A/N: Hey guys, yes I'm still alive. I know it's been awhile since my last chapter but I'm determined to get this all done before summer, or else there won't be another chapter till August. So i'll try to get the chapters in ASAP.

BTW: Thank you so much for the reviews Ravenclaw992.

Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT.

Chapter 7

************Enchanted Forest**************

"Jeannette, honey I'm so sorry," Beth said soothingly to her granddaughter. She had just returned with her. They were sitting at her fire place, little Jenna lay asleep on the floor, her head in Beth's lap.

The villagers had said she had been a stone, unmoving and unfeeling. It hurt Beth to see her granddaughter so distraught. She had immediately taken full guardianship of her. She had not said a word, that is until they reached her quaint little house. As soon as the door was shut she began to cry, uncontrollably.

It had taken awhile, but eventually she fell asleep, the red hood she had given her covered her body. Her breathing was deep and even, Beth was certain the child wouldn't wake, so she placed a blanket atop her granddaughter and left the warmth of the fireplace.

It was then that she cried herself. She had taught her son all she knew about fighting, but it still wasn't enough. She needed to call a meeting, but her sweet little Jenna couldn't find out. Jenna didn't know about her parents, she may know a little, but not all. So the meeting had to be a quick one, and soon.

Beth made her way outside to the back of the house. There were many trees with little cages hanging all over them, almost all occupied. She went to one of the cages where a bird was begging to be let out.

"Please, please let me go," the bird chirped.

"Shh," she tried to calm its chattering. Looking at the stranger bird she began her message "It's time for another meeting. It's time for another meeting," Beth repeated the message. Then she took it out of the cage, she continued to repeat the message. She then waited for the response. The bird nodded.

"Soldier Beth is calling a meeting," the bird repeated back.

Then she released it, knowing that the message couldn't be delivered soon enough. She went back inside and carried her little Jenna to her bedroom.

The next morning it was all settled, the bird was sent back, with the same reply. 'Be there before nightfall.' Granny was making a delicious breakfast for her granddaughter, she had noticed how skinny and sick she seemed, so a big breakfast was in order.

Her special little granddaughter slowly came down the stairs, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Granny?"

The woman turned around, smiling at the little girl. "Good morning Jenna, I made you breakfast."

Jenna looked up at her Granny like she had another head. "Granny, I'm not Jeannette anymore."

Beth smiled at the little girl's game. She decided to humor her, crouching low she was eye level with her. "Oh? And who are you"

Jenna twirled in her red hood, she had yet to take it off. "My name is Red, like Little Red. That's what mommy and daddy called me, before..." Beth changed the subject immediately, not wanting to upset her 'Little Red'.

"Alright 'Little Red'. You have a big day ahead of you, starting with eating this breakfast."

She watched as the little girl devoured as much as she could fit into her mouth. "Thank you Granny," she smiled at the one woman she had left.

Getting up, Granny started packing some bread and cheese into the basket she had brought for her.

"What do you mean, I have a big day ahead of me?" Red asked, getting up on her tiptoes to see over the counter.

"I had an idea," she said as she continued to place things into the basket. "You haven't been here in a while so I thought, maybe you could go exploring. I'm packing you a lunch to take with you."

Red didn't question any of it. If there was anything she needed to know, her Granny would say something. Her parents always told her she wasn't ready to know everything, but when she was ready, she would be told.

"Okay, when should I head back?" Red asked.

"When it's noon," Beth looked at Red. "Do you know when that is?"

Red nodded, "Mommy and daddy taught me."

Beth patted the little girl's head. "Alright, now go get dressed."

With the hours that followed, many new people came to the house. When the last person came the meeting began.

Beth stood at a podium for all of them to see "Alright the meeting is starting."

One woman stood up, she was an old friend of Beth's. "We all heard, we're so sorry."

She never cried in front of her comrades, and wasn't about to now. "Well obviously that's why I've called this meeting, but the time for being sad is over, the time for action is not. I don't care what it takes, we need to find those men." There were many yells of approval.

"Don't worry."

"We will."

"For Gale and Elizabeth."

The meeting continued on and on, everyone completely unaware of the young girl watching everything.

Red heard every word that was spoken, it scared her, but she knew why her granny had acted the way she had. Her parents had acted the same way. Being secretive, sending her out some days for hours on end.

Red recognized some of the people in there. Her uncle Rodney. He wasn't really her uncle, but was the closest thing to one. Her mother's friend Sylvia, her hair as black as night, always a bow with her. Then the next words spoken made her blood run cold.

Rodney stood up. "Beth I understand your need for immediate action, I myself am all for it."

"But what Rodney?" Beth asked, her tone harsh.

"But, what about Jeannette?"

The room was so silent, Red swore they could hear her heart beat. Then Beth spoke. "The girl stays with me. I can train her, Gale and Elizabeth started the survival training already, without her knowing."

"Beth, Jenna isn't going to replace-"

"I know that," Beth snapped, her eyes were downcast. "I know she won't replace Gale, but she needs someone, I'm all she has left."

"No, you're not." It was then that everyone stood in unison. Beth looked at them and smiled, wanting to let a tear fall, but refused.

"Thank you all, I appreciate it. She will need us all, and when the time is right, she'll be just as good as her father and mother." Red had never seen her granny act so bold, had never heard her be so loud.

They began speaking of strategies and Red thought that she should stop listening in. She stood up and headed to the shed. Though her granny may think she was little Red didn't feel that way anymore. She was seven true, but she was also changed. She wanted to be the best, just like her granny had said.

In the shed she spotted what she was looking for, a locked door in the shed. Inside the big shed was many gardening tools, pots of flowers, but there was one door that was locked. Red grabbed at one of the spades and hit it against the lock till it broke, her granny would be proud at her cleverness.

She walked into the small room and gazed in wonder at the many weapons she saw all around the walls. She smoothed her hand on the wood of the most beautiful bow she had ever seen. She knew it was one of her mother's bows. She picked it up and was disappointed by how large it was to her frame, she was too small to hold it properly. Looking around a bit longer she noticed a small average looking bow, but it seemed to be for someone her age. She picked it up along with a few arrows, and a wooden stick used for sparring.

It was the only thing that kept the monsters away, practice. She had picked a good secluded place in the forest. That was the first day she started to practice, first with the arrows. The bow and arrows weren't the young girls forte, but she was good. She had made targets herself, and hit them most dead on, but every once in while missed. She sparred till it was noon, hitting an imaginary opponent.

Red did this throughout her life. Practiced. She did whenever she felt sad or angry. It helped clear her mind. She knew that she would be ready if she herself had ever found the men. In fact as she got older the more she dwelled upon those men, and instead of fighting an imaginary opponent she fought off those men.

Many of the people she had saw that day she spied on with her granny came by. They helped out whenever and wherever they could when it came to Red. She believed that this was now her family.

Eventually she had told her granny about what she had been doing, about her practicing. It had become harder for Red to hide it, just as it had been harder for her granny to hide the meetings from her granddaughter. The day Red told her granny, she herself confessed and told her about the people she worked with.

They were an secret group of people, only heard as rumors. Most of them had fought together in one of the ogre wars, the rest were descendants. They helped keep peace in many far out villages, if another crisis were to arise they would be ready. Then her parents were killed, they had been the best of them, and were the current leaders.

Red loved her granny and asked if it was her time. Her granny had nodded. The next day there was an initiation for Red, everyone had come. She showed her many skills, her best being hand-to-hand and daggers.

She then joined the group of secret 'crime fighters', but soon after they had a falling out. An unusual amount of magic had been uncovered, and many had lost their lives, by a simple imp.

Red gasped, everything was so clear. She was gasping for breathe, she had awoken from a vivid dream. Looking around she realized she couldn't move, her feet and hands were bound. Trying to get her bearings straight ahead she heard a noise and looked around, but couldn't see, she was blind folded. What she heard next made her heart drop and her blood go cold.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty."

A/N: OOH I am sooooooo so so soooooo evil. But nope you're not getting anything else. Hope you liked the chapter, hope you liked the cliffhanger. I already have some of the next chapter, gotta get this done.

BTW: If any of you got the thing about the birds. I based them on the movie The 10th Kingdom, they were my inspiration.

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