Immortal Gazette Studio Presents: Cinderella Exposed - The Ugly Truth Behind the Glass Slippers and Perfect Prince!
The Immortal Gazette studio had a certain energy tonight, one that simmered in the air like a brewing storm. Alice, her usual playful, mischievous self, was on the warpath. Rumplestiltskin lounged in his usual spot, sipping a goblet of something far too sinister for mortal taste buds, and Loki… well, Loki was watching the drama unfold with a quiet, amused interest—though he was pretty sure something had definitely happened between Alice and Rumple. He wasn’t sure what, but it was about to be explosive.
Alice cracked her knuckles, eyes narrowed, her usual carefree grin replaced by a look of pure sarcasm as she leaned into the table.
“Alright, alright, gather round, children,” she began, voice dripping with venom. “Let’s talk about Cinderella—because, frankly, I’m done with all this 'happily ever after' nonsense. If I have to hear one more fairy tale with perfect little princes, glass slippers, and ‘true love’ crap, I’m going to scream.”
Loki raised an eyebrow, his lips curling up into a smirk. “You’re really not in the mood tonight, huh?”
“Not in the mood?” Alice’s eyes practically sparkled with mischief—dangerous mischief. “No. I’m beyond that. I’m done with these idiot stories where everything magically works out in the end, and everyone—even the ugly step-sisters and the evil stepmother—ends up dancing around in circles like they're part of some happy little parade. Let’s break this down, shall we?”
Rumplestiltskin, who had been lazily twirling a glass of wine, glanced at Loki, silently mouthing this is gonna be good.
Alice shot a death stare at him. “Oh, don’t act like you’re not secretly enjoying this. And you too, Loki, stop pretending you're not looking for popcorn.”
“Alright, alright, chill out, Alice,” Loki said, holding his hands up in mock surrender, his smirk unwavering. “Let’s hear it then. What’s so bad about Cinderella?”
Alice rolled her eyes so hard, you could practically hear the sound of them hitting the back of her skull. "Oh, you really want to know? Fine. Let's start with the most ridiculous thing—the glass slippers. Who the hell wears those?!"
Loki snorted. "Well, considering she's got to make a grand exit from the ball—"
"Don’t even try to defend this, Loki," Alice interrupted, slamming her fist on the table. "The girl is running for her life and loses a freaking shoe, and we're supposed to believe that the one perfect, magical prince in the entire kingdom finds her because of the shoe? The shoe? What, is he going door-to-door with a shoe fetish? Oh, I’m sorry, were there no other women in the kingdom with perfectly-sized feet? Are you telling me this prince has nothing better to do than test shoes on every woman in the land? And somehow, magically, the shoe fits Cinderella's foot perfectly? Newsflash, her foot might be the only thing that fits in that shoe!”
Loki raised a glass of wine in mock salute. “You really do have a way with words, Alice.”
Rumplestiltskin, watching the chaos unfold, couldn't help but chuckle. "I think we're all getting a little too deep into this glass slipper business, don’t you think? Let’s just get to the prince. How perfect was he, huh?"
"Don’t get me started on the prince!" Alice snapped, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “This perfect prince, who doesn’t even recognize her at the ball and doesn’t know she’s the one he’s supposed to be marrying until the shoe fits her foot—” She threw up her hands in frustration. “Really? What kind of prince is that?! He's so busy dancing around and falling in love with the first woman who doesn’t try to trap him in a polka dance that he doesn’t recognize the girl he’s supposed to marry? There’s no ‘true love’ here, people. It’s just convenience—and a bit of foot fetishism on the side. And don’t even get me started on the evil stepmother and her selfish, lazy stepdaughters. Cinderella does all the work, while they sit there acting like the world owes them everything. Classic."
Rumplestiltskin, ever the one to stir things up, grinned and casually tossed a Snickers bar onto the table toward Alice. “Maybe you’re just hungry, darling.”
Alice glared at him as if he’d just tried to throw a poisoned apple in her face. “Oh, I’m so not in the mood for that. Take it back.”
Loki, sensing the rising tension, tried to lighten the mood. “Hey, hey—calm down! Let me get this right—Cinderella is a shoe disaster, the prince is a dunce, and the stepmother is a drama queen? What else you got for me, Alice?”
Before Alice could respond, Rumplestiltskin threw a handful of Skittles at her, yelling, “Taste the rainbow, sweetie!”
Alice blinked and stared at him in complete disbelief. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
The next thing Loki knew, a cascade of Skittles was hurtling toward Rumplestiltskin, who was laughing maniacally as the candy bombarded him from all directions.
"Okay, that’s it! Enough! You are not going to cheer me up with rainbow candy!" Alice yelled, pelting him with the little sugar bombs. She was on a roll now, her frustrations channeling into a perfect storm of candy warfare. Skittles flew everywhere, splashing across the floor, hitting Loki square in the chest.
Loki, completely unfazed, grinned. “Okay, okay! Take a bite of that Snickers, and maybe we’ll all get along.”
“Don’t even try to play the 'snickers' card on me!” Alice shouted back, her temper simmering. “You know what? Screw this—no more perfect fairytale endings. No more glass slippers, no more clueless princes, no more happily-ever-afters where everyone miraculously gets their way. The only thing Cinderella ever needed was a good therapist and some new friends.”
Rumplestiltskin, with a mischievous glint in his eye, shrugged as he picked a Skittle out of his hair. “Fair enough. So, what do you want? A fairytale where they all end up miserably married and fighting over who gets the last piece of pumpkin pie?”
Alice shot him a wicked smile. “Exactly. That sounds way more realistic, don’t you think?”
Loki raised a glass of wine, clinking it with Rumple’s. “Now, that sounds like a fairytale I can get behind.”
The atmosphere in the studio still thick with the tension of a brewing storm.
Alice marched over to where Rumple was sitting, snatched the Snickers bar from his hand with an air of entitlement, and tore the packaging open with a snap. “Give me that,” she muttered, sinking into one of the plush chairs with a dramatic flair. As she kicked her feet up onto the table—perfectly casual, perfectly Alice.
Loki, watched her, as she turned her narrowed gaze on him. The look she gave him wasn’t just annoyed—it was downright scathing, like she could’ve set him on fire with nothing but a glance.
For a split second, the tension between them was palpable—something was off. Alice was seething, and Loki... well, he wasn’t sure why.
She was so calm and collected now but when her gaze slid back to him, it was like the spark of irritation still lingered.
With a nonchalant shrug, she bit into the candy, seemingly forgetting that anyone else was even in the room. But Loki knew better than to think that look was that simple.
Rumplestiltskin, who had been half-watching the candy-eating spectacle with a raised brow, suddenly straightened up in his chair, realizing the flicker of tension between Alice and Loki.
“Oh,” he muttered, slowly piecing it together. “So that’s what’s going on.”
Alice, with one eyebrow cocked and her feet still kicked up on the table, shot him a look of sheer indifference. “What’s going on, Rumple?” she asked, not even looking his way as she took another bite of her Snickers.
Rumplestiltskin wasn’t buying the cool act for a second. He knew Alice better than that. He shot a glance at Loki, then back at Alice, his expression flickering with curiosity.
“Oh, I see,” Rumple muttered, realizing the obvious. Alice was mad at Loki, and not him, which—let’s face it—was something of a shock. The two of them had been flirty and infuriatingly chummy for the longest time.
What happened? Rumple thought. What did Loki do to tick her off?
Just the day before, everything had seemed perfectly fine. Alice and Loki had been in their usual playful banter, tossing around remarks like they had some sort of secret thing going on.
But now? Now she was radiating frustration.
Loki, catching the change in atmosphere, shifted uncomfortably.
Loki’s mind raced. Was it because of Tink? He thought about it for a moment. Alice and Tink did not get along. Alice had made that abundantly clear on more than one occasion. Alice claims Tink has that "mean girl" complex and it irked Alice every time they crossed paths.
Loki hadn’t thought anything of it when they spent time with Tink yesterday, talking about the day’s gossip (which, admittedly, involved a lot of weird rumors), but the tension between Alice and Tink was palpable.
Or maybe it was Red, Loki mused, his eyes narrowing. He had been hanging out with Red as well, and Alice wasn’t exactly a fan of Red either she was always mumbling not to trust a werewolf because you might turn your back and accidently become a snack.
Loki, pressed his lips together in contemplation. He couldn’t tell Alice what they were talking about, no way. If he did, he’d be admitting his true intentions. He had been trying to figure out who Alice was actually dating, and if she liked him, and—oh no, no, no—if she found out what he’d been up to, she’d probably kill him.
Not to mention Rumple would know, and oh, that was a whole other disaster waiting to happen. There were a lot of things Loki wasn’t ready to spill just yet.
As Alice took another bite of her Snickers, savoring the candy like she didn’t have a care in the world, Loki leaned back in his chair, trying not to let the frustration show. He could feel it burning under his skin—just how much of a fool he felt, caught between trying to keep his cool while Alice was clearly... angry at him.
And yet, Alice didn’t let on. She didn’t speak a word about why she was upset, but every so often, her eyes flicked back at Loki like daggers, sending a clear message he couldn’t ignore.
He glanced at Rumplestiltskin, who seemed to be having far too much fun with his own thoughts.
"Alright, what happened between you two?" Rumple asked, grinning from ear to ear. "This looks like something I don't want to miss!"
Alice, with the most calculated calm, leaned back in her chair, unbothered. “Nothing.”
Loki clenched his jaw but didn’t speak.
Alice, still cool as ever, took another casual bite of her Snickers and raised an eyebrow at Loki.
And Rumplestiltskin? He was having the time of his life, watching everything unfold like an epic reality show. Because if there was one thing he loved, it was drama.
To be continued...
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