Timothy
Snow White
Snow White's whole body ached. "Where am I," she wondered as she blinked open her eyes and squinted against the sunlight. Someone's arm was wrapped around her. It was Emma. That was strange, but even stranger was she didn't remember falling asleep in the place she now found herself.
"Emma?"
No response.
"Emma," Snow White said louder this time, suddenly worried that something might be wrong.
"She all right," a high pitched voice said. "She's just sleeping off the effects of using magic."
Snow sat up and searched for whomever or whatever was speaking to her.
"Down here."
Looking down, Snow White saw that it was a mouse.
"Hello," she said.
"Hello, Your Majesty."
"Who are you?" Snow asked.
The mouse bowed and said, "My name is, Timothy, Your Majesty. I was sent by Rupert the Rabbit to follow you and see if you are successful with your mission, and then I am to report to Her Royal Magnificent Majesty and one true Queen of Wonderland, the White Queen."
"That's quite a mouthful," Snow White said with a smile.
"A mouthful of what, Your Majesty?"
"Never mind. So, you were following us, but then what happened? How did I get here?"
"Your daughter carried you," the mouse said.
"Carried me?" Snow repeated. "Why did she carry me?"
"She didn't want you to die in the fire she started with her magic."
Snow surveyed her surroundings more carefully and noticed scorch marks on some of the mushrooms. How had she slept through that?
Emma groaned and then coughed.
"Emma, are you okay?"
Emma slowly opened her eyes. "Yeah, are you okay?"
"I think so. Timothy said that you pulled me out of a forest fire."
"Who's Timothy?"
"Me," the mouse squeaked.
"Oh, it's you," Emma said, by this point talking mice weren't all that strange to her. After all, what was a talking mouse compared to an insane, sometimes bodiless, other times headless cat. "I'm glad to see you got out of there alive too."
"So...you started the fire with magic?" Snow asked her.
"Yep, I guess I went a little overboard, but everyone is alive. No harm done."
"I guess that's one way to build a fire," Snow mumbled. "You know, I could teach you how to do that without having to use magic...or create forest fires."
"Build a fire?" Emma asked and then shot the mouse a look. "You told her that I started a forest fire, but you didn't tell her the part where she was almost plant food?"
The mouse shrugged his little shoulders and said, "It wasn't relevant to the current conversation."
Emma rolled her eyes.
"What's this about plant food?" she asked Emma.
Emma told Snow White the whole story starting from when Timothy woke her up in the forest the night before.
"That would explain why I have all these bruises," Snow White said. "Thank you, Emma, for saving my life."
"It was the honorable thing to do," Emma said flippantly.
Snow looked at her shocked and asked, "What did you say?"
"It was just a joke," she said defensively. "Apparently, it wasn't a very funny one."
"No," Snow said, about to explain but then decided it would take too long. "Never mind. Do you think you can walk? Personally, I don't want to stay in this forest much longer."
"Agreed," Emma said, taking the hand Snow offered to pull her up.
"Emma! What happened?"
Emma looked down at where the vine had cut her the night before. It had turned an odd shade of purple. "Gross," she said and then touched her arm gently. "It doesn't hurt, though," she told Snow; "so that's good news."
"You're going to die," Timothy said gravely.
Both women looked at the mouse in surprise.
"I hope you're speaking figuratively," Emma said.
The mouse shook his head.
"What do you mean?" Snow asked the mouse.
"Does nothing die where you come from?" the mouse asked in a confused tone.
"Of course, things die," Emma said, "and so do people. The question is why do you think I'm going to die in the near enough future for you to make that statement?"
"Ah," the mouse said once Emma had clarified. "Your arm has been infected with a venom that kills its victims within a few days of contact."
Emma's mouth dropped. "Are you sure?" she asked.
The mouse nodded.
"There has to be a way to fix this," Snow White said. "Wonderland is run by magic. Can't magic cure her?"
The mouse shook his head sadly.
"I'm not just going to sit back and watch her die."
"Thanks," Emma said attempting to be humorous. No one laughed. "Okay, also not funny."
"There might be a way," Timothy told Snow.
"What?" she asked him.
"If there is a way, then Hezekiah will know of it. You should speak with him."
"Where is Hezekiah?" Snow White asked.
"He lives at the top of the highest mountain in Wonderland."
"Of course he does," Emma said dryly. "I'm assuming he doesn't have a cell phone."
The mouse looked confused. "I - "
"Don't answer that," Snow told Timothy and then asked, "Can you lead us to him? "When the mouse nodded, Snow picked him up and placed him on her shoulder.
"What is it with you and animals?" Emma asked Snow White.
Snow White looked at Emma with a puzzled expression. "What is that supposed to mean?" she wondered.
"Never mind," Emma told her, and they began their long journey to the mountain.