Inspired by the movie 'Snow White and the Huntsman' and the original tale of Snow White (at least, a bit). I'm sick of not seeing any updates for 1896 stories, so yeah…this is my Vongola edition of 'Snow White and the Hunter'!
Genres: Comedy, Fantasy, Adventure, Tragedy, Romance.
The Queen walked on the snowy grounds of the castle's garden, wearing a gown of the finest silk and the most intricate lace, in addition a wooly coat that draped to her feet to protect her holy being from the harsh cold wind. She approached the rose bushes, and caressed a beautiful red rose, only to be pricked by a thorn. She watched in wonder as three drops of blood fell from her finger to the ground.
She smiled up to the sky, "Oh, how I wish to have a daughter whose skin is as white as winter snow, lips as red as crimson blood, and hair as black as a raven's wings".
The Queen did have a son, but she still yearned for a daughter, and her dream was not distant. She gave birth to a baby girl who satisfied every one of her wishes, with skin as white as winter snow, lips as red as crimson blood, and hair as black as a raven's wings. The Princess was adored by everyone, and the people often referred to her as 'Snow White'.
The loving Queen always watched her children play in the garden, attend lessons and enjoy royal meals together, and she cherished them from the bottom of her heart. However, her unfortunate fate hindered her from staying by their side till they grew up, and she soon passed away due to a fatal illness that landed her on her deathbed, when Snow White was only twelve.
Snow White remembered her beloved mother's last words, "I'm sure you will become the fairest lady ever lived, Nagi".
The King remarried to a gorgeous woman whom he had rescued from an underworld organisation that was infamous for kidnapping young maidens and selling them to sex slavery. Princess Snow White, unlike her elder brother, had been very reluctant to acknowledge the woman, since she thought of her father's decision as betrayal to her late mother.
The woman was crowned the new Queen on the day of the wedding, and she knelt before Snow White who was the bridesmaid, smiling as she held her chubby cheeks, "I share with you the pain of losing my mother, but I vow to erase that sadness of yours as much as possible, just like your mother would". Snow White gazed into those deep emerald eyes, and she thought maybe she could finally accept her. The Queen happily bestowed upon the Princess a new name, Chrome, to signify a new life ahead.
A week after the wedding, however, the Queen's true identity was revealed to be a powerful sorceress who was in league with the underworld organisation that had planned everything to lure out the King and assassinate him so that she could take over the kingdom. An infiltration of the castle and massacre of every soldier occurred in the middle of the night, led by the General of the Dark Army, while the smug Queen watched from the window of her bedroom.
"How…dare you!" the King grunted from the bed, holding onto his wound.
"Oh? Is a stab to the stomach not enough to kill you, Your Majesty?" Rena licked the blood on her dagger, walking toward the King, "You're a tough one".
The door burst open to show a panting Snow White, "Tou-san! We're under attack—!" She froze at the scene in front of her, which was enough to tell her what had happened.
"Ah, Chrome," Rena grinned, "Thanks for coming, because I won't need to search for you!" She tossed the dagger straight toward Chrome, but the blood splattered out was not hers.
Snow White gasped as her father collapsed before her, pulling out the dagger from his chest, "R-Run, Nagi…"
"Tou-san…Tou-san!" Snow White rushed to her father, shaking him frantically, "Iie, Tou-san! You can't die! TOU-SAN! TOU-SAAAAAAN!"
Rena pulled the crying girl up by her hair, musing to herself, "Hmm…on second thought, you can be a useful hostage. I shall keep you alive". She ordered her knights to keep the Princess in place while she went to find the Prince.
"Iie! Don't hurt him! Don't hurt Onisama! I BEG OF YOU!" Chrome screamed in vain as the knights dragged her off to be locked in the north tower, never to be found by anyone else.
Rena walked to the corner of the room, where a glamorous mirror slept. She placed her hands on the side of the mirror, whispering affectionately, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?"
The surface of the mirror swirled into twirls of black, until a faceless hooded person appeared, answering her dutifully and truthfully, "You, my dear Queen, are the fairest of them all".
Rena smirked in satisfaction.
No one had time to mourn over the tragedy that happened on that fateful day, for everyone was soon suffering under the rule of the fearful Queen. She was the leader of the underworld organisation, and the victims who were done from the sex slavery were delivered to her to have their youth sucked out from them, so that Rena could maintain her own beauty and immortality.
Rena consulted her magic mirror often, asking who was the fairest in the land, and the answer would always be the same, her.
"Ah, how lovely," she would think, "I have my loyal Dark Army, I have my magic mirror, I have my youthful beauty… I have everything wrapped around my finger!"
People were still questioning about the young royalties' status. There was no information about the whereabouts of the Prince, and the Queen did not proudly announce that she had disposed of the Princess like she did the King, meaning Snow White was alive. No one knew anything for sure, since dead men -those who attempted to invade the castle and rescue the Princess- could tell no tales.
Years later, things started to change for the Queen, because one day when she asked her magic mirror the same thing, it gave a different response.
"You, my dear Queen, are the fairest here so true, but Snow White is a thousand times more beautiful than you."
Of course, Rena was infuriated. After all, how could someone who had been locked up in the filthy north tower for six years be far more beautiful than her? Nevertheless, her magic mirror did not lie, so she had better take action fast. Well, simple. If she killed Snow White, she would be the fairest again, right?
Rena grinned. She knew just the person who could do the job.
Eighteen-year-old Chrome lay on the broken wooden bed, playing with a handkerchief in her skinny hands. She flinched when she heard the click of the door lock, and turned to see someone unexpected enter the room. She immediately jumped up, squeezing the blanket close to her, as she eyed the knight warily.
"Oni…sama?"
The Prince dressed in knight armory smirked, "Yo, Chrome".
Chrome bit her lip, "Don't call me that…I won't accept the name she gave me".
"Then you're alone in this world."
Chrome gripped the blanket harder, "N-Nande? Why did you…?"
"I told you three years ago. Guess living here really drives you mad to the point of losing memory."
"You're Nai! You're my onisama! So why would you—?"
"I am Martin!" the Prince stomped his foot, "Don't address me by that lowly name! And I'm not here to have you bark at me! I'm here in order of the Queen!"
"What is it? What does she want from me this time? How long does she intend to sink me in this torment? Why are you on her side?!"
"Damare!" Martin grabbed her throat and pushed her down onto the bed, pressing his knee on her thigh without a care for her pain, "Be obedient and submit to me unless you don't want it to be over quickly".
Chrome's eyes widened when she saw a knife in her brother's hand. Martin smirked as he released her throat, "You want to know what the Queen wants? Well, you know how much she treasures her beauty, right? She can't accept it if someone like you steals it from her, so she wants you dead…" His hand slipped down to her chest, "…by eating your precious heart".
Shock electrocuted itself through Chrome as her mind processed the Prince's words, but she was quick to react before the knife penetrated her chest. She picked up a piece of wood that had cracked off the bed's stilt and cut it across Martin's forehead. While he fell off the bed in pain, Chrome stole the keys from his pocket and unlocked the door, making a run for it.
She dashed down the spiral stairs of the tower, her heart racing as Martin's angry voice echoed from above. Finally reaching the bottom, she hastily unlocked the exit door and ran toward the garden of the castle, where she knew was not surrounded by brick walls, just fence. The alarms had already begun to activate, and shouts of the knights could be heard, but Chrome's determination to escape kept herself composed and her mind resourceful. She found a saw and with all her might, cut down the fence, making a hole that was big enough for her to crawl through.
Right then, all she could think about was to run away from the castle, her prison. She knew the knights were already after her, but she would continue to run, over the hills and far away, so that they could never catch her. They must not catch her.
Chrome panted in exhaustion as she sank to her feet. Now that she had run so far, she did not know where she had ended up at. She looked around, seeing nothing much but darkness. The tall trees loomed over her and the shadows they casted on the dirt ground resembled silhouettes of witches on brooms. She could feel shivers down her spine, and she screamed and scurried away when she realised she had been sitting on a nest of beetles.
Bugs were climbing up the tree trunks and all over the ground covered in dried leaves. The twisted vines hanging across the branches added to the creepy atmosphere. This must be the forest.
Chrome was not sure if she could survive in a place like this, but it would definitely be better than the prison. She should start finding a water source and some fruits…
A hissing sound frightened her and she ran ahead without thinking, deeper into the forest.
She was scared. Where was she supposed to go? Who was there to help her? She fell to her knees again, tired and very, very scared. Tears dripped from her eyes as she clenched her dress, trembling as the darkness seemed to block out any light of hope she could grasp on…
Chrome flinched when she heard the mass of leaves beside her crunch under some weight.
"What are you doing here?"