Chapter 4: Searching in the Woods at Night

Red Shoes was sitting at a small desk amid the room that Arthur offered for her to stay in, separate from the main house in order to give her more privacy.

"There, it looks just like Papa!" She lifted her piece of charcoal as she looked at the drawing of a missing poster she'd made. She then looked in the mirror and made a face.

"Papa won't recognize me." She observed her dainty and feminine features in her reflection as she moved her chair back from her desk, placing the poster down before trying to take off her red shoes.

"Hu? Why, why won't they come off!?" Red Shoes did her best to take them off, but to no avail, suddenly a thought came into her mind. She felt the need to relax and be her true self, when she was able finally pry the shoes off and emerged her true form: Snow White.

"Ah, this is me." She stretched out on the bed and finally felt at ease, when there was a sudden knock at the door.

"Huh!" She jumped up and quickly put the shoes on. She slowly opened the door as she noticed Jack standing in front of her wearing a face mask.

"Would you like to join me in a moisturizing mask?" He asked as he puckered his lips together in an effort to make them move less to keep the mask on.

"Oh thanks, but I am so tired." Red Shoes yawned and quickly closed the door.

"Are you sure? It's very important to take care of your skin."

"Positive." She nodded as she waited a moment for him to leave.

"But they're French." Prince Jack sighed as he walked away.

Red Shoes rolled her eyes as she sat back at her desk and looked out her window, noticing a dark figure walking around outside.

"Huh, Papa?" She raised a brow as she quickly got up and walked outside with a lantern in hand.

Meanwhile, Prince Merlin was looking through his library.

"Hmm, a spell book to make you fall in love. Ah, here it is." Prince Merlin was able to look at even the top shelves since he was more than three feet high now that no one was around to look at him. He kept his door shut with the hopes of getting some privacy whilst he planned a way to get Red Shoes to not only kiss him, but to fall in love with him. He'd never had this strong connection to a woman before; sure he had dated many women, and even courted a couple, but he was never serious about any of them. He rather enjoyed being popular with the ladies and each time he looked in the mirror when he was in his princely form, a small portion of his pride was chipped away while under the curse as he recalled what it was like to have women swooning all over him. Red Shoes was different however, she didn't even seem impressed at the mention of Prince Merlin, thus he knew this would be one of his most daunting tasks. Just as Prince Merlin was about to pull out the book he was looking for, Hans burst through the door and Merlin was three feet high again.

"Merlin, have you seen my cookbook?" Hans asked.

"Have you checked in the kitchen?" Merlin said through gritted teeth.

"Ah, silly me, the kitchen of course." Hans turned back around and closed the door as Merlin was once again Prince Merlin, six feet tall and turned back to reach for the spell book again.

"Merlin, have you seen my moisturizer? It's nowhere to be found." Jack opened the door as Merlin shrank back to three feet high again.

"Hu, agh!" Merlin grumbled as the spell book came tumbling down and landed atop his head, then falling to the floor.

"No! Whatever it is, I haven't seen it! Now please go away!" Merlin marched over to Jack as his facemask slowly pealed off.

"Someone has anger management issues." Jack scoffed as he turned around and walked out; Merlin slammed the door behind him as he sighed, turning six feet tall again.

"Huh, getting a kiss was never a problem with this face." Prince Merlin looked at his pretty-boy reflection in the mirror as he smiled and gazed at his Adonis-like features. Suddenly something caught his eye outside.

"Huh, Red Shoes?" He noticed Red Shoes was going out into the woods alone with a lantern as she was running after something.

"Hmm." Prince Merlin thought to go out after her, but realized he couldn't use the front door, otherwise the other dwarfs would follow him. Hence, he went out the window and chased after Red Shoes.

"Papa?" Red Shoes held her lantern in front of her as she looked at the figure hidden behind some bushes, only to find a strange creature behind it.

"Ahh!" She screamed as she dropped her lantern and froze in terror.

"Merlin?" Arthur opened up the door leading to Merlin's library, but he wasn't there. He noticed a book on the ground and threw the spell book down as he burst through the front doors in search of Merlin, the other five dwarfs were utterly confused but decided to follow him.

"Easy there, big, terrifying wooden bunny. You're a nice wooden bunny. You're a vegan bunny, right?" Red Shoes did her best to coax the rabbit as its glowing white beady eyes stared at her face and neared her.

"Ah!" A lightning strike hit the wooden bunny as something (or someone rather) pulled Red Shoes away as she took a moment to gain her footing.

"Come on!" Merlin pulled her away as Red Shoes hunched over and did her best to keep up with his pace.

"What was that, lightening?" Red shoes asked as she took a moment to catch her breath.

"Actually, it's called magic. I do it." Merlin held up one of his paper talismans.

"Really? Well, then do some!" Red Shoes implored as they continued running, getting ahead of him so that Merlin was now six feet high and imagining the two were on their first date. He felt that Prince Merlin and Red Shoes looked much more appealing than Merlin and Red Shoes. Prince Merlin swore he heard soft romantic music playing in the background as he wore a goofy grin, taking note of the back of Red Shoe's head and how her hair managed to float around her when she ran, how her skirt fluttered in the wind and how soft her hand felt in his. They fit perfectly together, his hand wasn't too small for hers, and hers wasn't too large for his. He finally felt like a real man running hand-in-hand with a beautiful woman. He'd forgotten this feeling of human touch. It had been so long since a woman laid eyes on him, let alone was willing to actually hold his hand. But when he was Prince Merlin, he had twelve dates in one day; he was romantic, charming, and could get numerous kisses from beautiful women in one day. And yet none of that mattered now; for all he could see holding his hand, giving him kisses, and calling him pet names was Red Shoes.

She was the only woman he wanted to spend his life with. The goofy grin he wore on his face began to fade as Red Shoes turned back to look at him. Merlin lost his stride and his now short legs weren't able to keep up, thus he was dragged momentarily until he was able to regain his composure. He looked back and noticed the wooden bunny was catching up to them. He stopped running and let go of Red Shoes' hand.

"Keep running, and whatever you do, don't look back." He pulled out two new paper talismans (for the one he was holding managed to slip out of his hand when he was day dreaming about Red Shoes).

"But I can't leave without you!" Red Shoes protested.

"You're looking back, don't do that!" Merlin snapped.

"But, ugh." Red Shoes began running again.

"Hate to zap you long ears, but I need to impress a beautiful woman." Prince Merlin readied his stance as he signaled for the wooden bunny to approach him.

"Big scary bunny, over here!" Red Shoes held her arms up as Merlin shrank back down as he groaned.

"Red Shoes, stop putting yourself in ah-" Merlin was smashed by the wooden bunny as it trampled over him. Now that Red shoes was out of sight, he was once again Prince Merlin.

"Danger." Prince Merlin was accidentally zapped by his own magic as he cringed and was momentarily unconscious. Red Shoes continued running, though she wound up at a dead end, she crouched down as the wooden bunny hopped towards her, suddenly a man's voice was echoing through the air as Prince Arthur leapt off the high cliff, sword in hand, as he went for the wooden bunny. Red Shoes looked up, causing him to turn three feet high once again as he tumbled downward, striking the wooden bunny, but causing no damage as the two fell to the floor. The wooden bunny was knocked out as Arthur was trapped beneath one of its paws.

"Arthur, are you ok?" Red Shoes ran over to him and attempted to lift the paw up, but Arthur held it down, pretending as though he was fatally injured.

"It's no use Red Shoes, I'm slipping away."

"Just need to use this core of mine." Red Shoes continued to attempt to lift the paw, but Arthur held it down with one arm tightly.

"Ugh, I used to bench two-fifty!" Red Shoes groaned as she inwardly cursed this dainty frail body of hers.

"I can see that light at the end of the funnel. It's curtains for me! Before I go, how about a farewell kiss?" Arthur looked up at her.

"Red Shoes, oh thank goodness you're safe!" Hans sighed in relief as he and Jack appeared from the forest.

"Are you ok? Do you need CPR? I'm an expert, and I brushed my teeth. Twice." Jack winked.

"Oh, no thank you I'm fine. But it's Arthur. He's stuck, he tried to save me and now he's trapped."

"Ugh, Arthur, get up." Hans said to Arthur.

"What, he's not hurt?" Red Shoes looked stunned.

"Only his pride." Hans rolled his eyes.

"You seriously need to find a better way to hit on girls." Jack held up his lantern as Arthur gave up his act.

"Mmm." Red Shoes shook her head in disappointment as Arthur blushed whilst he stood up and walked away. There was a loud noise that came from the opposite direction of the forest.
"Stand back, I may have to risk my life. Again." Arthur stood defensively in front of Red Shoes as he, Hans, and Jack were prepared to fight another monster.

"Someone call for three inventors?" Pino popped out of their wooden giant.
"For three geniuses?" Nocchi came up after him.

"Oh, that's us!" Cchio said as he stood beside his brothers and hopped up and down.

"Everyone came running to help, great." Arthur scoffed as he crossed his arms.

"Everyone except Merlin that is." Jack shrugged as they all looked around.

"Ah super, there he is now." Hans said as Merlin was running from the forest, painting heavily.

"Where have you been? Something awful could have happened to Red if I hadn't shown up." Arthur said as Merlin bent forward and tried catching his breath; everyone's eyes were on him.

"You? Don't even go there. I saved her . . . first! Right?" Merlin lifted his left hand up and fisted it as he was finally started to breathe normally. Everyone rolled their eyes as Red Shoes smiled down at him. Merlin looked up at Red Shoes.
"I was worried about you." Red Shoes said with a tenderness in her voice; it made Merlin's heart skip a beat.

"I was worried about me too." Merlin stood up and said so, smugly, as Red Shoes was a little taken aback.

"But, but, mostly about you." Merlin quickly caught himself as he gave her a goofy grin.

"No one needs to worry. Arthur's here." Arthur stepped forward as everyone looked at him; exasperated.

"This way my lady." Arthur bowed his head as he opened up his arm and Red Shoes followed.

"Um, ok." Red Shoes nodded as she began walking, taking a glance at Merlin, who appeared quite baffled.

"Uh." Merlin was speechless.

"Huh?" Jack was clearly confused. They all six stood back for a moment, and then decided to follow Arthur and Red Shoes.

"You shouldn't go into the forest by yourself, it's a nightmarish landscape fit only for bloodthirsty warriors, like myself." Arthur said so haughtily; though Red Shoes was unimpressed.

"I thought I saw my Papa. Turned out just to be that big wooden bunny." Red Shoes shrugged, not regretting her rash decision in the least.

"Well if you ever want to go off alone again, just ask me to go with you. I'll protect you." He smiled as he flexed his muscles.

"Thank you, that's very kind." Red Shoes nodded as Arthur stepped in front of her.

"And if you really want to express your gratitude, you can always do so with a kiss." Arthur began puckering his lips. Red Shoes made a face as she quickly slapped him.

"Oh I am so sorry. That was much slappier than I intended it to be." She said so sarcastically as she walked on, Arthur was shocked at first, but quickly began smiling.

"Oh it happens, no problem, maybe an apology kiss then?"

Red Shoes simply walked away as she rolled her eyes.

"Woohoo!" Jack and Hans began laughing and teasing as Jack told Arthur "good job" in French.

"Nice try." Merlin teased.

"Red Shoes!" Arthur ran after her.