THRICE Upon a Time...

~*~2~*~

Aw-kward.

"<COUGH> SO not <cough> happening..." Snow White coughed into her elbow.

Rapunzel snorted.

"Interesting." and for the first time Aurora grinned whole-heartedly. She liked watching other people get tangled in their own crap.

Princess Lillia looked stunned, and just a little amused. "HUH?"

"A damn kiss." the toad's lips stretched.

Lillia paused for one moment, her young mind digesting this toad's offer. A kiss, she'd read in a fairytale book, was an act of affection, of love and tenderness. Whenever she thought about her first kiss, from a tall, blonde handsome prince, she would blush and her eyes would widen in wonder.  

But the toad was brain-dead for thinking that she would throw away that kiss to an ugly, disgusting, slimy old FROG.

Princess Lillia tossed her head back and let out a high, girly giggle. "A KISS? A KISS?" she was hysterical, her laughter over-whelming her. "From ME? To YOU??" she clutched her stomach and howled, tears running down her pink cheeks.

The toad was unaffected by her cruel rejection. Instead, he blinked his great eyes at her and rolled onto his back lazily. "Well, well. Tough, then." the toad ran a webbed hand over the golden ball with a smirk.

Suddenly Princess Lillia gave an shrill animal-like shriek and lunged for the glimmering ball.

Her little white nails just managed to scrape the surface of it before the toad, with a careless shove of his hand, pushed the ball back into the well.

The beautiful gold ball gave a loud, splashy 'PLOP!' before sinking deep into the water.

"Deal's a deal, gorgeous." the toad sniggered.

"Look, Mr Toad," Snow White began, but the frog cut her off.

"And who are you?" he ignored the little princess, her shoulders shaking with fury.

"I-I'm...." 

"She's Roanna." Rapunzel interrupted, remembering the North Witch's warning. Snow White frowned a little, scanned her notepad, and then quickly nodded in agreement. "I'm Roxy, and this here," Rapunzel waved her arm at Aurora. "Is Ro...Roe." Roe? Aurora fumed silently. Reserve the crap name for her? How touching.

"Hm." the toad eyed them calmly, but a glint in his round eyes put Rapunzel on guard. 

"And you?" Rapunzel flicked (a few strands) of her hair. 

"I am Gobstopper." the toad croaked. Snow White frowned.

"How ironic. I thought a gobstopper shuts people up with its layers of sugar, but YOU can't seem to shut up, let alone be sugary sweet." 

Gobstopper sneered. 

"GIVE ME MY BALL BACK. NOW!!" Princess Lillia shouted, her face screwed up in frustration. She wasn't use to people ignoring her orders. She was a PRINCESS. She was SPECIAL. People SERVED her. 

Gobstopper smacked his lips and grinned.

"Oh, for god's sake." Rapunzel grabbed each of her friends' wrists. "We have no time for this. Remember? Save the world?"

But Aurora stood transfixed by the scene. Her head was buzzing. There was something about this that seemed familiar, important. A little princess yelling at a talking toad because of a twisted deal involving a kiss and a golden ball.

A golden ball.

A gold ball.

Aurora's eyes widened as best as they could and a lightbulb flashed above her head. "No." she said. "We can't leave now."