Little Red Ruby Hood and the Big Bad Wolf.
Summary: Scarlett had always been warned of a violent and murdering wolf that lived in the very same woods that she travelled through each day on her way back to her Granny's house, but she had never imagined that one day she would come face to face with the beast. Age old stories of interactions with the fated big bad wolf had taught her to be scared of the creature and what it could do to young girls like her, but a soft look of pain in the eyes of her unwilling attacker made the young girl wonder if there was more to the old tales of the big bad wolf than anyone could ever figure.
Pairings are Emma x Graham, and Mary Margaret x David, but mostly Ruby x OC.
Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of the characters affiliated.
Rating is PG-13 for language, violence and a little sexuality.
Authors Note: Okay, hopefully this chapter ends up a little longer than the last one did. I promised that I was going to solve one of the cliffhangers and I fully intend too. So here is another scene from the fairy tale world which will involve more than a few of my favourite characters, I hope you enjoy. I would also like to extend a special shout out to RleFay for being the third person to alert and favourite the story, also for being the first reviewer. It's people like you that make me want to keep writing. For everyone else, feel free to leave a review or anything to let me know if you like or hate the story.
Spoilers include most canon plot points up until 1x07 "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" for the chapters that take place in Storybrooke, any of the Fairytale moments are canon up until the most recent episode which is 1x11 "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree" just because I like the Snow White/Red Riding Hood thing and all that stemmed from seeing Snow White at all ages of her life.
"Whimpering just slightly as a final growl escaped its throat, Scarlett feebly held her hands up trying to protect herself from its teeth and claws as the wolf made up its mind, hunched back and pounced."
Back inside the Enchanted Forest.
A scream broke out from Scarlett's throat as the wolf piled into her with full force, still struggling to get away from it, the two of them fell to the forest floor in a heap.
It wasn't until she painfully inhaled that she realised, it's claws and teeth weren't ripping into her thin throat or tearing her to shreds. Rather, it was slumped against her, pinning her to the ground with such a force that she found it a task to breathe in for more than a few seconds.
Her eyes fluttered open and close, her head had hit the back of the tree and she felt like her mind was getting ready to explode from the lack of oxygen and overload of stimulation.
That's when she heard it.
"Red!" A familiar shout shattered the not-so-peaceful silence. The accompanied yelps sounded much more panicky as she heard the clap of boots come closer to her head, just before she lost consciousness, a figure emerged beside her. "Get that thing off of her!" Then a pause as her eyes drooped. "NOW!"
As the wolf was hauled off of her chest, she felt the breathe return to her lungs, a little too quickly.
"Slow down... Slow Red, you don't want to hurt yourself." Scarlett blinked her eyes a few times as her old friend came into her blurred vision, the older woman looked a little more roughed up but she was definitely still Snow White. Condescending sisterly tone and all. "Just breathe a little at a time."
As Scarlett felt her ability to breathe properly return, she sat up slowly and blinked the vision of three little men tossing the wolf off to one side of the forest into focus. "I'm not five Snow," Jutting her bottom lip out and pouting until Snow reached a hand down to her, Scarlett continued accusatorily.
"However, you might be!" Scarlett tried to glare as she was helped to her feet. "Going out to the castle to find your extremely attractive man, then not coming back to tell me how that went!" This time she succeeded at the glare as her voice was laced with worry. "I thought you could have been in trouble."
"But I wasn't." Snow White smirked as she took the liberty of dusting her friend off.
Scarlett threw up her hands in exasperation. "How was I supposed to know that? You could have been killed, or gotten lost in the woods, or been kidnapped by seven little men!" She stared pointedly.
"I'm too good at what I do to get killed, I get less lost in the woods than you do and their names are Grumpy, Doc, Happy, Sneezy, Sleepy, Bashful and Dopey. Their dwarves... not little men."
Scarlett looked over once again to make sure that they weren't listening before whispering to Snow cruelly. "I don't care about Meanie, Dentist, Cheerful, Sicky, Tired, Shy and Dumbpole!"
Snow just stared and tried not to laugh as she corrected her friend again, by now it had become less of the ex-princess trying to reassure her friend and more of Snow White just teasing the girl. "You might want to show more respect to Grumpy, Doc, Dopey and the others, they did just save your life Red."
"I was worried."
It was then that the older one moved back into her protective phase. "I'm sorry, Scar." The older woman pressed the younger against her chest and gave her a tight hug to ward off any worry that she endured.
"Snow, you know how guilty I feel when you call me that."
Pulling back from the girl she had come to call her sister over the years, she nodded and mumbled a soft spoken. "I forgot Red..." Her old nickname for the girl, it felt much better on the lips than the teenager's real name, it sounded much better to the ear too. It denoted a feeling of closeness between the two.
As the dwarves returned to the girls, Snow tightened her grip on Scarlett and moved closer to her. She could feel something was wrong from their unnatural expressions, though she had only been with them for a day or so, she had quickly picked up on the looks that they gave to each other.
"Snow, you're going to want to see this." Grumpy spoke before the other two had a chance to divulge.
Dopey who was the youngest and not the smartest of the bunch looked at Scarlett and motioned for her to come to. "You might want to look as we-" He was cut short by Grumpy with a sharp painful jab to the stomach from his elbow. Looking over at Snow who was clearly protective of the girl, Dopey understood.
Unfortunately, Scarlett had already heard him and been intrigued. "What's the matter..." She trailed off inquisitively as she glanced the way that they had come. Before Snow even had a chance to tell Scarlett to stay back, the girl had took off quickly for where they had left the presumably dead wolf.
Coming into the clearly, she skidded to a stop with a gasp. In place of where she was certain they had left the wolf that tried to attack her, was an unconscious naked young woman with a thick arrow protruding out of her chest.
"What... I don't understand." Scarlett babbled as Snow and the dwarves came up behind her, Snow's only reaction was a mirror to the younger girls. "She was a wolf a few minutes ago, you saw that!"
"Grumpy..." The dwarf moved closer. "What happened here, do you know?"
The three dwarves exchanged equal looks of confusion before Doc tried to answer the question, despite not knowing the exact answer. "We think it may be a shifter."
"A shifter?"
Doc nodded his head. "They are supposed to be a myth, but they are notorious for shifting their bodies into wolves and other violent creatures... They're killers and not safe to be around."
Before Doc could say another word Scarlett moved in towards the crumpled girl on the ground and kneeled down beside her. "Is she dead?" She asked softly, moving some hair out of the girls face.
"Not yet."
"But we can take care of that." Grumpy said as he slipped another arrow into his bow and aimed it on the girl once more, this time at her head. "You may want to move kid."
Scarlett looked up at Grumpy pulling back on his arrow and immediately found herself covering the girl up with her arms as a short scream pierced the air. "NO!" She kept her arms tightly wrapped around her previous attacker in a feeble attempt to keep her safe from the dwarf's arrows. "You can't kill her!"
Pushing her hand out to stop the bow from centering back on Scarlett and the seriously injured girl, Snow White stepped forward and kneeled down beside her closest friend. "She tried to kill you, Red..."
"How do we know it was on purpose?" The two girls exchanged looks. "Besides, she's helpless now."
The look that Snow White saw in Scarlett's eyes was the reason she backed out of telling her everything about how dangerous her decision was and how she couldn't let her take it. There was almost a look of pathetic need that washed through her friends eyes and she knew the young girl needed this.
"If things don't go right, what are you going to do?"
Scarlett turned her head back to the injured girl and pulled a stick off of the ground to shove it into the girl's mouth before answering. "Then I'll deal with it accordingly if it happens." She wrapped her fingers around the arrow's shaft tightly as she pulled back softly, the arrow not moving much with her force.
"Until then, I'm going to keep her safe." She timed herself quickly as she yanked back on the arrow and felt it come out with a jolt as a groan escaped the girl's lips. "It's my second chance, Snow."
"It won't fix what happened to your Father." Snow chastised softly as she leaned back down having ripped her sleeve off, using it to press down on the seeping wound, she looked back at her friend with a pitiful look. "But if it is what you want to do, who am I to say no."
Scarlett nodded as she took the cloth from the older girl and continued to press down. "It's what I need to do, if you had a chance to save someone from a snake bite... would you do it?" She tempted cruelly.
"That was unfair." The ebony-haired woman bit her lip in thought of protest but found that she couldn't answer anything but the answer that the hooded girl was seeking. "Yes, I would..."
Looking back at the three dwarves that were waiting for her, all with various disapproving faces mixed upon them, Snow stood back up slowly. "However, the rest is yours to do alone, I've helped you as much as I can. I may have been able to stop these three from harming her, that I think asking them to help you bring her to your Grandmother's cottage may be a bit much. I hope you understand."
Scarlett barely did more than wave her hand before Snow and the three dwarves headed off in the opposite direction, just after Snow pressed a brief kiss to her forehead. She knew it was for the best though, as her Grandmother would always say, and Scarlett had a feeling that she would be hearing quite a lot from the old woman after tonight... she had buttered her bread and now she had to lie in it.
"Don't worry, I'll keep you safe from whatever is inside you, I promise." She muttered softly as she brushed back the last and final strands of light blonde hair obstructing the view of her possible new friend. "Something as beautiful as you could not be as evil as that thing was."
Well, that was it. The end of the first cliffhanger and quite a bit late, which I do apologise for... I had a bit of trouble trying to write it and in the end I may have done horribly but it's out and I'm glad for that. I will try to get a bit more done since I have a few days of free time but I am through promising new chapters in shorter amounts of time as I always feel guilty after I cannot deliver.
I hope everyone returns to see part five of "Little Red Ruby Hood and the Big Bad Wolf."