Chrisom Roses

Chapter 6

Disclaimer:

I do not claim the original fairy tale, but CR's plot and characters belong to me. Any famous songs, TV show/movies/books and manga names, and brands that are mentioned in this work belong to their rightful owners.

Willa Field

-.-.-.-.-.-

Four:

Unclear Remembrance

-.-.-.-.-.

Darkness surrounded her but she wasn't scared or afraid. Willa was calm; like she expected what was coming next. It was a comforting feeling to have and it brought a smile to her lips. The last time she felt this safe was the first time Adnet held her and when she sang that hauntingly familiar song the day before:

In a smooth action she couldn't be able to do outside of the dream world, the ginger sat down on what seemed like the floor as the scene bled into a beautiful teenage girl standing there in the falling snow, wearing a pure white gown, smiling.

Willa titled her head a little, confused as of why she was there in this strange place. It looked like somewhere from a forgotten past, but whose was it? And why was the ginger seeing the bleached gingered haired teenage girl's past?

Willa knew the girl was waiting for someone but didn't exactly know who it was. She watched as the ginger slowly walked forward to the railing of a balcony and leaned into it, looking out to the most beautiful sunrise Willa ever seen. Willa licked her lips as the bitter wind tickled her bare skin but the cold didn't bother her, in fact, she welcomed it like an old friend, and she was happy to be there in the beautiful place:

It was as if this was a familiar scene, but she never remembered it, it was a forgotten memory, something that faded from her mind but there is something in the back of her mind that yells at her to recall the scene in front of her. That she needed to remember this scene to understand something unseen, but she couldn't remember anything around her. It was like a block was placed in her mind and it was maddened to her.

The wind woke her from her and the ginger turned back to the beautiful scene, again wondering why she wanted to remember this:

The swirling snow and the smiling girl are so familiar to her that Willa just wanted to go up to the girl and ask her who she was, but she could not move from the spot she was frozen to. Then, the wind carried a soft whisper, a voice the beautiful young woman knew instantly. After hearing him every day, Willa could never forget that beautiful voice.

"Rosabella, where are you?" Rosabella turned her head quickly as Willa followed her lead when she searched for the owner of the deep, comforting voice.

And moments later, the beautiful girls' eyes met the amber ones of Willa's friend and soon-to-be lover, Adnet Zaw, as he walked towards the light ginger. She knew that this man was her Adnet, for the ginger wouldn't mistake his sweet smile. And he was smiling so sweet at the other ginger, it almost caused Willa to become high on a sugar rush and she wanted to be jealous of the ginger tanned beauty, but she couldn't bring herself to hate her:

The girl felt a connection to the other girl which felt like they were the same soul. It was an odd but amazing sensation and it was a new feeling.

Teenage Adnet was wearing his old-fashioned suit with his blonde hair tied into a tight ponytail and his grin placed onto his thin lips:

"There you are, I've been looking for you. What are you doing out here?" He asked as he stopped next to her, his arms folded on the railing.

She smiled in return to the question, nodding to the snow so the teen knew why she was out here, not wanting to miss anything:

"Oh, you wanted to see the snow?" The blonde-haired young man chuckled, c*****g his head to her, causing Rosabella to giggle deeply and lifted her hands as they moved wildly in the air in a giddy movement.

"Oh yes! Winter is my people's masterpiece, after all. It is my duty as the northern winter fairies' princess to see the beauty of it. It is so wondrous, do you think so, beloved Adnet? I couldn't help but come out here and watch as the flakes danced." She said excitedly, spinning in a giddy swirl. The younger ginger watched her, jealously finally seizing her heart:

The beauty wanted to be that free, but she knew it would take her a while to get to that point, no matter how much she wanted to just drop her baggage at her feet and run far away. No matter what her new family would say to ease her scars, she always would be fighting her demons. Sitting just a few feet away from the joking young couple, Willa was reminded that this won't be easy. She would not be that giddy girl Rosabella was.

Willa hugged herself tightly as the tears slowly dropped from her eyes, feeling so angry at herself for being so weak and running away from her problems by hiding in her mind, away from her friends and her kind beast. She let her past have power over her, just as her sisters, and now she was causing them pain and worry because she was so damn weak.

Why was she so weak, so damn weak, to just let go her past?! Why!? Why was she so afraid when Willa has her family to back her up?! Why was she being tortured like this!? Seeing this scene was showing her that she was nothing like this girl, but it's high time that she became braver!

She slammed a fist, angrily growling as the scene begun to change once more, unknown to the ginger.

-.-.-.-.-.-

The scene changed to a beautiful wooden land, and the ginger was placed on the path as she watched the other ginger ran passed with tears fell from her green eyes. The young woman stared in shock, unable to drop her beautiful eyes from the running beauty.

Rosabella ran hard with hot tears in her eyes, the words of her mother still ringing in her head, and they crushed her heart like a car crashed into it. It cannot be true! It can't be! She screamed inside, her feet drumming against the dirt:

"You are the worse! Adnet will never want you, you little wrench!"

She never believed anything her mother before, but she couldn't help but feel hopeless and horrible about the hateful words, not wanting to believe them but they still held fast onto her heart and the ginger couldn't help the doubts from swirling up from her stomach.

Rosa leaned against the tree close to the other ginger, crying as she slid down to the grassy ground. She wanted to believe that she was the one Adnet wanted to be with but it was hard when the words played in her head like a bad song.

They wanted to remind her that she might be not what the handsome blonde wanted in a mate. Sighing deeply, the beautiful ginger brought her knees to her chest as she tried to calm down her rushing mind when the sound of crushing grass made her turn to the smirking salmon-haired witch. Rosabella jumped up back onto her feet, growling angrily deep in her throat:

"What are you doing here, Zara? Did mother sent you to find me?" Rosabella asked coldly, backing from her smirking aunt, warily staring at the evil witch, causing her to gasp over-dramatically.

Willa looked feverishly between the two women, not sure what was going on here as the scene played out in front of her. She was afraid that the pink-haired woman would hurt the beautiful princess by the look in her eyes.

"Rosabella, why are you distrustful with your mother and me?! My child, I won't hurt you, you know that. Come on, my sweet and tell auntie what is wrong." Zara soothed her niece as she tried to wrap an arm around the ginger-haired woman, but the ginger slapped her hand away as she glared at her aunt, trying to make sure that she won't try something towards the younger woman.

"Why do you care now? You never did before, you only come around when my mother needs you to abuse me even more than she did after the fact. Did she told you to come and kick me when I was down, dear aunt?" She crossed her arms, glaring more harshly.

The witch smirked once more, leaning against the tree. Zara was sent by her lovely sister, yes, but not to kick her down and abuse the ginger more. Oh no, what she was sent for was much, much more sinister, and the salmon-haired woman absolutely loved it! She loathed the little b***h and her attitude.

"You are right, Rosabella. I'm not here to abuse you, I'm here to kill you! You weren't even supposed to be born, Isabella was going to be the heir but your loving father," Zara scowled deeply, slowly stalking forward to her backing niece as her claws came out sharp like knives, "choose you! If you are gone, Adnet would have to choose Bella and she will be the queen of northern Da Fae! You will die tonight, Rosabella!"

But, instead of being afraid and running away from the crazy-eyed witch, the ginger laughed heartedly as she shook her head in amusement at her ignorant actions. She walked forward with her hand twitching to fight for her life:

"Adnet will never choose her, Zara, she is not his mate. You of all people should know that once a being finds their mate, they cannot choose nor can they want anyone but their mate. And, you know that I am his mate from the moment you met him by the way he was looking at me. He cannot marry Bella and you and mother dearest know that, that is the law of the fairies, and if you force him to marry Bella, you will bring mercy upon them both and you will die from your decision to make them go through a forced marriage."

The witch roared loud in anger, and when the ginger was finished, she launched herself at the smiling princess, but she hit the tree instead when she moved over and then Rosa grabbed the salmon-haired woman, pinning her to the grassy ground. The two women wrestled over the power in the fight until the salmon-haired witch pinned the younger woman underneath her and took the chance to punch the beautiful ginger hard, making her head snap toughly against the grassy ground, and her eyes rolled behind her head.

The ginger, unconscious and still, was just where the witch wanted.

Willa gasped hard at the scene, her hand covered her mouth as she watched the beautiful witch pulled out a blue vile, holding an odd-looking pink liquid, and the woman smirked proudly as she tipped the ginger girl's head back:

"Too bad that you weren't strong enough to fight back against your death, your sorry excuse of father didn't teach you well enough my dear." She smirked gleefully as she put the cloak of the bottle between her teeth and pulled it out.

With one crueler look, Zara poured the liquid down the walls of the ginger's throat.

When she was sure that the ginger was gone, the witch smirked like a hunting cat and she disappeared into the trees, leaving the broken body on the ground like a forgotten toy. Willa shook with fear, wanting to go to the girl, but her feet wouldn't obey her request. Or at least until she wasn't aware that she was moving towards the laying beauty, muttering lowly under her breathe. What was going on with her? Her mind questioned in wonder:

"Rosa, I'm so sorry, are you the princess in the story? The one who will break the curse?" Willa whispered softly, caressing her cheek.

As she caressed her cheek, the other ginger's face fell to the side and gave the gray-eyed ginger a better view of it. And the view made her gasp in shock.

It was like looking in a mirror, and shocked and bewildered, she wondered why in the hell she didn't notice it before. Rosabella was like her. They looked like a perfect pair of twins, they were just a copy of each other:

Her thick lashes were laid in a perfect half-moon against her milky closed lids and against her high-set cheekbones just below her eyes. Her nose was set a little too small between her close-set eyes, but it was a cute feature she liked about her face. Her lips were tiny but full, and rosy. And with skin as white as almost snow, those lips were a bright red, like her hair. She was beautiful, no doubt about it, and she lifted to the sky in thought.

Was this what Adnet see when he looked at her?

Willa sighed deeply in sorrow, wiping her eyes before she removed Rosa from the awkward laying position she was placed into a more comfortable position and cleaned her face with care; as she cleaned, Willa whispered sweetly and softly to the peaceful-looking beauty all the way.

"I wonder if we are the same, Rosa, you know the answer, do you?"

And with that last whisper, a light began to swallow the ginger, telling her the scene was changing once more:

-.-.-.-.-.-

When the light died down again, she was lowered to the floor once more, out of breath, in a blank room.

Was that a dream? Willa wondered as she caught her breath, a hand over her heart and her head reeling with confusion. She was so confused, but also so excited, not really knowing why.

Sure, she found that Rosa looked like herself, but it was dream. Was it?

Soon her breath returned to her and her racing heart slowed, allowing her to look up again. Willa was expecting pure darkness in front of her like before, but there was a strange mirror against the black wall surrounded by a white light; she c****d her head in question before she made her way to the mirror, gasping when she saw the other ginger smiling back at her lovingly:

"Hello sister, you kept me waiting quite a long time." She said in a soothing tone, it was odd to hear her talk to her after seeing her fall to the ground, death freezing her body. How was this possible?

"Sister? I don't understand. And…. how in heck are you talking? I thought you were dead…." This earned her a giggle and a shake of her head.

"You will soon, sister, don't worry about figuring this out just yet. Just enjoy your new life, your new family. And remember, I am always with you, you are never alone anymore. Now go, they are waiting for you." Rosa raised to touch the cool glass, smiling sweetly, her head urged her to meet hers:

And as soon as Willa did, the mirror and darkness melted away, causing the ginger to fall, screams echoed around her fading form…

-.-.-.-.-.-

Oh, my head…. was the first thing that she thought as her eyes slowly opened, her body awaking to the world again, but they just closed again because of the harsh lights of the thousands of stars and the moon.

What was that? Willa wondered as her mind wandered back to the dream and rolled into a ball; gripping her head as she tried to soothe the harsh pain, still baffled by it but she was amazed at how magical it seemed. It was like a scene from of her books, it couldn't be real but somewhere inside of her whispered otherwise.

With a shake of her head to free herself from the confusing thoughts, Willa's eyes adjusted to the lights so she finally sat up, ignoring the sharp pain in her head, and thought about the dream. It was amazing to her. To find that she might be the rebirth of Rosabella and she will be the one to break the curse on Adnet. She might really be a princess

Before she arrived at the castle, Willa didn't believe in magic and fairy tales, but now she couldn't be so sure.

Willa sighed deeply as she wiped a hand over to free the sweat caked onto her pale forehead from it, moving into her chair while her chest heaving hard from the shock of the dream. She needed to talk to Adnet, she needed to know the truth behind the reality of the dream. She needed to know the truth of her identity:

She moved down the darkly lit hallway, her robe protected her from the aching cold, as she wheeled to the only brightly lit room in the long hallway. The beautiful ginger was about to go in when voices lofted out of the room, stopping her short. She moved to the wall and stays silent as she listened to the harsh conservation that was carried on the chilly wind, her mouth hanging to the floor in silent shock.

"You'll have to tell her soon, Adnet, otherwise she won't be able to fight Calla off when the time comes. We need to protect her, honey." A soft feline voice said matter-of-factly, making Adnet growl deeply in his throat and she jumped when a big thud echoed from the room. Then, she stuck a peek through the door to see the scene playing out:

A beautiful strawberry-blonde was sitting in a wheelchair, with Alec and Anna and Maria by her looking grim, by the roaring fireplace. She looked at Adnet with a gentle expression as his back was turned, it was shaking in sadness and anger.

"Don't you think I know that? I just don't know how to. She was so fragile when she arrived here from her hideous sisters, I don't want to scare her off. She is human now, and you saw how she reacted when she saw you guys' talking, she almost freaked the hell out." He explained, mostly to the objects around the sitting blonde, growling as he turned back to the group with a scowl placed onto his lips.

She looked at the strange scene, confused. Was he talking about her? She asked herself as she leaned in more. But, she knew the answer already, she just didn't want to face it:

"I know that, honey, but she needed to know who she is, really know." The blonde stated calmly, her blue eyes sparkling in the shining fire. She was beautiful, like an angel. Or a fairy.

"I know, damnit, I know what I need to do, but I just can't lose her again. I need her too much."

She quickly slammed against the wall, her hand covered her mouth as the tears fell from her eyes like tiny rivers streaming against her milky skin. She was right, oh god, she was right:

She is the rebirth of Rosabella, the sharp pain in her head grew with that realization.

As the voices continued to talk about what Adnet should do with her, she stumbled back to her room and back to the comfort of her bed; she had to think, try to make sense of what she just had found out moments before. Needless to say, Willa did not fall asleep after hearing that.

A few hours later, as the sun danced into the sky, Annalisa slid into the room with a smile placed onto her red lips and that day's outfit over her wooden arm. But when she saw the dark circles under her eyes, she was no longer all smiles.

"Hey baby girl, are you okay?" Annalisa asked with sadness laced into her voice, as if she knew that she was there in the door as they were talking about the ginger

"I'm okay, madam, it's just….I had a dream again and it's getting to me." Willa leaned from her room, lifting her legs off its soft surface, not moving her eyes to her tutor. And that worried her even more as the duster moved next to her charge, placing the shirt and riding pants outfit on the unmade bed before she grabbed her hands in her own.

"Do you want to talk about it, sweetie? I'm here, you know I am."

After she told her charge this, there was a pause on the other person's part as Anna watched her worriedly, letting the ginger think about things she didn't want to think about, but she knew she needed to.

About what she found out and whether or not to tell Annalisa she was there and she knew that they were talking about her. About Adnet and her feelings about him now when she knew the truth about herself. But she had to keep this close to her until Willa had all the memories and the whole truth behind her new story so it would ensure the happiness that the news will bring her beast:

So, as she leaned back on her elbows, the ginger sighed deeply again at how similar her life has become to a fairy tale. The dreams, the feelings, and the strange sensation of being at the castle before are all elements of the greatest fairy tales. She was in the middle of a story came into life and she wasn't exactly sure if she was ready to a part of it.

Willa leaned up again and sighed once more before she turned to her tutor with a smile, shaking her head. She will wait until the whole story is revealed to her, she thought as a sense of peace came over her heart.

"No, Madam Annalisa, I'm fine. It wasn't a bad one, it just confused me. I will tell you about it later, but I can't say anything right now. I need a little more time." The ginger assured her friend, holding her dear friend's wooden hand in hers.

The duster still was worried, but she nodded slowly, accepting that she was just beginning to understand her friend. She was stronger than they thought.

"Ok sweetie, I'll let it go, for now at least. But, you need to tell us soon, my darling." The motherly duster stated sweetly, moving to her outfit to start their day, trying to forget that the ginger was hiding something and she had a feeling that she knew what she was hiding.

But for now, she will not say anything, she will just have to see where this leads the master and the new princess.

After the ginger was ready in her outfit and her hair placed into a tight braid, the duster pushed her to the throne room where the master was waiting with a wide smile placed on his lips.

Anna sighed deeply, hating to see him acting like nothing happened last night but she knew it was for the best. They couldn't risk her running away and getting hurt, so she just bowed and left the room, whispering under her breath:

"The story is just beginning…."

-.-.-.-.-.-

"Okay, mistress, on one, I want you to shoot, you can do it. Just breathe and become a part of the arrow. That's great, sweetie, keep it up." Alec reassured her, smiling as he held his gaze on the ginger holding the arrow. He was training the princess today in the art of shooting an arrow.

Although Willa was skilled in her own talents, the master wanted her to be protected when no one was near her to do so. So, he chose the arrow because it was a perfect weapon for the small human; strong but beautiful.

And, when this decided and the princess was getting lessons almost every day; everyone at the caste knew that if he lost her in the battle against the rebels, they could not imagine what would happen to him. She was his world now and if she is taken from the water Tribe's* prince once more, he might have to follow her to wherever death leads and they would be left without a strong ruler, leaving the throne to Calla to take.

And so, he will do anything to keep that from happening, and if that means pushing her to be the best she could be, he would do that just so she will be safe from any harm the evil creatures might give her.

He enlisted Alec to teach her for the clock was the most patient and cool-headed being in the caste and the young beast knew he would spoil her if he taught her himself.

After hearing Alec's statement, Willa breathed evenly as she stared at the target behind the bow, ready to shoot, and a moment passed on as she let her fingers let go of the sting and the arrow flew straight for the bull eye. She smiled, setting her bow down, and reached for the water bottle on the table.

Alec grinned as his student took a big gulp of water, and after the ginger set the bottle down once more, the clock rushed over to the princess and squeezed her in a big, proud hug with his growing grin still placed onto his handsome face:

"Very good, Willa! You are a great archer, that's a very powerful thing to be! You are truly meant for great things. The master will be so proud of you, Willa."

Willa smiled at him as he let her go, chatting excitedly about her new-found skill, but the ginger couldn't focus on the words. Her body was tinging with excitement and strength.

As she held her arrow in her grip, Willa felt finally like the princess everyone saw her as.

Maybe it was fate that the dreams placed into her heart, she thought that they shot some sense into her. And now, she could be free from the monsters of her past and she could focus on becoming who she was meant to be, and now saving her people and the man waiting for her was the most important thing to her now. And nothing or no one will stop her now, she will fight with everything in her heart.

She would become who her parents raised to be, become the woman her mother always knew she could be.

-.-.-.-.-.-

*Adnet is the prince of the Water Elves. The Elves are cousin-species to the fairies. Elves are not what you expect, besides the ears, they aren't short and always giddy. In folklore, they are supernatural beings that hold powers and inhuman beauty. The power you hold is dependent on what tribe you are born into; the tribes are: Water, Air, Fire, Earth, and the Royal Tribe who has all four and rules over the other four.