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"What do we do now," Red asked.
"I was thinking we escape the kingdom, or at least stray far enough away from the Queen, and then we can just…find a life somewhere," Snow said. Red nodded and rubbed her hands together. The air was growing chillier, even for a wolf.
Snow caught sight of her shivering form from behind her and grabbed her arms, wrapping them around her own waist, rubbing small circles on her hands.
"Better?" she asked.
"Yes," Red spoke through chattering teeth. Her feet were numb and she was beginning to slump against Snow on their horse.
"How about we make camp here," Snow suggested. They were riding along a road somewhere near the edge of the kingdom, but Snow deduced it was near King Ralf's Kingdom, judging by the colder weather and light dustings of snow here and there. Red normally didn't mind the cold, but she felt weird. Snow just told her she was crazy and leant her head against Red's shoulder. She loved it when she did it.
"Yes please," Red said in admittance. Snow grinned and dropped her pack to the ground, jumping off after it, and finally grabbing Red's hands and pulling her down.
"Good girl, Dreamy," Snow cooed to the coal-black horse.
"You're naming her now?"
"Yeah. Why not? I like Dreamy."
"Because what happens when you get too attached and something happens?"
"It'll be fine. I won't get attached to her." She bent down and rummaged in her pack, until she smiled to herself and pulled out a bushel of carrots.
"You did great today." She set down the carrots in front of the horse and grabbed her pack, leading Red to their campsite for the night.
"Can you make a fire please, while I set up the tent," Snow asked. Red went into the forest and pulled down dead branches from trees. Snow usually used the axe to get logs from full trees, but Red foraged for dry branches on trees, away from the snowy ground.
She swept away a bit of snow before stacking them into a teepee before brushing off snow for a pair of rocks.
"Snow," she called,"I need your magic fingers." Snow rolled her eyes and knelt down beside Red, who was offering her the rocks, while struggling to hold the wood together.
"You try first," she instructed.
"You already know I can't do it."
"Yes you can, you just need practice. Just try it, please?" Snow drew out her bottom lip and widened her eyes, while tilting her head back.
"Your wolf cub face always work," Red caved. Snow giggled and handed her the rocks.
"Wolf cub?"
"Yeah, because you're already a wolf. This is just being a wolf cub, manifesting your human form."
"Really," Snow said dramatically,"then when I'm a wolf, if I make a regular face, would I be making a human face?"
"Shut up and help me." Snow laughed out and wound her arms around Red's waist, guiding her arms over the wood.
"You strike the rock from an angle, like this. Now, scratch them together, and the friction will create heat, setting off sparks to catch on the fire."
"I could've done without the science lesson," Red shot back while striking the stones.
"Well maybe I was teaching Dreamy."
"Dreamy didn't need that science lesson either."
"Red, look." Red turned her head back down where Snow's gaze sat, and where her dry pieces of wood were sitting, they were now set ablaze, slightly burning her hands. "You did it."
"I did it," Red repeated to herself in a steady mantra. "I did it!" She laughed and picked Snow up, spinning her around against her own chest. She peppered her face with kisses, sprinkling them from her nose to her eyelids, jawline, cheeks, temples, and finally to her red lips.
"Now, can we start supper? I'm famished."
"Of course, Chef Snow. What's on the menu tonight?"
"Rabbit and cornbread."
"Cornbread? Where'd we get cornbread?"
"I made it when you were hunting last night. It took a long time, though."
"Out here? Without ovens? Or bowls or anything?"
"I just got stuff from-"
"You're kind of a genius, you know."
"I am," Snow asked hopefully.
"You are," Red confirmed, pecking her on the lips once more. "Now would you mind if I went sightseeing for a bit?"
"Don't mind at all. I'll call you when it's ready."
"Perfect, thank you." Red jumped up and ran through the bare trees, staring up at the quarter moon, gently growing darker with the passing days. Even if it wasn't a full moon, she still wanted to turn; it was always more fun than exploring in human form.
Her feet began sliding under her, claws digging into a patch of ice and limbs wobbling before she fell on her stomach, sliding around in a circle before stopping. She dropped her head to the ground in defeat, but the surface felt different, hollow.
She looked below her to see a reflection of a dark-haired wolf, a reflection she's slowly gotten used to since she escaped with Snow. That part didn't matter right now, as she was laying on her stomach across a frozen lake.
She howled in delight before forcing her legs back under her and into a sprint. She was back at camp in a flash, nudging Snow up from in front of the fire.
"Red, what's going on," she asked, before transforming into a wolf herself and running ahead of Red.
I found something, she told the confused wolf ahead of her.
Good or bad?
Very good. Red stopped in front of the ice, sitting on her hind legs and looking out across the lake.
Wanna go skating, Red asked coyly, stepping out onto the ice.
I don't have any skates.
We don't need them. To prove her point, Red raised a paw and wiggles her toes back and forth. Claws. Snow's face was slowly glowing brighter and brighter, until she couldn't contain her excitement any longer.
She pulled Red onto the ice and pushed herself around the length of it, turning backwards to make sure Red was following. She couldn't see her.
She turned her head back around and was met by a wolf in front of her, who licked her nose before skating off backwards. Snow chased around after her, pushing her legs as fast as they could go. She missed a turn and slid right off the ice and into a bush. Red was laughing when she climbed back out, waiting for her on the lake.
Red pulled twigs and leaves out of her fur with her mouth, before skating back around.
They were out skating for hours, food long abandoned in favour of playing on the frozen ice. They met up in middle of the lake, limbs barely holding them up as Snow leant herself against Red. After a while, they changed back.
"That was so fun, thank you," Snow murmured against Red's skin, just below her ear. Red shivered, but she wasn't cold. She didn't trust her voice to answer back, she just nodded and held her tighter.
"Let's go back to camp, I'm hungry." Red helped her up and led her back to the tent, where the fire was just a pile of dying embers and their food in a frozen heap beside it.
"I'll grab more wood," Red said.
"Don't bother. We can eat and go to bed." Red nodded and watched Snow wrap her brown cloak around her body. At this point, it smelled sweet like Snow, but woodsy like Red. Snow loved smelling it when she was drifting off to sleep.
They brought their food into the tent and wolfed it down before sinking down into the sheets. Red felt a set of hands wrap around her and a nose breathing over her neck. She backed up further.
"Goodnight, Red."
"'Night Snow."
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She was running. Where she was going, even a tracker as good as Snow wouldn't know. She only knew one thing. 'They'll catch you.' She was starting to see who they are.
Hordes of knights were thundering behind her on horseback, hooves digging into the dirt. At the front of the pack, the carriage she was all too familiar with. The Queen's was standing up and out her window, staring at Snow. The door opened and Red was being held by the hood of her cloak over the ground. They were getting closer now.
A shrill voice sounded from somewhere. She realized it was hers when she felt her throat dry up.
"Give up now," the Queen called. She looked back quick enough to see Red's head dangling like the tendril of a vine. She heard a final scream before she was shaken awake.
"Snow," her favourite voice whispered from somewhere in the dark tent. "You had a dream." Snow swept away a strand of hair from her swearing forehead before her eyes took in the black surroundings. Red was holding her cheeks, brushing a thumb over her jawline. She heard a sob from her own choked throat before a Red was kissing her delicately, switching between lips and the tears flowing freely down Snow's ivory cheeks.
"Here, Granny used to do this," Red said, before she struck a match and lit a lantern. "Why didn't you tell me we had matches, I wouldn't have taken so much time starting that fire tonight.
"Because I wanted you to do it yourself," Snow informed like it was an easy answer. Red could clearly see the streaks her tears left over her face, glimmering against the salty tracks.
"Whenever I had a bad dream, Granny lit a candle to chase off the bad dreams. I can put it out whenever your dream is gone." Snow smiled and leant over to Red over the expanse of the thick blankets, before pressing her lips to Red's.
Snow's kiss was insistent but warm, soft but firm. It took the wind out of her lungs every time.
"Thank you," Snow whispered, before kissing her once more. Red grinned before opening her mouth to her. Snow had Red wrapped around her agile fingers like a spring, but Red was more than willing to let her have everything; have her. She also had Snow wrapped around her; the two most stubborn people were ready to risk everything for each other in a matter of seconds.
