Red Shoes & the 7 Dwarfs

Chapter 12: The Real "Me"

"So, here I am. well the real me. I bet you're disappointed hu?" Snow White asked in a somber tone as Merlin lit a campfire for them in order to dry off.

"You're that girl from Golden Goose Avenue. Red Shoes!"

"That's not my name. It's Snow White." Her tone was broken and defeated.

"Princess Snow White? So your father is-"

"King White. Yeah. By the time I figured out his new wife Regina was a witch, it was too late. He'd already disappeared. And the monsters who attacked us were sent by my step-mother to get these shoes. Huh. I guess being beautiful is really worth that much to her." She shrugged, she was unable to look Merlin in the eye.

"Have you thought about just giving her the shoes?" Merlin asked disinterestedly.

"Uh, and give up their magic? If I'd given up their magic, you wouldn't have helped me find my father would you?" She looked directly at him.

"Well, uh." Merlin didn't know what to say; he knew she was right.

"Would you?" She said in a quizzical tone, but she was afraid she already knew the answer. Merlin was silent.

"Huh, I thought we were both under the same spell. But I see now that I was wrong." Snow White broke the silence.

"Listen, I can't get into all the details, but I'm under a curse too." That "too" he added pricked Snow White's heart as a poison seemed to slowly sink in. She bit her lip as the love that was once blossoming for him, was quickly withering away.

"You still don't get it Merlin. I'm not talking about our curses, Merlin, I'm talking about the kind of spell you never want to break." She turned away from him and laid down as Prince Merlin looked down at her. The fire slowly died out as Prince Merlin thought over and over in his mind about who he was, who she was, the curses they were under and what spell she was talking about. He then decided to get up to gather more firewood. Snow White noticed he had left, thus she sat up and looked at her red shoes.

"He likes you more than he likes me." She whispered, half to her red shoes, and half to herself. Could she keep up this charade of being two people? Could she pretend that Snow White no longer existed and only Red Shoes did? Would this make Merlin love her again? Would this make her love no longer an unrequited love? She didn't know the answers to all these questions that kept buzzing around in her mind, all she knew was that she never wanted the butterflies that were constantly fluttering in her stomach every time Merlin was around her to go away.

She never wanted to stop being able to kiss his soft and tender lips. To see him happily dancing around as he would refer to himself in the third person. Thus, she slowly stood up as she put the red shoes back on, a red puff of smoke emerged as the wooden bunny hopped after Merlin and the three wooden bears stayed behind with Red Shoes. She waited, but soon realized he was not coming back and began walking in the other direction for some much needed fresh air.

Merlin, whilst gathering firewood, was having an internal conflict.

"What would have happened if she would have taken her shoes off that day in the barn?" Prince Merlin looked up to the stars as he picked up a piece of kindling and handed it to the wooden bunny.

"You think that's important?" Merlin looked up at him.

"I just, wonder what I would have done if I would've seen the real Snow White." Prince Merlin shrugged as Merlin stared at him in disgust.

"Seriously? It's still all about appearance for you!" Merlin looked up at Prince Merlin with repugnance.

"No! Not exactly." Prince Merlin waved his hands in protest.

"Well, but I can't live looking like you for the rest of my life." Prince Merlin pointed at his green self as Merlin nodded.

"Good point other me. Alright, let's try this, who do you like more Red Shoes or Snow White?" Merlin asked as he pointed a stick at Prince Merlin.

"Easy, Red Shoes." Prince Merlin shrugged.

"Ok, and who do you think she likes more? You or me?" Merlin asked.

"Easy, me." Prince Merlin said conceitedly.

"Are you sure about that?" Merlin asked.

"Wait, no, she likes . . . you." Prince Merlin looked down at himself and realized the point he was trying to make.

All this time, Merlin was trying to break his own curse, and he remembered the sting of rejection time and time again from beautiful princesses. He hated the fact that everyone now found him repulsive, ugly, and small. But he continued to try and find a way to break the curse, and when Red Shoes came along, it was a real chance for his curse to finally be broken. Then he actually started falling in love with her and she with him, only to find that she was the girl from Golden Goose Avenue he had rescued from the guards that were bullying her. She was Snow White. The same Snow White that risked her life for him; who risked her life for all of them.

She never viewed them as dwarfs, she never bullied them, she was never cruel to him, and he believed no matter how she looked, that was the kind of person she was. True she was not what others, or even himself, consider "the most beautiful woman in the world," but who was to define this judgment of outer beauty? Was it more than what appearances led him and the others to believe? After all, he had gotten a kiss from Red Shoes, and that still was not enough to break his curse. He just did not understand what more he had to do in order to become himself again; to be Prince Merlin again. Though he was starting to understand one thing, appearances were not always as they seemed.

Merlin and Prince Merlin were both beginning to realize Snow White was unique, that she was beautiful on the inside, and beautiful on the outside. When she smiled, it warmed his heart, when she used her great strength to save him, it made him grateful that she was not dainty and weak. She stood up to the guards with such bravery. She had been looking for her father all alone for over a year, never giving up. She knew that it would have been wrong to give Regina the shoes, even if that meant putting herself in danger. She was a beautiful person, perhaps he could understand that. As he walked back, he had realized Snow White was gone and his heart sank. He put the wood down and went in search for her.