Red Shoes & the 7 Dwarfs

Chapter 7: Merlin in Love

"Now we know how fast a wooden bunny hop in a pinch." Merlin looked at the wooden bunny, who was passed out on the ground.

"Thank you for helping me Merlin." Red Shoes turned to look at him as he began smiling.

"Pleasure m'lady." Merlin held up his hands as he backed away modestly.

"But I also did it for us. By the way, what is this?" He added, still smiling. Merlin then held up the wanted poster with Red Shoes' face on it.

"Huh, gosh it wounds silly, but it's my shoes. They're magical." Red Shoes looked down at her feet as her red shoes sparkling in the slowly setting sun.

"I know they're fabulous. But why are they after you?" Merlin looked Red Shoes over as he took his time staring at her legs as well as her dainty feet adorned with her magical candy-apple colored shoes.

"No, my shoes are actually made of magic." Red Shoes shook her head, then pointing to her shoes as Merlin nodded.

"Red Shoes! Are you a criminal!?" Arthur suddenly appeared, somewhat hysterical as he held up the wanted poster.

"No, of course not." Red Shoes shook her head.

"Uh, I knew a girl this pretty couldn't possibly be a criminal!" Arthur tossed the wanted poster away.

"We should head back now. There could be more guards around than we know." Red Shoes headed towards the seven dwarfs' home.

"Not to worry, I can protect you with these bad boys." Arthur flexed his muscles as Merlin rolled his eyes.

"This is going to make finding Papa so much harder." Red Shoes sighed as she walked along lugubriously.

"I have an idea!" Merlin smiled brightly as he noticed the wooden buddy was hopping around amid a meadow of purple flowers. Merlin took off running towards them as he began running through the purple flowers with his arms outstretched. Red Shoes held her breath as she turned and looked up and around her. The purple flower petals were floating mid-air as the sweet scent of fresh flowers overpowered her. She held her hands up as Merlin ran in several different directions as Arthur crossed his arms.

"Ta-da!" Merlin held out his hands as Red Shoes had realized that he managed to recreate the missing's person poster but used the purple flowers as his canvas.

"Oh wow." Red Shoes smiled with glee as Merlin made his way back towards her as he began to dust the purple flower petals and yellow pollen off of him.

"What do you think?" Merlin put his hands on his hips as Red Shoes approached him.

"That is amazing. Huh, thank you." Red Shoes bent down and brought her face close to Merlin's. He stood there frozen for a moment as he looked right at her lips; they appeared soft, a dark pink color and absolutely kissable.

Merlin's heart was pounding like crazy inside his chest as he noticed Red Shoes continued to near him. And she finally stopped moving, Merlin closed his eyes and puckered his lips. Suddenly Red Shoes smiled and then blew the petals off of Merlin's face as he began blinking in surprise.

"You had a thing on your cheek." Red Shoes bit her lower lip as Merlin still stood there stunned.

"Alright let's go!" Red Shoes stood up and began walking away as she clapped her hands together. Arthur sighed in relief as he began following Red Shoes, looking back at Merlin and signaling that he was going to keep his eyes on him. The wooden bunny also followed Arthur and Red Shoes as Prince Merlin stood there alone as he smiled to himself. He was falling in love with Red Shoes, and loving every second of it.

Moments later, the two guards of Prince Average noticed the tribute Merlin made for Red Shoes' missing person's poster, they nodded and made their way back to Prince Average's castle. Then the three wooden bears popped up from behind some bushes and also noticed what Merlin had made amid the purple flowers, deciding to head towards Risky Rock, where the poster directed them to go.

* * *

The next morning Prince Merlin was alone as he was picking his carrots as he slowly stood up and stared into the clouds. He recalled the moment he and Red Shoes shared the day prior as he closed his eyes and pictured what it would be like to kiss Red Shoes along with getting his curse broken. Whenever Merlin thought of Red Shoes, his heart would flutter and he felt like he simply wanted to be around her, constantly; endlessly. He was beginning to feel the need to be around her just as much as he wanted his curse broken.

"Ow! What was that for?" Merlin turned as he noticed Arthur was standing behind him and had just thrown a carrot at his head from a close distance.

"You sir are trying to sabotage my perfect plan! And my relationship with Red Shoes." Arthur furrowed his brows as Merlin rolled his eyes.

"What relationship!? What are you talking about?" Merlin looked Arthur up and down suspiciously.

"Red Shoes and I share a secrecy. I'd tell you what it is, but it's a secret!" Arthur said confidently as Merlin grumbled.

"While you're busy keeping secrets, I'm going to break my curse." Merlin smirked.

"You're nothing without your spells magic boy." Arthur looked at Merlin with daggers in his eyes.

"And you're nothing without Excalibur! Hu! You're not waiting for someone to pull it out for you, are you?" Merlin retorted.

"How did you know?" Arthur took Merlin by the collar as he began shaking him.

"Is it true?" Merlin asked when suddenly he felt a weight on him. Someone had trapped them in a net.