Sleeping Beauty ▷ Peter Parker

2 - WITH A LITTLE HELP

February 10, 2017

WHILE MANY LONG, SAD YEARS PASSED FOR THE KING AND QUEEN, THEIR DAUGHTER BLOSSOMED INTO THE PRINCESS THEY ALWAYS KNEW SHE WOULD BE. For everyone's safety, no one knew where the fairies had hidden the girl, and they had no way to reach out and send a message, for fear of Maleficent's chase. So, with all ties severed, the three women lived as non-mutants, raising their charge in an unassuming brownstone hidden amongst the hustle and bustle of the city, only using their powers to make sure that the protective barriers stayed in place to ward off whatever Maleficent tried to use to find them. 

The three women fought tooth and nail to keep the truth hidden, not only from the rest of the world, but from their charge herself, even down to her name. They couldn't trust her true name to keep her safe, so instead of Aurora, they called her Briar Rose.

But to think that they could hide the truth from their little princess forever had been a drastic oversight.

It was the middle of the night, moonlight pouring into the room, the starless sky the only audience to the scene within the room, watching with disinterest as it had for many nights prior, sharing the well-kept secret of the young girl inside.

In the top floor bedroom, the near sixteen-year-old was burrowed under her covers, a slight crease between her eyebrows disrupting her otherwise serene expression, a near perfect example of peaceful sleep.

The cause of the slight tension most likely had something to do with the identical figure currently hunched over the desk across from the foot of the bed, open laptop and schoolwork spread across the surface. The glow from the laptop was all that illuminated the schoolwork on the desk, the lamp far too bright for that time of night, but the figure was doing just fine all things considered, actually able to focus on the work in front of her, rather than merely sitting at the desk, hyperaware of every little breath and movement.

After all, even though her mutation had presented itself some years ago, she still had to handle everything on her own, not wanting to let her aunts know; or, rather, the women she thought were her aunts.

Aurora sighed, pushing away from her desk and her schoolwork, turning around and floating over to watch herself sleep, knowing that she would need to stop projecting soon so she could fully rest; while she had been getting better at energy conservation, she still struggled to stay awake and focused in class if she pushed herself too far.

She hummed softly to herself, floating back towards her desk. With a quick scan to confirm she had actually finished her schoolwork, she started to pack up her bag, turning her attention towards her laptop, as if the map she had labelled had changed in the time she had spent looking away.

She wished she knew what she was doing, or could ask one of her aunts to help her, but, unfortunately, she was left to her own devices, and while she was by no means inept, it wasn't much of a surprise that she would need support from time to time, and this was truly no exception.