The guardian

The other grandmother

After they had stripped the villains of all their magic and searched the shed for other stolen magical objects, the teens left the shed. They had knocked out the villains, tied them together and left them in the middle of the shed. Besides the glass slippers, the group had found a stolen healing amulet from the Rapunzel family. Astoria had been overjoyed with this finding. Her mother had lost the amulet once years ago. Once they were away from the shed, Rose pulled off the glass slippers instantly and stoved them into LingLing's hands. "Here. These are what you came for. Take them!" Rose said. She hated those shoes. How they filled her with energy and power. How they made her feel connected to the fairytale world. Because she wasn't part of that world. Cinderella had never spoken with Rose's mother again, after Clara had been banished, so Rose had never met her other grandmother before. She didn't define her as her grandmother either. Grandmothers were older women who were always stopping by to check up on you and who spoiled you to no end behind your parents back. Cinderella was a woman Rose had only heard about in fairytales and that's all she'll ever be. That's why she rejected her mother's heritage for the most part. Rose might like her shoe and pumpkin magic, but she refused to she herself as a Cinderella. She refused to be seen as a princess. She didn't go to balls, wear fancy ballgowns or dance with princes until dawn. She worked in a garage with vehicles, defeated villains, kept civilians safe and sewed shoes. Princesses sang soft lullabies, flirted with princes, ate little cakes and danced the walz. Rose sang rock and hiphop, flirted with danger, ate junk food and did break-dancing. She wasn't a princess or a fairytale. She was Rose. Anyone who begs to differ could go to hell.

Hawk was quite surprised as he watched Rose shove the glass slippers to LingLing with a look of disgust. They were her family's magical objects and she treated them like dirty underwear. To be honest he hadn't quite believed she was a Cinderella until she wore those shoes. How gracefully she ran and jumped with them. How easily she could control their great power. Sure any non-family member could activate a family magical object, but it took months of training to master the power and even then not all the power was yours. The fact that Rose could just slip on the shoes and activate their powers in a second proved her heritage.

The group soon arrived at the gate. "Well, thanks for helping me free my friends, you guys. I couldn't have done it without you," Rose said. No sooner had she let those words out, she had regretted them. "Well, well, well, look at this. The professional hero admits she needed help," Hawk chuckled, while stepping in front of Rose. "Hawk!!" Astoria hissed as a warning. Rose gritted her teeth. "Well, I only needed your friends' help actually. You're just dead weight," she countered. Hawk looked shocked for a moment, then growled in a low tone, "Say that again!" "Rose, don't do it!" Amy warned, but Rose was smirking wickedly. She couldn't contain herself. "You're just DEAD weight," she drawled. Hawk's face turned red with anger. "This is a bad hair day," Astoria sighed. "You can say that again," Joy agreed. Hawk then pulled out his wand and pointed it at Rose. "Snow Magic!" he shouted. But Rose was fast and dogged the blow, while pulling her own wand out and firing her own shot. "Pumpkin Magic!" Hawk dogged the flying pumpkins and iced the floor. "Snow Magic!" Everyone, but Rose, slipped on the icy floor. Rose swiftly transformed her shoes into ice skates and glided over the floor. She then twirled her wand. "Pumpkin Magic." Two pumpkins appeared behind Hawk, their vines strapping themselves around Hawk's body. Hawk quickly broke free from the vines, then froze the pumpkins. "That's all you got," he challenged. "Please, I'm just getting started," Rose smirked, "I'm surprised you even made it through my warm-up." And so it went on like this for another 15 minutes. Rose and Hawk got more and more wild, their spells stronger. They had completely forgotten about their friends, their eyes only on each other, desperate to defeat the other one. They were so caught up in their battle, they hadn't noticed the others leaving. George and Amy headed back to the garage, while the team went back to Regal Academy to return the glass slippers.

"Astoria dear, I'm so proud of you," Professor Rapunzel, "You found the missing Amulet of Lily Lake, the most powerful healing amulet in all of the fairytale realms." "Thanks, Granny," Astoria said proudly, "We found it in the same shed as the glass slippers." "How did you manage to find them?" Headmistress Cinderella asked, while hugging her beloved slippers. "We had help from a local fairytale descendant," LingLing offered vaguely. "Really? Well, I'd like to meet him or her and give them my gratitude," Cinderella insisted. "No need, Headmistress Cinderella. She said, our thank you's were enough for her," Travis assured, knowing that Rose wanted nothing to do with her fairytale grandmother. "Nonsense. She helped return one of my most prized possessions. I must thank her in person. Where does she live exactly?" Cinderella stayed firm with her decision. Travis sighed, "Bad luck beast." "As much as I'm happy with Cinderella having her glass slippers back, I would like to know where my grandson is," Snow White announced as she scanned the room for the blue-haired boy. "About that," Joy said nervously, while scratching her neck, "Hawk and our Earth friend don't really see eye to eye." "Which means?" Snow White pushed. "Hawk's in an alley on Earth, fighting our friend," Astoria confessed. "What?? Are you sure? He might have realized you guys were gone and returned," Snow White suggested. "With the way they were glaring at each other there's a good chance, that they haven't noticed anything yet," Travis chuckled. "Well, this is unacceptable! Looks like I'll have to go and pick them up," Snow White decided and strolled out of Cinderella's office.

Clang! Clang! The sound from her axe when smashed into the prince-dudes sword. They had decided after 1/2 hours magic combat, to try hand-combat with weapons. Rose had chosen her axe, while Hawk had pulled out his sword. It had been another 1/2 hour and still no victor. Rose had to admit she was getting tired, but she wasn't going to stop until her opponent was lying on the ground. She had to give it to Hawk. For a prince, he could really fight and was a worthy opponent. Suddenly she felt her body getting sucked into something. "What the f***!!" she cursed, as she tried to pull herself away from the force. She then noticed that Hawk had stopped fighting. He was looking at something behind her and seemed very embarrassed. Suddenly the force became way stronger and swept her off her feet. Then she was standing in a room with light blue walls and a huge round window. Rose needed a minute to realise, she had been trapped in a mirror. She walked to the window and stared at the scenery. She saw an angry old lady glaring at Hawk. She had blueish hair and wore a red and yellow dress with an apple-formed amulet. "Hawk, what is the meaning of this?" the old lady asked in annoyance. "We were just fighting til the other one loses their weapon, not to the death," Hawk grumbled. "It doesn't matter. You don't have battles for fun in other realms, Hawk, you know that." "Yes, Granny," Hawk sighed. Rose's eyes widend. "GRANNY!!" she thought, then looked at the old lady. That's when she realized she was looking at the one and only Snow White. The woman, who had taught her mother about mirror magic and magical objects, but who also made sure that her mother was banished from the fairytale world. It took her a moment to free herself from the shock and notice that they were walking towards the gate. "Wait!" Rose cried, "I don't want to go to the fairytale world. I promise I'll never set foot in your realm. You can leave me here, just like all the banished villains!" "Sorry, but Headmistress Cinderella would like to speak with you," Snow White said sharply, then they went through the gate.

Rose couldn't help but stare at the castle in awe. The towers, walls, fountains and pavement made the school look royal and elegant. She couldn't believe this place was a school. It was a freaking castle after all. Snow White and Hawk entered a huge room that looked like a ballroom with a huge chandelier. Then, they went up a few pairs of stairs, before entering a hallway. They took the third door to the right. As the door swung open, Rose first saw the rest of the team. As she looked to the back of the room her heart stopped and she felt her blood freeze. Sitting on a chair behind a big desk, was the one person, Rose had hoped she'd never have to face in her life. It was Cinderella.