sudden she was falling. Then she hit the ground running, tearing through the trees like there were wild animals after her. Her lungs felt as though they were going to collapse but she couldn't stop. Wouldn't stop. Not after all this time. All of a sudden, a tree materialised out of nowhere and all the air in her body made a swift exit. An unbearable pain that started at her stomach and didn't end shot up and down her body and she collapsed on the grass in front of her, unable to move. Her eyes closed and slowly, she felt herself slipping away.

Pocahontas looked down and saw a young woman with long, raven-black hair and a turquoise necklace around her neck slumped over next to a tree with her eyes closed. Then she looked down where her hands should be and there was nothing. An awful feeling flooded her brain as memories came rushing back all at once. She looked over the the right and saw a small figure with short dark hair and a black and yellow bee jumper limp on the ground and on the left, she saw a woman with long, blonde hair tangled and dirty leading on towards a girl wearing a cardigan that had frogs embroidered along the hem and on the right of her there was another and another and... 

Pocahontas clutched the air where her head would be and screamed until she could scream no more.

◂ ❚ ⊱ꕥ⊰ ❚ ▸

Ok. That's enough of that. I'm interrupting this version of events to clarify what exactly is going on here, because let's be honest, I'm the only one who knows the full, unabridged story and can get that across in a somewhat orderly fashion. The girls tried their best to figure everything out, but their best wasn't good enough. So for this to make any amount of sense, we need to go back to the very beginning before Northuldra Academy even opened.

 Before I forget, here's your trigger warning for child abuse, violence and a great deal of sadness in the following chapter(s) because to put it plainly, I am not a good person. I have done some unforgivable things in my lifetime but it was all for a reason. So let me explain myself. Let me explain everything.

Chapter Text

Did you know that the word anon has two meanings? The most common meaning is an abbreviation for the word, anonymous and the second is an archaic word that means soon. Remember that.

✧ "Life begins when a person first realizes how soon it ends." - Marcelene Cox ✧

In order for this to make any amount of sense, I have to start at the very beginning and, as it always seems to, this whole ordeal began with Snow White.

I still remember the day Snow White was born. She was a sickly little thing with skin as pale as milk which was only emphasised by her hair. Hair as black as ebony. Her tiny red mouth was perpetually stretched in a massive "O" shape as she cried all day and all night long. Kingsley and Adelaide ran themselves ragged rushing to and from hospital appointments, perpetually in some state of worry or agitation. I was absolutely exhausted all the time and extremely worried about what would happen to me if Snow White died. Turns out I was concerned about the wrong thing, because in the end the stress of Snow White's health problems took a huge toll on Adelaide, so that she developed several issues of her own. As Snow White became healthier and healthier, Adelaide's health took a rapid decline until she was just skin and bones curled up on a hospital bed. 

And then just like that, she was gone.

Gone was the little girl in mismatched hat, gloves, scarf and coat waiting by the window with bated breath for the first flakes of snow that would signify that her favourite time of the year was approaching. 

Gone was the brave teenager who loved so hard, so fiercely that she gave up the security and comfort she had to help others and to make a name for herself without anyone's help or support. 

Gone was the woman with the lopsided smile and the loud, unguarded laugh and vexing way of always needing to be right. 

Gone. Gone Gone. 

Right along with my freedom.

To begin with, I blamed Snow White entirely for Adelaide's death. My thinking was that if she hadn't gotten so stressed, she wouldn't have died or maybe would have been able to recover. I believed Snow White had killed the only person who cared about me and the only person I had come close to caring about, despite my reservations, simply because Adelaide was just so easy to love. Snow White on the other hand, was not. She cried and cried for her mother all the time and Kingsley was besides himself with grief so my parents sent word for me to come back home. Hence the end of my freedom.

My arrival back home was not received well. In the life plan that had been laid out for me, I was supposed to pursue a career in science but while I was living with Adelaide, I had been working on one of my stories instead. At the time, I had made around a thousand moodboards, but not a completed novel that I could show to them to prove how serious I was about my writing like I had wanted. I had only written a few complete chapters that I was happy with.

"For such an intelligent person, you are extremely foolish to think that we would ever change our minds in this regard. You will become a scientist and that is final." My mother said to me. She held out a long manicured hand to take my laptop where everything to do with my story was saved. 

"You are good at science and that can help us to answer the great mysteries of the world. What can your writing possibly achieve?" My father scoffed. "Anyone can write!"

In a sudden flash of defiance, I held the laptop close to my chest and said to them, "Adelaide would have wanted me to do what I'm passionate about, not what you've set out for me. I don't want to become a scientist and I am old enough to make my own decisions!"

My mother slowly rose out of the armchair with the dark green pattern that had always reminded me of vomit stains. When she spoke, her voice was very level and calm, not a single trace of anger or shock at being spoken back to although I'm almost completely certain she was both angry and shocked. "I think Adelaide would have wanted you to do the right thing. Do you know how much your father and I have invested in your education?"

"By allowing you to live with Adelaide, we gave you a chance to be independent. We trusted you." My father chimed in. His eyes were beginning to stray over to his watch and I knew I was running out of time to convince them. "We gave you your chance."

"Please. Give me one more month to show you. One month. That's all I'm asking for." I pleaded, probably sounding like a petulant child which fit quite well because they still treated me like one.

"You will become a scientist and that is final. We are allowing you to choose your own area of study, you should take advantage of that before we decide for you." My father declared, taking the laptop, and my entire life's work, out of my hands. "This is for your own good. Now, are you going to delete everything? Or do I have to?"

"Father, please." I begged. 

He shook his head and began to walk away. I felt my knees go weak and grabbed onto the back of the green armchair for support, hoping to at least save some of my dignity. 

"Welcome back home, by the way, dearest." My mother said, the corners of her crimson lips twitching slightly. Mocking me. "Your luggage is in your room."

✧

That afternoon, as I stared at the ceiling in the attic room that I vowed to never come back to ever again, I understood for the first time in my life what pure, unadulterated anger felt like. Towards my mother. Towards my father. And towards Snow White. I had spent my entire life controlled by my parents and Adelaide had been my ticket out until Snow White arrived on the scene. I suppose it's a bit pathetic looking back, holding that much malice towards a child but I was so consumed with rage that I couldn't think straight. I needed to find someone to hate just as much as I hated myself and that happened to be Snow White. I now know that even if Adelaide didn't die, my parents would have found another reason to bring me back home. It was all about control for them. 

 In my room, the desk had been removed as had the piles of notebooks with all of my story ideas and in its place there was a massive imprint in the carpet. The phone Adelaide had bought me was nowhere to be found, my laptop was gone, there wasn't a single book, pen, pencil or piece of paper in the room and there was no way I was going to ask either one of my parents for anything.

Writing was everything to me. The ability to create a brand-new universe and alternate reality through the tip of a pen or the keys on a keyboard was what had kept me going for so long. As I lay in that horrible too-big room with the too-high ceiling and too-tall window, I heard the dreaded sound of the key turning in the lock on the outside of the door and I felt fury burn through my entire being. 

Then, I did something that I hadn't done since I was little. I marched up to that stupid old door that held the entire world on the other side and I pounded on it until my fists burned and my throat was sore from screaming. It was all for nothing though, because just like how things would play out when I was younger, nobody came to unlock the door until morning. 

There wasn't a single part of my body that wasn't aching and I had never felt so hopeless. But, you know, when I finally got let out of the room and was being escorted down to breakfast by my father's secretary to ensure I wouldn't try and escape, we passed Adelaide's portrait in the hallway and I swear, I felt my entire body go cold. I think it was right there, at that precise moment through my numbness that I realized that there was absolutely no way on earth that I could live the rest of my life like this.

Chapter Text

✧ "Learning too soon our limitations, we never learn our powers." - Mignon McLaughlin  ✧ 

I had grown up hearing the word 'different' used to describe me a lot in my childhood and early adolescence. My brain didn't work in the same way as other people and because of this, there were a lot of people who were afraid of me. My parents included. Strict rules and regulations were forced upon me from an extremely young age. I didn't go to school. I didn't have any friends. The only taste of freedom I had was when I was sent away to live with Adelaide, Kingsley and Snow White. But you know how that went already.

The topic area that I chose to research was the scientific study of magic. Of course, this isn't what I told my parents. As far as they knew, I had chosen cosmology and it was from this area of study that my idea began to blossom. All in all, it took a total of six years for me execute my plan because as I began to learn more and more, I realised that it wasn't going to be enough for me to just escape my parents' clutches. I wanted more than that. I wanted revenge.

 In the meantime, late at night, I had to steal small scrap pieces of paper and tiny pencils during the day that nobody would miss to continue writing stories and poems. I would sit with my back against the locked door and the large triangle window in front of me and write in tiny handwriting everything that I felt necessary to write. Alongside this small act of rebellion, occasionally I would fold the pieces of paper up into tiny little squares and hide them behind the paintings on the walls. It was a tiny act of mutiny in the grand scheme of things but to me then, it meant everything.

I made my first big breakthrough a year after I came back. The day had begun as it normally did. At 7am, I was given breakfast and then brought to the library where I was provided with all of the research papers, journals and books on cosmology that was necessary for my studies. I was also provided with a laptop which looked exactly like my old one except for all of the internet restrictions that had been added to it. 

The library was a spacious room lit by natural light coming from a window that overlooked the front garden. It contained tall bookcases lining the walls and a table with a painting of my parents hanging above it and it was at this table that I would spend most of the day working. Every now and then, I would lose track of all the reasons I had for fighting back but when I looked up to see their smug faces smiling down at me, I was fueled with anger and determination to carry it through. Across from the painting was a triangular stain-glass window and a grandfather clock with a broad snowflake carving in the center of its pendulum. It had been my favourite room in the entire place before now. I'm also quite sure that my parents knew of this fact, hence the reason it was chosen as my jail. However, ultimately, I had the last laugh because the reason for it being my favourite was the stone statue of a horse in the corner, which was the way to access the secret room containing books and journals on the history of magic.

Along with the furniture, I also had a member of staff sitting directly behind me on one of the small sofas ready to report to either one of my parents the moment it looked like I was doing anything that looked suspicious. This was nearly always a maid named Gerda who I hated for several reasons beyond her being a key instrument in my confinement.

First of all, she would always pretend like she actually cared about my well-being with her smiles and cheery greetings of, "How are we this morning?"

Secondly, she always had some sort of cold and so was always sniffing and bringing her fancy embroidered handkerchief up to her mouth to sneeze into. 

And finally, she breathed extremely loudly whenever she peered over my shoulder like she could tell the difference between cosmology and scientific studies on magic. Even if she could, I had a thousand airtight excuses lined up at this point if questions were asked. 

Normally, I would spend around a quarter of the day doing what I was 'supposed' to be doing and then would tell Gerda that I needed to get a few more books. That left me with around ten minutes to get to and from the secret room that contained all of the books on magic that had been hidden away and swap book jackets around. On the day that things finally started progressing, I decided to take a massive risk and talk to Gerda.

"How long have you been working here for? And how did you get this job?" I asked, knowing the answer already. I had memorised every single member of staff in the place at this point. It wasn't particularly hard to do considering the fact that the staff had been reduced years ago so that only people essential to the running of household remained.

Gerda stumbled over her words, surprised at being acknowledged for once. "For as long as I can remember. My pa used to be the head cook here, and my ma would bring me along to help with the cleaning sometimes, may she rest in peace"

"I see. And whatever did happen to your parents?" I asked, the corner of my mouth twitching upwards when Gerda flinched. 

"Pa retired."

"And..."

Gerda frowned, wringing her hands together. "Ma stopped working here when Pa did." 

"That's not the way I remember things happening." I said, enjoying watching her squirm. "See, I heard that the last head cook had an affair with one of the maids and that his wife was so humiliated by the whole thing that she moved to a completely different country to start a new life, leaving their only daughter in the care of her previous employers."

"How dare you?" Gerda cried, angry red splodges forming on her cheeks. "That isn't true!"

I started a little bit at the sudden burst of noise. My days were very dreary and dull so this small piece of excitement was quite entertaining. However, I had made Gerda angry for a reason and I couldn't lose focus. I murmured one of the incantations I'd memorised from a book from the secret room while staring directly at Gerda's wobbling face as she continued to snivel her way through more denials.

A single teardrop travelled it's way down Gerda's face and she brought her hands up to her face with wide eyes, swiping away the tears that followed. "Wha... I..."

"Why are you so upset if it isn't true?" I asked, leaning back into my chair, watching a waterfall stream its way down Gerda's cheeks. 

"You... You...." Gerda rose to her feet in a flurry of anger and confusion, dabbing at her eyes with her handkerchief. As she stormed out of the library, angrily huffing about how horrible I was, I picked up all of the books from the secret room and quickly put them back where they belonged so that I was ready in position when Father entered the room.

"Taken a sudden interest in aggravating the staff, have you?" He asked, watching me lower my gaze to the maroon-red carpet, feigning remorse. "Show me what you have done today."

So I did and once I had finished, I murmured the incantation and watched as beads of sweat began to form on my father's forehead. 

And I realised that this was the beginning of everything.

Chapter Text

✧ "The best fire doesn't flare up the soonest." - George Eliot ✧

In order to not raise suspicion, from that moment forward, I only ever practiced spell-casting during the only time of the day that I was allowed to be alone which was whenever I went to the bathroom. In the years that followed, I managed to teach myself the art of hydrokinesis with nothing but bath water. Months spent failing over and over again and despairing that I would never truly be free. That I was useless and that I would be under my parents' watchful gaze forever. Until the impossible became possible and by the end of my second year of confinement, I didn't even need to say the incantations aloud anymore. The manipulation of water lay within my fingertips.

Since I had been staying out of trouble for so long, my parents decided that it was time for me to start attending science conferences. It was an extremely big deal as I would make my first public appearance in years. We were to start off small with two and the first was scheduled to take place at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, an illustrious university located in California. 

"We have been personally invited by my associate, Professor Robert Callaghan who requested that we all be present, otherwise your first conference would have been here in Arendelle. So don't even think for a second of doing anything that could embarrass me or your mother." My father informed me when my invitation arrived. "This conference will be the first time that you will be meeting my business partners and I expect you to be on your best behaviour at all times. Do you understand? Yes or no?"

"I understand." I felt my fingertips tingle as I looked up into his stony cold gaze. 

✧

Before we set off, I was subjected to training of how to behave once we landed in San Fransokyo. From body language to diction, to what I would wear on each day of the conference. I spent hours practicing what my resting face should be, how to smile, how to laugh, how to shake people's hands. 

My family's motto is as follows: "The world is governed more by appearance than realities."

It was first whispered into my ear when I was five years old. My mother sat me down at her dressing table and and told me the story of how she had smiled her way to success while she brushed my hair.

"No one likes an angry woman. They see mad women as madwomen." She said to me, through blood-red lips. I remember nodding, not having a clue what the hell she was on about. "They don't care who made her mad. They won't care about the reality of the situation. The only thing they pay attention to is the way you respond. So, if you ever feel yourself getting angry, do you remember what I told you to do?"

"Smile harder." I replied.

"Good girl." My mother said under her breath and when I looked up at her breathtakingly beautiful face in the mirror's reflection, she smiled down at me.

My feelings towards my mother were complicated. I felt sorry for her mostly to begin with. To become someone so horrific, so angry all of the time, I can only imagine what her childhood was like. She never talked about what life was like before she got married and I suppose there's a good reason for that. My existence caused her a lot of pain, I think. And she never came to terms with processing her feelings of hatred towards someone that she was supposed to love, according to all the laws of nature.

But anyway, I digress. By the time my parents and I were on the ten hour flight to San Fransokyo, you would never think that I had been locked away for two and a half years. The hours of training had turned me into a completely different person on the outside. But they failed to change what was inside.

✧

"It's a pleasure to meet you, young lady." Robert Callaghan smiled indulgently down at me. 

"The pleasure is all mine sir. Your work is simply remarkable." I replied, just as I had been taught. "Your work in robotics is changing the world!"

"Haha, thank you, thank you." Professor Callaghan shook my hand and then continued on his way, two massive bodyguards on either side. 

I had my parents on either side of me, each watching my every move. Every blink. Every swallow. Every breath. I glanced to the side and spotted a teenage boy laughing with a young man who wore a dark baseball cap. The young man noticed me looking at them curiously and offered a friendly wave so I immediately averted my eyes, swallowed the lump in my throat and followed my parents to greet Dr Liv Amara, the creator of the bio-tech company, Sycorax.

"I look forward to seeing you speak, whenever that will be." Dr Amara said to me after we had said our hellos. "I wish you the best of luck."

And so it continued until we approached a young woman around the same age as me. She had silvery hair as white as snow in a loose French braid swept over her shoulder at the time. She didn't say a single word to either of my parents - didn't even say her name - just nodded in recognition of them before accepting their handshakes gracefully with slender, manicured hands. I remember being awestruck at the way she carried herself. She was dressed casual in a teal, cashmere turtleneck and black trousers, but she had an aura, a self-assurance that I could tell hadn't been taught or drilled into her - it just existed within. When she glided in front of me to shake my hand, it was as though she could see right through my facade and saw inside me. 

And it was absolutely terrifying.

Her hands were as cold as ice when she clasped my hand, in hers almost causing me to jolt back in surprise and when I looked down, her hand was a perfect ice sculpture, with tinges of blue streaking through it right up to her wrist. I stammered my greetings but she still didn't speak, her only acknowledgement of mewas that the corner of her pale pink lips quirked upwards as though I had just cracked an inside joke. Then she swayed past, her head held high; her strides long and purposeful. 

My hand was left tingling in a manner that I have always found incredibly difficult to describe. It stung as though thorns were being pressed into my fingertips but at the same time, across my palm, there was a sensation that I can only think to compare to a handful of golden glitter being sprinkled across it and then it sinking down inside my skin. It was similar to the feeling I got whenever I was practising my hydrokinesis, except on a scale far more... Far more of everything.

For the rest of the day, I pondered on who this young woman could possibly be. I scoured the fifty-person guest list matching names to faces; I searched the crowds once we seated and not a single person even close to resembling her was present. I began to fear that I was beginning to lose my mind, and that she was simply a figment of my imagination. An imaginary saviour who would whisk me away from my parents' talons. By the time Professor Callaghan had finished his introductory speech, I was extremely on edge and barely paying attention to my surroundings. 

The first person on the stage was named Tadashi Hamada who I recognised as the young man who had waved at me earlier. He was showcasing his latest creation: a robotic, personal healthcare companion called Baymax. He talked about his inspiration for making it, his goal in wanting to inspire his younger brother, Hiro to help people... And all while this was going on, I was staring at the massive marshmallow on-stage with tears in my eyes, believing I was on the verge of insanity. 

My parents noticed immediately of course, and my mother whispered sharply to me more than once with her dazzling white smile fixed in place to pull myself together. My father didn't say anything, which, knowing him means he was most likely putting together a plan to get me on a flight back home before the first teardrop fell. I will never know for sure whether that was his plan though, because just as Tadashi Hamada came down from the stage and Gogo Tomago prepared to climb up the steps, there was an enormous whooshing sound and before I knew it, the showcase hall was being consumed by fire.

✧

There was a mad panic as I scrambled to my feet and began to scream and shove past the crowd of people rushing towards the exit. Before long, someone had kicked me directly in my ribcage, another person had dislocated my shoulder and my eye had ballooned to the size of a small plum from yet another person elbowing me in the eye while I was scrambling to get up from the ground. So there I was, trying to crawl to the exit on my hands and knees, completely surrounded by smoke, flames and debris. I could barely breathe. I could barely see. And there was not a drop of moisture in the air that I could manipulate with my newly acquired hydrokinesis skills. 

I began to laugh maniacally, head back mouth stretched open in the kind of laugh that sounded like my lungs are about to collapse. I laughed and I laughed and I laughed until the laughs became wheezes and until the wheezes became spluttering coughs. I could feel every last drop of oxygen get squeezed out of me. And then, just as I was about to give up all hope, I saw a translucent figure, resembling a horse, emerge out of the flames galloping directly towards me. And riding it, was my imaginary saviour dressed entirely in white and looking as insouciant as ever as she lifted me from the ground and onto the horse.

I hung on for dear life as we galloped to safety, out of the flames . The horse was made out of ice, I realised, upon landing on top of it, and immediately feeling the chill cut right through my bones. Its movements were as fluid as water as we escaped the crumbling building, with the white-haired woman directing its movements with ease and looking decidedly unconcerned about the humongous pieces of falling debris and sizzling hot electric sparks that greeted us at every turn. The moment the blast of night air hit us, the horse melted into the darkness and the woman landed easily on the steep, grassy hill while I was catapulted down onto my bad shoulder. The moment I made contact with the hill, I began to cough and retch and gag, willing every bit of smoke from the fire to be expelled from my lungs as boiling hot tears seeped out of my good eye. The woman made no attempt to help at first, too caught up in the magnificent view of the city of San Fransokyo below us. 

"Hey. Look at me." She said finally after around a minute or so had passed. "You're bleeding." She spoke softly, in an accent that I couldn't quite place and she bent down to examine my eye more closely, seeming absolutely astounded at the fact that I could bleed.

"No shit, Sherlock." I snapped, moving away from her and gasping for breath. "What the hell was that?"

"Pyrokinesis."

"What?" I barked, then clutched my ribs, squeezing my eye shut.

"Fire magic." 

"I know what pyrokinesis is!" I said. "Why did you do that? Where are my parents?"

"Dead." 

And just like that, my throat closed up. My chest caved in on itself. My heart stopped beating. Because what did I have now? What did I have left to live for? I had been plotting my revenge for so long. I had been so close that I could taste it. My plan would have been execute on the way to the next conference which took place several hours north of Arendelle. I had planned everything, through careful watching and observing. I knew who the captain would be, (Captain James Bartholomew Hook), I knew what route we would be taking (south-east across the Dark Sea, just west of Ahtohallan).

I knew the very second at which I would make my move. When we were well underway in our journey, I would make the ship capsize and then rise above them all, and watch my parents in their panicked, pleading final moments as they sank to their gurgling deaths, lost to the sea forever. I may even torture them a bit, bringing them up to the surface for a few precious seconds of air before sending them right back down again. At night, I imagined how much they would beg for me to save them, and the satisfaction that I would feel when I refused. It made me get out of bed every morning. It gave me a reason to keep going. I had always known that we would make a trip across the Dark Sea eventually, you see.

I wasn't ignorant to the fact that there was an institution on the other side of it that specialized in turning loud, disobedient rich kids into meek submissive clones of their parents. Adelaide herself was very nearly sent to it when she got engaged to Kingsley. Their plan was never for me to become a world-renowned scientist, it was all an act. Their plan had always been to send me away and I knew that from the very second that they allowed for me to go and live with Adelaide that those would be the last precious moments of freedom that I would would experience. Even if she hadn't died, they would have found an excuse for me to make the fateful trip across the Dark Sea before my 20th birthday. The day I would legally become an adult according to Arendellian tradition.

"You're not supposed to use magic here anymore. It's forbidden." The white-haired woman informed me, pressing something cold on top of my eye. "So I came to stop you."

"And who are you?"

"I don't think that's any of your business."

"Oh ok, Miss Secretive, well could you at least explain to me why you had to burn down an entire building to let me know that I shouldn't use magic while using magic yourself?"

"I needed to fake your death."

"Why?"

"Because you needed to die." 

"Why?"

The woman took a deep breath and turned away from me, looking down at the eighty thousand buildings down below, full of everyday people getting on with their lives. It was remarkably colourful, not like anything I was used to, with light reflecting off billions of shiny surfaces. Pinks and reds and blues and greens and golds all ricocheting off each other. The colours rushed into the woman's silvery-white hair shimmering around her face as she pulled her gaze away and turned around slowly surveying the surrounding area. Over to our left was the Golden Gate Bridge and miles of the Pacific Ocean stretching out as far as the eye could see. She sighed again and looked back down at me.

"Why can't you tell me who you are?" I asked. "Or why I needed to 'die'?"

"Do you not trust me?"

"You just set a building on fire!" I said incredulously. 

The woman rolled her eyes and then nodded down at my hand which was beginning to tingle again. An ice-cold sensation began to creep up from my fingertips as tiny, beautiful white-blue snowflakes began to form letters, starting from my index finger. I squinted down, not able to believe my eyes.

I saw the straight lines of an E and an L.

The wavy, precise curls of an S.

The final A.

I grabbed my wrist.

"Are you ready?" She asked me, staring out at the Pacific Ocean, all of the colours in the world reflected in her hair.

Chapter Text

✧ "I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in my life." - Sylvia Plath ✧

PART 1: WATER

"So? Are you ready, Elsa?"

"Ready for what?" I asked, my chest fizzling with excitement and fear. The question "How do you know my name?" was tingling on my lips but it seemed inadequate to ask in the grand scheme of things. After all, this woman had blazed into my life setting fire to my world with magic more powerful than I could even begin to imagine.

"To be taught how to use magic properly, of course." She replied, impatiently.

"But didn't you say that using magic here is forbidden?"

"Well, yes. Which is why we would need to leave."

We.

My eyes welled up with tears at the use of the pronoun, hot and heavy until they were streaming down my face. Mortified, I swiped at my face, wincing as they seeped into the cuts on my face. I don't know how long I just sat there crying but I will never forget the way it felt. It was as though this massive weight that had been pinning every single part of me to the ground had finally been lifted. My limbs felt loose and airy. My heart was slowly beginning to beat again. Red and hot and steady.

"Oh come on. None of that now." The woman grimaced, awkwardly crouching down beside me. She made a vague hand movement and the cuts on my face sealed. Another, and my eye was no longer a gigantic purple and blue lump. A final one and the pain in my upper shoulder faded. She lifted me to my feet and I felt the world tip on its axis as I became wrapped up in the silky material of the woman's pure white jumpsuit which was beginning to look slightly blue in the moonlight. "If you don't want to, then..."

"No!" I yelled, louder than I intended it to be. "I do want to learn magic properly. I want to learn how to do everything."

The woman nodded and for the first time, I noticed the thin silver stick in her manicured hand. "Your first lesson: Always listen to Fae."

"Huh?"

Fae ignored me, too focused on waving the silver stick through the air murmuring a spell under her breath but I only caught the last part. "...bibbidi bobbidi boo."

The air exploded with silver and blue sparks, and a seemingly insignificant standalone door appeared, painted white with icy blue snowflakes painted along the bottom.

"For you." Fae said to me. "It's a portal. I'll see you on the other side."

And with that she disappeared, melting into the grass. I took the door handle into my hand and pressed down, opening it cautiously but through the door, it held only the view of the ocean, wild and free as it crashed against the shore. Stepping through the doorway, felt as though I was walking through a thin film, similar to a soap bubble. I closed my eyes, thinking to myself that I should probably close the door behind me, but as I reached behind to shut it, I discovered my movements were far slower than I was used to.

I realised that I was in water a fraction too late, and panic shot through me like an ice cold sword through my gut. It wasn't like the water was particularly cold, and even if it was, it wouldn't have been that much of an issue. The cold never did bother me very much. It was the fact that all of a sudden there was all this water weighing me down and my lungs felt empty. There was a raspy rumble beneath me shocking me back into reality, and I realised that there could be absolutely anything lurking in the murky depths. I cleared my mind and reached into the very depths of my soul, stretching the water as thin as possible in my mind so I could throw it off me. I felt the familiar hum in my fingertips and in a sudden burst of excitement, I let out a small breath of relief. My time was now more limited than ever, so I heaved and pulled as much water towards me as I could and then hurled it away.

In a rush of bubbles and froth, I found my feet connecting with something solid as the water created a bubble around me. I sucked in the salty air, with newfound gratitude, my heart swelling with pride as I looked around at the invisible cocoon I had created at the bottom of the ocean.

"Excellent!" I heard Fae call to me from some distance. "Now hold it!"

She drifted across to me, sitting atop the horse-like figure from before. The two were blurring into each other in the watery haze almost as they were one figure. It should have looked strange, but it didn't somehow. I frowned up at her, my head beginning to throb as I struggled to maintain the bubble. I could feel the moment I lost control and all at once the water trickled down around me.

"HELP!" I screamed, my scream becoming a gurgle as I became swept up in the ocean's pull. Fae swam over to me and pulled me on top of the horse, her jumpsuit now a calm and collected grey.

"I've got you. You're okay." She murmured, taking hold of the reins again and instructing the horse to be steady. "You can breathe now."

"What is this thing called?" I asked, gasping for breath as I gathered myself.

"This is the Nokk." Fae replied. "Now, hold on to me. We're going to go fast."

"Where was my warning before?" I exclaimed, indignantly.

"Do you think your parents would have had a warning before they drowned?" Fae asked, sending a flash of guilt through me, before I remembered what she had done to them.

"Don't you dare speak to me about my parents." I snapped.

Fae said nothing for a while, focused on directing the horse but her silence said it all. We were cutting through the water extremely quickly, flashes of colour and slightly odd-looking creatures zipping past us. It was like we were on a very bizarre looking motorway, and when Fae finally decided to speak, it was to grumble about how the price to enter the Atlantic Ocean had risen. It was also around then, that I fell asleep and was awoken to behold an entire underwater kingdom. The water was light blue and as clear as crystal with buildings that would put some of the greatest architects on land to shame. At the heart of the city lay a gigantic golden palace, with tiny colourful figures swimming around it.

"Here we are. This is Atlantica." Fae said, dismounting the Nokk and helping me down too. She spent a few seconds murmuring to it in its language then, eyes flashing, it dissolved into the water, the only hint that it had even been there in the first place, a fizz of bubbles.

"It's beautiful." I whispered, trying to cram as many images of the breathtaking view below us in my mind as possible.

"Before we go in, I should probably explain a few things." Fae said, sitting down, the folds of her colour-changing jumpsuit rippling out around her like the fins of a tropical fish.

I looked down at my own tattered clothes, burnt from the fire, with streaks of soot across it and my head snapped up to stare at Fae as they slowly transformed into a pale blue dress and matching sky-blue leggings. "Are you reading my mind?"

"Sorry." Fae looked away, her expression slightly contrite. "It's a force of habit when people's thoughts are too loud."

Either my facial expression was too telling or she read my mind again, but she patted the ground beside her and turned off the 'porcelain face' act that I knew all too well, her features softening into a not-quite smile but about halfway there. "Come, sit. I'll tell you everything."

"Everything?" I said dubiously.

"As much as I can tell you without you freaking out on me."

"OK, so not everything."

Fae took a deep breath, side-eyeing me and then began. "I am the last remaining fairy godmother."

I stared at her blankly. "Okay."

"Our role was to help people carry out their deepest, most profound wishes of those in need." Fae said, the slight mist that had appeared over her eyes when we were on the grassy hill in San Fransokyo returning. "There were hundreds of us once. But, well, I made a mistake."

"You killed them?" I gasped, horrified.

Fae glared at me, her jumpsuit instantly becoming an inky black. "I did not kill them. There was a curse that I didn't know how to undo. It wasn't my fault. You'll see after being in a place where just about anyone can use magic freely. People go crazy. They curse just about anyone with a pulse over the stupidest things and it's nearly always down to me to fix because I'm the best at magic."

"Okay, okay. So, how did it happen?"

"That's not relevant." Fae said, her face stony. Her jumpsuit slowly faded back to white and she took a deep breath before continuing. "The point is, the other fairies decided that I needed someone to help me now that I have a job that would have taken hundreds of fairy godmothers to complete. And I chose you."

"Why do you think that I, of all people will be able to help you so much?""

"Because I've seen it in the future. You have a lot of potential." Fae stood up, signalling that it was the end of the conversation. "So, the deal is as follows: I teach you magic, and you help me with granting people their wishes."

"But why do you want to teach me more magic, knowing what I was going to do to my parents? And why did you kill them for me? I thought that would be against some kind of 'fairy moral code', no?"

"Elsa, I believe that deep down, you're actually a good person. No matter how much you may try and convince me otherwise. And as for your second question, I'm a... I'm the fairy godmother. I grant people's wishes. Now come on, there's a human here who I would like you to meet."

✧

I'm not entirely sure who I was expecting to be the main inhabitants of an underwater kingdom, but it seemed like a bit of a no-brainer when I saw the guard waiting to meet us at the gates of Atlantica. He had dark brown skin, adorned with silver and gold tattoos across his arms and torso leading down to his lower body which consisted of a golden-yellow fish-like tail with amber, translucent fins and a matching, fish-lip waist-line.

“There you are!" The merman exclaimed, his voice bright and friendly.

"Sorry, we came on the Nokk instead of teleporting to get Elsa used to being under the surface."

"Makes sense." The merman nodded towards me in greeting, his long midnight-black locs rippling around his head as he did so, the seashells adorning his hair clinking against each other. “Hello, I’m Caspian.”

“My name is Elsa.” I said.

“I know.” Caspian grinned. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Caspian and Fae went ahead, whispering to each other in low voices while I struggled behind them. Annoyingly, Fae was gliding through the water, looking as elegant as ever without a hint of embarrassment that she wasn’t swimming like everyone else. I was far more awkward and stiff in my movements, having to force my limbs forward to get anywhere. I noticed a small group of mermaids giggling behind their hands at me and tried to act like I didn’t care but I could feel every single creature’s eyes on us. From the blob-shaped green creature peeking at us from its house to the pink-haired mermaid with pouty lips and an extremely enviable tattoo across her collarbone in silver and pink. I was also vaguely aware of a scuttling sound and a flash of red in the corner of my eye but I didn’t pay it much attention. I was too enraptured with the dazzling lights and glittering merpeople swimming around, their tails sparkling. Fae’s revelation to me lurked in the shadows of my mind as well. What kind of person talked about a mass genocide of her entire species with such calmness?

When we entered what vaguely resembled a marketplace, with stalls selling things that I had never seen before in my life, Caspian and Fae began to slow down. Then, a blur of red jumped out in front of me and a shiny red crab appeared in a cloud of dust which rapidly began to change forms. The crab’s five pale legs extended into a magnificent scarlet tail, shimmering just as brightly as Caspian’s. Its flat round body transformed into a broad, bronze torso rippling with muscles and a smattering of ruby red scales appeared across the newly transformed merman’s shoulders and chest. Its claws were the last thing remaining that suggested that the merman had ever been a crab in the first place.

He snapped them in Elsa’s face looking extremely irritated. “Is this who I think it is, Fae?”

Fae sighed heavily, “Elsa’s visit to Atlantica has already been approved by a member of the royal family, Sebastian. Therefore, I have broken no rules by bringing her here.”

“By any chance, was that person the youngest, most impressionable princess whose obsession with humans borders inappropriate?” Sebastian snapped his claws again, his strong Jamaican accent holding more than a bit of annoyance. “Because, if that was the case then I overrule Princess Ariel’s approval. Every human brought into Atlantica must have permission from King Triton only if he is unavailable, then one of the princesses can give permission on his behalf.”

“We don’t have time for this.” Fae said, a drop of red bleeding through her jumpsuit from the hem inwards.

“Excuse me?” Sebastian raised an eyebrow and his voice echoed across the ocean floor. “You will bring Elsa to His Majesty so he can determine your intentions before even thinking about bringing her to The Chosen One. That is final. Now, do I need to escort the both of you there or are you up to the task, Caspian?”

Fae stared Sebastian down, unblinkingly, “We won’t be doing that.”

“Then she is not permitted to stay.”

In the blink of an eye, Fae had slipped her wand from within what I could only assume at this point was some kind of concealed pocket in her sleeve and had jabbed Sebastian with it before any one of us realised what was going on.

Then, a calm: “Come along, Elsa.” and I was being hurried forwards into the midst of the bustling crowd of the marketplace.

“You shouldn’t have done that.” Caspian chastised softly.

“Done what?” Fae asked, all shrugs and wide-eyed innocence as the wand disappeared from her hand. To me she murmured, “Lesson number two: Hypnosis will be your best friend in this line of work.”

Caspian chuckled and shook his head, swimming ahead to a cave-like establishment with a thick curtain of seaweed covering the entrance. “She’s just in there.”

“Who?” I asked impatiently, tired and hungry and more than a bit fed up of how difficult it was to move underwater.

Fae either ignored me or didn’t hear me, instead choosing to pull Caspian into a tight hug. Her jumpsuit shone golden, the fabric entwining around his tail. “Thank you Cas, I owe you one.”

“Anytime. Oh, and your tail is silver for me today. And you have a freckle. Right here. It’s cute.” Caspian tapped the side of his nose and then turned to me, wishing me good luck before swimming off.

I looked down in confusion at the outline of her legs in her jumpsuit, which was blushing a pale pink and then up at Fae’s face which was impassive and had no additional freckles than before. “What did he mean by that?” I asked her.

“Whatever you think I should look like, that’s what I appear as. So to Cas, I look like a mermaid. To you I look like a human.”

I frowned at this new revelation. “But then, what do you actually look like?”

“I don’t know. I don’t have a reflection.” Fae pulled open the curtain of seaweed. “Now, come on.”

✧

On the other side of the seaweed, there was a wall of water running steadily down, so smooth that it looked still and through the hazy blur, I could see someone sitting cross-legged in front of what looked like a pool of water, seemingly deep in conversation with someone. When I stepped through it, I could feel the water begin to weigh my clothes down, but with a wave of Fae’s wand, they had dried.

“Behold! The one whom the ocean chose.” Fae said dramatically, raising her arms towards the startled young woman who quickly rose to her feet, her big brown eyes widening as they darted from me to Fae and then back to me again.

“Stop it, Fae.” She crossed her arms and smiled at me, the slight gap between her front two teeth immediately warming me towards her. Adelaide had also had a gap between her front two teeth. “Hello Elsa. I’m Moana. It’s nice to meet you.”

I raised my hand in greeting, then looked at Fae quizzically who had already taken out her wand and was already busy creating a portal. “You’re leaving me here?”

“I have something I need to attend to. Don’t worry, you’re in good hands.”

“You said you were going to teach me magic!”

“I didn’t say that. I said that you would learn. I didn’t say who by.” Fae said. “Become one with the water and then come find me.”

“What??? But…”

Fae placed a finger over my lips and motioned for me to take a deep breath. “What was your first lesson?”

“Always listen to Fae.” I grumbled.

“Exactly.” Fae smiled with a flash of light and pearly white teeth, she was gone.

“Bit harsh. She didn’t even say goodbye.” Moana commented, gazing absentmindedly at the spot where Fae had just been. She knelt down by the pool of water, which I now saw was a sort of underwater cavern and yelled down, “Ariel! It wasn’t Sebastian, it was just Fae and Elsa!”

In an explosion of magma-red hair, a pretty young mermaid erupted from underneath the water like a volcano. “Oh, thank goodness!”

“This is Princess Ariel.” Moana told me, sitting back down. “Ari, this is Elsa. She’ll be staying with me for a while to practice her magic.”

We exchanged formalities, and Ariel swam up to the edge of the pool, resting her chin on her hands, the end of her emerald green tail flicking up behind her excitedly. “Moana was just telling me the story of how she fought of a Kakamora attack! And then how she outsmarted Tamatoa in Lalotai! Have you ever been to Lalotai, Elsa?”

“Er, I can’t say that I have no.” I replied.”

“She only got here a few hours ago.” Moana laughed, “In Elsa’s world, they don’t use magic. It’s not allowed. That’s why Fae brought her here. So she can learn properly.”

“Really?” Ariel’s eyes sparkled. “That’s incredible. My big sister, Attina says that worlds like that are better off because there’s regulation and order, but Father says that there are rules and regulations when it comes to using magic and that our way of life will always be better. But anyway, what about your family, Elsa? Were they sad to see you go?”

“My parents are dead.” I said, the words new and unfamiliar on my tongue.

“I’m sorry to hear that. My mother is also dead. If you ever want to talk about it, then I’m here.” Ariel smiled sadly. “I know how difficult it can be.”

I forced down a laugh and forced my face into a vaguely sad expression. “Thank you.”

“What about siblings? You must have siblings, right? Or are you an only child, like Moana? I still can’t believe that’s an actual thing. It’s practically unheard of in Atlantica.”

I froze, a corner of my heart that I hadn’t touched for years, beginning to ache. “I have a younger sister.” I heard myself saying.

“Oh? What’s her name?”

“Right, that’s enough questions.” Moana interrupted, noticing the pained expression on my face. “Ariel, you’d better get back before Sebastian calls out a search party. It’s getting late.”

“Oh yes, you’re right.” Ariel smiled. “Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, Elsa.”

“And you. Goodbye.” I felt my legs buckle beneath me as she disappeared beneath the water, barely making a splash.

Moana didn’t say anything. I think she must have perceived the conflicting emotions all at once in my mind and that speaking would be the straw that broke the camel’s back. She just handed me a bowl of food, placed a blanket over my shoulders and gave me a quick rundown on where everything was in the cave. Then, when I had stopped shaking, she tied her hair up in a bun with impressive speed and asked if I wanted to see something cool.

“Okay, sure.” I said. My eyes were beginning to close, but I didn’t dare close them, for fear that I’d wake up and my entire day would be a dream.

Moana took my hand in hers and then stepped into the pool that Ariel had been swimming around in earlier. Then, in a rush of bubbles, almost as though there was an invisible platform underneath us lifting us up, we were brought to the surface, right by the shore of a beach. The sand was flax-gold and warm underneath my bare feet, a shock to my system since I was so used to the cold by this point. Then, right before my very eyes, Moana fist-bumped a medium sized wave of water that rose up from the water and scrambled up onto the shore, still holding my hand. “Thanks buddy.”

“What was that?!”

“The ocean. I can communicate with it. It’s why they call me ‘The Chosen One.’” Moana grinned. “I had a lot of trouble coming to terms with it at first. Like, why me? What did I do to deserve this, kinda thing, you know?”

I nodded, knowing the feeling all too well in the negative sense. I dug my fingers in the damp sand and watched it trickle through my fingers, hearing the snoozy sea lapping gently in the back of my mind.

“But, I grew to learn that the ocean never makes mistakes. It chose me for a reason. And if I were to put myself in your shoes, I bet you’re feeling a bit like that with Fae choosing you to be her apprentice.”

“Yes. What is it about me that everyone knows that I don’t?” I asked the younger girl as cylinders of light moved across the ocean in front of us. I had seen it in the way Caspian looked at me, awe with a slight tinge of fear in his amber eyes. In the way riding the Nokk had seemed strangely familiar to me. In the tingling of my fingertips whenever I would get too emotional. All my life, I had been different. And maybe, finally, I would get to understand that those differences weren’t bad.

The corner of Moana’s mouth turned upwards slightly. “Everyone can see that you’re special, Elsa. I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but we can just tell. Fae could tell.”

“Caspian too.”

“Well, she’s probably shared whatever she's been thinking with him.” Moana smirked. “They’re not very subtle, are they? It’s a shame Fae’s job won’t allow them to be together.”

“Why not?”

Moana gave me an ‘Are you kidding me?’ look before remembering that I was an outsider, not accustomed to the rules of fairies. “Fairies can’t have relationships. And fairy godmothers definitely can’t.” She turned to watch the sunset, enraptured at the sight before us.

The sun was ember-red, bleeding into the water. Its backdrop was an ever-darkening sheet of navy blue threaded with silver and as the sun lowered its head, the water rose up like melted platinum. Before long, it would be completely dark and the sky would become a black velvet ceiling sprinkled with fairy dust.

“What does Fae look like to you?” I asked suddenly, looking down at my reflection in the water.

“Hmmm, a bit like my Gramma Tala, sometimes and other times like a manta ray. Why? What does she look like to you?”

My eyes flicked over my features in the reflection of the water. I took in my white-blonde hair, thin and stringy, melding into my sickly pale skin and imagined it in a thick French braid over my shoulder. A face with rosy cheeks and glossy skin.

I looked at my pale, bluish lips pressed into a straight line and envisioned them to be pinkish-red and lilac soft.

My glazed, bloodshot eyes to be clear and gleaming amidst slender, arched eyebrows and sweeping eyelashes.

A smattering of tiny freckled stars sprinkled across my nose.

I lifted my hands and pictured long elegant fingers, which weren’t always trembling and where the nails weren’t bitten all the way down.

And Fae stared back up at me.

Chapter Text

✧ "Writing a journal means that facing your ocean you are afraid to swim across it, so you attempt to drink it drop by drop."  - George Sand ✧

PART 2: WATER (still.) 

The very first thing she taught me was that the ocean was alive. "And so, what better way is there to practice hydrokinesis than on the largest living body of water in existence ?"

I had just finished being introduced to Chief Tui and Sina, Moana's parents when he made his dramatic entrance, swooping down from the heavens in the form of an enormous hawk and landing on the island in a loud explosion of tribal markings and hair .

"Greetings, fragile humans! I am Maui, shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and sea, hero to men and women..."

"Maui!" Moana grinned. "Just who I was looking for." 

Maui seemed slightly taken aback at Moana's elatedness to see him and raised an eyebrow. "You were looking for me? What for? What do you want now?" 

"Everyone knows Fae." Maui said. He pursed his lips and gave a long-suffering sigh when a little girl ran up to him with a pink and white flower in her tiny hands but gently bent down to place it in her hair nonetheless. He straightened up and faced Moana. "What does that have to do with me?"

"Well, Elsa is struggling a bit at the moment." Moana said tactfully. "And I remembered the time that you went and left me in the ocean all by myself just because your hook had a teeny tiny little crack..."

Maui crossed his arms. "You should know by now that this isn't how you should ask me for a favour, princess. "

"I'm not a princess." Moana shot back.

"You want something from me, Elsa, you've gotta have a lot of compliments and flattery ready."

Moana rolled her eyes. "Not going to happen."

"And then once you've showered me in praise, I will still say no." Maui continued, ignoring her and putting his hands behind his head to flex his muscles. "I'm very busy."

"Oh well, we tried. We'll just find somebody else." Moana shrugged, turning to walk away. "Bye Maui!"

"Hey, wait." Maui called after her. "I suppose I can hear you out. You have five minutes."

"I think her problem is, that she dwells too much on her failures and not all that she's accomplished. I keep telling her that being picked by Fae is no small thing." Moana concluded, squeezing my arm.

"Well." Maui smirked. "You'll never be as awesome as me of course... But you know what made me go back for Moana? What stopped me from dwelling on my small mistake?"

"What?" I asked, thinking the whole situation with Te Fiti's heart was anything but a 'small mistake' but not being bothered enough to press the issue.

"Refusing to let that be what I was known for." Maui said. "From the beginning, I've always said, I'm going to be the best version of myself I can be. I want to see how powerful I can get. Test the limits. Break through those limits. I want the name Maui to be associated with power and strength. What do you want people to think of when they hear the name 'Elsa'?"

"Okay, to be clear, there are limits to the kinds of power you should try to attain." Moana interjected after thinking for a while. "That's like, one of the first rules of magic."

"The rules don't apply to me." Maui said, puffing out his chest.

Moana stared at him for a long moment and tilted her head to the side. "You know what, I'm not even going to say anything."

"My mindset is inspiring!" Maui argued. "You can't say you think differently, otherwise you wouldn't have asked me to help motivate Elsa. Start thinking that you can beat even the most powerful thing in all existence and one day it can actually become true."

"But there are limits." Moana reasoned. "Lines that shouldn't be crossed with magic. What, are you telling me you disagree with that now?"

Moana put her hands on her hips. "Stop avoiding my question."

"What was it? I've forgotten." Maui yawned.

Moana narrowed her eyes. "Are you really saying that the laws of magic are irrelevant?"

 "What I am saying is that lines have to be crossed for there to be any substantial change in life. What's the point of doing things that everyone else has already done? You think I pulled islands out of the ocean because I'd seen it be done before? No! You yourself broke your father's rules by sailing across the ocean!"

"But there was a good reason for me to do so!" Moana yelled. "And that's got nothing to do with the laws of magic!"

"Oh, so now there's exceptions to which rules should or shouldn't be broken?" Maui bellowed.

"Yes! That's exactly what I'm saying!" 

"And who gets to decide that?" I interrupted. "How do you know which rules are okay to break and which ones aren't?"

"You just know of the time." Moana said. "You can feel whether what you're doing is right or wrong."

But what about when doing to wrong thing feels right? I wondered to myself.

✧

"I'm so sorry about him. Here you are, completely new to magic getting caught up in a debate about the philosophical justifications of it all." Moana said, when they were on their way back to Atlantica. 

"No, it's alright. I actually did get motivated by some of what he was saying."

"You did?" Moana asked, looking slightly doubtful. "Well that's great! Your trip with me wasn't in vain."

"It wouldn't have been in vain either way." I said. "Motunui is a lovely place and your family is so nice. You're very lucky."

"Thank you." Moana smiled. Then she tied her hair up into a bun and held her hand up to the sky.

In the days that followed, I tried harder than ever, with a newfound sense of determination I didn't know I had in me. I barely improved but the most important thing of all had changed: my attitude. When I lost control, I no longer felt despair because I knew my victory over the Ocean would be that much sweeter. Maui's words echoed around my mind day and night.  What do you want people to think of when they hear the name Elsa? 

Eventually, Sebastian and King Triton invited Moana to perform in a concert celebrating the yearly anniversary of music being permitted in the kingdom again (after he banned it). I didn't understand the concept of this to be completely honest, and I remember thinking that King Triton needed to be cut down for size. Imagine banning music in an entire kingdom. It seemed pretty tyrannical to me. I had been told that it was a massive stroke of luck that Moana had even been allowed in Atlantica. According to Ariel, the Royal Council had to vote on whether she was allowed to be their guest on account of King Triton's hatred of humans, despite her clear connection with the Ocean. Because of the concert, a day had finally come where Moana couldn't take me to our usual spot to practice and instead had to spend the morning rehearsing. It felt strange to have a late lie-in and to not wake up to the sound of Moana's soft singing echoing around the cave.

In fact, I felt a sudden pang of fear when I initially awoke until I remembered where Moana had gone and had to sit down, knuckles whitening as I gripped the side of the pool until my breathing went back to normal and my heart stopped threatening to beat out of my chest. For the first time in years, I didn't have someone telling me what I should or shouldn't do with my day. It felt weird. Unnatural. I contemplated writing a story and then thought against it, too afraid that I was still going through writer's block and would come up with nothing. I had spent so much time alone that creating worlds, creating people through my words was and always had been my safe space. I would tell Anna stories sometimes, before everything went to pieces. We lay awake for hours while I told her stories, filling our bedroom with visions of talking animals and magic and princes come to whisk us away to a happy ever after. I reached back in time and patted younger me on the shoulder.

Well, you finally made it to your magical kingdom. Now what?

 I decided to explore Moana' shelves and sat to read through a handwritten transcript of a legend Moana's grandmother used to tell her.

In the beginning, there was only ocean until the mother island emerged: Te Fiti.

It seemed like a pretty lonely way to live, I thought to myself for half a second, feeling quite sorry for the Ocean. Then I remembered the stinging slap of water across my face the previous day that had very nearly knocked me unconscious and all sense of pity was washed away. I read on.

Her heart held the greatest power ever known. It could create life itself. 

I leaned back against the shimmering walls of the cave and closed my eyes, imagining what I would do with the power to create life. And then, the power to control the life forms existing. To be above the greatest power ever known. I laughed, and put Moana's notebooks back on the carefully organised shelf. Here I was daydreaming about something as impossible as that when I was still failing at the task that I was actually supposed to be completing. What was it Fae had instructed me to do? 

"Become one with the water and then come find me."

I crossly kicked the carefully folded dress and leggings that Fae had created for me and gritted my teeth. Stupid Fae. "We" my ass. I paced around the cave, mimicking her annoying silvery voice full of promises that were too good to be true. I wondered how many apprentices she had abandoned over the years. 

"Elsa, guess what!" Ariel screeched, exploding through the surface of the pool, eyes shimmering with excitement. "Attina says she going to help you attend the concert tonight!"

"I thought I told you to stop doing that!" I yelled. 

An older, more solemn looking mermaid rose from the depths of the pool, exuding calmness. A glittering burst of warm red-orange light entered the pool as a large vermillion tail flicked up out of the water. Her regal appearance was extenuated by the five-pointed tiara with sparkling spikes adorning her auburn hair and without even asking, I knew that this was the Crown Princess and heir apparent, Princess Attina.

"Oh. Good morning, Your Majesty." I curtsied, now severely regretting having shouted at Ariel like that. I knew Ariel didn't care for such things but this woman seemed on an entirely different wavelength to the young princess.

"Just Attina is fine." Attina said, brushing my formalities aside and looking slightly amused at my attempt to curtsy. "And I was very reluctant to offer my assistance, just so you know. Doing things like this behind my father and Sebastian's back is not something I regularly participate in. However, I was outvoted." She said, addressing Ariel's statement.

"Oh, well thank you." I said, side-eyeing Ariel and wondering what on earth she'd gotten me into. I would have been perfectly happy not attending a concert where I would have to spend the evening pretending to be happy when all I wanted to do was punch the Ocean in its smug face again and again until my fists were bleeding.

"So, the main issue would of course be your 'legs'." Attina said, the word sounding elongated and foreign in her mouth. She suddenly raised her eyebrows and gasped in surprise as a third mermaid entered the pool, this time with a greenish-yellow tail. 

"Ugh, why do we never get any male human visitors???" Adella scoffed, frowning up at me in disappointment. She immediately swam off surrounded by bubbles and dissatisfaction.

"I know right." Ariel giggled, stopping immediately when she caught sight of the expression on Attina's face.

"Sorry to disappoint." I muttered.

"Anyway, I assume Fae's magic will allow you stay underwater for the duration of the concert without any issues with your lungs." Attina snapped, irritated at being interrupted. For the first time, I noticed the large bag she was carrying. She hoisted it up to the floor of the cave and pushed it towards me. "These do not belong to me, so I'd appreciate it if they were returned to me in the condition you find them."

I crouched down and opened the bag curiously and was met with around five or six dazzling mermaid tails. "Uh..."

"They're not real." Attina said sharply. "I had a friend on the Surface who was a seamstress and wanted me to judge how accurate they were. For a project or something. I don't know. Anyway, I haven't had the chance to return them for obvious reasons." 

Upon closer inspection, I now spotted the hundreds of thousands tiny hand-embroidered sequin paillettes that had somehow been woven into the pieces of waterproof fabric to mimic scales. I pulled out a neon pink tail to examine it more closely  feeling slightly uneasy at how real they looked.

"Ooh, you little rebel." Ariel teased. "Hoarding human possessions, who would've thought it?" 

Attina looked slightly insulted but she didn't say anything further, just handed me a golden ticket that would allow me to gain entry into the concert and then swam away.

✧

We had to get to the concert venue early so that Moana could have one last rehearsal and it was just as well because I had severely underestimated how many creatures were going to be in attendance. 

"I have a bad feeling about this." I said to her as I wriggled into the aqua blue mermaid tail I had chosen and went for one last test swim in the pool.

"It'll be completely fine." Moana assured me. "Just don't draw any attention to yourself."

Moana led the way, the folds of her long maroon swimsuit/dress billowing out behind her while I followed at a distance to avoid unwanted questions. As The Chosen One, everyone knew her name and every creature big and small seemed to acknowledge her swimming past with reverence. My swimming had improved significantly since I first arrived in Atlantica but it was definitely no match when compared to a real mermaid, so I kept my head down and avoided eye contact, focusing on my swimming technique.   

 My heart banged against my ribcage as I swam past exquisite buildings, glowing purple, blue and green drawing nearer and nearer towards the golden light of the palace. The palace didn't just appear, it slowly unfolded, rolling out majestic walls and columns of marble and gold. I could see a few of the statues inbuilt into the front, of Poseidon, Neptune and Crustacea. Venomous jellyfish the size of cows hovered around it, their tentacles ready to sting any intruders at a word according to Ariel. Their beauty was undeniable though, and their tentacles swayed around the tangle of seaweed clustering around the ocean floor. 

A shoal of huge multicoloured fish hurried past chattering amongst themselves loudly and Moana waved to them good-naturedly, then stopped suddenly when we reached the gates and signalled to me to follow the crowd of creatures lining up for entry before disappearing from my line of sight. I say creatures because it wasn't just merfolk. There were merfolk of course, with tails of every colour, shape and size and dressed in their finest clothes with glimmering makeup and jewels adorning their bodies but there were also creatures which I couldn't put a name to. With teeth. And claws. And spikes.

As quickly as I could, I handed in my ticket and found my way through the maze of hallways to a seat fairly near the back of the concert hall. I had borrowed one of Moana's white crop tops, made out of white tapa cloth with seashells along the perimeter which I kept reaching up to fiddle with, anxious for the concert to hurry up and start so that it could finish and so that I could return to the safety of the cave. Moana had brushed blue glitter on my eyelids and slicked back my hair with some sort of waterproof gel thing, carefully sticking down swirly strands over my face. Although I had protested at the time I was very grateful for it now. There was glitter and gemstones attached to nearly every inch of the merfolk around me and they had all arrived dressed to impress. I would have stuck out like a sore thumb if I went dressed how I had wanted.

To start the event off, Sebastian, in his merman/crab form announced King Triton who entered to an enormous cheer from the audience. His loud, bellowing voice echoed around the hall as he addressed everyone. "Tonight, we celebrate Atlantica. We celebrate each other. We celebrate music. We celebrate the Ocean!"

To avoid suspicion, I clapped along with everyone else but my hands were clammy and my heartbeat was threatening to beat out of my chest. Even from my spot, I could still clearly see the king's rippling muscles and powerful navy blue tail that could knock out a whale. What really scared me though, weren't the shiny gold gauntlets that could surely smash me through the ocean floor and kill me before I could even figure out it was happening. It wasn't the golden, five-pointed crown resembling a starfish that Ariel told me he had once impaled a spy from another kingdom with. No, it was the legendary three-pronged trident, clutched in his massive hands that were causing me to be extremely concerned about whether I would leave this concert alive. I muttered a quick prayer under my breath and cursed Fae for leaving without teaching me hypnosis, or anything at all for that matter.

After King Triton had descended onto his gigantic jewel encrusted throne, the first performer took to the stage with their violin. Six minutes and fifty four seconds was how long I spent suffering and when they finally exited the stage, I dabbed at my bleeding ears and looked around in wonder at the massive round of applause. They must have been a member of the royal family, I decided. There was no way that I was the only one hearing what I heard. 

"They've definitely improved from last year." I heard someone in the row in front of me comment and I began to wonder what I had gotten myself into.

The next few performers weren't actually that bad if I remember correctly. My memory of this section of the concert is quite hazy because of everything that happened afterwards but I seem to recall a performance from a group of mermen from the Pacifica kingdom because the gossiping mermaids in front of me wouldn't stop going on about how attractive Prince Waverly had gotten. After that there was a brief intermission and then an announcement from a mumbling monotone merman in a black fishnet crop top who declared that anyone caught littering in the coral reef would be punished severely. Then, there was the trio of dancers with short pastel-coloured hair and the stand up comedian with her octopus assistant. 

But Ariel and her sisters' performance was the one that stood out by far. I could tell that it was a crowd favourite by the way that the faint chattering around the concert hall stopped the second that Princess Attina entered the room. Her hair had been piled up on her head in an intricate updo of some sort underneath the spiky tiara and orange glitter like a handful of crushed amber had been dusted across her face and shoulders, causing her skin to glow. There was a pure gold harp sitting in the centre of the stage next to a small white stool and Attina gracefully descended onto it and began to play, her manicured hands moving across the strings with skill and poise that could only come from years of practice. Then she began to sing.

This is what happens when Attina Lovelace, Crown Princess of Atlantica and heir apparent begins to play her musical arrangement. First, every living creature in the concert hall faints, landing in a bedazzled heap of orange glitter. The walls of the palace collapse and the roof is catapulted up and away. Then, the water in the ocean rises up, up, up until it reaches the sun. The rivers overflow their banks. The streams cascade over the sides. The brooks burst through the edges containing it. The earth splits in two. We are all swept away.

I closed my mouth, blinked away the image of a waterfall exploding and tried to focus on the performance in front of me. A few moments into Attina's song, a second princess with a red-violet tail glided onto the stage and stood beside her sister, an embellished lilac tambourine in her hand. Alana was dark-haired and gorgeous in an natural, graceful kind of way and her soft, kind smile was enhanced by glossy magenta lips. Her harmonies were effortless and her feathery light voice blended with Attina's slightly deeper one perfectly. As their voices danced around in each others' arms, Attina increased the tempo slightly. Alana raised both arms towards the sky, and on either side a bale of turtles swam up and around in a perfectly choreographed routine announcing the entrance of two more princesses who looked so alike that they could almost pass for twins with identical dark brown ponytails and pearl headpieces.

I sat on the edge of my seat, watching the new arrivals adorned in baby blue and mint green pearls respectively from head to toe. Adella, the princess with the golden-green tail was playing the violin and Aquata, with the sapphire blue tail made her way to a set of drums towards the back of the stage although she didn't begin playing just yet. Their voices fused into the song perfectly the words, harmonies and musical instruments sliding around in my brain like beautiful gemstones colliding. And still there were more princesses to come. 

The music picked up the pace slightly as Princess Arista, a mermaid with hair so pale it almost rivalled my own entered the stage next, fingers deftly playing the saxophone. Rainbow coloured bubbles exploded out of the bell in bursts, covering the entire concert hall. Her tail was ruby red, and her eyes icy blue as she took in the sight before her, lips curling into a smile as a giggle bubbled up out of her. Next, Princess Andrina arrived with her lavender guitar slung over her shoulder matching her pinkish purple tail. She had come with Ariel on several occasions to the cave to hang out with us but she was almost unrecognisable now, with flamboyant white and pink eye makeup and normally honey blonde hair teased down into a rose pink pixie cut.

I squinted down at the stage, searching for Ariel but she didn't arrive for that song. Instead, Sebastian took to the stage once more and spread his arms out wide and announced in a loud, booming voice,  "And now! Please welcome the girl with the most beautiful voice in all of Atlantica, Princess Ariel!"

I winced slightly, considering the 6 princesses who had just been singing but when Ariel swam onto the stage and started singing a soulful ballad as a tribute to her mother, I fully understood. She had remarkable stage presence for someone so young and that fact alone immediately enchanted the audience. Her voice was ethereal and slightly hypnotic and I was only vaguely aware of every single thought in my mind melting away. She was the only one of her sisters to not have a particularly elegant or largely decorated hairstyle of some sort and having her bright red hair be swept up in the ocean as she sang slowed time right the way down. 

The chorus was only four words repeated again and again but it stabbed me in my heart again and again. Blood gushed out in torrents and I pressed my hands to my chest to stem the flow so I could remain alive for a few more seconds to continue listening to Ariel's angelic voice.

But I'm still trying
And I'm still trying
And I'm still trying
And I'm still trying
And I'm still trying

She sang whisper-soft and gentle at first, but as her sisters' instruments accompanied the song, lending her their strength to get through the song, she sang louder and her voice grew stronger, floating up towards the stars in a cloud of passion and emotion. I realised I was seeing Ariel for the first time. The carefully constructed moments of silliness and too-bright smiles were all an act. All methods of Ariel trying to get through life without dwelling on her overwhelming grief for too long. In that moment, her and her sisters' pain was my pain and I could feel the grief threatening to overwhelm me. My eyes burned and my throat closed up as I felt the audience's pain rippling around me. All of us at once united by suffering and hurt. All of our tears mingling with the saltwater of the ocean. I felt my pain about my parents' abuse; Anna being sent away; Adelaide dying and my own sorry existence wash over me as I sat there crying and wringing my hands together. I felt soothed by the overlapping voices. It was the hug I never knew I was so desperately in need of.

Then all at once, a new, faster paced song was being played and the merfolk closest to me began to whisper excitedly amongst themselves as I pulled myself out of the daze I was in. It was only when I heard "Isn't that The Chosen One?" from a merman in front of me that I remembered Moana hadn't performed anything yet. In a sudden rush of bubbles, she finally made an appearance amidst the angelic harmonies of Ariel and her sisters and began to dance, cradled in the arms of the ocean. 

The first thing I noticed was that her hair was tucked away under a traditional red headdress made of feathers, seashells and gems, a nod to her island's culture. I noticed that a large part of the dance itself had also been inspired by Moana's culture, each dance move consisting of emotional truths - joy, passion, hope - woven together to tell her story. Moana's legs were a gleaming  bronze dusted with rose gold glitter so they didn't stand apart from Ariel and her sisters' magnificent tails. The human and the mermaids. Together. The Ocean danced with them too and they all swirled and spun in coordinated bursts of colour and light, becoming one with the music. Becoming one with the water. I wished I could trade my own body for a body of water so I could dance with them, pirouetting towards the edge of forever with my teardrops as my feet.

✧

What do you want people to think of when they hear the name Elsa?

When I woke up the next morning, I was restored with a real sense of vigour and determination. I went out with Moana as normal, and as I plunged into the water, I searched deep within myself for the answer to my problem. Was it fear of failure? Fear of the future? Fear of myself? I brushed my fingertips against the common thread of fear and my hands trembled, turning numb. I withdrew my hand.

A stinging slap of saltwater hit my face and I recoiled sharply, struggling to stay afloat. I could faintly hear Moana's voice in the corner of my mind but I drowned it out and cast my mind back to the night before. I hummed one of the songs under my breath and took a deep breath.

Become one with the water. 

I grabbed ahold of the threads of fear pulling me back and yanked at them until they snapped one by one like rotted guitar strings. Something at the very core of my very being cracked open entirely and I felt myself slowly melting into the water. Water cascaded down on me like a waterfall re-forming the shape of my body and I laughed gleefully when I looked down to see that my hands had become translucent.  A rush of power flooded through my hands to my wrists and forearms and out burst a jet blast of water...  

"ELSA!" Moana screamed, completely drenched from head to toe. Once she got over her initial shock, she beamed down at me wiping water out of her eyes. "YOU DID IT!"

 After that, it all came naturally to me. I no longer wrestled with the Ocean, instead I moved alongside it as naturally as a river or a lake, borrowing my strength from it and then passing it back when I was done. We were no longer foes, and it became like an old friend for the rest of the time I spent there with Moana. I practiced floating water in the air in an isolated bubble and moving between different water pressures like a shower nozzle. I learned how to multiply the water molecules, so I could cause waves crashing over cliff sides. I mastered the skill of pulling together each and every raindrop that fell and manipulating it into one large sheet of water without a single drop left behind. Ariel's personal favourite thing for me to practice was water molding.

"Do a human boy." She would demand at least twice a day, emerald scales aglow with excitement.

So I would kneel before the pool and hold my hands above the water to construct the image in my mind sculpting a face, arms, legs and feet. Then an entirely translucent water boy would rise up out of the aqua blue depths causing Ariel to gasp in surprise and delight. She named him Eric, even though there were several variations of 'Eric' by the seventh or eighth time. Still, it brought her a lot of joy and I was happy to do it although the plaintive sigh each time 'Eric' returned to water foam and bubbles was rather pathetic in my opinion.

My last night in Atlantica before Fae came to get me consisted of the three of us in the cave swimming around in the pool, splashing each other and squealing and I could almost pretend that we were all just normal teenage girls having fun. Night fell across Atlantica and Sebastian began his nightly search for where Ariel had gotten to. 

Ariel was a painful reminder of my sister. The carefree laughing eyes were inescapable and not for the last time, I wondered where she was. What she was doing. Who she had met. My parents hadn't been as controlling over her life as they were over mine. Anna was meek and obedient whereas I resisted and fought. She was sent away to live with my Aunt Arianna and Uncle Frederic whose own daughter, Rapunzel was kidnapped when she was a baby. I hadn't seen her for years at this point.

 "Can you tell us a story, Moana?" Ariel asked, popping another bite of fa'apapa into her mouth that Moana had brought back for her, courtesy of Sina.

Moana yawned and began to recite a story, squeezing water out of her hair. I zoned out for a while, imagining how much fun Anna would have if she was there with us. I had no way of knowing at the time but the moment I began paying attention the story was during a line that ended up foretelling mine and Anna's future. There were many signs like this actually that I wish I would have paid more attention to. Things could have been so much more different if I had. But hindsight is a gift.

 "But without her heart, Te Fiti began to crumble, giving birth to a terrible darkness."

Chapter Text

✧"That chill is in the air which the wise know well, and even have learned to bear. This joy, I know, will soon be under snow." - Edna St. Vincent Millay ✧

PART 3: WIND

There was only one person waiting for me on the surface when I emerged from the water and it wasn't Fae. Or at least, not the version of Fae that I was expecting.

It was a white-haired woman wearing a colour-changing jumpsuit that shifted with her mood but that was about all that remained the same. Her entire facial structure had changed for one and her hair was much shorter than it had been before, tied up in a practical bun, pulled tight against her scalp. Her eyes were now a golden brown and there were dark circles underneath them. Before, Fae had looked to be in her late 20s, early 30s at most. She had seemed untouchable and fierce, but now she looked like she was only a few years older than me. She looked soft and vulnerable.

"Fae?" 

"Yep! I finally figured it out." Fae beamed, doing a twirl.

I frowned, taken aback. This was not the stoic, stone-faced Fae that I remembered. Maybe I had drank too much saltwater. Maybe I was hallucinating. "Uh..."

"I discovered a way for me to be in control of my own appearance. I even have my own reflection!" Fae snapped her fingers and her hair fell down to her feet in a waterfall of white waves. "The only thing is, I can't seem to change my hair colour for whatever reason."

She waved her hand around, plucked a photograph of a young girl out of thin air and handed it to me, "Look."

It was her as a little girl. The exact same face that she had now except, de-aged by around ten years. Her front two teeth were missing and she was holding an enormous ice cream that was beginning to melt all over her hands and the homemade floral dress she was wearing. Three young women were standing behind her wearing red, green and blue dresses with tiny, paper-thin lilac wings sprouting out their backs. 

"Fairies." I gasped. "Are they fairy godmothers?" 

"No." Fae snorted. "They're just ordinary fairies. Sisters. Merryweather, that's the black-haired one, decided she was sick of being the youngest and convinced the other two to take me in. Then, when I was sixteen the fairy godmothers came to get me. They said I was too good at magic to be allowed to roam around freely so they forced me to become one of them."

"So you were a human before?"

"As human as you can be in this world." Fae said and took back the photo, a vaguely sad expression on her face. "Anyway, that's not the point. I can tell you've been working hard, I can sense that your magic has become more powerful."

I swooned, taken aback at the compliment. "Are you okay?"

"I am excellent thank you. Why do you ask?"

"Because you just said something nice to me. You were so grumpy last time I saw you."

"I would imagine so. When you last saw me, I was exhausted. I'd like you to try using fire magic in a world where magic is basically impossible to do, then create a portal to a whole new world, then take a child who has a thousand and one questions halfway across the ocean, then..."

"Alright, I get the picture." I said, raising my hands in surrender. "I thought you being grumpy and silent was just your whole thing. I wasn't expecting you to be so talkative and cheerful."

"I am not cheerful." Fae snapped her fingers and her hair became a slicked back bun once more. "I am simply pleased that I now have control over something that I didn't before. Now, come on. We have a lot of places to go to and a lot to do."

Fae took out her wand and began creating another portal,  her eyes narrowed with concentration but the silver and blue sparks simply fizzled and popped and disappeared. She pretended like it didn't shock her but I could tell it had by the way her jumpsuit flashed hot pink for half a second. She put her wand away, muttering under her breath and then turned to me, "Actually, I think we'll fly instead. I have a lot that I need to inform you of and it will be best to tell you before we arrive anyway."

"Arrive where?"

But Fae had already cupped her hands to her mouth and yelled "GALE! YOUR BEST FRIEND IS HERE!" at the top of her lungs.

A strong gust of wind swept me off my feet and I landed hard, getting a face full of sand. "Ow, what the hell!"

"They're just excited to see you." Fae said reproachfully, "They have a long history with your family."

"What are you talking about?" I snapped.

"Gale, the air spirit. Look." 

Thousands of grains of sand rose into the air to form a hand which then waved at me. Baffled, I lifted my hand in greeting and slowly got  to my feet.  

"Can you take us to the Black Forest please?" Fae asked, grumpily brushing sand off her clothes. "Elsa would really appreciate it."

Gale sighed loudly but proceeded to lift both me and Fae into the sky anyway. We flew higher and higher until we reached a cloud. Then Gale dropped us unceremoniously on top of it and began to blow us forward.

"This is really soft." I said.

"The expression, 'as soft as a cloud' didn't come from nowhere." Fae said mockingly, letting out a small yelp of surprise when Gale threw a blast of wind her way, knocking her sideways. "Right, that's it, the next thing I'm going to teach you is how to fly - that way we won't have to ask Gale here for any more favours."

"I like Gale." 

"You're one of the only ones. They like the play too much." Fae put up a protective shield against Gale's huffs of indignation and hunkered down into her dark cloud of grumpiness once again. "Let's just hope we get there before it gets dark."

"You said we're going to the Black Forest. That's where Adelaide and Kingsley lived. So is she alive in this world? Are we going to see her?"

Fae's expression softened slightly and she shook her head. "No, Adelaide and Kingsley have died. We are going to see Snow White."

"What? Why?"

"Well, that's what I wanted to explain to you." Fae took a deep breath and then wrinkled her nose in confusion. "Your thoughts aren't as loud as before."

"Conceal, don't feel." I shrugged.

Fae frowned. "Is that something your parents told you to do?"

"Yeah."

"Oh." Fae leaned forward and put her hand on my knee, looking very contrite all of a sudden. "I'm sorry about them. I know there's a part of you that feels sad about it." 

"I don't care." I said, too quickly to be convincing. "Are they..."

"Dead here too?" Fae finished for me. "Yes. But they were good people in this world. Kind. They only ever wanted what was best for you."

"It's hard to believe 'kind' versions of them exist anywhere." 

"Yes well, they don't exist anymore. There was a shipwreck." Here she looked at me meaningfully. "Anyway, I digress. The first rule of becoming a fairy godmother or even a high ability magic user is that you have to cut ties with all family members. You're allowed to see them one last time according to protocol to say goodbye and grant them a wish, then they will lose all memory of you. That is why we are going to see your cousin, Snow White. After that we will go to your other cousin Rapunzel and after that your sister..."

"Why?" I quickly interrupted, before she could say Anna's name. 

"I don't really know. I think it's for protection purposes. Oh, and also blood is thicker than water. That's what I was told when I was being trained."

"Doesn't that mean family over everything?" I asked.

"Here it means, 'Blood of the covenant is thicker than water of the womb'. Even though, I wasn't actually blood-related to my sisters. It means the agreement to becoming a fairy godmother and dedicating your life to fulfilling other people's wishes is what's most important."

"It sounds like a pretty rough job."

Fae gave me a sharp look. "Now, don't you even think of backing out now. I've gone through a lot of lengths to bring you here."

"I'm not." I protested. "It's just that you keep adding clauses to the agreement. At first it was just that you were going to teach me magic and now you're saying I need to cut all ties with my family!" 

"It's for the best. Trust me." Fae's eyes misted over and she got that faraway look in her eyes again. I remembered the picture of her with missing teeth and the three women who had taken her in. "It's funny. I've granted so many wishes in my time as a fairy godmother, but the ones I granted back then to my family are the only ones that have stayed with me. All three of their wishes were wanting me to be the best version of myself that I could be. They didn't wish for anything for themselves. They just wanted me to be happy."

"They seem very sweet." I said. 

 "They are." Fae smiled. "I just wish I had lived more while I was living with them. I was so afraid of it all being taken away from me, that I didn't dare to ever step out of line and then it was all taken away anyway."

"You don't like being a fairy godmother, do you?" I asked, sympathetically. 

"No." Fae said after a long pause. "But since I'm the last one left now, I can't quit. This world won't be able to run without wishes being granted. Plus, I'm good at what I do. I'm one of the most powerful magic users there is."

I narrowed my eyes. "More powerful than King Triton?"

Fae scoffed, "That trident is just about the limit of his powers. As soon as it's knocked out of his hand, he's screwed."

"Yeah, but you use a wand."

Fae looked extremely offended for a few seconds, then remembered my very limited knowledge of the magical world. "My wand just fuels my powers. I don't rely solely on it."

"Well then, will I ever need to use a wand?"

"For now you will, but in the long-term I highly doubt it." Fae yawned. "You were born with strong magical potential. Not to make you big-headed or anything, but you are an exceptionally rare case. Your world is lucky that your powers were dormant for as long as they were otherwise you could have destroyed it in your sleep."

Just as I was processing this new information, Gale made their presence known by sending a rush of wind directly into Fae's face leaving her gasping for breath. She leaned over the side of the cloud and sighed heavily. "I haven't even begun to tell you half of what I needed to but I suppose it's enough for the time being. We have arrived."

✧

The Black Forest was nothing like the one in my world that had consisted of acres of farmland and cutesy cottages dotted around. This version was filled with huge country houses, glacial lakes and an enormous mountain range that caused even Fae to turn around and stare in wonder and another look which I couldn't quite decipher. The castle was smack bang in the middle of the dense forest which had given the kingdom its name. It looked like it had been conjured straight out of a children's storybook and I half expected to see unicorns galloping around in the courtyard.

"Unicorns aren't allowed here." Fae said.

"Stop reading my mind." I snapped, immediately slamming my mind shut. "Why aren't they allowed?"

Fae shrugged, "Who knows the mind of Queen Grimhilde. She's crazy."

Gale blew us around the back of the castle towards an open window in one of the towers. Fae waved her wand at my clothes, transforming them into a long white dress with fake lavender wings on my back, to make me look more like a fairy than a kidnapper. Then she handed me a thin silver wand with tiny snowflakes engraved on it and began to give me her final words of wisdom.

"The most important thing to remember is that these aren't versions of the people you knew in your world. They've had vastly different experiences." Fae said. "The very fact that Snow White is a princess here should tell you just how different things are. Now, you have to do this by yourself but since it's your first one, I can cast a spell where I project my voice into your mind and see everything you see."

"What does it feel like?" 

"Like this."

"Hey, I didn't agree to it yet!" I exclaimed. It felt weird having her words come rushing into my brain like that while she just stared at me impassively, her mouth unmoving.  

"You think this is bad? Sometimes I would have hundreds of the other fairy godmothers communicating with me in exactly the same way."

"That sounds like torture."

"You don't know the half of it." Fae said, normally. "There was no individuality at all. They didn't just change our appearances, they changed our names too. We were all called Fae - each and every one of us. You should be glad I'm not making you change your name. Now hurry up and get a move on."

I stepped off the cloud and awkwardly stepped onto the window ledge, then clambered through the window to enter a room that smelt vaguely of liquorice and apples. Snow White's bedroom was tiny to say the least. Not one that you'd expect of a princess of such a wealthy kingdom. It was cold and shabby, with peeling pink paint on the walls although the wooden flooring was spotless.

She was a teenager in this world, but my first impression was that she didn't seem much different to when she was a baby. She was as pale as ever and lay crying into her pillow, with a half eaten apple and a stubby scented candle on her bedside table. A pair of scissors was neatly placed by a clump of dark hair in front of a large piece of scratched glass acting as a mirror. The only clue that she was a princess was her discarded tiara in a dark corner of the room. A heap of tissues were scattered across her bedsheets, but she still continued to reach for more, blowing her nose noisily.

"Make this quick. In and out. It's getting dark, we've still got to travel to Corona today and I'm extremely behind on wishes."  Fae grumbled.

I ignored her and approached the bed carefully, as though I was about to attempt to tame a rabid squirrel. I was never very good at dealing with emotions. "Snow White?" 

Snow White threw off the sheets and gave a single, shrill screech in terror before grabbing the nearest thing to her and launching it at my head. Thankfully it was the apple, not the candle that hit me square in the forehead before rolling into the corner beside her tiara. We both stared at it in silence. I could hear Fae cackling like a witch outside so I tried to slam the window shut but it simply bounced back open. Now, it made sense why the room was so cold.  

Snow White jumped to her feet and began to beg for mercy, "Please don't kill me! I don't want to die, I was being dramatic earlier."

I gaped at the oversized brown t-shirt she was wearing full of rips and holes. I had pictured an elegant princess in the latest designer clothing with a bedroom filled with expensive jewels and dresses. The tiny, puffy-eyed girl with the terribly cut fringe in front of me couldn't be further from what I had imagined. I felt a sudden burst of rage and a strong urge to wrap Snow White in my arms and never let go.

"Tell her that you're here to grant her a wish."

But I couldn't say a single word. I was speechless and rooted to the spot. Snow White's frightened brown eyes were an exact replica of my own, when I was her age. I looked down and saw that my hands were shaking. Fae's voice echoed around my head but I couldn't make out what she was saying anymore.

Snow White ran a hand through her short, dark hair suddenly appearing very confused. "You don't seem like the type of person my stepmother would send to kill me."

"Why on earth would your stepmother want to kill you?" I asked.

"I wish I knew." Snow White shrugged. "She's always mad at me, always saying I'm ugly and that she'll never find a prince who wants to marry me. She wasn't always like this though. She used to be lovely."

Again I was rendered speechless.

Snow White though, seemed more than happy to continue talking. It didn't seem like she had very many visitors, her voice was gruff and hoarse from lack of use. "Anyway, I was bored and tried to cut my hair into a fringe which is why it looks like this and she went ballistic. I'm sorry that I threw that apple at you, I thought you were some kind of assassin or something. So, if you're not here to kill me, what are you here for? You are here, right? I might have finally lost my mind."

Snow White swept up the hair, tissues and fluff-covered apple and put it in a black bin bag by the door. She wiped away the tears and snot on her face and sighed wearily. "I'm terribly sorry about all the mess. It's no way to receive a guest, even if you are a figment of my imagination."

"Hey, Elsa, today would be a good day to get this over with. Need I remind you we need to do this two more times. Also, Gale is being a pest so hurry up."

I snapped back to reality. "Snow White, I'm here to grant you a wish. It could be whatever you like. I could get you out of here. Your stepmother would never be cruel to you again."

"I wish to be beautiful." Snow White said, immediately. 

"That's what you want to wish for?" I asked incredulously. "Snow White, it could be anything..."

"Always accept the first wish. Do you want to be here all day?"

"Yes, I want to be beautiful. Then she'll love me." 

I frowned, feeling sick to my stomach but pointed my wand towards Snow White anyway. "Princess Snow White, your wish will now be granted." I watched in barely concealed awe as blue magic shot out of the end and encapsulated Snow White in blue glitter. I hadn't expected to get it right first time.

Snow White fell to her knees, scrambling to see her reflection in the mirror. Then she sat back on her haunches with a resigned look in her eyes. "Nothing happened."

I examined the wand and waited for Fae to help me out, but she remained silent. 

"Alright, that was a bit unexpected." I admitted, crouching down in front of her. "But honestly, you are really pretty anyway, Snow White. Maybe that's why it didn't work."

Snow White glared at me from underneath her messed-up fringe and wiped away the tears rolling down her cheeks. But the more she wiped, the more they just kept coming. 

"Here." I picked up the scissors and reached out to brush her hair forward. She flinched away and I noticed several purple bruises scattered across her shoulders and upper arms for the first time. I swallowed down another surge of anger and apologised. "Can I try and fix it?"

Snow White shrugged, adjusting her t-shirt to hide the bruises. I took a deep breath and gently snipped the uneven hair into what I thought was quite a decent-looking fringe. Then, I waved my wand towards Snow White's t-shirt to form a blue, red and yellow dress befitting of a princess. I tied a scarlet red bow in her hair and Snow White gave me a watery smile in the reflection of the mirror. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

My heart shattered into a thousand tiny pieces at this tiny girl thanking me over and over again for doing the bare minimum. Hair as black as ebony was scattered across my lap and the floor, a stark contrast to Snow White's skin which was as white as snow. I felt the blood in my veins turn to ice. Fae's congratulations for granting my first wish was nothing but noise when I returned to the cloud and waved my wand one more time to fix Snow White's broken window.

"Please take me to the Queen." I instructed Gale.

"Elsa, what are you doing?" Fae asked, her voice slightly high-pitched. "We've got to get going to Corona."

"In a minute." I said gruffly. 

Grimhilde's bedroom  was  far larger than Snow White's and warmer too. There was a king-sized bed in the middle of it and a massive mirror on the wall with an intricate golden design along the frame. 

There, Grimhilde was standing in her royal attire of a rich purple gown and blood-red belt tied around her waist. There was fire in her eyes while she repeated the same question over and over again. "Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" 

Her anguished expression was not reflected, instead after each interrogation, a ghostly face, barely visible in the mirror rumbled out, "Snow White, O Queen, is the fairest of them all."

"How is it still her, even with that ugly haircut." Grimhilde snarled after the third time, a dark glint in her eyes. "I'll just have to kill the ugly little wench."

By the time Grimhilde realised that I was there, my hands were already outstretched towards her. She let out a terrible gurgling sound as bloody water streamed out of her eyes and dribbled out the corners of her mouth.  

"Guards!" She tried to shriek, but it was too late. Even as she sent a darkly coloured blast of wind towards me, she already knew that the battle was over. I could see the hopelessness in her eyes. She fell to her knees in front of me, an icily beautiful corpse with glassy, Eden-green eyes. Her crown toppled to the ground.

"What have you done?" Fae's jumpsuit was obsidian-black with flashes of red seeping through.

"If you were so against it, then why didn't you try and stop me?" I spat, feeling very unsteady on my feet all of a sudden. "I don't care. She deserved to die."

Then I noticed Fae's wand, snapped in half on the floor, erupting a mini volcano of silver sparks. I didn't even remember breaking it.

Fae pressed her hand to her mouth and retched. Once. Twice. Then she puked sparkly pink vomit everywhere which smelled faintly of candy floss and strawberries. If it had been under other circumstances, I would have laughed. She snatched my wand to clean up the mess and then swept Grimhilde's corpse under the giant, four poster bed. 

"They'll be out looking for the person who did it soon enough." Fae barked, once we were back on the cloud and floating towards Corona. "Do you even have anything to say for yourself?"

"Tell me, did you also throw up when you burned everyone alive in San Fransokyo?" I shouted back. "Why are you so weird about me killing people, when you do it with barely any remorse?"

Fae looked absolutely terrifying when she was furious. A red-hot fire burned in her eyes and her fists were clenched at her side as though she was preparing to Hulk-smash me through the cloud. She was just drawing herself up to her full height to tear into me when all of a sudden, the fight went out of her and her shoulders slumped. She let out a long breath and her lips turned downwards. For one terrible second, I thought she might start crying, although I couldn't imagine why. 

"I made a mistake bringing you here." Fae said, then turned away from me.

"Well maybe you shouldn't have then. Maybe you should have left me alone." I growled. "I would have done just fine without you."

"You would have destroyed your world." Fae said, bringing her knees to her chest. She snapped her fingers and the tight bun fell down into a chin-length bob. She rubbed her forehead and sighed. "I'm trying to look out for you. If you just kill people whenever you want, you become a walking target and people will start believing that you need to be brought to justice."

"You think I killed Grimhilde because I wanted to?" I asked. 

 "Snow White will grow up to be kind and compassionate because of what she has been through."

"And that makes it alright, does it? For parents to treat their children like that?" I asked, my hands trembling.

"No. Of course it doesn't make it alright." Fae said softly.

Fae's jumpsuit slowly went back to white. It was a brighter white than before and I realised that was because a small ball of white light was forming right in the middle of her chest. It projected a vivid, three-dimensional image out into the darkening sky. 

A tiny brown-haired girl with her front two teeth missing was skipping through an endless sheet of fresh snow, singing a nursery rhyme at the top of her lungs. She was pretty good, and I found myself humming along unconsciously, even in my anger.

"What is this?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"A memory." Fae said. "Before Flora, Fauna and Merryweather took me in and before the fairy godmothers took me away, there was someone else."

Eventually, the small brown-haired girl approached an enormous mountain capped white in the biting wintry air. She took a deep breath, but before she could begin to try and climb it, a tall woman wearing a million star-shaped snowflakes approached her and held out her hand. She had a willowy, queenly figure but her face was out of the frame.

"That's a pretty song, Mavis." The woman said. "Are you ready to come back home yet? Kay and Gerda went out to look for you."

"I went exploring!" Mavis replied and began to chatter about what she had been exploring in that excitable way children do. 

Before long, they were standing in front of the door of a beautiful three-storey ice palace that shone blue and purple in the morning aurora. Around three dozen snow-people were scattered across the front of the palace and a thick blanket of snow formed a winter wonderland. Children danced around, throwing snow at each other and then keeling over from laughter. Brothers. Sisters. Friends. Family. 

"You always loved your singing, that's why I called you Mavis." The woman said, after instructing one of the younger children to wear their gloves otherwise they'd have to go inside. "It means 'songbird'."

("So your name was Mavis before you became a fairy godmother?" I asked, interrupting the cinematic experience. 

"You talk too much." Fae said shushing me, "Just watch.")

"Because I'm always singing!" Mavis giggled.

"Exactly."

"Make me a snowman?" 

"Olaf is right over there. Go and play with him." The woman laughed, crossing her arms. "Or you can go and bother Marshmallow."

Mavis put her hands together. "Please?"

By the woman's body language, she was just about to give in, when all of a sudden, enraged cries filled the air and the children who had strayed from the palace the furthest came running back, horror plastered all over their faces. 

"There she is! There's the witch who's been stealing the children away!" A large, angry mob of people yelled, marching up the mountain behind them. Their burning torches of accusation glared a fiery red, painting the ice palace scarlet.

The perspective zoomed out slightly, showing the back of the woman's head where The Northern Lights were reflected in her hair. Or rather, my hair. 

I watched an older version of myself stretch out her hands towards the rabble pressing their way forwards and felt a lump form in my throat. What had moments ago been the laughter of children were now screams of terror. My eyes were glittering shards of ice as icicles shot out from my hands, towards the irate crowd raising their pitchforks and crying bloody murder. The children were tossed to the side, caught in the crossfire and landed in sickeningly loud crunches as the mob continued trampling forward.

"Get inside the palace, Mavis!" I instructed, my voice strained as I desperately tried to keep the masses at bay. No matter what I did, they just kept coming. I paused for a moment and bent down to kiss Mavis on her forehead. "MARSHMALLOW!"

An enormous snowman with spikes all along his back hoisted Mavis up to the second floor balcony of the palace where she crouched down, shivering and scared. Then Marshmallow's icy fingertips, as sharp as knives came slashing through the snow and his eyes lit up demonically. Deadly ice shards flew around, but the fire raged on. A group of soldiers emerged from the crowd and surged towards Marshmallow, managing to hack off his left leg. 

I gritted my teeth and tried to build a wall of ice, but I had become distracted by Marshmallow's wounded cries of pain and the echoing wails as children were dragged back to their abusive families. The wall smashed into a million pieces.

The fire was no match for the ice. 

The angry townsfolk grabbed the remaining children, who cried and fought their way out of their grasp. I felt my desperation grow with each child taken away, and felt my eyes prickle with tears. I  had failed them. I felt my heart become numb as I was thrown to the ground, my arms pinned behind my back. Metal shackles were jammed onto my hands and whoops and cheers erupted from the people.

"We conquered The Snow Queen!" They celebrated.

I felt it all over again when my heart froze over. It was a slow and painful death, and my magic seeped out of me bit by bit. They gathered a pile of rocks and began hurling them towards the solid ice sculpture of the woman with white hair who closed her blue eyes for the last time and shattered.  

The palace collapsed too, falling in an impressive heap of carved ice and snow. Mavis clambered to her feet among the ruins and ran down the mountain, tripping and getting snow in her mouth. Her throat was raw from crying but her fear of being caught by the townsfolk spurred her on. Her tiny heart was pounding almost out of her chest when a plump fairy with dark hair and a blue dress spotted her.

"There, there, little one. I've got you. It's alright. It'll soon be merry weather around these parts." The fairy said.

Then the projection ended.

Fae swiped at her eyes and I looked away, pretending I hadn't noticed her crying. "So I died in this world?"

Fae nodded, not yet ready to speak. Her ice-cold act made sense now. She had lost me in this world once already and was scared that it would happen again. It wasn't that she didn't care at all, it was that she cared too much.

A long while passed, and Gale nervously blew up a handful of rose petals to try and break the silence. 

"Thanks Gale." I murmured. 

"I'm both scared of you, and scared for you." Fae said, finally. 

"I don't see why. You're way scarier." I replied.

"I won't be scary at all soon. I'm becoming weaker and I think my magic is fading." Fae said in a sudden, unexpected moment of vulnerability. Her jumpsuit melted into a soft, pastel blue colour.

"I'm sorry."

"I don't want your pity." Fae snapped. "I'm just letting you know, that's part of the reason I needed an apprentice after the other fairy godmothers died. I didn't go jumping worlds just because I missed you or anything. I know you're a completely different version of her."

"I don't know, we seem pretty alike to me. EIther way, I'm still sorry. I'm sorry that you've lost so many people in your life." I paused, preparing myself to lie. "And I'm sorry for killing Grimhilde."  

"The fact of the matter is that you're going to get your ice powers back one day. Part of me wishes you'd just wreak havoc on the world. It's been so unforgiving to us. But another part of me is just scared. I'm terrified of what you're capable of and what this world will do to you if you show them how strong you are. I thought The Snow Queen was the most powerful person in existance, and then I met you."

I looked at her, confused. "Wait, did I miss something? I thought I was The Snow Queen."

"Oh, Elsa. You are so much more."

Chapter Text

✧"Elsewhere the sky is the roof of the world; but here the earth was the floor of the sky."  - Willa Cather ✧

PART 4: EARTH

Corona was, as it happened, only a stone's throw away from the Black Forest so I didn't have very long to sit with Fae's words. We landed in the middle of yet another forest and the tip of Fae's brand new wand glowed fuchsia while she conjured up a tiny rose-pink cottage with flower-filled window boxes and adorable orange fairy lights and lanterns decorating the entrance.

"Welcome to my humble abode." Fae said, placing her hand on the heart-shaped doorknob and stepping out of the darkness into the soft, cosy light of the cottage. "Make sure you wipe your feet."

It was extremely small but efficient and tidy, with every essential piece of furniture neatly tucked away. Fae magicked up a spare bed for me, with light blue and cream sheets then transformed my white dress and wings into a lilac night dress. Embroidered neatly in the middle of one of the cushions lining one side were my initials in fancy, swooping lettering. I traced a finger over the blue thread. It was the exact same shade as the ice sculpture that another version of myself had become.  

"I would hurry up and go to sleep if I were you. We've got a busy day ahead of ourselves." Fae said abruptly turning off the lights. "Goodnight."  

And therefore, my first night back with Fae came to a rather unceremonious end, and I was left to lie in the darkness with an unrelenting ambush of images of the Snow Queen flickering through my head.

✧

This is what I knew about Corona, the home of my cousin, Rapunzel, Aunt Arianna and Uncle Frederic. It was an island kingdom located at the very heart of sunlight itself. Emblems of the sun could be found all over - on the coat of arms, on flags, tapestries and paintings. Right down to my extended family's surname, the van der Sonnes. Corona was also known for the most documented unsolved mystery of all time. The abduction of Rapunzel van der Sonne. 

I had only visited Corona twice in my world. The first time was shortly after Rapunzel was kidnapped because my parents wanted to offer their condolences (they immediately came to the conclusion that Rapunzel had been murdered despite my aunt and uncle's insistence that she was alive and well and being held for a ransom) and the second time was on Rapunzel's birthday when my aunt and uncle began their lantern launching tradition that would make the global news every year. I remember spending the entire trip wishing that I was the one who had been whisked away instead, being the attention-starved child that I was. 

Golden rays of light blasted through Fae's pastel pink curtains the second dawn began creeping over the mountains. The first thing on my mind when I woke up was no longer the Snow Queen's demise and was instead, intrigue as to what had become of my long lost cousin after all these years. 

"I'm going to stay here and try to make a portal to Arendelle while you sort out this wish." Fae told me, after she'd transformed my outfit into a blue dirndl with silver accents. 

"What if I need you?" I asked nervously. "Will you do the voice in my head thing again?"

"There's no need, you'll be fine." Fae said, handing me my wand and generating a series of golden lights to show me where I needed to go to find my cousin. "Just don't kill anyone."

I crossed my arms. "Seriously, what if it goes wrong?"

"It won't. Now, you'll need Gale again for this particular task..." Here, Fae summoned Gale who came crashing into the front garden, not quite slowing down in time and as a result knocking over several plant pots. 

"Oh, you stupid thing!" Fae snapped, trying and failing to mend the pots with her wand. She knelt down and gathered the broken pieces in her hands, accidentally slicing her hand on one of the sharp shards. She stared down in surprise at the blood seeping down into the earth and growled at us, "Just hurry up and leave, both of you!"

"Let me see your hand, are you okay? Do you want me to try and fix it?" 

"Leave me alone!" Fae roared, brushing soil off her deep red jumpsuit. She stormed back inside, slamming the door behind her. I heard around a thousand locks click into place and saw the curtains drag shut.

Well, then I had no choice but to reluctantly follow the golden lights and Gale quietly followed, barely making a sound as they swept through the trees behind me. I muttered crossly to them about how I was just trying to help, and how sick I was of Fae's ever-changing attitude towards me. After several minutes of ranting, we approached a building that couldn't look more out of place if it tried. A remote tower stood tall in the middle of a rock pit with green-grey walls made of stone. There was no door, but I could just about hear faint singing coming from the windows at the very top of the tower. 

Gale lifted me up to the window and I saw an enormous pile of golden hay, strewn around the room. The strong smell of freshly painted walls knocked me backwards for a bit. Then I squinted and was able to make out a small hand, holding a massive brush raking through the hay. My jaw dropped.

"Is all this... hair?!" I gasped, nearly falling backwards through the window.

Rapunzel yelped and spun around, finally quelling my curiosity of what my cousin had grown up to look like in this world. There was no doubt that she was Aunt Arianna's daughter, that much was apparent. She had the same rosy cheeks and near-identical bright green eyes. Her mannerisms though, were Uncle Frederic through and through, with her vivid facial expressions and body language that were extremely easy to read. I could tell the exact second her wide-eyed shock turned into her actively thinking of  way to get rid of the strange intruder. Having learned from my experience with Snow White and deducing that there was a high chance that her next action would be violent, I managed to narrowly avoid being whacked in the head with a frying pan that Rapunzel seemed to magically pull from her hair. With a swish of my wand, it was lifted from her grasp and I put enough distance between the two of us for me to be safe from any more attacks while I explained my intentions.

"Oh. Well, I don't have any wishes." Rapunzel said.

"You have to have something that you want. Come on, it can be anything." I urged.

"There is something..." Here, Rapunzel crouched down and began whispering to her pet lizard. 

"So, while you're deliberating, I have a question. Who do you live with?" I asked. While she was facing away, deep in discussion with her reptile friend, I took the time to nose around a bit, observing the neatly stitched dresses and exquisite paintings covering the walls.

"My mother." Now Rapunzel was looking very anxious, and her eyes kept darting to the window. "She's out at the moment but if she were to find you here, she wouldn't like it so you can't stay long. She's very protective of me, you know."

"I bet." I felt the sudden urge to correct her about who her parents were, but alongside it, was the feeling that I should just leave it alone. Surely, the day would come when she would find out the truth about who her parents were. And anyway, Rapunzel seemed to be in a far better state than Snow White had been in.

Although she was barefoot, her pink and lavender dirndl seemed brand new and her room was filled with all sorts of expensive things. A couple of books were piled neatly on top of each other, right by two guitars (one acoustic, one electric); a pair of knitting needles; a half-finished puzzle; a dartboard that had fallen off the wall; a tray of freshly baked cupcakes... and a large assortment of other items that would take me all day to list.

"Oh, Pascal. What should I do?" Rapunzel lamented, picking up the lizard and flopping down on her bed in the most dramatic pose I'd ever seen. "I'm not supposed to go outside, and I know Mother knows best when it comes to these things but what if I regret this for the rest of my life? It's not every day that you get visited by a fairy godmother! And it's my birthday tomorrow, so I could just say this is an early birthday present."

"What is it you would do outside?" I asked.

"Go and see the floating lights of course." Rapunzel said, her hands clasped together. "They come out every night on my birthday and it's the most beautiful thing in the world. Have you seen them?"

I nodded. In fact, I'd also been allowed to let a lantern float off into the sky. "Yes, they are very pretty."

"I want to know where they come from." Rapunzel said. "But it's impossible. I've never been outside before and I can never go. It's such a scary world and something is sure to go horribly wrong. There are ruffians and thugs and oh my goodness, poison ivy! And of course, there's the quicksand and cannibals, and the snakes! And large bugs and men with pointy teeth. Mother is always talking about how I wouldn't survive a day in the real world."

I frowned. "Sure, the world can be scary sometimes but there's all sorts of beautiful things out there too. Like the lanterns. And you know, I was in Atlantica the other day, and it's this amazing underwater kingdom where all these beautiful merfolk live and the coral reef is so colourful and big. And then, there's the Black Forest and the mountains there are stunning and you should see the houses. Your mother doesn't know what she's talking about. You haven't been put on this earth to live out your days cooped up in a tower. I'm giving you an opportunity here, to finally let your life begin."

Rapunzel looked thoughtful for a second but then her shoulders drooped. "Oh, but I can't go out there by myself. There's people out there like the Snow Queen, who kidnaps children! Can you imagine how evil you'd have to be to kidnap a child?"

"Oh no! How wicked and vile!" I said, mimicking her tone. 

"Stop making fun of me." Rapunzel said, crossing her arms. "I know I'm naive sometimes but I'm at least trying to be mature. After all, I'll officially be an adult tomorrow."

"I'm sorry." I said. "It's not your fault. Maybe just try not to take everything that your mother has said as the gospel truth."

"Yes, alright, well..."  Rapunzel seemed quite taken aback by the apology but she pulled herself together and finally made her request. "I wish to go and see the lights. However, I would like for you to accompany me."

"I can't, I have to travel to Arendelle!" I said, exasperatedly. "I'll grant your wish and have someone take you there, but it can't be me."

Rapunzel stuck out her hand. "Deal."

I waved my wand around and blue magic shot out of the end. A whirlwind of blue glitter rushed around the room, upending a bucket of paint and knocking over a clay vase which looked rather impressive actually, for one that was hand-made. Rapunzel's hair was blown upwards in a golden halo. Then, there was a loud thudding noise and an extremely attractive young man with short dark hair dropped down from the ceiling. He instantly squeezed his eyes shut, doubled over in pain and gritted his teeth all while clutching a brown leather satchel close to his chest.

"Nononononono." Rapunzel grabbed her frying pan with one hand and my arm with the other to prevent me from leaving. "This isn't the kind of person I had in mind at all!" She hissed.

"Now, now. Don't be prejudiced." 

"I'm not!" 

"I'm sure it'll all be fine. Make sure to invite me to your wedding." I teased.

"There will be no wedding!" Rapunzel snapped. 

The man finally opened his eyes and he slowly got to his feet, dropping his beloved satchel in the process. "AHHHH! Wha..? Is this hair???"

Rapunzel swung the frying pan and he collapsed. In doing so, she let go of my arm so I made good of the situation and leapt through the window. "Happy birthday for tomorrow!"

✧

Miraculously, by the time Gale had carried me back, Fae had managed to create a portal after all in the form of a white door with blue snowflakes and swirly patterns all over it. It was oddly familiar, although I was quite sure I had never seen it before.

Fae didn't seem at all happy at her accomplishment and was just staring down at the bloody bandage wrapped around her hand. "I won't be going with you to Arendelle. I can't heal my hand so I'm going to go after Rapunzel and get her to heal it for me. Her hair has healing properties." 

There was a sickly hue to her skin but I didn't dare ask her again if she wanted me to try and heal her hand for her in case she bit my head off. It had probably been at least a decade since the last time she had bled, let alone felt actual pain. I recalled her bafflement at my injuries back in San Fransokyo. 

"I'll meet you in the Enchanted Forest at Northuldra." Fae got to her feet, swaying unsteadily. Gale, no doubt feeling bad for their part in this, set her upright and didn't allow her to fall.

"Northuldra?" I asked, thoughtfully. "That's where Mother is... was from. All the books on incantations in my house came from Northuldra."

"Yeah, I know. There's someone who needs a wish granted there at the moment." Fae said, grumpily. "Now be careful, and if you don't know how to find your way back, ask someone for help. Don't try and be the hero and go wandering into places you don't know. There's a saying in Northuldra - 'Beware the Earth Giants'."

And so with those lovely words ringing in my mind, I pressed down on the silver door handle and walked through the door. The first thing I became aware of was the sudden shift in temperature. If Corona was a kingdom constructed of sunshine and light, Arendelle was carved from ice and darkness. It was a kingdom born of cold and winter air and mountain rain. Beautiful. Powerful. Dangerous. Cold. 

The room I was standing in was poorly lit, freezing cold and completely covered in images. On all four walls, there were portraits and paintings of the Snow Queen with her family, all of them grinning at the camera in blissful ignorance. Iduna and Agnarr holding hands and smiling with the Snow Queen as a baby cradled in their loving arms. My heart ached. There was one of the Snow Queen and Anna as children, making a snowman together, then another one of the Snow Queen fully grown up at her coronation, with a crown on her head and gloves on her hands. Her gaze was cold and penetrating and she didn't look at all happy. 

Across from that painting was one of her with a tiara of carved ice on her head, and a far more joyful expression on her face as she posed with a group of children in front of her ice palace. Mavis, or Fae I should say, was among them. I immediately looked away and my gaze fell on another image near the window of the Snow Queen and a brown-haired woman with thick eyebrows, warm brown eyes and distinct Northuldra features. E + H was scrawled in sloppy handwriting underneath. 

A soft knock on the door startled me into action. With a slightly ominous creaking sound, light seeped inside the room and a woman with strawberry-blonde hair plaited back into an elegant bun tiptoed inside, with a portable heater in tow. She flicked on the lights and my heart froze over. If I thought Fae had been scarred by the Snow Queen's death, then Anna had been stamped a thousand times over with a white hot brand. It wasn't in her appearance, necessarily, she was just as pretty as ever. However, there was a pain in her eyes that could only come from losing all three family members.

Anna rubbed her eyes, dropped the heater and let out a short sharp laugh, refusing to believe what she was seeing. 

"Oh Anna, I'm so sorry." I pulled her into my arms, my older sister instincts kicking in even though she was at least twice my age in this world. "It's alright, I'm here."

"How?" Anna  exclaimed, leaning back and taking my face into her hands. "Oh my goodness, look at you! Elsa!"

"I'm not your Elsa." I said apologetically and then proceeded to explain the situation to her.

"Of course you're my Elsa." Anna said stubbornly. She took my hand in hers and pulled me towards the door, "You have to come and meet everyone before we sort out this wish business."

I was marched through the halls, Anna's heels clicking loudly against the wooden flooring. Then, all of a sudden, two people came rushing towards us, one teenaged boy with Anna's strawberry-blonde hair and a slightly older, stocky girl with an abundance of freckles sliding across the wood on their socked feet. 

The girl noticed us and screeched to a halt before she crashed into us but the boy realised we were there too late and slammed right into me.

"Kay! What did I tell you both about doing this? Even if it's not bicycles, it's still extremely dangerous!" Anna exclaimed, stopping us both from falling over by grabbing us with surprisingly strong grip. "This is my son, Kay and that is my daughter, Gerda."

I flinched at the sudden reminder of the maid in my world. It was a popular name in Arendelle, and Anna's Gerda didn't seem anything like the wobbling, teary-eyed cow in my world, but it was a sudden reminder that everything was different. Far more so than I could have ever imagined.

"It's Kai actually." Kay/Kai corrected.

"Kay is what's on your birth certificate." Gerda said, rolling her eyes. 

"It's Kay to family and Kai to everyone else." Kay said snootily, then he did a double take. "Aunt Elsa???"

"Hi."  

"Uh..."

Anna briefly explained Fae and why I was there while the children listened intently. They took the news quite well, I thought although in a world where magic was used freely, my sudden appearance was no doubt not the most unusual thing they'd seen.

"So, what'd you wish for?" Gerda asked.

"I'm still thinking about it, but in the meantime I'm sure Elsa would like something to eat. Go and let the cooks know, will you? And where is your father?" Anna continued marching down the hall, lifting her skirts so she could move faster.

"I'd love to stay for lunch but I need to be going soon, I have to meet Fae in Northuldra and I have no idea how to get there." I said, struggling to keep up.

"Oh that's alright, I'll send someone to accompany you." Anna said cheerfully. "You've just come from Corona, I presume?"

"How did you know that?"

"As suspicious of everyone as ever." Anna took a sharp left and began carefully descending a flight of stairs. "Your clothes. The traditional Coronian dirndl gave it away. It's like how here there are rosemaling designs everywhere. Speaking of, I can get you something warmer to wear if you'd like."

"Oh that's alright, the cold doesn't bother me."

Anna paused for a moment. "No, I suppose it doesn't." 

Kristoff Bjorgman, I soon discovered, was the man who Anna had married. An ice harvester by trade who owned a reindeer named Sven. All this I was told over lunch by Kay, Gerda and Anna, each of them fighting over each other to speak while Kristoff watched with a small smile on his face. 

"So. Ice harvester to Prince Consort, huh?" I said.

"Good to know that there's still a part of our Elsa somewhere in there." Kristoff chuckled. "I didn't marry Anna for ambitious purposes. I love your sister with all that I am, you don't have anything to worry about."

Kay made a retching sound and Gerda looked mildly disgusted but I had been convinced. 

"Yeah, alright. I was just checking." I said. 

Although at times it did feel as though I was a misshapen puzzle piece being forcibly jammed inside a jigsaw, it was nice. I was glad to see that my sister was well and thriving, even with the overwhelming grief and death in this world. 

After lunch was over, I tried for a while to get back around to the topic of Anna's wish but Anna sidestepped each hint with ease for over an hour. We talked about the differences between our worlds and our parents. I felt guilty that I couldn't be the Elsa she needed, but I worried that Fae would get tired of waiting and leave Northuldra without me. It was exactly the sort of impatient, impulsive thing she would do. I could see it now, arriving to Northuldra during the middle of the night and being passed on a message to meet her on the other side of the world instead.   

"Alright then. I'll tell you what I wish for. I suppose I've kept you long enough." Anna finally said. looked very tired all of a sudden. "I know the law about wishes already otherwise I'd have been begging you to bring her back from the moment you told me all about this. Anyway, here is my wish: I wish for you to one day live in a world deserving of you."   

✧

Ryder was one of Kristoff's friends and the designated guide who would be taking me to Northuldra. I had just about gotten into Ryder's wagon sled (pulled by two reindeer called Dasher and Comet) when Gerda came sprinting out of the castle, pigtails flying in the wind with two massive red splotches on her cheeks.

"Mother said to give you this!" She shouted, tossing up a knitted scarf with a recurring pattern of diamonds on. "It belonged to Grandma."

I took the scarf, burying my face in the soft fabric. It had a distinct resinous scent which tickled my nose.

"Right then!" Ryder said, grinning broadly. "Let's be off."

Ryder was the type of person who was always smiling. It was a fairly short trip but his good-natured grin didn't leave his face for one second. Not when Comet got distracted and nearly threw us over the edge of a mountain. Not when he was describing how someone he knew had been murdered by an Earth Giant last week. Not even when he had to keep repeating his questions because I kept zoning out.  

"What would your dream job be?" He shouted over the wind.

"A writer. What about you?" I asked, to be polite.

"Oh I've already got the best job in the world - I'm a reindeer herder."

This didn't come as a surprise to me at all. The bond he had with Comet and Dasher was certainly... interesting. Let's just say he was very dedicated and leave it at that. What did come as a surprise to me was how quickly we managed to locate the village in the dense, foggy forest. Fae was fast asleep on a hammock by the side of one of the tents, with a thick blanket pulled up to her chin while a woman with chestnut brown hair sat with her back to them, hunched over a collection of knives which she was sharpening with a practiced hand. 

"Hey, Honey." Ryder said, greeting the woman cheerfully.

'Honey' sniffed and pulled her hat down further over her ears. She didn't even bother turning around. "Good afternoon, Ryder. Where have you been?"

"At the castle. Anna has been asking for you."

"Well she can keep asking. I'm not leaving Northuldra again, this is my home. It's yours as well and you would do well to remember that."

For the first time, Ryder's smile fell. "Honey..."

Honeymaren turned around, her glare sharp enough to slice right through a human being. There was a sadness there too, hiding behind the anger. Her amber eyes were almost golden, brightened by years of tears. Tears of rage. Tears of grief. Grief flowed through her like a river. She walked slightly hunched over, as though her grief had a gravity pulling her down. Scars were scattered across her face, marks of a warrior and she gathered the knives together then stood up as though to leave. 

"Is this your wife?" I managed to croaked out. 

"My sister, Honeymaren. She was your best friend." Ryder whispered.

Now, I could match the woman standing in front of me with the woman in the picture in the Snow Queen's bedroom. Honeymaren's eyes swivelled over to me for a split second and her anger flickered in and out, her gaze lingering on the scarf wrapped around my shoulders. She didn't say anything, but her lips quirked upwards slightly in the makings of a smile for a split second. Honeymaren shook Fae awake who jolted upright with a terrified expression on her face. Fae took a deep breath, acknowledged Ryder and I with a raised hand then stood up shakily, her eyes bleary and bloodshot.

"Hi Fae. Long time no see." Ryder squeezed Honeymaren's gloved hand and went back to the sled. "I need to head back now. Take care, all of you."

With the warm blanket gone, Fae was fully awake within seconds. "Did everything go okay?" She asked gruffly.

I nodded. "I granted Anna her wish." 

"Good." Fae looked past me, squinting to see past the mist and gestured to me to follow her. "The person whose wish we need to grant next is called Pocahontas. She came to the Enchanted Forest to form an alliance between her tribe and the Northuldra. I was waiting for her to finish her meeting with Yelana."

"Waiting, with your eyes closed." I pointed out.

We approached a tent in the very centre of the village and Fae leaned against one of the trees and crossed her arms. "I get clearer visions of of the location of the next wish when I'm asleep." 

"Oh, yeah? Where are we going next?"

"A kingdom called Borealis. The wisher is a fairy named Imena."

"Alright, sorry for doubting you. That's quite a pretty name."

"Indeed." Fae said, looking bored. "She's an old friend of mine. Talks far too much - I think you'll like her."

"Aw that's nice. Hey, I have a question." 

"That's new."

"What would happen if you decided to just stop granting wishes?"

"If fairy godmothers don't honour their commitment to grant people's wishes, they instantly lose their magic. We all had to take an oath to do with it when we first started. I thought at first that was the reason why I was losing my magic but I'm only eight wishes behind at the moment. I managed to catch up on a lot of them while you were in Atlantica and while my portals were still working properly." Fae said. 

The opening of the tent shifted and out came a young, Native American woman. Pocahontas had a defeated slump to her shoulders, but there was a determined glint in her eyes. She strode towards a group of children playing with a raccoon and plucked the poor creature out of their scrabbling hands. A ruby-throated hummingbird fluttered around her head, standing out in the middle of the fog and it was this creature that Fae latched her eyes onto as she stumbled through the mist towards Pocahontas. 

"Right. Now, watch and learn." Fae said.

"Oh, who are you?" Pocahontas asked, startled to see us standing directly beside her out of nowhere.

"I am Fae, your fairy godmother and I am here to grant your wish." Fae said, brandishing her wand.

"Oh, I see. Well, good afternoon it's lovely to meet you. I'm Pocahontas." She pointed to the raccoon and the hummingbird. "That's Meeko, and that's Flit."

"Charmed."

"Well, I was just speaking to Chief Yelana, and she was telling me about how the increased attacks from the Earth Giants means the Northuldra is in no position to form alliances or trade deals with anyone at the moment. So, I wish that the Earth Giants will live in harmony with the Northuldra." Pocahontas concluded, clasping her hands together. 

"Granted." Fae lifted her wand, but at that very moment a loud sound from direction of the river and the children who had just moments ago been laughing and playing with Meeko were screaming and crying. I saw a flash of panic in Fae's eyes as people rushed out of their tents towards the noise. She took a deep breath and pointed her wand in the direction of the sound but nothing happened.

A mountain-sized Earth Giant rose up out of the earth and let out a ear-splitting roar as it began taking enormous thundering steps towards the village, a boulder in its massive, moss-covered hands. Everything happened so quickly. Honeymaren was suddenly jumping in front of the three of us with a long, wooden staff in her hands, shouting at us to get back. For some reason, all I could focus on was the fact that Honeymaren was no longer wearing gloves and that her fingernails had been sharpened to a razor-sharp point.

The Earth Giant was almost upon us, when I screamed for Gale, my own words feeling as though they were coming out of someone else's mouth. Within moments, a strong gust of wind was there, trying to heave it backwards but although it slowed the Earth Giant down, it was still somehow making lumbering steps forwards, age-old rocks tumbling down off its back. 

After a few seconds, Fae finally managed to produce a large ball of fire which she launched forwards, exploding the boulder into a thousand harmless pieces of rubble. But the Earth Giant itself was still marching forward determinedly. Honeymaren was screaming at me to run, although there was a resignation in her eyes that made it clear to me that running would be pointless. There was now a second Earth Giant clambering up from the river and Pocahontas could no longer bear to look. She had her hands clapped over her ears and her eyes were wide and full of terror as she clutched Meeko close to her chest. There was a wordless plea in her watery eyes. 

Please. I'm not ready to die. 

I reached out my hand towards the creature closest to us, past the chaos of Fae's fire and Gale's wind hoping to launch a strong enough blast of water to knock it backwards into the river but instead of water, a tangled clump of thick green vines shot out knocking the Earth Giant to the ground. A tremendous cloud of dirt, dust and rocks shot up from around it while the vines wrapped themselves around the outraged Earth Giant, pinning it to the ground until all it could do was flail around helplessly. Fae stopped shooting fire out of her wand long enough to grant Pocahontas' wish and the now-docile second Earth Giant stopped in its tracks, put down the boulder that it was about to hurl at us and slowly made its way back to the river.

With Pocahontas' wish granted and the alliance between the two tribes formed, there wasn't really any need for us to stick around. Yelana asked us very solemnly if we would like to be guests of honour at a celebration they were planning on hosting in the coming days to commemorate the taming of the Earth Giants and Fae politely declined, saying that we had another wisher waiting on us. 

I was unable to say anything at all for quite a while. The whole affair had left me absolutely terrified of remaining in the forest. All I knew is that I wanted to leave. Immediately. Fae congratulated me several times on the way out of the Enchanted Forest for being able to overpower the Earth Giant with the vines, but I could barely even acknowledge this. The last thought on my mind was where the vines came from and how I was able to control them. Instead, the very sobering fact that I had come extremely close to dying was all I could think about.  

"How is anyone supposed to survive in a world like this?" I asked Honeymaren, as she showed us the way out, which was to follow the path of the river. Dormant Earth Giants were visible from afar on the other side so I let out a small shudder and quickened my steps.

"You aren't. Only the lucky ones come home." Honeymaren replied, glancing over at Fae. "I'm going to head back now, but just continue to follow the river and you'll find your way out." 

Then, Honeymaren went back to the village, where celebratory music was beginning to play. I turned back once to see what was going on and saw her on the outskirts, far from everyone else with grief radiating off her in plumes of impossible-not-to-see, fluorescent smoke. I can see her even now, sometimes when I close my eyes. Honeymaren, barely visible in the middle of the fog, dancing with the Snow Queen's ghost.

✧

Fae was unable to make a portal to Borealis so Gale carried us there. It was quite an uneventful, boring journey and every time I looked down, all I could see was a large, dark expanse of water so I decided to find a means to entertain myself and conjured up a notebook and pen with my wand.

"What are you doing?" Fae asked suspiciously, from the other side of the cloud. Her eyes were closed and she had been sitting completely motionless for quite a while - I had wrongfully thought she was asleep.

"Just writing." I said. "Everything that I've seen so far. The people that I've met. That sort of thing."

"I see." 

I paused mid-sentence and put my pen down. "Is Honeymaren... Is she alright?"

Fae's eyes popped open. "What?"

"Well, I was just thinking, when I went to see Anna, she's started her own family now and seems to be doing alright. But, Honeymaren..."

"There's nothing we can do for her, since you had no relationship with her in your world. From now on, wishes are only allowed to be granted to wishers." Fae interrupted sharply. Her teeth clicked together loudly when she finished speaking. 

"It doesn't have to be that way." I pressed. "Just like today, Pocahontas' wish helped the Northuldra people indirectly. We could help people who aren't wishers too."

Fae closed her eyes again. "When you are a fairy godmother, you have to put your own needs and wants aside. You want to help everyone but that is not what we are here to do. We only grant wishes to wishers and if others get helped along the way as well, so be it."

"It seems unfair that fairy godmothers have all of this power but only grant wishes to specific people." I persisted. "And you're the only fairy godmother now, anyway - why don't you just make your own rules?"

"The rules are there for a reason."

"Oh, you mean like the rules you were following when you..."

"If you bring up San Fransokyo again, I will throw you off this cloud." Fae said.

"I think the real reason is that you're scared. That's why you're still sticking to most of the rules the fairy godmothers set for you even though you know that they aren't relevant anymore. That's why you haven't told Caspian that you have feelings for him."

Fae's eyes flew open again and fire poured forth out of them burning me to a crisp. "Mind your own business."

"It's true!" I said, poking her. "You're in love with Caspian and you're too afraid to tell him because of the stupid rule that fairies can't have relationships even though there's nobody to stop you."

"You take things too seriously." Fae said, her jumpsuit glowing a soft strawberry pink. "I am not in love with Cas. It's just a small, harmless crush. And I'm not going to tell him how I feel for a plethora of reasons. First of all, in case you haven't noticed, I'm extremely busy. I'll never be able to see him, especially not now that my portal magic is fading. Secondly, he was only ever interested in me because my appearance changed with whatever he was feeling on the day - he hasn't seen what I really look like yet. Thirdly, there are people who I'm attracted to in nearly every single kingdom I've been to. That doesn't mean I want to be in a relationship with them - it just means... You know what, I don't even know why I'm entertaining this." 

"You said that you want to live and not just survive. So, what exactly is holding you back?" 

"My work." Fae said. "I have been Fae for longer than I was Mavis. I don't think I could live a 'normal' life again even if I tried. Now shut up."

Needless to say, I didn't completely shut up, but I also wanted to do more writing so I left Fae to 'sleep' in peace and continued composing my story in the notebook until we arrived in Borealis. 

✧

Borealis was a land of rich brown soil under a large stretch of green carpet and above that, wild flowers with a chaotic twisting of stems and bursts of colourful petals - a feast for the bees. Spring was in full bloom, and when we landed by a tiny house in the middle of the woods, I could see an earth of foxes lurking behind a hedge, their orange fur a stark contrast against the dark green foliage. 

Fae marched up to the indigo door at the front of the house and raised her fist to knock on it, but before her knuckles touched the door, a fairy with flawless acorn-brown skin and long purple box braids flung open the door.

"Fae! Thank goodness you're here. Hello, stranger whose name I do not know yet. I've been panicking all morning and I had the most awful stomach-ache in the world, but I was brave and didn't magic it away and now it's pretty much gone." Imena said all at once in a posh, British accent without pausing for breath. She was absolutely tiny, but somehow managed to drag both me and Fae over to her white marshmallow-y sofa, instructing us to sit down. 

"We can't stay long. We've got other wishes." Fae said wearily, tucking her legs up underneath her. 

"I know, I know. I'll be quick." Imena stuffed her hands in the pockets of her adorable primrose-yellow dungarees and took a deep breath: "I had a vision where the Dark Fairy, Maleficent cursed Princess Aurora to die at her christening tonight. Now I know visions are seldom all they seem, but this one felt so real. I'm certain it was a prediction of the future and I need you to help me stop it from coming true."

"You know I can't undo curses like that, Imena."

"I'm not asking you to. But you can make the curse less severe, right? Like, make her fall asleep instead of die completely?" Imena asked, her big brown eyes sparkling hopefully. "The princess is so cute, Fae! She's like a little button. We can't just let her die."

"What time is the christening at?" Fae asked.

"In an hour, at 8 o'clock. So in the meantime..." Imena paused, then turned to me. "What did you say your name was?"

"Elsa."

"Hello, Elsa. Pretty, pretty please could I give you a makeover?" Imena asked, batting her eyelashes at me. "I know there's no point in asking Fae, because she's a boring old donkey, but you seem like the reasonable sort." 

"Sorry?" 

"Great! It's going to be so fun! Fae, prepare the tea." Imena clapped her hands together and tossed her lavender hair over her shoulder. Then, her entire facial expression changed to a far more severe one as she took out her lilac wand. "Don't move until I'm finished."

And that was how I found myself being held at wand-point while Imena fussed with my hair and then the scratches on my face and then the slightly tattered dirndl that I hadn't swapped out for anything new yet and everything else that she thought needed improving.

By seven thirty, my hair had been thoroughly washed, dried, put into a thick braid hanging over my shoulder and accessorised with a handful of pink flowers. Every spot of dirt, blood and sweat was magicked away and after fifteen long minutes of deliberating, Imena had decided on an emerald green off-the-shoulder dress with a right knee-high slit and a sweetheart bodice. On my feet were dark green kitten heels and attached to my bodice was a long transparent floor-sweeping cape to match decorated with pink and green flowery designs. I was the personification of Spring.

"Ta-daaa!" Imena declared, handing me the clean and freshly folded knitted scarf Anna gifted me with a purple ribbon tied on top. "Now, don't you just feel so much better?"

Then, at quarter to eight, Imena transformed her dungarees into a sleek, indigo number and very nearly flew off to the palace without us.

"Oh, silly me." Imena said, touching back down on the ground when Fae informed her of my inability to fly. "I got a bit excited. Not to worry, I'll call for a carriage."

The castle was far bigger than the one in the Black Forest or even in Arendelle and there were easily around fifty carriages trailing through the castle gates along with us, embellished with jewels. Loud singing drifted out of the open castle doors, hailing the royal family, and in particular Princess Aurora.

Health to the princess,

Wealth to the princess,

Long live the princess Aurora! Hail Aurora!

"King Stefan and Queen Leah only invited twelve fairies and I just so happened to be one of their choices. I was simply ecstatic when I received the invitation." Imena yelled over the noise, brandishing her silver-lettered invitation. "Of course, my visions have been most helpful to the kingdom's prosperity so it shouldn't come as a surprise, but my friend Tinkerbell said that..."

Here, a quartet of castle trumpeters sounded off a fanfare on their trumpets and the royal herald's voice boomed. "Their royal highnesses, King Hubert and Prince Philip!"

"Ooh, how lovely. There's talk about Prince Philip and Princess Aurora being betrothed, did you know that, Fae?" Imena asked.   

"Surely not!" Fae suddenly exclaimed, peering out of the window at three fairies entering the castle.

"I know, it's a bit strange isn't it? They're only children still." Imena said.

"No, not that. Immy, look!" Fae exclaimed. "Quickly, before they go inside."

"What? What is it? What happened?" Imena asked, shoving Fae to the side so she could see. Again, I was amazed by the sheer strength of this tiny person. 

The royal herald's voice carried over the chanting, and Fae's reaction suddenly made a lot of sense. "Their most honored and exalted excellencies, the Three Good Fairies; Mistress Flora, Mistress Fauna, and Mistress Merryweather!"

Fae folded her hands in her lap, looking sick to her stomach all of a sudden but she had no time to dwell on who she had just seen because it was time for the royal herald to announce our arrival and after a quick discussion about mine and Fae's lack of an invitation, a loud trumpet sounded and an announcement was made.

"Their esteemed excellencies, the fairy godmother, Mistress Fae; her apprentice, Elsa and the cherished Lavender Fairy, Mistress Imena." 

Then, we were guided inside to a room filled with fairies of all sorts, bestowing gifts upon the young princess, who lay fast asleep in her cot. 

"Each of us the child may bless with a single gift. No more, no less." One of the fairies was saying sternly, looking pointedly at Imena who had flown directly to the cot and was currently silently weeping over how cute the baby was. 

"I'll go first." Another fairy said, stepping forward with her wand. "Little princess, my gift shall be the gift of beauty."

One gift, beauty rare,

Gold of sunshine in her hair,

Lips that shame the red red rose,

she’ll walk with springtime wherever she goes. ♪

"And I shall give you the gift of song." A second fairy beamed.

One gift, the gift of song,

Melody her whole life long.

The nightingale’s her troubadour,

bringing her sweet serenade to her door. ♪

This went on ten more times and I began to lose all interest, preferring instead to watch Fae watch the doors expectantly, her eyes deliberately avoiding Flora, Fauna and Merryweather's general direction. After Merryweather had finished giving the princess her gift, she grew quite restless, and after a while, gestured to her sisters to come to speak with her. Fae leaned in closer so that she could listen to what they were saying.

"Why do I feel as though I know that lady over there?" Merryweather murmured.

"Of course you know Fae. She's the last fairy godmother left after that terrible incident." Flora said.

"Nono, I mean separate to that." Merryweather pressed. "There's a gleam in her eyes that seems so familiar."

I could almost feel the way Fae's heart leapt with hope. 

"Well, then dear, it must be like they say. You must have known her once upon a dream." Fauna giggled.

And Fae's heart came crashing back down.  

Then, out of nowhere, lightning and thunder roared and in strode the Dark Fairy with a raven perched on her shoulder.

"Thanks for the invite." She snarled, marching up towards the king and queen, a cape of black fire around her shoulders.

"Oh, but we didn't..." King Stefan began, and then realised what was going on. "Guards!"

"Stand back." The Dark Fairy scoffed, her gaze lightening on Princess Aurora who had woken up now and was beginning to cry. "I too, want to give the child a gift. In the fifteenth year of her age the princess shall prick herself with a spindle and fall down dead." Then she let out a high-pitched cackle, and disappeared in a cloud of thick dark smoke, the remnants of her evil laugh echoing around the room.

It wasn't long before Queen Leah's sobs were also echoing around the room and although King Stefan was doing his best to console her, it looked as though he was a few seconds from wailing too.

"Don't worry your majesties." Imena said, suddenly taking charge of the situation. "Fae, the fairy godmother and her apprentice are able to make the curse less severe, so that the princess won't die."

"Really?" King Stefan asked, tearily. "You can do that?"

Fae nudged me forward, "Go on, Elsa. You can do this one."

 I slowly took out my wand and spoke up in a slightly shaky voice, "The princess shall not die, but fall into a deep sleep for... For... Uh..."

"For a hundred years!" Fae finished, completing the spell amidst a chorus of outraged gasps.

"A hundred years?!" Queen Leah shrieked.

"It needed to be something equivalent to..." Fae gave up trying to explain halfway through, realising that the queen was no longer listening. 

"You could have at least said that a true love's kiss could awaken her." One of the fairies with neon orange wings said, angrily.

"Ew, that's disgusting!" Imena told her. "Consent is important."

Meanwhile, King Stefan was busy roaring at us, sending curses of his own flying our way. "You might as well have solidified the curse!" He bellowed. "Get out! Both of you!"

✧

"Well that was fun." I commented, once we had arrived back at Imena's house.

Imena had left early too, saying that the king and queen were 'ungrateful little swamp monsters' for banishing us from the party. "I understand they were upset, but it was hardly your fault." She said. "They could have at least sent you off with some raspberry cheesecake."

"I'm sure we'll survive." Fae said, briskly. "Now listen, do you think you could make us a portal to Agrabah? That's where we need to be heading to next."

"Sure! It'll take me a while though, I'm out of practice." Imena beamed. "Sit tight inside, and I should have it ready for you in a few minutes."

While Imena made the portal, I curled up on her squishy sofa and gazed up at the darkening sky where beautiful waves of vivid dancing light shone purple, green and blue. My eyes blurred and gradually fell shut.

 I dreamed of the woods swallowing me whole and trapping me in its dark talons where I was to be tortured by nightmares for an eternity. I dreamt of soaring high across the sky over kingdoms forged from summer, winter and spring. And in those kingdoms, everything was all wrong.

 It was normal for children to be whisked away from the parents in the middle of the night. It was normal for a younger sister to outgrow the older one and for the Earth to stand up and walk beside me. It was normal for tiny babies to be sentenced to death before they even uttered their first word.

I saw trees of green, overshadowed by darkness.

I saw red roses blooming, thorns stained with blood.

I heard babies crying, ones who would never grow any older.  

And I thought to myself, what a dreadful world.

Chapter Text

✧ "Fire is a good companion for the mind ... " - May Sarton  ✧

PART 5: FIRE

"I'll give her five more minutes." Fae was saying to Imena when I awoke from my nap and stumbled outside to see what was taking so long. 

Neither of them saw me because they had their backs to the door. Fae was sitting cross-legged on the grass, tossing a tiny, compact ball of fire in the air and then catching it again. Her hair was a hazy blur of colours - the aurora borealis merging with the fiery orange flames to produce a pretty cool kaleidoscopic effect. Imena was sitting beside her, with her head gently resting on Fae's shoulder and her lilac braids piled up on top of her head. The portal, an orange and purple door with أجرابا written across the front in red lettering, was ready and waiting in front of them.

"If even a single hair on my head gets singed, I'll kill you." Imena mumbled, softly.  

"That's not very Lavender Fairy of you." Fae said.

"Oh shut up." Imena said, but there was laughter in her voice. "Did you know, this is the longest we've ever hung out?"

Fae's shoulders stiffened and she shrugged Imena off, extinguishing the ball of fire at once. "Yes well, it's not going to last for much longer. Fairy godmothers aren't allowed..."

"...to have friends, yes I am aware." Imena shifted positions and swung her legs into Fae's lap. "Or lovers, which is very unfortunate. We would have made such an awesome power couple."

Fae snorted and began fiddling with the buckle on Imena's glittering silver heels. "Our babies would've been so cute."

I took a few steps forward and announced my presence with a slightly rushed and too-loud, "Hi guys!"    

"Hey El," Imena beamed. "How was your nap?"

"Good thanks yeah. Your sofa is really comfortable." 

Elsa abruptly got to her feet, magicked away the grass stains on her jumpsuit and helped Imena to her feet. "Right. Let's get going then. Thanks for everything, Immy."

"I'm so jealous, I wish I could come along. Agrabah is so pretty this time of year." Imena said. "But there'll be more to do than ever now that Princess Aurora's been cursed." 

"Where exactly is Agrabah?" I asked.

"You'll see." Fae said briskly. 

Imena extracted her wand from a barely visible pocket in her indigo dress. "It's a desert kingdom, and it's so beautiful. You'll love it. And oh my goodness, if you get a chance, try and get a look at the palace - it's got these incredible golden domed roofs and at night-time, the whole thing gets illuminated. It's mesmerising."

"She'll see all this when we get there! One of the wishers literally lives inside the palace... what are you taking your wand out for?" Fae asked suspiciously.

"Oh, well, she can't go wearing that. She'll get too hot. I'm just making a few alterations, don't mind me."

"Imena!"

"I'll be quick!"

Fae tutted and grumbled under her breath as Imena made her adjustments to my outfit. First, she changed the material so that the dress felt a bit lighter and had more room to breath in. Then she transformed the dress altogether into a light blue jumpsuit not unlike Fae's. The flowers were taken out of my hair and my kitten heels were swapped out for more walkable shoes. She was just beginning to try a range of different earrings on me when Fae ended it.

"Enough is enough. We need to get going. There are two wishes in Agrabah that need granting and it's getting late." 

"Alright, alright. Forgive me, you're just so fun to dress up, El. You're like a little doll, bless your heart." Imena stepped back to examine her handiwork, humming a song under her breath.

"Wait, I know that song. What's it called again?" Fae asked, stopping in her path towards the door.

"Oh I don't know, Arabian Days  or something like that." 

"Arabian Nights." Fae corrected. "I haven't heard that song in ages. Brings me right back."

"Oh yeah, I remember now." Imena opened her mouth and began her rendition of the song, which was so shockingly terrible and off-tune that, had I not witnessed the conversation firsthand, I would have thought that she was being attacked and was crying for help. 

I accidentally caught Fae's eye, just as Imena was coming to the end of her wailing, and caught the appalled expression on her face, her eyebrows lifted to the heavens in horror. We were already on the verge of laughter but then, the lights next door flickered to life and the Narcissus Fairy (a gorgeous man whose name I later learned was Camille) came out of the house, barefoot, with a glass of red wine in his hand. He stormed across the grass and began yelling over the fence for Imena to shut up in rapid French.

"Look what you have caused!" Camille fumed, using the end of his wand as a torch to show us the wine stains on his crisp white t-shirt and the line of eyeliner smeared across his cheek. "Your singing is startling!" 

"It's a cool vibe you've got going on there." Imena said, completely unbothered. "I love what you've done with your eyeliner."

Fae collapsed into a heap of giggles, hanging onto my arm to keep herself from falling over, and to my surprise I burst into laughter as well, cackling just as loudly as the Dark Fairy had after cursing the princess. I had never seen Fae's porcelain face act so well and truly shattered either. Her face was scrunched up with mirth as she clutched her side, and her jumpsuit shone a radiant yellow. We were so caught up in the hilarity of the situation that we missed half of the conversation that Camille and Imena were having and by the time I wiped my watery eyes and gained enough vision to see again, Camille was already strutting away.

"I love you!" Imena called after him.

"I love you too." Camille yelled back. "No more singing!"

"I am underappreciated in this kingdom." Imena huffed. 

Fae ironed out her smile and stood up straight. "That was extremely bad, Immy. I've never heard anything like it." 

Imena stuck out her tongue. "Like you could do any better."

"I could actually."

"Yeah? Prove it."

After a few failed attempts, because she couldn't stop giggling, Fae took a deep breath and her voice effortlessly swam through the air in sweet vibrations, ebbing and flowing and rippling like the tides of the ocean, up in the blue-green sky. She hit each note perfectly. The lyrics placed its hand in hers and together, as one unit, they made music. Real music. The atmosphere was filled with lavender and spices, so sweet that I wanted to eat the air and drink the song until there wasn't a drop left.

Arabian nights
Like Arabian days
More often than not
Are hotter than hot
In a lot of good ways

Then with a cheeky smile, Fae flipped her hair over her shoulder and blew a kiss to Imena before sashaying to the door, accompanied by Camille's loud, rapturous applause.

✧

As soon as I stepped through the door, a blast of heat slapped me in the face, knocking me backwards. It was like stepping into an oven. The sun was adorning the sky, a glowing ball of molten gold in the jasmine yellow sky and the kingdom awaiting us was a warm and expansive stretch of golden brown, with buildings as tall as the sky. Just like how it had been in Atlantica, the palace was at the very centre of the kingdom, in all of its resplendent magnificence. However, as wonderful as the sight below us was, my mind was still on Fae's singing.

"I didn't know you could sing like that!" 

"I don't. Not anymore." Fae said stiffly. "Now focus. I'm going to take you to the palace and then I'm going to go and find my wisher. As soon as I'm done, I'll come back and get you."

"What about if I finish first?"

"Not going to happen. I'm a professional, remember." Fae said, taking my hand in hers and fixing her eyes on the palace in the distance. "قصر السلطان"

In a flash of dazzling light so bright it was blinding, I felt the ground beneath me melt away and the intricate pattern of a purple and orange rug begin to form. When my eyes had recovered, I looked up and saw a flash of red as blood trickled down from Fae's nose. She wiped it away immediately and tried to pretend like nothing had happened, then took a step back and disappeared into the shadows before I could mention it.

I looked around and took in my surroundings. Glossy silk curtains hung from the ceiling to the floor in turquoise waves, separating the enormous bedroom into sections. In one of these sections, a tower of presents were neatly stacked one on top of another. Only two out of what could easily have been fifty gifts had been opened. One box contained a set of beautifully crafted handmade wooden animals. The other held a series of purple velvet cases holding necklaces, earrings and bracelets made of pure gold, dripping in glittering gemstones. These were all scattered around the big box they had come from, as though the person who had opened them had left in a hurry. 

I kept on walking towards the balcony, where I had heard faint sniffling sounds. On the ground, just before going out to the balcony was the order of service of a funeral for the Sultana dated for today. I flicked through it and found a pictures of Agrabah's royal family - Sultan Hamed Bobolonius II,  Sultana Yasmin and their daughter, Jasmine. The Sultana and Jasmine looked uncannily alike, with the exact same olive skin, high cheekbones and brown eyes with full eyelashes.

All of a sudden, those same brown eyes jumped right off the paper and glared up at me from the face of a young girl who looked to be around twelve years old, if not younger. She didn't scream or look remotely scared, she just stared straight at me expectantly, her red-rimmed eyes filled with suspicion. 

"Hello sweetheart, you must be Jasmine." I said.

"Sweetheart?" Jasmine sneered, wrinkling her nose. "That's Princess Jasmine to you."

I raised an eyebrow, then took in her mourning clothes and decided to let her attitude slide. "I am your fairy godmother and I am here to grant you a wish." 

Jasmine crossed her arms, and jutted out her chin. "According to the legends, I'm supposed to get three."

"You get one. Take it or leave it."

Jasmine spotted the order of service in my hands and she marched forward to snatch it back. "There's only one thing I want, and I think you already know what that is."

"Fairy godmothers can't raise people from the dead." I said softly.

"I know that." Jasmine said bitterly. "That's why I didn't bother asking."

"You can wish for something else. Maybe something that will help to cheer you up?" I regretted saying that, the instant the words left my mouth.

"Cheer me up?" Jasmine's face twisted and contorted with the effort it was taking not to burst into a round of fresh tears. "My mother is dead. What could possibly cheer me up?"

I winced. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"You and everyone else." Jasmine sniffed. "I don't want anything. Nor do I need anything, as I'm sure you can tell." She gestured to the bowl stacked high with fruit behind me. "And I don't care that I sound like a spoiled brat saying that. I'm well aware that there are people who have it much worse than I do - I'm the luckiest girl in the world so they say. And yet, I would give every single thing that I own to bring her back. Everything and anything. But it isn't possible." 

My fingers twitched as Jasmine's grief filled the air in a dark grey rain cloud, swirling and stifling, threatening to choke her to death. There was a few moments silence as she rubbed her arm absent-mindedly, drawing tiny circles with her thumb. Her eyes were a blazing furnace when she next spoke.

"Just go away and leave me alone! All I want are a few moments to just pity myself and grieve my loss. A few moments to be ungrateful. I can hate myself for it later." 

I said nothing, but could feel a tingling in the tips of my fingers as her anger roared and burned, heavy and intense. Huge globes of teardrops brimmed over and rolled down her cheeks until she was drowning in them, but it wasn't enough to extinguish the fire, pouring out of her in violent crimson bursts. She kicked over a velvet stool and shoved over her chaise lounge, covered in expensive-looking dresses threaded with gold. Beat her fists on the wall. Ripped down a painting of a tiger and threw a wooden elephant at the wall. Turned around in a slow half circle, breathing heavily, then fell to her knees and let out a terrible scream, the sound echoing from her balcony out to the rest of Agrabah.

It was this sound, so unearthly and tortured that instantly made me move to sit down beside her and rub her back, murmuring that I was sorry again and again. Between breathless sobs, she flapped her hand at me choking out that she was fine and for me to leave her alone but after a moment, she dropped her head on my shoulder and held onto me like she wouldn't ever let go. 

"I'm sorry you had to see that." Jasmine whispered, straightening up and covering her face with her hands. Embarrassment coated her next words as she tried to regain composure. "I've just kept that in for so long. Everyone's been telling me to be brave and Father needs me to stay strong so I've been trying my best for him but..."

"Don't apologise, it's okay. You're a child, having to deal with a really difficult thing." 

"My heart hurts so much. Feels like I'm on fire." Jasmine said in a small scratchy voice, her voice breaking as she tried to force her mouth to turn upwards at the corners. "Though I suppose it's pretty good character development."

I knew exactly how she was feeling. Though I hadn't said anything, I could feel Jasmine's pain, every single piece of it, boiling hot and intense threatening to burn her alive from the inside out. Fae had told me that this would probably happen as my powers manifested. The tips of my fingers were glowing red, flames dancing around just inside my fingertips. I clenched my hands into fists tucking them safely away before I set fire to the entire palace by accident.    

"The person who killed my mother is still out there." Jasmine mumbled, drawing her knees up to her chin. "I haven't been able to sleep since it happened. I'm so scared that they'll come for me next. Father will be so broken if that happens... I just want the kingdom to be safe from murderers. There are so many children who lose their parents and are forced to just get on with life. Children much younger than me who have to live on the streets."

I nodded, "I can grant that wish."

"I'd wish for the world to be safe from all evil if I could but that's just wishful thinking, isn't it?" 

"I'm not powerful enough to do that yet." I said, lifting my wand. "But I hope to be. One day."

"Good luck." Jasmine said, curling up into herself. She didn't watch her wish be granted, nor did she lift her head when Fae stepped out of the darkness and put her hand on my shoulder saying it was time to go. Though her eyes had been closed, I wouldn't forget the look in them. The look of grief, despair and hopelessness.

We left the palace enclosed in an invisibility bubble, me in sombre silence, Fae in a rush to get on with the wishes as usual.

"Will she be alright?" I asked, once we were out and hurrying through the bustling bazaar.

Fae jumped, startled by the question after such a long period of silence. "Who?"

"Jasmine."

"We can only hope. But that's just the way these things go." Fae said. "My wisher was a young boy, living on the streets. He asked for a safe place that he and his friends could stay in. He could have wished for anything in the world, and all he wanted was shelter."

"What was his name?"

"Aladdin." Fae replied. "You'll see far worse doing this job though, Elsa. You can't become invested in every single wisher's fate. I learned that a long time ago." 

"I can still care though." I said. "Anyway, where are we..."

"Shush! No way is that Raya." Fae interrupted, pointing to a dark-haired woman in the distance, riding an enormous creature that looked like a combination of a bug, armadillo and a dog. On her head, the woman was wearing a salakót to protect her against the sun and she was looking around, as though searching for someone with a vaguely irritated expression on her face. 

"Oh my goodness, no way!" 

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you." Fae said, then dropped the invisibility bubble and rushed up towards the woman, narrowly avoiding running into a tall, dark-skinned man carrying a basket of fruit. "Raya! It's me, Fae!"

I followed more slowly and watched the man pass a group of his nieces and nephews, who greeted him with salaams and bright smiles. He laughed and hugged them all, asking after the ones who weren't there. One of the youngest made eye contact with me and tilted her head to the side, curiosity filling her eyes. I hurriedly moved on, standing on my tiptoes to try and spot Fae. After a moment of panic, thinking I'd lost her in the crowd, I moved to the side to allow a lady in a burgundy head scarf pass by on her camel and caught a flash of Fae's white hair over by a stall selling melons and dates. She was still making a beeline for Raya trying to get her attention but Raya's gaze was fixed in the other direction.  

"Try this! Your taste buds will dance and sing!" The merchant called, lifting a watermelon over his head.

Another thing I had learned about being a fairy godmother was the fact that I didn't need to eat. Fae had cast a spell on me that would help to maintain low levels of fatigue and hunger. Sleeping wasted time, she said. A few hours a week was more than sufficient and I had now reached my quota after my nap in Borealis. The only times she napped was when she was struggling to visualise where to go for the next wish, or so she claimed anyway.

By the time I caught up with Fae, she had managed to get Raya's attention. After a few moments of shock and surprise, Raya stood up and slid down off the creature. Her dark brown boots hit the ground in a small cloud of sandy dust and I eyed her muscles and the whip sword slung across her back nervously. 

"Fae? What are you doing here?" Raya asked suspiciously, adjusting the thick brown band on her right arm.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came for the baklava." Raya deadpanned. 

"Oh good, you've finally expanded your horizons and aren't just relying on jackfruit jerky." Fae replied.

"Haha." Raya said with a straight face. 

"I meant, shouldn't you be in Kumandra, preparing for the Council of Dragons meeting?" 

"Yes. Heart is hosting this year, but something came up." Raya looked at me and put her hands on her hips. "Who are you?"

"She's with me. My apprentice." Fae cut in before I could say anything. 

"Elsa. Nice to meet you." I said. 

"Charmed, I'm sure." Raya said. 

"Our next wisher is currently travelling to Kumandra for your meeting."  Fae said. "Fa Mulan. Could we ride with you?"

"And what happened to your portal magic?" 

"I'm trying to show Elsa around, to get a feel of the different kingdoms." Fae lied.

"Right, okay. I'll take you to Kumandra if you stay here with Tuk Tuk while I go and find someone. Make sure he doesn't get distracted by lizards or any other small animals - you know what he's like."

"Thank you Raya. I owe you one." Fae patted Tuk Tuk, "Hello buddy! Long time no see."

"Yeah, I'll hold you to that." Raya said and stomped away, disappearing into the busy crowd.

There were a few passersby who gave Tuk Tuk an odd look before continuing on their way. I had never seen a creature like him before, but I was quickly becoming accustomed to all of the weird and wonderful animals in this world.  

"Another friend of yours?" I asked.

"Not a friend. That's Raya, Princess of Heart and Guardian of the Dragon Gem."

"Oh yes, of course. How informative." I said, wiping beads of sweat from my forehead. "Hey, speaking of dragons..."

"Yes, they exist."

"I wasn't going to ask that. I wanted to say, that back when I was granting Jasmine's wish, I think I felt fire powers manifesting."

"You're sure?" Fae's eyes widened and her voice dropped. "Just like that? So soon?"

"Is that... bad?"

"Nono, I just didn't expect it to be happening so quickly. That's hydrokinesis, geokinesis and pyrokinesis now all in a few days." Fae said, counting off her fingers. "That's practically unheard of. I thought you were absorbing powers from your surroundings, from the Ocean and the Earth Giants but if you're able to do pyrokinesis now, that contradicts my idea."

At that moment, a large amount of sand (too much to be a coincidence) sailed towards me in a gust of cold air. The sand particles circled around me, rippling around me and startling Tuk Tuk. 

"Hey, Gale. Where have you been?" I raised my arm to shield my eyes, but was grateful for the relief from the heat. Imena hadn't been joking, as pretty as it was, Agrabah was almost unbearably hot. There had been no need for the scarf that Anna gifted me though I had wrapped it around my waist and was using it to carry my wand. 

"There wasn't anybody in the palace who had fire powers of any sort, was there?" Fae continued, ignoring Gale entirely.

"I don't think so."

"Hm, I'll give it a bit more thought." 

Unbeknownst to me, an adorable salamander had actually decided to make the folds of my scarf its home somewhere around this point. Later, when I was trying to narrow it down, I figured out it must have been between Agrabah and Kumandra. I didn't discover him until quite a bit later and it was a massive shock when I did, but I'm telling things out of order so let me continue. 

The sound of two women bickering rose above the noise of the marketplace, gradually getting closer and closer. Now on top of a grey, cat-like creature with enormous fangs, Raya and another young Southeast Asian woman with short black hair shaved on one side were steadily arguing, returning each backhanded compliment from the other with ease. 

"Oh give it a rest, Princess Undercut." Raya was saying as they approached us. "Sorry it took so long. Meet my friend, Serlot."

"Oh, what? Am I not worthy of an introduction, dep la?" The woman sniffed, the long gold earring in her left ear glittering as brightly as her eyes in the sunlight. "Fine I shall make my own: I am Namaari, Princess of Fang."

"Namaari, it's me." Fae said. "This is my apprentice, Elsa."

"Fae???" Namaari gasped, glaring at Raya. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was trying to." Raya snapped, jumping down off Serlot. "Now come on, we're wasting time. Fae, you can come with me. Elsa, you can ride with Namaari."

I was slightly hesitant, due to Namaari's judgemental stare, but after a brief appraisal she stuck out her hand and lifted me up on top of Serlot. Raya and Fae were already steadily rolling away on Tuk Tuk. Namaari tucked her twin swords away into her belt then began the chase.

"Why she always has to make everything into a race is beyond me." Namaari shouted, over Serlot's paws thudding against the sun-baked sand. "Alright, Elsa. Hold tight."

Tuk Tuk was quick, but Serlot was nimble and able to zigzag out of the marketplace with unmatched agility. The wind blasted through my hair, snapping my head backwards and causing me to grab onto Namaari for dear life.  We sped out of Agrabah so quickly that my translucent cape fluttered away, lost to the breeze. I turned slightly and watched it fly away, a shivering, pale butterfly. My heart lurched forwards each time we almost caught up with Raya and Fae, only for Tuk Tuk to roll forward again, out of reach. Once the crowd of people had thinned out and we well and truly out in the desert, I signalled to Gale and then we were truly flying, propelled forward by the wind. I only caught a slight glimpse of Raya's salakót as we passed them, her hand clamped down on top of it to keep it from blowing away. 

"Haha! Let's goooo!" Namaari yelled, turning around and sticking up both middle fingers at Raya. "Good girl, Serlot! You brilliant kitty."  

"Cheater." Fae said reproachfully as they drew level and the journey resumed at a more reasonable pace.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I grinned.

Namaari high-fived me and petted Serlot affectionately. "Great job team!" 

"Anyway, what were you doing in Agrabah, Namaari?" Fae asked, eager to change the topic from the race. 

"I got a lead on who killed Ba and came here to get more information. It's the same person that assassinated the Sultana a few days ago." Namaari gritted her teeth. "I promised to avenge him. And that's exactly what I intend to do."

"Yes, except you forgot that the Council of Dragons meeting was beginning today." Raya said. "I woke up and was looking for you everywhere. Imagine my shock when Virana told me you had gone to Agrabah!"

"Which is more important?" Namaari challenged. "I'm sure you could have managed without me for a few hours instead of coming all this way. Now, neither of us are in Kumandra to welcome the others."

"If you had just told me about it, we could have gone together. And anyway, you didn't need to go today, the person was long gone." Raya retorted. 

And now banished from Agrabah forever. I thought.

"Ok, but it wasn't a complete waste of time." Namaari said. "The girl I was speaking to when you came in and rudely interrupted, Taji, gave me some very useful information. She also said to come back whenever I wanted and that she'd show me around." 

Raya's eyebrows had drawn together and were lowered in a frown. "Taji. Alright, okay. I'm sure her information was really helpful."

"Yeah it was. Also, I know for a fact that you were meant to be babysitting the Miniature Menace today. Don't try and spin the whole, 'I need you at the meeting' spiel when you were really just trying to get out of looking after Noi." Namaari continued.

"Whatever." 

"Elsa! How about you practice your geokinesis?" Fae said, widening her eyes meaningfully. "Also, watch for any uneven sections of terrain and quicksand."

"Sure." I said too loudly in the now-awkward silence. I cupped my hands together and focused on the stretch of desert in front of us, as far as the eye could see. So close, I could almost feel the sand itself, trickling through my fingertips. I looked down and sand as fine as water was pouring out of my hands and trailing behind us, joining the billions of grains below.

"Hey, cut it out." Namaari said, brushing sand off her beige tank top. I cut it out. "You're gonna love Kumandra, Elsa. It's the best place in the world. Well, Fang is, if we want to be specific and the dragons are..." 

Raya muttered something inaudible under her breath and Fae buried her face in her hands, massaging her temples as though she had a headache.

"You got something to say, dep la?" Namaari asked. 

"I said that you're a dragon nerd."  

"Ok. And? So are you."

"Let's just pick up the pace. The meeting should have started already." Raya said sharply.

And with that, we were off again, speeding through the desert like there were vengeful fire-breathing dragons chasing us.

✧

They were back on fairly good terms by the time we reached Kumandra. And by that, I mean Raya had refused to speak to Namaari until they got in the meeting and Namaari was pretending to be completely unbothered, rambling on about dragons to Serlot and I.  

The Council of the Dragons had been founded by Raya and Hiccup, the chief of a tiny Scottish island inhabited by dragon riders, called Berk. There were eight members on the council in total, although they were still looking for more. Any discoveries or problems they were having regarding their dragons were shared at yearly meetings that usually lasted about a week. Last year, Berk hosted and Namaari was still having nightmares about Hiccup's mother, Valka's meatballs.

 Hiccup was the first person from the Council to come out and greet us with a slightly timid, "Hi, I'm Hiccup."

Behind him, a girl with curly red hair and a bow slung over her shoulder hip bumped him out of the way and stuck her hand out for all four of us to shake, saying in a thick Scottish accent, "Hello, hello. I'm Merida." 

"Astrid wasn't feeling very well," Hiccup explained, "and Merida was begging to come and see Kumandra so I brought her along. 

"Ah. Well, it's nice to meet you, Merida. And I hope Astrid gets better soon." Raya said, lifting all of her belongings off of Tuk Tuk. "Sorry we weren't here to greet you." Here she gave Namaari a sidelong glance. "I had to go and fetch this one from Agrabah. How's Toothless?" 

"Oh it's no problem at all. And Toothless is doing well, thanks for asking." Hiccup said, stepping aside to let us come inside. 

"I saw Sisu!" Merida exclaimed. "She said my hair reminded her of fire!"

"You have got lovely hair." Raya said, making her way to a room that had walls absolutely covered in drawings of dragons. "So, have Mulan and Shang arrived by any chance?"

"Not yet." Hiccup replied. "But I was hoping we could start anyway? I have some notes on the Water Dragons we found and I think it's pretty impressive. Of course, ours can't talk or anything like that but it's still pretty cool."

I zoned out and drifted over to a chair in the corner to wait with Fae. After a while, she stood up and began to pace around the room, stopping when she reached a glass cabinet by the window filled with dragon figurines She reached in and picked up an unopened box.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Namaari swooped in and snatched the box away before Fae could open it. "Those are collector's items. No touching."  

Meanwhile, Hiccup and Raya were having a rapturous conversation about a dragon that had recently taken Wonderland by storm.

"So are we saying that the Jabberwocky is a dragon now?" Hiccup asked. "Because everyone who has encountered it so far has said that it has the body of a dragon and a fish-like head, so technically, we could call it a fish just as much as we could call it a dragon."

"Let's get someone to drop it in Atlantica then. Get King Triton to deal with it." Merida said, whittling away at a block of wood with a penknife.

"Do anyone have any pictures of the Jabberwocky?" Raya wanted to know. 

As Hiccup was rifling through the enormous bag he had brought with him, Merida leaned forward conspiratorially. "Did anyone else hear about the Dark Fairy from Borealis's new method of shapeshifting into a dragon to carry out her nefarious deeds?"

"Yes and it's giving dragons a bad name." 

Just then, the door creaked open and a tiny red dragon about the size of a lizard, rushed inside the room, quickly followed by a Chinese woman in armour, looking very annoyed. "Mushu!"

 Fae looked up from the thick notebook containing some of Namaari's dragon research. "Ah, here's our girl, Elsa." 

"Mulan! Love of my life." Raya squealed, immediately going over to hug her. While Mulan was distracted, Mushu darted out of the room with a mischievous expression on his face.

"How's Shang?" Namaari asked loudly.

"He's alright. Outside at the moment, speaking to Chief Benja." Mulan replied. "It's lovely to see you again too, Namaari." Then she beamed at Hiccup, "Hello, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III."

"Please don't." 

Fae cleared her throat. "Fa Mulan."

"Um, hi?"

"I am your fairy godmother, and I'm here to grant you a wish." Fae said. "Raya, is there another room we can do this in?"

"Yeah, sure. Keep going down the hall and the first door on your right. Mulan can show you." 

"Great, thanks."

One we were away from everyone else and Mulan had stopped chewing her bottom lip, she announced what she wanted her wish to be. "I want to bring honour to my family by being a good warrior who can protect those who can't protect themselves."

"Granted." Fae nodded in my direction so I took out my wand and granted her wish in a flickering orange-red explosion of sparkles.

"Amazing. Thanks for that." Mulan smiled.

"Yeah, no problem. Anytime. Well, I mean not anytime. This is kinda a one-time thing but..."

"I know how wishes work." Mulan laughed. "This was cool, I should uh..."

"Yeah, no. You have your meeting." I opened the door and stepped to one side inadvertently setting our ears up for the bone-rattling crash that echoed around the building.

Fae and Mulan leapt into action, with their warrior's instinct. Fae conjured a protective shield and marched past to investigate. "Elsa, with me!"

Cautiously, we went into the hall. There, sprawled out on the ground, with a screwed-up expression of confusion on his face was a muscular man with strawberry blonde hair and enormous biceps. His muscles were practically threatening to rip right through his t-shirt and I could only begin to wonder what his workout routine looked like. 

"Herc? What happened?" Mulan asked while everyone from the other room stuck their heads around the door to see what was going on.

A petite woman with a long wavy ponytail reaching down to her waist stepped over 'Herc' and brushed her fingertips against his shoulder. "Come on now, darling. That's not the appropriate way to enter someone's house." 

"I didn't do it on purpose." Hercules spluttered, slowly getting to his feet. "That tiny dragon tripped me up."

"Mushu!" Mulan said, shaking her head. "That dragon..." 

"We should probably get going." Fae murmured to me, then said a bit louder, "Elsa and I need to get going now. Thanks for having us everybody."

"See ya, gorgeous." Megara said, blowing her a kiss.  

"Bye Meg."

We left the house to a chorus of goodbyes and made our way to a small clearing in the luscious green land surrounding Raya's house, Fae looking back rather wistfully. She stopped walking when we reached a river flowing fast and steady and took a moment to let out a long loud sigh. I lifted a few droplets of water from the river into the air and made them float around each other while Gale darted off into the neighbouring trees to choreograph them a new dance.

"Do you want try making the portal this time? The next wish is in America." Fae said, watching a few children from Raya's tribe playing a game on the other side of the river. They were wearing blue and green, as many people from Heart did as a sign of respect  for the water dragons and they reminded me of peacock feathers, bright and beautiful.

"I can try."

"Ok, this is how its works. There are pre-existing portals everywhere, connecting kingdoms, countries, cities, even tiny towns in the middle of nowhere. Some fairies have the job of keeping certain portals open by using them constantly, a bit like picking a scab to keep a wound open."

"Why would you use that comparison?" I grimaced. 

"Because. Now, what you have to do is pinpoint which portal it is that you want to get to and a pathway will form through a door. "It helps if you've been to the place before, but it isn't always necessary and the next wisher lives in New Orleans anyway, which is a place in your world so it should be fine. Don't worry about precision for now."

"Right, but what do I do exactly?" 

"What do you mean? What have you been doing all the other times you've been casting spells?" Fae said exasperatedly. "Focus on what you're trying to achieve, lean into your power and do it."

"Alright fine." I said. "But don't get annoyed if it doesn't work and we have to ask Gale to take us there instead."

I closed my eyes and the rush of the river grew louder. I thought about the descriptions I had read in books of New Orleans in Carnival season. Millions of people dancing and singing through the streets, gold, green and purple beads clicking together as they moved. There was a picture book Adelaide owned containing photographs of Mardi Gras festivals and I pulled it to the forefront of my mind now, remembering flicking through gumbo and crawfish recipes as Snow White wailed in the room next door. I pictured the elaborate parades, Creole cuisine and almost two hundred miles of canals interwoven amidst the city.

Before I quite knew what I was doing, I had knelt down and dipped my hand in the river in front of me and dissolved into the clear water, becoming one with it. I flowed along the current and made the long voyage across the sea until I found myself between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain. The beginnings of a jazz song buzzed around in my head, fizzing and bubbling and threatening to spill over. A man's voice saying, “laissez les bon temps rouler”. The dazzling lights of a city full of life and culture. I pulled back my hand and shook off the water. Where the drops fell on the grass, an olive green door sprouted up.

"Well done, Elsa! You did it!" Fae exclaimed, her jumpsuit glowing a warm gold.

"I did it!" I beamed and stepped forward to open the door. I tightened my scarf around my waist and with one last glance behind me to make sure Fae was following, we stepped forward into the city that care forgot.

Chapter Text

"This is the Hour of Lead 
Remembered, if outlived,
As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow 
First Chill, then Stupor, then the letting go."

- Emily Dickinson 

PART 6: ICE & SNOW

The first thing I noticed when I stepped through the door was the Evening Star shining brightly in the darkening sky. The second thing was the the hints of honey and warm sugar floating tantalisingly down the street all mixed up in the rich intoxicating scent of freshly baked cakes. Even with Fae's spell, I could feel my stomach begin to rumble. Across the road from us, a little girl with colourful beads in her hair was playing the Don't Step on The Crack game, and her uneven walking pattern, alternating between massive leaps and tiny quick steps meant she was now far behind her mother who was waiting for her at the traffic lights with her hands on her hips.

"Lord give me strength. Nola, do you smell that? That's Aunty Tiana's famous beignets and if we get there and they're already sold out, so help me..." 

"Sorry Mama, I'm coming." Nola ran forward and slipped her tiny hand into her mother's. Together, they began speed-walking towards the orange-yellow glow of the cafe on the corner of the street, a bit further up, with the words Duke's Cafe emblazoned in red lights.

"Tiana is our wisher." Fae said, already following them. "Works at that cafe up there."

Despite it getting close to closing time, Duke's Cafe was extremely busy. The ding of the cash register was incessant and waiters and waitresses were dishing out trays of food like their lives depended on it. The most popular waitress by far was Tiana, who everybody seemed to know, although all I could see of her was a blur because she was moving around so quickly. The chorus of "Hey Tiana!", and her upbeat "Hey, y'all!" was as constant as the abnormally loud ticking of the clock mixed in with the calls from the other workers.

"Another coffee here, chère!"

"You need a napkin, sweetheart?"

"Here are your hotcakes."

"Flapjacks for Violet!"

Eventually the queue gradually thinned out and the glass display at the front was finally revealed. By the time Nola and her mother got to the front, there were a few buttery croissants, a single ham and cheese sandwich and a slightly sad-looking chocolate muffin. There was not a single beignet in sight.

"Sorry, Georgia." A worker with the name tag, 'Buford' said impatiently. "No beignets left."

"No beignets!" Georgia exclaimed, giving Nola a hard stare. Nola was completely unaware of her mother's plight, having found entertainment in watching a man who had dropped his lidless coffee and was currently contemplating the meaning of life, staring straight ahead with glazed eyes. "Alright, we'll have two hot chocolates to go then please, Buford. Oh, and let Tia know I hope to see her at Lottie's party when you get a chance, will you? All she ever does is work, work, work. She needs a change of scenery." 

"So normal people do exist." I said to Fae, tilting my head in the direction of around five or six students huddled in a corner, working on a group project.   

"Nah, they don't. Trust me on that." Fae said. "I wouldn't be surprised if one of those kids is a shape-shifting frog or something." 

Georgia and Nola received their hot chocolates, then Fae put on a false, bright smile and stepped forward. "Hiya. Please could we speak to Tiana for a moment?" 

"She's busy. You're going to have to wait." Buford grumbled.

"It's important." Fae said, her smile becoming a lot more forced.

"We start closing in twenty minutes, I'm sure you can wait until then." Buford said. "Now, are you gonna order something or not?"  

I nudged Fae and pointed at an item on the menu, "Could I get one?"

Fae rolled her eyes and slid two dollars onto the counter. "One blue raspberry sorbet." Then she paused and pushed forward two more dollars. "And a strawberry milkshake please."  

"Name?"

"Mavis."

"So, what, are you going to start going by Mavis again now then?" I asked, getting a spoon.

Fae shrugged.

We sat in a booth by the toilets since it was the only one available and Fae moodily stirred her milkshake with a pink, metal straw that she had conjured up instead of going to get a paper one. 

"I would have taken you for a more bitter tasting drink kind of person." I said.  

"I have a sweet tooth." Fae mumbled, eyeing the bar of chocolate popping candy that a woman at one of the tables was unwrapping. She shook herself and glanced up at the clock, sighing heavily. "The wisher after this might be a bit tricky to cooperate with, but I'm sure we'll be able to manage."

"Is there ever a time where you just live in the here and now?" I asked, exasperated. "Your mind is always on the next wish."

"The world depends on wishes for them to have hope." Fae snapped. "I'm just trying to do my job so quit telling me what to do. Instead of lecturing me, consider your own shortcomings. Yes, you've learned everything else quickly but need I remind you of how long it took for you to properly develop your water powers?"

"Whatever." I stood up abruptly, banging my knee. I pretended that it didn't hurt and hobbled over to the in-progress book corner where two boxes filled with books were stacked on top of each other waiting to be unpacked. 

"You ok?" A young woman asked from the top of a stepladder with a clipboard where she was alphabetically arranging the books. A pair of round glasses were sitting neatly on top of her head and her hair was messily tied back into a ponytail with a ribbon loosely holding the hair together.

"Yeah. Thanks." I extracted my wand and tapped my knee discreetly, then looked into the box. At the very top was a book entitled, The Birth of Mother Earth by Minerva Cosmos with a watercolour painting of a Black woman's face as the cover. An intricately designed afro with the whole world in it fanned out around her head. I picked up the book and began to flick through it.

"That's a really good read. One of my favourite books." The woman said in a French accent, coming down from the ladder and picking up the box. "I'm Belle, by the way."

"Elsa. Nice to meet you." I said. "So, how long have you been working here for?"

"Oh I don't work here. I don't even live here." Belle laughed. "I come from a tiny village in France where everybody knows everybody. The owner of the bookstore there asked me to bring over some books for Duke's new bookstore - they're old friends, you see and so here I am."

"Oh, I see. Would you like any help?"

"Yes please, if you could just hang on to that for me..." She passed me the clipboard and then said, "As I go along, could you tick off the books I'm placing on the shelf?"

I set down the book I was holding. "Sure, but before we start, could I ask, what makes The Birth of Mother Earth so good?"

Belle tilted her head to the side, considering. "Without giving too much away, it's about a woman who decides to create her own planet, an alternate version of Earth. I suppose I related to some of the decisions that the character made because I'm a writer and well, isn't writing all about creating your very own world?"

"I'm a writer too." I said, for the first time. "Or at least, I wanted to be one at one point."

Belle nodded, understanding filling her hazel eyes. "Yeah, there will be a lot of people who'll think you odd for wanting to write for a living. However, in the words of our last landlady right after she burned down the neighbour's house for blasting their music too loudly, 'They can all eat shit.'"

✧  

It was a while before Tiana was ready but I didn't really mind. Belle was fun to talk to and knowledgeable about many random things, such as the fact that honey never expires and that many, many years ago, the ruler of Borealis had been the Sweet Pea Fairy,  Bonnie, a formidable warrior who killed anyone who stood in her way without hesitation.

 Eventually, the last customer went through the door and Tiana brought the last tray of dirty dishes into the kitchen to be put in the dishwasher. Fae brandished her wand and made the entire cafe gleam from top to bottom within minutes much to Buford's delight who instantly started packing his things up to go home. I reluctantly said my goodbyes to Belle and went to stand beside her. 

"Sorry that took so long. Buford told me you've been waiting for quite a while." Tiana apologised, drying her hands on her apron. "So, what can I help you with?"

"More like what can we help you with." Fae replied. "I am your fairy godmother and I'm here to grant you a wish."

"Oh!" Tiana exclaimed, "Well, I've always wanted to open a restaurant. It was my daddy's dream, you see - people lining up for miles just to get a taste of his food." 

"I'm sorry for your loss." I said.

Tiana smiled sadly. "He always said, 'You gotta work hard babycakes.' In a voice just like that. I'm sorry I don't mean to get emotional. I just think, I'd like to earn it, you know? The restaurant I mean. I don't want it handed to me. I've been saving up towards it for years already."

Fae chewed on her lip thoughtfully for a few seconds then waved her wand through the air. "Wish granted."

Like clockwork, the door to the cafe burst open and a woman wearing a pink dress and a red feather boa exploded into the room. "Oh, Tia! Have you heard the news?"

"Wha-" Fae jumped out of the way, tugging me with her. 

"Hey, Lottie." Tiana said, flashing her a dimpled smile and walking straight into the path of the woman's scary-looking high heels. "No. What news?"

Behind Lottie, and much more calmly, a tall man in a cream suit slowly closed the door behind him and rubbed his forehead. A newspaper was tucked underneath his arm and he had security guards on either side of him in dark suits and sunglasses.

"Good evening, Mr La Bouff." 

"Evening, sweetheart. Any beignets left?"

"Forget the beignets! Tell her the news, Daddy!" Lottie screamed, barely able to contain herself. Even Belle, who moments before had been consumed in organising the bookshelves had paused and was waiting curiously to hear what had happened.

Mr La Bouff yawned. "Oh, yeah, Prince Naveen..."

"Prince Naveen of Maldonia!" Lottie interrupted, wrapping her feather boa around Tiana's neck.

"...is coming to New Orleans." Mr La Bouff finished, spreading his hands out dramatically.

Lottie screeched in excitement, jumping up and down. "Tell her what else you did, Daddy!"

"Well, I invited..."

 "Daddy invited the prince to our masquerade ball in a few days! Oh! Tell her what else you did!"

"I'm trying to, Charlotte. If you'd just let me finish." Mr La Bouff said, raising an eyebrow. "He'll be staying..."

"And he's staying in our house as our personal guest!" Lottie said, shaking Tiana by her shoulders.

"Oh, Lottie, that's swell. A little word of advice: My mama always says, 'The quickest way to a man's heart is through his stomach.'" Tiana chuckled, taking off her apron and waving Buford goodbye.

"That's it!" Lottie exclaimed. "Tiana, I'm going to need about 500 of your man-catching beignets for my ball." She stormed towards Mr La Bouff and had extracted his wallet before he'd had the time to blink, counting out money and thrusting them into Tiana's hands. She would now have more than enough to open her restaurant. "Will this about cover it?"

Tiana looked like she was about to faint, she turned to Fae with her hand over her heart. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

"Well. Some princes aren't all they're cut out to be." Belle said. She had finally finished unpacking all the boxes and had put on her winter coat and gloves, preparing to leave. "Maybe Prince Naveen will be nice though, who knows?"

Fae did a double take. "Belle?"

"Hello, Fairy Godmother." Belle said, doing a slight curtsey. "It's been a while."

"It has, hasn't it. How's Maurice?"

"He's good yeah. Thanks for asking." 

"It's so lucky that we ran into you here actually." Fae said. "We need to go to your hometown next."

"Oh? Who's the lucky wisher?" Belle asked.

Fae tapped her nose. "So, how did you travel here?" 

"I was given a temporary portal. Expires at midnight unfortunately, I would have liked to stay in New Orleans a bit longer." Belle said. Then more quietly under her breath, "Could get a waitressing job here or something. Anything beats working for that beast."

"Could we travel along with you?" 

"I suppose." 

Belle got out two books from her bag and handed me one. "Here, you can keep it. I insist." It was The Birth of Mother Earth. I tucked it into my scarf.

The other book had a yellowy-brown cover and looked rather old. The book was opened to a double page spread. On one of these pages was a picture of a farming town in the middle of winter, with snow covering the cobbled streets in uneven patches. There were several buildings illuminated by the light of a lampost including Belle's beloved bookstore, a flower shop and a tavern. Belle propped the book upright so the pages were facing in our direction and after a few seconds, it began to rapidly grow in size.

"Come on then." Belle said, stepping inside the book. Her voice floated back through the pages to us. "Also, it's not like I won't know who the wisher is anyway, Fae. People love to talk in this town."  

Fae gestured for me to follow. "Go on then slowpoke, we haven't got all day."

I gave her a dirty look and stayed where I was.

"Oh, what, are you still mad at me? Fine, I'll go first then." Fae went through the book next, grumbling under her breath. " 

My entrance to Belle's hometown was less than graceful on account of the fact that I somehow managed to trip over my own feet and although I didn't hit the ground (thank goodness) I let out a yelp loud enough to alert Fae. 

"See, this is why you should've just gone first." Fae smirked. When she saw my facial expression, though, she stopped smiling and pressed her lips together into a straight line. "I'm sorry I said what I said, Elsa. You're right, I do focus all of my attention on the wishes and it's because I know that if I don't keep myself busy, I'll  be noticing everything that I'm missing out on."

"It's fine." I said briskly, brushing away snow that was collecting on my eyelashes. 

Belle didn't seem to notice my stumble and she wasn't interested in our conversation either. She just waited for the book to go back to a normal size, then scooped it up, tucked it under her arm and set off down the narrow street. Halfway down the road, she turned back around and said her goodbyes. "Bye Fae! It was lovely to meet you, Elsa." After that, she continued on her merry way, trudging through the darkness and snow in her thick winter boots.

"Bit strange that one." Fae remarked when she was far enough that she wouldn't be able to hear us anymore. 

"Leave her alone, she's really nice." I said, sticking out my tongue to catch a snowflake on it.

"Your tongue is blue." Fae remarked. "And I didn't say that she wasn't nice! Being nice and strange aren't mutually exclusive."

"Oh, whatever. Where's the next wisher? We should probably get a move on, right? Since you're so desperate to keep yourself busy."

"I didn't tell you that for you to use it against me." Fae sniffed and her jumpsuit faded into a pale blue. Snowflakes were beginning to melt in her hair so she conjured up a blue and pink hooded cloak with large sleeves. "And also, you didn't thank me for buying your sorbet." 

"Fae, thank you so much for buying me that bowl of sorbet. It changed my entire life and I will forever be indebted to you. Please forgive my heinous sin of forgetting to thank you for..." I paused, feeling something wriggling from within the folds of my mother's scarf. I looked down and saw something moving, so I cautiously untied the scarf, tightly gripping my wand in my left hand.

 It was at that precisely that moment that a tiny, bug-eyed salamander decided it was time to make its grand entrance.

It emerged from my scarf and there was a moment of silence as Fae and I registered its presence. Then instant chaos. It darted up and out of my scarf, scuttling down the street as quickly as its tiny legs would take him. In the millisecond it took for me to blink, the salamander had exploded into a roaring fire, swallowing the wig shop directly next to him whole. Gale, in a frenzied panic hurried after it to try and calm things down and within seconds, the entire street was ablaze. It was hypnotising. Violent but beautiful. Taking everything in its path in a loving deadly kiss, crimson against the white snow. 

My knees went weak and I became transfixed, unable to tear my eyes away from the destruction. Hypnotised. Power flooded towards my fingertips, but my hands were stiff and numb. I couldn't move them even if I wanted to. The cold had finally caught up with me.

"ELSA, HELP ME!" Fae screamed, trying to shake me out of my stupor. Her jumpsuit was scarlet, streaks of black seeping through. "WE NEED WATER!"  

I was vaguely aware of Fae putting out a small fire on our right but when she tried to attack the main part of it, she failed. She couldn't overpower the tiny salamander who would simply replenish the fire just as quickly as she tried to extinguish it. It was almost humorous, a tiny little thing who had appeared out of nowhere would be the end of everything.

"WHAT? ELSA!" Fae roared in disbelief. She put up a protective shield but the fire was soon encircling us, staring down with pity in its merciless eyes. The shield trembled and the first crack formed. 

 I could see my parents burning. My mother's red lipsticked smile melting off her face like candle wax. Fire's long blood-red tongue licking up my father's smug pink face. This. This was everything I was feeling inside my body spilling out. Slowly, slowly I reached out my hand towards the flames, felt the burning ribbons begin to envelop me whole. Fae yanked me backwards out of the danger, her eyes wide and watery. Her face was becoming distorted from the smoke.

How ironic. She'd lost me to ice once. Now she was going to lose me to the fire. 

Her shouting was no good at this point. It was being drowned out by the cries of a few villagers who had spotted what was going on. And even louder than that was the voice of Fire, screaming out my name until it was just another word being yelled out into the abyss. 

ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa ElSa ELSA elsa 

Let it go. A voice from deep within said.  

When Fae's shield shattered, I snapped back into myself. But everything had changed. All the fear, all the doubt had faded away and I could feel power coursing through my veins. I dragged my heavy, cumbersome body off the ground and with a tremendous effort, dragged my eyelids down, shutting out the mesmerising glow. From my hands, a blindingly bright blue to meet to restless rage of red poured out. Blue fire, far hotter than I ever dreamed that fire could be flooded down the street, extinguishing the red and then retreating back inside my fingertips as the smoke cleared. Then I opened my eyes. Every single snowflake in the sky had frozen right where it was, tiny balls of cotton wool hanging on invisible threads. 

Fae was on the ground tending to a sticky reddish-black burn wound on her leg when my vision cleared. Once it had healed, she got to her feet and limped over to me. Her embrace was awkward and hesitant, as if she were touching something fragile and she let go almost immediately.

"What a mess." Fae mumbled and began restoring some of the damage from the fire.  

But it wasn't over just yet. A terrible cry went out, echoing around us and a small crowd of villagers who had been having a night out at the tavern began tearing down the street, pushing and shoving to escape the enormous monster emerging from the ground like something from a nightmare. Its eyes, a brilliant blue were burning with hatred and pain and a waterfall cascaded down from them, 10 feet up in the sky. For a split second, I thought it was the salamander that had shapeshifted and braced myself for another onslaught of fire but no that didn't make sense, this was an entirely new foe.

 It had the head structure and horns of a buffalo; the arms, claws and body of a bear; the jaws and mane of a lion and the tusks of a wild boar. Covering this magnificent Beast was sepia fur, thick and bristly although on its face, the fur was amber and stained with tears. In its arms, it was cradling a limp figure. A woman. The remnants of a singed ribbon was still hanging loosely from the bottom of her dark brown hair. 

Fae ignored the approaching monster, her eyes fixed on a spot on the ground behind us. She lunged towards it suddenly, plucking the salamander from in between two singed pieces of wood and immediately formed a transparent bubble around it, rendering it powerless. The salamander tried to let out another burst of fire and its eyes widened comically in shock when the attempt failed.

"I should kill you, you stupid thing." Fae snapped through gritted teeth. Then she looked up and jutted her chin towards the creature storming towards us. "Our next wisher."

It was my turn to be shocked. "That's our wisher?"

 The Beast fell down before he could reach us and let out another grief-stricken bellow, shoulders shaking as he looked down at the woman in his arms. Her clothes were torn and covered in soot and as the Beast got closer, I realised with a jolt that it was Belle. Fae tossed the salamander into my hands and marched over to the Beast, her hands on her hips. She looked absolutely terrifying, even in the face of a creature 10 feet tall with claws and tusks and ferocity in its blue eyes.

"Adam, you are scaring everyone! Stop screaming." Fae yelled up at him. "I am your Fairy Godmother and I'm here to grant you a wish."

The Beast hiccuped and hurriedly wiped his tears away, bowing his head and gently placed Belle down on the road, supporting her head with his paw. "Please, bring Belle back. Please. She breathed in too much smoke and..."

"I can't raise people from the dead."

"Please, I'm begging you." Beast pleaded. "I can't lose her."

I knelt down beside Belle, set the salamander down and called for Gale while I magicked the rips in Belle's dress closed to give her some dignity. With a gasp, Belle lifted her head out of Beast's paw and took in a ragged breath, clutching on to my arm for support. Her cracked lips formed a confused 'o' shape when she saw Beast towering over her. He immediately backed up and faced away, breathing heavily.  

 "Beast?" Belle sat up and accidentally swung her leg into the imprisoned salamander. 

"Adam, Elsa is going to take us to the castle. A local portal is slightly different but..."

"I can do it." I said, picking up the salamander.

 Fae pulled Belle to her feet with one hand and took ahold of a bunch of fur at the Beast's hip since that was all she could reach. After that, she hooked her arm through my elbow and braced herself.

 "Le château de la Bête!" 

A blinding light swallowed us whole and the cobbled street dissolved into a shaggy indigo carpet.

✧

"Mrs Potts? Is that you?" Belle called, unlocking her bedroom door and walking out in a blue pyjama set. Beast had been sitting outside her bedroom door the entire time, refusing to utter a word to us. It had left Fae with no choice but to sit down beside him and wait for Belle as well. She looked quite disappointed when she only saw Beast. "Oh it's you."

 "I thought you were dead." Beast growled. 

"Didn't think you'd care." Belle said crossing her arms. "All you care about is yourself after all.  I can't believe you're the wisher." 

I gasped. With Beast sitting down, they were more or less the same size but Beast looked a thousand times more intimidating now that he had calmed down and adopted a decidedly irritated expression. He said nothing in response but he flinched slightly as if her words physically pained him and looked away.

"Are you ready to make your wish now?" Fae asked.

"I'll give you some privacy." Belle sniffed and moved to close her door.

"Stay." Beast said.

"What for?" 

Beast took from one of his enormous pockets, an enchanted silver mirror with an ornate, lion-like creature encapsulating the handle of the mirror with its mouth. "I just want to make sure you're alright. I couldn't believe what I was seeing when I saw you in the mirror."

"And once again I am asking you, why do you care?" 

"Because I love you, Belle." Beast said and then turned to Fae and I. "I wish for the curse that the Enchantress put on me and the castle to be lifted. Not so that I can become a prince again - I'll give all of that up if I have to. I'm making this wish because I'm a beast, it's true. I'm rude and arrogant and I struggle to share how I'm feeling. But I'm trying. And I hope to one day be good enough for Belle, if she'll have me."

I gasped for the second time but Fae didn't seem at all surprised. In a swoop of my wand, shimmering ribbons of light surrounded Beast and a gold fog began to creep up his body, starting from his paws which slowly turned into hands and feet.  When the transformation was complete, a tall (though not as tall as Beast had been) young man with messy auburn hair was staring down at the floor rather bashfully in clothes that were now entirely too big for him. The only thing that remained of Beast was the furrowed eyebrows and icy blue eyes taking in everything around him with awe.

Around us, the castle was beginning to change too. What had once been a dark and mysterious fortress was now a beautiful, elegant home with an increasing warmth to battle the snowstorm that had resumed outside. There were portraits of Prince Adam that had long ago been shredded reappearing on the walls and all the members of the household who had long ago been turned into furniture were reverted back to their normal selves.

"Time to go." Fae whispered.

✧

For some reason, we didn't immediately go onto the next wish. Instead, Fae took us back to her cottage with the heart-shaped doorknob.

"What's going on?" I asked, setting down the encaged salamander down on her dining table.

"I thought we were going to die." Fae said, her voice shaking as she collapsed onto one of the chairs and clasped her hands together. "I did. I thought I was going to die in that tiny village in the middle of nowhere. One of the strongest magic users in the world killed a tiny little lizard."

"Salamander." I said, unable to help myself.

"Pardon?"

"This is a salamander. Lizards have scales. This one's pretty cute, don't you think? Could I keep him? I'll keep him under control, I promise. I was thinking we could call him Bruni." 

Fae rolled her eyes and walked over to a object in the corner of the kitchen that was covered by a silky-looking material with sewn in snowflakes on it. She whisked it off to reveal a small lump of ice underneath a glass covering, serving as a freezer. 

I went to get a closer look and all my ramblings about Bruni got stuck in my throat. "Is that..."

"What's left of the Snow Queen." Fae said grimly. 

I placed my hand on the glass and felt the bitter cold wash over my long fingers. My reflection stared back at me. White-blonde hair in a thick French braid over my shoulder. Some strands were falling out of it now, framing my face which had begun to fill out. Gone were my sunken cheeks and bloodshot eyes. Tiny freckled stars were scattered across my nose and glossy pink lips were turned down at the corners. Eyes as blue as the hunk of icy remains before me. 

"I don't want to do this anymore!" Fae said, banging her hand on the table. "I want to live. I want to kiss Caspian and play pranks on Gale and travel to kingdoms whenever I want and hang out with Imena and Raya and all of the other friends I've made over the years and I'm sick of pretending that I don't. Life is too short. I can make a difference in people's lives another way, but this? This will be the death of me." 

I didn't sleep at all that night. Long after Fae had fallen asleep, exhausted from the day's turmoil, I was wide awake, staring at the wedge of ice that was me. I picked up Bruni and went outside. Fae had conjured her cottage in a mountainous forest in the middle of nowhere and bright green pine trees and broad-leaved evergreen trees stretched out as far as my eyes could make out in the darkness.

Cautiously, I let Bruni out of his cage. "You can't set fire to anything, okay?" 

Bruni ignored me and proceeded to immediately let out a breath of fire, as naturally as a dog barking. The flames were just as terrible as before, devouring the trees in a gluttonous frenzy. Red hot panic speared through my stomach as I chased after him, internally begging Fae to stay asleep. I stretched out my hand and powdered ice, as fine as sand flooded out over the trees, bending them backwards with the sheer force of it and extinguishing the fire.

I spotted Bruni in the corner of my eye, disappearing into a small hole and knelt down beside it. "Hey Bruni. It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

Bruni hissed at me, sparks flying out from the corner of his mouth so I offered him some snowflakes which he gulped down hungrily and darted up my arm, leaving scorch marks on my clothes.

"There's a good boy." I murmured, untying my scarf and wrapping him up in it. "It's alright. I know you're just scared."  

With a wave of my hand, I created a snow cloud dropping down puffy lumps of snow for Bruni to catch on his tongue and then sat back on my haunches wondering what else I could do. I wiggled my fingers and all around me, huge clumps of snow began to fall until it was glowing white on the mountain. Not a footprint could be seen and Gale rushed through the snow creating swirling patterns, delirious with ecstasy. An overwhelming sensation ricocheted through my body as bursts of ice magic surrounded me, erupting out of my fingertips in silver-blue sparks. A laugh bubbled up out of my mouth at Bruni's antics in the snow, my scarf long abandoned as he pranced up and down, beaming up at me with a huge, lopsided grin on his face.

Standing up amongst the mountains made everything else seem miniscule. Everything that had once controlled me, kept me confined in a room afraid to be my true self was far, far away now. Unable to get to me at all. I snapped my wand in half and then in half again and let the broken fragments fly away in Gale's wind.

I took a step forward and where my foot embedded itself into the fresh crisp snow, a patch of ice, with an intricate design of a snowflake spread out through the snow painting it glassy blue. I made an upwards gesture with my hands, recalling the ice castle from Fae's memories and in a dazzling flurry of magic, frozen fractals of my soul fluttered away into the freezing cold night air around. One thought would crystallise in my mind and suddenly, in a blast of ice, there it was, my thoughts becoming a reality. 

Next, I got rid of the scorch marks on my dress as my castle built itself, but I didn't stop there. I wrapped the scarf around my waist once more and from the bottom upwards I created a blue off-the-shoulder dress made of sheer ice, able to withstand Bruni's fire power. The design of the scarf melded in with the dress so that I would always be carrying my sister's present along with me. The dress had a knee-high slit, a crystallised bodice, and translucent powder blue sleeves. To honour Imena, I attached a long floor-sweeping cape with large snowflakes adorning it to the back of the bodice and smiled in my icy reflection, liking what I saw for the very first time in my life. 

I went out to the balcony, Bruni at my heels and Gale in the air around me and rested my hand on the rails made of pure ice. I watched the sunrise in the distance for a while, then took out The Birth of Mother Earth and began to read. It was at this moment that the beginnings of my plan started to form in my mind. Below me, Fae had stumbled out of the cottage and was gazing around her in complete and utter wonderment. 

"Elsa?" She called up.

 "Fae!" I yelled back, slightly breathless. "The Snow Queen had the power to create life, didn't she?" 

"Uh, yeah, she created a snowman for us who we called Olaf and then Marshmallow of course. Oh, and then there were all these miniature snowmen we called snowgies." 

"What if I used that power to create a new life for you? A new life for everybody?"

Fae crossed her arms. "You think you'd be able to do that? Truly?"

"Look at how powerful I've become!" I said, gesturing to the castle and the snow still steadily falling around us. "If this is possible then anything is!"

Fae opened the door and made her way up to me, cautiously stepping around Bruni. "You know I'd want nothing more than to start again."

"Then trust me." I said. I raised my hands and closed my eyes, picturing a tiny cottage in the forest with three women, bickering amongst themselves: Flora, Fauna and Merryweather.  

"Wait, wait, wait." Fae said suddenly remembering something. "I just had a dream of who our next wisher was going to be."

I raised an eyebrow.

"It's just one last one. As a goodbye." Fae said. "It's not far away, so Gale could take me and she's really special, I can feel it in my bones."

"Alright." I said. "I'm going to stay here and think this through this idea some more."

"If you change your mind and want to watch, you can through this." Fae conjured up an enchanted mirror with intricate rose and vine decorations on it. As she did so, a rivulet of blood trickled down from her nose. She hurriedly magicked it away. 

"Last one?"   

"Last one." 

Chapter Text

I looked out at Gale carrying Fae high up above the mountains and saw her rainbow wings glittering against the pale wintry sky. Her hand was stretched out as though she could touch the watery sun and I couldn't help but remember the story of Icarus. My father loved that story.  

When I could no longer see her in the distance, I went back inside and made some furniture to go inside my living room. I was amazed at how naturally ice magic came to me. All of my creations that had been stuck festering in my mind were finally free. On my first attempt, I made a man made of ice with icicles forming mohawk across his head. I named him Verglas. When Bruni went up to Verglas wanting to play, he happily complied and went outside to play fetch. After that, I made a couple made of pure snow who held hands constantly and spoke to each other in the language of the frozen.  I called them the Crystals.

They also went outside after a while, leaving me alone so I sat down and wrote a more detailed plan of what Fae's life with Flora, Fauna and Merryweather would be like. I was so engrossed in it that by the time I looked into the magic mirror, it was mid-afternoon and Fae had already reached the home of her wisher. She knocked on the door of a large, stately house that looked like it had once been very beautiful but was now beginning to fall into disrepair. 

A young woman with hollow cheeks and dirty blonde hair opened the door. The sound of a dog barking instantly echoed through the front part of the house. "Good afternoon, how can I help you?"

Before Fae could reply, an older woman wearing an expensive-looking satin gown marched up to the door, elbowed Cinderella out of the way and looked down at Fae with a disgusted expression on her face. "Whatever it is you're selling, no. Get off of my property immediately please and thank you. Go on, shoo!"

She slammed the door shut but her yell of "For goodness' sake, Drizella, stop antagonising that dog and start preparing yourself for the ball!" still filtered through.

Since she was a professional, Fae didn't bat an eyelid at the encounter. She just rolled her eyes and after casting an invisibility spell, opened the door and went inside on her own. Lady Tremaine was too busy shouting at Cinderella to take the dog outside and then start cleaning the mirrors in the foyer to notice anything amiss. Her bright eyes oozed over with toxic green poison, looking for a reason to be dissatisfied. And it soon came, because in the kitchen her younger daughter, Anastasia had decided it was lunch-time.

Lady Tremaine snatched the brioche roll out of her hand. "What on earth do you think you are doing?! You should be preparing for the ball, not eating!"

"But..."

"No buts! I shall have Cinderella make us all hearty luncheons in a minute. Your bath has been ready for two minutes and thirty two seconds now and I even told Cinderella to put in the strawberries and cream bath bomb, your favourite." Lady Tremaine nibbled at the brioche roll and stormed into the drawing room. "Drizella! Drizella, where did you go? And what on earth is taking Cinderella so very long?"

Cinderella hurried inside from the foyer, "I was cleaning the mirrors."

"Never mind that now. There's food to be made! We can't have the girls fainting of hunger before they even get a chance meet the prince." Lady Tremaine cried, looking at the clock with an aghast expression on her face. "Cleaning the mirrors indeed, I have never..."

"You called for me, Mother?" Drizella asked, appearing at the top of the stairs in a frilly green dress with cyan feathers attached to it. 

"Oh my child, you look absolutely beautiful." Lady Tremaine gasped. "Cinderella, fetch me my cane."

Cinderella put down the knife she was using to chop potatoes and darted into the next room to bring an ebony cane with an inlaid stone. She resumed her position at the stove immediately, eyes darting up towards the clock every now and then. Lady Tremaine continued to marvel at how amazing Drizella looked, tweaking a ribbon here and a frill there to make sure she looked absolutely perfect for the prince.

Once the food was ready, Lady Tremaine made a great big fuss about how Anastasia still wasn't downstairs and instructed Cinderella to go up and check on her. 

"Shouldn't I be getting ready now though?" Cinderella asked meekly.

"Getting ready?" Lady Tremaine laughed, "Whatever for?"

"The ball." Cinderella's brows furrowed. "You promised I could go after I'd done all my chores."

"Well the chores don't look very done to me." Lady Tremaine said looking around at the spotless kitchen. "The large carpet in the main hall needs cleaning as well as all of the windows, upstairs and downstairs. And don't forget the garden! I fact, you can actually get on with the garden as soon as we've left, it's getting rather unsightly out there. Goodness knows how you think it's acceptable to keep it in the state it's in."  

"But I've done all those places already and Father liked to keep the garden the way it is now." Cinderella said loudly, slamming her hand down on the countertop. "And... and the letter said that every eligible maiden is to attend by royal decree!"

"Now, now. You destroying the furniture and shouting like an animal is precisely why you are not coming. You'll bring shame on us all. Oh, how your father would be turning in his grave to see what an unsightly creature his daughter has become." Lady Tremaine tutted. "Furthermore, I do believe I saw mice out in the garden scampering around and spreading diseases. And it's infested with weeds. Do you think it's fair for you to come along to the ball when you haven't upheld your part of the deal, Cinderella? Do you?"

"Imagine her at a ball, 'I'd be honored, Your Highness. Would you mind holding my broom?'" Drizella said in a fake high-pitched voice.

"Good one, good one!" Anastasia said, strutting into the kitchen and clapping her hands together in glee.

Lady Tremaine fussed with Anastasia's hair, fluffing it up and applying more blush to her red cheeks. I could practically see the look of contempt that Fae was giving them all through her invisibility bubble.

"Oh please let me come. I'll never ask for anything ever again, I promise." Cinderella pleaded, ignoring her sisters.

"Oh please!" Drizella mimicked, darting behind her mother when Cinderella glared at her.

"What were you going to wear anyway? Your mother's old raggedy dress?" Anastasia giggled, holding up the pink and white dress that Cinderella had carefully laid out the night before.

"You give that back right now!" Cinderella yelled, lunging forward.

Anastasia threw it across the room and then sat down to quickly wolf down her plate of food, widening her eyes at Drizella meaningfully who was still laughing shrilly at her own joke. She was so busy cackling in fact, that she didn't notice the fact that her feather headpiece was gradually growing bigger and bigger until it was flopping about in her face blocking her vision. 

"We'll be having none of this." Lady Tremaine said, completely unaware of Drizella's troubles. She snatched the dress from Cinderella and dumped it in the rubbish, on top of the potato peels then she shoved it deeper in the bag with the end of her cane so ferociously that it tore. "You are not coming, Cinderella and that is final. Now girls, remember if you're presented to His Highness, be sure to..."

"Ow!" Anastasia cried out as she tripped over thin air, landing heavily on the freshly mopped floor and on Lady Tremaine's foot. "Cinderella must have tripped me!"

"How? I'm standing all the way over here!" 

"Cinderella!" Lady Tremaine bellowed. She closed her eyes and counted to ten, her face growing splotchy and red while the throbbing pain in her foot increased. Then she saw the time and came to her senses, pulling Anastasia up off the floor and wiping away the food around her mouth. "Right now, hurry along to the carriage both of you. I won't have Cinderella harassing you any longer."

"I didn't even do anything." Cinderella muttered, looking out at the carriage longingly. 

It took quite a few attempts for Drizella to get inside because for some reason, her headpiece wouldn't budge when she tried to take it off and the feather was making it impossible to see properly. She had already walked smack bang into one of the footmen and instead of apologising had growled in his face to get out of her way. And then there was the matter of Anastasia's sore hip which she was hanging onto Drizella's arm for and howling in agony.

"Cinderella, listen to me and listen closely." Lady Tremaine raised a long, bony finger and stabbed her in the chest. "You. Are. Nothing." Then she marched out and slammed the door.

"Well she seems fun." Fae said, appearing at the bottom of the stairs.

"What do you want?" Cinderella sniffed, running to the kitchen and digging through the rubbish to see if her dress was salvageable. 

Fae followed behind her and clicked her tongue twice. Immediately, the dress sewed itself together and an extra bow formed on the front.

Cinderella's eyes widened in wonder... And then instantly narrowed. She left the dress out on the kitchen tiles and served herself up a plate of food. "Who am I kidding? There's no way I have enough time to get ready now. I might as well just run away. You hungry?"

"You and I both know you're not going to do that. You've thought about running away every day for over a decade." Fae said. "And no thanks, I'm alright."

"What are you, some kind of fairy godmother or something?" Cinderella snapped, striding out to the garden. She sat down in the pumpkin patch and began to eat her food moodily, propping her feet up on one of the pumpkins. 

"Yes, actually." Fae said and did a double take. "My goodness, your feet are tiny!"

"You know, it's not even about the stupid ball. I don't care about that idiot prince wanting to find a wife. It's the fact that nothing I ever do is good enough for her." Cinderella said, a sob catching in her throat. "I just wanted to show them all that I can be sophisticated and 'proper', you know? That I should be allowed to be a proper member of this family. I stayed up all night practicing ballroom dancing and the proper etiquette."

Fae handed her a tissue and nodded sympathetically.

"Oh how I wish I could go to that ball." Cinderella cried, beating her fists into the dirt. "I'd show them. I'd show them all." 

"Alright, enough. Pull yourself together." Fae exclaimed, picking her discarded fork out of the dirt so she didn't accidentally stab herself with it. "Right, so, you can't go to the ball looking like that."

"Thanks for that Einstein." 

Fae raised an eyebrow, "Do you want my help or not? Because I don't have to be here right now. Honestly, I could just leave you here right now and go about my day."

"No, I'm sorry! I do want your help." Cinderella said, standing up and brushing the dirt off her hands.

"Great, now first we're going to need a pumpkin." Fae said, her eyes lightening on one of the pumpkins. Cinderella sat back down and buried her head in her hands. But then Fae began to sing and it was just as beautiful as I remembered, each note complete and utter perfection. A random assortment of magic words wrapped themselves around the pumpkin and stretched the vines up, up and away as she sang. "Salagadoola mechicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo."

"It's beautiful!" Cinderella gasped, getting to her feet again to examine the dazzling blue and gold coach. Rose pink curtains drawn to show the velvety quilted seats inside and after a quick transformation, her plate of cold food had changed into a variety of snacks for her to eat on the journey.

Fae pulled up her sleeves and continued. A deft swoop of her wand and four of the mice that Lady Tremaine had been complaining about had transformed them into four white horses. Next, she turned her attention to the old horse in the barnyard and began to sing while holding the wand towards it with a steady hand, "But tonight, for a change, you'll handle the reins and sit in the driver's seat too. For instead of a horse, why the coachman, of course! Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!” 

"Major!" Cinderella said excitedly when the horse turned into a man in blue and white with a pink bow tying his white hair back. He blinked in a rather confused manner and then stumbled over towards the horses.

"G'day." He said, climbing up to his seat.

"And now, Bruno." Fae announced and the barking dog from before ran up to her panting and wagging his tail. "Yes, Bruno, that's right, you'll be a footman tonight. Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!"

A short man, with hair as equally white as Major's ran up to the doors of the coach and held it open while bowing deeply. 

"And last but not least, your dress!" Fae tilted her head to one side "Now, what would Imena say? Probably something dumb like, 'Match the dress to the shade of the person's eyes.' or 'The key is to do something simple, but daring too.' Like that's any use." 

"Oh this is more than enough, the coach and horses are beautiful. I can just get the dress from inside and even if I'm late, I'm sure..." Major and Bruno cleared their throats at the exact same time. "Oh, my apologies. The coachman and footman are also lovely."

Fae took a deep breath and raised her wand one last time."Just leave it to me! What a gown this will be. Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!" 

A fog of iridescent stars engulfed Cinderella. Back in my ice castle, my jaw dropped. Verglas peered over my shoulder into the mirror and nodded his approval. The Crystals let out a united awe-filled breath of condensation. Bruni licked his eyeball.

 Cinderella emerged from the fog in a sparkly blue ball gown, gorgeous icy blue glass slippers and long white gloves reaching up to her elbows. A simple black choker formed around her neck and her hair was pulled up into a version of a French twist that could hide the uneven patches of hair which had been pulled out by her sisters in a cruel game they created years ago, back when Cinderella was still young and naive and excited about the prospect about having sisters. A light blue headband with exquisite gems on either end was the finishing touch to the hairstyle and Cinderella ran up to the coach to look at her reflection in the shiny surface.

"Oh my goodness! It's like a dream! It's like a wonderful dream come true." Cinderella gushed, spinning around and watching in delight as her shimmering skirts swished this way and that.

"Yeah, I really outdid myself, didn't I?" Fae grinned. "Now listen up, you only have until midnight before the spells reverse themselves so..."

"Midnight? Oh thank you! Thank you so much!" Cinderella launched herself into Fae's arms, squeezing her tight. She rushed into the coach, smiling so widely that she could have been mistaken for the sun. "Goodbye! Thank you Fairy Godmother, you have no idea how much this means to me!"

"You're welcome." Fae whispered, watching them head off into the distance. "Goodbye."

 ✧

"Usually, I don't do all the extra stuff but I figured, it's my last one. Might as well go all out." Fae said, edging past yet another snow-person that I had created during her journey back. The castle was rapidly filling up with them, nameless and numb and wandering around searching for purpose. 

"She looked beautiful." I replied.

Fae tilted her head back and motioned for me to pass her another tissue to stem the steady flow of blood coming out of her nose. "Yeah, but now everything hurts. I feel so weak."  

"All of that will go away soon." I said, pulling a massive tissue as soft as snow out of the air. "Are you ready for your new life? I've been practicing on the snow-people."

"I am. Although, the spell probably isn't going to be completely foolproof on the first try. My memories may start coming back, in dreams or in out-of-order sequences. Anything could happen, just be prepared for that."

"I will be, don't worry." I said. "And once I help you, I can start making a difference in the lives of everyone else in this world. Snow White, Honeymaren, Jasmine, Cinderella... All of those poor girls whose lives have been awful, I can make it better! I think I've finally found my purpose, Fae!"

"The truth nearly always gets out in the end." Fae crumpled the bloody tissue in her hand and looked at me with those soft brown eyes that made it practically impossible to connect her to the badass fire-wielding woman who had rescued me from my life. "I'm scared, Elsa."

"Hey, everything's going to be okay. We'll be fine. Trust me."

"I trust you." Fae nodded slowly, her eyes bright and feverish. "I'm ready."

"Alright. See you on the other side, Mavis"

And that was how it all happened. The story of how my life ended and everyone else's began.

✧✧✧

Mavis Borealis woke up to the sound of birds chirping loudly and blindingly bright light pouring through pastel coloured curtains. She was extremely disoriented for a few moments on account of the slight headache and twinging pain in her nose but her eldest sister, Flora soon brought her to her senses with her loud complaining.

"Look at all of this snow!" Flora tutted, crossing her arms. "Just when it was starting to get warmer too."

"Flora?" Mavis croaked. The word felt clumsy and ill-fitting in her mouth.

"No, it's Santa Claus." Flora flicked her forehead and scoffed. "Good morning, Princess Mavis. Fauna's making us breakfast. Hurry up before it gets cold."

Suddenly, at the speed of a freight train, fragments of the past thirteen years of her life crashed into Mavis's mind all at once. Her three older sisters - her favourite people in the world. The people who raised her, were her best friends and worst enemies all at once. Random memories flashed through her mind of the life they had lived together. Merryweather taking her to the park and teaching her how use the swings. Getting a tattoo that one time with her ex-boyfriend which she deeply regretted. Fauna spending weeks decorating the Borealis family album with fancy pens and watercolour paint. Crying over her petunias dying. Dance routines Flora choreographed for them and the feeling of sliding across the slippery kitchen floor. Falling over and feeling like she'd shattered her tailbone. Crying until her eyes were red. Laughing until her stomach ached. Singing her heart out.

 Mavis got out of bed and went down the stairs, skipping the fifth one because it creaked. She headed straight for the kitchen where Fauna was making pancakes, humming along to a song playing on the radio. She smiled when Mavis came in. "Good morning, sweetheart."

"Morning, Fauna."

Next, Merryweather came in and made Mavis promise that they'd build a snowman together later.  

"You can leave me out of that." Flora said, nursing a cup of hot tea. "It's far too cold."

"Nobody asked you anything." Merryweather said, smiling sweetly. "You old grump."

"What did you just call me?"

"I love you all." Mavis said, feeling a lump in her throat begin to form although she wasn't entirely sure why. "So much."

"Eh? Oh, I love you too, dear." 

"I love you too, bighead."

"I love you too but you've already got your pocket money for the week, Mavis. Don't even try it. Also, just because you're homeschooled now doesn't mean you're going to be sitting around all day. We're doing Geography as soon as you've finished eating."

Chapter Text

Elsa finally closed the huge, battered book and handed it to Marshmallow so that he could take it through to the back of the ice castle where the others were kept, filled with her tiny handwriting. Like clockwork, a pristine book with crisp blank pages formed on her desk and beside it, a dainty silver pen hovered in the air, ready for her to create a whole new universe with. 

On the front cover of all the new book, Elsa's pen name - Minerva Winter - was already inscribed in golden lettering right underneath the title, The Chronicles of Fire, Version 3. After all, everything had begun with fire. It seemed fitting that it should stay with her throughout her journey. 

Elsa  leaned back so that she could rest her head against the cushioned back of her chair and slipped the crown of ice off her head. It was heavier than ever these days, but that was to be expected. Heavy is the head that wears the crown.

She had decided to compile a list of dedications at the beginning of the last book. She traced over them in her mind with her index finger now, a soft smile dancing on her lips. 

══ஓ๑♡๑ஓ══

For Mavis,

I met you as Fae, but I grew to know and love you as Mavis. Thank you for helping me find my purpose. You were the best fairy godmother ever.

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For Snow White,

It will all be okay, I promise.

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For Cinderella,

Don't overwork yourself. Remember what and who it's all for at the end of the day.

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For Aurora,

Your life is a solo, not a duet. Own it and love will come in time.

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For Ariel,

Live your life unapologetically. Make mistakes, learn from that. It's all a part of growing up.

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For Belle,

You don't always have to be the one on the outside looking in. Get involved and make memories of your own too.

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For Jasmine,

There's a whole new world waiting for you on the other side when you're ready to explore it.

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For Pocahontas,

You will always be a natural leader. Never doubt that for even a second. Respect yourself and the rest will follow.

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For Mulan,

If they don't accept you, that's their loss. Keep fighting for what is right.

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For Tiana,

The road to success comes with challenges along the way but I have no doubt that you'll make it. You're almost there.

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For Rapunzel,

You're not tethered to the place that you call home. Moving out into the world can be scary, but you may discover truths about yourself that could change everything so don't let fear hold you back.

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For Merida,

You're a born fighter, but you already know that. Don't be afraid to show love to those who matter.

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For Moana,

Knowing who you are is one of the most important things in life. It could take a few days, it could take a lifetime to know and that's okay. When that voice inside starts to speak, listen.

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For Anna,

I love you. Let's build a snowman.

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And finally,

For The Snow Queen.

It's time to go into the unknown.