"My order was simple, Bash. So simple Dopey could have done it if he weren't spineless and weak-hearted." Snow snarled as Bashful's sturdy shadow fell on the mirror. "There's a reason I gave you the job. It would have been as easy as breathing for you. But did you succeed? No."

Bashful, who was not at all bashful, looked at her with his only good eye. He had lost the other one in the battle that put Snow on the throne of the Enchanted Forest. A nasty scar creeped from his hairline, slicing its way through his left eye, sewed shut years ago after the loss. The scar finished near the bridge of his nose. His remaining honey-coloured eye had an unsettling stare to it—forever watching intensely.

Bash's wide shoulders were still as strong as the day he had saved Snow from her evil stepmother and her henchmen, as they chased her through the never-forest, wishing to cut her heart out. To steal her essence.

He was the one who had saved her in the knick of time, pulling her into the dark mazes of the mines underneath. Mines the Queen had no idea stretched under her very own castle.

He was the one who had taught Snow how to fight, fight for what was hers. Bash was as ruthless as he looked, a knight with the strength of ten-menfolks, and a mind so shrewd none matched it. No one messed with Bash. And usually, neither did Snow.

But now she was stronger and shrewder than he. Stronger because she was the last of her kind alive—or at least, was supposed to be. Her blue blood ran bluer than any previous royal since she took what she wanted from others. And shrewder, because she didn't care who had to fall for her to rise.

"Speak clearly, Snow. I am not Happy, nor am I your smitten Grumpy and Doc that I can't see through you. I raised you, child." Bash's deep, baritone voice caused the shadows in that small round room to tremble. His paw-like grip tightened around his long-sword by his side. His chain-mail, a thing he never went without, chimed quietly as his weight shifted in anticipation. Snow was unpredictable when she was angry. He knew this far too well. His left eye might have been saved if it hadn't been for her syphoning his strength in the battlefield just when he had needed his strength the most. To shield himself from the Queen's blow—an ice sword launched at him that was bigger than his own body—instead, he had his shield, shattering before his very eye. A shard of black icicle splintered from the main, headed straight for his left eye. He had heard the sound it made even in the cacophony of cries. He could never forget it, nor what it was he had lost that day. His ability to see through the dark veil of the night. His ability to navigate the darkness. His kind, blessed with it from birth, but for it to work, both eyes were needed. Since losing his eye, Bash had never been able to return home. Not even when his mother had died. The darkness beneath the dirt too deep, too treacherous for even him, the knight without fear.

"The girl is still alive!" Snow's voice softened a little, although her eyes flared hatefully at her father-figure.

Bash met her gaze, stone cold.

"Why is she still alive?"

"Long ago, your mother had asked the same question I believe." A small smile played on Bash's lips. "Why are you alive?"

Bash's lips curled, and his eye hardened. "You're alive because I deemed it so."

Snow, raging, turned to Bash in one swift motion. "I am not speaking about me!" she bellowed. "I'm speaking about her! Ruby-Rose. Why is she still alive?"

Bash's smirk remained on his face. His eye unwavering, pinning her down, causing her to straighten up and back away. "The same reason you are alive. Because I deemed it so."

Snow's nose flared wide. Hot, angry breath hissed from her nose. Her shadows behind her morphed and turned ugly, shapeless. "But I gave you a job."

Bash nodded. Indeed, she had, and he was one for obeying orders. And he had.

"You asked me to get rid of her, your highness!" The word 'highness' spilled out of his lips in a threat. "And I did. You always knew the girl in place of your child wasn't yours. So why the feigned surprise at learning your child may still be alive?"

"What did you do with her?" Snow advanced on him this time. "I could smell the changeling the moment you brought her back and said it was best for the kingdom that it still had a namesake Princess. I had thought you had killed her then, like I asked. The real Ruby. So what did you do with her?"

"She is somewhere you can never reach."

Snow suddenly cackled manically. "Too bad she has."

It was then that Sir Bashful grew alarmed, yet hid his alarm well. "Your highness?"

Snow crumpled into a chaise, exhausted. "She is here, Bashful. In her own room, pretending to be the meek little replacement. I could smell the defiance in her already and she doesn't even know I know who she is."

"She is here?" Bash asked, surprised. This wasn't part of the plan. She wasn't meant to return for another year at least, not until her eighteenth birthday, not until Ruby could grow into her foretold powers and challenge the Queen.

"You look surprised, Bash. Almost as if she wasn't meant to be here yet." Snow studied him carefully. "I thought your words were binding. Yet, here she is, sixteen years after I asked you to end her life. Care to explain?"

Bash turned to his Queen, looking down upon her as she glared. Her ocean-eyes swirling like a storm. "She was to stay gone, milady. My word is my oath. I will see to it immediately—" and return her to the human world for safe-keeping. Her training hadn't finished yet.

"Why didn't you do it?" Snow's voice was soft this time as he turned to go.

Bash stopped, turned to his daughter-akin and ruefully said, "The same reason I couldn't kill you either."

This was news to Snow. For she had always believed Bash had been her savior, not her hunter.

"I don't kill the innocents."

He clipped his heels and dismissed himself. "I will send her back to the human world before she realises where she belongs."

"Who cast the spell?" Snow called out desperately. "Bring her to me! Or him!"

But there was no way Bash was going to tell Snow who the spell caster was, nor was he ever planning to bring them forth to be killed. He had meant it when he had said he didn't kill innocents. It was the very first oath he had ever made.

There was only one thing left to do to ensure the safety of the Princess. And he had very little time to bring her to safety. He could feel his skin tingling under the chain-mail already. Snow was casting a deadly spell. It lingered like an icy chill in the air. A chill most couldn't tell apart from the castle's ambience, but he could. He'd been burnt by it enough times to recognise her Magic's signature.

Bash rounded a corner in a rush and disappeared, riding the incantation that danced through the air as it headed for the east wing. The princess's wing.

Ruby. He had to save Ruby.

WC: 1270                    TWC: 9, 393

[A/N: You're saying it and I'm saying it, wtf happened in this chapter. I swear I had no idea what was going to happened when Sir Bashful came into the scene but this definitely wasn't was I was thinking was going to happen either. I quite enjoyed the surprise myself and hope you did too!

What did you think do Bashful? Like/no like?

If something in this chapter doesn't work, or gel, please let me know. I'd love to fix it.

As usually, excuse my typos for the next 8 hours. I'm going to bed and just dumping what's been typed on here. Will fix in the morning.

Enjoy. ❤️]