Antonio awoke with a gasp for air. Lovino threw his arms around him and hugged him close. Lovino was crying and Dimas stood there shocked for a moment. The guard came back doused them with water.

"Fuck!" Lovino screamed getting soaked. "He's awake!" He yelled but held onto Antonio.

"Fuck..." Dimas said after a moment. "We could not wake you for shit-"

"Until I kissed you." Lovino said shivering.

"Oh. Crap- we should get you dry. I doubt getting sick would be good for the baby." The guard nodded at Antonio's words and dashed for a towel. He was back in moments with a stack of them. They all got out of bed and dried off.

"What happened?" Arthur asked banging into the room still in his night clothes.

"Antonio wouldn't wake up." Dimas explained. "That is until Lovino kissed him."

"That's interesting..." Arthur said after a moment. "What happened in the dream?" Antonio explained and wrote it all down. When he explained the part about the apple, Arthur's eyes widened. "Oh. Oh!" He smacked himself in the face. "It's not your mother haunting you!"

"What?" Antonio asked.

"I'm such an idiot.. When you described the way your mother was behaving before her death- bugger I'm such an arse." Arthur said "This changes everything- that is if my theory is correct!"

"What are you going on about?" Dimas asked.

"The Queen. The Evil Queen." Arthur said. "Snow White's step mother was a witch aside from being a queen. A witch obsessed with beauty and staying young forever. It's entirely possible she would have done something to her soul before death. So in death should could gather followers to do her dirty work."

"And achieve what?"

"Lichdom." Arthur said. "You see, a magical user can bind their soul to their body after death and reanimate it as a lich. And live forever with untold magic power normally out of human reach. But it takes years and years. If the Queen was nothing more than a ghost she couldn't kill all the innocent people needed or hunt for all the ingredients to preserve her body. She needs living pawns. And say, living pawns are hard to find new. If her pawns died of murder... She could make them come back by killing their murderers."

"But why would she try to kill me?" Antonio asked.

"Probably because she still has a part of your mother. Perhaps she intends to use her image..." Arthur thought "But this theory would only hold ground if Ivan and Sadiq were her pawns."

"It wouldn't surprise me." Lovino said. "She needed someone with power to kill. Ivan was a warden. Maria would send him innocent people he would have them killed. And Sadiq knew this land well enough to track me and Antonio for weeks."

"We're going to have to act as if this is her plan." Arthur said. "Because that is the worst case scenario."

000

Lovino was so tired. Of all of it. The ghosts, the dreams haunting the people he loved... He lay on his bed thinking of all that had happened, a guard watching over him Lovino fell asleep. He needed a nap...

"Run." Was all the man had said. "Run for your life and don't ever come back." So he ran. He ran through the woods, the trees becoming tighter and twisted... Until he had reached a cottage. It was small, like he was. Everything was just his size, and there were 7 of them all. 7 bowls around the table with seven chairs that Lovino fit perfectly into. Upstairs 7 beds where if he laid in one his feet and head touched both headboards.

Of course someone had lived in the little cottage. And they came home to Lovino sleeping in their bed. 7 little men all in miner's clothes.

"What are you doing here little girl?" One asked.

"Please don't make me leave." Lovino begged "Please, my step mother wants to kill me!"

"What, woah woah." Another man said "What's going on?"

"My stepmother. The queen has decided I'm a threat to her... So she sent me out here to be killed. But the hunter who she sent let me go. Please don't send me back." Lovino said starting to cry.

"I- dammit." One man said. "We can let her get killed..."

"You can stay here." Another man said. "If, you do all the cleaning."

"And the cooking" Another added

"Make all the beds." Said a third.

"Wash all the clothes!" Said a fourth.

"Tend the gardens." A fifth.

The 6th only nodded

"And never, answer the door. In case someone is sent to kill you again." Said the 7th. "Are we clear?"

"Yes!" Lovino said jumping to his feet and kissed each of the men on their heads. All 7 turned bright red. One in particularly was a bright shade. "My name is Snow White."

"What a lovely name." The first man said. "Well I'm-" And he listed off each of the other men's names. Lovino shook each of their hands.

Lovino was welcomed into their home with open arms. They made him a bed slightly bigger for him to fit comfortably in, as well as a chair at the dinner table. Life with the men was very peaceful, the work was hard, cooking for 7 men no matter how small was a big task for such a young girl. But Lovino managed. The men were kind but Lovino couldn't help but feel sad.

"What's the matter Snow White?" one of the men asked.

"I miss my prince is all." Lovino confessed. "He used to visit me at the castle. He would bring me flowers and beg me to run away with him. But I was always to scared... I should have gone with him."

"Don't beat yourself up about it." The man said and patted his shoulder gently. "I'm sure your prince will find you again."

"I know he will. But it will be awfully hard to leave you all." Lovino said with a smile

"Naw, don't worry about us. We'll get along. We'll all miss you terribly but it would be better if you were away from us happy and protected then here cooking for us and makin' yourself miserable." Lovino smiled and a tear pricked his eye. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I guess this is what it feels like to have a parent who loves you. Or you know, 7 of them." Lovino laughed. "Who knew I had a horrid mother but 7 loving fathers." The man smiled

"Love you Snow White."