A/N: I'm glad so many enjoyed the last chapter! This story has a lot more to come, so you're going to have to wait for the solutions. Hang in there! Now that the plot is picking up, I'm writing a lot faster, so hopefully I won't torment you too much.

This is a short chapter, but I promise more soon!

The Princess had finally quieted, worn out from fighting back. She sat on a fallen log, hands bound in her lap, and snuck glances at the girl sitting next to her.

"I'm sorry," Belle said. "We didn't mean to frighten you."

"If your intentions are good, why are you holding me here?" Snow asked. The young man who'd woken her and dragged her away from Regina was pacing back and forth in front of them, and he stopped when he heard the Princess speak.

"Untie her," David ordered, but Belle didn't move.

"Are you forgetting that she got hold of the dagger and nearly stabbed you?" Belle shook her head.

"Please," Snow whispered. "I won't hurt anyone. I just want to get back to my stepmother."

David let out a frustrated sigh. "She kidnapped you, Princess. We're only trying to help you."

"She did no such thing," Snow replied, defiance flashing again in her tired eyes. "She's the only person who has ever helped me."

Belle held up a hand to silence David before he could speak. "Don't argue with her. She's confused."

"No, I'm not."

"Sometimes victims of kidnapping begin to identify with their kidnappers," Belle explained, recalling a book she'd read on the subject. "She believes what she's saying."

"Because it's true," Snow shot back.

David crouched down in front of the Princess, offering her a pitiful smile. "Everything's going to be all right, my love."

Fear rose again in Snow's expression, her voice wavering as she thought back to the unwelcome contact they'd shared earlier. "Please don't touch me."

Belle was about to urge David to leave them. Snow was calmer without him near, and they were never going to win the girl's trust if she stayed tense. As she looked from the Princess to the shepherd, however, she saw a flash of crimson between the trees as Red approached.

Snow saw her, too, and she rose immediately to her feet, nearly knocking David over. "You haven't hurt her, have you? Is Regina all right?"

"She's fine, Princess," Red told her, even though she wasn't entirely sure that was true given the look on the Queen's face as she was taken away. "She's being kept safe from the King's men."

Snow allowed herself to smile. "Thank you for helping her." The knowledge that Regina was alive and free was all that she cared about. As much as the Princess wanted her near now, wanted things to return to the way they'd been, there was a hope that Regina would return for her. She only had to wait.

David didn't look up as Red returned, instead continuing to watch Snow. There was a light in her eyes that he'd never had a chance to see before, and it wasn't for him. Red was the one with the good news and the sword, Snow's savior, and he was reviled. He got to his feet, stalking away angrily.

"David?" Red made to follow him. This was all her fault, her selfish deal costing him the Princess, if only temporarily. When he turned and she saw his pained expression, she wished more than anything that she could undo it.

She could pick up the pieces just as Rumplestiltskin had promised, she could win his love for a short time, but she realized with a pang that she didn't want that. She wanted to see him smile again as he had when he beheld the Princess for the first time.

"You were right, Red," David said bitterly. "True love isn't real. It's just some kind of sick joke." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the brightly glowing ring, throwing it to the ground. As soon as it left his grasp, the light went out.

Belle moved towards the rare object. Whether or not it was accurate, whether or not it was going to condemn her to the fate she least wanted, it was worth too much to be lost in the woods.

Red bent down herself, still thinking of the heavy price of the ring. It cost David his happiness, and she couldn't imagine what it might cost the Queen. It was certainly not to be taken lightly.

Red reached it slightly before Belle, not paying attention to the way it lit up just as brightly as it had in David's hand a moment ago. Mere seconds later, Belle's fingers brushed against Red's as she, too, reached for the ring.

All four turned their heads or covered their eyes at the sudden blinding light.

Regina found herself alone in a cell, standing in a patch of barred sunlight that came through the window. "Snow?" she called tentatively, even though she knew her stepdaughter had been taken away long before she'd been transported here.

She sank down onto the simple cot, nausea rising in her. Those fools, no more than children, had Snow, and doubtlessly wanted the reward. The thought of Leopold getting the Princess back into his clutches was horrifying, especially if Regina wasn't there to intervene.

She'd promised to protect Snow, and she'd failed. She'd slept beside the girl instead of keeping watch, and now Snow was returning to the very things she'd been crying about before Regina closed her eyes.

She didn't spare a thought for herself, for whatever Rumplestiltskin had in store for her. "Snow," she said, in a whisper this time, and she let the tears come.