Title: If you wanna be brave, reach for the top of the sky
Fandom: Disney princess canon
Disclaimer: only the parents are mine
Warnings: present-day AU
Pairings: none stated
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 615
Point of view: third
Prompt: Disney, princesses, superheros
In late September, while walking along the shore of the Pacific in northern California, the Olsens, a newly married couple, found a baby girl washed up on the sand. Sally gently scooped her up and Patrick quickly pulled off his shirt to wrap her in, and they rushed back to their car, and from there they sped to the nearest hospital.
No infant matching her description had been reported missing. She was in perfect health. The Olsens petitioned to keep her.
In early February, their request was granted and they took their daughter home.
o0o
In the middle of June, while walking through the woods in southern Montana, Monica Prentiss found a blonde-haired, blue-eyed toddler sleeping in a little nest on the ground. She froze in shock, gazing at the young girl, whose eyes blinked open as Monica stood there. The girl smiled, stretching and yawning, and Monica fell back in terror as a goddamned wolf stepped between them. A dozen more surrounded her, and the girl laughed.
The first wolf stared at Monica for a long, heart-stopping moment, and then turned around to gently nose at the girl. Monica held her breath and after the longest ten seconds of her life, the whole pack melted back into the woods, leaving Monica and the girl untouched.
The girl settled into her arms with ease and twirled her fingers in Monica's dark hair all the way to Monica's car, a day-long hike. She slept until they were at the ranger's station.
No toddler matching her description had been reported missing. She was in perfect health. Monica petitioned to keep her.
In late October, her request was granted and she took her daughter home.
o0o
Ariella Olsen met Rosalie Prentiss in early August. They were both five years olds and just starting kindergarten. Ariel loved to swim and spent most of her free time in streams, ponds, or puddles. Her hair was dark red, unlike her parents' brown, and her eyes a vibrant green. She related, with great excitement, the story of how her parents found her: washed up on the beach like a missing sea princess.
Rosalie delighted in nature, in the flora and fauna of the world around her. She, loudly and at great length, informed Ariella about all the native species of North America and the surrounding bodies of water, though Ariella already knew most of those.
The Olsens and Monica (who'd recently divorced husband number two) were glad that their little girls had found someone capable of keeping up with them.
Much much later, Ariella's parents and Rosalie's mother would realize how ironic their relief actually was.
o0o
When Ariella discovered she could breathe underwater and understand all the sea-going animals, the first person she told was Rosalie.
When Rosalie learned that forest creatures obeyed her commands (though she preferred to request, and that seemed to work just as well), she let Ariella know immediately.
Much much later they'd meet Jas and Anabelle and Cindra and Mel and Blanca and Ti, and they'd fight pollution and crime and poachers, and they'd save the world and the whales and the rainforest.
But that was later.
o0o
Rosalie climbed the tree like she was part squirrel while Ariella dove to the bottom of the pond as if she had fish-blood in her veins. A chipmunk shared the day's news with Rosalie and Ariella learned the legends of the pond from the oldest fish in the school.
"Come hear this!" both little girls hollered at the same time, and when they laughed, a king on a lonely throne on the ocean floor smiled, and when they promised to be friends forever, three sad sprites in a far-off wood felt a thrill of joy.