The Curse

Enchanted Forest

"Alice!" a young girl called, running through the palace garden. "Alice, where are you?"

A young woman with long flowing blonde hair decorated with pink streaks was tending to a rosebush, a smile across her lips. Sitting on a bench next to her was a hare as tall as a man, sipping tea. The little girl ran out of the garden, followed by a grey cat with sapphire blue eyes with a silver ring around the pupil, and a white rabbit in a red waistcoat, wearing a monocle. She ran to the older woman, wrapping her arms around her waist.

"I found you Alice." she giggled.

Alice returned the girl's embrace and smiled. "Indeed you did Grace." she replied, kissing the top of her head. "Having fun with Cheshire and White?"

"Very much so." Grace answered, picking up the grey cat, whose fur was decorated in smokey blue stripes. "Though, I wish you had time to play."

Alice knelt down so she was eye level with Grace. "I wish I could too." she admitted. "But, I am in charge of flower arrangements for Snow and Charming's wedding." Alice picked up the basket at her feet, which was full of ruby red roses. "After they leave on their honeymoon, you and I can play all you want."

"Can we go and search for Papa?" Grace asked, her happy expression turning to one of sadness.

Alice rubbed the young girl's shoulders. Her hazel eyes reflected the same sadness as she thought about her lost love. "Grace, I promise you, I'll find your papa." she vowed. Alice pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back. "Why don't you go see what Granny's cooking in the kitchen? She adores your help."

"Okay." Grace replied, walking towards the palace.

Alice wiped the stray tear that ran down her cheek. The March Hare stood next to her, patting her shoulder. "There, there child." he consoled. "True Love always finds a way. You will be reunited with him."

"It's just so hard." Alice sighed, sitting on the bench with the basket of roses at her feet. "Knowing where he is, and yet, not being able to get there." she crossed her legs, smoothing out her pink dress.

"There is one sure way, dear Alice." Cheshire reminded, his upper body hovering around her.

"I'm not using the hat." Alice refuted. "How many times must I say that?" she hopped up and took her rose basket.

"You say you wish to be with your True Love." White reminded. "You know where he is and how to get there, yet you won't use it. Why is that?"

"The hat's price is one I won't pay." Alice stated. "The same number that goes in, must come out." she reminded. "It would mean I would need to lead a poor soul into Wonderland and leave them there so I could return with Jefferson. I know the dangers of that place, and I would never subject anyone to it forever, not for the sake of my own happiness." she flipped her blonde and pink hair back. "End of discussion guys." Alice marched away into the palace, her three companions watching.

Inside the palace, everyone was busy finalizing everything for the upcoming wedding. The Blue Fairy flew up to Alice. "Thank you for getting the rest of the flowers, dear Alice." she praised.

"Of course." Alice replied, setting the basket on a table. "Anything for my best friend." She gave the fairy a smile before making her way to Snow's room, needing the comfort of her friend.

She knocked once on the door before entering, seeing her friend standing on the balcony. "Snow." Alice greeted, closing the door behind her.

Snow White turned and smiled at her friend, smiling. She noticed a look of sadness flash across her eyes, "Alice dear, what's wrong?" she asked.

"I should know I can't hide anything from you." Alice admitted, sitting on the end of the large bed. "I also shouldn't be troubling you the day before your wedding."

Snow sat down beside Alice, taking her hand. "Sweetie, you know you can always come to me for anything." she reminded, tucking some of her blonde/pink hair behind her ear. "You miss him. I understand that." Snow turned Alice's face to look at her. "You can't give up Alice. When love is true, you'll always find eachother."

Alice smiled and nodded, "I know, looking at you and Charming, it gives me hope." she sighed and stood up. "It's just so hard. I know exactly where he is and yet, no way to get to him. At least, a way that won't make me look selfish." she bit her lip.

Snow rubbed Alice's shoulders. "You and Jefferson will be reunited one day." she promised. "Just believe that."

Alice turned around and hugged her best friend. "Thank you." she whispered. "And thank you for taking Grace and me in."

"Oh, it's my pleasure." Snow replied, tapping Alice's nose.

A smile crossed Alice's lips. "Now, on the wedding front, everything's going great." she informed, her tone changing. "Tomorrow is gonna be perfect."

"I have no doubt." Snow agreed, smiling. She embraced her friend, both girls smiling. "I know I chose the right person for the job."

"Only the best for my best friend." Alice gave a small curtsy before embracing Snow once more.

The next day...

"Do you, Snow White, promise to take this man to be your husband and love him for all eternity?"

"I do." Snow vowed, dressed to the nines for her wedding.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife."

Snow and Charming shared a kiss and everyone in attendance erupted into applause. Standing beside Snow was Alice, dressed in a flowing pink gown. A genuine smile was across her lips, happy that her closest friend got her happy ending.

The sanctuary doors burst open and The Evil Queen, Regina, strode through the crowd, her velvet black dress trailing behind her. "Sorry I'm late." she giggled, standing in the middle of the crowd.

"It's the Queen. Run!" a few of the guests shouted as they backed away from all around her.

"She's not a queen anymore." Snow reminded, standing firm. "She's nothing more than an evil witch." she drew Charming's sword from the scabbard on his waist, holding the blade out in front of her.

Charming stood protectively in front of his new bride. "No. Don't stoop to her level." he warned in a low voice, keeping his eyes on Regina. "You're wasting your time. You've already lost, and I will not let you ruin this wedding."

"Oh, I haven't come here to ruin anything." Regina defended casually. "On the contrary, dear. I've come to give you a gift."

Alice stepped forward, standing between her friends and the Evil Queen. "They want nothing from you." she sneered, her hazel eyes burning.

"But you shall have it." Regina snapped, looking past Alice directly at the newlyweds. "My gift to you is this happy, happy day, for tomorrow my real work begins. You've made your vows, now I make mine." she turned and looked out at everyone in the crowd. "Soon everything you love, everything all of you love will be taken from you forever, and out of your suffering will rise my victory. I shall destroy your happiness, if it is the last thing I do."

Regina turned on her heels and walked out of the sanctuary. Charming took his sword and called out to the former queen. Once she turned, he threw his sword directly at her. Regina just smiled and disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

Five Months Later...

Snow, Charming, the Seven Dwarves, Alice, Cheshire, Granny, Red, Geppetto, and Pinocchio sat around a large round table discussing what the Evil Queen spoke of months ago.

"I say, we fight!" Charming voiced, slamming his hand down on the table.

"Fighting is a bad idea." Jiminy Cricket reminded. "Giving in to one's dark side never accomplishes anything."

Alice stroked Cheshire's fur as he sat in her lap, sitting to the right of Snow.

"And how many wars has a clear conscience won?" Charming pointed out. "We need to take the Queen out before she can inflict her curse."

"Can we even trust Rumpelstiltskin?" Doc asked.

Cheshire stretched out and jumped onto the table, perching himself between Snow and Alice. "I've walked through the forest, gathering information from our non-human allies." he spoke. "The animals are abuzz with the Queen's plan, they've heard whispers from her subjects."

"So this is going to happen?" Alice questioned, worry reflecting in her eyes. She folded her hands, which were covered in elbow-length soft pink gloves.

"Unless we do something." Charming added, turning to the positive.

"There's no point." Snow sighed. "The future is written."

Charming knelt down at her left. "No. I refuse to believe that." he rebuked. "Good can't just lose."

"Maybe it can." Snow admitted.

"No. No. Not as long as we have each other." Charming met Snow's eyes. "If you believe him about the curse, then you must believe him about our child. She will be the Savior." his lips curled into a small smile.

The doors opened and a troupe of knights hauled in a large tree. "What the hell is this?" Charming demanded.

"Our only hope of saving that child." the Blue Fairy answered.

"A tree?" Grumpy scoffed. "Our fate rests on a tree?" he glanced back to Charming, "Let's get back to the fighting thing."

Cheshire licked his paw, "Let's hear what Blue has to say." he rebuffed, curling his tail around his feet.

The Blue Fairy gave the cat an appreciated smile. "The tree is enchanted." Blue continued. "If fashioned into a vessel, it can ward off any curse. Geppetto, can you build such a thing?" she turned to the old carpenter.

Geppetto grinned proudly. "Me and my boy-" he patted Pinocchio's head down beside his chair. "we can do it."

Blue beamed as she turned to Snow and Charming, who were holding hands with hope in their eyes. "This will work. We all must have faith." she assured. Her expression changed as she delivered the only drawback. "There is, however, a catch. The enchantment is indeed powerful, but all power has its limits, and this tree can protect only one."

In the months after, Geppetto and Pinocchio were hard at work turning the tree into a wardrobe. Grace and Alice walked through the open door, the young girl holding a tray of cold water for the two.

"Wow Mr. Geppetto, it's beautiful." Grace marveled, setting the water tray on a clear table as she looked over the wardrobe.

Alice smiled, setting a tray of small sandwiches next to the water. "Granny thought you and Pinocchio could use a snack since you're working so hard."

"Thank you, dear Alice." Geppetto replied.

Doc came running into the room and nearly crashed into Alice. "Whoa, Doc what is it?" Alice asked.

"The baby's coming." Doc answered.

Alice's jaw dropped as she ran out and made her way to Snow and Charming's bedroom with Doc on her heels. The alert bell rang throughout the castle as a dark green and black smoke cloud rolled across the kingdom.

With her hair pulled up, Alice knelt at the edge of the bed as Snow's labor went on. "No. No." Snow whined. "I can't...have this baby now." She let out another pained whine, squeezing her husband's hand.

"Snow, just breathe okay." Alice instructed, taking a deep breath and exhaling. "Everything's gonna be okay."

"It's gonna be okay." Charming assured, squeezing Snow's hand. "The wardrobe's almost finished. Just hold on."

Geppetto ran into the room, bracing himself on the door frame to catch his breath, "It's ready." he announced.

Alice nodded and went to help Charming lift Snow from the bed, but Doc grabbed her arm, "It's too late. We can't move her." he informed.

Alice exchanged a look with Snow and Charming, her shoulders sinking as the warning bell echoed in the distance. "We have no choice, Snow." she sighed, kneeling back down at the foot of the bed. "You got this, sweetie. Just breathe, okay." she breathed along with her friend, "Push on three, okay? One, two, three, push!"

Snow let out a painful cry as thunder crashed from the distance. After a few more pushes, a baby's cry was all they could hear. Alice's eyes welled with moisture as she wrapped the baby girl in a small, white blanket with purple ribbons, while Doc cut the umbilical cord. The young woman got to her feet and walked over to her friend, holding the baby in her arms, "Congratulations. It's a beautiful, baby girl." tears fell as she handed Snow her baby, stepping back to watch the little family.

"Now that's a beautiful sight." Alice sighed, her hands folded in front of her.

Doc sniffled, dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief. "Indeed."

The happiness of the family was short lived when Snow remembered the Blue Fairy's words, "The wardrobe. It only takes one." she reminded, fear flooding her eyes.

Sounds of swords clashing caught their attention. "Then our plan has failed." Charming lowered his head in defeat. "At least we're together." he kissed the top of his wife's head.

Snow looked into her newborn's eyes, sniffling, "No. You have to take her." she admitted. "Take the baby to the wardrobe."

"Snow, are you out of your mind?" Alice interjected, standing next to Charming.

She looked into her best friend's eyes, "It's the only way, Alice." Snow looked up at her husband, "You have to send her through."

"No." Charming rebuked, holding back the tears. "No, no, no, no. You don't know what you're saying."

"No, I do. We have to believe that she'll come back for us." Snow met Charming's eyes, "We have to give her her best chance." The couple looked at their newborn daughter, tears welling in their eyes. "Good-bye, Emma." Snow whispered, kissing the baby's forehead, before handing her to Charming.

The couple shared one last kiss before Charming ran to the door, grabbing his sword on the way out. With one last look, he saw Alice holding Snow's hand, before running out of the bedroom. Snow sobbed into Alice's chest, letting those emotions consume her.

The halls of the castle were filled with the Queen's knights fighting against the castle knights. Alice ran as fast as she could, cutting down any black knight that got in her way. She heard the scream of a little girl and turned the corner to find Grace at the end, her arms over her head as White and the March Hare were holding her.

"Grace!" Alice called, making the little girl look up.

"Alice!" Grace jumped to her feet and threw her arms around the older girl. "Oh Alice, I'm so scared."

Alice wrapped one arm around Grace, holding her tightly, relieved she was alright. "Oh, um Alice." White cleared his throat, pointing his paw down the corridor. "We've got company."

The woman turned and saw two of the Queen's knights at the end of the hall, their weapons drawn. "Stay behind me Grace." Alice warned, holding her own sword ready. "I promised your papa I'd protect you, and I fully intend to keep that."

Grace clutched the fabric of Alice's dress, hiding behind her. "Be careful, Alice." she whimpered.

The March Hare pulled Grace away, so she wouldn't get hurt. "Alice will be fine. Even without her magic, she's very capable in battle."

Suddenly, blue smoke filled the air and grunts came from the Queen's knights. It cleared up and changed into the form of Cheshire, who sat in the middle of the corridor. All seemed well for the moment, until a certain Huntsman reared the corner. "You missed one, Cheshire." the March Hare pointed out.

"It's alright, I've got this one." Alice marched on, knowing that even though he looked the same, this wasn't the Huntsman she knew.

Swords clashed as thunder rumbled. A green and black mist enveloped the castle, going through every corridor. Alice and the Huntsman's stood toe-to-toe, their swords the only thing between them. A strong gust of wind blew past them, shattering all the glass around them and snuffing out the light. Then, the green and black mist consumed them as well, and all who were in the land were transported to a new land. A land without magic.