🎀🤍 Fleur Bianchi: Paranormal showgirl 🤍🎀

*This story is underneath my folder titled “Paranormal Showgirl”. Gacha Club character designs are under my forum titled “My character designs<33[2]”. Enjoy!*

Some time in the 1800s, the whole town of Albrechtwood was invited to the Albrecht castle for Prince Cesare Albrecht’s twenty-sixth birthday. The whole town, meaning royal relatives, those in the middle, and the extremely poor were all invited.

Nobody knew why everybody got invited, but nobody was complaining. An invite to a royal palace? How could anyone pass that up? Some people came just to eat the food, some came to steal a few small things that they didn’t think the Albrechts would notice or miss, some were curious to see the inside of the palace, and many others were afraid of what would happen if they didn’t come, as it was explicitly stated from Queen Clara Albrecht at the town square that it was absolutely mandatory for everyone to come to the palace for her son’s birthday.

But six year old Fleur Bianchi wasn’t at all concerned or afraid of the royal palace. In her eyes, going to the party was a chance for her to pretend to be a Princess, like she was well-loved by everyone and that she had a whole entire palace all to herself, a whole palace where she could keep all the dolls that she wanted!

Her parents had advised her to stay close to them, that it was dangerous for her to wander off by herself, especially at the palace, but how could Fleur only stay with them? There was so much to see! So much to find!

Which was why sometime in the middle of the party, Fleur slipped away from her parents and set to walk all throughout the palace, going to any room she could find, getting more impressed with every single one. Really, how could anyone have as much as the Albrechts had and why couldn’t Fleur have all of the chandeliers and canopy beds and-

Fleur stopped in front of a room that held shelves of withered, old books and porcelain dolls staring back blankly with glass eyes. The walls were painted a deep blue that almost looked purple, a sharp contrast to the white and cream colored walls of the castle. The two windows on either side of the room were covered by lace maroon curtains. The only light in the room was a single glass-stained flower lamp and next to that lamp was a violet couch, where an old lady in an ocean-blue dress sat, reading a book.

In all of the other rooms Fleur saw, she didn’t see anybody inside of them, for they were all in the living room of the castle (Well, the big room in the castle that served as the living room) or they were all in secret rooms in the castle. Either way, the old lady was the first person Fleur saw besides her parents and the others at the party. She wasn’t sure if she should say anything, if she should let the old lady know of her presence, if-

“You’re rather far from the party, aren’t you?” The old lady asked, putting the book down beside her on the couch and smiling softly at Fleur.

Yes, she was far from the party, but was she in trouble? Was the old lady mad at her? She didn’t seem mad. She was grinning at Fleur, her eyes were sparkling, she wasn’t yelling, but…Fleur was at a place that she wasn’t supposed to be at. Did that warrant punishment? Didn’t that mean that the old woman should be somewhat angry with her?

“Don’t look so scared. I may be the royal witch, but I’m not going to hurt you. Come in, take a look around! I never get any visitors!” The old lady said, gesturing to Fleur to come in.

Fleur had been running throughout the castle for a while, but surely, it wouldn’t hurt to take one look inside, would it? Besides, the room was so pretty, too pretty to ignore! When would she get the chance to look at a witch’s room again? Speaking of which…

“I didn’t know the Albrechts had a witch!” Fleur exclaimed, stepping inside of the room.

“Yes, they hired me, Josephine, to show them magical wonders and to bring them all the happiness that they can imagine.” The old-Josephine-said as she got up from the couch and walked over to a shelf of dolls.

“You bring them happiness? But aren’t they already happy enough?” Fleur asked, puzzled as to why the Albrechts would ever need a witch to bring them happiness when they already had everything that everybody wanted. If she were a Princess, then she’d be the happiest girl in the world, because nothing would be too expensive for her! Wasn’t that common knowledge? Didn’t everybody think like her?

“Anybody can be unhappy, no matter how much they have. Would a happy person force people to come over for a party with a punishment if they don’t come?” Josephine asked.

Fleur swallowed hard. As nice as the castle was, there were still dungeons deep beneath the walls, hidden from view. Just as she was excited to go to the castle, her parents were still scared, warning Fleur that she needed to stay with them, to listen to them, lest she be harmed by those higher in power.

She preferred not to think about it, but she knew that the Albrechts punished those who didn’t listen.

“No.” Fleur said meekly.

“Exactly. That’s where I come in. I search for happiness in animals, happiness in plants, happiness in people…I need to find what has the most happiness and then, only then, will I take the source of that happiness to the Albrechts, so that they may smile forevermore.” Josephine said.

Fleur grabbed a doll off a shelf that had long, blond hair tied up into two pigtails tied off with pink bows. It was dressed in lace white and prim pink, its blue eyes stared up at her sweetly.

Josephine’s words were odd, but maybe Fleur could run away with the doll. Maybe Josephine wouldn’t mind Fleur leaving. After all, she did seem nice, so she probably wasn’t the type of person to get too mad. The doll was too pretty to leave behind, anyway. She could just take the doll and run to her parents, run from the witch and her strange words, run-

Her chest felt tight, like her bones were compressing against her organs, stopping the blood from her heart…blood…blood? She was…she was bleeding? She could see it, the blood spilling onto her pink dress…

Fleur still held onto the doll, but she could see it rushing up close to her…close to her…

Why was Josephine holding her?! Why did everything feel so stiff? Why…Fleur couldn’t speak! She couldn’t move her lips! She couldn’t do anything!

“Don’t worry, right after I stabbed you, your body evaporated. Isn’t that amazing, what happens with a magical knife? Now, don’t be too upset. I’m going to take you to see the royal family! You must be a very happy child, I think. Your energy will certainly make them happy!” Josephine beamed.

Happiness? Energy? Magical knife? What happened? Was Fleur…dead? But why? Josephine was so nice, she let Fleur look at the dolls, she didn’t scold her, she…

Stick with us, Fleur. Even if someone acts  like they’re nice, they’re not. You don’t know them, so don’t trust them.

Mom’s words circled and swarmed her mind as Josephine tucked Fleur under her arm, as Josephine walked past a mirror. Why did Fleur believe that everyone would be nice to her? Why did she believe that everyone was good, even the Albrechts, deep down?

Her parents were right. If Fleur listened to them, then she wouldn’t be dead. If Fleur listened to them, then she wouldn’t be a doll, just like in the mirror she and Josephine passed, where it was just Josephine and a doll.

Fleur probably wouldn’t ever see them again.