Chase Redford was a big fan of his head. He liked it. It had a good shape, and a full head of hair. People had often called his face attractive, and that was a part of his head. Chase's favorite thing about his head was the fact that it was attached to the rest of his body...at least, for now.

It was stupid, really it was, but Chase couldn't stop thinking of the white knight, or, as everyone else had called her, Darling Charming. He was surprised, to say the least. Chase didn't know any princesses that enjoyed swordsmanship. He had simply assumed, like every other member of the male gender, that princesses liked girly things.

Chase knew Lizzie Hearts(at least, he'd heard of her from Courtly Jester), and he knew that Lizzie liked girly things such as croquet and beheading things. Raven Queen, Lizzie's friend, had also liked girly things, despite her protests. It had been obvious to Chase the moment that he'd seen them that Apple White and Briar Beauty were princesses in every aspect of the word.

Then along came Darling Charming. When Chase first met her, he hadn't even known that she was a girl. To him, the white knight had simply been a great fighter(and a half-way decent dancer as well). He'd decided, when he was fighting the knight, that he wanted to be the friend of this skilled swordsman. When it was revealed that the white knight was a girl, Chase simply couldn't believe it. Darling Charming was like something out of a dream, and that dream was what got Chase in trouble.

He didn't exactly know how it had happened, but somewhere in the middle of daydreaming about Darling Charming and her glorious hair, Chase took a wrong turn on the way home. Instead of realizing it and turning around, he had continued on. He had walked and walked until he finally realized that he was lost. Being the sensible young knight that he was, Chase decided to ask for directions. He had asked a rather reasonable looking man with a white beard. What he hadn't counted on was for the man to be a white pawn for the white queen, the sworn enemy of the Reds. Nor has Chase expected the pawn's friends to be only a shout away.

Which was how Chase found himself bound and gagged and tied to a tree, while the pawn and his two friends, a rook and a bishop, planned to permanently separate his head from his body.

"We should do it quickly," said the bishop, "before someone finds out what we're doing."

"And what do you think they'd do if they did?" asked the pawn in a nasally voice, "He's a Red and he's in our part of the woods. No one would be able to stop us."

"But he's the Queen's son," the bishop said.

"Then we'll be sending those bastards a message by dropping off his head in a box," the pawn said. His friends laughed, making Chase very uncomfortable. As previously stated, he was extremely fond of his head.

"Let's get on with it then," the rook said, "We haven't got all day."

The three advanced towards Chase. He tried to move, but he couldn't. The ropes were too tight. He couldn't speak either. There was nothing that Chase could do. He watched as the rook drew his sword and lifted it. Chase cursed his stupidity and his daydreams. If he had been paying more attention, he never would have gotten himself in to this situation, and now he was going to die. He closed his eyes shut as the rook swung his sword, praying that death would come quickly, but it never did.

"What do you three think you are doing?" a voice that was familiar spoke. Chase opened his eyes to find the rook's sword right in front of his face, blocked by another sword. His eyes scanned the weapon until they found it's owner. If Chase hadn't been gagged, he would've breathed a sigh of relief.

"What do we think we're doing?" the rook asked, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Yeah," the pawn pitched in, "His kind deserve to die. You'll have to fight us if you think otherwise."

Chase could hear the smile on Darling's lips as she spoke, "I thought you'd never ask," she said.

It didn't take her more than five seconds to disarm the three white players. It took her another five to knock them unconscious. Chase watched as she did so, with a grace that he'd never seen before. He didn't know how she did it, but Darling Charming made fighting look as pretty as ballroom dancing.

When all three of them were tied together, Darling removed her helmet and knelt down next to Chase. Her hair fell down her back in ringlets, framing her face perfectly. With one swift cut, she freed Chase from his bonds. Chase pulled the gag off.

"Thanks," he said.

Darling smiled and it made Chase's insides melt. "Think nothing of it," she said, "You're lucky that I was in the neighborhood."

Chase nodded and picked up his sword from where the white players had been keeping it. He turned back to Darling to find her looking at him. "Is there something you need?"

"How'd you get yourself in that mess in the first place?" Darling asked, "It's not like you to get distracted."

Chase felt a blush creep up his cheeks. "I just...my mind was elsewhere. I wasn't paying attention."

"That much is obvious," Darling said, gesturing around them.

Chase laughed nervously. "Thank you again. I would've lost my head if you hadn't shown up."

Darling smiled. "We just couldn't have that, how could we? Imagine what your fans would say."

"What fans?" Chase asked.

"Your fans at Ever After High. You'll find that, since we all came to Wonderland, a lot of girls have been talking about you. I even think they started a fan club."

"A fan club?"

"Yeah."

"Who's in this fan club?"

Darling shrugged. "Like I would know," she said, "the point is that you have one. It shouldn't be much longer before you start receiving marriage proposals."

"Do you get marriage proposals?" Chase asked, curious as to how many admirers she had at Ever After.

"Do I?" Darling laughed, but didn't answer the question, choosing to change the subject instead. "Do you want me to walk you home?"

"I think I can handle it on my own," Chase said.

Darling raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to walk you home anyways," she said, "After all, a good knight always walks the damsel home."

"I'm not a damsel," Chase said.

"You so are."

"I am not!"

"I found you tied to a tree," Darling pointed out.

"I was temporarily occupied!"

"They were about to kill you."

"I would've taken care of that!" Chase protested.

"You would've been dead two times over without me," Darling said.

"Fine." Chase admitted. It was true. After all, Darling had saved his bacon. She was a good fighter, so he'd let her walk him home. Not because he was a damsel, simply because she was a good fighter, and he could appreciate that.

Darling Charming may have been a knight in shining armor, but Chase Redford was not a damsel in distress. Not in a million years.