Once Upon a Time: Ever After High (Book 5)

Ch.45 Beauty

Everyone continued to slide down the beanstalk while being careful not to fall off, and soon they were able to make it safely down to the bottom.

"Oh my God" Elena said as she tried to steady herself from feeling dizzy "I am never doing that again."

"Is everyone okay?" Jack asked.

"We're fine" Olivia said "I think."

After that Jillian was finally able to reunite with her dad as they went into a hug.

"Oh my God I thought you were dead" she said with relief.

"I almost was" he said as they pulled away.

As she continued to reunite with her dad, Olivia pulled out the blue bean and examined it.

"Oh good you got the bean" Elena said with relief.

"Yep" Olivia said "It took a while but we finally found it."

"Hey Jillian" Elena said "Now that we got the bean, would you and your father like to come with us?"

"What?" Jillian said.

"I mean everyone else is in Storybrooke, plus Ever After is still kind of cursed, so why not come to Storybrooke with us?"

"Really?" she said surprised as she turned to her dad.

"I don't see why not" he said.

"So you'll come?" Olivia asked.

"Sure" Jillian said with a small smile "I can't wait to see everyone."

"Alright then" Olivia smiled "Let's get going."

But right before she could toss the bean on the ground, a rustle was heard as the Veronicub and Foxanne appeared.

"Hey are those Crystal's snow pixies?" Olivia asked as the pixies went up to them and tried to talk to them with scared looks on their faces.

"What are they saying?" Jillian asked.

"I'm sorry" Elena said to them "But we don't understand what you're saying."

At that point the pixies grabbed onto Elena's and Olivia's hand and started to pull them as Jillian and Jack followed. The pixies continued to pull them until they came upon a sleigh that was attached to some polar bears in the front.

"Whoa" everyone gasped.

"Wait isn't that Crystal's sleigh?" Olivia said.

The pixies then went onto the sleigh and motioned everyone to hop in.

"I think they want to take us somewhere" Jillian said.

"Well by the mood of their faces it must be an emergency" Elena said "Come on."

After everyone got into the sleigh, the pixies motioned the polar bears to move as they were pulled by the bears and soon they rode into the sky on an ice trail.

________

By nighttime, snow continued to fall into Storybrooke until the streets were covered in snow, and in the library, snow didn't seem to bother Kim right now, instead she was focused on her mirror. Ever since her encounter with her reflection in the Trolden Mirror, she couldn't stop thinking about her beauty as she looked at her reflection.

Remembering the mean things her reflection told her, Kim decided to take off her glasses and examine herself without them. She did feel a lot prettier without them on, but she could barely see without them. She then gave a sad sigh as she rubbed her face and rested her face in her palms. Her reflection was right, ever since she was young, she struggled with her beauty, and even though in her story she was suppose to be beautiful, she didn't feel beautiful.

And there we times when she would feel jealous of other girls who she thought were prettier than her, but she always hide it so they wouldn't see her suffering. She even had thoughts about getting contacts, but she wasn't able to afford them so she had to stick with her glasses. But her thoughts came to a stop when the door opened and Aidan stepped in and brushed the snow off himself.

"Damn it's a rough snow day" he said as he went up to the counter "I nearly slipped on ice 3 times today."

"Yikes" Kim said surprised.

"Anyway, I'm just here to return the book" he held up the 'Snow Queen' book "Now that we have a theory of what happened to Noelle, I don't think we need it anymore."

"Alright then" she said with a small smile as she took the book "Thank you."

"Hey I've been meaning to ask you, what did you see when you looked in the Trolden Mirror?"

"I'm sorry, but I said I didn't want to talk about it" she said as she went to a shelf and slid the book in.

"Well whatever you saw must of really affected you" Aidan said as he went up to her "I've noticed you've been acting strange ever since you told us about the mirror."

"It's nothing okay?"

"Actually it's not okay, what's wrong Kim? You can tell me."

Kim then gave a sigh, not knowing what else to say, she decided to tell him.

"Remember how the Trolden Mirror shows all of your biggest fears and darkest secrets?" she said with a sad look.

"Yeah."

"Well, my reflection told me that the reason no guy wants to be the beast in my story is because I'm not pretty enough for them."

"What?" he said shocked.

"I mean why else do they not want to be the beast?"

"Kim, when I discovered that I was really the beast in your story, I was shocked, but not because you weren't pretty enough, do you honestly think that?"

"Ever since I was young I struggled with my beauty" she said sadly "And I still do."

"Well you shouldn't have to, you've always been beautiful."

"Really Aidan?" she doubted.

"Yes, and I mean that, it's even in your name, Rosabella Beauty, meaning you're beautiful, don't say you're not pretty enough."

Kim then gave a sad sigh "I guess that mirror just made me think that."

"It's the Trolden Mirror it's suppose to do that, and don't listen to it, you're beautiful the way you are."

_______

Walking down the sidewalk, Ilene's phone started to ring as she pulled out her phone and saw that Amanda was calling.

"Hey" she said.

"So you gonna tell him?" Amanda asked.

"Yep" she smiled "I saw him go into the library, I'm gonna do it."

"Alright good luck."

_______

"So are you okay now?" Aidan asked.

"I guess" Kim sighed.

"Hey, don't let anyone judge you by your looks, just be the confident and beautiful girl you are."

"Thanks" she said with a small smile as they went into a hug.

But when they pulled away and looked into each others eyes, they suddenly felt themselves lean in, and without thinking they went into a sweet kiss. But as they were doing so, Ilene arrived at the door and couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Aidan and Kim kissing inside through the glass door. She just stood there with shock, after discovering that she still had feelings for Aidan, she didn't expect Aidan to already move on.

As she felt her heart break and her eyes water, she clenched her fist with anger and jealous as she ran away and burst into tears.