My Christmas Gift for Gamergirl80 ! A Summoner Ayla! x Alfonse Cinderella tale, but with a twist or two!

This doesn't follow any particular Cinderella tale so you don't have to worry about Ayla suddenly dying midway through the story or the stepsisters hacking off parts of their body to get the slipper to fit their feet. Since it's basically a mash-up it qualifies as its own version of Cinderella (mostly because I didn't give it a Cyborg theme).

Also I wrote parts of this late at night, so you can kind of tell when I was exhausted XD.

Original Fairy Tale Name: Cinderella

Original Collector: N/A. This is a conglomeration of several Cinderella stories in that it tales the basic premise and then changes at the end.

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Some days for Ayla Cartwell were just..... neutral, to say the least. Nothing really good ever happened, yet nothing truly bad passed. She could drift through her day with no problems, and she would be left alone by her stepfamily, and not have to worry about sudden chores and jobs.

Other days, however, were hell, to put it simply.

And it seemed that as she grew older, her days seemed to fall into the latter category.

I mean, it's not to say that her life was always a monochrome landscape. She did have days of laughter and happiness, but they were rare and seemed to be distant dreams that Ayla had at night. In fact, she can't even remember the last truly happy day she had. If you were to ask her, it would have been.... What, a week ago? Or was it a month ago? She's had several rough days that it was hard to keep track of time. Sure, she knew how to use a calendar, but it's one thing to remember what day it is and another to remember whether or not your stepsister teased you about your height for the 310th time or the 431th time.

This was due to her stepfamily, compromised her stepmother Aida and three stepsisters Meng, Bleg, and Maybelle. They had a habit of driving despair into her heart and belittling her at every turn. Ayla had grown immune to their jeers, but that doesn't mean that she never cursed them out when they suddenly decided to have Ayla shine the mirrors in the Cartwell Mansion Lobby for the tenth time that day.

And to top it off, she didn't have any other living relatives (her father was dead), and no one seemed to be bothered by the fact that she hadn't shown up to balls and events, nor that she was a servant.

No one except for her neighbor, Fjorm.

Fjorm was a girl around Ayla's age who lived in the mansion closest to Ayla's family mansion (due to the Cartwell's owning lots of land and Fjorm's family owning land as well). Ayla does not remember meeting Fjorm prior to losing her family (she doubt that they did meet before) but she can remember, clear as day, when Fjorm saw her drawing water from the nearby well and offering to help her. Moments like those brightened Ayla's day, showing that despite all of the hardships she faces, there is someone out there that cares. In fact, Fjorm had tried to "hire" her once before(read: help her escape the hell she calls home), but Aida refused, citing that Ayla couldn't be separated from her ancestral home. Fjorm and Ayla, however, agreed that it was more Aida refusing to hire another servant to do all the dirty work around Cartwell Mansion.

One day when Ayla was sweeping the entrance of the Cartwell Mansion, a messenger showed up to hand her a letter. "This is for all of the ladies in the mansion," was the only thing the messenger said before he walked away. Ayla frowned before she opened the door to the Manor, only to see Aida there.

"Give me that!" Aida yells as she rips the letter away from Ayla. She tears it open and reads it before turning towards the entrance to yell at her daughters. "THERE'S A BALL TO SEE IF PRINCE ALFONSE WILL GET A GIRLFRIEND. IT IS HAPPENING TONIGHT! GO GET READY!"

There was a thud upstairs, and before Ayla can move inside, Aida takes the hand holding the letter and points it at Ayla. "No. You are not allowed to leave to attend the ball."

Ayla could only stare in shock before she snapped back into focus, mostly due to Maybelle yelling for Ayla to help her get ready. And several hours later, she was near ready to collapse in tears from exhaustion from helping her stepsisters... And from not being able to leave.

By this point, Ayla's stepfamily was gone, having left for the ball. Ayla sighed and got up, wondering what she could do when she heard a crash upstairs.

"What the heck...?" Ayla asks herself as she grabs a broom in a (flimsy) attempt to defend herself. She crept up the stairs until she reached the library, where the crash came from. Ayla tentatively opened the door, only to get knocked over by Fjorm.

"Ayla! Let's go to the ball!"

"Um.... Aida won't let me. I have to stay here, and I don't have a dress...."

Fjorm wasn't having any of that. She grabs Ayla's wrist and drags her inside the library, where a window was open and a ladder was on the windowsill. "Nonsense! You can borrow one of mine! And don't worry we can leave the ball early! No one is going to notice."

"If you say so."

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One hour later, Ayla was wearing a pink dress, had her hair done nicely, and was in a carriage with Fjorm, who happened to be wearing a white and blue dress.

"I'm going to get recognized...." Ayla muttered before Fjorm shoved something in her face. It was a mask.

"There," Fjorm replies calmly as if she hadn't shoved the pink mask onto Ayla's face. "Now you won't get recognized."

"Is this a masquerade?" Ayla asks.

"Yes. I forgot about it till now."

"O..kay."

"We're here," Fjorm announces as she puts her mask on. The carriage door opens and she steps out, waiting for Ayla to follow. Once Ayla gets out of the carriage, the two of them head up the steps and into the castle.

Ayla sucked in a breath. The room was covered in gold and blue paint, and marvelous chandeliers hung everywhere. There were many people in the ballroom, conversing amongst themselves. They didn't pay attention to Ayla and Fjorm.

In a corner, an orchestra was playing. The music that had been playing slowed down, causing everyone to grab a partner.

Ayla freaked out. Who was she going to dance with? One look around the dance floor, and Ayla noticed that Fjorm was dancing with a man. Before Ayla could escape to the side, a hand was offered to her.

"May I have this dance, milady?"

A young man stood there, with blue hair that had golden tips. He wore a white suit with gold on it, with a matching mask. His smile was warm, and Ayla found herself drawn to him. She took his hand. "Of course."

As the music continued to play, Ayla danced with the stranger. She was so entranced was his blue eyes that she didn't recognize where they were until the music faded away. They were outside. From the looks of it, they were in one of the many gardens surrounding the castle. A bridge was nearby over a stream that curved around the garden, giving it an air of tranquility.

Ayla frowned and looked back at her dance partner, who smiled sheepishly.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to talk in private, away from everyone," he explained. After a second, he froze.

"What's wrong?" Ayla asked.

"I.... Never got your name. I'm so sorry about that."

Ayla blinked before smiling. "I'm Lady Ayla of Cartwell." She paused, and smiled sadly. "At least, I was...."

Her partner frowned. "Ayla of Cartwell? I... Heard you were dead."

Ayla gave a bitter laugh. "My stepmother faked my death and indentured me."

The man cursed quietly. "I am so sorry, Ayla." A few seconds pass, before he brushes some of the hair from his face. "Is there anything I can do?"

"I... Doubt it," Ayla replied. "Only the royal family has access to the records."

The man laughed. "Well it's a good thing that I'm a member of the royal family."

"..... What?"

"Oh. Forgot to tell you. I'm Prince Alfonse."

Ayla nearly screeched. "You're the Prince?!?!?!?!"

Alfonse nodded. "Yeah.... I asked for this to be a masquerade so that I could move freely among everyone, but I got overwhelmed. You seemed overwhelmed as well, so that's why I asked you to a dance."

Ayla couldn't believe it. She pinched herself to see if she was dreaming, but nope, Alfonse was just giving her a strange look now.

Before either of them could talk, a scream pierced the air. Ayla and Alfonse turned to the castle, only to see Aida, Meng, Bleg, and Maybelle storming towards them.

"AYLA HOW DARE YOU DISOBEY MY DIRECT ORDERS!" Aida screeches. "I SHOULD PUNISH YOU FOR THIS!"

Alfonse stepped in front of Ayla, as if to shield her. "I refuse to let you harm her."

Aida scoffed. She turned to give her daughters orders, only to see them knocked out on the ground. She looked up to see Fjorm and two others standing there, holding chairs in their hands.

"Sharena! Prince Bruno!" Alfonse cried out happily.

Princess Sharena smiled at Alfonse. "I had to help you! That's what siblings do!" Fjorm waved at Ayla with a face that said, "I knocked out someone with a chair. Woo-hoo!"

Aida could only blink at Bruno, who scoffed. "I may not have any power here as Sharena's fiancé, but I'm afraid I'll have to stop you."

Aida glares at Bruno, Sharena, and Fjorm, she failed to notice Ayla and Alfonse behind her. The two nodded at each other before tackling Aida, catching her off-balance. They scrambled away as Aida stood up, only to meet Fjorm's chair.

With Ayla's stepfamily on the ground, Sharena motioned for some guards to collect them. As they did so, Bruno turned to Alfonse. "I guess we need to change the records of Cartwell so that Ayla regains her title."

Alfonse nodded before offering his hand to Ayla. "Yes. We should discuss with some tea at the castle."

Ayla's heart fluttered as she took Alfonse's hand once more. "That sounds lovely Alfonse."

And so Aida and the stepdaughters were arrested and Ayla eventually married Alfonse, leading to their happy ending.

Starring:

Ayla as Cinderella

Alfonse as the prince

Fjorm replacing the Fairy Godmother

Bruno with a role created for him

Sharena with a role created for her.

Aida as the stepmother

Bleg as a stepsister

Meng as a stepsister

Maybelle as a stepsister

Notes:

- Guess who took characters that are in no way related to each other from Geneology of the Holy War and made them the step family? Last time I took Vampa and Fetra (forgetting about their sister Eliu) and making them mother daughter to torment Olivia. This time, when I was grabbing Meng and her sisters, I decided to use them all without making any of them the mother of the others, making Ayla have three stepsisters. Aida, however, was the lover of Arvis and the mother of Saias who basically convinced Sigurd to go meet Arvis before Arvis pulls the whole "I HAVE YOUR WIFE AND SHE IS MINE" card and burns Sigurd to a crisp before destroying his army. I know I mentioned Aida in the Bella Venezia adaption but it was rather brief

- No fairy godmother this time or magical fish to help Ayla out. I gave the role to Fjorm because it would have made way more sense if like a friend helped her out.

- Okay so originally Fjorm grabs Ayla and takes her home, Alfonse looks for Ayla in the records and can't find her, he goes to the house, etc. But as I wrote this... I imagined Ayla to explain everything to Alfonse and I made the fight scene to the castle, because why not.

- There was supposed to be a Fire Emblem battle, but quite honestly I wanted to have Fjorm attack someone with a chair. It was funnier that way.

- Not all stepsiblings are evil. Just wanted to throw that out there.

I hope you enjoyed this Ayla!