A/N:

Hey! It's been a while, but thank you for joining in again.

I had this story lying around for quite some time but it never felt finished. However, I finally took some time to put an ending to it. So here you go! Enjoy reading.

Disclaimer: I try to write in my very best english and although I'm pretty fluent, it's not perfect. I'm sorry in advance for any mistakes or weird use of words or sentences. (You're more than welcome to give feedback.)


Growing up Fiona used to keep in close contact with the other princesses. Arranged by her parents obviously, it wasn't really a matter of choice to hang out. They just did. It was part of her upbringing to be around royalty, and her parents believed it was good to be around people of the same stature so they could learn from each other how to be proper princesses.

But from a very young age Fiona realised she wasn't like the other princesses, she wasn't as dainty, although she really tried to be. She didn't enjoy the tea parties where they'd bring all their dolls and would chatter about their future princes. I mean, she liked the food, the little cupcakes, scones and sandwiches, but that was really about it. She much rather wanted to run around, climb in trees, jump in puddles, dig her hand into the earth and smell the dampness of it. She was fascinated by the worms and slugs, the little bugs that would appear under stones whenever she lifted them. Once when she was out of sight of the servants and her parents, she tried to pick up a few. Lifting a boulder in the castle garden, she saw a whole bunch of different bugs crawling around. After being intensely fascinated by it for a few moments she put some of them in her hand, and excited as she was she made her way back into the castle.

"Mom- ….Mooom" Fiona entered the reading room out of breath from the fast sprint she had taken. One of her hands covering the other so the bugs wouldn't escape. Lillian who was holding a book in one hand and taking her sip of her tea with the other, was a calm as ever.

"What is it darling?"

"I found little creatures, look! Look!" She couldn't keep her excitement about the great discovery she just did. But her mother just gave her a concerned look while slowly putting her tea on the side table. Fiona, afraid that her mother didn't understand how amazing her discovery was, wanted to clarify it.

"They're CRAWLING."

Her mother's face filled itself with disgust.

"Fiona...I-"

"Look!" Fiona, who had now walked up even closer, stuck out her hand towards her mother and opened her hand. She held the bugs just a few inches away from her mother's face.

It didn't take long for Lillian to realise what the moving things in Fiona's handpalm were.

"FIONA."

"It's amazi-"

"Get it out of here, now!"

That was the last time she was allowed to play in the garden without supervision.

Fiona never understood why her mother got so upset about that. But she quickly learned that the things she liked weren't appropriate for a lady of her stature. Everyday she tried to tell herself that the next day she'd be a better princess, behave better, look better, talk better.

One time Fiona couldn't sleep and desperately wanted to get some comfort from her parents. Unfortunately she just came by her parents bedroom at the wrong time.

Lillian actually hated to tell Fiona not to do certain things, some days she had to tell her multiple times a day that what she was doing was not fit for a princess. Other days it seemed to go quite well. She had Fiona's nanny instructed to be a little more strict with her throughout the day but it broke her heart when she saw her little girl at dinner with sadness and disappointment on her face. How she wished to be a proud mother, longing to tell Fiona she was being such a perfect princess. But the truth was that more and more often it felt like she constantly had to tell Fiona the complete opposite.

With that growing irritation of Fiona's behaviour throughout the day it also got harder and harder to see her daughter at night. When certain bad traits seemed to be amplified after sunset, she couldn't help but get more frustrated by them as they matched her green form a little too well.

Fiona however felt like that at night she had to be even more careful with her way of playing and talking. And so usually she found herself more at peace and relaxed by just being alone in her bedroom, playing with her toys and found treasures, making as little of a fuss as possible.


Whenever Harold discussed the matter with Lillian they always seemed to blame it on that dreaded curse. It was never really Fiona, because their daughter would be a perfect princess if it hadn't been for that awful creature at night.

"Lillian, this is just unacceptable, Fiona seems to just not be willing to listen"

"She's a child Harold."

"No, it's not just her being a child Lillian, I think we both know that. She digs up earth and bugs, makes a mess of herself almost everyday. No matter how much we tell her to eat a certain way she seems to not be able to get it right. The other princesses of her age are already far ahead. We can't just have her going around like this making a fool of herself, of US."

Lillian was quiet for a moment and let out a heavy sigh. "She's our daughter, and she's a child, and it seems like the older she gets the more afraid you seem to be about getting your image destroyed. But we shouldn't forget this is also about her happiness Harold."

"Look," Lillian continued, "I don't particularly enjoy the fact that she apparently has a liking for these certain things, I would much rather have her playing dress up and playing with her dolls or reading fairy tales instead of collecting stones en moss in her bedroom. But nobody has to know about this, it doesn't have to get out, and in time she'll grow over it and learn that being a princess means you have to put some of your inner desires on the side. I'm sure she'll learn. I'll give the dress up tomorrow another go, and I'll have her nanny look after her a little more strictly."


Fortunately for them, Lillian was right. Because in the years that followed Fiona seemed to slowly learn what she could and could not do. She learned the certain ways she could please her parents, get approval of them and the people around her. She learned to shape herself in a way that seemed to make people around her happy with her, and as long as they were happy, she was. Right? Yes, Fiona was very happy, that perfect princess was after all her real self, and that awful longing in the back of her mind, that made her want to do all those filthy things, that was just a horrible ugly beast.


A/N:

I keep thinking about Fiona being quite a tough child to deal with. Since she's always been partly ogre I can imagine that being more apparent when she was a child. Children are not yet that aware about the certain ways society would like them to behave, they are more themselves. I can imagine the struggle that both Fiona and her parents had to go through to really make her that princess they wanted her to be despite the curse.

As for Fiona, getting that constant criticism at such a young age must have been pretty awful to deal with as well.

I also find Lillian an interesting character in this matter, because to me it seems like she would be more understanding than Harold and would want Fiona to have a happy childhood despite it all, but also having to deal with that as a queen and mother of a princess she has to make sure Fiona gets a certain upbringing to make her a well fitted princess. I can imagine that leading to inner conflict within Lillian as well.