Not the Villain - The Evil Queen's Retelling of Snow White

Twenty Minutes Ago

Twenty minutes ago:

We stared at each other for a long, long time, neither of us saying anything, neither of us moving. Again and again I searched her face for any sign that Nixiann-- my daughter-- was still there. But her eyes bore into mine coldly. Emotionless. I was at a loss. My only plan, to trick her into biting into the apple, would've worked, but it was two seconds too late. Now there was nothing to be done.

One step at a time, Amethyst. One step at a time.

After a while I felt the spell start to wear off. My back unbent, my hair darkened to a shade to match Snow White's, and by the time I straightened up I looked and felt like myself again. 

Snow White-- no. She's not Snow White anymore. Just a demon.

The demon stirred with what seemed like surprise, and then she started to laugh. She started laughing and didn't stop, her cackling eerie in the silence of night, every guffaw sounding like a tortured scream, making me flinch. 

"Oh, Mother." She snarled with so much venom it sounded like she was spitting out something blood. "I should've known that you would try to murder me. Just like you did my father."

I had to keep telling myself that this was not Snow White, this was not Snow White saying these things about me. 

The silver moonlight faded as the full moon disappeared above layers of heavy clouds. Lightning crackled, illuminating the demon's pearly skin in ominous light. Thunder rumbled soon after, and I looked up to see a swirling storm brew right above our heads, like a whirlpool of black smoke.

"Yes." The demon laughed again, and it seemed like black light shone from her emerald eyes. "The world will be witnessing how powerful I truly am and you, Mother, will be first to experience--."

I didn't wait for her to finish before throwing a freeze spell at her, but she blocked it with a tendril of darkness. I took advantage and ran, the apple still in my hand, crashing trees behind me with magic to slow her down, occasionally casting a counter-spell behind me, while the demon gave chase blasting away debris. 

Water started to pour down from the sky, countless tears of hopeless sorrow and savage fury. Lightning crashed down and a tree bursted into flames, hissing as an appalling roar of thunder erupted again from the sky's daunting maw. I almost ran into the ignited tree and had to turn sharply to the right, almost tripping as I did so.

My breathing became increasingly laboured, the obstacles I threw into the demon's path became smaller and smaller until at last I had to focus on countering the spells she hurled at me. I was aware that the ground was sloping upwards, the gradient becoming steeper and steeper. My chest ached with every breath, my legs stinging with every step before they went numb and I had to fight from collapsing. In front of me I saw the edge where the ground fell thousands of meters into a deep abyss.

Hearing a formidable whoosh from behind coming from a spell more powerful than any the demon had cast before, I turned around and braced myself, throwing up an invisible shield just in time. I am launched backward by the immense force, soaring through the air before colliding into the ground, pain exploding at my side where a jagged rock dug into my side, and I heard the clink of glass breaking as my mirror shattered beneath my cloak. I barely managed to hold onto the apple.

I gasped and struggle to stand up, watching the demon as she neared me. I got onto my feet, readying my hands for a spell, but I was too weak to do any damage at all, and all it took was a flick of her finger to wave it off. 

I back away as she approaches, a maniacal grin splitting her face, marring her otherwise flawless features. I keep retreating until with a jolt I don't find dirt beneath my shoes anymore, and I look back to see a cliff dropping so far down I couldn't see where it ended in the stormy night.

Mistake.

By the time I turned back to face the demon, she had her thin fingers around my neck and she was squeezing, holding me so that I hung over the edge. I grasped at her, kicking my legs, trying to pry off her fingers, but she gripped my throat with an inhuman strength. No, this is not happening. This is not going to be how it ends. I choked, trying to get air into my lungs.

"Look at you, Mother. So helpless. So weak." She laughed, apparently nothing but amused by my current predicament. Oh, Gods. I'm going to be suffocated by a heartless daughter-turned-demon.

I groped around, looking for anything to defend myself with. My finger brushed my cloak, where I felt the sharp edges through the fabric. My mirror. My fall had smashed it, I remember. I dug out a shard of it the length of my palm.

"You really still don't get it, do you?" She smirked and leaned in closer, her nose almost touching mine. Behind my back, keeping the terror in my eyes to prevent suspicion, I poked the shard into the apple in my other hand. I felt the cool liquid of the potion seep out.

"You are the villain." She whispered.

I felt my eyes rolling involuntarily to the back of my head. It was then that I used the last of my strength to stab the shard of mirror into her side. She gasped as the potion mixed into her blood. The demon let out a bloodcurdling scream, its soul leaking out of this world into the one in which it belongs, its doom spelled out, unalterable, unavoidable, undeniable. 

She let go of my throat and as I wheezed, trying to breathe, I slipped on the rocks wet with rain at the edge of the cliff, and I stumbled. 

I fell.