REAWAKENED

An old...friend?

Knock! Knock! A broad shouldered man rapped on a large log in the middle of the Enchanted Forest. His face was hidden behind a thick metal helmet and he wore a leather jacket the color of the damp bark of the trees surrounding him. Beside him stood a white stallion grazing in the grass on the lush forest.

He waited a moment before knocking once more, his knuckles striking the log through his rough black leather gloves. "I know you're in there, Dearie!" He sang into the blackness of the hollowed tree.

Inside her makeshift home, a sleek, dark haired woman stiffened. No one had ever discovered her hiding place deep in the woods. She had strategically hidden it well in the overgrown forest. Or so she thought she did...

She snatched up her bow from her small makeshift home. And just in case the Evil Queen Snow White's men had uncovered her, she slipped her sword in the sheath on her belt. A fur cloak hugged her torso and underneath was a wrinkled, beige shirt keeping the cold from tickling her arms.

Slowly and carefully the woman treaded down the length of her refuge. She spotted his horse and stopped when she realized it was not one of the queen's. Instead it appeared to be a normal knight standing impatiently. She padded out into the crisp air eyeing the stranger carefully. The sunlight caught the man's helmet and nearly blinded her. She shielded her chocolate brown eyes and he apologetically removed his armor from his head.

He was an older man, one the woman instantly recognized. His wrinkles etched crisp, narrow lines on his forehead and his eyes were sunken in, darkness pooled beneath them. The rest of his face looked time ravaged yet had a unique glow to it. His hair, dark and stringy, flowed to his neck like the stream just outside of her camp.

"Rumplestiltskin?" The man scratched his stallion once under the chin and looked up at her. He stood tall and cocky. "Ah, Regina, so nice to see you again." Regina stood dumbfounded in her tracks, one hand on her sword and another barely covering her mouth. It had been months since she had seen the man who had broken her heart.