Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise, even if I like to think I've put together an interesting interpretation of events.

Feedback: As always, much appreciated.

AN: One of those one-shots that came to me and I couldn't resist the urge to get down; hope you like it.

The Secrets of the Huntsman

With the threat over, Eric wondered what it said about the world he lived in that the two most dangerous and twisted women he'd ever met were sisters. He couldn't blame himself for not realising that they were connected before that final confrontation, considering that their powers were so different and they didn't even look that much alike, but the idea that one family could be so powerful…

Once everything had calmed down after that terrifying final battle, one idea that came to mind was how Finn had fit into the unexpected family dynamic between the two witches. He appreciated that he didn't know much about magic and how someone might harness it, but from what he'd overheard it sounded as though Ravenna and Freya had at least always known of their potential for power, which raised questions about why their apparent brother had been a purely physical threat (and Eric mused that he hadn't even been that much in the end).

That said, even with Eric's limited knowledge of magic, he found himself remembering how Finn had just collapsed after he'd suffered such serious wounds during their fight in the Dark Forest. With the additional precedent set by Ravenna apparently rebuilding herself from the mirror, Eric wondered if it was possible that Finn had been some similar magical construct rather than a naturally born figure. After Ravenna's defeat, some of her recovered victims had spoken of how she had talked of her 'generosity' towards her subjects, which certainly reflected a warped view of herself and her role in the kingdom. Eric wouldn't pretend to understand how a witch's mind worked, but he could imagine Ravenna creating a person completely out of magic in some form- he vaguely recalled tales of 'golems' or other such magically-created beings- to serve as a 'brother' who would always defend her after she cut ties with her own parents.

In any case, Finn's true nature wasn't particularly important except as a matter of idle curiosity to occupy Eric's mind as he travelled back to Snow White's kingdom, accompanied by his fellow Huntsmen. Nion and Gryff had spoken with him about the matter at first, but had eventually accepted that he genuinely wasn't sure of the answers, and had agreed to leave the matter alone. When he finally saw Snow White's castle, Eric felt a new sense of relief and satisfaction that he hadn't felt since the first time he looked upon the castle after Ravenna's last defeat; the sure and certain knowledge that those he loved were safe from a terrible evil.

"That's it?" Sara asked, breaking his train of thought.

"That's it," he replied, giving his wife an affectionate smile before he turned back to look at the rest of the group. "You should all… wait here."

"Now we split up?" another of the Huntsmen asked in surprise. "Why?"

"Because there are things I wish to discuss with the Queen in private before I bring a whole troop of well-trained warriors into the heart of her palace," Eric replied. "Snow White is a fair queen in every regard, but when I last heard from her she was troubled by various matters, and… to say the least, some of her council may be concerned if I return with an army that was last under the command of a potential enemy."

"But she goes?" another of his former 'siblings' indicated Sara.

"It would be best if I can bring proof of my claims, and the queen will have personal questions that it would be best for Sara and I to answer directly as soon as possible."

"All good points," Nion nodded at him in agreement, indicating himself and Gryff as the two dwarves stepped forward. "We'll make sure nobody does anything stupid until you get back."

"Thank you," Eric nodded at the dwarves before he and Sara pulled their hoods up and headed for the palace. Their weapons were hidden under their robes, so they shouldn't attract any attention until they were ready to be noticed, and Eric had spent enough time in the palace that he knew most of its secret passages by now. It was relatively easy for them to make their way to the throne room discreetly and promptly, until Eric was standing in front of the throne room doors, Sara standing casually beside him.

When Eric knocked on the door, he initially wasn't sure what he should expect from the royal family, but was relieved when the door opened to reveal Snow White, dressed in one of her simpler royal gowns, a smile spreading across her face when she saw him.

"Eric!" she grinned as she stepped out to hug him, no trace of the weakness that William had been so concerned about when he asked for Eric's aid in their last meeting.

"My Queen," Eric replied, the term slipping so easily from his lips that it still surprised him, the loyalty that Freya had worked so hard to demand so easily given to Snow. "I am glad to see that you are well."

"Getting rid of the mirror helped, and… well, that can wait," Snow waved a hand dismissively before she turned her attention to Sara. "I'm sorry; who are you?"

"Sara," Sara replied, holding out a hand to Snow. "I'm his wife."

Eric would always love Sara's direct attitude, but the shocked expression on Snow's face prompted him to make a note to advise his wife to work on her tact once they'd settled into the kingdom.

"Wife?" the queen said at last, turning to look at Eric incredulously. "But you said-!"

"That is… part of what we should discuss, your Majesty," Eric replied, discreetly moving Snow aside so that he and Sara could enter the throne room and close the door behind her. "Firstly, I can assure you that I have never lied to you with intent; until recently, I truly believed Sara was dead."

"And Finn and Ravenna never realised-"

"Ravenna?" Sara interrupted in confusion. "What does she have to do with anything?"

"…Her brother was the one who killed you?" Snow looked at Sara, matching the other woman's confusion.

"What?"

"I feel that there has been… some confusion about my own history," Eric raised his hand, looking awkwardly between the two women as they turned their attention to him. "When your stepmother and her associates discussed my wife, they were referring to… someone else."

"Someone else?" Snow and Sara said simultaneously, the queen confused and his wife glaring at him in contempt.

"You were married after we parted?" Sara looked critically at him.

"Firstly, I would remind you that I truly believed you to be dead at this point, and I would also like to clarify that my relationship with Zara-"

"Zara?"

"You could say I have a type," Eric smiled briefly, before Sara's glare prompted him to continue. "What I am trying to say is that my relationship with Zara was not… it was mainly practical rather than… anything more."

"A 'practical' marriage?" Sara repeated with an edge of scepticism.

"What do you mean?" Snow asked, looking more honestly curious at Eric's confession.

"Zara… favoured the company of other women."

"What do- oh," Sara said, her critical gaze shifting to a surprised stare as she processed this news, clearly no longer certain how she should judge him.

"She… I see…" Snow said, looking at Eric with a thoughtful smile before her expression became more curious. "And… if that was the case, why did she marry you?"

"Her father had very… specific ideas for what she was expected to do with her life," the huntsman affirmed, looking between the two women he loved in different ways and hoping they would understand. "He would only allow her to depart from his household if she had found a husband with a suitable dowry, and obviously she herself was uninterested in any of the potential suitors he selected."

"And how did you fit into this?" Sara asked.

"I was essentially to be her cover," Eric explained with a brief smile. "Zara had a habit of sneaking into the villages when she could get away to… indulge her interests, and by chance I ran into her one night during such an excursion."

Sara looked at him in a manner that suggested she was about to ask what he had been doing that night he ran into Zara, but much to Eric's relief neither Snow or Sara asked him what he had been up to. In truth he couldn't entirely remember what had happened during that first meeting himself, beyond that he had drunk a considerable amount of ale and had tried to make various deals of exchange that led to him spending the night in a disused room of the house belonging to Zara's father.

"To cut a long story short," he continued, taking up the tale again, "with her father currently away on business, Zara agreed to put me up for the night in a spirit of sympathy."

"Sympathy?" Sara repeated.

"The night she found me was the anniversary of… my escape from Freya," Eric said, giving Sara a meaningful look.

"Oh," Sara said.

"Can one of you-?" Snow began cautiously.

"It was also the day that I believed Sara to have been killed," Eric pre-empted the queen's question.

"Oh," Snow said.

"In any case," Eric continued, "once we had established why I was in the condition I was in that night, we were able to pool the finances I had earned acting as a mercenary by this point to serve as a suitable downpayment for a false dowry, and once we had convinced her father that I was a suitable husband, we made steps to get away from her father's land."

"So… you married a woman who favoured other women to let her get away from her controlling father?" Sara looked at Eric with a questioning expression. "I… I have no idea how to feel about that."

"He did it for the right reasons-"

"But it's hardly the kind of thing you expect to learn that your husband has done since you last saw him."

"I will concede that it was an… unconventional relationship by any standard," Eric conceded with a brief grin. "Zara was like a sister to me at most, but we knew that we had to maintain public appearances until we were certain that we were away from her father. It was a delicate balance for a time, but once we were outside of his influence, Zara focused on finding a place where her… interests…. would be appreciated, while I did what I could to earn money with my own skills…"

"And that was when Finn found her?" Snow asked.

"Finn?" Sara asked.

"Ravenna's brother."

"There was a brother?" Sara looked between the queen and her husband in surprise.

"I admit I've been thinking about that myself," Eric put in.

"You have?" Snow asked. "In what sense?"

"Well… you remember I told you that he literally fell apart when I defeated him in our final confrontation?"

"Yes, but-" Snow began before she stopped herself with new understanding. "And how could that have happened unless he wasn't real to begin with…"

"He wasn't real?" Sara repeated. "Ravenna created a fake brother?"

"How else do you explain Freya never asking about him?" Eric pointed out before he turned back to Snow. "Once I realised that Freya was Ravenna's sister, I spent some time thinking about their warped sense of family, and found myself realising that it wasn't that hard to imagine Ravenna creating a new sibling for herself after she was separated from her sister."

"Creating a whole being from nothing?" Sara looked at Eric in apprehension. "The mirror was that powerful?"

"Ravenna managed to create relative armies of generic soldiers when she needed them to threaten her enemies; if she put enough effort into it, I can see her creating a more intelligent individual minion," Snow observed, before she turned her attention to Sara. "You saw the mirror? Where is it now?"

"Shattered," Sara nodded. "Queen Freya… well, she realised how her sister had abused her in the past, and turned her own power against the mirror, weakening it enough for Eric here to break it."

"Really?" Snow looked at her old ally with another appreciative smile. "I… 'Thank you' feels inadequate, but-"

"You have done much for me since our first meeting, my queen; if I can help you in any way, it's my pleasure to do so," Eric nodded at her in assurance before he adopted a more solemn stance. "In return, I would ask a favour."

"What is it?"

"Aside from Sara and myself, the fallen Queen Freya trained several others to be huntsmen in her lifetime," Eric explained. "Many of their original homes have been lost, and they have nowhere else to go…"

"You can tell them that they are welcome," Snow smiled at him in understanding. "Whether they choose to remain here long-term, or simply settle in until they are ready to move on, is of course up to them."

"…Thank you," Sara said, smiling in appreciation at the queen's words. It wasn't hard for Eric to understand why that simple statement had been such a surprise. When she was so used to Freya and Ravenna's demands for absolute loyalty, the simple fact that Snow said they would be allowed to leave if they wanted to was a significant shift.

Granted, Eric's own loyalty to her would probably ensure that Snow got at least a few new Huntsmen out of this plan, but so long as Sara was one of them, Eric could deal with his old family going their separate ways now that they had the freedom to choose…