Why Queen Narissa Behaved So Badly
Title: Why Queen Narissa Behaved so Badly
Fandom: Enchanted
Rating/Genre: pg-13/femslash
Characters: Queen Narissa
Summary: Once upon a time there was an evil queen called Narissa. But she hadn’t always been evil. She was not born that way. No, once, she was just an ordinary girl - perhaps with a slightly more ardent interest in magic than most ordinary girls tend to have. And she was also a lesbian in the closet.
Word count: 1 535
Spoilers/Warnings: No/Nothing graphic but explicit references to noncon/dubcon and suicide attempts.
Prompt: 059. Destroy, at 100_women
Notes: I started writing this story more than a year ago, I think, when I had watched Enchanted for the first (and only) time, but for some reason I didn’t finish this then. I found the movie cute, but a bit “too much” - too cute and fluffy, I guess - but who can resist Susan Sarandon being an evil queen?! This story must be rewritten, I decided…
Once upon a time there was an evil queen called Narissa. But she hadn’t always been evil. She was not born that way. No, once, she was just an ordinary girl - perhaps with a slightly more ardent interest in magic than most ordinary girls tend to have. And she was also a lesbian in the closet. When she was young, she had crushes on girls who didn’t notice her, and one day she fell deeply in love with the woman who later became Giselle’s mother. But she was straight and married Giselle’s father.
Narissa had never ever dared to declare her love for anyone, but she decided to take a chance this time, and to tell all that was in her heart. But the woman she loved said: “I’ve been dreaming of my true love’s kiss, and my true love is not you, Narissa!”
Narissa’s heart was broken in so many pieces that she thought she was going to die, or if she didn’t she’d better kill herself immediately to get away from the pain. She cried and walked around precipitous cliffs and waterfalls for many nights, and she was more than once very close to take one step too far.
But the fairies, the birds and the unicorns watched over her, tried to protect her and heal her broken heart. Little did the fairies, the birds and the unicorns know that it was already too late. They could save Narissa’s life, but they couldn’t save her heart. It was hard, frozen, beyond repair.
Narissa knew she should be grateful to the kind fairies and all the others for saving her life, but she couldn’t bring herself to feel anything. She left them, and spent the following years alone in a little house far away from the woman whom she had thought was her true love, but who was now married to a man and the mother of a baby girl.
“Why didn’t she want me?” Narissa lamented, “Was I not good enough for her? Was I not pretty enough? What is it that this man can give her that I can’t offer a thousand times better?”
But after some time, she didn’t even ask any more.
One day the king, who was a widower and had a young son, was ogre hunting in the forest where Narissa lived. The king was unfortunate that day; he lost track of both the ogre and the men who were accompanying him. When he found a little house, he knocked on the door and asked for help.
Narissa hadn’t seen the men he was looking for, or if she had seen them she had forgotten already, but she invited the king in to share her supper.
Now, why did Narissa do that? The answer, my friends, is that she had a plan. Her plan was to marry the king - not out of love, no, but because a wish had arisen in her cold heart: If she couldn’t be loved, why couldn’t she at least get an abundance of wealth and luxury - and what better way to get that than to become queen?
Of course, a sane and happy Andalasian girl would never do such a thing, but Narissa was neither of those things anymore. She had been studying the Dark Arts for some time, and she had found that she now wanted things she had never thought about before, such as power.
If I become the mightiest queen ever, she thought, then nobody or nothing will ever get to me; I’ll never be in pain, I’ll never cry - no, I will never suffer the pain of love ever again!
And so she used her skills to seduce the king into believing that she was his one true love, destined to be his new wife - before the supper was finished, the king proposed to her with a song, and soon enough, they were married.
Narissa had many beautiful things in the palace. She had jewellery, beautiful clothes, books and everything she could wish for. The only thing she had but didn’t really want, that came with the palace, was of course the king. But Narissa knew how to handle him; she encouraged his passion for ogre hunting - he had never caught a troll in his entire life, but he was happy that his wife believed in him, and one day, he hunted a little too eagerly, came a little too close yet not close enough; the ogre caught him first, and the king was dead.
Queen Narissa had been married for less than a week, and she was a widow. And a stepmother. She treated the little boy Edward - the prince - as kindly as she could, but it was a charade that became a routine. She continued to pretend to love him for many years, and maybe, somewhere deep down in her heart, did she grow a little bit fond of him just by repeating certain words and actions - who knows. The only certain thing is that she did feel safe, secure, surrounded by wealth; her heart was comfortably sedated, and the only thing that gave her any amount of pleasure was to think about how powerful she was and how much deeper she penetrated the Dark Arts each day.
She also kept girls from countries far away as servants who perhaps adored her and enjoyed to be at her service whenever she wished; most likely a fair share of those were just afraid to refuse her. Narissa kept her dugeons in excellent, terrifying shape for anyone who dared to upset her.
Then the prince fell in love.
And as if that wasn’t bad enough, the girl Edward fell in love with was the child of the woman Narissa had once loved (if she cared to try to remember what that felt like anymore).
This chipper, cheerful girl Giselle was not exactly a true copy of her mother, but she did stir up some memories just by existing, and her existence and her happiness filled Narissa with unholy rage.
And now, my friends, we are getting to the end of this story, but we’re not there just yet. There was one other thing that more than anything pushed Narissa over the edge.
The young girl was innocent enough to look at Narissa and smile at her as if she was trustworthy - yes; as if she was likeable, even. Giselle was kind, and sweet, and very, very pretty. She was so sweet that she could be eaten alive - for a moment, this seemed to be an option - and so pretty that Queen Narissa almost wanted to scratch her eyes out and use them as jewellery.
Her skin looked so soft and smooth that Narissa wanted it as a pillow case. Her hair was so long and beautiful that if it had been a blanket, it could have kept the coldest of creatures warm at night. Her lips were so red and tempting that it seemed impossible that they were not designed exclusively for kissing, kissing, kissing through endless moonless nights.
What love felt like; this Queen Narissa had forgotten. But now she remembered lust; what she felt for the girls she kept at the castle was nothing but a shadow of the deep, burning desire she felt when Giselle entered her life.
This was a force so compelling and strong that Narissa began cooking and stirring and experimenting with potions in her private kitchen. She wanted to make a potion so strong that it was going to make Giselle weak with desire; after drinking it, she wouldn’t object even to being thrown into the deepest dungeon where no one but Narissa ever was going to come to her, and when Narissa did, Giselle would sing as if she was happy.
But then a most unwelcome thought hit her, and rose her to a frenzy so wild that she began throwing bottles and pots and buckets all over her kitchen, and all the servants hid somewhere in the far end of the palace garden.
The thought that disturbed Narissa in the middle of all this purple-colored steaming hot dreaming about the young girl’s untouched and fresh body, was this: She, the mighty queen, had the power to make Giselle come to her and yield to her, but whatever she did, she would never be able to force Giselle’s heart into loving her.
And after all; deep down, Narissa was just a woman who wanted to be happy and loved.
Narissa could not be happy and loved. Then why, oh why, should Giselle and Prince Edward be happy? Why?! Where was the justice in that? There was no justice.
No, “justice” does not exist in this world, Narissa said to herself, the only things that exist are revenge and power.
And that, my dear readers, is why Queen Narissa behaved so badly towards the young Giselle. The wonderful tale of Giselle’s adventures in the strange new world she was sent to is known by everyone, but the beginning of the story is to be found many years before - and now you know as well as I do why Narissa did what she did and why the story ended the way it ended.
Fandom: Enchanted
Rating/Genre: pg-13/femslash
Characters: Queen Narissa
Summary: Once upon a time there was an evil queen called Narissa. But she hadn’t always been evil. She was not born that way. No, once, she was just an ordinary girl - perhaps with a slightly more ardent interest in magic than most ordinary girls tend to have. And she was also a lesbian in the closet.
Word count: 1 535
Spoilers/Warnings: No/Nothing graphic but explicit references to noncon/dubcon and suicide attempts.
Prompt: 059. Destroy, at 100_women
Notes: I started writing this story more than a year ago, I think, when I had watched Enchanted for the first (and only) time, but for some reason I didn’t finish this then. I found the movie cute, but a bit “too much” - too cute and fluffy, I guess - but who can resist Susan Sarandon being an evil queen?! This story must be rewritten, I decided…
Once upon a time there was an evil queen called Narissa. But she hadn’t always been evil. She was not born that way. No, once, she was just an ordinary girl - perhaps with a slightly more ardent interest in magic than most ordinary girls tend to have. And she was also a lesbian in the closet. When she was young, she had crushes on girls who didn’t notice her, and one day she fell deeply in love with the woman who later became Giselle’s mother. But she was straight and married Giselle’s father.
Narissa had never ever dared to declare her love for anyone, but she decided to take a chance this time, and to tell all that was in her heart. But the woman she loved said: “I’ve been dreaming of my true love’s kiss, and my true love is not you, Narissa!”
Narissa’s heart was broken in so many pieces that she thought she was going to die, or if she didn’t she’d better kill herself immediately to get away from the pain. She cried and walked around precipitous cliffs and waterfalls for many nights, and she was more than once very close to take one step too far.
But the fairies, the birds and the unicorns watched over her, tried to protect her and heal her broken heart. Little did the fairies, the birds and the unicorns know that it was already too late. They could save Narissa’s life, but they couldn’t save her heart. It was hard, frozen, beyond repair.
Narissa knew she should be grateful to the kind fairies and all the others for saving her life, but she couldn’t bring herself to feel anything. She left them, and spent the following years alone in a little house far away from the woman whom she had thought was her true love, but who was now married to a man and the mother of a baby girl.
“Why didn’t she want me?” Narissa lamented, “Was I not good enough for her? Was I not pretty enough? What is it that this man can give her that I can’t offer a thousand times better?”
But after some time, she didn’t even ask any more.
One day the king, who was a widower and had a young son, was ogre hunting in the forest where Narissa lived. The king was unfortunate that day; he lost track of both the ogre and the men who were accompanying him. When he found a little house, he knocked on the door and asked for help.
Narissa hadn’t seen the men he was looking for, or if she had seen them she had forgotten already, but she invited the king in to share her supper.
Now, why did Narissa do that? The answer, my friends, is that she had a plan. Her plan was to marry the king - not out of love, no, but because a wish had arisen in her cold heart: If she couldn’t be loved, why couldn’t she at least get an abundance of wealth and luxury - and what better way to get that than to become queen?
Of course, a sane and happy Andalasian girl would never do such a thing, but Narissa was neither of those things anymore. She had been studying the Dark Arts for some time, and she had found that she now wanted things she had never thought about before, such as power.
If I become the mightiest queen ever, she thought, then nobody or nothing will ever get to me; I’ll never be in pain, I’ll never cry - no, I will never suffer the pain of love ever again!
And so she used her skills to seduce the king into believing that she was his one true love, destined to be his new wife - before the supper was finished, the king proposed to her with a song, and soon enough, they were married.
Narissa had many beautiful things in the palace. She had jewellery, beautiful clothes, books and everything she could wish for. The only thing she had but didn’t really want, that came with the palace, was of course the king. But Narissa knew how to handle him; she encouraged his passion for ogre hunting - he had never caught a troll in his entire life, but he was happy that his wife believed in him, and one day, he hunted a little too eagerly, came a little too close yet not close enough; the ogre caught him first, and the king was dead.
Queen Narissa had been married for less than a week, and she was a widow. And a stepmother. She treated the little boy Edward - the prince - as kindly as she could, but it was a charade that became a routine. She continued to pretend to love him for many years, and maybe, somewhere deep down in her heart, did she grow a little bit fond of him just by repeating certain words and actions - who knows. The only certain thing is that she did feel safe, secure, surrounded by wealth; her heart was comfortably sedated, and the only thing that gave her any amount of pleasure was to think about how powerful she was and how much deeper she penetrated the Dark Arts each day.
She also kept girls from countries far away as servants who perhaps adored her and enjoyed to be at her service whenever she wished; most likely a fair share of those were just afraid to refuse her. Narissa kept her dugeons in excellent, terrifying shape for anyone who dared to upset her.
Then the prince fell in love.
And as if that wasn’t bad enough, the girl Edward fell in love with was the child of the woman Narissa had once loved (if she cared to try to remember what that felt like anymore).
This chipper, cheerful girl Giselle was not exactly a true copy of her mother, but she did stir up some memories just by existing, and her existence and her happiness filled Narissa with unholy rage.
And now, my friends, we are getting to the end of this story, but we’re not there just yet. There was one other thing that more than anything pushed Narissa over the edge.
The young girl was innocent enough to look at Narissa and smile at her as if she was trustworthy - yes; as if she was likeable, even. Giselle was kind, and sweet, and very, very pretty. She was so sweet that she could be eaten alive - for a moment, this seemed to be an option - and so pretty that Queen Narissa almost wanted to scratch her eyes out and use them as jewellery.
Her skin looked so soft and smooth that Narissa wanted it as a pillow case. Her hair was so long and beautiful that if it had been a blanket, it could have kept the coldest of creatures warm at night. Her lips were so red and tempting that it seemed impossible that they were not designed exclusively for kissing, kissing, kissing through endless moonless nights.
What love felt like; this Queen Narissa had forgotten. But now she remembered lust; what she felt for the girls she kept at the castle was nothing but a shadow of the deep, burning desire she felt when Giselle entered her life.
This was a force so compelling and strong that Narissa began cooking and stirring and experimenting with potions in her private kitchen. She wanted to make a potion so strong that it was going to make Giselle weak with desire; after drinking it, she wouldn’t object even to being thrown into the deepest dungeon where no one but Narissa ever was going to come to her, and when Narissa did, Giselle would sing as if she was happy.
But then a most unwelcome thought hit her, and rose her to a frenzy so wild that she began throwing bottles and pots and buckets all over her kitchen, and all the servants hid somewhere in the far end of the palace garden.
The thought that disturbed Narissa in the middle of all this purple-colored steaming hot dreaming about the young girl’s untouched and fresh body, was this: She, the mighty queen, had the power to make Giselle come to her and yield to her, but whatever she did, she would never be able to force Giselle’s heart into loving her.
And after all; deep down, Narissa was just a woman who wanted to be happy and loved.
Narissa could not be happy and loved. Then why, oh why, should Giselle and Prince Edward be happy? Why?! Where was the justice in that? There was no justice.
No, “justice” does not exist in this world, Narissa said to herself, the only things that exist are revenge and power.
And that, my dear readers, is why Queen Narissa behaved so badly towards the young Giselle. The wonderful tale of Giselle’s adventures in the strange new world she was sent to is known by everyone, but the beginning of the story is to be found many years before - and now you know as well as I do why Narissa did what she did and why the story ended the way it ended.