A/N: Just a few notes on this AU as it continues to develop.

Regina doesn't have magic. Rumple helped her get rid of Cora, but she cut ties with him when she found out that she couldn't use magic to bring Daniel back.

Red is aware that she's the wolf and has it under control. Mainly because there are only so many plot lines I can stuff into this thing.

Thanks for reading!

Snow woke to birdsong and sunlight, finding herself nestled against her sleeping stepmother on the forest floor. It took a moment before she remembered why they were there with a frown. Father would be so disappointed. Father would be so worried, but she wasn't supposed to let herself think like that.

She got up quietly, trying not to wake Regina, and picked a direction at random, walking slowly as she searched for food or water. There were plenty of animals, of course, but the princess was weaponless and even if she'd had the means to kill, she knew she couldn't. Not when these creatures trusted her as implicitly as they always did, creeping out of their burrows and nests to get a look at her, a bluebird alighting on her shoulder briefly before flying on. No, what she needed was a blackberry bush or some edible roots. Something that wouldn't hurt anyone.

"Does anyone know where I might find something to eat?" she asked the forest around her.

She'd never told anyone about her strange ability, about the small bit of magic she'd discovered she had as a child. She couldn't talk with animals, that would be ridiculous, but she could talk to them.

It had only failed one time, with her runaway horse on the day she met Regina, and for that reason she'd never trusted horses again.

A doe stepped out from between the trees and met the Princess's eyes, dipping her head in a bow. "Thank you," Snow replied, following the deer deeper into the forest. The trees grew thicker here, slowing her progress, and the doe paused to let her catch up. Snow was just a few feet behind when an arrow zipped past her, and she screamed as the deer collapsed. She turned to run, but froze when she saw a wolf blocking her path.

Footsteps came up fast behind her, and a male voice. "Are you hit?"

Snow twisted back around to see a man approaching with a bow in his hand. He had a curly mop of hair and the beginnings of a beard, and was dressed in so much fur that he almost seemed some sort of animal himself. His eyes, however, were distinctly human and filled with concern.

"Are you hit?" he repeated, looking her over.

"No," Snow said after she had a moment to let the question sink in. "You killed her." She gestured towards the fallen deer.

The man left her side and went down on one knee beside the animal, carefully withdrawing the bloody arrow. Snow watched, surprised, as he said something too softly for her to hear. It almost looked as though he was praying, and she caught the glimmer of a tear before it disappeared into his beard.

"What are you saying?" she asked, forgetting her fear even as the wolf came up beside her.

"I'm thanking her," he said simply, rising to his feet again and turning his attention back to the girl. "Are you lost?"

Snow glanced over her shoulder, trying to remember which direction she'd come in. "I might be."

He nodded, bending to pick up the deer and sling it over his shoulder. "There's a road just a mile beyond my home, and knights have been up and down it constantly for two days. I can bring you there."

"No!" Snow cried out a little too sharply, realizing too late that she'd given herself away.

He just gave her an unexpected smile, as though he knew what it was to be on the run. "Food and water, then, before you continue your journey?"

Snow cast another look over her shoulder, although she couldn't be sure which way would get her to Regina. "My stepmother's still out there."

He shifted the animal on his shoulder. "What's a stepmother?"

"Someone who isn't your mother but takes care of you even so."

The man glanced down at the wolf and nodded at it. "Scout out the woman," he said, and the wolf took off into the forest. "I'll take you to my home and then go back for her," he explained to Snow, beginning to walk away.

Snow hurried along beside him. "Animals understand you?" she asked, reaching up to stroke the nose of the doe hanging down the man's back. She felt terribly about the deer dying in an effort to help her, but she couldn't help wondering if maybe the creature's goal had been to lead her to this man.

"You know this is madness."

Red tucked the dagger into her belt and rolled her eyes at her grandmother. "I know. But someone has to make sure David doesn't get himself killed."

Granny stepped forward and set her hands firmly on Red's shoulders, looking her in the eye. "Is this really what you want?"

"He's my best friend. He always has been." Red was unable to hide the sadness that played across her face. Of course this wasn't what she wanted. Not if the goal of David's journey was to find somebody else.

Granny pulled her in for an embrace before reaching down for the red cloak flung carelessly over a nearby chair. She fastened it around her granddaughter's neck. "Sometimes a grand adventure is all it takes to realize that what you want is back where you started," she mused, pulling the hood up over Red's dark hair.

"You always know just what to say, Granny." Red smiled, although that sadness was still there in her eyes.

Rumplestiltskin ran his fingers over the gilded edge of the mirror, stroking it to life. "Show me the Queen," he said, now tenting his fingers together as his reflection disappeared and the surface filled with a view of the forest. "Oh, Regina, you make this so easy." The young Queen, alone, rose to her feet, hand against a tree for support, and took a few limping steps forward before her ankle gave out beneath her. "So very, very easy," he added with a cackle as Regina crumpled to the ground.

He let the mirror return to normal, turning his attention to the torn paper he'd tacked up to the wall. He'd tossed the advertised reward for the Princess in the fire, unable to keep from smiling as he watched her picture burn. It was an enjoyable moment, but he had no use for Snow White and certainly no need for more money. His focus was on the second portrait, on the face of the one he'd been waiting on for centuries.

Regina had gotten away before, but now she was weak, now she had reason to make him a deal.