High, swirling melodies sparkled through the open windows of the castle ballroom. Every chandelier was ablaze with glistening light, reflecting joy a million directions a moment. Ballgowns crunched and dashed against one another as partners circled the room in a rhythm learned during childhood. Laughter tinkled up to the ceiling and pattered back down like stardust upon the happy heads of all the ball-goers.
In the very middle of the room, at the center of Once-upon-a Time's attention, danced Princess Adeline and Prince Darrik. The high spirits produced a winning effect upon them both. Together, they looked the most radiant couple upon the floor, beaming with youthful delight and never missing a step of the waltz. The prince held the princess delicately in his arms, the perfect picture of Fairy Tale romance. They were beautiful, or handsome as the case may be, in their exquisite, fancy dress. And as they smiled into one another's faces, all the distinguished citizens of the kingdom heard bells ring with rapturous promise.
Princess Adeline felt she had never been so happy. The cares of state were dashed far away and all she was aware of was the mindless pleasure of dancing. She felt lovely tonight in her ideal ballgown. It was a local creation sewn to her imagination's whim. The skirt was massive and looked like an upside down, open, blue flower. The top of the gown was white with a light layer of silver sequence that glimmered in rainbow glory when the chandelier light hit it just right. There were no sleeves but five strings of large, perfectly round pearls that held the dress upon each shoulder. Though they were scarcely ever seen, Princess Adeline wore actual glass-heeled slippers upon her feet. With a dainty taira atop her head and gloves up to her elbows, she was perhaps the image of every little girl's royal dreams.
A nightingale sang over the animal orchestra and lent a sleepy mood to the room. The steps of this dance were slow, elegant. Prince Darrik felt like clouds were seeping into the room and separating each couple into their own private paradise. He, surprisingly, did not feel a need to yawn. He was not at all bored, though the pace of the evening had slowed. He had to wonder what had produced the change in him. He loved a good ball, but usually he would be getting restless and uncomfortable in his tightly buttoned, high shouldered outfit. Sure, he looked seriously handsome and it probably had a large hand in his Prince Charming of the Year win, but this get up was stiff and borderline suffocating. Good posture was not that critical a characteristic, come on!
Yet Prince Darrik felt no negativity in the air of this ballroom. He was content, finding no flaws. What inspired this change?
Could it be the darling young lady smiling up at him in eternal good humor? A tingling sensation convinced him that really just might be the case. He was slowly coming to believe that anything was possible on this night.
Princess Adeline glanced about the moving crowd and noticed the joy on everyone's faces. There were no wallflowers waiting for a partner against the ballroom's borders. There were no grumpy, old men leaning against their canes and deriding the loudness or savagery of the music. No frumpy, fat widows surrounded the great, golden punch bowl and complained at the meagerness of the banquet. Every soul was satisfied. The night was a success on all fronts. No critics fouled the air. Everything gleamed with a positive perspective.
And Princess Adeline could not imagine sharing such a remarkable evening with anyone else. The superficial glistening of vain pleasure blinded her insight. All she wanted was to continue this dance with Darrik forever.
The great clock on the castle's exterior struck eleven. The ball was fading fast. Prince Darrik felt some urgency clasp its fist around his heart. Only one more hour before the ball's spell would be washed away. He felt there was still so much he had to do. The orchestra sank into silence as the song ended. All the couples on the dance floor halted in their choreography to applaud the songbird soloist. There was always a bit of confusion between tunes, as partners came and went from the center of the ballroom floor. This would be the moment for Prince Darrik and Princess Adeline to slip away unnoticed. Darrik knew he must act now or risk this opportunity passing him by.
Brushing his lips against Adeline's ear, Prince Darrik whispered, "Come with me."
Adeline gazed up at him with grateful eyes and nodded. He took her hand in his and inhaled a deep breath. Stealthily, the two royals exited the ballroom before anyone's eagle eyes discerned their escape to the garden.
They silently made their way to the hidden fountain concealed within the heart of the garden's maze. The water sprang gracefully into the night sky and pitter-pattered down the fountain's granite body in streams of silver. Princess Adeline and Prince Darrik sat on the fountain's edge, side by side. They blushed at their reflection in the water below, their features illuminated by the full moon above their heads. Adeline looked away from their mirror image as she felt Darrik's fingers weave their way between her own. She could not tell what emotion she was experiencing, whether embarrassment or ecstasy.
Could this be the happy ending to her sad and lonely story? She leaned her cheek against her bare shoulder as a flitting feeling like fairy's wings rushed under her flesh.
"Adeline," Darrik said.
"Yes, Darrik," she turned her face towards him quickly, almost smacking into his boyish features. They were so close all of a sudden, so near and dear. Bless the ball, Adeline silently exalted in her head.
"I...I..."he muttered blankly. "I, huh. I don't know what to say. Isn't that funny? For once, I'm actually at a loss for words."
"That's wonderful," Adeline sighed. "The perfect effect."
He smiled. "Yes, exactly." Prince Darrik cautiously, lightly touched Adeline's cheek with two of his gloved fingers. "Out here, you look like you have stardust in your eyes."
"Thank you."
"Uh-huh." Adeline rejoiced in the realization Prince Darrik was unabashedly lost in her beauty. She felt like the girliest girl. Never had her looks worked such wonders.
"Am I being sentimental," she asked, "Or do you feel some magic in the atmosphere?"
"Oh yes, I feel it too," he replied, looking around the vicinity as if some machine out of sight was expelling the ambiance.
"I'm glad we get to feel it together," the princess confessed, leaning closer to him, "Just us two."
Instinctively, they both knew their moment had finally come. All the close calls before were banished from recollection. Princess Adeline thought her mind would be repeating "This is it! This is it! This is it!" but it was not so. She was not thinking at all.
Prince Darrik and Princess Adeline kissed...
Time did not poetically stand still though. The kiss simply lingered within the confines of clockwork.
Eventually oxygen was again necessary. Their lips fell away from the connection. Now there was nothing but air between them.
Princess Adeline and Prince Darrik stared at one another, stunned. They had kissed. Oh my, yes, they finally locked lips, and now...well, now everything was different.
Darrik looked slightly confused. Adeline appeared similarly flabbergasted.
"Did you feel...anything?" Darrik asked.
"No," Adeline admitted. "Nothing."
"Huh." Darrik smacked his palms on his knees and shook his head.
"I mean, nothing," the princess continued, her eyes stuck on the ground. "No fireworks, no sparkle, nothing. Nothing at all."
Adeline shivered, though there was no chill on the breeze. It was almost as if her heart was icing over. She turned away from Darrik and closed her eyes, trying to make sense of this strange twist. Why had the kiss been meaningless? Why were there no angelic choruses singing triumphant songs? Why no shooting stars inspired to soar across the heavens? She quickly recalled flashbacks of each and every happy meeting, trying to find the clue to this catastrophe. Where had they gone wrong? Why were they not meant to be?
"I don't understand it," Prince Darrik puzzled aloud. "I was sure I was falling for someone."
Adeline's blue eyes opened in horror, her gloved fingers clutched her stone seat on the fountain's edge. Her brain suddenly underwent a gripping agony of bone breaking pain. She could almost hear the strings of her heart snapping as she grasped the truth.
Prince Darrik had fallen in love with her handmaiden and he didn't even know it. But Adeline knew. She knew it and it broke her heart.
Princess Adeline squeezed her lips together, causing them to turn white. She could not cry in front of him. She would not. No, it would be unladylike and vicious to wish them harm out of her heartbreak. She loved them both deep down inside; it would be really wrong not to wish them joy. Still, Adeline did not want to see Darrik and Eudora together quite yet.
Princess Adeline lifted her head high and turned back around to address the prince that was not to be her prince.
"Well, don't take it too much to heart, Darrik. We both did our best to become the perfect pair, but it is not meant to be, you and me. We have nothing with which to reproach ourselves."
"I'm sorry, Adeline," Darrik said, trying to lay his hand over hers. Before he could manage it, the princess stood up.
"There is absolutely no reason to be. I forbid you to be anything but completely happy in the future."
"That's...very kind," he guiltily replied.
Princess Adeline sighed, "I wish you every joy, Darrik. I know you will make her very, very happy."
The prince cocked his head towards his shoulder, demonstrating his ignorance to her meaning. Just as his lips formed the words, "Her who?" Adeline broke out, "Good night, Prince Darrik. It has been a simply stunning evening. Thank you, and...good night."
Princess Adeline fled the scene in shame. She could not bravely face her lost dreams right now. The pain of hopelessness was too dark, too nerve-numbing. She felt like she would never breathe again. Her whole chest felt like it would cave in. The only way to survive this wretched reversal of her plans was to run away from the prince's presence. So Princess Adeline ran with all her might and the little freedom her beautiful ballgown allowed.
As she entered the somewhat secret halls of the palace reserved for her privacy from the public, the clock struck midnight. The dream was now dead. All magic trickled back deep into the secret lairs of fantasy. Princess Adeline did not lose a glass slipper as she left the gardens. She had no such final hope for a happy resolution.
Adeline ran into the darkness of the castle's corridors. She flung herself through the first door she could lay her hand upon. There were no candles alight in the room, only cold, silent, black space. Adeline shut the door and laid her face against the smooth, painted wood. She at last gave herself up to soul swallowing sorrow. Her misery welled over her self control and spilled out in tears that streamed down her face and shook her petite frame.
What else was there for a girl, let alone a princess, to do? Prince Charming had come into her life and he had not fallen in love with her.
"Poor little princess," a serpent-like voice hissed in the darkness.
Princess Adeline gasped and whirled around to face the unknown speaker.