Author : Genevievebarbie
Source : fanpop.com
Author's Summary : Prequel to Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses. The story of how Prince Randolph and Lady Isabella faced hardships and difficulties and later on, fell in love and got married. This is my first fanfiction so please no flames. Lastly, please read and review!
Rating : T
Category : Romance, Drama
Disclaimer : The main characters of the story are owned by Mattel. I own all the supporting characters and the plot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 2 : 10 Years Later

The sound of three bells ringing made Isabella look up from her book with a start. She sighed, closed her book and went into the kitchen to make breakfast for her stepmother Miranda, and her stepsisters Anastasia and Drizella, as Ilana went upstairs to get the laundry. The sisters had divided their chores, with Isabella doing all the cooking and gardening, and Ilana doing all the cleaning and the laundry, with their stepsisters obviously doing nothing. As a now 14-year-old Bella was making breakfast, she thought of her life after her mother died.

A few years after Tabitha passed away, her father remarried, this time to Miranda, the daughter of a Viscount, who already had 2 daughters from her previous marriage, before she got divorced. The moment their father introduced her and her sister to Miranda, the two were immediately showered with gifts and praise. She and Ilana were happy for their father, thinking that she was a sweet woman.

"I bet the mice in the garden are sweeter than her," Ilana would occasionally grumble, "What does she think of herself, bossing our papa around like that, and sending him for so many work trips?"

Isabella wholeheartedly agreed with her, as the mice in the garden were definitely friendlier than them. Indeed, as soon as their father left for his first work-related trip, Miranda and co. had shown their true colors. From making the twins do all the chores, to locking them in the basement for unnecessary punishments, the list was endless. The girls weren't even allowed to have breakfast without completing their mornings chores, for heaven's sake!

It had become a habit in the house, every once a month, Miranda and her daughters would start whining about something or the other, and throw hints at him that he should go on another trip to get whatever it was they wanted. Eventually, he would give in and leave. And even though Isabella and Ilana never asked for anything, everytime he came back, he would bring the most amazing gifts, which made her step family furious.

"Well, everytime he used to come back," thought Isabella bitterly, as she dished out the food. When the girls were 13, they received the tragic news from their father's friend, who was on a trip with him: their father had passed away due to exhaustion.

The bells rung once again, signaling that her 'family' wanted their breakfast. Just as she gathered the trays, the bells rung yet again. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" she muttered, knowing full well that if she said it too loudly, she would be deemed rude and locked in the basement. She hurriedly — or as hurriedly as possible with three trays of food — climbed up the stairs, and after hearing a few snide remarks like "Your 15 seconds late!" and "Why didn't you give me breakfast first?" and a cold glare from Miranda, she came back down and went into the garden.

Suddenly, she heard a small "Meow!" coming from the grass, and bent down to see Midnight, her and Lana's pet kitten (a gift from their father from his last trip), play with the weeds.

"Bella, have you seen Midnight somewhere? I've been looking all over for her!" Ilana's voice floated through the kitchen to the garden.

"She's here, Lana," she yelled back.
"Exactly where is here?"
"In the garden!"

"Thanks sis," said Ilana, slightly panting.
" Your welcome, Lil' sis," replied Isabella, knowing Ilana would get upset when called 'Lil sis'. And she was right.
"Hey, don't call me little just because I'm 5 minutes younger than you!"

"Sure, Lil' sis," she said sarcastically.
"Isabella," Ilana said, whining slightly.
"Ilana," Bella retorted, copying Lana's tone.

"Now, since you are still here, why don't you do the weeding for me?"
"What!? No way! I hate weeding, I'd rather dust every book in the library!"
"Sure you would," said Isabella, sarcasm evident in her voice.
"Bella, why do you have to be so sassy and sarcastic?"
"Lana, why do you have to be so whiny?" she teased playfully.
"Come on, let's hurry up and have breakfast, Lalaina and Natalie wanted to see us later." said Ilana.

Lalaina and Natalie were the girls' best friends, from the age of 6, when Isabella, Ilana and Lalaina went to dance school for the first time, where they met Natalie, whose whole family were musicians who played for the school. The quadruplet, with their differences and similarities, instantly clicked, and had been best friends since. Both Natalie and Lalaina also worked as maids in the Royal Castle. Natalie said that the castle was quiet, so she could practic her music nicely. Lalaina said there was plenty of open space, so it was for her to practice her dances.

An hour later, with the weeding and breakfast complete, the girls quickly changed and left to meet their friends.

_______________________________________________________________


15-year-old Prince Randolph had just finished playing Beethoven's 3rd movement of Moonlight Sonata. He always played that specific piece whenever he was angry or frustrated. He had learnt how to play piano when he was 7, and had been playing since. This time however, the piece calmed him down only a little, and he was still slightly angry at his parents. He wondered exactly what made his parents do what they did a few days ago, and he found out about it today, in the castle's library.

Flashback :

Randolph knocked on the library door before entering to see his parents in deep discussion.

"Ah, Randolph, come on in, your mother and I have been waiting for you," said his father, Peter, looking a little nervous.

"What did you want to speak to me about, mother, father?" he asked, an uneasy feeling settling at the bottom of his stomach.

"Err, well, you see…" his father trailed off, unsure how to proceed, "Lucinda, could you perhaps–"

"Yes, yes I'll tell it to him. You are, after all, absolutely horrible when it comes to explaining things seriously to your son," she said, and then turned to Randolph, "Do you remember Princess Athena, from the Kingdom of–"

"Do you seriously think he's actually going to bother remembering the name of her kingdom? When has he ever done that before?" his father intergected. Randolph suppressed a grin at the look on his mother's face.

"Well, you do have a point, but he has to remember the name of this one. It's necessary!" said his mother. This perked his interest, his parents had never made him memorize the names of kingdoms, of all things, he just slowly picked them up over time, it was never 'necessary' as his mother put it.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by his mother speaking to him again, "Like I was saying, do you remember Princess Athena from the Kingdom of Katendelle, whom you met when you were 10?"

"Yes, what about her?" he asked, curious as to where this was going.

"Her parents, and your father and I have arranged a marriage between the two of you, so that our Kingdom of Avolania and their kingdom could become allies," said Lucinda.

It took Randolph a few moments to actually be able to process the information. "WHAT!? But I'm only 15!" he nearly shouted.

"Of course, you will only get married once your 18, so this is basically a long engagement," his mother said, attempting to placate him.

"So you're telling me that you just went ahead and decided that I will be marrying her, without even telling me!" his temper was building up, which rarely happened.

"We thought you'd be fine with it, considering you seemed to like Athena as a child," his father quickly said, "And speak to your mother properly, I won't tolerate such behavior!"

"It's just that I don't want an arranged marriage!"

"It'll be fine, look at your mother and I!"

"It's not that I'm against arranged marriages, I know you and mother love each other very much, it's just that I'm only 15 and… and I wanted more time to find love," said Randolph, as calmly as he could, so as not to anger his father further.

"We understand that, darling, but who knows, maybe Athena is the person for you," Lucinda said, taking over again.

"But…"

"No buts, please, just think about it, Randolph," she said with finality.

"Yes, mother, father," he said in a resigned tone.

End of Flashback

Now, when he did think about it, after calming down, maybe his parents had a point. Besides, it wasn't like he didn't like Athena. She was a wonderful girl, liked painting, music, reading and was everything a princess should be. But he didn't want a prim and proper princess like Athena. He wanted someone who had their own personality, princesses mostly decided to follow protocol, which didn't leave time to develop a personality and get to know oneself. Sighing, he stepped out of the music room. Perhaps a walk, or a talk with his good friend Dylan, would help him clear his mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Thank you so much to Jessowey (Jessica Owens) for beta-ing this fanfiction! It means a lot to me. Please R&R. All reviews are accepted and responded to. Just no flames please. I'm planning on posting new chapters every Saturday. Fan this article if you liked this chapter. Bye!

link
link