——————————🍎——————————
"(Y/n)! (Y/n), please! I'm sorry! I didn't mean what I said, I was just angry!" Winter shouted as he rushed after her.
(Y/n) slowed down and stopped in her tracks, but she still had her back facing him. "Look, I'm...I'm sorry I was so pushy, Winter. I...I know you must have you're reasons...I just...I can't stand by and watch the Queen get away with the things that she does. I want to stop her. And I...I always thought...you'd have my back." She confessed, still turned away from him. "But...if you really don't want to, then I can—."
"No!" Winter exclaimed. "I do want to stop her, really I do. I want to rule over the kingdom and make it a better place, I just...I just...I'm afraid I'm going to lose you."
(Y/n) finally turned around to look at him. "What do you mean?"
"I mean...the Queen is ruthless. She tried to have us killed! And yet...the whole time we were walking through that forest, all I could think about was you, and how you were going to die. I wasn't even worried about myself, but I was terrified of thinking that I was never going to hear your voice or see your face ever again."
Winter slowly walked up to (Y/n) and placed his hands on her shoulders. "If the Queen finds out we're alive, she could kill you. I care very deeply for you, (Y/n). I could never rule a kingdom if I didn't have you by my side to do it with me." He confessed.
(Y/n) immediately lunged forward and hugged Winter tightly around the middle. He hugged her back, and buried his face in the crook of her neck.
"You won't lose me Winter." She promised.
"How do you know that?" He whispered.
"You really think it'll be that easy to get rid of me?" She joked. "Besides, I think I showed in our fight that can take care of myself."
Winter chuckled lightly. "I don't know, I beat your butt pretty good. Literally." He whispered teasingly.
(Y/n) gasped and shoved him away. "I hate you!" She declared, but there was a hint of a smile on her face.
In the distance, they could hear several people cheering victoriously. Winter shared a confused glance with (Y/n), before he took her hand and pulled her back through the woods.
...
They got back to the spot where they had been before, and saw the seven dwarves wearing their stilts and masks, going through all the stuff they had just stolen.
Sitting in a circle, tied up with ropes, and missing their clothes, was Prince Alcott and four palace guards. Apparently they had gone after the bandits in the hope of defeating them, and failed. Miserably.
Half-Pint turned to (Y/n) and Winter. "Come on guys, help bring all this stuff back home." He encouraged.
Prince Alcott turned and saw (Y/n) and Winter looking at him with wide eyes.
"You?"
"You!" They exclaimed.
"You two are with the bandits?!" He asked incredulously.
Before they could answer, the dwarves ran past them, encouraging them to hurry up. Winter and (Y/n) stood there awkwardly, not sure what to do.
(Y/n) tossed them a small knife she had in her boot, and grabbed Winter's hand. "Sorry! You can free yourself with this! Gotta go!"
(Y/n) and Winter ran off, hand in hand, while Prince Alcott shouted at them to come back and help him.
...
"Well, Prince Alcott, we really must stop meeting like this." The Queen said.
Prince Alcott and the guards were all standing in their undergarments, looking very bashful.
"We were ambushed. Bandits caught us by surprise." The Prince muttered sheepishly.
"You went to the woods to find the bandits and yet the bandits caught you by surprise?" The Queen asked.
"I must admire, we were out skilled. Their leaders..."
The Queen raised her brows. "Leaders? There were more than one?"
"The bandits leaders are Winter and (Y/n)." The Prince revealed.
The Queen suddenly burst out laughing, clapping her hands together. Next to her, Brighton was looking terrified, but forced out a laugh as well.
"Impossible sir, they're both dead." Brighton told the Prince. "Perhaps it was just someone who looked like them."
"It was definitely Winter and (Y/n)." The Prince confirmed.
"You we're in the forest, it was dark. I think we should at least open ourselves up to the possibility that they just looked a lot like the late Winter and (Y/n)." Brighton rambled.
"What a fun surprise." The Queen whispered.
"Agree to disagree." Brighton mumbled.
"You told me they were dead!" The Prince accused.
"He said they were dead." The Queen blamed, gesturing to Brighton.
"I wish I was dead." Brighton muttered.
"You also told me they were mad." The Prince added.
"They are mad. Not as mad as I am, however."
"So which is it, they're mad or they're dead? They seemed completely sound of mind when they and their band of dwarves—!"
"Dwarves? You said they were giants."
The Prince opened and closed his mouth a few times. "They're...giant...dwarves. They're big, but sometimes small." He said, trying to cover up his slip up.
"Well, I feel I have been deceived." The Queen complained.
"No, I have been deceived!" The Prince argued.
"Well I feel...oh for the love of God, could someone please get this man a shirt so I can concentrate!" The Queen snapped.
Brighton immediately turned to leave, but the Queen stopped him. "Not you, Brighton! Not...you."
"All I know is that I've been mislead either by you or Winter and (Y/n), and I find this current line of events to be completely confusing." The Prince concluded.
"Confusing? A fine word. A grand word for this situation. In years to come, when people look upon the word confusing, they will point to this very afternoon, when the world learned that two dead people were alive, leading around a band of giant dwarves. And here I was, having such a good day!" The Queen exclaimed.
...
The Queen stormed into the room with the magic mirror and marched towards it.
"Mirror mirror, on the wall."
She walked right through the mirror, and appeared at the edge of the dock that lead to the wooden hut.
"Are they really alive?" The Queen demanded to know as soon as she stepped inside the hut.
"I was going to tell you, but I thought it would be more entertaining to let you find out on your own." The Mirror replied.
The Queen huffed. "I don't understand! Brighton said he fed them to the beast."
"Brighton fell victim to their kindness just like all the others." The Mirror told her.
"I need your magic." The Queen demanded.
"There is a price to using magic." The Mirror warned her.
The Queen grunted. "What is this 'price' you're always going on about? Do you have to be so cryptic? I just want them dead!" The Queen's eyes suddenly lit up. "Wait, no."
"You don't want Winter and (Y/n) dead?" The Mirror asked.
"Technically, I only need Winter dead. He's the real threat to my throne. I just wanted to kill (Y/n) because I knew it would hurt him. And she's irritating, but that's besides the point. It's not enough to kill her. I want Winter to suffer much more than that. I want you to make (Y/n) forget about Winter completely." The Queen said. "And I want Brighton dead too." She added.
"Don't overreact. Kill Brighton and you'll be without you're executive bootlicker." The Mirror reminded her.
"That's a very good point." The Queen admitted. "But he has to be punished for lying to me. Do something terrible to him. Use your magic!"
"You'll pay the price—."
"Yes, I know! I'll pay the price for using magic! I've got it! Now punish him!" The Queen insisted.
The reflection snapped her fingers.
...
Somewhere in the palace, Brighton was taking a drink of wine to calm his nerves, when he suddenly sprouted six arms, and became very very small.
Brighton had been transformed into a cockroach.
...
"Done." The Mirror announced.
"Good, now use your magic on (Y/n). Make her forget about Winter." The Queen demanded.
The Mirror slowly raised her hand again, and snapped her fingers, the loud sound resonating throughout the whole room.
...
(Y/n) was out in the forest gathering sticks to bring back to the hut for more fire, when she was suddenly overcome with this strange feeling.
The sticks fell from her arms, and she looked around in confusion. She wasn't supposed to be here. Why was she standing in the forest in the middle of the night?
She furrowed her brows and began to think. The last thing she remembered was...she went out into the forest after serving at the Queen's party...and then...the bandits! She was kidnapped by bandits!
(Y/n) suddenly let out a gasp. She had to get back to the palace immediately, let everyone know she was alright. (Y/n) ran off through the trees, heading back to the castle, not remembering the Prince she was leaving behind.
——————————🍎——————————