Completely "Normal" Fairy Tale

Chapter 1- The Princess's Escape

 Once upon a time, there was a princess who lived in a castle (obviously). They had beautiful dresses, delectable food, a secure future, and basically everything else they wanted.

Well, almost everything. You see, sitting through all of the church services that they were required to attend, seeing as they were an atheist, was inexpilcable torture. Every time they would try and leave, the King and Queen would remind them it was a duty. One Sage really didn't want to deal with it. Sage, their official name being Seraphina, hated dealing with the chorus of "hers" and "shes" that followed them wherever they went, as they did not feel like they were a "she" or a "he". Now, I know there are going to be some naysayers, but how would you feel if you were forced to attend a church or a rally every week that went strictly against your beliefs and people refused to call you by anything but a name that wasn't your own? Rather annoyed, I would think. Now, in the princess's mind, they felt kind of like ...Rapunzel. Trapped. Similar to Rapunzel, Sage could easily escape, but people would come and take them back as soon as they were discovered. Which the princess really didn't want to happen. We should probably leave the backstory now and move on with the main event! Let's just dive right into the center of chaos, shall we? We'll begin in the middle of an argument with the Queen, just for fun.

"Seraphina! Get down here! You've stalled long enough! I understand that you don't like church, but you need to get down here! Now!" The Queen called, hoping that her daughter was at least awake.

The princess heard their Mother screech from down stairs and put down the magnifying glass they had stolen from the court physician, which they were using to carefully observe a lizard. Sage scribbled down some notes and rushed downstairs before their mother stormed into the room and discovered that they were, as the Queen would say, "wasting time on meaningless endeavors.''

"Alright, alright! I'm here!" the princess said, stomping down the stairs. "And mother, how many times must I ask you to call me Sage, not Seraphina. Please, just call me Sage."

"No, you are a princess, Seraphina. Now come-" the queen paused, noticing how her child was dressed. She took one look at them, and pointed angrily backup to their room as an indication that they need to change.

Sage huffed. "Fine. I don't see the problem with wearing a tunic and leggings is.....It's more comfortable anyways." Muttering this, along with some more, ah, colorful insults sent in the Queen's direction, Sage trudged back upstairs to change into something more "appropriate for a church service".

Reluctantly, Sage pulled on a silver dress, the sleeves constantly falling off their shoulders as if in an effort to destroy any optimism about going. They also tried to pull their hair up to look presentable. How Sage hated that word.

Sage mumbled to themself, "Presentable, mother said. Fine. I'll wear this dress, I'll wear nice shoes and do my hair. Why though? Can't they just accept that I am who I am?" There was a loud slam as the queen threw the door open, interrupting Sages' monologue, grabbed her child, and dragged them downstairs. The queen knew all too well that Sage would never come back downstairs if given any more time.

The entire carriage ride over to the church felt like pure tortchure to Sage, ever second bringing them closer to what felt like certain doom. The Royal family attended the unnecessarily long service, the pastor drawling on for an unholy amount of time. I swear, I'm pretty sure that going on and on and on for that long could be considered a sin. I am pretty sure Sage would agree with me, seeing as how they fell asleep halfway through and woke up hissing when they came by flinging the holy water on congregation. Needless to say, their mother pulled them out of the room immediately and gave them a scolding.