𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈 𝐃𝐎 ─── 𝘩. 𝘥. 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴

O2. runaway

act one chapter two
﹝RUNAWAY﹞
season one episode one
❝ every kid has friends. ❞

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"i say we fight!" prince charming exclaims, slamming his right fist on the large round table as he eyes the people seated. his bride occupies the seat beside him and the couple is surrounded by red riding hood, granny, geppetto, grumpy, doc, and two of the young stahlbaum royals. pinocchio plays on the floor next to his father's seat. jiminy cricket stands atop the table next to a makeshift megaphone and a standing magnifying glass. the guards positioned at their posts in the meeting hall of the royal castle remain motionless at the prince's sudden movement.

"fighting is a bad idea," jiminy chirps into the megaphone. "giving in to one's dark side never accomplishes anything." the cricket looks up at the standing prince through the magnifying glass and adjusts his top hat.

"and how many wars has a clear conscious won?" charming asks rhetorically. "we need to take the queen out before she can inflict her curse."

"can we even trust rumplestiltskin?" doc questions, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "i've sent my men into the forest. the animals are abuzz with the queen's plan. this is going to happen unless we do something."

"our kingdom is always open, snow. the realms guard the castle," clara stahlbaum states. the princess' younger brother, fritz, nods in agreement as she continues. "we can buy us all time to perfect a battle plan."

"there's no point, clara. the future is written," snow white sighs, leaning back in her seat with a defeated look on her face. giving up without a fight wasn't in snow's dictionary, so charming turns to her and takes one of her hands in both of his. "no. i refuse to believe that. good can't just lose!"

"maybe it can." snow frowns up at her husband only to look down at him as he kneels down on the floor next to her seat. "no. not as long as we have each other. if you must believe him about the curse then you must believe him about our child. she will be the saviour."

the blue fairy suddenly flitters in from across the room, followed by a handful of soldiers carrying a tree trunk. "what the hell is this?" charming demands, standing up from his position on the tiled floor.

"our only hope of saving that child," responds the fairy, despite not liking his less-than-charming attitude towards the trunk.

"a tree?" grumpy asks, a 'seriously?' tone evident in his voice. "our fate rests in a tree? let's get back to the fighting thing."

blue ignores his own less-than-charming attitude and keeps her eyes on the two royals across the table. "the tree is enchanted. if fashioned into a vessel, it can ward off any curse." she looks behind her at the woodworker. "geppetto, can you build such a thing?"

"where was this tree during the curse of the tuberculosis surge?" fritz mutters, earning a pinch to the side from clara. now was not the time to be making lemonade out the lemon that was their mother's death.

the older man nods at the fairy's question. "me and my boy. we can do it." he reaches down next to him and ruffles his child's ginger hair. pinocchio doesn't stop playing with his toy. after turning around and noticing the hesitant expression on snow white's face, the blue fairy continues.