A Twisted Fairytale

Disclaimer: Own Final Fantasy and its characters, I do not. Want them, you bet you’re sweet ass I do.

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess. She was loved by all, but she loved only one: the Black Knight. Her father wouldn’t allow them to marry, so they had to meet in secret. Every night, they would meet in the garden exactly at midnight.

One night, he didn’t come. The princess was heart-broken. For weeks, she moped around the castle. Her subjects lavished her with gifts and threw extravagant parties in order to lift her spirits, but to no avail. She had given up.

A man had been watching the princess. He was entranced with her beauty. He decided to make himself known to her. He came into the city in an elaborate parade. The streets were covered in flower petals, jugglers juggled, dancers danced, musicians played music. The whole city celebrated his arrival.

When he approached the castle, the king greeted him with open arms. The man revealed that he was a wealthy merchant from a far away country. He was seeking the princess’s hand in marriage. Knowing her daughter had not been herself as of late, the king thought this to be a splendid idea. He made arrangements immediately.

The princess wanted to protest, wanted to say she didn’t, no, couldn’t love this strange man, but she didn’t. The whole kingdom was uplifted with the idea. She would do anything for her people.

The wedding was as beautiful as her. She dawned her white dress to be worn for the first and last time. Her face smiled, but her heart screamed. Her knight would come as the ’does anyone have a reason why…’ she was sure of it!

But he never came…

The merchant quickly took her away to a foreign land. It was raining when they arrived at the black castle he resided in. As soon as he took her inside, he changed into a monster. He stared at her with glowing yellow eyes, mocking her, as he revealed that he had killed her Black Knight. Her tears blurred her eyes, all hope was lost.

She shot up out of the nightmare.

‘Only a dream, only a dream,’ she repeated in her mind. ‘But those eyes… too real.’

The night before came flooding back to her. There was a demon. She searched the room. The clock to the side of her read nine o’clock.

‘Everyone’s probably up by now.’

She forced herself on to shaky legs and made her way into the shower. Bandages caked with dry blood somehow made their way into the trash. The hot water soothed her aching body. She inspected her wounds. They were minor and would heal in about a week.

Still she wondered how the monster found his way on the Highwind and how he managed to single her out. And what did ‘chaos’ mean?

He knew that she was a princess, a fact that she was determined to hide.

“How?!” She didn’t realize that she was screaming aloud. “How does he know?!”

“Know what, dear?”

Yuffie hadn’t even heard the door, she was so lost in thought. She peaked past the shower curtain. Aeris was there with a plate of food. The flower girl did her best the make the oatmeal and dried fruit more presentable. The type of food they could carry was limited due to constant travel.

“Nothing… don’t worry about it.” Yuffie tried to brush it off.

“I brought some breakfast. How are you feeling?” Aeris sincerely inquired.

Yuffie mumbled in reply, “Just set it down. I’ll be out in a minute.”

“Ok.” She laid it on the nightstand. “Oh, we’ll be landing in Wutai in a few hours. Be ready.”

“No!” Yuffie protested.

“No?” Aeris asked puzzled.
“I don’t want to go there.” She sighed. “I’ll just stay on the ship.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to leave you alone.” Aeris was deeply concerned for both her well-being and her state of mind. “Should I stay with you?”

“No, I don’t want to be a bother.”

She thought for a moment. “Should I ask Vincent to remain on the ship with you?”

Yuffie was glad to be behind the curtain to conceal her blush. “No, he probably needs to go get some supplies or something.”

“You can’t hide forever.” Aeris sighed. “Come out when you’re ready.”

She shut the door behind her.

‘Damn… Why Wutai? I’m not fit to even step on the soil there.’

She slid down the wall and sat in the tub until the water ran cold. ‘I can’t face him.’

~~

“Well, how is she?” Tifa asked anxiously.

“She’s getting around ok. Still upset, absolutely refuses to go to Wutai.” Aeris responded.

Cid interrupted, “She’s probably fucking wanted for stealing the wrong guy’s materia or something.”

“We have no choice but to stop there. Ship’s low on fuel, and we need provisions. Can’t exactly go to a small village right now.” Barret stepped in.

Cloud just walked in. “Bad news.”

“What is it?” Aeris turned to him.

“Wutai is in a state of chaos right now. Their princess has vanished without a ransom note or anything. The people think it’s an attack against both Wutai and Shin-Ra?” He explained.

Tifa was confused, “Shin-Ra?”

“Mm-hm,” Cloud continued, “Godo Kisaragi decided to arrange it to restore peace between them.”

“That creepy old man?!” Aeris exclaimed.

“Bad luck for her. Don’t see many princesses…” Barret trailed off.

Cid interjected, almost as if finishing his thoughts. “Bet she’s got one hell of a body. Those girls are bred for baby-making.”

Yuffie walked into the room only hearing the end of that conversation, “What are you talking about?”

Tifa replied, “Don’t mind these perverts. They were just wondering about the princess.”

“Oh,” then she asked, “wait, what princess?!”

Cloud stepped in, “The princess of Wutai. Oh and there’s apparently a reward for any information as to her whereabouts.”

Yuffie questioned almost shyly, “So, um, you guys know anything?”

Cloud shook his head, “We only just heard.”

A sigh came from the ninja. “I don’t think we should get involved with foreign politics. Best to just skip Wutai altogether.”

“Nope. Can’t do it. No fucking way.” Cid spoke up, “Unless you wanna fucking die as the ship runs out of fuel and we all go crashing down clinging to each other in our last moments before the Lifestream sucks us all in.”

“Um, no. That’s ok.” He made her nervous sometimes. She excused herself to her room.

“There’s somethin’ wrong with that girl.” Barret pointed out.

“Hush now!” Aeris demanded. “If you went through what she did-”

Barret interrupted, “So some monster beat her up. She’s doin’ just fine!”

Tifa was about to yell at him too, but then she remembered: they didn’t know. It wasn’t something you could just tell someone…

“He raped her.”

Unless you were Aeris apparently.

~~

To be continued…