Storybook Perfection

Prologue

New York, 2004

The heavy New York rain poured harder than ever before. The unforgiving wind added to the misery of the place. On a dark alleyway, two peculiar people met discussing a delicate matter.

"Are you sure?" Fairy Godmother asked. "There are other ways," she reasoned.

"Positive," the Queen replied in a hushed whisper. Her gray eyes were filled with worry. "Sending her here... it's the only thing I can think of."

"You will make enemies. There will be people out to get her."

The Queen's eyes narrowed. "You said if I sent her here she would be safe!"

"And she shall be," Fairy Godmother reassured. "You and I have to stay here until you give birth. That is when I will place the spell on her. No one can touch her until her 16th birthday. Then I will return for her and bring her back home."

The Queen looked hesitant. Noticing this, Fairy Godmother continued.

"The Council of Magic decided that this way was best. After Merlin's prophecy --"

"Enough talk of this prophecy!" the Queen snapped. "I have heard it thousands of times."

"Well then I suggest," Fairy Godmother started firmly, "if you truly value the life of your daughter, that you do as I say. There are bad people after her. So if you would like to keep your Happily Ever After then you should take these precautions."

The Queen went silent. "All I ask," she started quietly, "is that she returns to me as soon as possible. Spells of protection don't last forever. And when they wear off --"

"I assure you that your daughter will be back in your arms in no time."

The Queen looked down at the bump on her belly with tender love. "After the heroes won the War of Ever After, I thought it meant peace with the villains. Clearly not."

"They are greedy. They are satisfied with nothing. Their pride and greed is their fatal flaw -- it is the reason they will never get a Happily Ever After like us."

Tilting her head, the Queen looked at Fairy Godmother curiously. "We all have fatal flaws. Perhaps they are simply better at accepting theirs than we are. We all like to assume that we are incapable of wrong. In the process, that helps us make excuses for our wrongs."

Fairy Godmother waved her hand dismissively. "Nonsense, dear, nonsense! Do you hear yourself?"

"I'm simply saying --"

"Silence. We are running out of time. We must find a place to settle. Your baby is due in a few weeks. It takes the most talented and powerful magical people and assets to travel between worlds. We must hurry," Fairy Godmother warned.

"She is the next keeper of the pen." The Queen looked at her stomach once more, this time with anxiety. "She could change the world of Happily Ever After forever. The prophecy said --"

"I thought you wanted to hear no more of the prophecy," Fairy Godmother interrupted. The Queen looked at her helplessly. Fairy Godmother studied the expression on her face. As much she enjoyed being right, she knew that she needed to be there for an old friend.

"Look," she began, more gently this time."This is your child destined for something great. Not Snow White, not Sleeping Beauty, and not Cinderella. There's a reason for that; I'm not quite sure what it is, but there is a reason. And I know in my heart that all will turn out well in the end. It always does. If anything can be learned from our stories, it is that good always wins."

She caressed her hair soothingly, and the Queen released a sigh of relief. She eyed the bus stops, roads, and apartments that surrounded her with distaste.

"This doesn't seem to be the most... appealing world," she remarked. "Back home our staircases were plated with pure gold."

"That is true," Fairy Godmother agreed. "However, this world has come a long way since I last visited. The dark ages were a bleak time for humans here."

"I suppose we could manage here for three months."

---

"Don't worry, Your Majesty," Fairy Godmother assured. "I can see her head! Keep pushing."

Three months later, a Queen lay in the bed of her tiny apartment room, ready to give birth. It consisted of one bedroom, a small living room, and a kitchen. It was a desolate place; the duo found it somewhat comforting to engage in soap operas during their daily life. They had enough money from The Other World to give them food and provisions while they hid out in New York. Every moment was spent preparing for the day the Queen would go into labour. Fairy Godmother had no idea how long the labour would take, so she had her spell ready for use in any scenario. Performing magic in this world was nearly impossible -- it was, after all, a land with no magic of its own. Due to the unfortunate fact that this world could not produce any natural magic, magic had to be brought from another world; namely, The Other World.

Similar to the laws of matter, magic could neither be created nor destroyed in the world of New York; all magic came from pre-existing magic. Since no magic could pre-exist naturally in this world, then the pre-existing magic had to come from somewhere else.

Nevertheless, the awaited day had arrived.

The rain had not given them a break since they first arrived, and it tapped on the shabby windows, coming down with a vengeful force.

The Queen cried out in agony, tears streaking her dewy face. She struggled to push out the child and thought about giving up.

"Don't stop," Fairy Godmother urged. "Come on, one more push; you're so close."

Using all the force within her, the Queen placed her delicate hand on to the edge of the bed. Letting out a piercing scream, she pushed with all her strength and might. She had never felt such agony in her whole life. Beads of sweat appeared on her forehead and ran down her face. She pushed once more, and immediately all the pain left her. Every nerve in her body settled. A wave of relief washed over her. The pain seeped away, and she felt better than she ever had.

A tender cry was heard from between her legs. A baby girl had been born. Fairy Godmother wiped the little child and wrapped her in a blanket.

She looked up at the Queen. "Would you like to hold her?"

The Queen nodded vigorously. Fairy Godmother leaned over and placed the child on her chest. Immediately, her crying was replaced with coos of satisfaction. The mother hummed softly in the ear of her newborn. She caressed her ever so tenderly, adoration filled in her heart.

"I don't want to give her up," the Queen said quietly, looking down. "There must be another way. We could give her to the Assembled Council of Fairies, or --"

"Belle," Fairy Godmother said sternly. "We must do this to protect her -- to protect all of our happily ever afters."

The Queen looked at her newborn daughter, tears forming in her eyes. "You have the adoption centre ready?"

"Yes, my dear. We must act quickly"

She looked up. "And the spell? To protect her, and take us back home?"

"Yes, darling. You will meet your child once again. She will be fine."

The Queen rocked the child in her arms.

"She has my eyes," she sobbed.

Collecting herself, she wiped the tears that ran down her cheeks. Placing the child on the bed, she rose from where she lay. Even though she had just painfully given birth, she moved quickly to gather the spell books and light baggage they had brought to New York with them.

Determination in her gray eyes, she handed the spells to Fairy Godmother.

"Do it," she whispered. "Cast the spell."