Into the Woods: After the Battle

Chapter 7: Getting out.

Cinderella's P.O.V

I fell onto the hard earthen floor, panting. Red and Jack were beside me. No one moved or spoke for thirty seconds. Then Red started punching and kicking the closed up hole, screaming.

"Red!" I caught her arm. She carried on screaming and struggled against me.

"No! No! He's in there!"

"Red!" My surprisingly fierce voice stopped her.

"There's nothing we can do right now." She stared at me, eyes wide.

"But-"

"I said right now. We are going to save him, we are, but right now we have to get out of here." I turned around.

"Jack?" Jack was curled into a ball, rocking to and fro.

"I should've saved both of you." I kneeled down.

"No, Jack. You could only save me. I know that sounds horrible, but it's true. You could never have gotten the baker out in his state. You made the sensible, right choice."

"The witch's choice was sensible. If she sacrificed me, then it would would have caused a lot less suffering. But our choice was right. Maybe I made a mistake."

"No, Jack. You didn't make a mistake today."

"I have in the past. Really bad mistakes." I took a deep breath and began to speak

"Mistakes are the things we do, all the time. They are things we regret, they are things we think were right. But they are also things we learn from, so without mistakes, we wouldn't learn.
Be proud that you're not perfect, and that you make mistakes, because they make you who you are, and you should always be proud of who you are."

Red blinked.

"Wow." I laughed, and Jack chuckled as well, much to my relief.

"That was a good speech, but we need to get going." I agreed and picked up the baby, trying to get it warm. His eyes were half closed, so that we could only see the white of his eyes. Red shuddered.

We set down off the tunnel, until we got closer and closer to the light. Then we realized. How were we going to get up? Red looked up nervously.

"Yeah, I'm sure you thinking this too... But how are we going to climb up?"

As if a divine force had answered her question, steps were moulded into the earth as if by magic. I grabbed their hands and pulled them up, scared that they would disappear as quickly as they had appeared. We reached the surface, and the stairs closed up mysteriously.
"What was that?" Jack asked nervously.
"Maybe something else is on our side." I suggested.
We all realised what just happened. The baker was still down there. Red let out a long sigh.
"Why must everything still be so complicated? Haven't we proved that we're strong?"
"Apparently not." I replied. I rocked the baby back and forth, trying to get it warm. He let out a sigh, and started to snore, very understandably. I lay the him down in the cot. Someone knocked on the door. I jumped up to answer it, but Red gripped my wrist.
"Cinderella, it might be the prince again!"
"I have to see. It would be rude not to." I pulled away from her and opened the door. It was the prince, but not the one Red had been expecting.
It was my ex-brother-in-law. I had only met him once, before the wedding, and I thought he was dead. He looked just as surprised to see me.
"Madam! What are you doing here?" My hands clenched into fists.
"Are you trying to take me back to your brother? Well, the answer is no, go!" I tried to close the door on him, but he held it back.
"What? What happened between you two?"
"Nothing" I lied.
"Oh. Well, I didn't expect you to be here! I was just looking for anyone so I could find news of my bride." I had also only met Rapunzel once, before my wedding, and she seemed nice, if a bit naive.
"Why would you be looking for her?"
"I lost her." he wailed.
"We had a silly argument, she was pregnant... She ran off and I couldn't find her." Red and Jack creeped around the corner, gawking at the prince. Red planted herself between him and I.
"What is with princes stalking Cinderella? Get lost!" She challenged him, but he didn't get offended. He just looked at me with an eyebrow raised.
"Seriously, what has happened?" he questioned.
"He cheated on her." Jack popped up, and I sighed.
"Thanks for that, Jack." The prince was starting to get interested.
"Really? With who?"
"Stop! This is not about me, this is about you. Why don't you come inside?" I ushered him in, relieved of the change of subject. Red was starting to be less aggressive, and becoming more curious.
I immediately began regretting letting him in. Unlike my prince, he was not at all disgusted by the size and cleanliness. He flopped on the sofa like it was his, and closed his eyes.
"Make yourself at home, why don't you?" Jack mumbled. The prince opened his eyes, and stared pleadingly at us.
"Have you seen any sign of her? She could be going through childbirth, and I wouldn't be there!" He sounded quite distraught.
"Calm down, mister. I'm sure we'll find your damsel in distress." Red said, rolling her eyes.
"We've been through much worse." Jack added, smiling cheekily.
"I doubt it." the prince frowned.
"Oh, really? Well-" Red scoffed.
"Let's not do this." I broke through. Jack huffed.
"I'm going outside to see Emerald." He announced, and strode out the door. Then we heard a yell. Red sighed.
"Here we go again." We rushed to the doorway, and we nearly bumped into Jack who was standing stock-still, looking at the scene in front of us. There were hundreds of snakes that curiously looked just like Emerald. They were slithering towards the doorway, one of them raised their head and was about to strike... But the prince slammed the door firmly.
"Looks like you have a snake infestation."
"You were wrong about the gender again, Jack." I teased, though secretly I was bemused how the snake had managed to lay that many eggs. A snake popped up on the windowsill, and opened its mouth. I pulled them back, but there was no need.
"The one I blinded... Come to me..."

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