A/N This story takes place after Maria plunges into the water and the ending of the magical unicorn saving her does not take place.
-Prologue (Maria POV)
An all-consuming cold overtakes my body and I immediately go numb, all feeling gone from me. My red curls, released from their hold in a braid splay out around me, tangling within each other. One by one, the pearls fall from my bodice and float gently to the soft, sandy bottom of the ocean. Somehow it does not occur to me how peculiar it is that I am yet alive, despite the distant voice I recognize as Robin's mourning my sacrifice. I try to reach upwards towards him, but my body is being pressed down, pulled down by a magnetic force. Struggling against this oppressing force, I am distracted, but still hear the boom of thunder that resonates around the valley. It is heard from miles away, by the De Noir clan and by every last Merryweather.
And suddenly I am being pulled up. Up, yet away from Robin, away from my uncle, away from Ms. Heliotrope, and away from my family. My last thought before the world is enveloped in darkness is of Robin. And then there is nothing.
When I awake, I take in slowly my unfamiliar surroundings. I can tell that it is the forest with which Robin is so familiar, yet I am not and I wish for him to be with me as he was just hours ago, guiding me through the forest knowingly. Seeing as Robin is not here, I look around for any sight of a path, but unsurprisingly I find none. I wander aimlessly through the densely wooded area searching for shelter or food but finding neither. As I am losing all hope for survival, I see a tree and around it are mangled, twisted roots forming an all too familiar hollow.
