Red rested her head against the side of the carriage, eyes closed though she was not asleep. Mother had ordered that the royal court move to the Summer Palace, and though the preparing for the move had taken more than a week of exhausting effort, Red couldn't rest. A maid named Jun Li had come to her the morning after the ball and told that Snow came to see her, news that made Red want to weep.
She didn't want her sister risking her life just to see her; she wasn't worth it. Snow should have left the kingdom and started a new life somewhere far away, finally free of their mother.
A violent jolt startled everyone in the carriage and Mother cursed. When the carriage abruptly stopped, Mother got out and began yelling at the coachman while Red closed her eyes again and waited.
Mother stepped back inside and roughly shook her, "The wagon hit a rock and one of the wheels broke. The coachman is sending for a wheelwright, but it'll be morning before one arrives, so we're stuck here until them."
"Can't you just use magic to fix it?" Red asked. Until her mother and sister, Red didn't inherit the ability to create her own magic, so she paid attention to lessons of the finer details of magic.
Mother glared and hit her on the side of her head, "Do you think we'd still be here if I could? Use your head for once."
"Why not? It's light magic, isn't it." Red pushed.
"I don't want to hear another word out of you," Mother hissed, then looked away from her.
Red frowned. Now that the subject had come up, she couldn't remember her mother using magic in years, not since Father died. Red had little doubt that Mother killed him, even before Jun Li confirmed it to her, and she wondered if that had anything to do with her mother's lack of magic.
While Mother tapped her long, red-painted fingernails against the carriage windowsill, Red put on a white fur cloak, place her boots back on, and opened the carriage door, grinning as the cold wind tangled her hair and carried snowflakes fluttering inside. Outside the full moon lay behind a thin patch of clouds with a certain endearing shyness.
"Where are you going?" Mother demanded.
Red shrugged, "Just stretching my legs; we've been in that carriage for hours."
Mother turned away again "Just don't go too far and take Jun Li with you," she droned.
Outside, Red wandered the makeshift camp as like any ordinary, curious child would. Being only fourteen, Red served more as a crown for her mother than a queen in her own right, and though everyone treated her the respect a queen was owed, no one took her seriously as a monarch. That was fine by her; she had never felt like a real queen anyway.
Jun Li followed her like a shadow with the torch, making small talk and occasionally catching her when she slipped on the slippery, icy ground. Red wondered about Jun Li; she knew she had come from another realm, was loyal to her sister, and had no family to speak of, but nothing else. When Red tried to talk to Jun Li about her past, Jun Li would smile sadly and say it was a story for another time - a time that never seemed to come, apparently.
As Red strolled beyond the view of the others, Jun Li took her hand and said, "Queen Regina told you know to wander too far away."
"I'm so glad to know she cares," Red rolled her eyes. "I want to be alone a minute, Jun Li. Please."
Jun Li frowned, but replied, "I'll be here."
Red thanked her. After she had gone a little further into the forest - still close enough for Jun Li to hear her - Red took a took breath, watched the misty cloud form and let the tears run from her eyes. She didn't often get the privilege of being alone (not with her mother keeping spies everywhere in the palace, filling her days with lessons and ceremony, and ordering maids to sleep in her bedroom) and she relished the chance to feel like herself, if only for a little while. She hadn't known how much precious privacy was until she no longer had it.
"Snow White," Red whispered, hoping against common sense her sister could somehow hear her, "Please get out of here. There's nothing you can do to stop Mother. Just don't let her catch her."
"Your Majesty, we ought to return to the carriage." Jun Li's voice echoed through the crystalline trees along with the soft orange glow of her torch, jerking Red awake like someone pulled from the bottom of a lake.
Red rubbed her face clean as she returned to her maid, hoping vainly Jun Li wouldn't notice. Jun Li looked uncharacteristically distracted when Red saw her again, brown eyes darting from corner to corner.
"Something wrong?"
Jun Li immediately fixed her face into a neutral expression, "Nothing; I thought I saw something moving through the trees, but it may have just been a hare. Let's get back."
As the bell rang Mary's student swept their belongings off their desk and into their bags and she shook her head fondly as they got up to leave. Only Henry Mills took his time, so she suspected he wanted to talk to her after class. All had happened to him in the last few weeks and Mary couldn't help but feel partially responsible. After all, she'd given him that book of fairy tales and housed the woman who brought him back when he ran away, the woman he believed would break the curse.
"Hey Miss Blanchard, would you mind doing me a favor?" Henry asked.
"Sure Henry. What do you need me to do?"
Henry placed his storybook on her desk, "Can you read this to the coma patient at the hospital? I have a theory that if the stories might wake him up; especially your story."
"Henry-"
"Please," he begged. "Emma and I aren't getting anywhere with Operation Cobra but we might if you help us. You're Snow White after all."
Mary pursed her lips, then smiled when she saw the opportunity presented to her, "You really think this'll work?"
"Not for sure, but it's worth a try."
"Possibly, but he might not wake up because he's not actually Prince Charming."
"I'm sure he is," Henry stated.
"If he's Prince Charming and I'm Snow White, then it'll definitely wake up because nothing's stronger than true love. But if he doesn't..."
Henry frowned, "Then this might all be a mistake."
Mary ruffled his hair, "We won't know until we try, won't we?"
"I guess not," Henry beamed at her. "Thanks for wanted to help Miss Blanchard. I better get outside before I miss my bus."
"Have a good afternoon, Henry," Mary told him as he walked out of the door. When she was alone, she picked up the book and traced the gold letters on the front with her finger. How could this have caused so much trouble?
That on during her shift at the hospital, she sat beside John Doe's for hours, watching him remain still and silent as she recounted King Leopold and Queen Regina's unhappy marriage, the birth of their daughters, Snow White and Rose Red's encounter with the shepherd boy-turned-bear, Leopold's murder, and Snow White's exile. When Mary's eyes began feeling heavy and time crawled as slow as molasses, she reached the part where David woke her from the sleeping curse with True Love.
John Doe grabbed her hand.
Mary's drowsiness vanished like someone had dunked ice water on her head. Her eyes grew misty as she stared at his hand; his large, warm fingers curled around her wrist like they belonged there; her hand pleasantly warm. A warm sensation spread under her skin, some deep, unexplainable need to press her lips to his. She placed her other hand on top of his and leaned in, just as Henry's book slid from her lap onto the hospital floor, the gentle thud bringing her out of the moment.
What the hell was she thinking? She couldn't kiss a patient!
A low, gentle groan emitted from John Doe's desk and Mary quickly got up to fetch a nurse. But by the time she returned with Nurse Rojas and Dr. Whale, John had returned to his inanimate state.
"Are you sure he woke up?" Dr. Whale asked. "You may have just been imagining things - it is pretty late."
Mary shook her head, "I know what happen. He reached out and touched me, and I thought he was waking up."
"Well, his vitals haven't changed. I see someone was really hoping this handsome man would wake up," Nurse Rojas winked to Mary; Mary's face and ears practically burst into flames. Panic smashed against her chest as she wondered if they'd somehow read her mind and knew she had come close to kissing him (something that would no doubt get her kicked out of the volunteer program) but the mild expressions on their faces assured her otherwise.
Dr. Whale rolled his eyes, then placed a hand of Mary's shoulder, "You've done enough tonight. You should go home and get some rest."
After a moment Mary finally accepted that they weren't going to believe her, so she faked a grateful smile and nodded.
The next morning, she showed up to class bright and early despite her lack of sleep and let Henry pull her aside before class began.
"Did it work?!" Henry bounced on the balls of his feet and looked up at her expectantly.
Mary grimaced, "He didn't wake up...but he almost did."
Henry nodded, "Then it's working. You should try again tonight."
"Maybe," Mary patted his back as she led him to his seat.
Although she tried to be present for her students, her mind kept wandering to the John Doe in the hospital and the intense emotions he stirred up in her. After the school day ended, Mary attended a mandatory staff meeting that, in her opinion, could have just been substituted for with email; new safety regulations and next year's budget and things like that. The sun had set by the time Mary could return to the hospital to check up on Dr. Whale's most mysterious patient. Nurse Rojas had been crossing a corridor when she saw Mary put on her volunteer badge, and approached her.
The older woman called, "Miss Blanchard! Did the patient say anything to you last night?"
Mary blinked and realized she was referring to the John Doe, "You believe me now? What made you change your mind?"
"He's missing," Nurse Rojas explained. "Another nurse went to check his vitals ten minutes ago but he was gone. We think he woke up while someone wasn't looking and wandered off. If that is the case, he'll be daze and confused; he might hurt himself or someone else. Did he say anything that might give us a clue where to find him?"
"He didn't say anything; I don't think he even fully woke up."
"But he responded to you?"
"Without a doubt," Mary confirmed.
"Okay, then you could be a big help finding him, if he recognizes and responds to your voice. "
Mary agreed and began scouring the hospital with the rest of the staff. They tore Storybrooke General Hospital inside out - twice - trying to find John Doe, but the man remained missing. Getting desperate, as Dr. Whale contacted the police department, Mary called Emma and asked her expertise, after apologizing for asking a favor like that in the middle of the night. Emma was happy to oblige, fortunately, and showed up fifteen minutes later.
"Has anyone checked the security footage?" Emma asked the moment she walked through the hospital's glass front door and saw Mary, Dr. Whale, and Nurse Rojas discussing their next move. Awkward silence greeted her. "I'll take that as a 'no'."
Ten minutes later, the search party went to the woods armed with flashlights and searched the forest for John Doe before something happened to him. Emma suggested they search near the stream, but the other weren't keen on it, so she and Mary went off on their own.
Before long, Mary shined her flashlight on a figure lying face-down on the forest floor and it took a moment for her to realize what it was, "Oh my god, that's him!"
By the time Emma got over to them, Mary had already flipped him over and begun CPR. "I'll get the others," Emma said, "Just make sure he stays breathing."
After a few minutes had passed and Mary almost gave up, John Doe suddenly coughed violently, exhaling water as he gasped air, his eyes wide and unfocused. "Hey, it's okay," Mary soothed, "You're gonna be okay."
John Doe's breathing lowered to a steady, easy pace and he looked up at her in awe. "What happened? Where are were?" He squeezed her hand, and Mary's heart somersaulted.
'Not again,' she groaned internally.
"You were in an accident and got into a coma for years. Tonight you, I guess, sleepwalked out of the hospital and ended up in the stream. I'm Mary Margaret Blanchard. Do you remember your name?"
Surprisingly, John Doe became morose. "I remember. My name is David."
While Mary, Dr. Whale, and the nurses fussed over the former coma patient, apparently named David Nolan, Emma picked up her things from Dr. Whale's office. Once she closed the door, she bumped into an older black woman wearing a coat over her nightdress and a floral scarf around her head, though some storm cloud-grey curls rested against her broad, smooth forehead. Her work-roughened hands fiddles with the coat buttons and her eyes were misty.
"Excuse me, I just got a call saying my son was here," the woman asked Emma.
"David Nolan, the coma patient?"
The woman bit her lip, "I think so. Dear God, I can't believe he was here the whole time and I never knew." Her voice crackled with guilt and Emma felt the urge to hug her.
Instead she asked, "What do you think happened to him? I mean, he's been here for years but nobody seemed to know who he was"
"David was from out of town and had never been to Storybrooke before. We don't see each other often because he doesn't get along with Albert -my husband, his stepfather - so it never occurred to me that he might have come to visit; it was very uncharacteristic for him to show up unannounced anyway. Something must have happened to him before he got to us, maybe an accident."
"Something indeed." Emma wanted to groan when she heard the mayor's smug voice from down the hall. Regina's heels clicked as she approached them. "Mrs. Spencer, had I known it was your son I rescued, you know I would have told immediately."
"Of course Madam Mayor; you've always been so good to my family." Mrs. Spencer took both Regina's hands in hers and smiled, "Thank you for what you've done for my boy."
"She wasn't even here," Emma protested.
Regina smirked, "You are aware that not everything revolves you, Miss Swan? That we all had lives before you showed up? I found David Nolan unconscious near my home years ago. That's why I'm here - I was his emergency contact."
Emma looked away, but refused to be embarrassed. Yet another case where she knew that Regina was lying about something, but couldn't tell what because Regina wrapped her lies around the truth with practiced skill. Her superpower had been pretty much useless since she got to Storybrooke.
"You've both helped my son in ways I can't repay, so thank you." Mrs. Spencer touched Emma's shoulder.
"You should thank Mary Blanchard, Mrs. Spencer," Emma replied, "She found him and gave him CPR."
"Sweetheart, call me Ruth. Yes, I'll be sure to thank Mary as well. If you'll please excuse me, I need to be with David."
Regina looped her arm around Ruth's, "I'll be happy to take you him."
Red woke up to a persistent ache in her side that burned under her skin whenever she took a breath. Her eyes creaked open and a pained moan escaped her lips as her crawled her away to consciousness.
"Take it easy, dear," a warm, familiar voice came from across the room. "You were seriously injured." Widow Lucas rose from the hearth where she had been stroking a fire and sat on a chair by her side.
Despite the pain Red smiled widely. She had since Widow Lucas since her mother fired her years ago. "Hi," she strained to say.
"Don't wear yourself out," Widow Lucas smoothed her hair.
"What happened?"
Widow Lucas took a deep breath, "Two days ago, a young woman dragged her into my village saying you'd been attacked by a werewolf.
"Jun Li?"
"She said her name was Dorothy."
Red's eyes widened in horror and she sat straight up, caused another wave of pain the, "What happened to Jun Li? Is she alright?"
"I wish I knew, sweetheart, but Dorothy didn't mention anyone else," Widow Lucas apologized.
"It was my fault," Red whimpered as tears filled her eyes, "I wanted to go into the woods, to get away from everyone else, and she came to along to look after me. Now she's..."
Widow Lucas took a handkerchief from her apron pocket and wiped Red's eyes, "You shouldn't blame yourself for what that werewolf chose to do. Whoever they were, they chose to attack to innocent young girls for whatever reason, but it had nothing to do with you."
"I want to believe that but..."
"Just try to get some rest," Widow Lucas told her. "I'll send a message to Queen Re-"
"No!" Red shook her head frantically, "No, no please don't do that, please don't send me back to my mother."
Widow Lucas's face tightened. She knew Queen Regina didn't have the best relationship with her children, but she never imagined that either of them were truly afraid of her. "I-I have to."
"I can't go back there, I can't, you can't let her find me," Red pleaded. "She killed Father and she might kill me next."
Widow Lucas made up her mind. When neighbors came around and saw Red, Widow Lucas told them she was her granddaughter, Eva, who had come to live with her. Not many people knew what the royal family looked like and Widow Lucas had shared only a few details of her past when she moved there, so everyone easily accepted the lie. For the following few weeks, Red stayed abed convalescing, though she was determined to get back on her feet soon and dissolve into her new life as Eva Lucas.
Until one night, when the full moon shone in the skin, and a slim, dark grey scratched its way out of Widow Lucas' cottage. The next morning the villagers found their new neighbor lying naked in the forest, half-frozen and unconscious. It didn't take long for the news that the Lucas girl had been turned into a werewolf to spread and Red became the village pariah. Already, the mayor began making plans to keep her chained up during the next full moon.
Widow Lucas refused to tolerate that treatment of the child she was sheltering.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Red whispered, shivering despite the thick white fur coat blanketing her.
"We don't have any better options," Widow Lucas warned. She took a deep breath, "Dark One, I summon thee."
The forest was silent for a while. Red began, "Do you think it-"
"He, dearie. I'm not an 'it', contrary to popular belief." a high-pitch male voice crackled behind them. The old woman and the young girl spun around and faced the Dark One, an imp of a man with thick, grey-green scales covering his skin. "Not many people are brave enough to say my name, so you must really want something."
"My granddaughter-"
The Dark One led out a long, high giggle, "Really dearie, you think I don't know royalty when I see it? You're hiding the queen in that backwater little village of yours."
"I'm not the queen, my sister is!" Red protested.
The Dark One made a vague gesture and scoffed, "Ugh, details. Now, why have you called me?"
Widow Lucas glowered at the Dark One, "A werewolf attacked Rose Red and turned her into a werewolf as well. You what the means of her; everyone fears her, they want to make her prisoner during the full moon, she's treated differently."
"And how is any of that my problem?" the Dark One shrugged.
After stopping herself from walking over to him and slapping the smirk right of scaling face, Widow Lucas explained, "I want you to change her back into a human girl."
"I'm afraid not even my magic's that dark, dearie, but I can do the next best thing." He walked over to Red under Widow Lucas's skeptical eye and pulled the hood of her white cloak over her face. The fabric his hand touched turned cherry red and the vivid color spread like blood in water until not a stitch remained white. "This cloak is now enchanted to keep the little princess here human on the night of the full moon, as long as she's wearing it of course."
"Thank you," Red smiled.
"Oh, I don't work for free - all magic comes with a price."
"I don't have any gold; I gave up all the royal luxuries."
The Dark One laughed aloud again, "When you've been around as long as I have, you learn that gold is the most worthless thing around. No, all I want is you blood."
Widow Lucas's entire body went cold, "For blood magic?" She instantly regretted her plan since she knew having Red's blood would give the Dark One unimaginable power over her, but the exchange had already begun and there was no turning back. Blood magic was dark and she couldn't trust the Dark One not to abuse it.
"For a vampire friend of mine; he loves royal blood, can't get enough of it," The Dark One winked.
Red sensed he was lying, but she knew didn't have a choice. She held out her hand, trying not to tremble as the Dark One pulled a small dagger and an empty vial from his coat. He cut a thin line down the side of her palm and let the blood drip into the vial as Red whimpered from the stinging pain and Widow Lucas looked on with trepidation. When the vial was half-full, he put his belongings away and healed Red's hand, as if he'd never cut it in the first place.
"Now, that wasn't so bad was it?" he asked, with an oddly warm note to his words. He kissed Red's knuckles before releasing her hand at last. "You're a good child, and you deserve some peace after all that's happened to you. I hope that cloak serves you well, Princess Rose Red."
