Snow realized that he might have been sacrificing his only chance to find ‘true love’ by marrying Florinda for the good of the people and their two Kingdoms, but felt strangely okay with his decision. Perhaps, once he was married to Florinda Snow could convince Reginald to put an end to the enslavement of dullards in Apple Kingdom out of respect for Snow’s wife.
Although, Snow was feeling optimistic about his engagement to Florinda he’d still been filled with a sense of wrongness the entire day. But, even Snow’s strange mood didn’t prevent him from making sure he looked his best for when he’d announce his engagement. Snow had decided to wear a dark blue, silk shirt with puffed sleeves that were decorated with red, vertical stripes, a pair of tight, yellow, leather pants, and a pair of black knee boots that had been shined to perfection. His enchanted sword was strapped to his side. Blacksmith Rapunzel had fashioned Snow’s sword so that its guard was shaped like a bird’s wings.
Snow had decided to wear a sapphire broach, which brought out the color of his eyes, and several jeweled rings on his fingers. When Snow gazed into the mirror to check his reflection he realized something was missing, and added a flamboyant red cape. Damn, I look good. I’d marry me.
That feeling of unease wouldn’t leave Snow, however, even as he pushed the double doors to the throne room open and strode inside. The interior of the throne room was always a bit blinding with all its gold accents. A red rug runner covered the center aisle that led all the way to a dais on the far side of the chamber where two heavy, wooden, gilt thrones sat. On either side of the rug runner stood gold, marble columns. An apple or tree motif had been carved into every available wood surface.
The nobility had all gathered obediently to hear Snow’s announcement and were standing on either side of the center aisle with expectant looks on their faces. When the nobles caught sight of their beloved prince many of them smiled.
As Snow began to stalk down the aisle and head towards the dais, his gaze inevitably went to his mother, who was seated upon one of the thrones. Isidora was looking as lovely as always. She was dressed in a gold, silk gown with puffed sleeves that had the pattern of red apples on it. There was a dainty gold crown on her head decorated with sparkling rubies. His mother’s dark hair was loose and cascaded around her shoulders in soft waves.
Snow’s curious gaze flicked over to Reginald next. He was dressed in a Victorian-style red, silk suit that was decorated with golden embroidery, a long, red velvet cape that had a high neckline, and black leather boots. The golden crown he was wearing was much heavier than his mother’s but also decorated with rubies. Like his mother, Reginald’s hair was also loose and cascading around his face in golden waves.
Snow hated to admit it but his mother’s beauty paled when compared to Reginald’s. There was something preternatural about Reginald’s regal beauty. Although, Snow had the feeling Reginald would have preferred the word ‘handsome’ to ‘beautiful’. Still, Reginald was just missing a pair of white, feathery wings to be outstretched behind him and then he’d really look like an avenging angel. Reginald always appeared to be so calm and composed. Snow envied him that since he usually wore his emotions on his sleeve. Snow knew he was an open book. Also, Reginald exuded power just sitting there. Snow found it to be intimidating despite the fact that he and his stepfather were on good terms.
Snow flashed his mother a cheeky grin once he was only a few feet away from the dais. However, that’s when a flicker of movement caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Snow turned to regard the floating glass globes that contained live fairies. His eyes narrowed when he spotted one fairy in particular who looked strangely familiar. Snow startled when he recognized the fairy and had to bit his lower lip to stop himself from calling out the fairy’s name. Merlin! It’s Blue, Ashe’s Fairy Godfather. Well, I suppose it turns out he’s also Rapunzel’s Fairy Godfather too. I wonder what he’s doing here and how the hell did he manage to get himself captured?
Snow pretended to sneeze so he could make his way over to the floating glass globe a little more inconspicuously. “Get down,” Snow said in a hushed voice once he was close enough to the orb. Blue obediently crouched down inside of the globe. Snow unsheathed his sword, and with a horizontal slash managed to cut off the top half of the globe, allowing Blue to escape.
“Blue, what are you doing here?” Snow hissed at the fairy that was now hovering in front of his face as he glanced around the throne room to make sure no one was paying too much attention to him. “And how did you get yourself captured?”
“Snow, you need to get out of here immediately!” Blue exclaimed, waving his hands around in a show of panic. “You must flee the Kingdom before it’s too late…!”
Snow gave the fairy a bewildered look. “You want me to leave Apple Kingdom? But why? This couldn’t be worse timing…I’m about to announce my engagement to Princess Florinda Cross.”
“The seer Baba Yaga sent me here,” Blue said with an edge of impatience to his voice. “He warned me you were in grave danger and that you would need my help. I tried to find you at the party last night, but Reginald discovered me before I could reach you. He imprisoned me in that bloody globe! I may already be too late. I don’t know what Reginald has planned, but whatever it is - it can’t be good.”
“Reginald?” Snow’s brow furrowed in confusion. He shook his head. “Why would he imprison you?”
“Don’t you see?” Blue tugged on Snow’s ear in frustration. “Don’t you get it? Reginald is the Leader of the League of Villains! We need to get out of here before-!” Blue’s gaze flicked to Reginald for a moment and his eyes widened when he caught sight of what Reginald was holding ever so casually in the palm of his hand. The blood drained out of Blue’s face. “Oh no. I’m too late. He already has Snow’s heart.”
A triumphant smile spread across Reginald’s face before he brought the heart up closer to his mouth and began to whisper to it. Blue’s expression turned horrified and when he looked back at Snow he saw that the prince’s eyes were glazed and emotionless.
Reginald must have whispered a command because Snow turned and started to approach the dais once more. “No! Snow! Don’t!” Blue yelled, as he flew after Snow and grabbed onto his hair and started to tug. Snow barely reacted even when Blue pulled out some of his hair. He appeared to be in a kind of trance. The prince continued to ignore the fairy and approached the dais until he was standing directly in front of his mother’s throne.
Isidora gave Snow a quizzical look. “What is it, my precious son? You look pale. Are you alright?”
Snow started to raise his sword, and Blue grabbed Snow’s hair and tugged more violently than before. “No! Snow! Snap out of it! Fight it! You can resist Reginald’s control! You must! Don’t give in! Don’t do it!”
But Snow would not be deterred. He lunged his sword forward, and into Isidora’s chest. Right through her heart. It all happened so fast that no one had been able to react in time. The idea of Prince Snow Flurris attempting to kill his beloved mother was inconceivable. No one would have ever expected it. Everyone in the Kingdom knew how much Snow loved his mother.
“Snow…why?” Isidora’s pale blue eyes were swirling with fear and confusion. She glanced over at Reginald and when she caught him smiling her eyes widened in shock. “You…scoundrel!”
“Silence her. Now,” Reginald whispered to the heart he held in his hand.
Snow twisted his sword and Isidora gasped in pain. Blood dribbled down Isidora’s chin. Blue watched in horror as the light left the queen’s eyes and she slumped forward on her throne where she remained unmoving.
Having carried out Reginald’s whispered command of ‘Kill Queen Isidora’ Snow began to regain consciousness. He blinked repeatedly as the world seemed to come into focus once more. Snow felt like he was waking up from a dream, or in this case a nightmare.
Snow focused on his mother, and looked down at the sword protruding from her chest. He felt strangely detached about the sight until he realized that he was holding the sword. Snow’s body began to tremble. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It made no sense. It couldn’t be real. “Mom?” Snow croaked out.
Reginald abruptly stood up from his throne, and addressed the Wizard Guards who were standing along the edges of the room. “Guards, Prince Snow has just killed Queen Isidora! Capture him at once! In fact, that criminal must be executed for killing the Queen immediately!”
“Executed?” Snow murmured, staggering backwards a few steps, and causing his sword to slip free from Isidora’s still body.
Blue took this moment of distraction on Reginald’s part to bite the Evil King’s hand.
“Ow!” Reginald dropped Snow’s heart and Blue caught it. “You damned, meddlesome fairy! Give that back!”
Blue flew over to Snow. “Snow! Come on. We have to get out of here. We must escape. They’ll kill you after what you’ve done if you remain here!”
Snow looked at Blue with a haggard, lost expression on his face. “But…I didn’t do anything.”
“I know,” Blue said, touching his hand to Snow’s cheek in an effort to comfort the distraught prince. “But sadly they don’t. No one here understands what is going on. That’s why we have no choice but to flee for the moment.”
Snow gave Blue a grim nod, and turned to face the exit of the throne room. He began to run towards the double doors. The Wizard Guards were too shocked to react at first and just watched as Snow started to run towards the exit.
“What are you idiots doing just standing there with your mouths hanging open like gawping fishes?” Reginald snapped at the guards angrily. “After him! Kill him! Don’t let him escape!”
The Wizard Guards finally appeared to snap out of their stupor, and started to unleash a barrage of offensive spells Snow’s way. Snow gracefully dodged the spells and made it out of the throne room safely.
With Blue guiding the way, Snow managed to make it to the stables without event. He mounted his black stallion, galloped out of the castle courtyard through the open gate, and headed towards the nearby forest.
The Wizard Knights gave chase and followed Snow into the forest. The knights launched dangerous offensive spells Snow’s way and the prince conjured a water shield to block their attacks. “Magicus Clipeum!”
However, when Snow exited the forest’s tree line he emerged onto the edge of a cliff. The sound of nearby waterfalls that were gushing water down into the river at the bottom of the ravine filled the air. Before Snow could turn his horse around and try to escape back into the forest a spell hit him and he was knocked off his horse.
Snow flew out over the edge of the cliff and began to fall down through the air, plummeting down hundreds of feet before he hit the raging river at the bottom of the ravine and was carried away by the rapids.
The Wizard Knights waited at the top of the cliff for several minutes, but when Snow didn’t surface from the water they decided he was dead. The wizards turned their horses around and headed back to Apple Castle, eager to make their report to King Reginald.
***
Present Day…
“Ow!” Snow complained. Something was tugging painfully at his hair. Snow let out a groan as he opened his eyes and pushed himself up into a sitting position to see where the hell he was. He blinked around his surroundings and noted he was lying on a sandy riverbank. The fairy Blue let go of his hair and flew in front of his face to hover there. Apparently, the fairy had been pulling on his hair in an effort to rouse him.
Snow’s body was shivering. He felt…cold. It was a biting cold that seemed to be seeping into his bones. He wrapped his arms around his body in an effort to provide it with some warmth, but it didn’t seem to make a difference. Snow stared off into space as he tried not to think about everything that had just happened…
“Snow, hey! Snap out of it!” Blue tried to regain Snow’s attention. The prince was acting pretty out of it.
Snow’s gaze returned to the fairy and that’s when he noticed that Blue was holding his heart. He appeared to be struggling with the weight of it from the way he was bobbing up and down in the air as he hovered in front of Snow’s face and flapped his wings as fast as he could. “What is it?”
“We need to put your heart back inside of your chest,” Blue said, rolling his eyes. “Obviously.”
Snow frowned. “Must I…?”
“You must,” Blue said in a grim tone. “It’s dangerous to keep your heart outside of your body. Someone could steal it from me…and then they’d be able to control you and make you do whatever they wanted. You’d be their obedient puppet.”
“I was Reginald’s puppet, wasn’t I?” Snow began bleakly. “He did this to me. Didn’t he?”
“Yes,” Blue confirmed.
“He betrayed my trust,” Snow said, digging his fingers into his arms. “The seer Baba Yaga warned me I would be betrayed by someone close to me, but I didn’t want to listen. I was stubborn and now…”
“Snow, please, your heart is heavy…” Blue complained as he struggled to deal with the heavy weight of Snow’s heart.
Snow nodded and took his heart from Blue. The prince took a deep breath to steel his nerves before shoving his heart back inside of his chest. He gasped.
The sensation of having his heart returned to him and the rush of feelings he suddenly felt was much worse than Snow thought it would be. Hot tears started to stream down his face. A wave of sadness washed over him and he felt like he was drowning. Suffocating. “I…killed my mother,” Snow murmured in shock before throwing his head back and letting out a scream of despair. “Mom!”
The pain and grief he was feeling for her loss was quickly followed by an overwhelming sense of guilt. I killed my mother. I failed to protect her. No. It’s worse than that. I couldn’t protect her from myself…I ended up hurting her. And all because I’d stubbornly decided to continue to trust Reginald.
Ashe Smoldris and Rapunzel Solis had both tried to warn him about Reginald. But Snow didn’t listen, and now his mother was dead because of him. Snow began to cry harder - angry, wracking sobs that caused his body to hunch over and shake. He fell sideways and pulled his knees up to his chest so that he was lying in the fetal position.
The heartbreaking sound of Snow’s crying drew the attention of the nearby forest animals and they began to emerge from the trees and surround Snow. Blue watched in surprise as squirrels, rabbits, skunks, turtles, raccoons, and even deer formed a protective circle around Snow. The fact that the animals obviously wanted to comfort the distraught Snow and somehow ease his pain had the fairy raising an eyebrow.
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