Her breathing was heavy; Snow kept running, her feet moving furiously. She dodged trees, and jumped over rocks. Snow looked over her shoulder constantly, wondering if the Evil Queen's army was gaining on her.

After Snow exited the forest, she stopped. She couldn't go any farther, for below her, many, many feet below her, was a roaring ocean, the perimeter filled with sharp rocks that could easily kill someone. Snow bit her lip and heard the palace knights drawing near. "Okay, Snow. You can do this. Don't be scared. Just jump. It's the only way."

Taking a deep breath, and mustering up any courage she had left, Snow jumped off the cliff, and moments later, found herself plunging deep into the depths of the ocean. This was her uncharted territory.

Snow wasn't the best swimmer. Give her a bow and arrow and she can shoot things just fine. Combat and self-defense were a breeze. Swimming in water, however? That was an entirely different story. Snow never really needed to know how to swim, so she never bothered learning. Kicking herself in the butt, she realized that any skillset in swimming would come in handy right about now.

She was having difficulty staying above water. Every time her head bobbed to the surface, Snow would take many long gulps of air, trying to savor any life she had left. Unfortunately, she found herself sinking to the bottom very easily. At this point, Snow just wanted to give up.

Something was stopping her from reaching the bottom, however. Snow wasn't sinking, and instead, she was rising. Before she could question what was happening, her head was above water, and she was being taken over to a valley of rocks. Snow opened her eyes, the bright sunlight wafting over her soaked clothing. Looking around, Snow spotted her savior: red hair, blue eyes, advanced swimming ability. Snow had a feeling…

"Are you alright? You looked like you were having some trouble there?" The mysterious woman spoke. Snow realized that this in fact wasn't a human. A mermaid had just saved her life.

"Y-yes. I'm fine. I was running from someone, and jumping into the ocean was the only reasonable option."

The mermaid laughed, and the stayed there in silence, taking in the sunlight. She spoke again.

"Name's Ariel. What's yours?" She smiled.

"Snow. Snow White." Snow responded, reciprocating the friendliness.

"Well, Snow White. I would advise staying away from water for a while, or at least until you can actually learn to hold yourself upright." She giggled, and began to swim away before Snow spoke again.

"Wait! I never got to thank you! Without you, I would most likely be dead."

Ariel swam closer to Snow, and rested her arms on the rocks. "You're welcome. I'm glad I could save you. I'm rather intrigued with the human race. They're fascinating to me." She shrugged her bare shoulders.

"Trust me… we're not that interesting. We're more along the lines of evil and conniving."

Ariel rested her chin on her hands. "Well, you seem very nice. You are really the only other human I've met, besides Eric of course."

Eric? That name sounded familiar to Snow. "Eric?" She asked. "As in Prince Eric?"

The mermaid nodded. "Yes! Isn't he the most gorgeous thing you've ever laid your eyes on? If only I didn't have this stupid tail, I would be able to talk to him."

Suddenly, an idea hit Snow. "Ariel, I have an idea. Follow me."