Snowflake (Peter Pan OUAT x Reader)

Chapter Six

       Shimmering dresses. Fresh-pressed suits. Glittering chandeliers. Waltz after waltz after waltz.

       Elaborate hairstyles. Shining shoes. Polished floors. Corsets pulled insanely tight.

      Sparkling jewelry. Gold buttons. Clear-cut crystal. Dessert tables piled high with delectable treats.

       Spinning and spinning and spinning. One partner right after another. Handsome faces with crowns on top of perfectly styled hair. Girls wanting to win those crowns, especially from those who wore the crown. Getting a crown prince was everything around here (HTTYD reference anyone?). But you didn't care, as long as he was your true love, you would make a way for the two of you. Besides, it was very unlikely that someone without riches would make their way in here. But then again, you did, so it couldn't be that hard.

      Each sequential ball, you begged for a fancier dress, and made the maids tighten your corset a bit more. You spent less and less time testing desserts, and more and more time dancing, and searching the crowds for a face, a face that didn't look like every other blank or pompous face. There were some, but none of them called to you. Well, they did, because they were a break from all the other boring fakes, but they didn't call to you.

       Whenever you came back from a ball, Snow would take one look at your face and envelope you in her arms, whispering encouraging nothings. They were no longer even encouraging, only a reminder of how low you had fallen, or how low you had always been. You couldn't even bear to see Snow and Charming together, they only reminded you of what you would never be able to find. Whenever you saw them, you looked away quickly, blinking rapidly, and determining to make the maids tighten your corset even tighter. You would even cut back on food to be a little bit skinnier, look a little bit more like the ethereal image of a princess. Maybe then you would be ready, you would be good enough for him when he finally showed up.

      The majestic Spring Soiree was coming up. You ate even less than ever before and drank more and more water. You applied innumerable lotions to your skin, making it smooth and soft as a freshly blossomed rose. You practiced your dancing, practiced behaving elegantly, practiced talking like a royal. Anyone who was anyone would be coming to this ball, and soon it would be time for you to return to your father, so you didn't have much time. He did say that you could stay for when Snow had her baby and got it settled in, so you would be staying a month longer than originally planned.

      The days passed quickly as you did everything you could think of to make yourself perfect before what was really your last chance. You had to convince your father not to come to the Spring Soiree, telling him that if he were there, it would make it that much harder to find a rich prince, because he would unnerve you. Once you explained that showing up would likely cause him a huge loss of money, he conceded, but threatened that if you didn't find a prince soon, he'd bring you back home to meet Sir Richard.

      You took a deep breath. Tonight was your last chance for anything good to happen for the rest of your life. You purposefully were standing outside before the carriage arrived, breathing in the crisp air, as deeply as your corset allowed you to.

      You needed to calm down, otherwise you would seem just like all the other money-grabbing maidens, and you were looking for so much more. You were looking for someone you could happily spend the rest of your life with, someone with whom you were not only able to be yourself, but helped you to be that person, someone who made you stronger, someone who encouraged you to be better than you were, someone you trusted and could and would tell anything and everything to. Someone for whom you could also do all of this. You were looking for your soulmate, your true love.