A/N: I usually write for the OUaT fandom, but I re-watched the 10th Kingdom and I have a lot of feels I need to work through. I'm not entirely sure what I am going to do with this, if anything, so if you're reading it and you find yourself loving it, send me a PM and let me know. I'm really easy to convince, you don't have to review (although that is always welcome) or anything.

This is based off the idea that Wolf and Virginia had a daughter and eventually move back to the 4th kingdom to raise that daughter and open their own restaurant.

"I want so much more than this provincial life..."

She watched Beauty and the Beast when she was five in the comfort of a well lit, air conditioned apartment, and the line struck her. Her mother was in the kitchen working on a recipe and her father was sitting next to her only half paying attention but she was there. She was present, in that moment, and she realized Belle was right. Wasn't there more than living in a small apartment? Was it possible to feel like you were born for somewhere greater, even when you were living in the greatest city in the world?

Her father wasn't from New York, although she didn't learn that until later. Her mother was, and Virginia loved it here she but hated it. Everything was so crowed, people packed together tighter than sardines. It was impossible to breathe, never mind the dirty air. There was a park, Central Park, but that wasn't enough. She wanted to run, really run somewhere, through forests and trees and small villages, just run and howl until she reached the edge of the world. Eventually she learned of my heritage, who she was and where she was from. A wolf, half wolf, a quarter wolf, no one was entirely sure. If she hadn't been so much of my fathers daughter she didn't think my mother would have ever told me. Her father and she were, at least personality wise, almost exactly the same. Full of energy, unable to contain themselves, hearts on their sleeves. She loved that about him and she thought her mother loved that about her. She had her mothers looks, the same crystal blue eyes, blood red lips, and fair skin and her fathers thick black hair his tail. It didn't fully come in until she was thirteen.

That was when they moved back. New York was no place for one wolf, let alone two. Her mother caved, seeing how miserable being shut up made them both, though her father tried hard not to let it show. She had never been able to get her restaurant off the ground, not in a cut throat place like New York. The Kingdoms would be better, she was a hero there, the savior of the 9 kingdoms. She had defeated the Evil Queen at a great personal cost to herself. Her mother didn't like to talk about it, but she knew the story. It was her birth right.

So they settled into a small town outside the palace in the fourth kingdom, and her parents finally opened their restaurant, Once Upon A Thyme. They didn't consult her when they picked the name, but it was a big hit, the favorite dining spot of King Wendall himself. She found herself in love with the charm of the kingdom and the people who inhabited it. There was fresh air, open spaces, and most importantly, endless opportunities for running. It felt like paradise.

That was four years ago. A lot can change in four years. She was seventeen now, a woman by the kingdom's standards, and about to become a sibling. She didn't need to know the details of how it happened, but her crazy in love parents had managed to create another child. Her mother wasn't showing yet, but she was glowing. Pregnancy suited her and she wondered if her mother had looked so beautiful when she was pregnant with her. She was sure her father would tell her her mother did, and the idea of it made her smile. Her parents had found something everyone there longed for in a sincere way: true love. In the kingdoms, people found their loves, or they died from horrible curses, and while she envied her parents and the love they so obviously shared, she was not so certain she would find what they had. Her fate seemed destined for horrible curse territory, although she would never admit that out loud.

She was headed for a run after waking and finding the house empty. She pulled her thick hair up and took off towards the forest with no idea where her feet would take her. The fourth kingdom was bordered by all the others, and if she was feeling adventurous she would sometimes wander into other kingdoms and see what sights she could take in, what smells existed there. Everywhere was different.

The second kingdom was her favorite, despite their immense dislike for what she was. Though wolves had been pardoned in the fourth kingdom, the second kingdom had not become quite so progressive. No one ever imagined the pretty runner with dark hair and blue eyes was the thing many of them feared and despised. People were more willing to overlook their suspicions of what she might be because it hid behind a pretty face, and while she didn't agree with the attitude, she was never going to argue with it.

"Hey!" Caught up in her thoughts she had forgotten why she had started her run and it caused her to slam into someone, knocking them both to the ground.

"I am so sorry," She panted, scratching the side of her head nervously. It was a habit she had picked up from her father.

"Didn't you see me?" The man she had run into stood and offered a hand to help me to her feet. She paused for a moment, staring at him, her mouth slightly agape. He was taller than her five foot five frame, broad shouldered, short brown hair that was windswept and hazel eyes framed by dark lashes. He was sporting a small amount of stubble on his cheeks.

"No, I'm sorry," She repeated, shifting her weight from one foot to the next. "I just get so caught up sometimes." She blew stray hairs out of her face and smiled at him, the same charming, slightly lopsided smile she shared with her father.

"It's okay. Not everyday you're plowed down by a lovely lady," he smiled back. She found herself slightly charmed as she smiled back, shuffling her shoe in the dirt.

"What are you doing out here, anyway?" She asked, finally realizing they were in the middle of a forest. There was no reason for her to be looking out for someone because people were't generally just standing around.

"I am doing a patrol. We are...cleansing these woods..." he said vaguely. She felt a sense of foreboding and she narrowed her eyes.

"From...a bug infestation?"

"Wolves," he said absently. "I just wanted to make sure they were gone."

She felt sick. "What are you doing with them?"

He gave her his full attention for the first time. "It's nothing personal...its just the way things have always been here."

She could feel her temper rising up, but the sound of twigs snapping stopped her. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind a tree, seemingly to protect her from the big bad wolves without any idea he was protecting the very thing he was trying to eradicate. The smell hit her before she saw them, but it was unmistakable.

"Trolls," she whispered, glad to be hiding.

"Trolls aren't allowed in the second kingdom," he whispered back indignantly.

"Well they're here," she responded, finding herself a little irritated with his attitude. Four trolls passed through, talking loudly amongst themselves, heading down the same trail she had come from. "They're going to the fourth kingdom," She frowned. "They're definitely not allowed there."

"Well they're going there," he retorted in the same sarcastic tone she had given him earlier. She raised an eyebrow at him but chose to ignore the comment. She could still hear them even after they were well out of ear shot. They relaxed a little, feeling safe.

"What do you think they're doing?" She asked him. He shrugged, his hazel eyes clouded by thought.

"Knowing trolls, anything. They're too unpredictable."

She nodded, deciding to take a path around them to get home and let her parents know what she had just seen. "Are you going to go back that way?" He asked, looking a little apprehensive. She smirked a little.

"I think I can handle myself."

"Against four trolls?" He asked skeptically. "Let me walk you into the fourth kingdom at least."

"Fine," She agreed, out of a sense of self preservation than anything else. Girls in the kingdoms would gladly take a handsome man up on his offer of an escort. Wolves didn't really need it. Still, there was no way she was about to reveal that to a man who just admitted to cleansing an entire forest because "thats how it's always been".

They didn't really speak, just walking side by side. She thought he could feel her dislike of him, or perhaps he wasn't feeling up to conversation, she couldn't be sure. She was a wolf, not a mind reader. She wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, especially after living in the tenth kingdom and seeing how deep the dislike of certain groups ran within other groups, but it was different when that group included her.

They were near the edge when she stopped him, throwing an arm out into his chest. "What?" He asked.

"Can't you smell that?" She asked.

"Smell what?" He asked. "Hey! Where are you-?!"

She took off running straight into the smell of burning timber. The forest was burning. The fourth kingdom was burning.

She didn't stop. She didn't care if he was running behind her, She didn't care if she found the trolls, She just needed to get home. She needed to make sure her parents were safe and alive. Everything around her was burning, the trees, the villages, the grass. People were running, and the trolls were everywhere. Somewhere behind her, he was still following, though no where near as fast. He could never out run a wolf, she was born to run. The smell of smoke burned her throat and tears stung her eyes. People were fleeing and those not fast enough were being beaten down by trolls. Her father would never let that happen to her mother. The only way he would stay would be for her. She needed to get to him, to them, before something horrible happened.

She found her father and mother in the last place she expected them. They were chained together, their faces pale, their eyes searching. They were in a cart with bars when she reached them. "What's happening?!" She shouted above the chaos, her hands on the bars.

"You need to go," her mother told her. "Get out of here right now!"

"I have to get you out!" She screamed, running around the front of the cart to view the lock. Her father met her there, covering her hands with his over the bars.

"You need to go. We'll be okay but you need to go!" He looked so fearful, so urgent that she almost stepped back. Tears were streaming down her face as she shook her head no back and forth.

"No, no, no, no, I'm not leaving you."

Her forest companion had caught up with her. "Are you insane?!" He demanded. "We need to get out of here now!"

"No!" She said, still pulling at the iron lock as if that would do any good.

Her father caught her hand and pressed it to his lips. "Get her out of here."

Strong arms wrapped around her waist as trolls approached, weapons raised. She was fighting him, watching through her tears as they watched her, the same tears running down their faces. They were the only family she had, and she was letting them go, leaving them to the trolls.

He got her to run with him, his hand locked firmly with hers, dragging her as far from the burning kingdom as he could get them. They were heading towards the eighth kingdom, even in her despair she could smell it. It was cold, covered in snow. She finally stopped running, for the first time in her life, too tired to go on. Her legs felt like lead and her face and throat were burning.

Above her, he ran his hand through his hair nervously, looking around. "What just happened?" He asked out loud. She could barely catch her breath.

"We have to go back," she said finally.

"What? Are you crazy?"

She shook her head no, prepared to argue but he grabbed her by her shoulders and made her face him. "If we go back they're likely to kill us. I know you're upset but you have to think logically. You're no good to anyone dead."

"What if they kill them?" She asked hysterically. He kept his grip firm on her.

"They won't. Don't think like that. They want slaves, and slaves are more useful alive than dead. Your parents won't do anything that will jeopardize getting back to you, but you have to be strong."

She nodded. "If they've taken the fourth kingdom, they'll spread out to the others," he said mostly to himself, but her brain was moving a million miles a minute.

"How could they have done this?" She asked him. "Trolls are hardly subtle."

They both sat on the hard, cold ground. Neither of them were dressed for weather in the eighth kingdom, especially with night approaching quickly.

"Someone is helping them. That's the only thing I can think of. I don't know," he rested his head on his knees, looking at her sideways. She had pulled her hair down and was using it to shield her face. She didn't want him to see how much pain she was feeling at that moment, to be completely vulnerable to a complete stranger, someone who loathed her just because of genetics.

"We should find somewhere to stay tonight," he said. The sun was almost completely down. She followed after him until they reached a small town. He kept going until he found a very modest inn, and payed for a room. She said nothing, completely numb to everything going on around them. He led her up stairs and shut the door firmly behind them.

"I told them we were married," he told her awkwardly as she surveyed the small room. There was a basin and a pitcher of water on a dresser, and a large four poster bed, and one square window. The room was painted yellow and in the dim lamp light looked eery to her. She sat on the soft mattress and closed her eyes.

"Why didn't you leave me?" She asked finally, brushing her hair out of her face. "You don't even know my name."

He sat next to her and looked at his hands in his lap. "I don't know. It never occurred to me, to be honest."

She smiled. "You probably saved my life...so...thank you."

"I hope you would have done the same for me."

"I hope that too."

"So," he said, after another long silence. "If you want to know, my name is Peter."

She smiled again, making him smile in turn. "Peter. It suits you."

"And do you have a name? Or shall I make one up for you?"

She laughed softly, less on edge than she had been a moment before. "What name would you give me?"

He cocked his head to the side and really looked at her. "You remind me of a cat."

She burst out laughing, unable to contain herself. "Close. My name is Adelaide."

He was smiling. "I've never heard that name before, but it's pretty."

"My dad picked it when my mom was pregnant with me," she told him, recalling the story. Her mother had been showing her father the city of New York when they had come upon a street called Adelaide. Her dad had loved it so much that, upon learning, Virginia was indeed having a girl, made a case for the name until her mother eventually caved. They had given her the name Adelaide Christine, Christine for the mother Virginia had lost but refused to forget.

"Adelaide," Peter repeated. "Adelaide the cat. They'll sing songs about you throughout the nine kingdoms."

"For what?" She asked, looking back down at her hands.

"For saving the fourth kingdom of course!" He replied as if that was obvious. Save the fourth kingdom, just as her parents had done. Those were large shoes to fill.

"I just want to save my family," she told him softly. He nodded.

"If the trolls have control of the fourth kingdom, it will be a matter of days before they take the second and seventh and ninth. None of those kingdoms have a large enough army to fight and keep control of their kingdoms. How long before the rest of them fall?"

"We're just two people," she told him seriously. "Saving the fourth kingdom sounded impossible enough. How are we supposed to save the entire world?"

"Who else will?" He retorted, looking regal in his response. She frowned a bit.

"Spoken like royalty." She had heard the second kingdom was in an uproar when Queen Riding Hood IV had only produced one heir and it had been a boy. Women had ruled their kingdom for four generations. She had never noticed before how regal he seemed. Was he the first male Riding Hood?

His face hardened a little. "The first male Riding Hood to ever rule. I can't let my kingdom fall to trolls."

She took a deep breath. There was no way she would ever reveal herself to a Riding Hood that she was a wolf. It was one of her ancestors who had killed the first Riding Hood's grandmother and almost the woman herself. Still, it was almost poetic to her that a Riding Hood and a wolf would team up to save their kingdom's and their families.

"Big shoes to fill. Or...I guess hoods?"

He relaxed a little. "You're right. I don't know where to start."

"In the eighth kingdom," she replied. "We'll start here. Someday, the nine kingdoms will sing about Peter Riding Hood the first, the man who saved the nine kingdoms."

"What about you?"

"I'm only in it to save my family. You can have the glory." She pulled the covers back on the bed, determined to try and get some sleep.

"I'll sleep on the floor," he said after watching for a moment.

"Suit yourself, but you're welcome to half of the bed," she told him, rolling onto her side. He blew out the lantern and then climbed in after her.

"Thanks," he whispered.

She stayed awake unable to sleep, even after he had. She kept replaying being dragged away from her parents while her village burned, and Peter's plans for an epic rescue. They were just two people. There was no way they could do any of that alone. Being royal made him a target for any troll, and her being a wolf made her an outsider in many places. They had a long, lonely road ahead of them, and part of her was tempted to leave him here in the inn and go back for them.

She stayed. She couldn't leave him to die when he had saved her life. Fate had a sense of humor, and they were stuck together despite their varying intentions.

She sighed. Hell or glory. Nothing in between.