Oh GOSH. Once Upon A Time is most definitely going to be the death of me! I hate cliffhangers, I wanna know what the fudge nuts is going on! :(

This chapter is going to start showing how Regina and Cheshire actually meet. And no, it's not just by chance. ;)

I Do Not Own Once Upon A Time.

That Mischievous Grin

Chapter Eight

By LoveMeNever

Cheshire tied off both the horses to a tree trunk. Aladdin was dozing off in the saddle so she decided they would take a break. She led them off the road as to not draw attention from passing travelers. They already traveled for four days without incident but she knew that could change any moment.

The road was busy most days with merchants or at one point they passed a carriage with a bunch of guards so Chess assumed it was someone important.

The kid was proving to be more trouble than she had originally thought. Who knew such a small boy would need to eat and sleep every few hours? Plus, he never stopped talking.

He asked her question after question. And, he constantly tried to guess her name.

"Lucy? Lauren? Hope? Gabrielle? Um... oh! You look like a Penelope!" He would go on for almost an hour naming off names.

"What's so fragile it can be broken by one word?" Cheshire would ask him. He never answered her riddles though. "Silence."

Even though Aladdin was a kid he could take a hint. After that he would be silent for a few minutes and then start talking again.

As they rested by the roadside Cheshire began to consider the possibility that the Queen's guards could be tracking them for stealing the horses. If they asked any of the traveling merchants if they encountered a young street rat boy and a woman wearing purple and black attire.

Then Chess and Aladdin would be screwed.

"I'm not tired." He yawned, Cheshire gave him a knowing look and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, right." She walked over to large tree near where Aladdin was slowly drifting off to sleep on the ground. "Sleep while ya can kid, I'm not stopping for long."

Cheshire sat down and leaned up against the tree trunk. She chuckled and looked at the surroundings making sure no one was going to sneak up on them. Aladdin groaned and rolled over his hand hit Cheshire's leg. She grimaced and moved away from Aladdin just a scoot. She didn't like being touched.

Her list of things she didn't like was growing.

Her thoughts were broken by a twig snapping behind her. She heard someone breathing, no, more than one person. In human form she still had a cat's senses. She glanced over at Aladdin who was still sleeping soundly. She stood and turned around to face whoever dared to sneak up on them.

The Queen's guard probably wouldn't be sneaking around so she didn't think it was them.

She could see dark figures hiding behind bushes and trees. "Wow, you guys are terrible at hiding. And sneaking. I think my dead grandmother could have heard you." She mocked them.

One by one they came out of hiding. There were three. Cheshire was amused by them, they were bandits, dressed in brown leather armor from head to toe. The armor was worn and didn't look very sturdy.

"Give us all your money and both horse and we won't flay you alive!" One of the bandits said in a raspy voice while he held a knife pointed at her.

"An alarming threat but cliche. Tell me, did you know that cat's like to play with their prey before they finish them off?" Cheshire slowly walked towards them grinning mischievously.

They all looked at each in confusion for a moment. "What?"

While the guy closest to Cheshire was looking away she disarmed him and side kicked him straight in the chest. He stumbled back surprised at the force. "You... you just kicked me!" He said making a dumbfounded face.

"Is that what I did? Huh." Cheshire looked up at the sky deep in thought. "Maybe I should do it again to make sure?" She laughed.

The bandits let out battle cries then charged at her. They were terribly sloppy, Cheshire thought. Their limbs just moved in wild motions trying to land a hit. But Cheshire easily dodged them.

She ducked under a punch from a shorter bandit and in return thrust her shoulder into his gut. He pushed her away.

Two bandits came up from behind Cheshire and grabbed her arms pulling them behind her back. Oh great.

The guy she kicked before stood in front of her with his knife held to her throat. "You're feisty, I'll give you that." He laughed and searched her for money.

"Easy there, tiger." Chess smirked when a intruding hand grabbed her ass. She had just about enough of these guys. Flashing a famous grin at the bandits she disappeared.

She changed into her cat form and escaped from sight into the bushes.

The bandits looked around for her. Shortly after they gave up and started to search around where herself and Aladdin were resting. Speaking of Aladdin, he had awoken by the bandits hoisting him up to pat him down.

Cheshire debated leaving. Surely they won't kill him. Was her reasoning.

"Gah, help! Somebody help me!" Aladdin yelled. He realized he still didn't know Cheshire's name so he couldn't call out to her. The bandits tied him to the tree trunk and gagged him.

Why did I not think of that? She could have been saved from hours of nonstop talking. I suppose I should help him. Letting a kid get kidnapped or worse is not something I want hanging over my head.

Rolling her cat eyes Cheshire pounced on the bandit tying Aladdin up. She scratched at the guys face before she jumped off of him. Her claws left deep scratches.

She shifted back into human form so she could finish the others off quickly.

"Get her!" They yelled to one another but Cheshire was to quick. Grabbing a rope whilst dodging a wild punch she gracefully caught the bandits arm in the rope and stepped behind him slipping it around his neck. She started squeezing.

He made a choking sound.

The other bandits decided running would be their best option if they wanted to live. Cowards, can't even face a cat? Cheshire chuckled.

"Wait, don't kill him!" Aladdin managed to spit out the gag and begged while he was still tied up.

Cheshire gave him an annoyed and confused expression. "What?!" The bandit beneath her was struggling, trying to claw at her arm with his free hand. He wasn't going to last much longer.

Aladdin couldn't watch as the bandit was being choked to death. He wanted Cheshire to stop because then she would be evil. Evil people killed. And he knew Cheshire said she wasn't evil or good so this would make her bad.

"Please!" He yelled.

Cheshire stopped and roughly shoved the bandit to the ground. "Ace, you never cease to amaze me." She sounded annoyed. Why did he want me to stop?!

The bandit coughed and tried to crawl away but Chess stepped on his beck making him hit the ground. She noticed a silver chain dangling out of his pocket. "What's this?" She asked as she picked it up. It was a simple necklace. The pendant hanging on it was a hollow silver circle.

Nothing fancy.

As she examined it she felt magic pulsating from it.

The bandit grunted and tried to flip himself over to grab it from her. "Give it back!"

"Oh-ho! It's quite valuable, isn't it?" Cheshire laughed in his ear. Grabbing his knife from the ground she turned him over and placed it to his chest. "Tell me what it is and where you got it. Pretty please?" She batted her eyelashes.

"L-look no need to get hasty! It's just a stupid necklace!" The bandit said in a panic.

He was lying.

"Normally, I would believe that from a low class bandit such as yourself." Just barely touching the end of the dagger to his chest she slid it to his throat. He squirmed at the small cut. "But you see, I know when people are lying, call it a sixth sense."

Aladdin turned his head toward the necklace. It didn't look special. Why was she making such a big deal out of it?

"Alright, alright! I was hired to find it all I know is it's supposed to repeal magic or something!" That piqued Cheshire's interest. Anything that had the power to protect from magic was valuable.

"Who hired you?"

"I can't... he'll kill me!" He exclaimed.

"Who?" She pressed the knife against his skin making a tiny trail of blood trickle down his neck.

His face twisted but he tried to recover quickly. "T-the Dark One!"

Hmm. Intriguing. Cheshire stood satisfied with the information and slipped the necklace over her head. Could be useful later, especially since she was going to see the Queen, and if the Dark One was involved his magic wouldn't harm her either.

The bandit started to crawl away again. This time she let him. "I'd prefer it if you didn't tell the Dark One that you ever saw me or this boy, understood?" She raised an expectant eyebrow.

He nodded quickly then took off running.

Cheshire smirked.

She remembered that Aladdin was still tied up so she walked over to the tree and cut the ropes with her newly acquired dagger. The boy didn't meet Cheshire's eyes. There was a question hanging in the air.

"Things left unspoken can be rather haunting." Cheshire told him.

He cast his gaze to the ground, "Were you really going to kill him?"

"Does that bother you?"

"Well... you said you weren't evil but evil people kill." Aladdin slowly met her gaze. He felt small.

Cheshire sighed and bent down to his level. "There's a distinction between bad and survival as well. Annihilate whats threatens to destroy you."

He nodded trying to understand it. "Oh..."

She could tell he wasn't really understanding. He saw things in either black or white there was no grey area with him. "Cheshire."

"Huh?" He looked at her curiously.

She stood up placing her hands on her hips, an amused grin spread across her face, "That's what you can call me. If you get into anymore trouble you'll know who to call for, kay?" As annoying as the kid was Cheshire was starting to get used to him.

She had a feeling they would run into more trouble too.

Forgetting that she almost choked a man to death, Aladdin smiled, he finally knew her name. "Cheshire? That's a funny name. Where did you learn how to fight? How can you turn into a cat? And why were you purple and pink? That's a little strange for a cat, right?"

Oh boy, the nonstop questions again. "Ace, slow down." She patted his shoulder as he took in a deep breath.

Aladdin's face scrunched in pain when she touched him. She frowned and inspected him. There was a small cut on his shoulder.

"Ouch..." He tried to move away from Chess while she inspected the wound.

"Stop squirming." Cheshire deducted that the cut wasn't deep and with a bandage of some kind to keep it from getting infected he would be perfectly fine. "You're fine."

He gave her a funny look.

"What?" She smirked and poked his forehead.

She watched as he opened his mouth and then closed it. He was struggling with whatever it was he had on his mind. Cheshire saw the look in his face, fondness, so she didn't necessarily want to know.

It was probably something sappy.

Not bothering to look at him in the eyes again, Chess examined the area trying to find a piece of cloth she could use to wrap the cut. Seeing nothing she huffed and used the bandits dagger to cut off the bottom of her shirt.

Now her flat and tone stomach was showing off.

She began to wrap the material around Aladdin's shoulder.

Aladdin decided he wouldn't say what he was thinking. It would only cause things to be awkward between himself and Cheshire. He was thinking of how great of a big sister she would be. A mother figure might be pushing it a bit. She still found him annoying, he knew.

"So... you're a cat?" Aladdin said changing the subject. He followed her as she untied the horses and hoisted herself up on the saddle. Aladdin got on his horse as well.

Cheshire raised an eyebrow at him. All she did was smirk and urge her horse to move forward.

Once again leaving Aladdin confused and dangling by a thread.

He huffed in frustration.

Regina paced back and forth in her study. Snow White was almost as good as dead but her imbecile guards let her slip past them. "I'm missing something! There must be some way to ensure that she is killed and her heart brought to me!"

Her father, Henry, watched as his daughter went crazy trying to solve her Snow White problem. "Is it really that important for you to kill her? I wish you would let this hatred go."

She stopped pacing and widened her eyes at her father. He knew how much she needed to kill Snow White.

"I will not have my happiness until Snow White's unbeating heart is in my hands!" Regina took a few steps closer to her father. "You want me to have happiness, don't you daddy?" She asked a little softer.

Henry sighed. "Yes of course." Regina allowed her hands to be grabbed and held by her fathers. "I am going to tend to the horses, would you like to accompany me?" He asked her. He was hoping the horses would get her mind off of revenge. Regina loved horses as a child, teen, and even now... she just rarely took the time to stop plotting Snow White's demise to indulge that love.

"Not now." Was all Regina said. Henry nodded and left the room slightly disappointed.

A laugh filled the room when Regina thought she was alone. "Still having problems, deary?"

Regina growled. Rumpelstiltskin.

"Unless you have something of use to me then please leave." Regina was growing tired of his constant games, every time he 'helped' her there was always a catch.

Rumpelstiltskin giggled evilly and walked closer to the Queen. "My, my is that any way to treat the one who is going to solve your problem?"

Regina sighed, growing impatient. "How are you going to do that exactly?"

"There is someone here, in the Enchanted Forest, who can help with your revenge. Someone who isn't aligned with a 'side'."

Understanding what he was implying Regina grinned wickedly. "You mean someone who could get close to Snow?" Whoever this unaligned person was, Regina was going to find them.

"Indeed deary! The only problem you have is that you have to get her to trust you. And she does not like being used or lied too. I'd tread carefully!" Rumpelstiltskin laughed.

"She? It's a woman?" At least she could narrow her search down now. "Who is she?"

Rumpelstiltskin waved his index and made a 'tsk' sound. "Where is the fun in telling you that?"

"How am I supposed to find her if I don't know who she is?" Regina demanded with her hands on her hips. She scowled in aggravation.

Once again he's playing games.

Rumpelstiltskin laughed again. "You don't need to worry about that! She'll come to you!" After he said that Regina wanted to ask him more questions but he made himself disappear from the room.

"When the hell is that going to be?!" Regina asked no one in particular. She made a wild gesture with her hands before leaving her study and making her way into her personal room. She kept her magic mirror there.

Maybe it could shed some light on the situation. If she was lucky, it might show her the woman she needed to find.

Cheshire and Aladdin continued to travel along the main road. It was very empty at this hour, it gave Cheshire an uneasy feeling. She could almost sense someone watching her.

Her eyes darted to the left, right, up and then behind. Nothing.

Well, nothing except for Aladdin humming a tune happily. Cheshire wondered what had him in such a good mood. Earlier he was scared that she had almost killed a man now he was humming.

"What are you humming?" She finally asked him. Just like she hoped, he stopped the noise to tell her. She smirked.

"Just a tune I've heard sung at the tavern. I lived nearby to it so at night I could hear the music. It sometimes helped me sleep." He smiled fondly at the memory.

Cheshire's eyebrows shot up curiously. "You heard all the things going on in the tavern?" It was appalling that someone so young should have heard everything that went on in a tavern.

Not that she would know. She had not been to many. Lately.

Wonderland did not have the luxuries of fun. The only remotely fun thing to do was pester the Queen of Hearts, her guards, or wait until someone new ventured into the realm. Which rarely happened.

Hence why everyone there was mad. Mad from boredom.

"Yes! The music and laughter was something I enjoyed. I even liked to play pranks on the drunk ones." Aladdin flashed a grin at Chess. She could have sworn it mirrored her own with such mischievousness. Scary.

"Right-o." Cheshire couldn't help but grin along with him. Messing with drunk people was always fun. "

Do you know what happened to your parents?" She asked out of the blue, curiously. It genuinely piqued her interest much to her annoyance.

Aladdin's face slowly broke from the grin. "No... I was told that they died when I was a baby." He looked at her as a thought occurred to him. He knew next to nothing about her, other than her name, and even that took four days to learn. "What about your parents? Where are you from? And how old are you? You never say anything about yourself. Other than that you're completely mad."

Cheshire grimaced, her past was not something she liked to discuss. Her head was conveniently turned away from the boy so he didn't see her reaction. Giving him a sideways glance she urged her horse to speed up. "Freedom is so precious to some that they pay for it with their lives."

"What do you mean?" Was she referring to her parents? Aladdin thought about it for a moment. "They're gone like mine, aren't they?"

"Now I never said that." Chess enjoyed keeping the boy guessing. "As for where I am from it's someplace that is not here. My age... well, looks can be deceiving."

Why did she have to be so cryptic? A straight, honest answer would be preferable. Aladdin made an exasperated sound. "I'm never going to know anything about you, am I?"

Cheshire grinned, she looked forward at the road. "You already know my name, ace." She pointed out causing another sigh from Aladdin.

The feeling of being watched hit her again.

Up ahead she could make out black figures all riding horses. They were moving hastily. She squinted her eyes trying to get a better look. Her cat-like eyes recognized them as the Evil Queen's guards. "Oh dear. I do believe we have company, ace."

"The guards! We should run!" Aladdin tugged on the reins of his horse. The horse shook it's head and backed up. Cheshire didn't think the guards had seen them yet.

"I'm inclined to agree with you." Cheshire turned her horse while keeping an eye on the fast approaching guards. "Getting caught by guards and thrown into the dungeons for stealing horses is not the way I want to end up in the castle."

Both Aladdin and Cheshire led their horses off the path and into the forest. Going around the guards would save them time rather than retreating back the way they came. Hopefully the guards would loose the trail and give up.

Cheshire watched as they thundered past them.

"We're safe!" Aladdin smiled and cheered. It practically echoed throughout the span of the trees.

"This unmitigated disaster is all your doing." Cheshire deadpanned as the guards stopped, turned, and spotted them. All because of Aladdin's outburst.

They surrounded them before the fleeing pair were able to actually flee. Their horses reared up when the guards drew their weapons, knocking Aladdin off and causing Cheshire to have to jump off. The second they both hit the ground the guards seized them.

Aladdin's face fell. "Oops."

Cheshire rolled her eyes. She should have let the bandits keep the brat.

Tehehe. What's Rumpelstiltskin plotting now?! Cheshire and Aladdin always manage to get into trouble somehow. :)

Next Chapter is back to Storybrooke! It will address the mystery and issue of Jaime's attack!

Any thoughts? ;)