Shotarella

Summary: Once upon a time in a land far far away lived a lonely prince and a pretty young girl who lived with her two evil step-mother and step-sisters. This is not their story. Oz Vessalius and his two step sisters are invited to a ball. Cinderella/PH parody!

Chapter 1- The Invitation

"Damn it, this is entirely your fault, you stupid manservant!" A young woman's voice shouts at the top of her lungs as a blonde noble boy named Oz Vessalius looks up from the rose bush he was cutting flowers from.

"What's wrong Alice?" He asks innocently as she kicked him in the back causing him to fall onto his face just missing the bush of Roses. "Ow, Alice, that hurt! Why the heck did you do that?" Oz shouts rubbing his forehead where he smacked the walk way.

"Serves you right you worthless bastard. I thought I told you to tell Miss Kate that I wanted to have Meat for lunch?" The young woman, Alice says coldly as she flicked her long brown hair back over her shoulder and put her right foot onto his back.

"I did, I asked her to make your favorite, and it wasn't my fault she chooses to make something else for a change. Take it up with the cook not me." Oz says in pain as Alice dug her heal into Oz's shoulder blades.

"It was your job to make sure that she made the lunch I wanted!" Alice says in an annoyed tone.

"It's not my fault! I told her what you wanted." Oz says glaring at the ground trying not to collapse onto it.

"You should have made sure it was done right!" Alice yells not noticing someone coming up behind her, until she was lifted off of Oz and held in the air.

"You need to learn some manners, you Stupid Rabbit!" The person holding her up says in annoyance.

"Gil, when'd you get here?" Oz says cheerfully jumping up looking gleefully at the man who was holding a struggling Alice by her collar.

"A moment ago and I heard this loud mouthed Rabbit. Are you alright, Oz?" The man asks softly. This man's name was Gilbert Nightray and was a good friend of Oz's and a servant to the prince of the land.

"I'm fine, I've gotten used to it, and you can put her down now; before she bites you." Oz says with a slight laugh as his taller man puts down the fuming girl and she stormed away. 'Ha... poor Alice, she got man handled again.' He thought amusedly as he looked at Gilbert with a bright smile. "So what brings you here, Gil?" Oz says looking at his friend with excitement and happiness. "You usually only come when Jack gives you the day off." Oz says happily grabbing the man's hand. "Let's go have some tea and hang out in the garden." He says starting to pull the man eagerly but Gilbert stops him.

"I can't today, Oz... I've been sent to deliver these letters to all the noble families in the city." Gilbert says calmly pulling out four envelopes causing Oz to stop and pout slightly because he was here on business not to see him.

"Boo... That's no fun. What's the letters for? If it's going out to everyone then that means that it's pretty important." Oz says with a small pout even though he took the letters.

"They're invitations to the prince's ball. His father is making him choose a single woman to become his bride, since he was chosen out of the three prince brothers to become the next king." Gilbert explains calmly as Oz puffs his cheeks out.

"Jack's probably not happy about that! He likes to flirt with the ladies, a lot!" Oz says with a small scowl as he looked up at Gilbert. "Will you be there?" Oz says with a curious look and Gilbert smiled slightly.

"I'm a noble, aren't I?" Gilbert says softly causing Oz to smile brightly and hug Gilbert.

"Yeah! So that means you won't be playing fallow the leader with Jack all night and we can hang out and dance with girls." Oz says with a laugh and he squeezed his friend tightly.

"Oz... This is a bit unseemly." Gilbert says scratching the back on his head as Oz pulled back with a small laugh.

"It's alright Gil! If someone sees it just looks a child hugging his big brother or dad!" Oz says laughing loudly as he held Gilberts arm.

"But we're twenty-five, Oz... and it's improper." Gilbert says calmly as Oz pouted and let go of his arm.

"Improper or not Gil's no fun." Oz says crossing his arms in a childish way watching Gilbert frown at him.

"That might be so but a master and a servant should not socialize in that way." Gilbert says calmly causing Oz to let out a sigh.

"Gil's not my servant anymore... He's a noble and serves my cousin Jack, the next in line to the throne!" Oz says in a serious tone watching Gilbert stare at him with a small hurt look.

"I won't break my promise, Oz... I told you I'd always be by your side, even if our statuses change. I do not intend to break that tie... You will always be my master." Gilbert says softly watching Oz stare at him with serious eyes.

"Oz... What are you doing?" A woman's voice shouts causing Oz to look over at his step-mother.

"Talking to Gil, he stopped by to give us some letters from the castle." Oz says calmly as the woman looks at Gilbert with a nasty glare before looking at Oz.

"Get the letters and send him off on his way. Then get back to work on getting those flowers for the dining room." She says sharply before turning back toward the manor house and with the clicking of her heals she went back into the house.

"Why don't you kick that bitch out of your house? She and her daughters are nothing but a pain." Gilbert says coolly as he looked at Oz who frowned sadly.

"She's my step-mom, besides I can't just abandon Alice and Alyss. Alice is almost always mean to me but she has her moments and Alyss is always bullied by her mom and sister. I feel if I left them alone they'd be all alone." Oz says calmly with a sad smile knowing what it was like. "Besides since Ada went to boarding school I haven't had anyone to talk to so they're the only thing I have when Gil's away." Oz says with a teasing grin causing Gilbert to blush slightly.

"I-I think I should go now, Oz. After all I have a lot more letters to deliver." Gilbert says looking away from his friend, knowing that Oz was going to give him a pouting puppy eyed look to try and get him to stay longer.

"But Gil just got here..." Oz says with a small whine to his voice wanting Oz to stay with him longer.

"I have orders from the King to deliver the letters as quickly as possible." Gilbert says causing Oz's shoulders to slump and he looked off toward the house.

"Oscar-ojisan is so unfair. He sends Gil over here just to give me a party invitation and doesn't give him any time to play. No fair at all." Oz says throwing his arms up to rest behind his head.

"You shouldn't be so familiar with the way you speak about the king and his sons Oz. You'll get in trouble." Gilbert says knowing it wasn't really true because of the peppy, laidback personality that seemed to run through the Vessalius bloodline.

"Yeah I know! So I'll see you later then?" Oz says tilting his head to the side with a small sad smile and Gilbert smiled back at him.

"Yeah, I'll be busy preparing for the ball for a while though so I might not get much time off but if I do get some time I'll come and visit." Gilbert says ruffling Oz's hair gently causing Oz to lower his head liking when Gilbert patted his head like that.

"Okay... That's a promise. See you then or at the ball its self!" Oz says smiling up at Gilbert with a cheery smile. Gilbert smiled back before turning and leaving causing Oz to lose his smile as he watched his friend leave. He hated the fact that he lived in a house full of Girls and he wanted to fallow Gilbert around the city just so he could spend some time with him but he knew he couldn't do that. He turned back to the flowers before looking down at the Invitations with a frown. 'I'll be able to see him at the ball... He said so but it's probably over a month away.' He thought sadly as he picked up the basket of roses and other flowers he had collected and headed back to the manor house. When he opened the door he almost ran right straight into his other step-sister, Alyss, whom looked exactly like Alice did but she had white hair instead of brown.

"Oh, sorry Oz-niisama!" She says quickly backing away with a small blush on her face as she glanced over her shoulder. "I saw Gilbert-kun was here and I wanted to know what he wanted since he didn't stay." She says slowly looking at her feet trying to hide her dislike causing Oz to laugh softly.

"You should really get over that Alyss-chan. He pulled yours and Alice's hair because you two made fun of his brother's eyes... He's not a bad person." Oz says with a slight smile at the memory of when they all were children.

"That's not why I dislike him and it was Alice-nee that said that not me! I don't like him because he gets to spend all that time with the prince." Alyss says crossing her arms with a pout on her lips and Oz smiled at her.

"So you're jealous... Well you should love him after what he just told me." Oz says with a slight wink and Alyss looked at him curiously interested in what it could be that Oz was told. "Do you want to know?" He says with a slight smile and Alyss nodded with curious and slightly excited eyes. "The King chose Jack as the next in line to the throne and Jack is having a ball to celebrate that and to find a woman to become his bride." He says with a slight grin and Alyss's eyes widen in surprise and happiness.

"We're invited?" She says hopefully as Oz holds up the Invitations proudly.

"Yep they're right here! One for each of us! This could be your chance to meet him." He says with a slight chuckle at how cute Alyss looked staring at him like she'd cry from joy.

"You'll introduce me to him? Will you? I couldn't just walk up and start talking to him, it would be improper for someone like me to do so." She says fidgeting with her skirt and hair with excitement in her eyes.

"Yeah I will, promise! Jack will really like you because you're pretty and usually nice." Oz says causing her to pout before smiling again.

"I'll take that as a compliment, Oz-niisama but only because you said I could meet the prince." She says hugging him tightly as her mother appears in the entry way.

"So the prince is having a ball? Well then, we'll have to make sure that we graciously attend, won't we, Oz?" She says with a slight grin as she grabs the invitations out of Oz's hands and reading it with an emotionless look on her face.

"This is in two weeks... Humph... That worthless servant cannot even get it here in a decent amount of time." She says coldly causing Oz to glare at her.

"Don't talk about Gilbert like that! He's not only one of the dukedoms but he's a servant to the prince that so graciously invited you all." Oz says with a serious tone noticing Alyss nodded in agreement. 'And there's the fact that Gilbert is the one I care about the most so don't you dare call him worthless. He's got more worth than you do, you stupid whore!' Oz thought darkly watching his step-mother stare at the two of them annoyed at their defiance.

"I'll do whatever I damn well please." She says ripping the invitation in half with a slight smirk. "Opps... looks like you're not going Alyss." She says with a slight grin causing Oz to step forward and rip the torn one out of her hand.

"How dare you rid up an invitation from the prince! Get the fuck out of my house, right now!" Oz shouts with a glare on his face as the woman beams darkly at him.

"Your father left this mansion in my care; it's not your house." She says placing her hand on her hip with a triumphant look and Oz laughs.

"Ha! Fine, Alyss go get Alice... We're all going to go to visit Oscar-ojisan, I'm sure he'll tell you the same thing I did." Oz says with a vicious smile watching Alyss hurry away in fear of what was happening and sadness from what her mother did. "Miss Kate please have someone prepare a carriage for us, were leaving shortly." Oz says to the brown haired woman who appeared in the entry way to find out what all the commotion was. She quickly nodded before leaving the house to do as she was told. "This house belongs to me and if you do something to shame the name of the owner of the house then he'll kick you the hell out in a heartbeat." Oz says with a pissed sound to his voice as he slips the ripped invitation into his pocket. His step mother looked at him with just as much rage as he had as she stood there motionless watching her daughters appear beside Oz, Alice looked confused and Alyss looked like she had gained courage she didn't have before. "Let's go..." Oz says smiling happily at Alice. "I'll make up the fact that I didn't do a good job with lunch orders." Oz says to her causing her to perk up and nod excitedly knowing that he would buy her some good meat at the market place, if she went with him. He then led them out of the house to the carriage that was pulling up to the front of the house. Oz thanked Kate and helped Alice and Alyss into the carriage before telling the driver where to go. Alice and Alyss's mother stood in the door way with a glare before turning to Kate.

"Kate... would you please put these in the safe so we can keep them safe till the party and destroy this third one, we'll not be needing it." She says calmly handing them Kate to take away. 'That blasted boy's going to ruin Alice's chance of getting the prince.' She thought bitterly storming off to her room to soak in her private bath.