Okay, so I have been sick the past couple of days, and I wrote this within those days. This is fluff - and no, it is not between Snow and Eric or William. It is Sahila and Elijah. There is a bit of hinting towards their history together. I am not sure if I am going to work this out in this story or make a side-story about it. I hope you like this.

Love,
Lily
XOXO

XV

Sahila watches intently as the Duke falls into a deep sleep. She knows this is probably not going to succeed. One of them is going to die, she knows in the deepest recesses of her heart. She bites her nails and praises to the Lords that they will spare her one and only son. Or nephew. He might as well be her son, she bloody raised him.

"Sahila, love?"

She gasps and turns, startled by his soft voice. "Elijah."

"Are you alright? You seem troubled."

She sighs and shakes her head. "This is not going to have a happy ending. Not for everyone." She looks down on her son.

He beckons her out of the room, so that they can talk in private. Muir nods that he will watch over the girl and the two men. "As I recall it correctly, you do not believe in happy endings." he says, smirking.

"I do not." She ignores the twitch in her stomach as she sees him smirk. It may have been years since they last saw each other, but she has never really forgotten him. "I just meant...somebody is going to die, Elijah. And it is going to happen because of me. Because I am too weak, because I let them go after her."

Elijah's smirk disappears and he frowns worriedly. "Because of you? No, it is not because of you. You only tried to help our Queen."

"Not my Queen! Or yours! We do not even belong in this land. We belong in India!" she yells, her anger more pointed at her herself than at him.

"Yes, your Queen! You have lived here since you took in Eric! She is your Queen, and you had the right sense to help her. She saved this land. You know as well as I what she did." He takes her by the arms and forces her to look at him. "This is not because of you."

She forces back the tears that threaten to come to the surface. "It is. I know why this is happening. I know what is happening."

Elijah staggers backwards, a shocked expression on his face. It should be comical if this is not so damn serious. "What?! You know?"

"It is my magic that is doing this. Well, not my magic, but I helped make it happen." Tears are flowing now, and her heart is breaking apart further every second. "I did not know it would be used for this! If I did, I would never have..."

Elijah stops her rambling by grabbing her and pulling her into his arms. She feels safer in an instant. His warmth is engulfing her, and she buries her face in his shirt, crying until there is not a tear left. "You need to calm down first, love. Then we will talk." He rocks her in his arms until she calms down a bit.

"I am sorry. I do not know why I am so bloody emotional."

He laughs. "That is just because I am here. I get to you. I always have."

She cannot argue with him there. "I am sorry."

"You need not be. It is alright." He caresses her cheek and smiles softly. "You are going to be alright now?"

She takes a deep breath and nods. "Yes. Thank you."

"Now. I want to know everything you know. Go."

Sahila really does not want to, because he will hate her forever after this. But she also knows she does not have a choice. He will not stop until he knows what she has got to do with all of this. "Alright. Two years ago, the Queen – Ravenna – came to my house. She was really friendly, different from all the stories I had heard." She walks to the dining room, carefully avoiding eye contact with him. "So I invited her in."

He gasps. "You invited her in? Sahila, you know enough of the world to know that you should not invite somebody in if you do not know them!"

She closes her eyes, she cannot take his disappointment. "I know, thank you very much. Now do you want me to continue, or do you want to tell it?"

He raises his hands, knowing when to give it a rest with her. "Please, continue."

She takes another deep breath. "So, I invited her in. She asked me about me, about my life here. She knew I was not from around here, and I told her about me and you and Eric." She sees that he is on the verge of interfering again, but he bites his tongue and just nods. He is a fast learner. "Which is the stupidest thing I ever did, following by inviting her in in the first place. When she knew enough, she went straight to business. She demanded that I created a new world for her. So that if she, or one she loved, died...they could go there."

He looks astonished. "What did she want that for? Can you even do that?"

"I can. I just had no idea how at the time. I told her no, I would not do it, not for all the money in the world. That is when she started threatening Eric." Sahila's stomach turns when she remembers this, and she feels sick because of her weakness. How could she let that witch make her do this? "Anyway...she said she would hurt him. Throw him in the darkest dungeons and torture him until he would go insane. When that did not work, she said she would take him into the Dark Forest. Leave him there, to rot. That is what persuaded me to do it. I could not condemn my Eric to a life in the Forest." She buries her head in her hands and starts sobbing.

"Sahila...Sahila, love..." He pulls her in his arms and rocks her again. "It is alright, I am here, I will not go anywhere."

"It is just too horrible. I gave her my knowledge that is going to end a life. I am a horrible person."

She feels him shake his head and pushes her back a little. "You are not a horrible person, on the contrary. You are a wonderful person, and you only tried to protect the only one you love."

And that is when she realizes, when she knows that he will always stand beside her. Whatever she does, whatever horrible things she has done, he will always just be there for her. She reaches up to him, and pulls him down to her, kissing him like she did so many years ago. His arms wind around her and lifts her up, kissing her back with the same passion she remembers. She laughs around his lips and doubles over suddenly. She does not know why she is laughing, this is not even funny.

"What?" he asks smiling.

She shakes her head. "Nothing. It is not even funny. I have missed you, Elijah. I have missed you so much." She wraps her arms around him and buries her head in his chest.

"You have not changed one bit, you know that?"

She sighs. "And you know exactly how that is possible. It is your fault."

"Fault?" He chuckles sarcastically. "You wanted it, remember?"

"That was then." she says defensively.

"You're saying you regret it?" He leans in and smiles against her lips, and she smiles back involuntarily. "You regret that you had the chance to take care of Eric? You regret our years together?"

She closes her eyes. Oh yes, he knows that she does not. "No. I do not."

He kisses her lips ever so lightly, and her body shudders with anticipation. "There it is. Now that you have calmed down, I want you to tell me about this world. Whatever you know, maybe it can help." He helps her get to a chair and sits across from her, looking intently at her. "Tell me, I will not judge you for it."

Sahila highly doubts that. He will judge her. No doubt. But she will tell him anyway. Because she is tired of keeping this secret. She needs to tell someone. "Alright. This world, it is an empty place. Only filled with what people bring with them. It is cold, white, silent. And with silent I mean silent. No birds, no wind. Nothing. It is a depressing place."

Elijah bites his lip, obviously processing the information. She watches his teeth going into his lip and she gasps inwardly. It is just as sexy as she remembers. "Why would you shape it in such fashion?" he asks, his accent so clear that her hairs stand on edge. His accent always did something for her.

"I did not. She asked me to shape it in that fashion." Sahila stares into the distance, remembering ever so clearly. It had been horrible. "'Asked' meaning 'forcibly forced'. Elijah, it hurts even remembering it." Tears well up again, and she feels a surge of anger towards herself. She has cried enough for today.

He reaches for her and pulls her into his lap. "Shh, shh. I am here, you are safe." He strokes her hair and rocks her in his arms. "It is going to be okay. Are you listening to me?"

She nods in his chest and takes a deep breath. "I love you, Elijah." she whispers, regretting it the moment the words exit her mouth.

He stiffens under her, and she hears his breath catch in his throat. "Sahila..." he murmured.

She shies away from him slightly. "I am so sorry, I..."

He shakes his head and puts his finger on her lips. "Shh. Sahila...I should have told you this so many years ago." He looks deep into her eyes. "And I love you, too."

Her stomach flips backwards twice and she feels what she felt so many years ago at that ball. And now she has put words to it. "I cannot believe this." She chokes out a laugh. "I am telling you this while we are in the midst of a crisis and my son may die."

He chuckles, too, and leans his forehead against hers. "Well, you may blame me for this when he does, so this is the best of times." His fingers ghost past her lips and she closes her eyes briefly.

"This is not your fault. It is mine. Mine only."

He pulls her against his chest and just holds her, his warmth comforting her. She buries herself completely in his scent, and closes her eyes. She feels like a little girl, but she cannot help it. She feels vulnerable somehow, and his arms make her feel better. He is able to make her feel comfortable without even saying a word. It is just too good in his arms. She can fall asleep here, she has not slept well in days. "Sleep, Sahila. I am here, I will not go anywhere, alright?" He has noticed, of course, he notices everything about her. "I still love you, Sahila. Always have, always will. Not even the amount of time we have spent apart will change that."

"Alright, I understand. Stop flattering me."

"Only if I know it is working, love." he says, whispering the words in her ear. He knows exactly what can make her shiver. "Tell me it is working. Tell me that you are just as affected by this as I am. And then I will let you sleep." he continues, nipping at her earlobe, making her gasp in frustration. She has too much pride to admit that, and he knows it. "Just tell me, Sahila. Admit to it, and you will sleep soundly right here in my arms." His lips go lower and he sucks at her pulse point. This is too inappropriate, but Sahila cannot deny that it also feels too good to be legit. "Sahila." he says teasingly.

"Alright! I admit it, please, stop teasing! I need to sleep!" she exclaims, fed up with this teasing.

He laughs and buries his face in her neck. "Alright, I will stop. Do not worry. Sleep now."

She closes her eyes and the warmth of his arms envelopes her again. "Thank you."

"It is okay. You are safe, you are loved, go to sleep." His hands stroke her head, and while he hums a tune that brings her back to happier times, she drifts to sleep.

Okay, so I'm having excessive trouble writing this fic, because I'm completely hooked(ha, no pun intended;D) on Once Upon A Time, and that Snow White is completely different from this Snow White. It's kind of confusing. So don't kill me with hatred if I don't update soon. I'm trying! I really am, I just can't get Ginnifer Goodwinn as Snow out of my head. It's kind of frustrating really, 'cause I don't want to let you guys down all the time. I'm trying, but I don't want to rush things either and make the story bad(or worse, whichever one you prefer). Hang in there!

P.S. Also, I've upped the rating, just in case some explicit violence is going to appear in upcoming chapters.