Napoleon opened his eyes to find himself tied up in a dark room.

A woman walked up to him. His vision was still blurry, so he couldn't tell what she looked like. "Well, well, well. What have we here?"

His vision finally cleared up, and he frowned. "This is a lot worse than I thought, isn't it?"

They reached the portal to find the area deserted and the portal dead.

Rolan sighed and ran a hand over his face. "They've probably gone back to Caramish."

Autumn thought as she looked at the lever sticking out of the ground. "Well, all that guy did was pull the lever. It didn't look like magic or anything, and as for 'true love', that woman wouldn't be capable of loving anything unless it benefited her. I doubt she loved that man."

Grimm walked up to it. "So all we have to do it pull the lever, right?" He pulled it, but nothing happened.

Half Pint pushed him out of the way. "You're probably doing it wrong." He pulled it, still nothing happened.

Grub walked up. "I'll handle this." He pulled it, nothing.

Autumn just watched as the rest of them tried it, still nothing.

Butcher shook his head. "You're all idiots. Watch and learn." He pulled it, again, nothing.

Rolan just laughed.

Butcher glared at him. "Why don't you try it, hot shot?"

Rolan shrugged and walked over. He glanced at Autumn, and pulled it. Nothing.

Autumn sighed.

Suddenly, a light shot out of the ground and started spinning in the air. The portal was open.

They all looked at Rolan. Butcher frowned. "What did you do that we didn't do?"

He shrugged, looking just as confused. "I don't know."

Autumn smiled. "Who cares how? It's working!" She rushed through, followed by the dwarves and Rolan.

They made their way to the main street. Autumn looked at Rolan. "Did they have a hideout or something?"

Just as he started to answer, the two slave traders appeared with Napoleon. Valencia smiled. "Looking for someone?"

Autumn took a step forward, but Rolan held her back.

"You want this little runt back? Hand over the princess."

Rolan glared at her. "No."

"Agreed." Autumn stepped forward.

Rolan turned to her and lowered his voice. "What?! No! You can't do this!"

She glared at him. "Don't tell me what to do! This whole thing is because of me, and I am not going to let him suffer because of it."

He frowned. "I can't lose you, not now."

"I'll be fine." She smiled a little. "I'm amazing, remember?"

He smiled a little. "Yeah. I know." He leaned forward and kissed her. He pulled back and looked at her. "I will get you out. I promise."

She smiled. "I know." She walked around him and walked up to the slave traders. "Alright, you have me. Let Napoleon go."

Napoleon looked at her. "Autumn, don't do this…"

She sighed. "Would you men please stop telling me what to do?"

Valencia smirked and pushed Napoleon away towards the others. "Let's go."

Armitage grabbed Autumn's arm and pulled her away. She looked back at Rolan and the dwarves and gave a small smile.

They brought her to an empty building, into a dark room with a makeshift throne in it. On the throne was a woman. Autumn couldn't see her face in the dim light. They pushed her down on her knees in front of the throne.

The woman on the throne addressed the two slave traders. "Leave us." They walked out. The woman smiled. "It's important to know when you've been beaten, yes."

Autumn frowned. She'd heard that somewhere before.

The woman stood up. "You have interrupted a glorious franchise of slave trading, which has made me very cross."

Autumn crossed her arms. "Really?"

"Yes. And I would like to know just who is messing up my beautiful business?"

Autumn smirked. "Well, I'm afraid you're out of luck."

Napoleon frowned as Autumn disappeared around the corner. "Guys, we have to save her."

Rolan shot him a look. "Of course we have to save her."

"No, guys, we really have to save her. Now. I've seen their leader, I know who's behind all this, and Autumn is in huge trouble."

"You certainly have an attitude, don't you?"

Autumn smiled. "I've worked very hard at it."

"But I've seen that attitude somewhere before."

Napoleon frowned. "Seriously, guys, she is in huge trouble."

Butcher rolled his eyes. "Will you just tell us who it is?!"

He sighed. "The Queen."

The dwarves frowned.

"The former Queen."

Rolan frowned, confused.

"More importantly, the evil Queen."

The woman stepped into the light. She seemed a bit older, a few wrinkles here and there, curly, auburn hair. She frowned. "I don't suppose you're related to Snow White?"

Autumn frowned. "You know my mother?"

The woman smiled. "Oh, of course. She's your mother. It all makes sense now. You have her eyes. And that hair…let me guess, your father is that gorgeous hunk of a prince with the amazing chest."

Autumn narrowed her eyes. "Let me guess, you're the evil queen."

The woman smiled and sat back down. "Well, evil is a strong word. Do they really call me that?"

Autumn shrugged. "Evil, crazy, mad, lunatic. You have a lot of names."

The woman frowned. "Well, I'd say that's taking it a bit too far. Although, you're very bold. You must get that from your father."

Autumn smiled. "Thank you."

"I didn't mean it as a compliment."

"Well, I'm taking it as a compliment."

The woman smiled as she stood up and started walking around Autumn. "Well, this is a very interesting turn of events."

Autumn frowned. "Tell me about it. My parents told me the story. You used up all your 'magic' and aged…a lot. How do you look this young? I mean you got old back then, and this was almost twenty years ago."

The woman smiled. "I have my ways. Now I have ways opening up to take back my glorious kingdom."

Autumn glared at her. "It was never your kingdom to begin with."

She turned back to Autumn. "I'll soon fix that. I would gather that your parents would be so willing to get their precious daughter back that they would even give up their kingdom."

"No, because I wouldn't let them. I'm an adult, I can make my own decisions, and there is no way I would let them."

"Yes, but you're an only child, right? So if I kill you, then there would be no one to take the crown. It would be open for anyone." She smiled and shrugged. "Like me."

Autumn scoffed. "The gentry wouldn't let you do that."

"Then I'll kill the gentry. They always annoyed me so much. Please tell me that hideous Baron is dead by now."

Autumn frowned. "Yes, but his son took over."

The woman frowned, confused. "His son?"

"He was married before he met you."

"Oh. Well, I'm sure he's just as hideous as his father was."

Autumn shut her mouth and blushed a little.

The woman looked at her and smiled. "Oh, he's not? Handsome, is he? Let me guess, the tall, dark, handsome type? And rich. Sounds better than your father. I could use him to get the throne back."

Autumn smiled. "Nothing you do will work."

"My methods worked for over ten years."

"Ten years is such a short time when you think about it. Especially considering how old you must be."

The woman glared at her. "Compared to forever, it is." She smiled. "But now, I have the secret to staying young forever. I could rule forever." She looked at her hair. "I'm thinking with my triumphant return, I'd try a different hair color. What do you think about black?"

Autumn smirked. "I think all those stories about how psycho you were are true. Did you really attack my mother with a couple of puppets?"

The woman just looked at her. "Disrespectful, aren't you? You get that from your mother."

"I show respect to those who deserve it. If you aren't getting any respect from me, that should tell you something."

She just looked at Autumn. "When I become Queen, the first thing I'm going to do, if I haven't already, which will be a huge surprise to me, will be to kill you."

Autumn crossed her arms defiantly. "I'd like to see you try. You couldn't beat my mother or my father, and I've got both of their training combined. I'm stronger."

The woman frowned. "So am I." She smiled. "Besides, you can't do much without a sword, and I don't think you'll be getting one anytime soon."

The door burst open, and Rolan ran in, followed by the dwarves. The dwarves surrounded Autumn as Butcher handed her her sword, all asking if she was okay.

Napoleon frowned. "Autumn, we need to get you out of here. This woman is…"

"My mother's former evil stepmother who took over the kingdom?" Autumn smiled.

"Uh, yeah."

Rolan knelt down next to Autumn. "Are you alright?"

Autumn smiled at him as the dwarves backed up, giving them their space, and focused their attention on the former Queen. Autumn nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. We've just been having an…interesting conversation."

Rolan glanced at the woman and frowned and stood up, pulling Autumn up with him. He frowned at the woman, confused. "Mother?"

So...bit of an intersting twist. Sorry it's been so long! Although, I am continued this story, because I recently thought of an amazing way to end it, not that the end's coming any time soon. :)

Anyways, hope you enjoyed! Please review!