Title: Watching a Love Story
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I have no rights to any persons real or imagined, no television shows, no books, no video games, no songs, basically nothing. You want to sue me the best thing I have is a bed, but try to take that and I'll cut a bitch, it's super comfy.
Summary: The Snow/Charming relationship as seen by Red.
Word Count: 1118
As the winter melted to spring, so too did Snow White's initially meek attitude. When the spring shifted into summer, the dainty princess also shifted into a hardened outlaw. She had helped Red overcome the emotional trauma which had sparked their flight; in return the wolf-girl taught her new friend woodcraft.
It was not a charmed life, but neither girl complained. They only had the shelter of trees and caves or the infrequently found abandoned cottage. They would stay in an area as long as they liked, as long as they were safe.
In that fashion the two girls made the woods their home, though they were not always together. Much like the wolf her cloak kept a bay, Red could be territorial and inclined to roam. But the human in her always assured that she returned to her friend and their current 'den,' where Snow was usually waiting.
This time was different, finding Red alone in their current hideaway. Snow would be back and they would exchange tales, like always. But when keen ears heard hoof beats approaching the camp, the wolf-girl was startled. Red feared she would have to leave the area and possibly lose track of her friend.
Her fears were unfounded when Snow rode into their clearing as if nothing was amiss. "You'll explain the horse, I trust," Red greeted with a sardonic grin. Only Snow, she had a miraculous streak of luck; nothing else would explain the many perils the girl had avoided by only a hair's breadth.
The face of the worldly thief, which had replaced a naive princess, broke into a proud smile. "You won't believe what happened," claimed Snow, settling beside the smokeless fire Red had built.
"Try me," Red encouraged, eager for the tale. She went so far as to elbow the shorter woman in an attempt to bring forth the story.
Clearing her throat and acting the storyteller's part, Snow began her tale. "Well, I was patrolling the Queen's Road." Snow paused and for a moment her face darkened. Shortly she continued, like nothing had happened. "And a carriage came down the road."
"The Queen's," Red guessed with a nod. She had helped Snow to harry her stepmother and the Queen's black clad legions.
"No," cut in Snow, causing Red to lapse into silence once more. "It was a white carriage, and the blazon looked familiar. But I'd already felled a tree in their path." Remembering the scene of white decked knights trying to clear the path; looking for like white ants milling around a twig.
Red felt a flash of pride, she had taught the girl beside her how to quickly cut even the mightiest tree. "What then? Tell me what happened then."
"I had nearly alighted on the carriage roof when the door opened. It was a prince or lordling by his dress and he went to see the holdup. But little princeling left the door open, so what's a thief to do?" Snow asked with an affected look of innocence.
Laughing at her friend, Red shook her head. "You, a thief? Never."
Snow joined in Red's merriment and continued her tale with a grin in place. "Well, it was so tempting. I couldn't pass on robbing a foolish prince blind. I got the jewels but his wilting flower that stayed in the carriage screamed like I'd beaten her." Snow did not contain her disgust for the naggy princess.
"You were a 'wilting flower' not too long ago," reminded Red.
Snow snorted in response. "I was never that weak. But that's not the best part. The prince chased after me when I rode off." Red nodded, encouraging Snow to continue.
"He caught me not too far down the trail, and tackled me out of the saddle." She raised one sleeve to show a bruised arm as proof. "He was going to hit me, until my hood fell back."
A rumble of laughter emerged from Red's throat. "Bit of nasty shock when he found out a girl stole from him, right?"
"Exactly! He even called me a girl." Snow grinned, remembering what happened next. "But I corrected him. I'm not a girl, I'm a woman. And I said exactly that, before hitting him in the face with a rock!" crowed the triumphant girl, no, woman.
"I took his horse and rode off, to a few pompous declarations thrown at my back. 'Wherever you go, I will find you,'" mocked the victorious Snow.
But now Red was not laughing. "What if he does? Try to find you, I mean."
"You worry too much –"
"You don't worry enough," Red interrupted. She might enjoy Snow's adventures as a bandit, but she took the safety of their secrets seriously. "Maybe we should move on."
Flush though she was with her recent success, Snow always took Red's advice. The girl had kept their progress from hunters and their necks from the Queen's nooses. "Alright, we'll go. But wait for me at the berry patch."
"Snow," Red started to scold but Snow soldiered on.
"Red, I have to sell these to the Trolls. You can come with," she reminded gently.
Red nodded, gritting her teeth. Snow was right; the Trolls would not deal with her around. They sense the animal within and were afraid, as they should be. "Fine." Snow stood and made ready, causing a question to pop from Red's mouth. "Now?"
"Yes, now. I have to meet the trolls and empty out the tree." Snow kept her thieving gains in a hollowed out tree which sheltered the den of a creature long-since disappeared. "If I don't leave now it will be the full moon before I meet you."
The trip to first the Troll bridge and then her den of thievery was not long. But Snow gave herself a week on the chance that something could go wrong. "I don't want to leave you alone for the full moon," Snow admitted.
Red felt a warmth wrap around her. She would never find a friend like Snow; who would never desert her, who cared for her. "Fine, but if you aren't back after a week, I am coming to find you."
"I'll watch for your hood," Snow joked. "You'd best take the horse, I can't take him to the Trolls either." The fear of Red was something the girls understood, but neither could fathom Trolls fearing horses.
When Snow had her few possessions together the red draped girl hugged her friend. "Be careful, Snow."
The smaller woman waved off the reminder and slipped through the underbrush. Without her augmented ears Red wouldn't have heard Snow's progress. Snow, having no such sensitivity, didn't hear her friend's last, whispered plea, "Come back soon."