AN: I've decided to split up this story into 3 parts. While editing this thing is taking me forever, I'm really excited to share it, so this seemed like the best solution :3 Writing a proper AU is surprisingly difficult, and a Snow White AU is even worse LOL. It's not going to follow the fairy tale exactly, but I hope it'll be enjoyable nonetheless.

The beginning has been altered slightly from the version in 52 (more details, fixed some grammar and weird sentence too). Happy reading x

Warning! Some rather disturbing imagery. And a LOT of blood.

Note: This chapter has been edited! I know the last version seeemed a little OOC but pls give this story another chance :3

Chapter 1: Angels, Demons and Secrets

Once upon a time in a land far, far away, there lived a rather eccentric King and his small kingdom. He did not take a Queen, but he did have a beautiful Princess by his side instead. Despite his eccentricities and strange family circumstances, he was a fair ruler who was loved by his loyal subjects. His reign was peaceful, and he was known for his generosity with trade, appreciation for the arts and amicable ways.

The King was also a talented painter who possessed a magical paintbrush. With this instrument, he could wholeheartedly paint any object on a large canvas and it would come to life with a touch of his fingers. However, the price of this ability was a part of his soul and years off his lifespan, so he could only use it sparingly and covertly, lest it fall into the wrong hands. Very few knew of his secret.

Everyone admired the strange King, but he grew frail with time. As the years slowly passed, his health sharply declined until he could no longer even appear in court to hear the troubles of his people. Before he passed away, he bequeathed his kingdom and the secret paintbrush to his young daughter and only child, Snow Mary.

Snow Mary was a beautiful girl with long golden hair, ivory skin as fair as snow and eyes that reflected the sky. Many were envious of her almost unnatural beauty and resentful of her position of power despite her tender age. However, there was no one else to take over the throne. Many were unsatisfied, one of which included the Queen of Hearts, one of the old King's consorts and trade partners. A beautiful lady with ruby eyes and chestnut hair, she was so close to convincing the old King to marry her, and felt cheated out of a potential country to rule over. Her greed for wealth and power knew no bounds.

Fortunately for her, the Queen of Hearts was as patient was she was cunning. She visited the kingdom often and befriended the innocent and naïve Snow Mary at the time. Gaining the trust of the child, she slowly convinced her of raising taxes and implementing certain policies, making sure to disguise the fact that the citizens were suffering.

Unfair laws and bad decisions shook the land while the Queen of Hearts benefited from all the unrest. She played her role well, soothing the child and comforting her when the other court advisers spoke harshly against her. She was the angelic, motherly figure in a big world ran by big, scary men with monstrous voices who only knew how to criticize, not to inform or help.

"Why do they hate me so?" Snow Mary cried, hugging the Queen of Hearts and sobbing her heart out. "I'm doing everything as you've told me."

"It's alright, child," she stroked the girl's hair, fighting back her victorious smile, "They'll come to see reason soon enough."

Although Snow Mary tried her best as a ruler, she was too immature and inexperienced to see things clearly. She didn't think about the long-term consequences and simply grasped at immediate solutions.

Despite the King being her father, she didn't think she belonged on the throne. For an entire year, her greatest wish was to escape the castle. The stress of ruling the kingdom consumed her, the longing to be free ran deep in her bones.

x

One day, things escalated too far.

The angelic, motherly figure suddenly turned demonic. During a meeting between foreign sovereign, the Queen of Hearts proved herself a formidable opponent and struck down the child. Every one of her faults were listed, every one of her terrible rulings and policies outed. Nothing was spared. The wolves that were waiting to pounce for an entire year joined in too.

"W-What?"Confusion and hurt coursed through her veins like fire, the betrayal felt like a stab to the chest. "You told me to do those things..."

"What nonsense!" the Queen exclaimed. "I did no such thing! And even then, it is your responsibility to make decisions for this land. Have you not already survived thirteen winters? Are you still not capable of ruling a nation?"

Snow Mary was heart broken.

Soon after, the Queen of Hearts invaded and took over her kingdom. Deemed unfit to rule, Snow Mary was cast out of her own country and hunted down for her heart. She had little time to act or pack, grabbing only her most precious possessions, her beloved blue doll and the secret paintbrush, and escaped with the clothes on her back.

Although her father had instructed her on how to use the paintbrush, he had warned her sternly not to use it too much or too often or for too trivial of matters. She was not as skilled at illustrations as her father either, and could only draw her dolls and a limited number of other things.

What the Queen, her people and even Snow Mary herself didn't know was that she was an extraordinarily gifted child. She was quite easily stranger than her own father. Escaping into the forest, she stumbled onto one of the kingdom's huntsmen as she recognised from his uniform, a burly man with a sharp glinting knife in his hand.

She took a step backward, and he took a step forward. She tripped and stumbled to the ground.

"Please…" she whispered, unaccustomed to begging. "Please, please don't. Please, spare me…"

"I'm sorry, your Highness," he quietly answered, getting closer to the girl on her knees, weapon aimed at her chest. "There's a hefty reward out there for your heart, and my family have not eaten for two days."

She clutched her doll closer to her chest and tried to keep the paintbrush out of his sight, even then. Panic gripped through her and she raised her voice. "So you'll just kill me?! Have you no shame pointing that weapon to me?!"

The huntsman took in a deep breath to calm himself and enclosed his hand around her neck, grasping it tight and lifting her off the ground. Her doll and paintbrush fell to the ground. She thrashed around in his hand, trying desperately to escape. "You drove us to this. There's nothing else I can do."

Fear and panic suddenly faded away and her rage completely seized her.

"You'll murder Royalty for a few gold coins?!" she hissed out.

His grip slackened and he sneered, tossing her back onto the ground, getting fed up very quickly. "Those few gold coins will do me more good than you ever were on the throne this past year."

As soon as those words left his mouth, he immediately regretted it. Something in her snapped. She started giggling softly, then hysterical laughter filled the air and the ever so dainty, innocent and naïve Snow Mary completely lost it. She clutched at her sides, trying to hold in her laughter as she sat up. Staring at him in a daze, the girl gave him an angelic yet chilling smile.

"You want my heart? Go on, take it. I don't need it anymore, I don't want to feel anything anymore. My father left me and the person I called my mother deceived me. I tried my best but it wasn't good enough. So go ahead, obey the Queen's orders, loyal huntsman. Claim your reward."

He took a step back, alarmed at he sudden change in her demeanor. She scoffed, her expression twisting viciously in anger.

"Why are you scared?" Snow Mary stood and staggered to him. She took the hand holding the knife and aimed it at her own chest. The huntsman cowered at the crazed look in her eye. "Take it, God damn it! You wanted this didn't you? You're going to let your family starve? You're going to let another huntsman take your reward? Just go ahead and take my God damn h—"

He stabbed her in the chest.

She looked at him, looked down, then looked back up. He pushed her off as she grinned and quickly spun around, unable to bear the sight of her. He was frozen to the spot as she screamed in pain, listened to her thrashing on the ground until the noice came to an end. Waiting a few minutes more, guilt over his actions slowly settled in. As much as he tried to distance and justify himself, she was not an animal as he was used to, but a child.

Wiping a hand across his damp eyes shakily, the huntsman whispered a small prayer for his Princess. As soon as he approached the still girl lying in her own puddle of blood, she shifted. The man screamed and fell onto the ground. Snow Mary whined and panted, unsteadily propped herself up on her elbow. She struggled to get up, unable to bear the pain.

When their eyes met, she started giggling.

"God Almighty, what are you?"

Finally, she managed to sit up and grin at him while still gritting her teeth. There was so much blood, how was she still alive? Her dress was soaked, part of her long golden hair was now blood red and the gaping wound was still trickling and bubbling red, viscous liquid. The burly man turned away and vomited out his stomach contents.

He shook his head and cried in disbelief, "How are you still alive? Did you sell your soul to the devil? Are you the devil himself?"

She frowned at him, still panting from the pain. "How rude, I'm just a normal girl."

He prostrated in apology. "I'm sorry, so terribly sorry, please don't kill me! Please, have mercy!"

She scoffed again. "Like you did with me?"

"I'm so sorry, I just wanted to save my family. The Queen refuses to accept your death until she sees your heart, the proof of the deed. She won't believe anyone otherwise, and she won't call off the hunt until she does get it."

She was silent. He looked up to see her shakily dabbing a paintbrush on the puddle. Using the remaining clean part of her white dress as a canvas, the child painted and painted, gritting back her pain while the man could only stare at her in horror.

"W-What are you—?"

"Hold on, I'm almost done."

Snow Mary placed the paintbrush down and held her hand over the impromptu painting. A light glowed from the tip of her fingers as she concentrated. The painting slowly rose from her dress and hovered mid-air. It was a small, bloody thing, beating ever so weakly, but was surprisingly realistic.

"You're… giving that to me?"

She harrumphed, holding her chin up high. "Be grateful I'm feeling merciful, foolish human. Never tell a living soul about what occurred here and this will be key to both our salvation."

The huntsman mechanically crawled towards her to take her fabricated heart. He kept it in a jeweled box and put it in his knapsack. Giving the girl one last look, he turned his back to her and stood.

"The Queen of Hearts… her cruelty to her enemies rival the demons themselves. Please, for both our sake, run as far away as possible and never come back."

The girl slowly stood, wobbling, light-headed, vision slightly blurred. "I don't intend on returning."

Running away as fast as he could, he did not see the wound on the girl's chest rapidly closing back, leaving behind unblemished skin. Snow Mary touched the area in amazement herself. She had taken a gamble playing along with the man's fears, but it had seemed to work.

Her insides still hurt, but at least she could move again. She set off, grabbing her two possessions, leaving behind the bloody splatters on the ground and foliage, the only evidence of their remarkable encounter.

X

Even though she continuously stumbled across tree roots and tumbled down steep areas, Snow Mary walked and walked until she could walk no further. Her chest finally stopped hurting after two days. When dusk came, she slept in the trees, fearful of the woodland animals. Even if she healed quickly, the wounds were just as excruciatingly painful. When dawn arrived, she continued walking. The child was so hungry, eating any nuts and fruits and berries that she saw along her path. Severe stomach cramps slowed her journey even more.

Finally, when the fourth day of walking was coming to a close, the young child stumbled upon a homely little cottage. The doors were not locked, not a soul was in sight, so she cautiously entered the house. It was a little messy, but very warm and cosy. There was all sorts of food set on the table that made her mouth water, a plate of bread and cheese with fresh fruits on the side and hot soup in the pot on the stove. She helped herself, not having eaten for several days, then explored the rest of the house.

It was much smaller than what it looked like outside. There was an area for cooking, and the table seemed to double as a place for eating and studying, judging by the crammed bookshelves nearby. There was a small area dedicated to sewing, with different types of colourful materials scattered about in a disheveled heap and half-finished dresses being hung on the chairs that were probably for the diner table.

The floor above contained only a bed and chest of drawers, enough room for one person to walk around comfortably. The bed looked extra soft and ever so tempting, and Snow Mary was weary from all her travelling. She hoped the owner was a kind and understanding old lady and crawled under the covers.

Warm and well fed, the girl quickly fell into a deep slumber.

AN: Next chapter in 3 days! Take care x