Preface: The story of Cinderella is arguably one of the most beloved fairy tales of all time. Since its original publication by Charles Perrault in 1697, the work has been revised and adapted on numerous occasions, among them the 1950 Walt Disney animated feature film, widely considered one of the studio's best works. I myself have seen the movie countless times. But after watching both of the film's direct-to-video sequels, and reading the original fairy tale, I began to feel that certain parts of the film didn't sit particularly well with me. Since I had been thinking of trying my hand at writing a fanfic, I thought I'd start off with a basic re-telling of Cinderella, something that's been done several times before but something people still seem to enjoy. This is my first fanfic, so I don't plan on doing anything particularly major. In fact, you won't notice much (if any) of a difference in the first few chapters, so bear with me. The story will pull various aspects from the original Perrault version, in addition to the Grimm brothers' version, the 1950 Disney film and, to a lesser extent, both direct-to-video sequels, the 1998 film Ever After, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, plus a few elements of my own. While this work will feature characters and names from all versions, the story will more or less be left largely intact. The story will also be written as though the reader has never seen the movie, nor read the fairy tale. As this is a fan fiction, and since I am mostly making this story up as I go along, I am more than willing to open the story to suggestions, questions, ideas, and concepts that will help flesh out the story more. And of course, please read and review, so that I can improve both my writing and the story.

All characters and songs are property of their respective owners.

Chapter 1: A Dream is a Wish

The sun had just barely risen when Cinderella awoke on a calm July morning. She had long since gotten used to waking up early, but that didn't necessarily make it any easier for her. Ever since the untimely death of her father, Lord Albert Tremaine, ten years earlier, her step-mother, Lady Victoria Tremaine, had turned her into a virtual slave within her own home. This was the same woman that her father had chosen to marry after the death of her mother, believing that his only daughter still needed a mother. Lady Tremaine had been also married once before, and had two daughters of her own, Anastasia and Drizella, both of whom were around the same age as Cinderella. Even though her stepsisters were just as beautiful as Cinderella, she outshone both of them in terms of kindness, charm, and grace. When they first met, her stepsisters really couldn't be considered unpleasant. In fact, they both got along reasonably well with Cinderella. But Lady Tremaine saw Cinderella as a threat to her own daughters' future prospects, and so, out of jealousy, she tried to keep her out of the picture once her father had died, and she was powerless against her.

She in turn proceeded to spoil her own two daughters beyond reason. While Cinderella had virtually no possessions, Anastasia and Drizella were given nearly anything they wanted, including clothes, jewelry, and, while they were still children, toys. They were always well-fed and they were given every luxury possible. In time, they too were turned against Cinderella, at the influence of their mother. Lady Tremaine constantly told her daughters that Cinderella was insignificant, beneath them in every way imaginable, and that she deserved nothing from them. This especially hurt Cinderella. Still mourning her father's death, she now had to endure seeing her two step-sisters, whom she had once seen as friends, turn against her and become nearly as cruel as their mother.

For the past ten years, it befell upon Cinderella to wake up at dawn, and sometimes before dawn, and do every single household chore, day in and day out. This included such menial tasks as feeding the animals, cleaning the house, and cooking meals for her stepmother, as well as her stepsisters. Sometimes she would also be sent into town to do shopping. Her stepsisters constantly berated her and never showed any sort of gratitude for her work, even though she was far more capable of these things than they were. She rarely, if ever, had a moment to herself, finishing every day completely exhausted, her entire body covered in dirt and sweat, before retiring to her room at the top of the tower within the Chateau. During the winter months, she was forced to sleep closer to the fire in order to keep warm, and she would wake up each morning covered in soot, which give rise to such derisive nicknames as "Cinder wench," as Drizella would call her, or "Cinderella," as Anastasia called her. She had long since forgotten the last time anyone had called her by her given name of Katharine. For ten years she had endured this, and yet her spirit was never broken. She had never stopped hoping that perhaps someday she could reconcile with her stepsisters and make things as they once were.

In those early waking moments of that July morning, Cinderella tried to enjoy the tranquility before being called once again to the selfish demands of her stepfamily. But this morning, she was finding it particularly difficult, as a pair of bluebirds had flown through her window and perched themselves on one of her bedposts, chirping loudly. She groaned softly and placed her pillow over her head, trying to drown out the sound. But this only made the birds all the more determined to get her attention. One of the birds perched itself on her front bedpost while the other landed right next to her pillow and began chirping again. When the bird wasn't looking, Cinderella gently flicked at its tail, causing the bird to jump back and fly back up to the bed post, before settling there and chirping furiously at her. Cinderella softly giggled as she sat up in bed, indicating that she meant no ill.

"Well, it serves you right," she said with a sly grin on her face, "chirping and interrupting someone's dream like that."

The bird almost immediately calmed down, and then responded by gesturing back towards the open window with its wing, chirping rather persistently and cheerfully.

"Well yes, I can see that it's a lovely day," Cinderella conceded before sighing wistfully, "but it was an even lovelier dream."

The bird chirped curiously, eager to hear more.

"What kind of a dream?" Cinderella asked, still smiling, before softly shaking her head. "I can't tell you that."

Once more the bird chirped inquisitively. Cinderella realized that the bird would not go away, and that she would not be able to return to her slumber or her dream. But at the same time, it didn't bother her at all. After all, it was nice to have someone to talk to, even if it was a bird who couldn't communicate in anything other than chirps, so she chose to continue the conversation. The two birds focused intently on Cinderella, curiously waiting to hear her explanation.

"Because if you tell a wish, it won't come true, and, after all…" she trailed off as her mind wandered back to when she was just a child…

…

Six-year old Katharine sat by the window, waiting for her father to return from court. Her two stepsisters sat in one corner of the room, playing with their dolls. Anastasia had tried asking her if she would come and play with them, but Katharine seemed content to sit and wait for her father. For a while she was so transfixed on the window that she didn't even her stepsisters calling for her.

"Katharine!" she finally heard Anastasia shouting her name. She whirled around and saw both of her stepsisters looking at her intently.

"Won't you come and play with us?" Drizella asked. Katharine sighed. She realized there was no point in sitting by the window. Her father had just left and wouldn't return home for several hours. Sitting by the window wouldn't make him come home any faster. As she climbed down from the window, she picked up her doll and sat down with them.

A short time later, the three girls heard the sound of horses trotting. The three girls stopped playing with their dolls and quickly looked up. They ran to the window and saw a carriage stopping in front of the main entrance to the chateau. Their father was home early. The three girls quickly ran down the stairs to meet him as he came through the front door. But when they reached the bottom of the stairs, they noticed he looked very distraught as he entered the chateau. He quickly strode past the three girls without so much as looking at them. Katharine began to grow worried. Her father never acted like this before. What had happened? Her stepmother, who had just entered the foyer, shared in that concern and asked, "Albert, what's wrong? Why are you home early?"

Albert quickly removed his jacket and handed it off to a maid to hang up. "As soon as I arrived at the castle, I learned that court had been dismissed. The king couldn't meet with us today," he said quickly.

"That seems strange. Why would he do something like that?"

Albert hesitated before opening his mouth to speak, but then closed it before answering. He sighed as he wiped his hand across his forehead.

"We lost the queen yesterday. She died in childbirth late last night. The child was stillborn," he finally said, his voice showing that he was choked up.

Victoria gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh, dear, how is…is he…?"

"The king has been devastated by this. Apparently the prince is taking it even worse. He hasn't left his room at all today, and the king is trying to do all he can to console him. That's part of the reason why he didn't meet with court today," he said, barely audible. He then appeared to recover and added, "The Grand Duke informed me that he will send for us when he is ready to meet with us again. I've been given certain assignments that I'm to carry out until then, and I should probably begin those now."

Lord Tremaine then briskly walked towards the study to begin his work. Anastasia and Drizella, who, along with Katharine, had overheard the conversation, began to head back up the stairs, expecting their stepsister to be right behind them. But when they looked down into the landing, they saw that Katharine was still sitting motionless on the bottom stair, almost as if she were frozen in place.

"Katharine?" Anastasia asked. "Aren't you coming back upstairs?" But Katharine didn't answer her, and continued to sit completely still. Anastasia called her name once more but to no avail. It was like Katharine didn't even hear her. Anastasia stomped her foot and began shouting at her, but Katharine still didn't move. Finally she stood up and Anastasia smiled as she thought her stepsister was rejoining them, but that smile quickly vanished when she saw that Katharine was actually walking away from the stairs.

"Katharine, where are you going?" she asked in annoyance. She moved to walk downstairs before she realized that Drizella was holding her back.

"Come on. Let's just play without her," she said.

"But…but…" Anastasia began to protest before Drizella said, "If she doesn't want to play with us, we don't need her." Anastasia reluctantly nodded and followed her sister back to their room.

Lord Tremaine had sat himself inside his study and had begun to fill out the king's paperwork when he heard what sounded like crying. When he looked up from his desk, he saw his daughter standing in the doorway, her eyes brimming with tears. He quickly got up from his desk and walked over towards her.

"Katharine, why are you crying?"

The little girl tried her best to wrap her arms around her father and said, "I…I…I miss mother."

Lord Tremaine nodded softly as he knelt down and said to his daughter. "I miss her, too. But why are you thinking about that now?"

"I overheard…what you said…to s-stepmother…about the queen. It r-reminded me of…of…" she began, but her father gently hugged her before she could finish. He had married Victoria so his daughter could still have a mother, but he realized that she would never quite fill the void that had been left behind, for either of them. Albert decided that his work could wait for a while, as he realized that his daughter needed cheering up. He gently picked up Katharine and carried her over to the music room.

"Father, where are we going?" Katharine asked.

"You see in just a moment. I think I know what you need," he said reassuringly. Once they had entered the music room, he sat her down in front on the piano and sat himself right next to hear.

"There was a song your mother used to sing whenever she was upset. I thought maybe it might help you. Now how exactly did it go?" he asked himself, playing a few keys on the piano. After a few tries he found the right key and said, "Aha, here it is. It goes a little something like this." Then he began to sing in a melodious tune, "A dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep. In dreams you lose your heartaches. Whatever you wish for, you keep. Have faith in your dreams and someday, your rainbow will come smiling through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true.

…

Cinderella smiled to herself. Ever since that day, she had sung that same song whenever she felt upset, and almost every time she always felt better afterwards.

Bong!

Suddenly the bells from the Palace clock began to chime, signaling that it was six o'clock, causing the two startled birds to jump back, turn around, and look out at the window, outside of which they could see the palace in its entire splendor. Cinderella grumbled as she slowly got of her bed and walked towards the window, still holding her pillow in her left hand.

"Oh, that clock!"

Bong!

She raised her fist in frustration. "He's such a killjoy."

Bong!

"I hear you, I hear you! How couldn't I?"

Bong!

"I can just imagine him saying, 'Go on, get up, time to start another day!'"

Bong!

"I can't believe it. Even he orders me around!" The birds frowned disapprovingly, upset that their friend never had a moment's peace.

Bong!

"Well, at least there's one thing he or anybody else can't do. Nobody can order me to stop dreaming, and perhaps someday," then she began to sing again while gently hugging her pillow, "if I keep on believing the dream I wish for will come true."

With that she twirled around and began to prepare for her day, humming the same tune she had just been singing. Walking back to her bed, she softly tossed the pillow onto her bed, where she gently fluffed it. Once she was done with that, she gently fluffed her bed sheet so that it lay perfectly on top of her bed. Then she quickly got dressed before sitting down in front of an elaborately decorated vanity which her step mother had let her keep, where she tied a small ribbon in her hair. She had now finished her morning preparation.

"There, time to start another-"

"Cinderelly! Cinderelly!"

Cinderella nearly jumped with a start at the sound of the high, squeaky voice that was excitedly calling her name. She turned around to see one of her mice friends, Jaq, crawl underneath the crease in the doorway before scampering across the floor. He was a small, brown, slender mouse, dressed in clothes which Cinderella had made for him shortly after she first met him just a few years earlier, when she had saved him from one of her stepmother's traps. As soon as she saw him trapped inside the cage, she felt that she could relate to him. She knew all too well what it felt like to be trapped, never being able to do anything she wished.

Once he reached Cinderella, who was still sitting in front of her vanity, he frantically climbed up one of the side legs so that he could talk to her on level with her. When he finally got to the top, he began to speak so quickly that she couldn't understand him. Like all of her mice friends, Jaq had a rather high-pitched voice, and spoke very quickly. Cinderella could understand his speech very well, better than most people could, but right then even she couldn't understand him. He also had not even waited to regain his breath, so he was trying to talk while he was still gasping for air.

"Whoa, whoa, Jaq, slow down! I can't understand a word you're saying. Now what's going on?"

Jaq took a deep breath before speaking as clearly as he could. "I found a new mouse, one I haven't seen before, looks like a visitor."

"Oh, a visitor?" She opened the top drawer, reached in, and pulled out a small pink dress, and placed on top of the vanity. "In, that case she'll need a-"

Jaq started to laugh before she had a chance to finish. Waving his hands wildly in the air, he said, "No, no, no, Cinderelly! It's a he, not a she!"

Cinderella laughed, feeling slightly embarrassed. "Well, that does make a difference," she said with a smile. She put the small dress back in the drawer before taking out a small yellow shirt, green hat, and brown shoes. "Now, where did you find him?"

"Um, in one of your stepmother's traps."

Cinderella looked up in shock. "A trap? Why didn't you say so in the first place?"

"I did say so in the first place, at least I tried to. But then you- eh, it doesn't matter. Can you set him free?"

"Of course, let's go find him. Where is he?"

"On one of the landings on the stairs."

On that, Cinderella quickly got up and ran out the door to her room and down the long staircase that ultimately lead to the ground floor. It wasn't too long before Cinderella found a cylindrical cage near a landing approximately halfway down. Inside the cage was a small, plump, brown mouse, while two other mice stood guard over it. Cinderella knelt down, picked up the cage, and opened the door to see the mouse shaking at the opposite end.

"Oh, the poor thing is scared to death. Here, Jaq, maybe you'd better talk to him."

After Cinderella placed the cage back on the ground, Jaq nodded and slowly walked towards the mouse inside the cage. But before he had a chance to say anything, the mouse took a swing at him. Barely ducking the swing in time, he raised his arms and shouted, "Hey, hey, hey, calm down, I'm not gonna hurt ya! I'm your friend, and so is Cinderelly here! See?" He gestured towards Cinderella, who kindly smiled at both of them. The mouse smiled in return and loosened up. "She's nice, very nice. C'mon, follow me."

Jaq led him out of the cage and right in front of Cinderella. Cinderella then tried the fit the clothes on the mouse. The shirt was a little snug, but otherwise everything fit fairly well.

"Now all you need is a name. Let's see now…aha! I've got one, Octavius." The mouse looked at her confused. "Hmm, maybe that's a little too much for him," thought Cinderella to herself. She decided that a nickname might help. "But for short, we'll call you 'Gus.' Do you like it?"

"What do you think, Gus Gus? You like it?" Jaq was especially eager to learn what his new friend thought of the name he had been given. Gus hesitated for a second before nodding and giggling. Both Cinderella and Jaq were glad to see that Gus liked his new name.

"Wonderful, now I have to hurry and start my chores. Say, Jaq, Gus, would you like to help me?"

Jaq immediately nodded enthusiastically. "Of course, Cinderelly! What you say, Gus Gus? Wanna help Cinderelly?"

"Wanna help Cinderelly? OK."

Cinderella laughed, thinking that Gus didn't really understand the question, but she was glad to have a new friend. After telling Jaq and Gus to follow her, she smiled to herself and continued down the stairs, ready to start the day. Perhaps things wouldn't be so bad after all today.

...

A/N: I went back and re-read the chapters I had posted up to this point and decided there weren't enough deviations from the original movie to make it that interesting, so I decided to reboot the first nine chapters.

Because this was my first chapter I didn't really make any significant changes from the movie, save for a few small added lines. Most notably I gave first names to her father and stepmother as a formality. That might come up again later on in the story. Also, I gave a small story explaining how Cinderella first met Jaq. Again it wasn't really anything serious, but I thought it would add a little to the story. The main addition to the story is the flashback. If you're going to review this story, that's probably the only thing worth reviewing.

If you've read either of the Perrault or the Grimm brothers' fairy tales, you might be able to keep track of what elements I'm including from each version. From the Disney version, I kept the animal friends, the main plot, and all the character names. In keeping with the Grimm fairy tale, Anastasia and Drizella are just as beautiful as Cinderella in this story. In a fanfic that probably doesn't mean much unless I try drawing, too (I might do that at some point). In the Perrault story, it is explicitly mentioned that the younger stepsister is not quite as mean as the older and that "Cinderella" actually isn't her real name, but actually a derisive name. So if you want to keep score throughout this story, in this opening chapter it's Disney: 2, Perrault: 2, and Grimm: ½.