Once Upon A Nightmare

[Only admins are allowed to see this image]"And we would like to expand the library outwards and get a few more classics to add to our collection." The head librarian pushed open the door to the library allowing Elizabetia access to the massive library. There were no students here today because they were planning to expand. Eliza walked in, her hands scribbling notes down on the note pad in her hand. She had thrown herself into work since the Mia incident with Arian.

"I know that it's a lot to ask for with the recent damages in the school but we really think it would be helpful to the students." Eliza nodded her head not really listening to what the woman was saying. She gave a few "uh huh"'s and "mhmm"'s but everything really just went in one ear and out the other. "I want to look around the library myself. I'll come get you when I've made my decision." The head librarian nodded and made her exit leaving Eliza alone in the silent library.

Gently putting her note pad down she walked around the shelves fingering a few novels as she passed that seemed interesting. Rounding the corner she came to the fiction section and looked through the fairy tales. "If only..." she said softly pulling an very old looking book from it's place on the shelf and idly flipping through the pages.

[Only admins are allowed to see this image]This wasn't like any book she had seen before it was written in some strange language and it was only by the pictures that she knew it was a fairy tale book. She flipped idly through the pages completely unaware of the ancient vampire in the room with her until she felt his chin on her shoulder. The book instantly dropped from her hands and she moved away from him. Tucking her hair behind her ears she sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Gauge." Wonderful, just freaking wonderful.

It had been a week and a half since their unexpected encounter and after four bottles of wine and a bottle of asprin later she had finally accepted what the asshole had told her and tried to move on. But it wasn't the Sebastian incident that had her mind dazed, it was Arian and his "lover" Mia. Bending down she picked up the book and placed it on the little table in the corner. "I prefer Fairy tales, they always seem to have a happy ending." her voice seemed far away as she gently traced her fingers over the glass slipper on the page of the book.

"Don't talk about Arian. I'm not in the mood." It was the truth, thinking of Arian made her head hurt as well as her heart. To know that he just...ignored the woman as if she didn't exist. Sure she didn't like the girl, she had called Eliza a tramp after all but still Arian was in the wrong as well. Would he treat her like that when he was finished with her? Just...toss her to the wind as if she never existed? Why couldn't life be like a fairy tale? Things would be so much easier.

[Only admins are allowed to see this image]Of course it was him, when wasn't it him? The man was like a walking shadow and could appear anywhere. She just wanted to crawl in a hole somewhere and die. Emotions were too much of a pain in the ass to deal with and only made her head hurt. Sometimes she wished she had just died as a human. Then she wouldn't be in this position. "Can you not be an asshole for just one minute...please?"

Eliza wasn't in the mood of his smart assery today. She just wanted to be left alone to deal with her feeling on her own without having someone make fun of her or insult her for it. She shot Gauge a death glare and turned her face away. Arian was a tough subject, one she really didn't want to talk about right now.

She could already feel her eyes watering while she traced the detailed image of the glass slipper on the old yellow faded pages of the fairy tale book. his fingers gently grasped her chin making her chocolate colored eyes turn to meet his. Sniffing she pouted slightly to force herself not to shed any tears and gently took his hand away from her face. "No, this isn't your problem. It's mine." Her hand pressed firmly on the page of the book, unknown to her that a soft golden light had begun to glow around her hand.

[Only admins are allowed to see this image]It was useless talking to him, it only made her more angry he was nothing but an asshole. She could tell he was trying to be nice in his own little weird way but it was over shadowed by his asshole side. If he could just keep them balanced it would be a lot better and she would be able to deal with him better.

"Gauge my life is none of your business. You're not my keeper." she grunted and looked away from him hoping that someone would walk through the door and get him off of her. The last thing they needed was for Arian and Gauge to fight. It would be something out of a Van Helsing novel and would probably cause a lot more damage than good.

When Gauge put his hand on the book a small string of golden magic lifted from the page and wrapped around their wrists the feeling of the magic so soft it wouldn't be felt by the vampires. The room seemed to dim around them and the intensity of the glow around the book enhance creating shadows along their bodies. Eliza's eyes widened at his words, he wouldn't! No he would, and he'd be even more smug about it. Arrogant prick! "There really is no limit to how much of a prick you can be is there!" she shouted angrily pushing him away from her. Suddenly the book erupted in flash of golden light. Eliza's eyes shot to the book right as the golden thread wrapped tightly around her wrist pulling Eliza as well as Gauge into it's old faded pages.

[Only admins are allowed to see this image]Gauge as a friend was scarier than having him as an enemy. Him trying to be serious made her smile even though she still wanted to be mad a t him. She couldn't help but laugh when he did, he was such an ass. A major, annoying, ass. But he did try. Her smile instantly faded at his last comment, no she didn't love him. She barely even liked him so no she didn't love him.

She let out a startled scream when the magic wrapped around her pulling her into the book. She fell through the pages, pictures of other stories dancing before her eyes as she fell until finally her back collided with the floor knocking the wind from her lungs.

Groaning she opened her eyes slowly and gazed up at the wooden structure of a roof. Tilting her head to the side she groaned and rolled over coming face to face with an old hound dog. What the hell? "Cinderella!" Eliza looked up slowly at the woman who stood in the door way. Cinderella? Did she just say Cinderella? Eliza looked down at her clothing, this was not what she was wearing a few moments ago. "You lazy girl get off the floor and hurry with lunch!" Eliza pushed herself from the floor slowly and simply stood there staring at herself in the broken mirror on the wall. "Where...am I?

[Only admins are allowed to see this image]Elizabetia just stood there for a moment hoping that this was all a really bad, really vivid dream but the pain in her cheek from where she fell told another story. "Cinderella!" Eliza jumped at the sound of the woman's voice. From what she could tell she was human, of else she would have ripped that woman's head straight off her shoulders. Swallowing hard she looked around what would seem to be the kitchen, Eliza didn't cook. She knew how to make brownies and cookies but that was it.

Luckily it would seem the original Cinderella already had something cooking over the fire. As quickly as she could she gathered up the food into three bowls, if memory served there was the evil step mother and two step sisters. Gracefully she carried them to each person before bowing and excusing herself to continue with her other chores. Once she was out of sight she took off out the front door and straight to the giant white castle that was behind the house.

If she was here, hopefully that asshole Gauge would be here as well. They had to find a way out of this place. Her chest burned from running, she was definitely not use to breathing even though it came naturally. By the time she got to the palace she was out of breath and leaned against the outer wall for a moment to recompose herself. All castles had an escape route in them near the water in case of a seige. Walking towards the river she noticed a hidden entrance behind a vale of ivy vines. Thank you hidden door ways.

Pushing open the door she sneaked into the castle and blended into the group of servants that walked around doing their jobs. Everything is fine, caught my foot on a rug is all That was Gauges voice. Pressing herself against the wall she leaned forward to watch Gauge leave the room accompanied by a group of servants. Good, all she had to do was sneak into his room and wait for him to come back. No problem. As silently as she could she opened his door and melted into the room. "Wow...I need to get the name of their decorator.

[Only admins are allowed to see this image]Eliza turned sharply when the door opened, he couldn't be back already. But it wasn't Gauge that stepped into the room instead it was...oh what was his name? Eliza tried to think of the strangers name. She had met him before while out collecting her antiques. Strange man. He gave her a very strange vibe that she didn't exactly like even more so now for the fact that he was inside this fairy tale, dressed as a normal person. It was as if the magic didn't control him.

The room changed around her putting her back into the kitchen where she had started from. "What the hell?" she grounded out glaring daggers at...Mr.Gold. That was his name! "I just ran half way across the damn kingdom to speak to Gauge and you brought me back here?! Just who do you think you are!" she exclaimed slapping her hands to her thighs. Just what the hell was going on? Was this all his doing? What was his reasoning behind it. She didn't know him, she didn't owe him anything, hell she hadn't even had tea with him yet! But he was keeping her here stuck in this fairy tale.

"How...how did you know that?" she asked a little taken back that he knew that she had wanted to live in a fairy tale. But of course she didn't get her answer instead she received a threat. She didn't want to know what kind of consequences he had in mind. Looking up she growled at the sound of the step sisters voices calling out for her. When she turned back he was gone, vanished in thin air. She didn't like this...not at all. There was something about him that just screamed....danger. Jumping at the sound of her "step sisters" banchee screams she walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs to embrace her role.

[Only admins are allowed to see this image]Eliza slumped against the floor of the kitchen for what would seem like the longest day of her life. She would never under appriciate Niles, EVER again. These women were barbarians. Scrub the floors, do the laundry, cook dinner, give the cat a bath, fix my hair, tidy my room, where's my tea?! Oh for the love of God she was about to strangle the hell out of all of them. She would not make a good Cinderella, no Cinderella was kind and beautiful and did everything with a cheery disposition but Eliza didn't. No there were many times she had to bite her tongue and keep her hands by her sides unless she wanted to strike, strangle or stab those hideous bitches and that step mother.

"CINDERELLA!"

Eliza sighed heavily and lifted her hands up by her face contemplating strangling her own damn self. Pulling herself up, she took in a deep breath and opened the door to see her "step sisters" and "step mother" standing in the lobby tapping their feet impatiently. "Yes, step mother." Eliza stressed out the woman's name with a hissed but it went unnoticed by her. "We are going into town to get dresses for the ball tonight. Let's go." Ball? Ball? It was tonight?! Shit? Where were the league of tiny speaking mice that would make her dress? From what she could see there were no stupid mice in this house thank to the giant fat cat that lounged lazily around the house.

The whole carriage ride was listening to those two annoying step sisters prattle on, on how they were going to marry the prince and live like Queens. Eliza wanted to point out that only one of them could marry the prince but it would be pointless to do so. So she instead looked out the window as the scenery passed until they entered the village, her "family" exited the carriage and instantly Eliza was thrown into possibly the worst day of her life. When she got out of this place she was raising her staff's salary ten fold. This was ridiculous.

[Only admins are allowed to see this image]"Oh Mother look at this!" cried one of Eliza's annoying "step sisters". Their mother nodded and motioned for them to simply put it on the pile they already had.

One bag, two bags, three bags, a box of hats, another bag, oh and another. Eliza's shook as she carried the bags full of useless clothing and materials that didn't even look good on those harpies. Some were too tight, too loose, an ugly color or simply ugly in general. And yet they spent their money wildly buying anything that caught there eye and who was left to carry the stupid bags? Three guess and the last two don't count.

"Hurry up Cinderella. Stop lazing about!" Eliza growled angrily under her breath and basically jogged to keep up with her "step family." This fairy tale sucked! Horribly! She could barely see over the boxes and bags as it was and ended up straying away from the women and straight into the middle of the square. There was a fancy carriage there with a few finely dressed servants surrounding something. A rather portly man climbed on top of the carriage and cleared his throat, "Ladies and Gentleman, his Majesty would like to announce, a ball, tonight for the Crown Prince to find a bride. All elegable females are to attend this ball by order of the king." The servants parted allowing the large crowd to see the prince in all his princely glory.

Eliza's mouth dropped, "Gauge..." she whispered softly before dropping the boxes on the ground, "Gauge! Gauge! Over here!" she cried out loudly over the crowd trying to gain his attention though she doubted it would do any good with as many females were screaming for his attention. "God Damn it Gauge!"

[Only admins are allowed to see this image]Eliza had moved to stand on the fountain to get his attention and finally his eyes landed on her but instead of running through the crowd so the two of them could get the hell out of dodge he just...left. "Where is he going?" Eliza said angrily grabbing onto the statues arm of the fountain to lift herself higher. "Where is he going?! Gauge! Come back! GAUGE!" The crowd followed after the carriage like wild dogs trying their best to get another glance at him. Eliza stared as the carriage disappeared, he left....he actually...left.

She felt something cold and hard wrap around her wrist tugging her down from the fountain and onto the ground. "Where have you been? We've been walking for hours trying to find you. Pick up those boxes now." Eliza swallowed hard and got to her feet. Gathering the boxes in her hands the sisters hung a few more on her fingers and walked away chatting happily at how they would look like the Belle's of the Ball tonight. Oh he was going to get it. She was going to ring his stupid little neck whenever she finally made it to that fucking ball. Oh yeah, screw that creepy old man.

[Only admins are allowed to see this image]Eliza twisted her step sisters hair tightly into curls secretly grinning everytime she hissed in pain. Eliza would simply tell her that if the curls were to stay they needed to be tight. The sister reluctantly agreed and simply continued to hiss everytime Eliza twisted the curl tighter. For the past three hours she had spent getting these vile women dressed. She was never this cruel to her staff, if this wasn't a fairy tale they would be bleeding lumps on the floor.

So far she hadn't seen any stupid magical talking mice or singing birds to make a dress for her, and she didn't have the time to make one herself so it looked like she'd have to wait for magic fairy godmother to appear. Tying the last of the outragous pink ribbons into the youngest sisters hair she stepped off the stool and dusted off her hands. Eliza was good, but she was not a miracle worker it would take a whole team of magicians to make these girls attractive.

"Are you jealous Cinderella? We're going to marry the prince and you're going to be left here to rot!" Eliza simply smiled and wiped off her hands on her dress, "I couldn't be more happy for you, every castle needs a set of monsters for the mote." she retorted before walking off. Both step sisters gasped loudly and started shrieking at her to apologize. But soon enough her step mother came forward and summoned the girls out the house without a second look.

Eliza impatiently tapped her foot as she watched the clock on the wall tick by slowly. "Come on, appear already." she said pacing in front of the window. She wasn't about to sing, she didn't sing. Turning around Eliza watched as a woman materialized out of thin air and smiled at her, "Thank you God." Eliza said walking up to the fairy god mother. "My dear you're not ready.

Eliza froze in mid-step and tilted her head to the side, she needed to play this right...Cinderella was nice. Sweet...innocent and kind. "I was not able to make a dress for the ball...I fear I will never meet the Prince." she fained sadness and dramatically sat down on the chair near the window mentally kicking herself for feeling so stupid. The fairy Godmother stepped forward and smiled, "Fear not...for I will get you there in plenty of time." Eliza smiled and laced her hands together, perfect time to get the hell out of this place.

After what seemed like an eternity of magic tricks to get a coach, horses, footmen and all that jazz the godmother finally made her dress and shooed her off to the ball warning her about the whole midnight thing. "Can't this thing go any faster?" she whispered fiddling with her hands. She hadn't worn a dress like this in a long time, tons of fabric, a hoop shirt and a very tight corset. But on the bright side it made her boobs look awesome. Lifting the bottom of her dress she allowed her foot to peak out from under the light blue fabric. A dainty glass slipper covered her feet. One would think that glass slippers would be uncomfortable but really...they were okay.

Soon they pulled up to the castle and Elizabetia bolted from the carriage and up the stairs. She had about a hour before this stupid spell wore of and she was going to use it to the fullest. She came to a stop once she neared the ball room and smoothed down her dress. Every Belle of the Ball needs a good enterance. She waited until the music slowed before stepping into the ballroom. A few whispers could be heard to her right as she passed but she kept her eyes forward the dark orbs landing instantly on the "prince" dancing with one of the hideous step sisters.

Eliza made her way down the steps slowly, the glass slipper clanking softly with every step. She honestly hoped these things wouldn't break while she wore them. Lifting her head she stopped at the bottom of the stairs and gave a small curtsy to the King and Queen before locking her eyes on Gauge.

[Only admins are allowed to see this image]Eliza wasn't going to lie, Gauge looked good in that outfit. It reminded her of when she was human, fancy balls, beautiful people, prince and princesses. She missed it, the world now was dark and tainted, when she was human it was more pure and easier to live in. She gave a low curtsy to the "prince" as she was suppose to and took his hand.

"Yes, well you forget how painful corsets can be when you haven't worn one in a few centuries." Stepping forward she put her gloved hand on his shoulder and curled her fingers around his hand while the waited for the music to begin once again. The conductor tapped his wand on the podium and slowly the King's Waltz began to play. It had many a century since Eliza had waltzed but dancing was like riding a bike, you never really forgot how to do it.

They began dancing elegantly across the floor of the ballroom all eyes upon them. "Let me guess, creepy old man with a cane and a creepy Irish accent. Yeah I met him, I ran half way across the kingdom to find you only to be teleported back to that horrible house and threatened." She had to admit, dancing was nice. Elizabetia use to dance all the time but when Sebastian disappeared everything she use to love didn't seem to matter anymore. But this was different, more enjoyable.