Ever After - Ella Enchanted AU

Ever After - Prologue

Fairy tales tell, as their labels imply, stories of magic, of creatures that fly.

With giants and dragons and ogres and elves, and inanimate objects that speak for themselves.

There's romance and danger and plotting of schemes.

There's good guys and bad guys and some guys in between.

A fairy tale also reveals some sort of truth, the perils of choices we face in our youth.

But our story today is different in theme, for our hero had no choice, or so it would seem.

It starts with a fairy bestowing a spell.

This one's for a baby named Marinette of Frell.

    The people of Frell were a quiet set, never knowing much danger or any type of turmoil beside the odd burglary or escaped cow that could be seen wandering the dirt roads of the village from time to time. In the small village of Frell lived a nobleman, his wife, their house fairy and their newest bundle of joy, a little girl named Marinette. Sir Dupain and Lady Cheng couldn't have been more excited or pleased with their new baby. She had blue-bell-colored eyes, hair as blue as any midnight and by all accounts was as normal as could be, sleeping most of the day, crying when she was upset and being a genuine child.

    From up in her attic bedroom, Lady Sabine Cheng fawned over her three-month-old daughter with the help of their house fairy, a young woman named Tikki who had been with the household for as long as Marinette would ever remember. They were happy and everything was going as perfectly as it could. That was until the day Marinette's gift was to be bestowed.

    "Now, now, Marinette." the young mother crooned as she drooped to pick up her young crying daughter from her crib, smoothing her soft black baby curls away from her forehead to press a kiss, "There now. Mother's here for you."

    From the window where she was mending the baby's blanket, Tikki giggled, her bright red hair buns bobbing along with her shoulders as she listened to Marinette cry. She was going to be a feisty one, that was sure, because her lungs knew no capacity for sound. In her mother's arms, Marinette still cried, oblivious to their attempts to calm her.    

    "Oh, here." Tikki set aside her mending and rubbed her hands together, scooting her body to face towards the baby changing station. "Nothing a little burping won't fix!"

    Like a maestro on the stage ready to start their show, Tikki flicked her wrists at the burp up rag, a sprinkle of fairy dust flying from her hands to land on the rag. It hovered only slightly in the air above where it had been sitting and Tikki let out an annoyed sigh, "All the way!"

    Sensing her distress, the rag obeyed and danced its way through the air and over the hardwood floors to rest in Tikki's hands. She wrung it tightly as its punishment before holding it out to Lady Sabine. "I gotta work on that."

    Sir Tom Dupain was away that day when the thunder shook the house and a silky voice called through the air, sending shivers down the women's spines. "Hello ladies."

    They looked at one another and immediately knew who had come to bestow the child's gift and it terrified them to the bone.

    "Plagg."

    Tikki raked her hands through her red hair, looking around frantically. "He gives the worst gifts!"

    Lady Sabine took a split second to consider her daughter who had gone quiet in her arms before her gaze hardened. She looked back at her friend. "Not if he cant find her."