Chapter Text
ONCE UPON A TIME...
There was an enchanted forest filled with all the classic characters we know.
Or think we know.
But their stories are not the same as the ones we were told.
Their true stories have been changed and altered, as a way to keep the truth hidden from the rest of the world.
One day they found themselves trapped in a place where all their happy endings were stolen.
Our World.
And this is how it happened...
Faster! She needed to go faster! This was Talia's only thought as she raced across the shoreline atop her black destrier, her obsidian hair and red velvet cloak billowing behind her, the only sounds audible being the wind whistling through her ears, and the anxious pounding of her aching heart. As the morning sun began to rise higher in the pale blue sky, the princess rode hard on her steed piercing through the looming treeline of the Enchanted Forest, narrowing her eyes in fiery determination.
She would find her True Mate. And when she did, she would never let go again.
Using her heightened senses, Talia tracked her Mate's scent on the wind and led her horse deeper into the thicket, the swift sting of bare branches scratching against her cloaked arms unable to shake her focus as she closed in on her destination. As she neared her beloved, the scent became stronger, and so, too, did the heartbeats and soft cries of seven individuals swarming her lover.
Talia growled under her breath, and with a tight snap of the reins, she urged her mount through the trees and burst through the barrier into a wide clearing. Leaping from her horse's back landing firmly on both feet, she barreled towards the seven individuals whom she startled upon her entrance with a menacing scowl etched upon her face, as her nails grew into claws and her eyes burned red.
"Where is she? What have you done to her?" Talia roared. One of the people, a young girl with a golden halo of hair stepped forth, declaring, "We have done nothing. Who are you to come here and threaten us while we mourn?" Before Talia could react, another young one, a boy this time, with beautiful skin of ebony, came up to the girl who had spoken and pulled her immediately to his side. So broken was the girl that she let herself be swept away in the boy's embrace and buried her face in his tunics and wept.
"You're her, aren't you?" the boy questioned knowingly. "You're the Alpha Queen Talia?"
Shocked by the revelation that this boy knew her identity, Talia let her claws recede and her eyes fade back to their normal caramel hue and took in the sight of the seven people-- children-- who stood in the clearing looking as though their world had been pulled from beneath them. As her eyes passed over each of their faces, it was only then that she noticed the glass coffin that sat a few feet behind the two children in front of her, a coffin that the other five had been surrounding since the moment she arrived.
Talia felt her heart crawl into her throat, as tears welled up in her eyes. "Is that her?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "Dear gods, is she--" The young pre-teens lowered their heads in sadness, as the realization overtook the Alpha. Talia clutched her chest and let out a strangled howl of anguish, her tears now flowing freely down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, m'lady, but Melissa is gone," the same young boy as before said.
"Show me," Talia croaked, once she finally ceased her crying. "Alpha," the boy started. "Show me!" she asserted, stepping towards the coffin. The child sighed and nodded for his comrades to remove the case laying over the coffin bed, as the Alpha went to pay her respects... And to say goodbye.
When she finally set her eyes upon her mate, Talia gasped at the sight of Melissa's lifeless form, yet despite her stillness and unnaturally pale complexion, Melissa looked as though she was in a deep slumber. It was almost enough to make Talia believe that she was still alive. The Alpha tenderly stretched out her hand and stroked her beloved's cheek, and gasped softly at the sharp chill of Melissa's flesh.
"I'm sorry, Melissa," Talia cried. "I'm so sorry." Then, she leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on Melissa's cool lips, as another wave of tears spilled from her eyes.
All of a sudden, a spark of magic ignited from the kiss and sent out a wave of power across the land that could be felt throughout the land. In an instant, Melissa's eyes shot open, her previously snow-white skin returning to its natural sepia hue, and she gasped for air, startling Talia and the young outcasts around her.
"Talia?" she rasped, once she finally found her voice. "You found me." Talia laughed tearfully, as she helped Melissa out of the coffin. "Did you ever doubt I would?" "Frankly, the glass coffin gave me pause," Melissa quipped, dusting off her dress.
Talia cupped her face gingerly. "You never have to worry again," Talia beamed. "I will always find you."
"Do you promise?"
"I do," Talia vowed.
After Talia made her commitment, the Elderwolf turned to Melissa, who was standing across from Talia, now adorned in a beautiful white wedding dress, and said, "And do you, Lady Melissa, promise to take this woman to be your Mate and True Love for all time?"
"I do," Melissa smiled.
"In the sight of Fenrir, I now pronounce you True Mates," the Elderwolf decreed, which was accompanied by an uproar of cheers from the surrounding crowd. "You may now kiss your respective bride." Talia and Melissa chuckled as they leaned into the kiss, however, they were cut off by the sound of the doors to the throne room being swung open by a powerful burst of dark energy that swept through the chamber.
The spectators screamed, and when the energy dissipated, everyone gasped in horror, as the Darach Queen stormed through the doors. "Sorry I'm late," she smirked. Everyone looked on in terror as the evil queen moved to approach the newlywed couple in swift, fearsome strides her devilishly beautiful face twisted and warped by a wrathful sneer and a murderous glare that promised vengeance.
The guards gathered to intercept her, but they were immediately slain when the witch waved her hands, snapping their necks cruelly as the crowd screamed and stumbled back. "Run for your lives! It's the Queen!" a courtier screamed.
In response to that statement, Melissa glared daggers at her former tormentor and unsheathed the sword from her Mate's sheath, pointing it directly at the woman in front of her. "She's not a queen anymore!" Melissa declared. "She's nothing more than an evil witch!"
"No, don't stoop to her level!" Talia warned, grabbing her sword and stepping between her wife and the Darach, narrowing her caramel eyes. "Now why are you here?"
Julia smiled devilishly at her former stepdaughter and her mate. "Why, I've only come to wish you both well on this wondrous day," she mused. "Is that so wrong?"
"LIAR!" Melissa screamed.
"Oh, but it's true, my dear," Julia purred. "I've come to wish you well, and I also bear a gift."
"We want nothing from you!" Talia growled.
"But you shall have it!" the Darach hissed with a snarl. "My gift to you is this happy, happy day. For tomorrow, my real work begins."
Talia wavered with uncertainty. "What do you mean?"
The Darach's blood-red lips quirked upward slightly, as her beautiful brown eyes glowed an unearthly shade of silver. "Everything you love, everything all of you love will be taken from you. Forever! And out of your suffering will rise my victory," she declared, zeroing in on Melissa. "I shall destroy your happiness if it is the last thing I do!"
With a dramatic whoosh of her cloak, Julia turned to leave, as everyone trembled in fear.
"Hey!" Talia roared.
Julia whirled around, as the Alpha propelled her sword at the witch's heart, and dissipated into thin air an instant before the blade made contact leaving the guests in a confused panic.
Dread sank into Melissa's gut, as she went slack in Talia's protective embrace.
And the worst part... It wasn't going to get any better.