FicWad

Chapter 11
A.N: This probably goes without saying, but PLEASE do NOT attempt the stunt Chrys does in his chapter. I don't want you to get hurt or me to get tracked down and sued.

I raced down the stairs as fast as I could (oh okay I slid down the banisters too) Never before had I noticed just how long and many those flights were from the ground floor to the attic. Finally I reached the last two and was over-looking Ruby about to try on the slipper. I looked around for something, ANYTHING to help me out. I had to make an entrance and quickly! Ella appeared a few flights above me.
"What's happening?" She called down.
"Ruby's about to try on the slipper, and I think she's done something to her foot to make it smaller!" I replied then looking around at the chandelier an idea popped into my head. It was crazy, and COMPLETELY suicidal, but hey it was an idea! What an entrance that would make too! It would certainly stall for time!
"God I hope I'm crazy." I said aloud.
"Why?" Ella asked apprehensively.
"Because if I wasn't..." I started to reply as I climbed onto the railing and shakily stood, "There's no way this would ever work!" With that I jumped, grabbed hold of the Chandelier and swung.

"LOOOK OOUUTTT!" I yelled as the Chandelier pulled slightly and swung down with me. However, instead of ripping out of the ceiling like I expected it to it stopped about 6 feet or so from the ground with me still hanging from it.
"Well that was disappointing." I muttered then turned to the Grand Duke "Hey you might want to hire the architect who built this thing for your castle." Everyone in the room was dumbstruck. No really, they were. Everyone was standing still with their mouths gaping and the most hilarious look on their faces. The Duke's ridiculous toupee was askew and Madame's hair was falling out of place and one of Ruby's earrings was coming out.
Derrick was the first to recover. He grinned and clapped, chuckling slightly. Letting go I fell to the floor lightly in a crouched position then straightened, doing a mock bow.
"You certainly know how to make an entrance." Derrick chuckled.
'Thank-you." I replied with a grin before returning my attention to the task at hand. "Yeah, uh you know that thing won't fit on her, and she wasn't at the ball with a mask."
"How would you know?" Ruby snapped
"Because everyone, with the exception of the Duke know who it really was." For a moment the Crown official looked confused, then the realization dawned on him and he smiled warmly at me.
'Oh my dear, if it was you, why did you not come forth?" he said kindly. Okay, WRONG realization, but on the right track.
'Eww...and wear one of those tents? I don't think so. But close!" I coughed a little to clear my throat and then with a flourish of my hand toward the staircase said in a imitation of the Crier
"May I present the mystery Belle of the Ball...uh...Cinderella! Otherwise known as Eleanor."
Unfortunately this didn't produce the reaction I had hoped. The pompous idiot laughed.
"A scullery maid? Or a stable girl? Quite ridiculous both of you!" he croaked, tears streaming from his eyes. Stepmother stepped in at this point.
"Yes, I'm afraid these two are quite confused. I keep them here out of good-will. You see they are quite the head-cases..."
'You're the one who's a head-case! Go on Ruby, Let's see what she's done to your foot!" To my surprise, she actually did what I said and lifted her skirt a little. Everyone leapt back with a gasp (Ella and Annelise or (in some cases) an "Oh My God!" (A.k.a The Duke) and "Ughh!" (Me and Derrick.)
*A.N* I'm leaving you to your own imaginations to come up with the gory details if you want, but the idea comes from one of the earliest Cinderella stories which involved the step-sisters severing and "pairing" parts of their foot. Yeah. Not exactly the stuff you want to send a little kid to bed with now-a-days. Needless to say poor Ruby will not be doing any more graceful dancing.**
Anyhow, you get the picture (or if you don't, get creative and make it up in your head, be as gory or tactful as you want!) However, leave it to the snobby nobility to completely miss the point.
"Well" The Duke huffed. "I'm sure the girl's mother had her best interests at heart. Come now Prince Derrick, we'll be on our way." Everyone, at least the sensible people, in the room were flabbergasted. However, yours truly always has something to say...
"Excuse me?" I asked, eyes wide with disbelief, "Best interests at heart? She MUTILATED her kid's foot! And you are just going to WALK AWAY?! And what about Ella? Its her slipper!"
"I'm afraid there has been some mistake. No Scullery maid shall EVER marry a Prince of this realm! There is absolutely no chance that she ever came within 10 feet of the gate, much less the prince."
"Uh, yeah there is! I was there!" I shot back.
"A likely story..."
'Yes, a true one. Ask him." I jerked a thumb at my own Prince charming. Derrick nodded.
"It's true. She was."
"Well I'm afraid it's completely out of the question. You have no proof. And now I shall be on my way." The little man said indignantly. Oh but there wasn't a chance he was getting away so easily. I NEVER back down from a fight (whether it is verbal or otherwise) In one quick motion I snatched the Slipper off from the ridiculous silk pillow his attendant had it on and twirled it by the heel around my finger, taking a few steps back and climbed onto a little table underneath a giant Portrait of His Majesty. (Which Madame had only hung up yesterday)
Needless to say this prompted a very satisfying reaction.
A couple of people lunged for it, however, they didn't get it. Looking up at the stairs, Ella was halfway down by now, I winked at her and took the slipper into a loose grip, ready to drop it.

Now here's a twist for you.

Just as I was about to drop it Prince Conrad came in. When he saw the precious shoe dangling precariously in my loose grip his eyes widened and he dove for me shouting "NOOOO!" (If you want to put anything in slow-motion in your head that would be a good part)
Unfortunately for Prince Charming, he didn't get there in time. As soon as I saw him move I smashed the little glass shoe against the portrait frame. I shrugged and said innocently
"It broke! I mean come on! It was bound to happen, who designed those things anyway? Talk about FRAGILE!" He ignored me. Instead he started blubbering over the shards of the slipper. I looked up at my sister and pointed to him wit my thumb, my expression screaming 'and you want THIS guy???' (No seriously. It was pathetic the way he cried over that slipper. I guess some would find it romantic. Personally, I find it very impractical! Buddy, there's more then just one way to identify a person!) Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.
"Get up you blubbering idio-I mean your highness. You still have a chance at finding your girl." By this time Ella had made it down the stairs.
"Your highness, please do not despair." She said softly. The prince tensed at the sound of her voice and looked around hopefully.
"You see," Ella continued, "I have the other slipper." She said as she produced the second shoe.
Prince Conrad seemed to be in a daze as he took the glass footwear in one hand and Ella's hand in the other and led her over to the little chair. He then knelt down on one knee and carefully put the delicate little shoe on his loved one's delicate little foot.

Of course it fit perfectly.

Just then a dazzling light appeared in the center of the room that sent out tendrils of more light to envelope both me and my sister. After the light dimmed to a level that wouldn't blind on contact, Ella was in her most beautiful gown yet;
It was close fitting, but not overly so and had long, off-the-shoulder sleeves and was literally sparkling. I think Lucinda (I mean come on, who else would it be?) had given her a dress with little diamonds sewn right in. The dress itself was a shimmering silver with gold lace down on the skirt, ruby-red around the bodice and sleeves and amethyst along the hem. Her hair was styled quite nicely too in an intricately braided bun with a short ponytail coming out of that to hang down her neck. She was also wearing a gold necklace with a large sapphire in the center and matching earrings. To finish the "ensemble" (or whatever its called) she had a mask in one hand.
And me? Actually, I liked this better. Instead of being in another fancy-shmancy uniform, I was in good quality, non-patched, emerald green breeches, black, knee-high leather riding boots and a dark blue, almost blouse-like high necked tunic with a broach at the center of the neck. Since my hair is considerably shorter than my sister's it was just loose and kind of hung about my shoulders in curls (oh well. I guess they had to "beautify" me a LITTLE bit.)
And of course Lucinda was there too, smiling calmly and sweetly.
Ella looked up at her prince with a shy smile as she moved her mask over her eyes, peeking up through the eye-holes. Upon this conformation that it was indeed his elusive sweetheart Conrad lifted her into the air by the waist and spun her around, putting her down to plant a kiss on her lips.
"Aww, aren't they cute?" I said to Derrick. However, he didn't seem to be paying much attention to them. Instead he was looking at...well...me!
"Yeah, yeah they are. Uh...wow. You look...great!" he stammered, though him being who he is he recovered quickly. "Hey, what's with her?" he asked pointing to Stepmother.

She was seething...no really. I'm serious. Her face was contorted, her hair askew and her expression was of pure hatred and directed straight at Ella and Conrad.
"You Ungrateful little CHIT!" she screeched, advancing on the well-dressed, happy couple. Was it me, or was she changing? Then she started sparking lightening from her hair.
Figuring out that his love was in danger Conrad stepped in front of Ella protectively and then I jumped in front of him. It was then that I realized something else that was in my new clothes-A sword. Unfortunately guess who hasn't been keeping up on her weapons lessons. Oh well! It was still sharp, pointy and dangerous, and it was going to be used if need be! It was a good thing it didn't need to be.
Lucinda suddenly stepped forward.
"Lynette? Is that you?" she asked.
"You know her?!" Several people exclaimed at once.
"Yes." The Fairy replied, never taking her eyes off Stepmother. "Yes, she's an enchantress too, an ex-classmate in fact. But she was stripped of her powers and eternal life and banished for her inappropriate and evil use of her abilities."
"They were MY powers! You had no right to take them away!" Stepmother shrieked
"It could have been temporary." Lucinda argued. "But you kept on repeating the same evils. That was 20 years ago! All your classmates graduated, its too late now unfortunately. The loss of your eternal youth has already begun to show and you have still not redeemed yourself."
"What are you going to do about it?" Stepmother cackled evilly. For a moment our Godmother was silent as she surveyed the room.
'We will care for your youngest and heal the injury you have given her. Then you shall be sent back for a trial. Farewell Lynette." Then she waved her wand and Poof two very strange little creatures appeared and carried Madame off and hen another two came to assist Ruby. For several minutes everyone was too stunned to move or speak.
"Well." I said breaking the silence. "That was...really random actually. You know, just a thought here, but maybe a little 4-1-1 on the witch thing would be useful in the future?" I stated. Lucinda smiled infuriatingly.
"I am sorry. I did not realize who it was in here. It was sort of a need-to-know basis on my part."
"Oh well, since its your first job I guess we could cut you some slack." I said with a smile. That said we turned our attention beck to the happy couple. Conrad had just gotten down on one knee and was holding out a finely carved silver box.
Three Guesses as to what happened next.

So to be cheap I'll skip ahead two weeks to the joyous day. Finally Ella and her Prince were married. It was wonderful to be a part of (I even crammed into a dress to be the maid of honor, am I a good sister or what?) and yet, SO stressful. There were three attempts on the cake, two on the dress, and about 20 people who tried to nick front row invitations when they weren't supposed to have them. Yet despite all that, it went perfectly. Ella's dress was gorgeous, the cake delicious, everyone was nice and charming etc, etc.
However, you will never guess what happened after the Love Birds rode off in their carriage to their honeymoon. I was standing amongst the crowd waving them off until we could no longer see the carriage. The pit of my stomach ached. I had never been away from my twin for more than a day or two even if we were very independent and almost complete opposites. I would miss her. Conrad had offered me a place at Court, but I'd turned him down. I would go crazy within hours just from the giggling, gossiping females and the arrogant, egotistical males. However, I was surprised to find someone taking my hand and leading me to the garden.
"Derrick..." I asked suspiciously, "What's going on?"
"I have something to ask you." He replied, leading me to one of the benches near one of the fountains and sat down with me on it.
"Listen...we're friends, right-at least I hope we are..."
"We are." I said reassuringly.
"Well, I was hoping we were more than just...friends?" He asked hopefully. I smiled
"If you are asking me whether I love you, the answer is..."