Darling side
Six-year-old Darling loved traveling, maybe because she didn't do it much, but she loved doing it.
She was dressed too uncomfortably. If you asked her, she looked like a doll because of her hairstyle and dress that was too pompous. Her mother had even applied some lip gloss, but according to her mother, it was because they were going to meet someone important.
And she was. Daring's future wife would be the one they would meet today, and her mother, Queen Snow White. She heard the girl's name was Apple White. It sounds cute, and it was exciting to have a friend her age who wasn't her cousins, and to have someone to play with who wasn't her siblings.
"Dare, you're cheating," Darling said matter-of-factly as she watched her brother try to blind Dexter with his smile to distract him. They were playing at rescuing the princess. Unfortunately, she was the princess, and her brothers were the monster and the hero.
"I'm being recussive." Those brazen words angered Darling, who grabbed a cushion that was next to her and threw it at Darling.
"Well, the princess doesn't want to go with the hero." She didn't like it when he acted like that, especially when he took advantage of the fact that his smile made it difficult for Dexter to see because the light reflected off his glasses.
"Darling," her parents' tone was enough for her to know that she shouldn't make any more fuss, so she watched as Daring laughed about the pillow incident and Dexter rubbed his eyes for being dazzled and prepared to defend the "fort," which was the sofa on the train they were on, from the hero so he wouldn't rescue the princess.
Darling would have liked to play like that too, not just sit and watch them fight, but her parents would scold her again if she tried to get up. She turned her gaze to the window again; it was beautiful how the landscape changed, that was both nice and fun.
...
Snow White's castle was gorgeous; it looked like a castle from the bedtime story illustrations, or was it that one? They're in a fairy tale world, and that could be it. In any case, Darling's mind was too young for that, and she only let herself marvel at the castle, the apple trees, and the dwarfs who were tending them.
It seemed like a place worthy of Daring, if you ask her, so she let her mother guide her to the castle.
Daring was being carried by their father, a confident smile on his lips, while Dexter seemed to be looking down at the floor to avoid falling. He was also being carried by their mother. Their matching baby blue clothes had been made to make them both look adorable, but Daring had on a blue and gold suit to stand out.
Dressed to impress, her parents would say, and it would make sense considering she was about to meet his future wife.
Her future sister, according to what her parents had informed her, was exciting to think that she would no longer be the only girl in the family, since Apple would be like a sister to her. The light humming Darling was about to sing was silenced by her mother's slightly tighter grip, which relaxed as soon as she dropped the melody. When they reached the front of the castle, the doors opened almost immediately, revealing a very tall woman with black hair and very pale skin, like a ghost. She was pretty, so she assumed it was Snow White.
"Greetings, Queen Snow. Meet our children, Daring, Dexterous, and Darling." Her father's voice, along with her mother's release of her hand, made them realize it was time to bow, so she did. She almost laughed when Dexter's glasses fell off from how abruptly he bowed, but she decided to swallow her laughter so her mother wouldn't scold her.
"It's a pleasure to meet such adorable children. I present my lovely Apple." Darling looked up to see Princess Apple, and her first thought was that she looked like a pale, feminine version of Daring; she was just as pretty as he was. However, when the little girl stopped curtsying and opened her eyes, her pale cheeks turning pink, Darling thought she was adorable, perhaps the most adorable thing she'd ever seen.
...
Apple had followed them around like a puppy all afternoon (only an hour, really), which was fine until she started talking about princess things.
Apple was next to her while they held hands, Daring had tried to intertwine arms with the princess but she had said that her mother had told her that until they were a couple they could not hold hands and that while they did not have partners it was the boys with the boys and the girls with the girls. Darling had nodded when she asked if she agreed, she thought she had heard something like that from her father, but instead of couples he said prince and that if someone who was not a prince tried to tell her to be couples she should call him or her brothers.
But Apple is an only child, right? It must be sad not having brothers to help you.
She had started to sympathize until Daring suggested they play rescue princesses from a monster, which was Darling's least favorite game, and Apple nodded, delighted at the suggestion. And here they were, sitting on a cushion-filled sofa with a bunch of dolls to keep them entertained, while her brothers played, throwing cushions and sticks at each other, trying to beat each other while their parents talked at a table there and drank tea.
Darling liked to play with dolls, but she didn't like playing princess-being-rescue-by-prince, and Apple wanted to play that with her dolls, so Darling could be the prince.
"Can't we play princess-rescue-princess?" Darling said as she tried to grab a princess who was there, but she saw Apple's perfect face wrinkle as she shook her head.
"But princesses don't rescue other princesses," the very pale princess said matter-of-factly, and Darling got irritated. She had heard that many times today.
"But it's a game, and games are fake," she said as she put the prince doll aside and looked for the doll she wanted. However, the other princess's uncomfortable face made her hesitate.
"My mom says that even games are training for the future," Apple said with some stubbornness in her voice. She wanted to say no and that they should play something else because she already played a lot of games about princesses being rescued by princes.
"What if we play princesses going on adventures?" Darling ventured, hoping for a positive answer, but the blonde's shaking of her head made her deflate.
"No, it's fine. We should play something in line with the other game or destiny." Darling wondered what was right and why they couldn't play something other than the silly game of the princess who had to be saved by the prince.
...
When she and her family left, Darling didn't know whether to feel relaxed or sad because she was going to miss Apple even though she didn't like that stupid game.
The eyes of the youngest princess of the Charmings were closing as she laid her head in her mother's arms, one of those moments where she wouldn't be criticized for that behavior.
"I want to see my sister-in-law again" was the last thought she had as she succumbed to sleep due to how exhausting the day had been for her.