Snow cocked her 40 caliber Semi-automatic pistol for another shot. It was a new gun to her and she couldn't quite hit the center of the target yet. She had come close, but had yet to get the perfect shot, at least from 250 feet away. Any closer was no challenge. She aimed.
"Snow!" her shot went hay-wire, hitting a tree. "Ouch. Better get in some more practice, that one didn't even hit the target!"
"I can see that" she gritted her teeth and put on a smile, masking her annoyance. "Hello Happy. Do you need something?"
"Nothing specific. Just wanted to say hello. Hello!" He chuckled.
"Anything else?"
"Nope!" She turned back to the target, raising her gun to fire.
"Oh wait, there was something else" Happy added. He paused. "Yes?" she prompted, as she lowered her gun.
"There's an old lady at the door selling apples."
"You didn't buy any did you?"
"No"
"Good, you know how I feel about apples."
"Yes, we told her we didn't want any, but she won't leave. Says' she has to talk to you, life and death situation"
"Really?" Snow said skeptically. "Life and death situation?"
"Her words exactly."
"Fine. I'll come, just give me a minute." She turned back to the target and fired. A surge of pride went through her when she saw it go through the center of the bulls-eye. Turning back to Happy, she commanded, "Let's go."
?
As they walked up, the old lady turned around. Her eyes widened at the sight of Snow's gun.
"Oh does this bother you?" Snow asked gesturing to the gun.
"Oh, no-no I'm just so surprised to see a young lady like you with..." she hesitated at her word choice. "Firearms" she decided.
"I'll put it away." Snow assured the lady tucking the gun in her waist band, where it could not be seen, but was still accessible. She did not think she would need it, but she had learned very young that nothing was as it seemed, and anything could be a threat. Even old ladies. Especially old ladies. Snow shivered at the thought of her Step-Mother. She still trusted no one, except the dwarfs. The Queen was still out there, demanding her blood.
"Dear, are you ok?" the lady questioned. Snow shook off the lingering feeling.
"Yes. Happy said you needed to talk to me."
"Oh yes." She nodded. "It is a life and death situation. But, could we maybe speak in private?"
"Snow goes nowhere without us!" Grumpy growled. The mysterious woman jumped at the sudden change in mood. Although 'Life and death situation' was the code for information about the Queen, the dwarfs refused to let Snow out of their sight with a stranger nearby. Of course, Snow could take care of herself.
"There fine." Snow reassured the lady. "Let's go inside" Dopey led the way, tripping on his sleeves as he went.
?
"It's awful. You must-" The woman was interrupted by Sneezy standing bolt upright and promptly sneezing.
"No. This is not up for discussion. Snow is not going back to the castle. Not now, not ever." Sleepy said fiercely, counter to his usual sluggish personality. Dopy nodded feverishly in agreement.
"Is there anything we can do from here?" Doc said kindly to the woman.
"No. but know this. According to the queens guards strong enough to resist her charge, she has spent an unusual amount of time in her dungeons alone. Samuel, our leading spy went down there when we thought she was gone, but she came back early. We didn't even get a body to bury."
"Th-that's s-so sad." Bashful cried.
"Oh grow up" Grumpy snapped.
"We need to move." Sleepy mumbled. The other six muttered in agreement. They went off and started packing, leaving Snow alone with the woman. Their solitude was short-lived.
"Oi! Who's with Snow?" a voice shouted from upstairs. All seven of them rushed back in the sitting room, tripping over one another in there hast to amend there mistake of leaving. Grumpy was the first to straiten himself.
"Thanks for your information, but we have some preparations to make so we need you to leave."
"Grumpy!" Snow chided. Despite the changes in her personality, she still knew common courtesy. Something the dwarfs had never been taught. "Do you need anything for the journey home? Water, bread?"
"No, no. But you see I took a big risk coming here, and I have children to feed, you see…"
"I understand. Here" she said handing her some gold. "Goodbye now."
"Good bye." Once they were sure that the woman was gone, the dwarfs quickly set out to packing the necessities. Snow looked around at the familiar sight. Over one year, they had moved eight times.
"Stop" she whispered. No one heard her. "Stop. Stop!" Seven pairs of eyes stared at her, unblinking.
"What did you just say?" Doc asked, confused.
"I said 'Stop'. I won't run from her any more. That's what she wants. You heard the woman. Things have gotten worse.
"What the queen wants is for you to be dead."
"Bashful is right. What if she's making things worse on purpose to draw you back to her?"
"So? You don't understand what it's like. All these people hurting for me? Dying for me? In the hopes that I'll somehow make it better for them in the future? The guilt is starting to weigh on me. Hell it's always weighed on me. All the pressure, and you won't even let me do anything about it. I need to help these people, even if I die trying. I'm not going anywhere, and if I do, I'm going to the Castle." She stormed out, grabbing her gun, because even when angry, Snow was no fool. She was still the deer in a hunt.
?
"Where is she? It's been an hour!" Happy, despite his name, was pacing back and forth angry when going right, worried when going left.
"Relax. She has her gun, and despite how we treat her, she can take care of herself. Anyway, she's not naïve. At least not anymore, she won't do anything stupid." Grumpy countered.
"How can you say that? She's our responsibility! I'm going to look for her."
"No you're not" Doc said, standing. "We are just as wanted by the queen as Snow is" Happy looked at his brothers. "I have to" The look in his eyes was unyielding. He would stop at nothing to get Snow back.
"Take your pick axe" Sleepy sighed.
"Thank you."
After a few hours of shooting at the water fall, watching the bullets disappear into the chaos of the water, she had cooled down herself, and stared back to the cabin. When she got back she was bombarded with questions, complaints, and lectures. She looked around at the loving faces staring at her. One, two, three, four, five, six, sev- She stopped short.
"Where's Happy?!"
"H-He's not the one who brought you back?" Bashful asked full of alarm.
"No, I came back on my own once I cooled down." They all exchanged worried glances. "I'm going to look for him."
"No!" they all yelled. "No, you're not." Grumpy growled.
"How long has he been gone?" they were silent. "How Long?!" Snow screamed, full of terror. Silence. "Damn you how long?" her eyes were beginning to tear up.
"H-he left ten minutes after you did." Sneezy admitted.
"I've been gone hours." She fell to the floor with a thunk of dismay, burying her face in her hands. "It's all my fault. Why is it always my fault?" Just then the door crashed open to reveal a disheveled Happy. "I couldn't find her." He said in dismay. "Happy!" Snow shrieked throwing herself on him. He was quite surprised to find her safe.
"I'm sorry. So sorry. I'll never leave you again. If something had happened to you- I just don't know what I would do with myself—Oh I'm rambling. Happy!" Pulling herself away from him, she cried tears of joy. But with one look at him, the emptiness in his eyes, or more of, the lack of- well happiness, her tears stopped, and she was sobered. "Happy?" she said meekly, half expecting no answer.
"Yes? I'm-I'm ok, so sorry about the delay, I'm truly happy you're ok Snow." The light had fully returned to his eyes.
"Well this reunion is all well and grand, but we need to get packing don't we?" Grumpy stated, gruff as ever. Snow had momentarily forgotten the others were there.
"Yes, yes shall we?" Happy said.
?
That night Snow couldn't stop thinking about the day. Her getting in trouble with the dwarfs, that was not odd, it was even common. But when Happy came home, after spending hours looking for her, worrying about her, the dwarfs had even used the word 'livid'. But when he got back he seemed dazed, not himself. Happy had never been the lecturing type, usually just stood there silently while Grumpy yelled at her, but when she had been depressed for three months after her slaughter of a wedding, Happy had been the one to snap her out of it. He had yelled at her for at least an hour about how those people who died that day died for her. She had responded to this with more blubbering, and Happy still did not let up. 'The people who died that day died noble deaths, don't let their sacrificed go to waste by wasting away yourself'. Her actions today should have rewarded her with at least half an hour of yelling, but instead she got, "I'm glad you're alright." What the hell was that?!
?
She felt the heavy white veil on her face. Looking to her right, she saw her Father, alive once more?, smiling down at her.
"Are you ready?" He inquired.
"Yes." She said confidently, although she could not remember what she was preparing for. Her father nodded to a heavily armed guard she had not noticed before, as if to tell him a secret Snow wasn't allowed to know. The new man nodded back and opened a set of beautiful mahogany double doors that had appeared behind him. Wedding bells started and before them appeared a long aisle, adorned with large, white ribbons. Snow finally understood. This was a wedding. Her wedding. The beautiful walkway seemed to go on without end, until finally she caught sight of the Alter. Nine figures were there. An elderly gentleman, whom she assumed to be the one who was to conduct the ceremony, seven dwarves, and… Nickolas. The prince who had woken her from the sleeping spell. He was so handsome. A red sash hung from his right shoulder, embellished with at least a dozen medals, announcing each heroic thing he had done in his short life. How she adored him. She quickened her pace so as to be next to him sooner. When she took her rightful place next to him, he turned to her to lift her veil. As he did so, he whispered to her "I love you."
"I love you, too" she replied, dreamily. They said their vows and exchanged rings. Finally, the part she had been waiting for-the kiss-had arrived. She forgot about everyone else in the room, looking at him, and only him. Before their lips touched, though, before they had even grazed, the double doors that had brought Snow to this fairy tale, just an hour before, burst open to reveal the Queen. Snow stared with horror at her evil step mother.
?
Everyone gasped.
"You weren't invited" Snow squeaked.
"Oh, I'm well aware of that. But who needs an invitation when you can just crash?" She snapped her fingers. The ribbons turned into snakes, the ladies dresses caught fire, and the floor was suddenly covered in a thick layer of blood, drenching the guests.
"Stop! My dear! Amara please stop!" Snows father ran towards his wife. With a wave of her hand, he was in the air being strangled by an invisible noose.
"My cowardly, petty, husband." She cooed in a bitter sweet voice. "I think I want a divorce" she said. With another wave of her hand, his neck snapped, and he went still.
"Nooo" Snow screamed in anguish, at her sudden state of orphanage. With that the Queens attention was brought back to the lovely bride. She advanced.
"Ah, what do we have here? Lovely Snow White" she spat.
"You stay away from her!" Nick yelled trying to force his way in between the two women. Without breaking eye contact with Snow, Queen Amara shot her right hand out and grabbed his heart. Raising it to Snow's face, she crushed it, the ashy remains of it landing on the girls dress.
Snow woke in a cold sweat. Heart pounding, she fingered her wedding ring as she remembered that day. How the guard jumped in front of her when the queen attacked. Given his life for her. How the dwarfs had snuck her out while the Queen was pre occupied with a dozen soldiers attacking her from all sides. It was a blood bath. She had no idea how many others died for her that day. After the dwarfs got her to safety, they had a warlock put a spell on their cottage and the land around it so that the Queen could not find them the way she had before. For the first few days, Snow sat on her bed and stared at her wedding ring in shock. And then as the truth started to register in her brain, she wept, and wept, and slept, and wept.
But then, something happened. She woke up and realized that her wedding day was a slaughter. People willingly gave their lives for her. She could not let their heroic sacrifices be for nothing. So she got a gun, and learned to shoot. Now she lay in wait, bidding her time.
?
The morning after the woman came, Snow woke up in a very good mood. The dwarfs had agreed not to move. But then she heard it. A scream. She sat bolt upright, grabbed her gun and dashed down the hall to the dwarfs room, where the scream had come from. When she saw what lay before her, she collapsed.
"No…"
"Snow…" Bashful said, trying to cover the scene with his small body.
"What happened?!" she moaned, looking for the truth.
"We found him like this when we woke up." Sleepy said through tears. Dopey sat, wailing silently behind him.
"Do something!" Snow screamed. "You're a doctor aren't you?" "He's too long gone. I'd say at least three hours dead."
"Don't say it. This isn't like last time. He won't wake up like Snow did." Happy sadly said. Grumpy sat on his bed, silent.
"I don't want to look at him." Snow whispered. "Take him away!" She yelled, running out of the room. She couldn't get the image out of her head. Sneezy, silent for once, laying on the bed. Bloodied, stabbed. Seven times.
?
After Snow had left, the dwarfs covered Sneezy with his blanket, the one Snow had made him, and hoisted the whole bed and carried it out side. After digging a grave an adequate size, they lowered him in.
"I'll go get snow." Bashful said, mournfully.
"Snow?" he said, shy of her gun. He had found her in the shooting range, crying and angry.
"What?" she snapped. Bashful drew back more. Noticing this, Snow put down her gun and hugged him. "I'm sorry, I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at who did it."
"We're having a memorial" Now it was Snow's turn to draw away,
"What? I'm not ready. Can't we wait?"
"No. We are leaving as soon as we are done."
"Will I have to see the body?"
"No"
"OK" She took his hand and together they walked back to the cottage. "Wait!" She bent down and picked some white roses, Sneezy's favorite. When they got there, the Dwarfs were already singing, and throwing diet into the grave fist full by fistful.
?Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to heaven you go.
*Whistles*
Hi ho, hi ho, hi ho, hi ho, hi ho
As you fly up high,
We bid you good bye.
Hi ho, hi ho, hi ho, hi ho, hi ho
Snow and Bashful joined in, also throwing dirt. When the grave was full, Snow put down the white roses she had been holding.
