Scarlet

You Watch Me Bleed

"Are you sure this is where we are supposed to be?" Snow White stood in the middle of a clearing where trees stretched out from all sides, endless in her sight. The sounds of the forest filled her senses and, as much as she had grown used to and loved the serenity it held, she was displeased to find they were, in fact, alone.

"Yes. This is usually where he likes to meet," a masculine voice rumbled beside her and she looked to the source, frowning.

Impatience was already setting in as she paced the clearing, searching behind trees and over the rough surface of a boulder, fingers moving along the rocky face dappled in honey rays. "Gods only knows what Emma is suffering while we wait. She could be dead for all we know." There was a desperation in her voice that had the King moving toward her, arms wrapping around her frame.

"Emma is a strong girl, Snow. She will be alright."

"Not with her..." The good Queen pulled from his grip and smoothed her hands down her leather riding pants. Where was he? "That woman will stop at nothing to destroy our happiness; to destroy us. Even if that means taking the life of our daughter."

"She cannot do that, Snow," her husband reassured with a squeeze to her shoulder, but she moved away once again, fretfully checking the perimeter.

"Are you sure that he agreed to meet us here?"

"Yes, Snow." Charming sighed softly and joined his wife as he looked behind him into the distance, but found nothing in return. A soft whinny gathered his attention and he turned to see one of the white stallions pawing restlessly at the ground, as if he were impatient himself.

The White Queen joined him by the horses, fallen leaves crunching beneath her weight and a hand moving to scratch the muzzle of the stallion with a drawn sigh. "And he knows where Regina is hiding?"

"I trust that he would. I have no doubt he was the one to help her charm her lands."

"I cannot take credit for such a deed. The Evil Queen hides herself from even I these days." King James tensed in his spot when he heard the familiar, chilling voice of the Dark One and turned to see the imp perched on a boulder, his eerie golden eyes glowing in the sunlight. He swiftly jumped from the rock and landed with a soft thud on the fallen brown leaves.

"Then you do not know where she has taken to?" Snow cast an accusatory glare at the imp, something bubbling in the heaviness of her chest.

"I never said that, dearie." A giggle fell from his lips. The two kept their distance. "I can tell you of where she resides and help you along the way. You will be unable to pass the magical ward she uses to keep her land safe."

Relief slowly filtered through Snow's being, knowing they had chosen well to turn to Rumpelstiltskin for aid. Over the past nineteen years, she hadn't had to worry about Regina, not after the latest incident involving magic and an entirely different pact with the imp. She could not have cared less where the Evil Queen had tucked tail to, that was, until Emma had gone missing.

With Rumpel's help, though, the two could easily locate and penetrate Regina's castle and save the princess from whatever horrors she intended to wreak. But when she heard her husband speak, asking the simple, yet dreaded, question, her heart stopped in her chest.

"What is your price?"

They had already sacrificed much the last time they had made an infamous deal with the Dark One...

"Ah, of course! Who could forget?" Another giddy giggle left his lips. "You needn't worry about first-borns nor second-borns, nor losing something prized to you. I already have your daughter." The look he gave sent a shiver down Snow White's spine; it was something both delighted and mocking. "No, no. I ask of one simple thing from you."