Chapter Text
ASCHENPUTTEL
~A Yoonmin Cinderella retelling~
I can still hear the revelry through the barred hole in the wall they call a window. All of those poor, unsuspecting bastards are playing right into her hands, and they haven’t the slightest clue.
A rat skitters across the floor, making his way toward the last piece of stale bread on my plate.
“Oh, no you don’t. Get out of here!” I hiss, kicking my foot at him.
The thing barely flinches, just stares at me with its beady eyes and a silent promise to return.
I shove the hard bread into the pocket of my shirt.
Who knows when they’ll deign to bring me food again?
I can’t afford to waste a crumb on a plump, greedy rodent.
Groaning, I press the heels of my hands to my eyes.
I have to find a way out of here.
A grunt comes from the corner of the room near the doorway, and I sit up straighter.
There are a handful of other prisoners in the castle dungeons, but this is coming from the hall.
Another grunt follows, then the sound of fabric skidding down the stone wall and the clinking of metal.
Keys?
Seconds later, a cloaked figure stands in front of my cell. He may be hidden in the shadows, but I would know him from anywhere.
“Bloody hell.” I tsk, warring between laughing and hurling my fist toward her face. “I knew you weren’t dead.”
My brother slides the hood off his head and examines the keys in the wan light of the dungeon.
“You really couldn’t manage to stay out of trouble in the handful of months I was gone?” Hi golden eyes flit up to me, and I make a show of flouncing onto the lice-ridden mattress.
“Well, since you were busy playing dead and driving our dear mother mad with grief, I’ve been a little busy.”
Jungkook lets out a whoosh of air.
“So I see.” He finally locates the correct key and unlocks my cell.
The metal door grates on its hinges before I leap up to my feet, wincing from the bruises that the guards were kind enough to give me.
He pauses, his amber gaze boring into mine.
“Dare I even ask how you landed yourself in a dungeon?”
“Could you possibly save your high-handed attitude for after we escape the castle?”
Jungkook stiffens, his eyebrow quirking. “Would you rather I leave you here, then?”
“Nope.” I push past him, peeking around the corner to make sure no other guards are nearby. “I’m far too busy to relax in these royal suites, but thank you.”
He huffs. “Indeed.”
“Speaking of being busy...I do hope you plan to stop by and visit our brother now that you’re back. Maybe the sight of you returned from the dead will finally do the tosser in.”
I feel, more than see, the air leave his lungs as he clenches my arm in his fist. His eyes are wide with panic, and it’s rare enough to make me pause.
“What do you mean, our brother?” he hisses. “Yugyeom is dead.”
I take a moment to assess him, the hard set of his mouth, the whites of his knuckles, his ragged breaths.
He really doesn’t know.
“No.” I shake my head. “He’s scarred and even more disgusting than usual, but I can assure you, Yugyeom is very much alive.”
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