HitsuMatsu - A Different Snow White


Once upon a time, there was a magical mirror. He (for it had a gender, and it was male) was said to be able to answer any question you could possibly ask. Kings and Lords, who wanted advice on warfare and such, offered great rewards for those who would bring the mirror to them. However, it often ended with fake mirrors being presented instead and many gave up hope of ever finding the mysterious object as the years passed.

Meanwhile, during the frantic search for him, the mirror was safely placed on the wall of an old woman's bedroom. He was quite happy there, even if the intellectual stimulation the old granny provided was limited to discussing different recipes and herbs. He also got quite good at crosswords, since she had a habit of asking him for help. But when he got a word wrong, she was surprised to realize that yes, he replied to every question she had, although the answer didn't always had to be a correct one.

A young girl called Momo soon joined the household. She looked slightly older than the reflection in the mirror that represented his face, but the old woman was not fooled, for he had been alive several centuries more than either the girl or herself.

Momo quickly befriended the slightly moody mirror, and the mirror found that he quite liked the lively presence the girl provided. He even let her know his name, which only the old woman knew, and she said she didn't like it. So she called him Snowy instead, because of his white hair and fair complexion.

It was upsetting for the mirror when Momo met and married King Aizen, not only because she was leaving but because she turned him in for His Highness' uses as well. A wedding gift, she said.

The following years became quite dreary, and the mirror found himself locked up in an empty room with little light and nothing but old, worn wallpaper to stare at. It took King Aizen a long time to realize the mirror didn't necessary know the answers to everything, but once he did, he also figured out that the mirror had pretty much been messing up as much as possible for the tyrant of a King.

The mirror soon missed fooling the royal bastard, because it had been his only interaction with someone else than Momo, who had taken to a bad habit of asking him who was the most beautiful in the world. Apparently, she was afraid King Aizen would somehow find her less attractive than yesterday, and so he assured her that indeed, she was the most beautiful. Even when her dear husband told her the mirror didn't always speak the truth, she continued to ask almost everyday.

It was making him quite loopy, despite being a magical mirror and all.

So when, one day, the door to his room opened and revealed someone other than Momo or her King, he had trouble containing the maniac grin that spread across his otherwise stiff reflection. It turned out to be the King's new (since the mirror had proven quite useless) advisor's sister, Rangiku. At first he didn't believe her, for he had seen the new advisor with his silver hair and fox-like grin, and she looked nothing like that creepy man. Her golden hair fell in waves, and her lips were full and pulled in a soft smile that made him blush for the first time in years. When she said Mr Fox wasn't her blood-brother, but step-brother, the mirror understood.

She continued to come whenever she had time to spare, and the mirror looked forward to visits, despite her tendency to bring a lot of wine. Her eccentric ways and noticeable intelligence intrigued him, as well as the fact that she never asked any other questions other than inquiring of his health or his day, and sometimes books or food (which he knew a lot about, after his time with the old granny).

The mirror then realized that she didn't really have to ask anything, because he found himself telling her anyway. She even liked his name, but admitted that 'Snowy' suited him as well.

It was easy, having a conversation with her, and he hardly noticed how Momo's visits became fewer and fewer. He didn't really notice until Rangiku told him that she had a message from her that said;

"I won't be able to visit for a couple of months, but answer this;

'Mirror mirror on the wall,
Who is fairest of them all?'

and tell Rangiku to deliver the answer to me."

The note had been interrupted by Rangiku's laughter once she read the poem Momo used to pose her question, which had briefly led the mirror to explain how she always asked the same question and had thought it necessary to make it more dramatic. It was then he realized that Momo's absence didn't bother him enough to give her note much thought.

So when he told Rangiku to tell the Queen that she was no longer the "fairest of them all" (he had found a much more beautiful woman, although she did not know of his opinion yet), he didn't really consider the consequences.

It was a good thing that Rangiku fell asleep in his room one night, because otherwise, he would've been nothing but shards of broken glass on the floor. He was surprised to find that Rangiku had quite the reflexes, and not to mention her right hook; Momo was out cold within seconds.

That night he was relocated to another set of rooms that were so much more pleasant, but he was too worried about what would happen to Rangiku once the Queen was found unconscious with a swollen cheek. She assured him it would be alright, and surprisingly, Momo chose to keep silent about the matter on the grounds that she had not known what she was doing, trying to kill her long-time friend. Rangiku just shook her head and downed another bottle of wine, telling him she was glad it was over, and kissing his cheek to leave a red kissmark on the otherwise spotless glass.

It seemed there was a happily ever after before a real story had a chance to begin.

Not that the mirror minded.


--------THE END--------

Well, that's it.

Quite a different take on Snow White XD


Drabble & Art (C) surrenderdammit
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