Sequel to "Leaving." It would probably help to read that story first, but it is considerably darker and contains some adult themes. This story will be a lot tamer.

So, if you're skipping "Leaving," here's what you need to know: Leopold has been abusing Regina since they married, and began abusing Snow as well starting on her 16th birthday. Regina finds out what's happened to Snow and decides that they have to run away. Especially once Regina learns that she's pregnant and is terrified that she'll have a daughter for Leopold to mistreat.


The King's men flooded the marketplace on horseback, seemingly out of nowhere. They raced down the alleys, overturning carts and nearly knocking people out of their way, tossing papers that cascaded down on the crowds. The dark haired girl with a basket of vegetables dangling from her arm was nearly a casualty, had the young man beside not pulled her to safety.

"A message from your King," one of the men cried out, dismounting and climbing the stairs of the Town Hall. "It was discovered this afternoon that Queen Regina has kidnapped Princess Snow White." He paused for the expected gasp from the crowd and received the appropriate reaction. "The Queen has gone mad with jealousy over the Princess's superior beauty, and the King believes her intentions towards his daughter are evil. He requests the help of all those in his kingdom to rescue the Princess and bring the Queen to justice. Intelligence as to their whereabouts will be richly rewarded. King Leopold offers 100,000 crowns to he who recovers the Princess safely, and 50,000 crowns for the capture of the Queen, dead or alive."

The dark haired girl stooped to pick up a paper that featured detailed drawings of the missing royals. "I find it hard to believe that she would be jealous of anyone," she whispered to the boy who had saved her, gesturing towards the striking portrait of the Queen.

"The Princess is not just anyone," he replied, studying the other picture much more carefully. He glanced up at the girl beside him, eyes gleaming. "We should save her, Red."

Red folded the picture and tucked it into her basket. "You're the son of a shepherd, not some prince or knight."

"That's exactly why," he explained, a smile spreading across his features. "A princess would never fall in love with a commoner unless he saves her life."

Red rolled her eyes. "David, I think we're a little too old for fairytales."


Regina couldn't fight it anymore. They'd been walking for hours, dusk already settling on the forest. Her ankle had nearly healed in the week since her husband had shoved her so hard that she'd twisted it trying to keep her balance, but the constant movement was aggravating the injury once again. She pressed on, but her limping was becoming more and more noticeable, and finally Snow stopped and turned to her.

"We need to stop for the night, Regina."

The Queen shook her head, but her ankle faltered under her weight as she tried to walk on. "I'm fine."

"You always say that," Snow said, ducking under Regina's arm and allowing her stepmother to use her as a crutch. "I know it's not true."

Regina reluctantly leaned on the girl. "All right, I'm not fine. But we can't stop here, Snow. We haven't made it nearly far enough. We'll be best off if we press on through the night and rest tomorrow."

"You can't." Snow looked at her honestly and Regina cursed herself for being so weak. She let the Princess guide her down to the mossy ground beside a nearby tree.

"Then you have to keep running, Snow. You'll make it much faster without me."

Snow simply sat down beside her and refused to move. "We are doing this together," she insisted. "I won't leave you."

Regina fell silent, not bothering to argue further. She knew the Princess's rarely-seen stubborn streak, the one that had gotten Regina stuck in this marriage in the first place. And besides that, the night was falling fast and she couldn't bear the thought of Snow wandering through the dark forest alone.

She didn't want to be alone herself, but she wasn't about to admit that.

Snow fell asleep easily, exhausted from the day's journey, her head falling heavily on Regina's shoulder. The older woman wrapped her arms around the girl for warmth and comfort. She couldn't sleep herself, not with the rustlings of animals too near. Not with this girl who she'd spent so long hating depending on her. She tilted her head back against the tree trunk, looking up through the leafy branches at the stars.

This running away had been a terrible mistake, she told herself. She didn't know how she was going to protect her stepdaughter, or even feed her, or where they were going. She didn't know the first thing about taking care of anyone, not even herself.

She touched her fingers lightly to her stomach, closing her eyes on the stars and wondering how, if she didn't even know how to take care of a sixteen-year-old, she was ever going to take care of a baby.


More to come! I'd love feedback, and I could really use someone to bounce ideas off of as I figure out where this is going. If you're interested, let me know!