Anastasia's POV

I never thought I'd here those words from Queen Samantha. Actually, I was really expecting her to get angry at me for lying to her or something around those lines. 

"Y-yes!" I gasped out, then realizing my mistake, I hurriedly changed my verbal format. "I-I mean, yes please, your majesty." 

"Good!" The queen stood up exuberantly and plopped right down next to me. "That's the spirit! Never mind the formal stiff stuff, I'm going to call Cinderella who is not here at the moment, but in no time, you can talk to your sister and straighten things out, okay?" 

"Okay...thank you very much!" I said gratefully, tears coming again. The queen smiled and hugged me in that motherly way my own mother never held me. She always kept her distance, but the queen herself was hugging me as though I were her own child. 

(Author-chan here. Let's bring Cinderella and Arthur back to the palace.) 

I told my tale all over again in front of Cinderella (alone in another room), and now, she was silent. 

"If you want, I will leave and never return. I promise!" I said desperately. "Just please accept my apology." 

"Anastasia." I froze and looked at her cautiously. "I forgive you. I don't want to send you away, honestly, but you're going have to work hard to earn my trust." 

"Thank you," I said, giving her a curtesy. 

"None of that," Cinderella said harshly. I looked at her in nervousness. Suddenly, she relented and gave me a gentle smile. I felt myself tearing up at her face. Right now, she looked like my real older sister, the type that would protect me and hold me close. "Come here, Anastasia." I obeyed and stood in front of her. 

Cinderella stood up, her smile still on her face, and wrapped me in her arms. She hugged me warmly, the sisterly love I've always desired wrapped around us. She was taller than me, and rested her chin on my shoulder. "Hey Anastasia...I want to tell you something." 

"What is it?" 

"I probably never told you, but when I was little, I actually had a little sister, or was supposed to." I was shocked and silent at her words. "Then, my mother died after giving birth to her, then the baby died three hours later. We were going to call her Mary. Little Mary." I choked on a sob at her words. I loved babies, and it hurt me whenever I heard a baby had died. 

"I'm sorry." 

"No, don't be. Nobody could have done anything. However...sometimes, when I look at you, you remind me of my sister. Or somewhat similar to what she would have looked like if she had survived...I don't mean through looks, but you remind me of her...I just don't know why....I never told you that, did I?" Cinderella's arms tightened slightly, and her hand rubbed my back in soothing circles. 

"No...but that's okay." 

"Then..." She pulled back looking down at me to smile. "Would you be my little sister?" 

"Yeah!" As cliché this probably was, I wanted this love more than anything. A family's love. My mother and sister never did things like this to me. Never hugged me, never kissed my cheek as a child and told me everything was going to be okay. No, this was actually the first time I had ever gotten a hug from someone who now cared about me. 

I was happier than words could say. So I cried.