I saw a textpost on tumblr that said, Imagine if the world was black and white but when you meet your true love the world becomes colorful. I liked the idea, and this is what this story is about. All Snowing.
David learned at a very young age that the moment you laid eyes on your true love, color would wash upon the world, no longer leaving you to see the boring black and white you were born with. It's what his mother told him, so he held onto hope as a child that one day he would be able to see the beautiful color's his mother described to him.
That was the first reason David knew that Princess Abigail was not his true love. The first moment he saw her he wished so hard that she could be it, that this could be more then just a business deal to save a kingdom that wasn't even his.
Nothing happened. His life continued to move forward in black and white, no matter how hard he tried to make it colorful.
He was starting to lose all faith in this 'color' thing. Who knew if it was a real thing? Maybe it was just a silly thing his mother told him to make him happy as a child. It could have just been a story to keep him entertained.
He started to think like that until he was on top of a bandit, trying to take back what was his.
As soon as the bandit's hood came off, he gasped. Two things made him do a double take.
The first thing he noticed was that she was a girl, a girl bandit in these parts was something that was very uncommon. The second thing he noticed was that the world was no longer black and white. The trees were suddenly brown and the sky was a brilliant blue. The bandit's lips were blood red and her hair was ebony black. He was amazed. Everything around him suddenly seemed so much better.
When he refocused on the bandit she seemed to have a look of amazement on her face, but it quickly disappeared.
"You're a girl." Was the only thing he could say right now, considering how distracted he was by the way he now saw things.
"Women." She said, grinning.
Her hand suddenly came up from the ground and smacked him across his face with a rock, landing him on his back with his hand holding onto his aching chin.
The bandit was suddenly riding away his horse as he yelled threats of finding her. When he pulled his hand away from his chin he noticed that the cut was bleeding. The color was a brilliant red.
About half way through their second meeting, he realized two things.
One, the bandit was the infamous Snow White.
And two, there was no way that his mother's story about colors was correct. He was certainly not in love with Snow White, not even close.
Everyone probably ended up seeing colors at the same time, and his mother just happened to fall in love with his father at the same time.
Of course, a little bit down the road learned that his mother was exactly correct.
II
"Snow, I have a question." Charming muttered one night as they lay in bed, snuggled together.
"Yes, Charming?" She asks.
"Do you see things in color?" He asked, and he could feel her blush a little.
"Yes." She said.
"Since when?" He asked.
"I don't know why," She said, "But the moment that you were on top of me and I smacked you with the rock was the moment that I could suddenly see everything in color."
Charming laughed, and then kissed her quickly.
"What was that for?" She asked, smiling.
"My mother told me that when you meet your soul mate, your whole world turns colorful and you no longer see things in black and white," He explained, "I thought she was just making up a silly story, of course. Our first meeting didn't exactly end well." He said, smirking.
"I heard whispers that it could do with love, but I remember thinking that maybe it had to do with meeting the person that annoys you most." Snow murmured, giggling.
"Annoying, huh?" Charming chuckled.
"Not so annoying anymore." Snow said.
"Well, is this annoying?" Charming pressed his lips against hers.
Snow shook her head, "The only annoying thing would be if you stopped kissing me."
"Good thing that will never happen." He murmured before kissing his wife again, and truly never planning to stop.
II
Snow and Charming walked silently through the Neverland forest, Charming grasping onto Snow's hand. He tried to be in contact with her as much as possible after what happened to him.
"Do you think that if...if one of us were to die-" Charming asked, but got cut off.
"Don't talk like that." Snow said
"Do you think that the world would go back to black and white?" He asked.
"I would think so," She said, sighing, "You find your true love and the world has color, you lose your true love and the world goes back to normal."
"But we don't have to worry about that, Charming. We are going to find a way off this island and live." Snow said fiercely.
Charming just nodded in agreement, suddenly unable to find his voice.
II
After all Snow and Charming had been through, he never would have thought that it would have been a bullet that would take them down.
Charming got the call from Gold, saying that there was an intruder in the shop. Emma wasn't around at the moment and Charming was going to go alone, but Snow insisted on going with him.
"Snow I'll be fine," Charming insisted.
"You are not going into an armed break in alone." Snow said, giving him one of those, 'Don't fight me on this.' looks.
He sighed, "Fine."
They got into the shop and Charming could tell the robber did some business. The store was completely wrecked. Glass was broken, things were sprawled across the ground, and it looked as if the person just tore things from off the wall.
"The question is: what did Gold do to this person back in the Enchanted Forest?" Charming whispered.
Something suddenly moved from across the room, and Charming lifted his gun up.
"Guess we're about to find out." Snow murmured.
"Come out, we know you're here!" Charming said.
Snow got her arrows ready, just in case.
A man walked out from the back room. Charming didn't recognize him, but it certainly looked like he was drunk.
"Oh look, it's the King and Queen." The man slurred, trying to walk closer to them but stumbling.
"Stay where you are." Charming muttered.
He sneered, "Or what, you'll shoot me? I thought you were too good for that."
"You're drunk and you need to calm down." Snow said, trying to ease him.
It didn't work, and the man reached behind him and pulled out a gun, aiming it at Snow.
"If you don't move that thing away from my wife, I swear to God I will pull this." Charming said, his voice suddenly shaking with anger.
"If that's what you want." He said.
The gun was suddenly aimed at Charming, but he didn't have enough time to duck out of the way before he pressed the trigger and the bullet was flying towards him.
He knew how this would end, but he was thankful that at least Snow wouldn't be hurt. He tried to get ready for the pain, but it never came.
Instead, he heard Snow gasp and she was suddenly falling towards the ground.
"Snow!" He shouted, catching her just in time for them both to be falling to the floor.
The robber ran out, but Charming didn't care.
"Snow." He cried, tears streaming down his face, "Why, why would you do this?"
"You...you would've done the same thing." She muttered, her eyes threatening to close.
"No, Snow, love, you have to stay awake." He said.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and called the ambulance, telling them that it was an emergency.
"I love you." She murmured, but it sounded more like goodbye.
"No," He said, "Snow stay awake, please."
"Trying." She muttered.
He looked down at her and there was just so much blood already.
He stayed with her, clinging to his wife until the ambulance came, forcing him to let go until he got on the truck.
He was sitting on a chair next to the bed, clinging onto his wife's hand as she lay there, practically in a coma.
He wanted to say something to her, anything to her, but he didn't know what the right thing was. She's been in the hospital for almost a full day since she's been in here and he just wanted her to wake up.
"Snow," He started off, his voice cracking, "I know that there's a chance you can't even hear this right now but I want you to know how much I love you. I remember when I had to watch you leave on the Troll Bridge and something in my heart just hurt. I was in denial for so long about loving you, my Snow, but when I finally admitted it I was so happy. I know we spent a lot of time losing each other, but we always found each other. I know you're with me right now, but I just want you to know that I will always find you. Right now all I want is for you to wake up and I promise I won't say anything about you jumping in front of me." He said, tears finally streaming down his face.
"I know I would've done the same for you in a heart beat but I never thought that this kind of thing would actually happen. I know we've been through and lot and almost lost each other so much but we could usually fix those things with a kiss, or by some kind of magic...and you can't fix this with magic and I don't know what to do. I know I told you once that if I were to die that you must move on, but I wasn't thinking rationally, Snow. I know what you would want, but if this...if this is it, I can't move on. You would tell me I will but when you separate two halves of a heart, the one half just can't be the same again." He finished, letting out a sob.
"Dad?" Emma's voice had Charming spinning around.
His daughter's face dropped when she looked at Snow and Charming got up, wrapping is arms around Emma.
He knew he had to be strong now for Emma, so as much as he wanted to join in on her crying, he held back his tears and just held onto Emma.
"Is..is she gonna be okay?" Emma asked, pulling slightly away from him.
"The doctors say it could go either way." Charming said, although he wasn't being completely honest.
The doctors told him that it could go either way, but it looks like it wasn't going to be good. He couldn't tell that to Emma, though. He could not put her through that.
"I know you're lying." She said, tears streaming down her face.
"I know." Charming muttered.
Emma once again found herself in Charming's embrace, both of them now hoping that somehow, things would get better.
II
Charming didn't want to, but he had to go back to the house. He had to be a dad for Emma and a Grandfather for Henry. He visited Snow every single day for hours, just talking to her and telling her about his day, or making up stories that he knew would have made her laugh if she was awake.
It always hurt his heart to walk in and see her laying there unresponsive, but it hurt more to walk away and not have her by his side.
The worst, though, was his nightmares. Even lighting a candle did little to stop the dreams that had him waking up, gasping for his breath in the middle of the night. They all involved Snow getting taken away from him and it just got worse when he woke up to her side of the bed being empty.
Tonight's dream was different, though.
It seemed happy. He was back in their castle, and he knew he was aware that he was dreaming this time.
"You're here." Snow walked into the bedroom, she was wearing a beautiful white gown and she was smiling so wide.
"Snow..." He murmured.
He walked across the room to where she stood and embraced her in his arms, pressing her to his body and wrapping his arms around her.
"I missed you." He breathed out.
"I missed you, too, but I knew you were always there and I could always hear what you were saying." Snow said, looking up at him.
"You're okay then, right? You're going to wake up." He said, grinning and pressing his lips to hers.
"Charming, wait." She said, and Charming's stomach suddenly dropped.
"Don't say it." He whispered, "Please don't."
"After this dream...you won't see me again." She said, tears pooling in her eyes.
"I can't live without you, Snow." Charming said, knowing how broken he sounded.
"I will always be there with you Charming." Snow promised, grabbing his hand.
"But we're two halves of a heart." He muttered, a tear falling from his eye.
"Which is why you must take the half that I have." She said.
"What? Snow, no!" He exclaimed.
He couldn't do it, he would never do it to her.
"If you want to live-"
"I don't want to live without you Snow. Don't you understand?" He cried.
A tear slipped down Snow's face, and Charming wiped it away.
"You have to Charming." She whispered.
She pressed her head against Charming's body and he just held her for a few moments, not wanting to ever leave her, not wanting for this all to go away.
"Please tell Emma how much I love her, and how sorry I am that we got so little time together." Snow said.
Charming only nodded, unable to say anything else.
"Are you sure this can't be fixed like everything else has been?" Charming asked.
"No more pieces of my heart to break off." She said, smiling through the tears.
Charming smiled, but his tears were coming down fast now and he pulled Snow into a hug again for the last time.
"I will always love you." He promised, kissing the top of her head.
"As I will always love you." She said.
She looked up and Charming gently kissed her, trying to ignore that this would be their last kiss.
When they finally separated they both had tears in their eyes and were clinging on to each other.
"You have to take it now Charming, and please don't make this any harder." Snow begged.
"I know, baby." He murmured.
He didn't know how he did it, but he ripped her heart out. The sound of pain she let out made Charming regret everything.
Charming handed the half of heart to her and she pressed it against his chest, finally putting it in.
"I love you so much Charming." She breathed out before her eyes shut, and she fell into Charming's arms.
He let out a shaky breath as he fell to his knees, the world growing dark as he still held his beloved in his arms.
II
For the first time in a week Charming didn't wake up gasping for air, or checking the empty spot in the bed next to him. He knew exactly what would happen when he opened his eyes and he just wasn't ready to face it yet.
"Dad!" It was Emma's alarmed voice that snapped him out of it, making his eyes snap open and practically jump out of the bed.
He knew what was coming, but it still killed him inside to hear Emma tell him that the doctor called. That his wife was dead.
Emma clung onto Charming, and he hugged her back just as tight, whispering to her that things will be okay.
He wasn't sure if they were going to be though. His wife was dead, his grown daughter was crying and he didn't know what to say, and suddenly, the color of the world was gone.
His life was back to the dull shadows of black and white.
Truthfully, he didn't want to see color if he could no longer look at Snow's fair skin, or her blood red lips and ebony hair.
It just wouldn't be right without her.
"It'll be okay Emma." He whispered to his daughter.
He wasn't completely lying to her, but it was the only thing he could think of saying as he stared on into the now colorless world, feeling anything but 'okay.'
Disclaimer: all rights belong to Abc and the wonderful show Once Upon a Time.