Light in the Darkness 16/12/2014
Red was sprinting through the forest in her wolf form in attempts to get away from the men chasing her armed with silver tipped arrows and chains, she had already been grazed a few times and had a arrow sticking out of her hind leg by the time the hunters had caught up to her, shooting another arrow into her leg and threw the heavy chains around her. Red tried to push on only to make it a few hundred feet before they had caught up to her
"Look at the catch of the night, boys, the biggest wolf I've ever seen" A man with oiled blonde hair and a green cloak around him grinned, pointing his bow and arrow at the wolf and stepped back as he seen the beasts eyes flash blue before returning back to gold, "I think we've got ourselves a werewolf, boys"
"Kill it, Hood" One man cheered
"Stick an arrow deep into it's skull" Another shouted and as the man known as Hood pulled the silver tipped arrow back and aimed between Red's eyes as she whimpered and looked away a strange purple smoke filtered through the air and one man suddenly yelped and dropped to the floor, dead
"What is the meaning of this?" Hood yelled and let out a small noise of surprise when a women was suddenly standing before him, in front of the wolf
"Who are you?" The women snarled
"Robin Hood, who are you?" Robin Hood asked
"You come upon my land, you hunt my protected animals and you dare ask who I am?" The women fumed, shoving her hand into his chest as she leaned forward to whisper in his ear "I am Queen Regina of the Dark Kingdom, and you sir have angered me greatly" With a wave of her hand, the men surrounding them dropped to the floor as Regina yanked her hand out of Robin's chest, clutching his heart
"I-I am sorry, your majesty" Robin Hood pleaded, his voice constricted with pain "It-it is not outlawed to hunt wolves in Sherwood or in the White Kingdom"
"Regardless, it is outlawed here and as a result you will die" Regina said with a smirk
"Please… I have a wife and a son" Robin Hood pleaded
"You do, do you? What of this wolf? Did you ever think that maybe this wolf has a litter of it's own? What would baby pups do without their mother?" Regina asked, clutching his heart tighter and grinning when he dropped to his knees "They would die. Luckily for you, I am merciful and as such I will not kill your wife or boy. You on the other hand…" She trailed off and watched on as his heart turn to dust and the light in his eyes fade before kneeling to ground to inspect the injured wolf
"You poor thing" She murmured and grimaced and the howl of pain ripped through the wolves throat when she pulled the arrows out "Come, you'll rehabilitate in my kingdom"
Red woke with a groan and a hiss of pain when she tried to sit up to look around the unfamiliar room
"Where in the worlds am I?" Red whispered to herself, trying to spot anything that would give her a clue as to where she was and yelped when she noticed she was as nude as the day she was birthed and hurriedly pulled the cotton sheets tightly around her body
"How is the poor thing?" She heard a velvety rich voice ask outside of the room
"I am not sure, your majesty, the room has been quiet since you left" Another voice answered
"Very well. Cancel all of my meetings for today, yes, that includes the one with the Dark One" The voice replied "Carry on with your duties until I call for you"
Red scrambled to hide when she heard a hand start twisting the door handle and as a result ended up tangling herself in the bed sheets and falling to the floor with a thud
"Who are you?" The women with the velvet voice demanded "and what did you do with my wolf?"
Red, still tangled in the sheets, managed to get her head free to look at the women and nearly fainted when she seen who it was
"The Evil Queen" Red whispered, trying to move back
"No, I am the Evil Queen, who are you?" Regina demanded again, lighting a ball of fire in her hand "and what did you do with my wolf?"
"I am Red of Sherwood Forest and I am the wolf" Red replied, trying her hardest to be brave
"A werewolf called Red. Where have I heard that before?" Regina murmured before snapping her head up to look at Red with a feral grin "You're my step-daughters best friend, aren't you? Oh, this is delicious"
"I-No" Red denied
"Don't lie to me, foolish girl" Regina said with the same feral grin on her face and Red had never thought she seen someone who looked so beautiful while looking homicidal, "I know who you are. I know what you are. I know that you're the way to get Snow White to waltz herself right into my castle"
"If I were her best friend, surely she would outlaw wolf hunting in her kingdom, would she not?" Red questioned, trying to ignore the truth of it "If I were truly her best friend, she would have had wolves protected the moment she came into power, would she not?"
"I suppose you have a point but it doesn't mean I'm not going to use you as a lure for her. Get some rest, you're going to need it." And with that the Evil Queen swept out of the room
"Tsk, tsk, dearie" A shrill voice said from behind Regina who groaned and turned to face Rumplestilskin who was sitting on her desk with his legs crossed, "You should know better than to try to get out of a meeting with me"
"I don't have time for this, Rumple." Regina said, going back to the note she was writing
"Ah yes, it seems you've come across little Red. I've waiting for this to happen for centuries, I can't wait to see the outcome" Rumplestilskin giggled madly "What was that stable boys name? Derek? David?"
"Daniel" Regina said between clenched teeth, "I don't see what he was to do with anything"
"You don't but you will" Rumplestilskin said cryptically "Get writing then, though it will do you no good."
"What do you mean?" Regina asked
"Oh nothing that you won't find out for yourself" Rumplestilskin giggled
"If you're hear to torment me then you can leave imp" Regina said coldly
"What are you doing?" Regina asked and stifled a laugh when she seen the wolf girl jump
"N-Nothing" Red stuttered
"If you're trying to escape, you don't have to do it the difficult way. You're free to leave at anytime you want to" Regina said "The door is left unlocked and my guards won't bother you"
"Why?"
"You're a werewolf. I'd rather keep my castle together and my guards alive. Although I'd rather you stay until you're fully healed" Regina explained "On contrary to the popular idea that I'm a heartless monster with no regards to human life, I actually do care about the people in my Kingdom and while you're in my Kingdom that includes you. I don't see why you would want to return to a Kingdom where you have to hide your wolf. It's magnificent."
"B-But you're the Evil Queen" Red said
"I've always been a Queen, dear, it was your friend that tacked the Evil onto my title." Regina sighed "But, my Kingdom is prosperous, my people are happy and their bellies full, my taxes are low, the animals that aren't needed for food are protected by law and no one wages war against me, except for Snow White."
"You killed those men" Red disagreed
"It is well known through out the land that the penalty in my kingdom for harming protected animals is death. If I were to let them get away with hurting what I thought to be a wolf people would think it was an empty threat and continue to hunt on my lands and damage the relationship between animals and humans" Regina argued
"You've killed hundreds of people"
"So has Snow White. People die during war times, it's something that can not be helped"
"You try to kill Snow at every turn"
"What reasons has she given you for that?" Regina questioned
"You think she's prettier than you"
"That? That's he excuse?" Regina said with a very unqueenly snort "Oh gods, no dear, that's not why. If I were to kill every I thought prettier than me we'd be left with very few women in the world."
"Then why do you want her dead?" Red asked
"That, my dear, is a story that you're likely to never hear come from my tongue" Regina said "Now, I have asked my cooks to have dinner in the dining hall if you would like to join me? If you do just ask Albert to show you where the dining hall is"
"Your majesty, our guest has decided to join you" Alberts deep voice announced "I fetched her clothes from your riding closet if you don't mind"
"Not at all Albert, would you like to join us?" Regina asked politely
"Not today, your majesty, I still have a few errands to run" He said with a bow before leaving the room
"I wasn't sure if you were joining me or not nor what kind of food you enjoyed so I'm afraid I hadn't asked for the cooks to make anything special for you" Regina said as she gestured for Red to sit
"I'm sure this is all fine, your majesty" Red replied before catching herself and bowed her head "Thank you for the hospitality you have shown me"
"Don't be silly, it's my pleasure." Regina waved her off
"I don't dispute what they call me, you know" Regina said after she had grown sick of the silence "They have every right to call me the Evil Queen. I have killed, I have tortured, I have cursed people to a life of unhappiness, I have taken great pleasure out of my actions and if I had the choice, I wouldn't take a single thing back and I'd do it ten times over and sometimes I lose myself to the darkness as you saw earlier on."
"Why are you telling me this?" Red asked
"I… I don't know, truthfully. There's something about you, it makes me want to tell you the truth" Regina said, shaking her head as to clear it
A week later and Red was still residing in the Dark Palace despite being as healthy as she had ever been before. She had enjoyed the freedom she had there, never having to worry about her cloak or what she says to people or if her wolf would take over, it had been relaxing. That was, until she had walked into the training field one day where she had been training with the soldiers to find Regina throwing fireballs at targets left right and centre
"Your majesty" Red called out hesitantly and steeled her nerves when the Queen spun around and looked at her with purple eyes
"What do you want, mutt?" The Queen sneered
"Are-Are you okay?" Red asked, stumbling over her words and winced at the high-pitched cackle that left the Queens mouth
"Snow White's pet asking if the Evil Queen is okay? Who would have thought it?" The Queen taunted, stalking closer to Red until they were pressed chest to chest with the Queen slightly shorter than Red "I should have your head off and sent to the little wrench" The Queen whispered harshly, trailing her sharp nails across Red's throat and leaving a red line across it and smirked at the whimper that left Red's throat
AN: R&R? Follow me on purtoujoursblog. tumblr. com and send prompts and stuff I guess
