Once, there was a family in the deep south who owned a significant amount of land, and had 11 brothers and 1 sister to bear the family name. They studied in their house, learning under their father, who was a benevolent teacher, and made sure his sons and daughter had everything they could ever need. The one thing he was never able to provide for them, however, was their mother, who had died during the birthing of her final child, their one daughter, Elizabeth.
All of this was soon to change, for their father had fallen in love with another woman, a cruel lady named Anna Grace. During the wedding, the children were instructed to stay inside, in order to appease their step-mother who wanted nothing to do with them. Anna Grace hated the children, as she saw them rivals for her new husband's affections. She got 11 young women to tempt the boys away from the house and into the city, but the boy who was to sway Elizabeth did not succeed. Elizabeth was aromantic, and therefore couldn't be tempted to run away with someone out of a silly crush.
Furious, Anna Grace went to her husband and gave him the idea that Elizabeth was gay. Elizabeth's father was so maddened at the thought that he kicked her out of the house, and made sure that no one in town would help her.
Elizabeth, having nowhere else to go, went to the city.
She was homeless, and could not find a job. She remembered the days when she and her brothers would learn their lessons from their father, back when he loved them, and cried herself to sleep nightly.
Out on the street one day, she ran into her 11 brothers. They were out dancing in the street, graceful and every bit amazing as professionals in studios, but they barely recognized her, and she knew that her father never would. A woman walked up to her and smiled. "They're beautiful, aren't they?" she hummed. "But they're not the brothers you knew. They are slaves to their boss. It would take $1,000 a piece to release them from their contract."
Elizabeth looked at the woman and immediately ran off, eager to get the money to release her brothers. She worked the streets, singing, dancing some her own, looking for any and every job she could put on while keeping the others, sleeping in the streets in favor of finding somewhere warm to stay to save all the money she could. The manager at her first job was smitten for her, and she uneasily admitted that she was aromantic to him. He just laughed and said he expected as much, but still wanted to be good friends.727Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7O1oqLKJsA
This angered the assistant manager, who was willing to do anything to get ahead in their job. They followed her back to her "home" and was surprised and pleased to find that she, a minor, was living alone on the streets. They immediately went to Child Protective Services and were about to hand her over when her brothers came into the back alley, protecting her. This just angered the assistant manager even more, and exclaimed that she must be selling herself and these were loyal customers.
Elizabeth handed her eldest brother the money she had saved up, all $11,000. He kissed her on the forehead and explained that they were her brothers, and they had just moved into town so she must have gotten lost on the way to their new apartment. The boys, free to invite whoever they wanted to their apartment now that they didn't have to listen to their manager's rules, let Elizabeth live with them, and she invited her manager in turn, remaining best friends with him for the rest of their lives.
Sure, they didn't overthrow the evil queen, but they were happy. In fact, you could say that they lived...
Happily Ever After727Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjH5ex5lJXH
