Cinderella

We've Met Before

-The Fairy Godmother-

She had left the door wide open, but the cat stayed curled in a ball on the rug.

"Out you go then!" The Fairy Godmother hissed, waving her arms furiously. She would have to do a lot of talking to explain herself if Ella caught her trying to abduct the cat.

Lucifer just stretched his back and turned around.

"We can play it that way!"

She hiked up her sleeves and walked straight towards the cat. She picked him up and his claws brought the rug with him.

She shook him a few times until he let go of the rug and then he began mewling loudly. She did not need Ella running to his rescue. Not yet anyway.

The Fairy Godmother rapped him on the head with her wand and he instantly fell silent. The door was left open, and she carried the cat, scratching and squirming all the way down the drive near the road.

She walked until she found the perfect tree.

She set Lucifer down and before he could sprint away, she magicked him up. He was immobile as he floated in the air. His eyes were wide, and he was breathing hard.

She moved him just above a tall branch when she dropped him and he clung to the tree with all the strength he had.

The second magic no longer had a hold over him, he began howling. It was a panicked strangled cry that would attract predators if Ella did not hurry.

The Prince was en route, the cat was trapped, and Ella would be out soon. She loved it when a plan worked out perfectly.

-Cinderella-

After beating the rugs outside, Ella had an armful of them and was heading back inside. She was halfway up the front steps when she realized the door was open and her heart dropped.

The rugs fell to her feet, and she ran through the door. Lucifer had been sitting in front of the door. He would not have left, would he? Her head jerked towards the door when desperate animal screams came from outside.

Picturing the worst, she ran out the door and looked for any sign of black fur. She looked around the yard, but the screams were coming from towards the road. She ran.

Her hair fell out of the knot and the bottom hem of her dress became coated with dew from the tall grass, but she didn't even notice. If anything happened to that cat it would be her head.

She finally came upon the scene of the crime and saw Lucifer clinging to a high branch, howling for his life.

The lowest branch of the tree was barely out of her reach, much less the tallest. The only thing she could do was desperately call to him. Her voice was drowned out by the sound of his mangled cries.

Minutes passed and her plans crashed around her as she called for the stupid cat. Lucifer had given up howling, and he was now huddled in on himself and shaking.

She was dirty, hot, and completely exhausted. It was easier to think without Lucifer's cries, but the threat still loomed that if she did not manage to get the cat back into the house before her stepfamily returned home, she would be punished.

A single rider with two horses passed by on the road and she realized how ridiculous she looked when he stared at her in passing. She tried to focus on the matter at hand, but she realized that no matter how hard she called him, Lucifer would not be coming down. She paced with her hands on her hips. There had to be something she could do.

The silence of her thoughts was interrupted by boots against the road. She looked up briefly and saw that a man was walking down the road towards her. She stopped pacing. The road was usually abandoned. It was odd to get any traffic at all, much less two men in the span of five minutes. She turned her back to the road hoping that the passerby would just walk by her without a single word.