More Than a Servant (Cinderella AU)

Chapter 2

Astrid hurried upstairs to where her stepfather and stepsisters were. She could hear Ruffnut's off-key singing and Heather's panpipes through the door with Alvin trying to encourage his daughters to sing and play better. She knocked as hard as she could to be heard over the racket hoping one of them could hear her. She heard both stepsisters music come to a screeching (literally Ruffnut made a screeching noise) halt before hearing a pair of heavy footsteps approach the door before it was thrown open and saw Alvin standing in front of her with an annoyed expression.

"What is it now?" He demanded angrily. Astrid straightened herself and look at him in the eye with a determined expression.

"An invitation was sent from the palace inviting everyone to the ball." She announced and held out the scroll.

Alvin snatched from her hands and tore it open. His eyes widened and he turned towards his daughters. "Girls you must go prepare yourselves for tonight!"

"Why?" Heather asked curiously.

"Because king Stoick is holding a ball for his son Harold tonight for him to find a bride! And perhaps it may be either of you two!"

"Oh uh....that's amazing father!" Ruffnut said with unsure enthusiasm.

"Uh...yay?" Heather added and looked to Astrid, who simply shrugged.

"So can I come?" She asked carefully.

"What are you blabbering about now?" Alvin asked looking annoyed.

"The invitation said that all girls can come. And last I checked I am a girl." Astrid stated, crossing her arms.

"Oh yes! Please let her come, we always wanted to go to a ball together!" Heather exclaimed excitedly. "Remember when we were little we used to have fake balls in the garden? We could finally do that together!"

Ruffnut's eyes lit up in excitement. "Oh yes! Please dad let Astrid come, she's family too!"

Alvin looked ready to protest and shut the idea down but an idea came to him. He smiled and turned to Astrid. "Alright you may go. But you need to help your sisters prepare for the ball, finish all the chores and have a dress ready before we leave."

Astrid couldn't believe it. Knowing Alvin, this would take all day! She would have to fix their most fanciest dresses that sat in the backs of her sister's closets, mend the shifts they had to wear under them, fix their best dancing shoes, the list went on! But if she did them all as fast as she could perhaps she would have time to make a nice dress. She knew Alvin was going to expect her to throw a fit but she was willing to do all the work to go and prove him wrong.

"Fine then. I'll do all my chores and help my sisters." She said and her sisters cheered excitedly before pulling her into a hug.

"This is going to be the best family outing ever!" Ruffnut shouted.

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Astrid rushed to her room that was located in the attic and threw open the door. The small Terrible Terrors she kept there, Igggy, Sharpshooter, Chompy, Sneaky, Head and Butt were waiting for her on her bed. They all cooed in greeting and flew over to Astrid, nuzzling and licking her cheeks to make her smile.

"I have the perfect dress for the dance!" Astrid squealed and hurried to her chest. Inside was a blue dress with puffy sleeves and a ton of lace. She carefully set it up on a mannequin that she used to sew her stepsisters clothes and examined it carefully.

"It's a bit old fashioned but maybe if I took some of the lace off and remove the sleeves it would look good. And perhaps add some-"

"Astrid I need you to help me with my dress please!" Astrid herd Ruffnut yell from the pipe that connected from her room to many of the other rooms in the house.

"Well I could work on it later." Astrid sighed as she walked to the bed to place the Terrors back onto the mattress and hurries out the room.

The six Terrible Terrors watched their friend leave the room with a sad expression on her face.

"Poor Astrid! Alvin isn't really gonna have her go to the ball with all these chores now is he?" Sneaky said shaking his head sadly.

"Indeed! And even if she does finish all the work she won't have time to fix the dress." Sharpshooter sighed. "Especially if she has to help her sisters prepare."

"Oh she is going alright. And we are gonna do the dress for her ourselves while she does her chores." Iggy said climbing off the bed and flying over to the dress.

"Us? Fix a dress?" Head asked shocked.

"You must be joking." Butt adds, rolling her eyes.

"Can we seriously do it though?" Chompy asked leaping off the bed and examining the dress. "We can't even hold a needle!"

"Of course we can! And Astrid deserves this! So let's do this!" Iggy exclaims. The other Terrors cheered in agreement and began working on the dress.