Al Drin Hoshizora: Of course he will.
LilactheDryad: Sure.
I am a burglar: And what are you going to do with that cloak?
Snow White had watched helplessly from her window as the Queen and her men had left the kingdom for the Dark Forest, a feeling of dread building in the pit of her stomach. She could only imagine what the poor folk living in the forest would have to endure once the Queen found them.
The feeling of dread grew when she heard the sound of a doorknob twisting, and turned her head in its direction, wondering who it was. The door slowly creaked open, and the maid saw the form of Lord Bluebeard at the door.
"Hello, princess," Bluebeard greeted the scullery maid.
The Lord looked somewhat different, Snow White could see. His blue bear was more mangy, and his eyes were somewhat unfocused, with dark rings under it. From the looks of it, the man hadn't been sleeping for days. She had no idea why.
"Evening, Bluebeard," She said, trying to ignore the man's rather ragged appearance.
"The Queen has left me in charge while she is away," Bluebeard explained to the princess. "That means you must obey all of my orders until she returns. Understood?"
"Yes, sir," Snow White said dully. Secretly, her mind was still on Woody; she had no idea where he had gone after the prison escape, and she wondered if he was safe, and if he was, could she ever meet with him and make it up to him.
"I'm going to be sending my men out to find as many of the escaped prisoners as possible," Bluebeard mentioned, almost as if he was reading her mind. "The Queen will be most pleased to see her prisoners recaptured."
A knot of panic swelled in Snow White's chest. "Bluebeard, wouldn't it be best if they be left alone?" She asked, getting up from the bed and approaching the door. "They are merely children, after all. Haven't they been through enough?"
Bluebeard responded by roughly grabbing Snow White by the arm and shoving her back with enough force to nearly knock her over. The maid caught herself, surprised. Bluebeard had never been violent to her in the past.
"You are to remain in this room," Bluebeard said, his voice unusually steely. "Under no circumstances will you leave until I say so. Understood?"
Snow White didn't respond, too shocked to form words. The Lord seemed to take her silence as a yes, as he roughly slammed the door and locked it. The sound of his footsteps booming down the hallway echoed in the room.
Snow White groaned and slumped down onto the bed face-first. She felt so angry and helpless, trapped like a mouse in her tight surroundings. At least the escaped prisoners had an entire kingdom to move around in.
She, on the other hand, was a prisoner in the castle.
Bluebeard didn't waste any time carrying out the Queen's orders. His first command was to send his men out to scour the town to find any of the escaped children who may have returned to their parents.
It wasn't long before Bluebeard's men were scouring the streets of the kingdom in search of the escapees. Terrified townsfolk fled into their homes to avoid the men as they searched every alley and house.
"Open up on orders of the Queen!" The guards barked as they arrived at each house. When they received no answer, they would break the door down and forcefully enter the house. The houses residents were taken and dragged out into the open for questioning, their belongings taken away.
"We found one!" A guard shouted as they dragged a young girl kicking and screaming out into the open. The girl's mother rushed after them, a horrified look on her face.
"No, please don't take my child away!" She shouted, grabbing onto one of the guards and pulling on his arm. All she received was a strike to the face, knocking her roughly to the ground.
"Mama!" The girl cried out and reached for her, but the guards picked her up and carried her off to the castle. Nearby, another guard was doing the same to a young boy.
"Stop, that boy is not a prisoner!" A man shouted. "I've seen him on the streets before."
"Doesn't matter," The guard replied coldly. "The Queen wants as many children as possible in the dungeons when she returns. Best to stay out of our way."
Throughout the kingdom, the wailing of horrified parents and the terrified screams of children tore through the air, the sound deafening.
Things had turned very grim, indeed.
In the gingerbread house, the group could feel the intense horror resonating in the dark kingdom a distance away. They didn't know what exactly was happening, but they could feel in the core of their bones that the kingdom was suffering heavily.
The Baker gazed forlornly in the direction of the kingdom, whispering, "The people are under great turmoil; I can feel it. The Queen is the root of it all."
"But what can we do about it?" Woody asked, his eyes filled with hopelessness. "She's the most powerful people in the kingdom. Us? We're just fugitives, escaped prisoners. What can we do?"
Red stepped up. "I say we do what we were originally going to do," She suggested. "We kill the one causing this turmoil. The Queen doesn't know where we are; we at least have that advantage."
"And we know the locations of the castle," The Wolf pointed out in an attempt to restore some little hope into the small group. "We just need to form a plan to kill the Queen before-"
"I want to go home," A small voice whispered into the darkness. All heads turned to Goldilocks, who stood in the middle of the room. Her hair was a mess and there were rings under her eyes. The girl looked lost, terrified and helpless.
"I want to go home to my parents," Goldilocks whispered to the group, nearly choking on her words. "We escaped the castle; why not just go back to the forest."
The Wolf was about to say something, but he stopped himself. He realized that the girl didn't know about the Queen's plans for the Dark Forest.
"You can't," Was all he said.
Goldilocks' face fell. "Why not?" She asked, wringing her arms in irritation. "You know the directions, don't you? That's why you came here, right?"
The Wolf paused for a moment. "Well. . ." He stopped, unsure of what to say.
"Just let her go," Hansel said from the other side of the room. He and Gretel were seated at a table, their heads resting on the table, their hands clasped together tightly. They almost looked like reflections of one another in the dim lighting.
"The girl's been through enough already," Hansel pointed out. "Just let her leave. Don't drag her into this whole debacle."
Red stared at Hansel and Gretel. For a moment, she considered it. She truly did want to release Goldilocks from their complicated plotting. She was the youngest and most innocent of them all; it didn't feel right to subject her to such turmoil at such a young age and have her innocence stripped from her, like Red herself had gone through when her grandmother died. However, she knew that leaving Goldilocks on her own with no protection would put her in even graver danger.
"No," She said firmly, walking over the Goldilocks and resting a hand on her shoulder. "We're all in this together. If we go off on our own, we're just letting ourselves get captured by the Queen. We have to stick together and figure out a way to rid the kingdom, and our home, from this danger."
This seemed to put the group, including Goldilocks, at ease. Red turned to the adults and said, "Alright, one of you will keep guard every two hours or so in case anybody passes by. The rest of us need some food and rest."
The Wolf stood up, saying, "I'll stand guard." He then walked to the exit of the house to wait by the door.
Red turned to the baker and asked, "You think you could use some of those candies on the house to make something for us to eat?"
The baker grinned. "You bet," He said, and went off to do just that. Red let out a relieved sigh, and she retired to her room to rest.
The moment she was gone, Goldilocks slowly approached Hansel and Gretel as they rested on the table. Lightly tapping Hansel on the shoulder, she whispered, "Um, Hansel?"
"What is it?" Hansel asked, his voice carrying a hint of annoyance.
"Um, when this is all over, could I possibly live with you and Gretel in your house?" Goldilocks asked.
The siblings sat up, confused. "What?" Hansel asked. "Didn't you just say you had parents? Why do you want to go live with us?
"I dunno," Goldilocks said, shrugging.
"No," Hansel said bluntly. "If this ends with all of us alive, you're going right back where you came from. We don't need another mouth to feed in our household."
Goldilocks flinched. "But you said you counted on me," She said.
"That doesn't make us friends, or family for that matter," Hansel retorted. "It was just so the three of us could get out of that smelly dungeon. Now we just have to keep ourselves out of that dungeon."
"But-"
"Shut up and let us rest," Hansel interrupted harshly, and dropped his head back on the table.
"Hansel," Gretel said, folding her arms. Hansel groaned in response, and Gretel shook her head before leaving to go sleep in her bed.
Goldilocks stood at the table, staring down at Hansel's half-sleeping form. She bit her lip, wanting to say something, but at the same time, not wanting to anger the boy further. Reluctantly, she turned and left to go rest, trying to keep the tears from welling in her eyes.
The Queen and her men had reached the Dark Forest much faster than it had taken Lycan, Red and Woody to travel to Grimm. Unlike the trio, the Queen and her men had no need to rest.
Eventually, they arrived in the forest. As they men, numbering in over a hundred, walked down the long road through the forest, the Queen looked around the Dark Forest, taking the time to admire it. The forest reminded her of when she was only a lass, living a commoner's life in the woods. She couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia from the sight.
It wasn't long before the army had reached a village in the Dark Forest. The villagers had noticed the large army heading their way, and had gathered together to meet them, confused. Why had soldiers from Grimm arrived in their village.
"Who are you?" One little boy asked, walking up to the Queen before being held back by his mother.
The Queen stroked her chin as she stared upon the crowd, a smirk appearing on her lips. In particular, there were a lot of children in the village as well. She truly did thank Red and Lycan for coming to her kingdom; even if Bluebeard failed to gather all the escaped children, she would have more than enough when she returned.
"Good evening, my good folk," She greeted the villagers. "I am Queen Rosina of Grimm."
"Why have you come?" One man asked.
"To extend an offer of friendship to you all," The Queen claimed, extending a hand forward, a charismatic grin on her face. "A wolf and a girl with a red cloak directed me to you all. Accept me as your queen, and I promise you'll benefit gratefully."
She was lying, of course. But what ruler wouldn't want to extend their influence whenever possible.
"A girl with a red cloak?" One woman asked. "Little Red Riding Hood?"
"And the wolf?" Another man asked. "What were they doing together?"
So these villagers know these two, The Queen thought to herself. It appeared the stories were true.
"What has become of Little Red?" The same woman questioned. "Where is she?"
"That is of no concern," The Queen replied, her voice steely. Her cold answer piqued the villagers.
"What have you done to that girl?" Another man asked, his voice brazen. "Show her to us, now!" A few men began to
The Queen could see the villagers begin to be riled up in anger. Clearly, they wouldn't accept her as ruler willingly now.
So, she would merely force them to.
Aiming a finger at the crowd, the Queen's finger sparkled with electricity. The villagers screamed in terror and ran out of the way as the Queen fired a bolt of lightning in their direction. The lightning blast struck a nearby house, setting it ablaze within seconds.
The villagers watched the house burn down, horrified by the Queen's show of power.
"Listen, you fools," The Queen sneered. "I am your Queen now, and you will not challenge me again. If you do, the consequences will be most dear."
The villagers didn't say a word, much too frightened of the Queen to speak out.
The Queen turned to the Huntsman. "Search this forest," She commanded to her army. "Find everyone who knows Red and the Wolf. From this day forward, the Dark Forest belong to me!"
When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend.