A little dramatic, don't you think?, [Edward/Open]

[Narissa]

Narissa crossed her arms, leaning against a tree. Simply staring at the castle she had once lived in, now inhabited by her silly stepson and some new girl. As if they could ever be HALF the ruler she was! Andalasia was Narissa's property, and she would definitely not stand for it being overrun by a duo of morons. It was a good thing she was a talented sorceress. Not every evil could simply vanish out of thin air at the last death-threatening moment, as if she had died! Narissa was fully aware that people had thought she had magically combusted or something stupid like that when that stupid do-gooder Giselle had caused her to fall off that ridiculously tall building (honestly, not even her own castle was that high!)

HAH!

As if! Narissa wasn't as dumb as that, to die by falling. It had been costly, though, and for a while she had remained in hiding to gain back her magic. Her secret lair was nothing compared to the luxurious abode of her castle though, and now she was coming to claim it back. Narissa pushed herself off of the bark and began making her way towards her home, brow twisted and upper lip curled with disdain.

After reaching the front, Narissa took a deep breath. Couldn't make her grand entrance all hot and bothered like that, now, could she? Narissa studied the door. It shouldn't be that hard to gain it all back. She had been nice to Edward while he was growing up, hadn't she? Of course, it was all just careful calculating so he wouldn't rise against her or find out about women and get married. And that was what had happened, no thanks to that worthless Nathaniel. With a large blow of magic with a flick of the wrist, Narissa forced the doors open. With a smirk Narissa entered the halls, heels clicking against the marble floor.

"Hello, children," Narissa called out loud. "Miss me?" She placed her hands on her hips, smiling.

[Edward]

Edward had spent the time since his rollercoaster adventure in New York City going through quite the stuff of character metamorphosis. He was slowly changing from naive and inexperienced to aware and knowledgeable; though his priorities for the most part were as they always were. True, Nancy was at the top of his list. And truer still, he was becoming more diplomatic and proper. Yet most things were still the same; he thought he was one of the best living organisms to walk the earth and spoke with the air-head, confident tone quite often. His motto was still: What's not to like?

Narissa's return was highly unanticipated. In fact, he had believed her to be long gone. As far as he and everyone else in the kingdom knew, the wicked woman had been a vile traitor and lead up to her own downfall in that strange magical combustion sequence. The kingdom had been more in a state of disgust than mourning. In his mind, justice had been placed where it belonged. At least, that was how it seemed until that familiar voice followed through the main of the castle.

"It... It can't be, can it?" Edward had been in talks with an adviser when it happened. The elder merely shrugged and took his leave as he figured he should. With a mixed expression of confusion, worry, and anger, the dashing prince made his way towards the front gates. "Who goes there!?" he asked in a strong, demanding tone. His serious voice was actually a tad intimidating.

As he reached the main hall, he stopped, frozen in place at the sight before him. His lips slightly parted; he wanted to gasp but it took a moment to find it in him. By the time he regained the ability to breathe, he was more interested in words. "You!" His eyes narrowed, his voice lowered. Fists clenched, he continued towards her in a healthy march. "You dare to live and show your face around here!?"

[Nancy Tremaine]

Nancy had been strangely nostalgic lately. It wasn't that she wasn't usually a thoughtful person but it seemed to her that she was much more caught up in daydreams than she ought to be. After all she had much to do, much to learn before she could take on the role and title of queen. Stranger still she found she didn't seem to mind as much, back in New York an unproductive day would have put her in a foul mood for a week.

Edward had been in some sort of meeting all morning and she had decided to spend her free time in the castle's library (a large room filled with what seemed like an endless line of shelves and levels) reading up on Andalasian history, a lazy enough activity without completely wasting of time. She had sat for hours carefully working her way through the smallest of details when a strange sound interrupted her thoughts.

Curious and unreasonably alarmed she set the book she had been holding down and stood up, walking quickly from the room. She didn't know exactly why but something... something felt horribly wrong.

Stepping into the main hallway she saw exactly what was so wrong. Standing in near the doorway, tall and dressed in impeccable fashion was Edward's presumed dead stepmother, looking very much alive and Edward looking entirely angry and more than a little surprised. While Nancy had only seen the woman once she had been filled in on the nasty details. Narrowing her eyes in both shock and concern she stepped tentatively towards the two.

"Edward?" She forced the worry from her voice turning to the intruder.

"You... how did you... why are you here?"

[Narissa]

Narissa would have to admit that on some levels she was rather surprised at Edward's attitude, but she regained her posture and smiled 'warmly' at him. "Hello, Edward," she greeted, wiggling her fingers in a wave. Then Narissa pretended to gasp, hand darting to cover her mouth. "You're threatening your dear old step-mummy?" Narissa said, and then her hand went to her heart as if she felt wounded. "After all those years I single-handedly nurtured and cared for you without your father, after all those years of my love!" Naturally Narissa hadn't really felt anything towards Edward while raising him, only thought of him as a threat, or actually, more like a bomb. A bomb that had to be handled with excruciating care.

There were always all those old stories about those stepmothers and how evil they were. Narissa wanted to scoff when she read them. How could you blame them? They had to care for some brat that wasn't even theirs! It was ridiculous. But Narissa had to put on her good stepmother mask now. Luckily, she was rather manipulative, witty, and an actress, those three traits being the jewels in her crown that had landed her the king in the first place. It was a good thing she knew Edward fairly well. All those years hadn't been for nothing!

"Now, darling, I know we've had a few rough patches in the past," Narissa began, looking at Edward apologetically. "But you should know that I only ever did those things to your best interest. Why, I knew that Giselle would only break your heart! I wouldn't be able to stand to see my dear son in such pain. Which was why I simply sent her to that glistening city New York in the first place. I thought it was the best choice to make you both happy." The words slipped off her tongue easily, and she said every single one as if she meant it. Narissa had had great practice in lying with manipulating Nathaniel, after all.

"I'll admit things got out of hand in the end, but look now, everything worked out so wonderfully--you're with your fancy Nancy, Robert has Giselle the bell." Narissa said, though secretly she really hated how things turned out. Speak of the devil. Suddenly, Nancy came into view, and Narissa widened her eyes. It took a second for her to smile. "Nancy! It's so lovely to meet you. I hope you're treating my son well," Narissa said, simply gushing at the dark-haired female. "Oh, my dear, I'm here to make everything better." But her priority right now was to convince Edward. She took a step closer, holding out her hand.

"Come now, Edward. I'm sure you get tired of ruling, hm? All those proclamations and rules and what not to go over. If you give me the crown, you can go back to your carefree life before," Narissa coaxed, voice smooth and even. "I'll make you and Nancy prince and princess, and you'll be free to go about Andalasia as you used to, troll and ogre hunting and picking flowers. Just fun, no worries." She smiled at the both of them. "And we'll all live happily ever after." After all it was only fair.

Inside, Narissa was choking on her own sweetness.

[OOC: Sorry if it's blah, this IS my first time as Narissa, after all!]