~ The Fairies’ Plan A - Part 14 - Rescuing the Princess

Phillip waited impatiently in the courtyard with Samson as the kings and men were preparing themselves. The Three Good Fairies came swooping down. “Oh, Phillip. We just heard. What happened?”

“I don’t know. I woke up this morning and Aurora was missing, there was a blood trail that went over the balcony, and over the outer wall. We are going to try and pick up the trail once the kings and men are ready.” Phillip stated tersely. The fairies exchanged looks. 

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~ The Fairies’ Plan A - Part 13 - The Return of Briar Rose

“It’s going to be okay, Lily. I’m going to get us home,” whispered Briar Rose to her poppet Lily, her only remaining friend, as she pressed her back against the trunk of a tree in the darkness outside of the castle she had just escaped. She held Lily tight as they waited, as the sounds of the guards and the shadows of their torches faded into the night. It also gave her some time to rest. That climb had been hard. Jumping to the tree had been fun but she had been scared of missing the branch in the starlit darkness.

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~ The Fairies’ Plan A - Part 11 - Leah and Aurora Have The Talk

“This is going to be your room, dear.” Said Mom as she led them into a suite of rooms almost as big as the cottage. 

“Thank you. It’s so big. I don’t need anything this big, really.” 

“Oh, you will, dear.” Mom said smiling.

Rose wandered around the room as her Mom and aunts talked about things old and blue. There was a really big bed. Since this was her room now, she decided to put Lily down on the bedside table. Lily looked happy there, and made the room feel not so strange anymore.

Rose stopped in front of the mirror, her dress was blue. She was certain it had been pink, when she put it on back in the cottage. She pulled on the skirts to see it better.

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~ The Fairies’ Plan A - Part 7 -Divergence

~ The Fairies’ Plan A - Part 7 -Divergence

Briar Rose walked home to the cottage with her basket of berries, after several quiet hours of wasting time with her friends. She was so curious about what her aunts had done for her birthday. They were such dears, but not very good at being sneaky. She had tried to give them plenty of time to do whatever it was they wanted to do. She knew it would take them a couple…several tries to get it right without her help.

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~ The Fairies’ Plan A - Part 6 - Briar Rose Plays With the Wolves

It was finally springtime and young Briar Rose could go out of the house without her heavy, uncomfortable boots. Merryweather tried so hard but she just couldn’t make shoes that fit her comfortably at all. Snow got her feet cold too fast to have any fun outdoors in the wintertime. She staying inside most of the winter. 

Rose and her aunts, well Aunt Merryweather, at least, had cleaned up around the cottage a little. Flora and Fauna had gone out to check on some things and would be back in the evening. So Rose had the afternoon to herself. 

Rose had found a cave last summer and had remembered it this morning, so she skipped out to see how it had faired in the winter. She found a big she-wolf and a pair of cubs lounging in the sun. 

Briar Rose quickly climbed into the trees. 

“Hello, Mrs. Wolf. How are you and your pups today?” called Briar Rose from the high branch. It was important to be polite to your neighbors. She had already encountered wolves and after getting chased back to the cottage the alpha had said she was not prey, which was a great honor, but it was best to make sure, Aunt Flora said.

“Tired, these two nipple-nippers spent all night yowling and not sleeping, like they were supposed to.” The she-wolf said with a great big yawn that made Briar Rose yawn too.

Aunt Fauna had taught Rose more about how humans work, now that her monthlies had come. How she would go into heat each cycle, how her body expelled the preparations for a baby in her period and how to deal with it. Aunt Fauna said there would be a mate for her when the time was right. Though they had not said when that time would be. Rose was gracious and patient, the time would come, like spring time. 

“Aw, mom, but it was fun,” the cubs said after yawning too. “Can she come down and play?”

“She may,” said the fine she-wolf.

“I’m not prey, right?” Briar Rose double-checked.

“You are not prey,” stated the she-wolf with a nod of her head.

“Where is the rest of the pack, if I may ask?” asked Briar Rose. 

“They are attacking some goons that are in the forest. Disgusting hell-spawn.” The mama-wolf said with contempt.

Young Briar Rose leapt lower in the tree, surfed gracefully down a branch to the ground and soon the girl and the pups were rolling around on the ground frolicking and mock biting or tickling each other, as their species worked best. 

Briar Rose could get her legs around around a cub and flip them over so she was on top. It was a great move she could do, but they could not.

Yhen one of the cubs yelped, everyone leapt away from each other, trying to look nonchalant, and the mother-wolf’s head snapped up. 

“Ouch, that hurt! Mama, mama!” cried the pup rubbing her ear with a paw.

“What did I say about roughhousing?” said the she-wolf.

“To do lots of it, but stop if someone yelps,” replied the cub.

“That’s right. Come here and let me see,” said the mama-wolf. The little puppy walked over to her mother holding her head to one side. The mama-wolf sniffed at her pup, licked the ear and said, “It’s okay, you’re not bleeding, or anything. You’ll be fine.” Giving her young another lick on the forehead, like a kiss.

“May I see?” asked Briar Rose, Aunt Fauna had been teaching her how to help their forest friends.

The she-wolf nodded and Briar Rose gently looked at the injured ear. She could feel some indentations, but the fur had protected the skin. “Yes, everything looks fine. Ready for more play.”

“Oh yeah!” Said the puppy enthusiastically.

Roused 149 The Last Snake

- Roused

- Chapter 149

~ The Last Snake

The Princess Aurora had a snake in the grass of her soul that she knew about but hadn’t been able to charm yet. And she had been trying so hard. She had to find a way, but was almost out of time, as they danced together at the reception after their wedding.

A hangup because of all the things that happened to her; everyone had kept taking her clothes. She couldn’t take her clothes off in front of another person. It scared her too much. It brought back the terror of that dark time. 

She was married now. 

Mom, Mama and Z had told her all about what that was going to be like. She had been the Maid of Honor for her sister Rapunzel and Rapunzel had been able to tell her things Mom and Mama had not thought to tell her. She had even brought all of them together so they could get to the bottom of all the questions. It had taken days and they finally had; she couldn’t think of anything more to ask. 

But it didn’t help. Her fingers still got so weak and shaky. 

She could bathe herself as long as none of the servants were there and get herself ready for bed. She was married to her Phillip. She knew how babies were made and she desperately wanted to have children with him. But it meant doing something she couldn’t do yet. 

She couldn’t even do it in front of her own mirror. She had broken down weeping so many times, kneeling before her mirror because it had been so hard to unbutton just the first two buttons. 

Why was she so broken? 

Well, she knew why: the fairies, her beloved aunts, had taken her clothes to bring her home as a princess, but she had been so frightened at finding out they were fairies, fairies hurt princesses in all the stories. 

Then she had faced Maleficent, the Mistress of All Evil. The witch had caused her clothes to fall off, and had controlled her body to take her to the spinning wheel. All to increase her suffering and fear. Aurora hadn’t known a person could feel such fear, she had been safe in her forest.

Finally, the servants of the castle had taken her clothes too, over and over and over again. She knew, now, they had just been altering her clothes so they fit her correctly, but at the time, she was still afraid of the king and queen; they hurt their princesses in the stories, too. She had wanted to die because the pain was so terrible. She had hoped that the clothes were those magic clothes that would kill her. But they didn’t, her parents really did love her and never wanted her hurt.

Her crown was enchanted, it was plain during the day and fancy at night, that had scared her so much. She had thought it was a monster. But no, it was just another manifestation of the disagreement Flora and Merryweather had over her; much like the color fights over what color dress she should be wearing, which had frightened her too.

She loved her Phillip so much, she wanted to give him that most precious gift of sharing themselves together. They were married and they could finally share. 

She wept into her Mom’s arms the night before the wedding, knowing she still couldn’t do it.

Kneeling at the alter, gazing into his eyes, feeling his love; she would do anything for him, she loved him so very much, she wanted to love him most.

They danced and cut the cake and danced some more. She could feel the panic rise within her, it was going to be soon. He would take her to their new rooms and they would consummate their marriage, but she couldn’t.

Princess Rapunzel looked concerned as they stood together on the balcony taking a few moments of quiet time in the middle of everything. Having been raised alone they knew that they had to take small breaks from being around all the people. It was so draining. 

“Are you okay?” Asked the Princess Rapunzel, the Maid of Honor, in a beautiful lavender dress. She could easily see the near panic in her sister’s eyes. 

“No,” said the Princess Aurora, biting her red lip. 

“We’re going to have to go to our room soon, but I haven’t been able to do it myself yet, much less with anyone else watching. Why am I so broken?” the Princess Aurora, asked again, though she knew the answer.

“You know why, because of what happened to you; what other people did to you. You are a good girl and we all love you so very much.”

“I love you more,” said the Princess Aurora with a gentle smile.

“And Phillip will love you most,” said the Princess Rapunzel with understanding in her eyes.

The Princess Aurora smiled. 

“Tell me again, Z, how did he do it?” she asked of her sister, talking about her sister’s husband, Prince Eugene. It had sounded so wonderful.

The Princess Rapunzel blushed again. She knew that Phillip had gotten a talk from Mom and that Eugene had been exchanging letters with him too. He knew about that snake, though it was closely guarded from everyone outside the family. So she was pretty sure he knew what to do, but she knew her sister needed some reassurance. 

“We sat down in front of the fireplace and he took me in his arms and told me what we were going to do. It was so nice, I felt so safe in his arms. I knew that no matter what, he’d never hurt me.” Rapunzel sighed. 

“I always felt so safe in his arms, then I dragged him out into the forest for a game of Capture the Unicorn like Mama said to do. That had been an amazing experience.” Then she looked closely at her sister who was now looking intently over the walls of the castle.

“Safe,” the Princess Aurora whispered. She turned to look at her sister, a look of inspiration on her beautiful face. “I have an idea.”

Quickly outlining the idea to her sister, she got an excited nod in return. “That has got to work.” Rapunzel said.

The Princess Aurora gathered up her voluminous white skirts, exposing her bare feet and raced over to her new husband. Grabbing him by the lapels, she dragged him down for a kiss. Then said, “Come with me.”

With a bemused look on his face, cheers from the crowd and a musical sendoff from HookHand, The Princess Aurora lead her new husband out of the gates of the castle and to her forest where she sat him down on a rock in a clearing in the evening sun.

And while gazing into his loving but confused eyes, she focused all her love for Phillip and all her will on that snake in the safety of her forest. The place she had had called home for so long, that place her aunts had always told her she would be safe, with the person she knew she was safe with.

The snake rolled over and was vaporized as the full power of her love came down on it.

Her hands moved easily to her buttons as she began to dance for her husband. She danced the Lure for her Phillip, beginning a game of Capture the Unicorn. Her wedding dress flung with wild abandon around the clearing.

Did she raise a unicorn that night?

No. No, she didn’t.

She raised ALL of them!

- End of Chapter 149

Author’s Note: For the closing credits of the movie I would have the last line be from the chapter with Eugene and the little girl. Then we have a series of images showing the wedding and reception. Things like King Hubert swinging a fish, the drunk minstrel, Hookhand playing, the parents dancing and kissing, with the final bonus being Aurora and Phillip’s kiss as they leave the hall and the Book from the original movie is closed.

Roused 148 The Wedding

- Roused 

- Chapter 148

~ The Wedding of The Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip

I am standing with my head bowed and eyes closed as I had been left by those who loved me most. Veiled with the end of one adventure. I am happy and scared and loved and worried.

Doors open and the warmth of the sun kisses my lips.

I open my eyes, raise my head and smile a very special smile at my betrothed and beloved at the other end of the long carpet. We see each other as we really are, luminous and glorious beings of love and light.

My beautiful white dress gleams in the sunlight. Rainbows blaze from the crystals sewn into it. It hugs me tight and holds me close, like I want Phillip to do. My train marks the length of my hiddenness.

I remember that there are thousands of people between us, but I couldn’t see them if I wanted  to right now and I don’t want to. There is just us again, so much like that day we had met years and years ago.

I remember the cathedral draped in floaty white gauze like clouds and fog, a playground for angels, but my eyes see only my Phillip, so handsome in white and gold, next to his brother-in-arms Eugene. 

Music, from Hookhand, fills the awed silence as Dad takes my arm and we slowly walk on a path of flowers. I want to run and leap and shout and sing, to be near my beloved Phillip again. 

It takes days to walk to be near Phillip again, very soon to be my dear husband and I, his beloved wife. 

I hand my bouquet to my sister, dearest Rapunzel. Dad passes me to Phillip, his warmth flows into me again. We kneel across the alter and I hear the archdeacon talking, but I don’t really hear the words this time, I am too busy smiling at my Phillip. At the proper time I say “I do,” and I will, with all my heart.

We stand as husband and wife, and he lifts the veil on a new adventure: ours. We kiss and hold each other as if we would be one flesh forever. 

The sky darkens as bird friends from throughout the kingdom take off and circle the castle seven times before they scatter to the winds. 

We take each other’s hands. Rice and flowers rain down on us. I lift my skirt slightly and we run with abandon down the aisle together, as happy as when I had first met Phillip, in my forest. Oh, so long ago.

- End of Chapter 148