Snowflake (Peter Pan OUAT x Reader)

Chapter Two

        "You get back here, girl!" your father screamed at you as you took off out of the room, sprinting towards the only spot where you could breathe. You just kept running. You knew there would be great consequences afterward, but you couldn't take it anymore. Your father stood in the doorway of his office, looking after you, his eyes narrowed, his pride too enormous to ever run after you. Running was something only those who needed to (peasants) did.

        You ran through the familiar halls, the walls that were now empty. No priceless paintings hung upon them. Tapestries were long gone. Your father had horrible managing skills. He thought that being a member of the royalty would mean that everyone would respect him way too much to steal from him.

        He had recently had a great awakening. Manager after manager had blamed the loss of money on storms or a lowering in prices. But just a week ago when he got into a fight with his newest manager that manager got mad and forgot to hold his tongue. The fact that he was slightly drunk probably had a lot to do with it. You had been standing outside the door, a smile on your face as your father finally had to face the facts. If only you had known what the consequences of that conversation would be.

        "You are so stupid! You think that just because you're a prince everyone is not only going to let you walk over them, but do everything they can to make it as comfortable for you as possible. Well, let me tell you something. I've been stealing from you bit by bit the whole time I've been here, as I'm sure your previous managers have been. Don't look at me like that. There's nothing you can do about it. You'll never be able to get it back, or prove that I stole it from you. If you don't do something soon, you're even going to have to sell this castle. Aw, is the poor little prince going to have to lose his big, fancy home, and show everyone just how low he's fallen?"

        Yeah, you were sure the manager regretted his words in his last moments in your father's dungeon. He probably also regretted ever touching any alcohol, much less his first sip. And right now, you regretted it as well. It might have postponed this torture for a bit longer.

        You raced outside, brushing past a servant. They started to call you back, but were instantly silenced as your fist connected with their face. Everyone here knew the consequences of going against your father's wishes. Everyone except for the managers, who never stayed long enough to find out.

        Just a few more steps and then you would be there. Entering the forest that surrounded the castle you breathed a quick breath of relief. That's what the forest was—the one place where you could actually breathe. Literally.

        You quickly made your way over to where your clothes lay hidden in a hollow trunk of a tree. As quick as you could you unbuttoned the innumerable buttons on the fancy dress that was exactly like all the other ones you were forced to wear. You untied your corset and filled your lungs with huge beautiful breaths of air. Quickly you changed into the pants and shirt you had paid a servant to get for you, sliding on the boots. It had cost you a lot, considering the consequences if they were discovered.

        Taking a couple more minutes to just breathe, you stood there. The pines smelled amazing and the trees filled you with their peace. Then you started walking silently along the path your feet knew like a second skin. You came to your log that lay across a small river that babbled on and on. Stooping, you reached under the log's roots and pulled out a knife and the piece of wood you had been whittling. Clambering quickly onto the fallen tree, you made your way to the center of the river in no time at all.

        You started working where you had left off, softening the edges of the inside of the intricate lock box you were making. But your hands were shaking far too much with rage, so you put the box back and grabbed a short thick branch, angrily scraping off the bark.

        You couldn't believe that your father wanted to marry you to some rich stuck-up fool to restore the family fortune. You couldn't believe he thought he had the right to choose who you got to spend the rest of your life with. And the worst part was that you would never get to find your true love, to find the Charming to your Snow.

        He had even hired a seduction tutor for you! Of course, that's not what they called her, but that's what she was. After the first week of lessons, you would be having your first dinner with Sir Richard.

        You screamed and threw the branch in the stream, watching it bob away. Wishing you could bob away. Just relax in the gentle water and let it wash you far away from here. But that wasn't how life worked. The worst part about all this wasn't that your father thought he could do all this, you already knew what kind of person he was. The worst part was that he could do all this.

        You threw the knife at a tree. The blade stuck perfectly in the bark, but you didn't stay long enough to see it land. You ran off along the log, jumping to the ground and then darting among the trees, the only friends you could go to when you father was being, well, himself. Your gray tabby cat, Liberty, was inside your room, where the walls would suffocate you. And your cousin, Snow, had just become a queen, and had enough of her own problems. They could be summed up quite easily as The Evil Queen. The trees were the only ones you could turn to.

        After several hours you returned to the castle weary and sweaty. Definitely not how a proper princess should look. Your dress wasn't buttoned properly, not to mention you had not tightened your corset until you were as skinny as a breeze because you couldn't tighten it that much yourself. Not that you had even tried. But when a spectator saw the squirrels you were swinging by their tails they would be annoyed at another peasant who was a princess wannabe.

        You dropped the squirrels off with the cook, knowing he would prepare them for Liberty's and your breakfast tomorrow. Your father wanted you to develop a refined taste, but you just couldn't stand the taste of pig. Probably because they reminded you of your father and you just couldn't bear to be a cannibal. You much preferred the taste of woodland animals, like squirrels, rabbits, and deer. You had even had elk once and it was amazing.

        You headed up to your room, but on the way your father's voice stopped you in your tracks. "Stella, come here."

        You rolled your eyes. "Father, I really need to freshen up. I'm really not fit to be seen right now. Why don't you wait till I look like a perfect princess before telling me to act like one?" You shook your head slightly and continued on your way to your room.

        "Stella, come here right now!" Now that surprised you. You turned around, curious. You headed back down the passage to your father's office. He sat at his desk, and looked at you impassively as you came in.

        "It seems that fortune has come to bless us," your father started, as your throat tightened and your gaze hardened. "You have received a summons from Queen Snow to join her at the palace. She mentions that she has many invitations to balls from kingdoms all over, but has far too much on her plate to attend them. She was wondering if you would do the honor of joining her at the palace, and attending the balls in her stead."

        "Join her...at...the palace," you said incredulously, as you started to catch the meaning of the words.

        "I have decided that you will be going to the palace. But there is one condition."

        "What?" Your heart plummeted.

        "While there you will attend a lot of balls." Your father really knew how to prolong an answer. "You will look for a rich husband, preferably a crown prince while you are there. If I do not receive word asking for your hand in marriage in the next year, you will come home and marry Sir Richard. If I do, of course you will get married if I find the match favorable."

        That would have been the perfect entrance for you to say, "And by favorable, you mean rich." But you were far too excited to use your perfect sarcasm. You wouldn't have to marry Sir Richard! You got to spend a year with Snow! You would have freedom from your father! And most of all, you would have a chance to find your true love!!! Snow had just given you more than you had ever dared to hope! She had unlocked the bars of the cage you were stuck in for what you thought was forever!