I Just Want to Know More

Chapter 1

Briar Rose sighed happily as she placed her head on the handsome stranger's shoulder. Mere moments ago, her animal friends showed up wearing a hat, cape, and boots, having dressed up as a prince to cheer her up. She sang and danced along with them until the stranger appeared. At first, Rose was afraid of him, having been told all her life by her aunts to never, ever talk to strangers. She couldn't understand why they worried so much about her because, for sixteen years, Rose had never met anyone else other than her aunts and forest friends. It seemed as though no one could ever possibly find her in the middle of the woods, but now, it just happened. A stranger came.

The stranger himself was trying to comfort Rose with gentle and loving words but despite the kindness and warmth in his voice, she desperately wanted to run away from him. Every time that she was able to pull her hand away from his, he would grab her again and spin her around to look him in the eyes. Then, the stranger sang her love song back to her, but Rose walked away from him, remembering her aunts' warnings; however, a small part of her was strangely hesitant to do so. The stranger had caught up with her, still singing, and Rose wanted to get far away from him as possible. But when she looked into his eyes, she felt her own heart melt. Perhaps the stranger wasn't as dangerous she thought he would be. Then, without thinking, Rose let him sweep her into a romantic waltz. The two of them had danced for a while before stopping to rest near a tree; leaning on the branch as they did so.

The view before them was truly breathtaking; there, in the distance, stood the small kingdom where the king and queen ruled. It would've been bustling with happiness had it not been for the princess's curse, which foretold that she would prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die on her sixteenth birthday. However, the curse was altered by a good fairy, who said that the princess would not die; instead, she would fall into a deep sleep and can only be awakened by true love's kiss. That was the reason why the entire kingdom had been so melancholy for many years; the princess went into hiding shortly after her christening, and to this day forth, no one still knows where she was, but it didn't matter to them anymore; the princess was expected to return to the castle that night, and that dreadful curse would come to an end at last.

Rose and the stranger continued to enjoy their blissful moment together. After some time had passed, the stranger broke the silence, by asking Rose quietly, "Who are you? What's your name?"

The girl lifted her head from his shoulder with a dreamy look in her violet eyes. "Hmm? Oh... My name. Why it's... It's..." Rose trailed off, slowly coming back to reality. But as she looked deeply into the stranger's kind eyes, a warm feeling seeped into her heart, causing her to shyly look away for a brief moment. Finally, she looked back at him and said, "It's Rose. Briar Rose."

"Briar Rose... What a beautiful name..." the stranger smiled. As he did, however, Rose blinked once and gasped in shock at what she had been doing, finally snapping back to reality. She backed away from him, eyes full of fear.

"Oh no... What have I done?!" she cried. She ducked under the tree branch and was about to run off when the stranger grabbed her hand, stopping her.

"Wait, why are you trying to run away from me?" he asked, sounding confused.

"I'm not supposed to speak to strangers!" Rose answered and tried to pull her hand free, but the stranger held on tightly, not wanting to let her go.

"I've already told you, I'm not a stranger!"

"But I've told you my name! What was I thinking?!"

"What's wrong with saying your name to me?"

Rose stopped, his question seeping into her mind. After a moment of silence, she said, "I... There's... There's nothing wrong with that. It's just that... My aunts told me that there are people out there who would try to hurt me, so that's why they always told me to never speak to strangers and never give them my name. I asked them why, but they wouldn't tell me."

The stranger nodded in understanding. He wasn't quite surprised; the poor girl must've been very lonely all her life.

"I see..." he replied. "But, I have a question. Who're your aunts?"

Rose bit her lip, unsure whether or not if she should tell him. The stranger gave her a comforting look, urging her to continue. Finally, she answered, "My aunts are Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather."

The stranger stood back in shock, not knowing what to make of this new information.

"Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather?!"

To be continued...

Author's Note: Hey guys! It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, I have a new story now! It's going to be mostly about Aurora and Phillip as you can probably tell. So, I've kinda wondered what would've happened if Aurora/Rose actually told Phillip her name, and here it is! My own alternate twist on the classic Disney film. What do you think of it? Feel free to give me friendly feedback through reviews, but no harsh criticism is allowed.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sleeping Beauty; Disney does.