Chapter 3: Seven Little Dwarfs

Chapter Summary: After his near death experience Snow White believes he has found shelter in an abandoned cottage. However, it turns out that the cottage isn't abandoned and it's owners are returning..

It seemed like hours before Hizashi could move from the spot where he watched his beloved Snow White disappear into the distance. Hizashi's heart physically ached in his chest. It longed to have ridden off with him started a new life without the threat of the king. However, that wasn't to be.

His eyes pressed shut as he raised a hand to trace his neck where Shigaraki had laid his curse. He let out a shuttered breath, bitterness filling him as he fought back furious tears.

Hizashi wasn't sure if the king was telling the truth about his threat or just said that to keep the two from running off together. Even so, Hizashi didn't want to risk it and turn into a pile of ash in front of Snow. That would crush the man and he may have sought revenge against the king. That was also the reason he knew he couldn't tell Snow White about the curse. If he had, then Snow would have thrown all caution to the wind and confronted Shigaraki, or worse sacrificed himself for Hizashi's safety. Hizashi wasn't going to let that happen.

'At least he'll be okay, whatever happens.' he told himself.

Hizashi had heard rumors the woods were dangerous, but he also knew that Snow White was clever and resourceful. Hizashi had taught him to camp as well, so he should be fine. It wasn't like the trees were just going to attack him or anything. Not only that, but Snow was such a wonderful person that anyone living in the forest would help him if he needed it. He'd be fine. He had to be.

He clenched a fist beneath his chin with a sharp breath. It pained him to know that he couldn't be there for Snow White, but he couldn't allow himself to dwell. Snow would be alright for now and if Hizashi wanted him to stay that way, he had more to do.
Hizashi forced his legs to move, though they felt numb. His whole body felt that way it seemed. He walked for a bit, trying to think of what to do next. He told Snow White he had a plan but neglected to mention that the plan was to get Snow somewhere safe, then think of step two. Usually, he was better than that, but a lot happened today. Hizashi was lucky that, despite his shock, he had managed to remember that magic couldn't penetrate the Daemonium Woods. Now to think of what to do next.
Shigaraki wanted a heart, but surely there was no way to tell one heart from another. In theory, Hizashi could kill someone, take their heart, and present it to the king as Snow's. Then, once the curse was removed, slip away. Just the same, Hizashi didn't relish the idea of murdering someone. Morals aside, there were few enough people in the kingdom as it was.
Shigaraki was a powerful ruler, but that didn't mean he was a good one. His powers kept out any invaders, however, when it came to doing anything for the welfare of his subjects, the king couldn't be bothered. As far as he was concerned he did more than enough for them simply by allowing them to live in his kingdom. Any more would have been annoying. So when crops failed and people became ill, Shigaraki ignored their pleas and the people were left with two choices; stay and die or leave.
Most chose the latter, some making it, others dying on the trip from all sorts of things. Those who stayed fared worse as they either starved or fell ill. Very few survived, but those that did were mostly hallow shells.
The people at the palace were slightly better off, but aside from Snow they were all—well, there was no way to sugarcoat it, they were all assholes. Hizashi didn't know if the castle attracted people like that or if the castle did something to them but every one of them was a bastard in some way. If Hizashi was going to kill anyone it should be one of them—no.
He shook his head. No, assholes or not Hizashi was a hunter, not a murderer. He killed animals, not people. So, if he was going to kill anything, it would have to be a beast.
And low and behold if Serendipity didn't answer his plight;
In the distance was a giant bird that resembled a blue heron. It had a long beak that was like a spear and folded wings. It was hunched over something Hizashi couldn't identify until he heard the tear of flesh from bone.
The hunter scowled at it in thought. It wasn't usual for birds of that size to be in the area. Then again, he didn't come here often, so maybe it was. Either way, this creature was going to help him protect Snow White.

The beast didn't seem to take any notice of him as the bird was too busy pulling the meat from its prey and gulping it down. Hizashi lowered his body and approached slowly, hand going for the dagger in his boot.

Hours had passed since Snow White found the cottage and collapsed. As he slept, the forest was calculating. The Daemonium Forest wasn't like other woods. Every tree was alive and pulsed with a heartbeat that could be heard within the earth if one listened enough. For nearly an eon they had fallen into a silent stagnation, just barely active and awake.

Today was different. Today a new prey had entered their woods. They looked forward to tearing into him, to ripping him apart limb by limb, cutting his flesh and watering their roots with his blood before wearing his bones as jewelry among their branches-

And then he got away!

The woods could have clashed their teeth of bark in anger! They had gotten careless. They were having so much fun playing with their new toy that they had inadvertently let him escape into the dwarfs' cottage.

The woods made a sound much like a growl. They hated the dwarfs. One would have been insulting enough, but seven? For all these years, their very existence mocked them. How dare those tiny brats not be laying dead within their soil? How dare they trot along the roads as simply as if they were taking a stroll? How dare they be able to laugh and smile in their woods?

That would change though. Just one mistake, just one, and the seven would join the rest of their kind

All they had to do was watch and wait.

The trees watched the seven dwarfs even now as they stewed in their bitter failure. It annoyed the woods to no end how, despite living within their clutches for all this time surrounded by darkness the dwarfin children managed to remain cheerful. It grimaced in only a way that woods could as their voices carried through to their tallest branch.

"… And then! All Might saved all twenty villagers at once as he stared down the dragon with a fearless smile and said, 'Fear not, citizens! For I am here!'" a child with fluffy green hair jabbered. His wide smile pushed his freckled cheeks until they could have been even with his emerald green eyes which sparkled as he talked about his favorite hero. He waved his hand about as if he were casting a spell.

"That's amazing, Izuku." his brown-eyed and rosy cheek companion said kindly. Even though she and the others had heard all of Izuku's stories a million times and over, they all endured the re-tellings because it made him happy. Be it as it may, it was still hard for the little girl to hide her boredom. While she managed to stifle the yawn, her eyes held a distracted, dazed look as they stared off into the distance as they walked.

Izuku stopped speaking and brought a hand behind his head. His face turned red as he started to drag his fingers through his green locks.

"Ah, sorry, Ochaco… I was babbling again, wasn't I?" he muttered as he bowed his head and looked away. "Sorry…" Ochaco snapped out of her daydream and mentally slapped herself.

"That's okay!" she said quickly as she straitened herself. She waved her hands about, almost feverishly. "I don't mind! Really!" Izuku gave a shy nod. Nevertheless, he didn't continue his story. Instead, he looked away and glanced up at the trees above.

The woods wanted to reach out and grab them, tear them, and devour them. The lights each of them carried over their however kept it at bay so it could only watch. And watch. And watch...

The dwarfs could feel its hunger, its desire. They felt it like the sharp, cutting breeze on a winter's night. They always felt it.

Izuku and Ochaco gulped and moved closer together. Their clammy hands tightened around their lamps, which held the only light to combat the darkness.

"So! Um, Izuku! I noticed we've been mining more rubies lately," Ochaco said loudly, filled with the need to fill the silence with something. "Think-think that means anything at all or not...?" Izuku jumped as he was drawn from his thoughts.

"Oh? Oh, um! Yeah, now-now that you mention it, I think we have," he said. Grabbing onto the topic he contemplated hard for a moment. "Let-let's see… usually we tend to mined sapphires and emeralds, but there has been a change lately. We're also getting more diamonds, which is also odd. I wonder if there could be a connection between the two? Maybe? And if there is, I wonder why. Are certain colors just connected somehow? Does the combo mean something? If it does, then what does it-"

"You're overthinking things again, Izuku!" The voice appeared to pop up from nowhere and Izuku seemed to randomly stumble. Izuku and Ochaco however knew that it belonged to their friend, Toru, and that the reason for Izuku's stumble was because she had glomped him. The only to this though was the pair of white gloves that appeared to be floating in the air near the boy's head.

"Jewels don't have connections and stuff," she went on to say as she hung on to the other's shoulders. "It's just coincidence, that's all."

Toru was an invisible dwarfelle, however this wasn't always the case. Once upon a time Toru was as solid as any other child. One day though, without warning, Toru's body vanished and she became completely transparent. While there was a ton of startled confusion at first, Toru took it all in stride. Now it didn't bother her, or the others, at all. They just accepted it as normalcy. In fact Toru embraced it wholeheartedly and even used this mutation to play pranks on others when bored.

"Maybe," Izuku agreed timidly. He wasn't at all bothered that the girl hung on him the way she did as he was used to it by now. All the same, she was heavier than his body could handle, so he was grateful when she released him. "But what if it's something more? What if-"

"Ugh, what if we stop already!" a blond boy interrupted with a moan. He had a look of irritation across his features as he grumbled. "We spend all day working! We don't need to talk about it on the way home too!" His pointed, catlike eyes had bags under them and his body was slouched forward, threatening to fall to the ground. The black strands among his golden hair, that looked like a lightning bolt, was slightly frizzed from static.

Izuku slumped slightly, tugging at his hair with his fingers.

"Sorry, Denki." While it wasn't on purpose Izuku seemed to be annoying everyone tonight. It wasn't on purpose, he just had a bad habit of chattering a lot, especially when he got on a roll. Nonetheless he had to remember to tone it back so as not to irritate the others.

"It's not like we have anything else to talk about," another girl said. A tadpole tail wiggled behind her as she spoke. One of the hands she dangled in front of her like a puppy on its back poked her chin, while the other held a lamp just like the others. "And there might be a mystery going on here."

Compared to the others this girl had larger eyes and a larger mouth. Some may think this made her a big talker but she was usually quiet. Despite these large features her face wasn't very expressive but her mild curiosity showed in the slight tilt of her head.

Denki groaned.

"Tsuyu, you're supposed to be the logical one!"

"I am. But we live in a magic forest. Anything could happen." The girl pointed out quite logically.

"And it would be interesting if there was connection," Another girl with hair in a feathered ponytail said. She burrowed her brows together. "Also, it's not like we know a lot about our jewels anyway. Although to be honest it might have to do with the earth. Or maybe its the trees… Whatever it is, it can't hurt to check."

"I can keep a tally of each gem type if we're really curious," a boy with short-cut hair offered. He pushed his glasses back, causing the light to glint off them. "Thinking about what Momoyao said, we should also keep tabs on where we mine each gem so that-"

"Ugh! Stop giving us more work!" Denki complained loudly. "We do more than enough as it is."

"Denki, we're talking about our mines and jewels here!" the other defended. His hands moved like a mechanical doll as he spoke. No one knew why he did this. "We should always be willing to learn as much as we can!" Toru let out an exasperated sigh, brushing back unseen locks of hair.

"Tenya, they're just shiny rocks buried in dirt! Are we really so bored that we're going to make a mystery out our of color combos?" She stretched her tired muscles with a small yawn, a motion that was barely noticeable. "Mm! I'm with Denki, you're all over thinking nothing. You all do what you want. I just wanna get home and crawl into bed."

"Same here," Denki moved slower than the rest but not enough to get left behind.

Tenya sighed, disappointed that the two weren't even trying to think seriously about something that could be educational for the future. That being said, it was late and they worked hard all day. Maybe after some rest they would be more open to the idea.

"We'll be there soon," he assured them. "Speaking of which I think we should-"

Without warning, Tenya came to an abrupt stop. Tsuyu crashed into him, Toru crashed into her, and then Momo followed by Denki, Izuku, and Ochaco. They managed to balance themselves so they didn't fall over, but each peered curiously over a shoulder.

"Wha-what's wrong?" Izuku asked before looking up. His eyes widen. "Oh man, oh man!"

"What? What?" Toru chirped. Then she saw it. "Oh man, oh man!"

The door was open. Wide-open.

Momo swallowed. She stepped back and behind one of the others.

"Did… did someone forget to lock it?" She trembled, her stomach starting to twist with worry.

All the dwarfs were huddled together now, each clutching someone. An open door might not mean anything to anyone anywhere else but here… It could be nothing but then it could be anything.

Izuku looked around the bridge and noticed that there were trails of blood on it. There was even a pool of it that had sunk into the wood.

"Um, guy-guy-guys?" Izuku pointed at the planks, eyes wide and teary. The dwarfs squeezed even closer. This was NOT good. Not good at all.

"Did something get past the lamps?" Ochaco whispered. Her breath started to speed up slightly. "How? That's never happened before."

Everyone's heart started to beat faster as their imaginations kicked into gear, imagining all sorts of abominable creatures that could be inside from rabid blue camels to vicious three headed monkeys.

Being the responsible one, Tenya did his best to try and soothe them.

"Calm-calm down, everyone!" he said as reassuring as possible, though his voice raised an octave. His arms were waving about sporadically and the smile on his face was a little too big. "I-I'm sure there's nothing to worry about! We-We're all just overreacting. That's all!"

"There is blood leading up to our house!" Denki almost shouted. He would have been screaming if not for the fear of luring whatever was inside out to them. Tenya gulped.

"Y-yes, that's but..."

"What do you think it is?" Ochaco asked in a loud whisper. She and Tsuyu held their hands together as the pressed close.

"It could be a ghost! Or a goblin! Or a dragon!" Toru blurted from the side. Her mind started to go wild as she imagined monsters with long fangs, teeth, and claws that breathed fire and acid, just like in Izuku's tales. Each image made her heart beat faster and faster and her breath quickened.

"Eas—Easy, Toru! I-I'm sure it's none of those!" Izuku stammered. Then he thought for a moment. "I mean, maybe i-it's possible… But! N-none of those things would be bleeding… Would they?"

"The goblin or dragon would. But if it was a goblin then the blood wouldn't be red," Momo said.

"We have a dragon in our house?!" Needless to say, Izuku and Momo's words did not do anything to ease the frighten Toru.

Despite being as worried as the others, Tsuyu managed to stay calm while the others weren't.

"A dragon would be too big to get in the house," she pointed out as logically as possible. "More than likely it was a deer or something." The others calmed at the rational explanation and let out a breath they were all holding at once.

"That-that's right!" Tenya declared loudly. "That's probably it. It's just a deer that slipped in."

"But do we even have any deer here?" Ochaco asked. "I've never seen a squirrel, much less a Bambi."

"Whatever it is… with all that blood… it must be injured pretty bad," Momo said, her fear turning to sympathy. The others started to feel bad as well, until…

"Unless it's a lion and that blood belongs to its dinner." Denki shuddered. Now they were all nervous again.

"D-do we even have lions?" Ochaco asked.

"May-maybe? We have everything else?"

"Wha-what if it's a bear?" Izuku gulped. "If it's a bear then we'll all get eaten! None of us are strong enough to fight a bear. We can't go in there! But where could we go? I guess we could go back to the mines, but it's really late, and what if the jewels don't work after a certain time? Also, all our stuff is in there, like my All Might book…" Izuku continued to mumble, mostly to himself. While the others were used to this, this wasn't the time. They needed to decide what to do.

"This is ridiculous!" Ochaco suddenly boomed. She lowered her voice as the others shushed her. "We can't just stand here and do nothing!"

"But-but-but what should we do then?" Izuku asked timidly.

"I say we go in there and find out what's in there! If it's an injured deer we help them! If it's a lion-bear we'll sneak up on them and chase it out!"

"Well said, Ochaco!" Tenya paused for a beat. "Wait, lion-bear?"

Before the others could make a move, Momo stepped forward, hands in front of her.

"H-hold on a minute! It might be dangerous to just rush in!" she cautioned, stopping the others in their tracks. Tenya shifted at the obvious being pointed out.

"Ah. Good point. Still, this is accomplishing nothing…" He frowned in thought.

As the oldest, Tenya was the one in charge so he was the one who had to come up with a plan for their safety. But it was hard to do without knowing what was in there. What if it was a lion-bear? None of them knew how to handle a regular lion or bear, much less the odd mix of both. Tenya supposed that the right thing would be for him to go in alone. He was the fastest after all, so if there was any danger he could-

Tsuyu spoke up, derailing his train of thought.

"Let's all just go see," she urged. "It should be okay if we're careful. And we should at least get an idea of what's going on. For all we know, we could be being stupid and worrying over nothing."

"GREAT IDEA!" Tenya said a little too loudly. The others shushed him. "S-sorry!" he whispered.

They all agreed to the plan with nervous affirmations. Denki and Toru stood at the back in case it was really a lion-bear, or worse.

The group tip-toed up to the house, hoping their heartbeats wouldn't give them away to whatever was in there. The floors creaked when they stepped through the open door which squeaked from years of neglect. When Toru entered she mindlessly pushed the door shut behind her on habit.

BANG!

The others each let out a quiet cry before scrambling to the other side where they all huddled together in a circle. Looking back with wide eyes they then realized what happened. They glared at the pair of floating gloves.

"Sorry!" Toru whispered, her hands waving about. The others took a unified breath to calm themselves but stayed together in a circle. Toru joined them as they searched the downstairs for any signs of an animal. There were smears of blood here and there which made them worry greatly. It told them that either something was injured and needed help. Or something was dead and they were next. However, there didn't appear to be anything around. Soon all that was left was to search the upstairs.

They all hesitated at the bottom of the steps. The stairs were longer than usual and far more ominous.

Izuku was the first to speak after a gulp escaped his throat.

"I-I think Toru should go up first," he said. The dwarfelle in question jumped at this.

"M-me?!" she squeaked. Tenya nodded in eager agreement (mostly glad it wasn't him being volunteered).

"That does make the most logical sense," he said.

"Why?!"

"You're invisible." Tsuyu pointed out, much to Toru's displeasure. Izuku nodded.

"That-that's right. You can sneak up there and tell us what's up there without being seen," he explained. For a rare moment, Toru wished she was visible.

"We'll be right behind you though!" the green hair dwarf quickly assured her.

"Yeah!" the others cheered. Toru huffed to herself.

"A lot of good it'll do against a front attack!" she muttered.

Still, she removed her gloves and boots, handing them to Tsuyu, giving herself complete invisibility. Toru then climbed up the stairs slowly and as quietly as she could. She peeked into the bedroom they all shared and peered inside.

The room was dark, but there was a little light from one of the bed tables. She recognized it as one of the lamps that usually hung outside.

'Could a deer carry that?' Toru gulped as she stepped into the room. Softly, she neared Momo's bed which was the largest of all the dwarfs'. Momo may have been the most generous of the six people she knew but the eldest dwarfelle still enjoyed abundance when she could (which wasn't very often since they lived in the middle of the woods in a small cottage).

Once Toru was close enough she peeked over the edge. Suddenly she stumbled back with a gasp. She covered her mouth to keep from screaming, knowing that doing so may be her doom. She turned and ran from the room as fast as possible, throwing the door open in the process.

"What-" Before the others could ask anything Toru came barreling down the stairs. She crashed into them, scattering the dwarfs like bowling pins. Denki stumbled back until he hit the pile of stacked bowls. They swayed dangerously until they toppled forward. Izuku let out a small cry as they fell toward him and squawked when a particularly large bowl landed on his head.

After a few disoriented moments the dwarfs all tried to regain their footing.

"Wha-What is it?" a dazed Momo asked.

"A! A! A! Ahhh!" Toru tried to talk, but fear froze her throat and knotted her tongue, making it hard. Tenya stepped forward and held her shoulders to try and ground her.

"Toru! Please get a hold of yourself!" he called over her hysterics, trying not to let the fast pace of her breathing scare him. This didn't work too well at all. Within a moment he was starting to panic as well. "What did you see?!" he demanded, harsher than he should have, shaking her back and forth.

Izuku and Ochaco pried the eldest boy off her, calming him while Tsuyu and Momo soothed the invisible dwarfelle. It took a few moments before she was composed enough to where she could talk again.

"A vampire!" she said finally. The others jumped, looking just as frightened as she would if she were not transparent.

"A vampire?!" Ochaco repeated, brown eyes wide and fists tucked under her chin.

"Shoot! We've got to get out of here!" Denki exclaimed, his amber eyes like a deer in headlights.

"But! This is our home." Momo argued. She loved the house more than anybody. The thought of leaving it broke her heart. "We can't just abandon it. Where would we go?" Something snapped inside Tenya's head.

"We're NOT going anywhere!" he said firmly. Even the idea was out of the question. They've lived here for years. It was a place that their ancestors built, or he thinks they did. To abandon it-No. He wouldn't! They simply wouldn't.

"We can't fight a vampire!" Denki growled, glaring at the older boy. He remembered those tales Izuku told him about vampires when All Might fought them, but to defeat them the hero had to create a wave of sunlight. None of them knew how to do that! They didn't even know what sunlight was.

"Stay calm guys," Tsuyu said as reassuring as she could. "We don't even know if there really is a vampire up there."

"I saw it!" Toru argued with a frightened squeak.

"But… How did it get in? The lamps usually keep stuff like that out, right?" Izuku mumbled, his voice low at the idea of there being a monster upstairs. He shifted the bowl on his head, which settled like a strange hat.

"It had one of them upstairs!" Toru said. "They probably don't work on the undead!" Izuku gulped, starting to tremble a little.

"Eve-even so, vampires need to be invited in... It doesn't make sense…"

"Maybe it found a loophole with the welcome mat?" Ochaco suggested.

"Maybe? Is that how it works?" He was sure it was more complicated than that-

"Who cares how it got in?!" Denki interrupted. "What are we going to do now?"

They all shared frightened looks before turning to Tenya. Tenya swallowed hard, clenching his fists at his side.

"...It can't be helped. We'll have to try and kill it," he said firmly. He chopped the air before him. "This is OUR home. I won't surrender it easily!" He turned to Momo, determination in his eyes. "Momoyao! Please create a stake for each of us." Denki was appalled by the madness of this all.

"We're about to take on a vampire with dark, unholy, vampiric powers! This is no time to think about food!" At least he was pretty sure steaks were food. He never actually saw one.

"He means wooden stakes, Denki." Tsuyu corrected. She fidgeted nervously, unsure about this plan as well. She turned to Tenya. "Are you sure about this, Tenya?" He nodded.

"A hero dies once, but a coward dies a thousand times. That's what my brother would say," he said.

"Maybe. But that also means the coward has a thousand lives. We've only got one." Denki muttered. He didn't like this plan at all but clearly, he was outvoted.

Momo made wooden spikes for everyone and handed them out. Izuku shifted on his feet as he took one.

"Will we really be able to kill a vampire?" he whimpered.

"We have to try, right?" Toru said, clutching the wooden weapon above her head in a re-gloved hand. She was doing her best to channel her fear into pluck. "It's asleep now, so this is our chance!"

Armed with their wooden weapons and the group edged up the stairs, cold sweat dripping down their faces. Tenya entered the room first followed by the others. Like Toru had done earlier, they edged towards Momo's bed. There they saw the vampire and were struck silent at the sight.
None of them had ever seen a vampire before but this certainly didn't fit the image in their heads. Snow pale skin was bloodied, bruised, scraped, and cut everywhere that could be seen. What wasn't visible was covered with shredded sheets, or dried mud. Exhaustion laid heavily on his face under messy, unkempt ebony hair that had broken twigs and leaves entangled in it.
The children all stared in pity.
"Guess we better do this..." Denki muttered.
"But he's hurt..." Momo whispered.
"But-but that's good, right?" Ochaco stuttered. "I mean, otherwise we wouldn't stand a chance, right?"
"That's right! Quick! We must kill him now before it's too late!" Tenya ordered.
Everyone stood around the wounded figure, but none raised their stakes. None of them had ever killed anything before except a bug or two (and to be honest Momo felt awful about that). Plus, vampire or not, this creature was injured pretty bad. How could they kill it when it probably couldn't fight back?
"May-maybe we could just push him outside?" Izuku asked hopefully. "Then we could lock the doors and wait for him to wander away?"
The others seemed to agree with this plan before the vampire's eyes shot open.

Snow White had been so exhausted that he had just fallen into darkness. If he dreamed, he didn't remember. He was only pulled from the black void when he started to hear sounds. All the horrors from the day came flooding back to him and his mind immediately jerked awake.

He sat up with a start and sharp breath, met by a bunch of tiny screams. His eyes focused, but instead of seeing a monster—or worse his stepfather—he saw six tiny faces.

Big eyes, some teary, watched him from small round faces with large ears.

Shouta realized he was surrounded by children. They were smaller than most kids he had seen and were built rounder. He didn't mean to say they were fat, just—round. He also noted the array of bright colors they were dressed in from their hats to their shoes.

"Who…?" he started to ask, but one of the kids shouted over him.

"St...Stay back vampire!" one said bravely, though he was quivering behind a wooden stick. "I-I'm warning you!"

Snow winced at the sudden loud sound, his head throbbing. His slumber hadn't been as healing as he hoped it would. It took a few moments to process what the boy had said.

"…? You think I'm a vampire?" he asked. The looks on their faces were answer enough.

Snow scrunched his brows together, placing a hand against his forehead, hoping the pressure would stop the pain long enough for him to think.

Well, it's not like they were the first to think that. Snow's pale skin and red eyes had caused a lot of people over the years to assume that he wasn't human. There were even rumors that he was birthed with dark magic. Snow was almost inclined to believe this as he could never tan no matter how long he was in the sun. Hell, even he wondered if he had vampire blood sometimes.

It was annoying, but these kids did have a fairly decent excuse for thinking Snow was undead as he realized that he was still covered in blood. Hell, there was even more blood on the sheets than there was when Snow passed out. He wasn't sure how he looked exactly, but to the young children, he must have looked terrifying.

"I'm not a vampire," he assured them. They didn't seem to believe him so he showed them his teeth. "See? No fangs. And if you have a mirror I'll show you my reflection."

The children cautiously leaned forward to confirm the teeth issue. They all shared looks, each clutching a stake to their chests.

"I dunno..." one said. A boy with green hair turned to a girl in a red swimsuit.

"Momoyao, can you make a mirror?"

"O-okay…"

Snow jumped as a mirror formed from the girl's arm. His mind, which was starting to slip back into a daze, awoke quickly. Without a word, he pushed himself against the headboards. Was this a trap? Were these assassins sent by the king?

'No, that wouldn't make sense. These are just kids. It wouldn't be his style.' He tried to calm himself and be rational. More than likely Snow White had hit his head somewhere and was hallucinating.

The others saw his reaction and had moved back when he pressed himself against the bed board.

"That's right, vampire! We have magic so watch yourself!" A voice from nowhere said.

'What the hell...?' Was there a ghost here?! No. He must have been hearing things, or one of the other kids spoke.

"I told you, I'm not…!" Snow was interrupted by a kid with blond hair.

"A likely story! A vampire would never admit he's a vampire!" he shouted.

"He does have a reflection though." the conjurer said, holding up the mirror to catch Snow's reflection.

Ah. NOW he could see why the children were hesitant to believe him. Snow was covered in blood and his pale skin made his bruises stand out violently in a dark purple. Some tiny scrapes and cuts had scabbed over in a less than flattering way, and the torn cloths he used to wrap himself didn't help.

"But then... if you're not a vampire, who are you?" One with glasses asked. He was watching Snow with a suspicious frown. "And what are you doing in our home?"

"Covered in the blood of your victims?" the blond added from behind the other boy.

Snow gave a heavy sigh. Seems they were going to be stuck on that thought thread for a while.

"It's my blood. And..." Snow hesitated. If the king was really after him then using his real name could be dangerous. "...My name Shouta. Shouta Aizawa." That was the name he and Hizashi used whenever Hizashi convinced him to go to town and hang out at the pub. "I got lost in the woods after I was attacked by—well, everything," He scowled at the unpleasant memory. "I stumbled upon this place and came looking for help. I thought this place was abandoned."

The children softened their stance a little.

"You do look like you were beaten up pretty bad. And drowned. But what were you doing here? No one's ever come here before." one with large frog eyes asked. Snow—now Shouta—chose his words carefully, not wanting to give away too much.

"I was supposed to come here… with a friend. But he had to stay behind to finish something, so I was sent ahead."

'And I'm going to kill him for it.' That is if King Shigaraki hadn't already. Shouta clenched his fist as he thought of Hizashi. His loud, obnoxious Hizashi, who better be alright or else.

"Why?"

"Hm?"

"Why come here?" the boy with green hair pressed. Shouta's head hurt for more than one reason, but he was able to come up with a lie;

"We were… curious. About the forest. We heard tales and wanted to see them. But as you can see I was... unprepared for it."

"I'll say! You got your ass beat." one said with zero tact.

"Denki!" one of the girls scolded. Shouta took a breath.

"Look, I didn't mean to cause any trouble," he said. "I'll leave before-" He tried to move but his entire body visibly winced at the movement, sending pain through parts of his body he didn't know could feel pain.

The action made every one of the kids stare at him with big, worried eyes. Some moved forward, but none touched him out of fear of making things worse.

"But you're hurt! If you go out like that the trees will tear you apart, or the lion-bear will get you..." the girl with rosy cheeks said.

'Lion-bear?'

"I'll be fine..." That was a lie and everyone knew it.

"Don't be silly!" the girl with the ponytail scolded. "You should at least stay until you're healed!" The blond didn't seem too happy to hear that.

"He should?"

"Yes! He'll die if he doesn't!" the girl with brown hair huffed.

Shouta felt bad about taking advantage, but he was tired, his head throbbed, and everything HURT. Leaving wasn't logical or safe. If they were willing to house him, then…

He laid back.

"Thank you," he said.

The boy with glasses cleared his throat.

"Well! Since you're not a vampire-" he double-checked to make sure. "It's only proper that we introduce ourselves to you! We're the dwarfs of these woods; I'm Tenya Ida."

Shouta studied each as they were introduced;

"Tenya" appeared to be the de facto leader and gave off the aura of the responsible big brother. He was a little taller than the others and had thick calves, which were probably the reason he was wearing shorts. Now that there was no danger his blue eyes shown with friendliness and eagerness to be helpful. Neat and short kept hair bounced from the odd, erratic movements as he introduced the others.

"This is Momo Yaoyozoru, but we call her Momoyao." He motioned towards a little girl with long black hair in a tall feathered ponytail. Unlike the others who wore various tunic shirts and pants, she was dressed in a red one-piece swimsuit with yellow boots.

"Hello." She had a soft, demure smile as gave a tiny wave. Shouta noted that beneath her sharp brown eyes she had a beauty mark.

"Ochaco Uraraka;" Another girl with big round brown eyes beamed.

"Hi!" She seemed to be a cheery girl with round pink cheeks and thick eyebrows. Unlike the others who appeared to be nervous she seemed pleasantly surprised. "It's nice to meet you!"

"Izuku Midoriya." The boy with messy dark green hair jumped at the mention of his name. He had been staring intently at Shouta and seemed embarrassed to be caught. A light red flush covered his green freckled cheeks.

"Oh! Ri-right! I'm Izuku. Hello!" He fidgeted nervously, but his emerald eyes were scanning Shouta in a way that reminded Shouta of a shy puppy meeting a new friend.

"Tsuyu Asui." Shouta turned to the girl with large eyes, even compared to the others. Shouta couldn't tell what she was thinking as her face didn't have many expressions. Her long dark hair shifted as she tilted her head up at him like a cat. He noted that it was tied into a bow at the end...just above a tadpole tail.

"Toru Hagakure." Shouta thought Tenya was pointing at the air until a gloved hand waved at him.

"Hiya Mr. Not-Vampire!" a perky voice greeted.

Shouta jumped back, but instead of saying anything he just stared. Tenya seemed to understand Aizawa's startled reaction.

"Ah! Sorry about that! I should have explained; Toru as you can see, er, not see, is invisible."

"How?"

"I dunno," Toru said with a shrug the human couldn't see. "It just happened." Shouta would have thought on it but it was a long day that threatened to get longer. Besides, despite his limited experience in it, they did live in a world with witches, wizards, and other beings. Not to mention he was in a cursed forest that tried to murder him. Dwarfin children having magic wasn't a big stretch of logic.

"And finally there's Denki Kaminari—Denki what are you doing?" The final dwarf, a dark blond, was on the other side of the room, edging towards the door.

"Oh, you-you know, just giving the man space and looking for garlic…!" His voice quivered as he eyed the doorway. Obviously, despite Shouta's words, he wasn't convinced that the man wasn't a creature of the night.

When all the introductions were done Denki hurried out the door. Tenya hurried after him, scolding him along the lines of, "You're being rude to our guest!"

Shouta took a deep breath, leaning against the backboard, his head spinning. Despite just waking up he felt exhausted and his body was still in pain. His head hurt from the new information. And for other reasons...
"Um, Mr. Aizawa?" Shouta opened his eyes and saw that Momo had pulled a long white cloth magically from her arm. "Sorry, but could you lift your shirt?"
Shouta blinked at her, his mind just barely processing everything.
"Huh?"
"You came here for help, right?" Tsuyu prompted from his other side. "So we're going to help. Izuku, get water so we can clean him up." Izuku nodded quickly.
"Oh! Yeah, I can do that." He quickly hurried out of the room before Shouta could stop him.
"You don't have to..." he had started to say.
"It's okay! We do this whenever we get hurt, so we know how!" Ochaco assured. She thought for a moment. "Er, mostly!"
"Yeah! One time I accidentally hit Denki's foot with a pickax and we fixed that okay!" Shouta assumed the voice out of nowhere belonged to Toru. "Though he did limp for while… A long while..."
No longer afraid of him, the kids started to work on Shouta's wounds, doing what they could to help him. Shouta was still in shock and a little embarrassed to have kids fussing over him, but let them do as they wished, having no energy to stop them. As they worked Shouta drifted off, this time falling into a peaceful sleep.

{To be Continued...}

A/N:

*I'm so happy to be using Shouta's real name. Don't get me wrong, Snow White's not a bad name. In fact, it's a name I like very much. It's just not Shouta's, y'know? Also, Grammarly was annoying with the name "Snow" and "Snow White."

Meta Notes:

*I know that the commonly accepted term for Dwarf plurals is "Dwarves." However, when people usually see that word they think of Tolkien's Dwarves which leads to epic fantasy thinking. But this is a Fairy tale AU, so that's the kind of feeling I'm trying to stick to. Therefore I will be using "dwarfs" and "dwarfish" to differentiate them from Tolkien's work.

**The same will apply to the Elf plurals. Instead of "elves or elven" I will use "elfs and elfish"-if they ever show up.

***The word "dwarfelle" is a reference to "Happily Ever After," a Filmation animated film that was an unofficial sequel to the Snow White tale that I liked as a child.

*The choices for the dwarfs were characters I felt don't get a lot of Dadzawa time in most stories (Momo, Tenya, Denki, Ochaco, and Toru). Tsuyu and Izuku were pure favoritism choices. As I was writing I wish I had added Koda as I gained a soft spot for him, but I was too far in by then, and I had written the tale around the kids I had by that point. Oh well. Maybe another story.
*I imagine the size of the dwarf children being the same as the kids in "Hanamaru Youchien." Basically, chibi sized.