Disclaimer: I own none of the characters as that honor and right goes to ABC, Adam and Eddie.

Note: Enjoy the story and let me know if you want me to continue by leaving a review. I am all caught up with what I had written prior to starting to post this story. If you want me to continue please leave a review and I will try and get the next chapter ready to go up tomorrow or at least by this weekend.

WARNING: There is a somewhat graphic bloody scene in the middle of this chapter concerning Red and James. I debated just telling the aftermath of the moment, but felt this scene was important to express the dire situation Red and James were facing and what each was willing to sacrifice for someone they love. Reader discretion advised.

CHAPTE R 10: CRY OF THE RED WOLF

David instinctually secured his sword to him and it felt oddly right to have that on his hip.

"Now that Regina is onto me and David just landed on her target list we need to reformulate our plan," August stated.

"Then you two need to head into the mountains with the girls and Henry," Jefferson stated.

"What about you," David wondered.

"I'm staying," Jefferson declared. "I want to have a front row seat when Regina's reign ends. With magic returning some others must surely be starting to feel its pull, so I'll go into town and see who I can get on our side. Right now I think you can both best serve the cause by reuniting with the girls and working on a strike plan. When you return I hope to have enough of a resistance to make the battle swift."

"You're surprisingly lucid for the Mad Hatter," August commented.

"A man's will to save his child is a very powerful healing tool. Now go, reunite David with his daughter, and come back ready to kick Regina's ass."

James entered the prison cell where they had secured Red with the strongest chains in all the kingdoms, to limit the risk of the wolf escaping. His heart sunk when he saw her knowing what he was about to have to do.

"I'm sorry," James spoke with the weight of the situation evident in his voice.

"It's okay," Red reassured him. "We both have to do what is necessary to save Snow and the baby."

"How can you be so calm about this," James wondered.

"Because I trust you and because I know this is what I have to do for someone I love dearly."

James saw the light of the moon shining in through the bars of the cell. Grumpy entered behind him with a goblet of water mixed with liquid silver. James took it from Grumpy and pointed back towards the door.

"Thank you, now leave."

"You need someone to have your back," Grumpy argued.

"No, what I need is for you to go and be with Granny and the others while I do this. The only one who will come out of this with blood on his hands will be me. Now go," James ordered.

Grumpy reluctantly left and secured the door behind him locking James in with Red.

"Last chance to back out," James warned Red.

"It's not even an option," Red replied. "Let's do this."

James took a deep cleansing breath and carefully removed Red's cloak.

"Watch for the change. You have to poison my wolf at just the right moment," Red warned.

James watched Red's eyes for the moment the wolf began to emerge. Once he saw her eyes change he held the goblet to her lips and she swallowed the silver laced water. It wouldn't kill her wolf, but it would poison it enough to subdue her long enough for James to do what he had to do.

Once the silver hit Red's lips her wolf exploded out and James jumped back. The wolf fought against the bonds nearly snapping them out of the wall. Once the silver did its work Red's wolf legs sprawled out from under her and the wolf was on the ground whimpering in pain. It broke James' heart to see any creature in such pain and he knew he was only about to make it much worse.

James pulled his sword and sat on the ground beside Red. Like this the wolf was such a docile creature that it made the whole situation so much worse to do this.

James took the goblet and held it against the poisoned animal as he sliced a gash along her stomach. When Red's wolf howled out in primal pain tears rained down from James' eyes. He held to his promise to do this and collected her blood in the gullet. Compared to the next task this was nothing. He moved to the creatures head and lifted the head to rest on his leg. He traded his sword for a dagger and before doing anything he rubbed his hand over her head.

"Gods forgive me."

James pressed down hard on Red's head to keep the wolf from moving and further scarring both Red and her wolf. He took his dagger to her right eye and gouged out the eye. The only thing that gave him any peace was that Granny promised him the eye would regenerate upon the next transformation. The primal howl of pain turned into a scream that broke James' heart and turned his stomach. With the pain to much the wolf retreated back within Red without the aid of the cape. It wasn't something he'd expected to happen and now he had a bleeding and trembling Red in his arms.

"Oh gods," James cried out when Red appeared before him. He covered her with her cape to keep the wolf from reemerging and ripped his own cape off to use to stop the bleeding wound that he'd inflicted on her. Her breathing was very rapid as the shock and pain of the wolf consumed Red. While Red's human eye was intact it was blood red and blood oozed out of her tear ducts and down her face as her human body was left to deal with the echo of the wounds the wolf could not handle. With the silver still coursing through her blood her body was having trouble dealing with the injuries and James couldn't slow the bleeding.

"James…" Red coughed and blood splattered out of her mouth.

"Oh gods, Red. I'm right here, you're going to be okay," James promised her.

He quickly undid the chains and picked her up in his arms. He kicked at door to get the others attention.

"Open the door," James ordered frantically. He knew he had to get Red to Doc who was on standby to treat her.

The door opened and James took off running with Red in his arms as he raced to get her to the medical care she needed.

Red lifted her shirt just enough to reveal a scar along her side. Mary Margaret traced her finger along the scar and her breath caught in her chest.

"You did this for me," Mary Margaret questioned after Red explained how they had once defeated the curse.

Red slid her shirt back down and smiled at Mary Margaret. "And I'd do it all over again. You have been there for me from the moment we met, so it was the least I could do. Besides, saving you meant saving Emma and giving everyone a reason to hope again and for that I would have given my life because hope is such a powerful thing to have."

"I can see why we were friends," Mary Margaret replied with a smile on her face. "You are a good person Red."

"No, I'm not," Red replied honestly. "I have shed a lot of blood in my life and no amount of good deeds will ever clear that blood from my hands."

Mary Margaret reached out and put her hand over Red's. "You are a good person, Red, and Snow was lucky to have you in her life and August is a lucky man to be able to call you his mom."

"Yes I am," August spoke up from behind them as he entered the room.

Red got to her feet and came face to face with the son she had last seen as a toddler. Tears came to her eyes as she was overwhelmed to be with him again after so long.

"Hi mom."

"Mom," Emma spoke, mostly to herself, as she stood at the river keeping lookout while Snow fill their water skin.

Snow turned around and smiled at Emma. "I like how that sounds."

Emma cradled her injured arm and kicked at the gravel as she tried to process the emotions coursing through her. "Guess I just wanted to see what it was like to call someone that."

"I'm so sorry for the life you had," Snow replied sadly. "Had you grown up in the world you belonged in you would have known so much love. I also suspect you would have been a very big daddy's girl. You have no idea how much you are like him."

"Really? I just can't imagine David and I being that close."

"Are you kidding me? James was excited at the idea of having a son, but then he found out he was going to have a daughter and I honestly think just the idea of you melted his heart. Your father would have spoiled you rotten. In my time you aren't even born yet and he's already so proud to be your father. Don't doubt his love for you, not even for a moment."

Snow's words brought tears to Emma's eyes. "I swear I will kill Regina for all she has taken from me…from our family."

"She wasn't always evil," Snow admitted as the two women began to walk again. They knew staying in one place too long wasn't a good idea with the dark knights tracking them. "When I was a child she was someone I looked up to. In fact I would dare say she was like a big sister to me which made my betrayal all that harder for her to accept. I fear it was my actions that turned her heart dark."

"You? What could you have possibly done to her?"

"I cost her true love," Snow admitted sadly. "You never truly realize how powerful love us until you see what the lack of it can do to someone. It can turn the kindest of souls into the darkest most evil beings."

"A person as evil as Regina could have never been a good person," Emma stated. "If I had known Henry would end up with someone like her I would have fought harder to keep him."

"What matters is that young Henry is a lot like his grandfather and he found his family. Nothing is more important than family."

"I used to not believe that until I met you…well Mary Margaret."

"What I'm having trouble believing is the man you are describing as being your father. It sounds like the curse has stripped him of all the things that make him the amazing man I fell in love with."

"Then I guess I have to figure out how the hell to break the curse so I can meet the man you have described. I think I'd be willing to call that man my father, because David isn't exactly father of the year material."

"Don't give up on him yet. If you've started to get through to me in your world then your father must surely be fighting to get back to you too."

"Fighting for you maybe, but he and I don't really have much interaction unless you count me telling him to leave you alone."

"Truly your father's daughter," Snow laughed.

The moment was short lived as an arrow flew between them and impaled a tree.

"They found us! Make a run for the tree line," Snow ordered her daughter.

The two women took off running trying to make it into the thicker areas of the forest where they could lose the knights.

James walked up to Red's room and as he was about to enter he paused. Out of respect James removed his sword and dagger and left them out in the hall when he entered the room. Granny was at Red's side with the Blue Fairy and Doc watching over her. When James entered he kept his distance as guilt consumed him over what he had done.

"Don't just stand there gawking," Granny scolded.

James cautiously approached the bed.

"She's healing well," Doc informed him.

"She will be like new by morning," Granny promised.

James sat on the bed without speaking a word. Red opened her eyes and the two simply stared at each other and let the pain in their eyes speak to what they had been through together.

"Come Doc, we must check on the potion." The Blue Fairy fluttered her wings and she and Doc left.

Granny also made her exit to give her granddaughter and James a moment alone.

Red looked at James with her blood colored right eye still showing the echo of what he'd taken from her wolf.

"I'm sorry," James finally spoke.

Red reached her hand out and found his. "Stop doing that, you have no reason to apologize," Red replied weakly.

Red stood in shock as she laid eyes on her son again. Mary Margaret stood and placed a hand on Red's back.

"You've more than earned this moment. Go to him," Mary Margaret told her friend and gave her a gentle push towards her son.

"August…" Red spoke his name as if it was the most sacred name she knew. She walked up to him and cautiously placed her hand on the side of his face. "My little boy…I'm so sorry…" raw emotion consumed Red and words were lost to her as tears trickled down her face.

August placed a finger over her lips. "Shhh…don't apologize…"

He wrapped his arms around his mother and pulled her in for a long overdue hug. The little boy in him had long sought the chance to find and save his mother. Little did she know the little boy she'd sent away twenty-eight years ago had returned not to just find her, but to make other things in his life right too. Before the joy of the moment could fully sink in and he could find a moment to tell his mom all that had happened to him over the years Henry came running in the room with his book open and a shocked look on his face. David entered the room right behind Henry and he and Mary Margaret shared a momentary look of longing before they each focused on the clearly panicked boy before them.

"It's him," Henry declared while shaking his hand at August with a clearly shocked look on his young face.