Manipulation by the absolutely amazing aLovelyDaydream ! ❤️

OmaimaAkbar Lillian_Jones zuko_42 -TheAnimeFreak- Lacrine_Sienna silentcrown mszame OrangeDusk -fadedlights

Sooooo a few weeks (??) ago I tagged all of the people above and there was this big metaphorical battle between Lilly and me. It was over a character and after the battle "ended" I thought the whole idea was just too funny and cool to abandon. Thus, I decided to write a short story on the happenings and the short story below was born. XD

Feel free to read it if you want, but I just wanted to offer an explanation for all of the craziness I brought y'all into. XD

~

Lesser characters were always forgotten. They were lesser! Of course no one cared about them.

Sometimes they were simply brought into the story just to carry on the plot. Which was basically the only reason the she could think of for lesser characters. Even the name, 'lesser characters' was horrid.

Main character, on the other hand, sounded much more of her taste! If only she had been created for said title. She always wished to be someone important. Someone worth noticing. Someone that everyone would remember--as The Queen of Birds.

Lauren always considered herself a bit evil. At least she tried to be. Her evilness would always kick in, she'd fulfill her plan. . . and then feel bad. After feeling such a way, she would then kindly revert her evilness back to goodness. After seeing her do such wonderful things, the people who hadn't seen her original evil would praise her for such kindness she was giving.

Is that really something that someone who is trying to be evil wants to hear?

No.

Why did Lauren want to be evil? Villains are noticeable right? That was why. To be noticed was her all-time dream.

See, in Storybrook main characters were loved; at least the good ones that is. The villains had their own sanctuary too, in Horrortale. Lauren didn't really fancy Horrortale, but at least she would be noticed. Trying to become a main character through hard work, or marry a main character was almost impossible.

Therefore, evilness was the only option.

Queen of Birds wasn't exactly a very daunting title, but she had only been given one talent, and that was talking to birds. At least she had a talent! That she was grateful for. Some people were created with nothing but the skin on their back.

Lauren shivered at the thought. She loved her birds and could never imagine herself without them. How horrible it must be not to have a talent.

She whistled a tune that could be translated into words for her birds on her lips as she walked along on the stone roads of Storybrook. The kingdom wasn't a bad place, but with its thousands of residents it was hard to be noticed by the limited main characters.

The bird of the day, her conure, tweeted in a high voice next to her ear. "Hey!" she yelled. Scowling as she massaged her eye, she glared at the small bird. "You better not do that again, bird, or I'll not give you another sunflower seed for a week!"

Understanding, the small bird stepped closer to the edge of her shoulder as she continued trudging along.

Moving into the city, Lauren began to slowly make her way to the market part of the city. She needed more treats for her flock of birds that she kept at home. Just thinking of her little feathered friends made her smile. She dearly loved each and every one of them so much. They were her precious cinnamon rolls, at least that's how the definition of precious people went. . .

Finally making it through the enormous crowds of Storybrook, Lauren was just about to walk into the pet shop when she saw The Fire Lord standing outside. Waving she called, "Hey, Zuko! How's the world going?" Surprisingly, this particular Zuko was female. Lauren was pretty sure there was more than one. . . but this one was a lesser character.

"It's still 42!" she said with a smile, turning back to the crowd of children that was in front of her, blowing out fire from her mouth.

Stepping into the pet shop, Lauren immediately felt at home. The smell of bird seed instantaneously caught her senses and the faint sound of parakeets chirping somewhere in the back of the shop caused her conure a bit of excitement. He called, "Friends!" before flying off of her shoulder.

Lauren chuckled before looking for her treats and when she found them, she quickly purchased some, dragged her bird off of a cage, and left the shop.

Just as she left the shop an outcry of a dozen girls caught her ear, causing her to look to her left where a crowd of people had suddenly gathered. Finding slight interest and seeing no harm in finding out just what was going on, Lauren made her way over to the squealing crowd of mostly females.

As she approached the crowd, she rose to her tip-toes, trying to catch a glance of what had drawn the crowd.

Her breath caught in her throat when she saw who was standing on a throne in the middle of the crowd. Yannick Ravier, one of the very few princes that had caught her eye. Beside Cal, who had easily been drawn to another maiden named Mare. And Kaz, though Inej caught him in her net before Lauren could even try for him. . . and Dorian and Chaol, but that was entirely another story.

Her eyes lit up as she watched the handsome prince scowl at the crowd of squealing girls, who were already trying to win his hand in marriage before the trials even began. His silver-blonde hair caught the rays of bright sunshine as his steel blue eyes swept over the crowd. Swallowing, she wrung her fingers in between each other. If she was ever going to convince him to pick her she would have to be cunning, at least more than she had ever done before.

Someone suddenly called her silence and after much coaxing the girls finally quieted to hear what the person had to say. Lauren couldn't see anything but Yannick who still sat lazily on his throne, looking the opposite way of her.

"Yannick Ravier is here to choose a wife under the authority of the council, who has now deemed it necessary for him to wed. Each young lady will be allowed two minutes later this afternoon to speak with Prince Yannick and somehow convince him to wed her. There are no restriction safe that you may not go past a boundary line that will be set. You may speak however you wish and say whatever you wish."

"Prince Yannick will then narrow all of the young ladies down to two, who will use their gifts, whatever they may be in talent or other, to further convince him of which to wed."

Lauren watched as Prince Yannick smirked at what the announcer had said. At least she had somewhat of a hint now.

She suddenly caught the glint of something in the corner of her eye, and she looked over to find a girl staring right at her. With mahogany-red hair, piercing brown eyes, and ruby red lips that curved into a sly smirk she was truly ravishing. Covered from head to toe in all shades of blue, Lauren was sure that Prince Yannick's eye would surely be drawn to her.

What caught her eye almost instantly was the snowflake she kept manipulating in her hand. A shiver ran down her spine at the hard gaze that wouldn't leave her. Looking back at Prince Yannick, she tried to keep her breath even.

Prince Yannick manipulated snow and ice--just like her.

Taking a deep breath, Lauren narrowed her gaze on the last chance she had at being noticed.

Let the games begin.

~

She couldn't believe after all of the hard work it was finally paying off. . . sort of. But still, her meeting with Prince Yannick has been so boring. Just a normal conversation. She hadn't even told him anything about herself! They had just. . . talked.

When she had walked in the tent to find the handsome Prince Yannick, her mind had gone blank. She had thought of a few things to say in the huge line of girls, but they probably wouldn't have been anything good to admit aloud.

Yet, here she was. One of the two girls that had effectively attracted the princes attention.

Lauren remembered Prince Yannick saying something about his brother, whose name had escaped her, said that he had an odd taste in woman.

She purses her lips. Did that mean she was an odd woman?

Her mind escaped itself as a voice announced her name. She had been summoned to a small arena in the middle of town not an hour ago. It made her nervous. The two chosen girls were meant to show off their talents. . . but in an arena seemed like an odd place to perform.

As she began to slowly walk into the arena, cheers erupted and she blushed crimson.

"And now the other candidate, Lilly!"

Lauren didn't say anything as Lilly walked into the arena. She gasped. The red lips, mahogany hair, and blue clothing was unmistakable.

She was the same girl she had caught manipulating a snowflake that morning.

She had been chosen. . . and now she would have to beat her. My friends don't fail me now.

"You may begin whenever you're ready," Prince Yannick said, his voice not even echoing.

Lilly obligated almost immediately, creating a beautiful snow show, causing everyone to clap and cheer.

Pursing her lips, Lauren felt another blush taint her cheeks as she watched her opponent create something beautiful.

What was she supposed to create? She had birds. . . and something else, but she never used it.

After creating a huge ice sculpture of Prince Yannick that made even Lauren blush, Lilly looked over at her. "Aren't you going to do anything?"

She was about to reply when they girl kept talking.

"Oh! Or do you not have any powers? So sorry. Guess I'll be winning his thing." She blew snowflakes from her mouth and the sculpture she had created exploded into snow.

The audience cheered in reply.

Lauren glared over at the girl. "Actually, I do have powers."

Calling upon her friends telepathically, Lauren asked some of the most majestic birds she knew of. They came flying into the arena, circling around her as she raised her hands to the air.

All of the birds made a circle in midair as they flew upward. Then each parted at the same time, taking a spot on various spots of the top on the arena.

Lilly laughed hysterically and she tightened her jaw. "Is that really all you can do?"

Glaring, she decided that all cards would have to be on the table of she wanted to win. . . even the wild cards.

Taking a deep breath, she calmed her heartbeat. Opening up her palms a new power flooded her veins, and her fingertips sparked.

All of those walls, all of that work keeping this away. And now I'm going to just let it all go--all to win.

Is it worth it?

Yes.

Darkness flooded the arena before anyone could bat an eyelash.

Her eyelids slid closed as she allowed the tainted parts of her mind to become one with the light side of her personality.

A tremor ran through her bones as dark thoughts flooded her mind, almost overwhelming the space where imagination met reality. She wasn't sure of what she was doing anymore.

This was a mistake.

Gritting her teeth as she forced the power within her to stay controlled, her eyes fluttered open.

A malicious grin spread across her face when she saw through all of her darkness and found Lilly spinning in circles trying to find anything that looked familiar. "This is my full power."

Lilly gasped at her force.

Lauren glided forward, dark wisps flowing from her fingertips. "Do you like it?"

Lilly's face showed full terror as she turned towards her direction. "Please, I didn't mean any harm. You're not supposed to kill your opponent, just show your powers. You know that, right?"

Her grin widened. "Absolutely, doesn't mean that I can't have fun with my opponent. This is a game, right?"

She forced her darkness into a blanket that kept her fully hidden as she moved around the girl.

Lilly screamed, causing Lauren delight as her trick took of full force, making it look like she had disappeared.

Ice suddenly shot on her direction and she yelled as it cut her upper arm. She looked up with rage deep her her green irises. Lily stood in the open, her darkness being dispersed with her loss of concentration.

Arching her fingers, she was about to send a wave of power towards her opponent when a sharp voice drove a knife through facade.

"Enough!"

All eyes turned to Prince Yannick. Both girls stilled, willingly obeying.

"This has shown me that I do not yet want a wife in my life. I am sorry, but neither of you will be chosen."

Lauren's mouth feel agape as Lilly let out a sound close to an exasperated squeal. "No! Please, Prince Yannick inner you to reconsider. What will the council think of your decision?"

"Let them think what they want. I can do what I will." He turned on his heal, disappearing before anyone could utter another sound.

How could she have let this happen? He was within my grasp. I could have made a better life.

Her eyes turned to the ground as she tried to hold back all of her emotions. There would be another chance, another chance sooner or later.

Lauren turned to leave the already dispersing arena, but a voice stopped her. "Wait!"

She turned back to Lilly, suppressing a glare.

"I-I'm sorry that I cut your arm. . . Are you alright?"

She nodded. "It will heal."

"Cool birds."

Lauren felt that the compliment had come from nowhere, but she liked it nonetheless. "Thanks. Cool ice."

Lilly stepped into her line of vision, closer in proximity to her now. "Where did you learn shadow magic? I've never seen it before."

She shrugged. "I was born with it. I usually keep it hidden, but you kind of got to me."

Lilly smiled, finding it in herself to chuckle. "Yeah. I'm sure I was being a pretty big annoyance." She glanced at her arm. "I can help you with that if you want. It can heel faster with my powers because it caused it."

Lauren smiled. Maybe this girl wasn't all that bad. She had made her pretty mad and caused her to bring out her evil powers, but she seemed nice.

Even though Prince Yannick hasn't chosen  her to be his wife, he hadn't taken Lilly either. They were in the same boat, and she was kind of glad for that.

More human friends than bird friends.

~

*Unedited*

Yeah yeah a little fast paced but I'm okay with that. This was just for fun and I'm not worried about critiques.

I'm especially proud of this because it's the first full story (even though short) that I've been able to write besides Wings of War since OCTOBER of last year. Yeah.

Thanks Omi and Lilly. XD

Hope you all enjoyed! ^-^