A/N I do not own Once Upon a Time or its characters. Duh.

Chapter One

A Brief Happiness

Every morning when Charming woke up and saw Snow lying beside him, one of Granny's quilts wrapped around her naked body, he had to pause and realize this was his life now. Not a dream, nor a siren, but real. Flesh and blood and heartbeats and fingertips real. He and Snow were finally, finally together.

Some might have called him foolish for giving up the life of a prince, a future king—castles and silks and gold—for one woman. Even for a princess, since after all, this one didn't have her country anymore. A week ago he was sleeping on goose-feathered beds and fed suckling pig; now he was in a hole in the ground and foraging for berries.

But what those sad, poor people didn't realize was that every moment with her, he had such an unbounded joy that nothing else mattered. Not their makeshift home underground with nothing but some quilts and furs, not even the pursuit for both their hides that was surely still happening by King George and the Evil Queen. As long as they were together, Charming would be happy. He only needed Snow.

Charming kissed Snow's bare shoulder, and her eyelashes fluttered, then closed again. He didn't know how she could sleep more. For once, the world of the waking was better than his dreams.

The sun was up, and they'd planned to get moving as early as possible. They were together for now, and they wanted it to stay that way. They'd be starting their journey today, going across the sea to another realm where their enemies wouldn't chase them and they could marry and have a family.

"Come on," Charming said. He planted a kiss on Snow's lips. "It's time to get moving."

She opened her eyes and smiled, one of her beautiful, wide smiles that lit up her whole face. She put her hand on Charming's head, letting her fingers wrap in his hair, and brought his lips down to meet hers again.

"Snow," he murmured, body already thrumming.

"Charming." He loved to hear her say that, the name she'd given him. She began to kiss him more, and he followed.

"We should be heading out," he said. "We have to go get my mother, and then travel—"

But when she planted her lips on his again, he knew it was lost. Especially considering they hadn't gotten dressed from last night, it was all too easy to give in.

An hour later than planned, they finally began preparing for the journey ahead. Snow changed Charming's wrappings from his shoulder where the arrow had hit him while her heart had been darkened, and they both dressed. Their packs had been prepared the day before, so now they just ate some bread for breakfast, and then emerged from their hide-out.

Snow paused when they came above ground, and Charming stopped to wait for her. Snow tilted her head up to the trees, her eyes concentrating, but not on the surroundings, something deep inside of her.

Charming, while impatient to get going, was nevertheless patient with her, and retraced the steps he'd already taken away from the hide-out. He took her hand, and the contact made her face fall back down to him.

"This is where you first trapped me," she said. "When you came to get your mother's ring back from me."

She had that same ring on her finger now, and Charming stroked his finger against its surface. Funny how the person he fought so hard to get it from was the very one he would give anything to have wearing it.

"It's one of my favorite memories," he said.

"And if we leave, we'll never see this place again," Snow said, head bent down.

Charming put his free hand under her chin and lifted it up to him. "This isn't just about where you hung from a tree, is it?"

Snow sighed. "It's just…I always thought I would get it back. My kingdom. Regina isn't supposed to be queen. When I think of all of my people she's killed, the darkness she's brought, I can't stand it. And if I leave, if I don't take the throne, what will happen?"

"That's my Snow," Charming said. She'd never given up a fight, not when she had something worth fighting for at stake. It happened on that first ambush against him, and when she went back to the trolls to save him. It was part of why he loved her.

"So, we'll stay?" Snow asked. "Fight for my kingdom?"

Charming nodded. "If that's what you feel is right. I'll fight beside you to get your kingdom back."

Snow leapt into his arms, and they held each other close. Then Charming pulled back. "I still must go for my mother. I know Red and Granny will take care of her, but I promised that I'd come and get her as soon as we were ready to leave. She's waiting."

"We'll need a safe place to put her while we make a plan against Regina," Snow said.

Charming nodded. "What if I went to get her, and you found someplace to get her settled in? We can meet back here in two days."

"I know plenty of hiding places," Snow said, giving a mischievous grin.

Charming laughed and plopped a kiss on her nose. "I don't doubt it."

After a few more kisses and I love you's, Charming and Snow parted, this time separation still hurting, but nowhere near the pain they'd experienced before.


Ruth ran out to meet her son, and he swept her up in his arms. When he was younger, she used to spin around with him, but now that he was a grown man, he spun her. Ruth stepped back and put her hands to Charming's face.

"Look at you! Oh, I worried I'd never see you again!"

Before he might have laughed off such a comment as a mother's tendency to over-worry, but since falling in with King George, such statements were no exaggeration.

"But where is Snow White?" Ruth peered over her son's shoulder, the motherly concern coming back.

"We decided to stay here, to fight for Snow's kingdom. She's finding you a secure location to live in."

"Well, I was worried about getting seasick on a boat, but now there will be a war." Ruth shook her head.

"You must have heard about Regina's rule," Charming said. "She massacred an entire village—women and children included. We can't leave her people to that."

Ruth smiled. "Yes, dear, I know."

Then Red came running from down the road, her hood free from her head. "David! David, run!"

A horse ran up behind Red, then another and another. Red jumped to the side in time from being trampled by George's maniac soldiers.

"Mother, go," Charming said under his breath, pushing Ruth's elbow so that she would get off the road and hide in the trees beside it.

Charming drew his sword, ready to face the soldiers. His gaze flickered between his approaching enemy and making sure his mother had fully covered herself from sight in the thicket of trees. The soldiers wouldn't bother with her so long as she stayed out of the way and they got him.

The three men stopped on their horses, and behind them more men came.

"Prince James," said the soldier in the front. "Come now and we won't have to hurt you."

"Like hell I'm coming with you," Charming spat. No way as long as Snow lived could he bear it.

"We know you're an excellent swordsman Your Highness, but I doubt you have the skills necessary to fight ten men."

Charming kept his defensive stance.

"No? Very well, then."

They ran at him with the horses, but Charming ran off the road and into the forest opposite of his mother's hiding place. The trees were too thick for the horses to navigate easily, and one by one the soldiers had to jump off of their horses in order to pursue them.

Charming ran, hoping to throw them off of his trail, but the leader of the group was lithe and quick, so that he caught up to Charming, making the faux-prince turn around and fight him. By the time Charming had flicked his sword a few times and stabbed the leader, the others had caught up, and he was surrounded. He thrust and flung his sword, managing to incapacitate four of the soldiers, but then one struck a blow to his head, and he was down.

Two of the soldiers carried the unconscious Charming back through the forest, overcoming Red, who had come to try and help Charming with a branch, cursing the fact it was full sun out and she couldn't transform into a wolf.

"Let him go!" she shouted, swinging her branch toward the soldiers. But they just laughed and pushed her down.

Red got up and followed them out of the thicket, where they dumped Charming's unconscious body onto a waiting prison wagon.

Ruth came out of the forest, dazed at the sight of her son rolling away. She staggered a few steps. "No, no, no! David!"

But the soldiers were gone, and with it, her son. Red came to the grieving Ruth and held her up.

"We'll get him back," Red said. "We will. Snow White has many friends, and they will do anything to assure your son is freed from King George."


Regina smiled to herself as she descended down into her dungeons, where she'd brought the prince from King George's castle. The very castle she was told Snow White was planning to attack in order to get her true love back from. Ha! The fools.

And it was just so delicious, so completely satisfying, to have Snow White's true love here with her. She hardly knew what to do with him. Perhaps she would rip out his heart in front of her, crush it, and watch as Snow White knew the pain she'd felt all those years ago in the stable.

It would only be fitting for such a punishment. What was an apple compared with to that?

The prince sat on the cold floor, face flickering in the dim light of the torches. Two guards had been posted—she'd heard of his ability to escape and didn't dare take any risks. But now that she was here, she knew he couldn't get away from her.

"Leave us," she said to the guards.

They bowed and marched away. Regina opened the locks with a flick of her hand and came in. The prince stepped forward, but chains at his hands prevented him from getting far.

"You," he spat. "I ought to kill you."

"What? For saving you from King George's blade? You ought to be thanking me."

Regina circled around him, measuring up this prince Snow White had found for herself. He was solid and handsome, more so than most of the blundering oafs she'd found for her soldiers.

"So you're Snow White's prince," Regina said. She tried to sound mocking, but despite her disgust for the girl, the man she'd found didn't lack in any physical qualities. Regina reached out to the prince's chest. "Although I do see the appeal."

He jerked away from her, and Regina knew from her other experiences with men that it wasn't because men found her unattractive. He loved Snow White, and Snow White loved him. It ignited a fire within her, of jealousy and anger, that Snow White could be so in love and have that loved returned, and yet Regina had had that happiness ripped from her because of that very same brat.

Regina looked the prince up and down once more. No, she could find no flaw. Because she knew she'd never love again, and yet she still had urgings for someone inside of her, Regina picked her partners based on their physical appeal. And this Prince Charming? Why, his body with the knowledge that Snow White would be tortured by their intimacy, that would make the experience extra delightful.

"You will obey me," Regina said. She reached again for the prince's chest, this time thrusting her hand inside and getting a grip on his heart. He gasped and bent over while she yanked his heart out. It rested in her hand, pulsing and red.

Now she would finally get her revenge on Snow White.