The Tale of Snow White

Once upon a time there was a kingdom in the North of Great Britain, where a handsome king reigned with his wife over a prospering land. The people of their kingdom lived their lives in peace and quiet. But this silence was just the quiet before the storm. But later to later. While their kingdom expanded and the money flowed, the fragile buds opened and the breeze caressed the faces of the youngest among the habitants of the Great Kingdom. A beautiful morning in spring the king's wife, Maryse, ran to her husband to announce the great news that the kingdom soon should be celebrating. Mayrse was expecting. Robert, the monarch that ruled the country was delighted and hoped for a son. He prayed every night to the stars to give him a strong and healthy child. The days grew shorter; the sun didn't grace the people with its presents anymore. The light breeze of spring was now, in November, a harsh wind that often held rain and cold within. The leaves turned the colors of the earth and the people of the Great Kingdom remained behind doors. On a stormy night Maryse gave birth to a beautiful boy. Robert held her hand and had tears in his eyes, because he knew that his prayers were answered. But for every good, there is also bad, and for every glimmer of light there are also shadows. And so Maryse died giving her son a life he would hopefully enjoy to his fullest. The king Robert never came to terms with his wife's death and gave in to a life without aim. He drank the exquisite wine, ate exuberant meals and enjoyed the night's fine women gave him, everything just to forget about his lost beloved. And so the days past, the months and the years went by without Robert noticing. He forgot his wife and with her himself. He grew old and tired and so did his subjects. The kingdom lost gold and prestige.

But not only the monarch got old, so did his son. Alexander inherited his mother's looks, from his dark her to his pale complexion that reminded his admirers of a fair winter day, where everything was covered by dusty and perfect snow. He had eyes so blue that people swear he must have stolen a piece of sky. Alexander learned to live with his father's behavior and grew up without him, becoming strong-minded and determined. In all over the king's county he was known for having a kind heart for those who needed it the most, his beauty only contributed to the fact that he was loved by everyone. At the age of 5 another boy came into the castle, as a friend of Robert tried to get him out of his stupor. Michael did everything possible to assist to Robert but to no avail. The king remained apathetic.

Jonathan, who told everybody that called him that that his name was Jace, son of Michael a wealthy land- owner, became Alexander's best friend. Throughout the years they connected in every aspect and held no secrets. By the time Alec was 12 he was learning how to fight and what to do to protect himself. The kingdom had accepted that their ruler was gone forever, sucked in by a word of lust and pleasure. They kept going on like that with the hope that one day, when Alexander would sit on the golden thrown, he would be a better king to them that Robert had been.

One day, a rainy day in the Great Kingdom, Alexander was reading in the vast library when his father stormed in, his face ashen , his once alive eyes, sunken in his head, and his breath stinking of too ripe grapes.

"Son", he said with a husky voice as he came to a halt in front of his 13 year old son who stood up. Alexander didn't witness this kind of behavior in his father since he was very little.

"Father", he said bowing his head.

"Today I have seen the angels taken pity on me, for today I have seen the most beautiful women alive, more beautiful than your mother was, fairer than a rose and even more delicate than a summer breeze", he breathed out and sat down on the leather couch. Alexander didn't know what had gotten into his father but before he had a chance to ask Robert went on in a deep voice.

"Now I know what I want. I have finally found a reason to live again, only laying eyes on such beauty taught me what a fool I have been. All those years that I could have spent with her…wasted."

Alexander didn't even flinch, didn't even hurt hearing he meant so little to his father.

"What does that mean father?", he asked cautiously. Robert looked up to him, went to stand next to his son and lowered his eyes to him.

"That my son means that this lie I have been living ends now! I am the ruler of this kingdom and so I shall rule it, me and my wife." He announced and straightened his back, lifted his chin and let his eyes looks far away out the window of the castle. The sun shone without much force in the library and let the grass appear greener, the walls greyer and Alexander's eyes like glaciers. He saw then something in his father that had been missing for so much time that for a second he didn't recognise it. It was the same look Jace had when he won a fight against Alexander. The look of a powerful man.

"So you will marry her? The beautiful women?", asked Alexander quietly.

"Yes", was his final word before he left the library and his son standing in the middle of old pages with forgotten words.

Alexander looked out of the window then and saw how the sun was gone and instead a rough wind had picked up.

On the 23rd of December the king married once again and everybody was there to see the lucky bride. She was clad in white, with a long dress and an even longer veil that caressed the marble floor of the cathedral of the Great Kingdom. She was the most beautiful being he had ever laid eyes on. She had long golden hair that fell in waves over her shoulders; her eyes reminded Alexander of two perfect onyx stones and her skin looked soft and impeccable. She strode down the aisle till she came to a halt in front of Robert. The light caught the king's crown. The cathedral was deathly quiet, everybody looking at the women that was soon to become their queen.

Alexander watched as Helene made her entrance and prepared himself for his own. An old tradition said that whenever a King would marry the son would bring in the crown of this queen, and so it would be. Alexander stopped at the wooden doors before entering the great hall and breathed in and out slowly.

Then he signaled the gatekeeper to open the heavy doors for him. The colours of the church windows dazzled him for a moment, then he began walking carefully to not let the golden crown fall than was diamonded and jewelled and rested on a red cashmere pillow. As he walk down to his father and Helene he saw Jace in the first row watching him and smiling lightly like he was proud of Alexander. The further he walked the greater the silence spread as the nobility and privileged of the Great Kingdom looked at him in awe. If they had been astounded by their queen's beauty, they were stunned by the handsomeness of the heir of their kingdom. Alexander saw the bewilderment in their faces, how their eyes couldn't get enough of his form. He blushed lightly because of his humble nature and walked a little bit faster. When he arrived his father smiled warmly at him and the archbishop took the crown gentle in his hands. Alexander came to stand behind his father during the ceremony and noticed the glances of the upper class on him throughout it. He kept his eyes to the ground and missed the icy glare Helene threw his way.

What happened next was not expected by anyone. After the queen took her position things started to change in the Great Kingdom. Robert was once again tired and impassive, his golden days long forgotten. He let Helene decide everything on her own. A rumour went through the country saying the king must have given up completely now. Michael couldn't handle it anymore and decided to return to his castle further up north. Jace stayed behind to help Alexander get through the loss of his father for the second time. He was now on the verge of turning fourteen Jace one year younger, although he made up to it with his wit and good looks.

"Alec?", asked Jace and ran a hand through his golden locks. They had just finished training in the yard and where resting now for a while.

"What is it?", replied his best friend and took a gulp out of the pond with his hands. He splashed water in his face and dried it off with the hem of his linen shirt.

"Do you ever think about your mother?", Jace said quietly not looking at Alexander but far off in the distance where he say an oak tree lightly dancing in the wind.

"Why would I? She died before I got a chance to know her. " Alec went to sit down next to Jace who still had that faraway look in his eyes. Sometimes when he had that look Alexander would think Jace was an old soul who had seen everything already.

"You are right." After a pause he continued "But still. I mean I think about her. A lot, even if I didn't get to know her either."

Jace mother had died when he was three years old leaving Michael heartbroken with a son behind. Although Jace appeared tough on the outside, he was very sensible on the inside much like Alec but with an outer shell.

"I know I would have loved her, I mean I love her now, but…well you understand don't you?", Alexander looked at Jace's handsome profile.

"Yes I do." They remained in silence for a few minutes till Jace asked: "Do you love her? Like your mother?"

"Helene?", said alexander quietly because he knew there were people that could overhear their conversation. Jace nodded and looked Alexander in the eye.

"I don't think so. I respect her, yes, but that doesn't mean that I love her, or ever will."

Jace looked down at his shoes. "Jace, why are you asking me that?"Alec frowned his front in confusion at the strange mood his friend was in.

Jace sighed and began drawing something on the sandy ground. When he noticed alexander still observing him he sighed again.

"I don't know, I just… I thought that she doesn't love you like her son." Not raising his eyes to Alexander he rested his mouth on his knee while moving his finger in the sand.

"What do you mean?", said Alexander. He knew that Helene dint treat him like his mother would have, but he didn't expect it either way. Helene was just the wife of his father there was no reason for her to love him.

"Don't tell me you don't notice the glares she gives you!" Jace looked sharply up and stopped tracing with hid finger patterns on the ground. "I mean even I have notice and she's definitely not giving me the death stare. When we sit at the dinner table she cuts her meat with such force one might think she is imagining you head on her plate."

"I am aware that she doesn't love me the way one should love a child, but she doesn't hate me either." When Jace was about to get up Alexander held onto his wrist and stopped him." Or maybe you are right and I just don't want to admit it because I am –"

"Naïve?"

"No", Alexander took a breath, "too willing to see the good in people and not the bad."

"That's what I said; naïve", said Jace and shrugged nonchalantly .

"Whatever.", said Alexander and got up when Jace sprung to his feet and reached out a hand to help him.

"I'll race you to the stables, you loses gets to sit beside the evil witch!", yelled Jace over his shoulder and was sprinting in the direction of the stables already. With a light curse Alexander ran after his best friend.

It was a lazy summer day when the unthinkable happened. Well, actually it was a lazy summer night when the king was murdered in his own bed by his own wife. The streams never left his lips as Robert drew his lasts breaths, dying with the most beautiful and cruel face in the world imprinted forever in his mind. Alexander was sleeping in his four poster bed and woke up with a jolt. He had always been a light sleeper so when he heard heavily armored soldiers in the corridors marching hard he sat up and pushed his sheets up. He opened his wooden door and went to search for Jace. He dint have any weapons and against grown men with sword he didn't have anything chance. The hairs on his neck stood up and his stomach was in a tight knot. He didn't know what was going on, but he was sure that I was bad. On the way to Jace chamber he walked past his fathers. The door stood wide open and so did Roberts' glassy eyes. His frozen brown eyes looked at Alexander who stood equally stony in the door. Alexander ran to his father's side and pressed his shaking fingers to his neck. When he didn't get a pulse he closed his eyes and inside him opened a wound that was bleeding the life out of him. Alexander opened his mesmerizing blue eyes and let the tears flow. Although his father never really had the energy to care for his son, he knew that deep down Robert loved Alexander with his whole heart. A single drop landed on his father's immobile face.

Alexander couldn't stand the sight before him and turned away. He ran out to Jace's room but before he could open the door someone strong grabbed him and put a hand over his mouth. Alexander struggled but after the shock of seeing his dead father he didn't find the strength to do it. The stranger hissed in his ear: "Alec dammit, be quiet will you, it's just me!"

"Jace!", the boy exclaimed when Jace let go of him after dragging him to a dark corner. He hugged him with all the force he had left and Jace returned the gesture.

"Alec, listen to me, we need to get out of here" Jace said his shoulders tense and his voice just a whisper.

"I know", he said "they killed him Jace, they killed my father." Alec looked down at his hands and saw them covered in blotches of blood. Roberts's blood.

"I know, and I am sorry, but right now is not the time for mourning Alec. I heard a soldier talking to another about it. They said that she killed him. They weren't you fathers soldiers Alec, they were wants to take the castle and that's why she married you father. She never loved him, she just wanted his power, and now that she has it you are the number one on her hit list.", Jace's amber eyes shone in the dark and were wide trying to make Alexander understand.

"But- but she couldn't have…she wouldn't", he stammered and Jace cursed under his breath taking Alexander by his shoulders and shaking him lightly.

"Wake up Alec, you know that she would be capable of doing this. She is cruel, I knew from the starts, but you with your high-"

Alexander never found out what his high anything was, when a soldier clad all in black, not wearing the blue and white colours of the Great Kingdom, took Jace by his neck. Jace struggled against the tight grip of the man as the black warrior pushed him against the wall and took a small dagger out. Alexander waking from his stupor jumped on the soldier and threw punch after punch at his face till he let go of Jace and tried to shake Alexander off of his back. He slammed him against the wall and kicked him in the stomach with a heavy boot. Jace picked up the weapon that the man had let go and sliced his throat open. Alexander got up and when he saw the blood and the corpse his stomach turned and he rested his sweaty forehead against the chilly stone wall. Jace breathing heavily took his shoulders.

"Let's get out of here"

The two fourteen year old boys made their way outside and were greeted with chaos. People were screaming, animals trying to escape and houses were on fire. The smoke and the noise made Alexander dizzy and he stumbled a bit. Jace caught him and half dragged him to one of the gates, when hundreds of soldiers came marching in. They hit behind the huge pond and saw how soldier after soldier, horse after horse entered the castle grounds. Alexander and Jace didn't quite know what to do so they waited till the last wave of black warriors charging came in. Then all of a sudden the mass of people quieted down, the horses stood still, the only noise were a few children crying and the crackle of the all-consuming flames that ate away house after house. Helen appeared on the steps and stood above everybody; child, women, warrior, brother and maid. She turned her icy glare to the crowd; Alexander noticed how beautiful her black eyes shimmered in the light of the silver moon. Her golden hair reminded him of Jace's handsome appearance.

"Silence." , she didn't need to raise her voice to be heard. Her chin risen she looked to her left and a dark figure stepped up behind her. He looked older than her, and very ugly. His eyes were small and dark like buttons; his hair had a dull brown colour and looked even duller besides Helene. If she was the sun, shining brightly, he wouldn't even be considered being the moon, he would be a dying star, something no one cared about. Helene took his hand and said looking at the eerily silent crowd

"Brother, people of the Great Kingdom, I am your queen and I sit on your thrown. You king has died, took his life because he could bear to see his kingdom go to shame under his reign. With his tragic death he has given me and you an opportunity to prosper and get out of this misery. It has been to long that a useless monarch has ruled over this land! Now it is time to change thinks, it is time for a new era. The time has come to free the country of Robert Lightwoods ghost."

The wind blew some of Alexander's strands of hair in his face. It carried Helene's words away like bad poetry, just to be forgotten. He was so angry he could rip her apart this instant. What she said about his father was nothing but a filthy lie she made up to cover the fact that it was her that poisoned him into oblivion. Alexander was about to open his mouth when Jace for the second time that night prevented.

"Now, just one more thing must be done to begin this new golden time. Where is Alexander Gideon Lightwood? "she demanded and her eyes were so intense that she seemed to burn holes into the air.

The people turned around looking and whispering his name over and over again. Alexander stood very still not daring to speak up.

"Well.", she said tapping with her finger impatiently on her elbow.

"That's him!" a soldier suddenly streamed and Alexander's blood seems to freeze in his veins. He turned to watch Helene though and felt a hand grabbing his lower arm, his nail digging painfully into his flesh.

This is it, this is the end he thought and looked at the hand. His eyebrows rise up when he saw that the arm was Jaces who was watching with a mortified glare. His lip trembled and he looked away from Alexander and fixed on a figure right behind him.

"If you want him you have to take me first!" Jace declared and tried not to let his voice betray his emotions. The soldiers in black and Helene and her companion just laughed at the fourteen year old fool.

"Jace, stay out of it", hissed Alexander although he had never been this scared in his life.

"No, I will protect you! You're my brother!"

"Not that this isn't really heartwarming and entertaining" said Helene with her cool voice that let Alexander doubt she could ever feel anything but despise. " But I have a kingdom to away boy!" she said and it was the first time Alexander heard anything but coldness and impatience in her voice.

"No!" said Jace and spread his arm backing Alexander up against the rough wall. He lifted his chin and spread his legs, making himself ready.

"Get me Alexander! Now!" Helene shrieked and then happened really fast. The black clad soldiers were on him and Jace and in two seconds go his best friend away from him.

"Alec!" he screamed as the soldiers dragged him away.

Alexander had tears in his eyes and a lump in his throat as he saw Jace being hauled away from him.

The quiet crowd had begun to scream again as one of the houses walls fell. Horses were trying to free themselves and the man in the crowd started fighting the black soldiers. Alexander struggled against the men holding him, the one who was covering his mouth to keep him from screaming yelled as Alexander bit down. Hard. The second though held his arms behind his back not letting him move. He noticed how they tied his hands together and one of them swung him over his broad shoulders he began kicking him in the stomach and the soldier gave up and put him on the sandy ground. The last thing he saw before blacking out was Jace climbing onto a white horse with galloped through the barely opened gates.

Alexander woke up in a dirty room where a lazy fire was cracking slowly. The flame didn't heat the small room and so Alexander shivered with his linen shirt and simple black pants. He didn't know where he was, he just remembered his father's eyes, frozen forever and Jace's teary ones. He looked at himself and saw that his arms where covered in bruises and scratches. Above his right eyebrow he had a laceration; he knew that because he felt dizzy and when he touched the wound his fingertips came back red. He didn't recognise this room as one of the castles, but why would he still be alive anyway? Didn't Helene want him gone? Just thinking about her made him growl. He hated her so much; she had taken everything from him, his father, his brother, his home and now his freedom. He was sure that she was the one that held him captive here. His thoughts where interrupted when the door opened and Helene's companion came in. He backed away from him to the wall and his breathing increased. His heart was hammering against his ribcage like a wild bird.

"Don't worry I don't want to hurt you." The stranger said and approached Alexander like he was a frightened animal.

"Who are you? Where am I?" said Alexander with as much dignity as he could muster in his current situation.

"My name is Jeremiah and I am Helene's brother. You are still in the castle in one of the towers of the castle to be exact." Jeremiah said coming nearer Alexander.

"Why am I not dead, I thought you sister wanted me gone", he tried to put as much despise into his words as possible. Jeremiah smile calmly. Alexander didn't quite like that creepy smile.

"My sister is not a cruel person you know. She just expresses her feeling differently as other people."

Alec made an ugly sound at the back of his throat and said: "Feelings? What feelings? She's cold like steel and has no- "

Alexander didn't get to finish because Jeremiah was on him and pressed his slimy lips on Alexander's leaving him stupefied and breathless. He tried to push him away but was too weak to win against a grown man. When Jeremiah drew away Alexander bit him in the hand. Jeremiah streamed out and convulsed his face into an ugly mask of rage.

"You little filthy, stupid boy, come here!" He threw himself at Alexander and pinned him to the ground. The weight of the older men was pressing him with such force to the ground that he couldn't breathe anymore. He gasped and struggled but Jeremiah was kissing his ear and his neck. Alexander was so repulsed by this man that he tough he might throw up.

Jeremiah turned him around and started to undo the buttons on Alexanders shirt when someone knocked at the door.

"Help! Please! Help me , this man I -" Alexander yelled and Jeremiah silenced him by punching him in his mouth. He got off the boy and went to the door to answer it.

"Yes?...What? Now ?...alright I will be right there just a minute." Jeremiah turned away from the man at the door and kneeled down next to Alexander who had curled in on himself.

"I'll be back for you, beautiful. You know it's not my fault that you are that gorgeous, I just can't resist" He said and and before he walked out he kissed him on his ear shell and left alexander on the dirty and grey floor.

Alexander was woken up by his rumbling stomach. He couldn't remember his last meal. He closed his eyes hoping that when he opens them again this would all just turn out a big nightmare. Of course his wished were once again ignored. He shuddered as he remembered Jeremiah's hands over his body and for the hundredth time he saw his father's cold and dead eyes, heard Jace screams and let his tears lull him to sleep.

Once upon a time there was a beautiful and evil witch that ruled the Great Kingdom who as rumour had it talked to her magic mirror and asked him who the most beautiful was in the whole land. She would draw her strength from being the most beautiful due to the curse of an old witch.

Helene was a proud child, an egotistic young girl, a vain young women and a narcissistic grown up. She had always known that she was attractive and knew how to make use of that. She manipulated the people around her and made them promises. They believed her due to her beauty. An old witch, after being victim of Helene's games cursed her, promising her eternal life if she remain the most beautiful. Helene not seeing the danger in this cure took it as a blessing and thought she had succeeded again in deceiving a person.

And like that, fifty two years later, still as beautiful as when she was twenty two, she came to ask her mirror everyday just to make sure she remained the most splendid being.

A rainy day in November four years after her seizure of power she stepped to her mirror. She took in her mesmerizing reflection and said in a clear voice:

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all."

Her reflection disappeared and the mirror turned completely black. A deep voice spoke to her out of the mirror and directly into her head.

"Today one has come of age that is fairer than you my queen. His name is Alexander. "

Helene didn't move. The mirror kept speaking softly

"But there is a way, my queen, to make sure no one will ever be fairer then you. Take his hart and his beauty shall fade and you shall live forever."

Helene smiled crookedly, her full lips forming an order to bring Jeremiah to her.

When her brother entered she looked at him with her perfect eyes and said:

"Brother, go and seek Alexander out for me, I will need him now."

"Yes sister" He bowed to her and went up to the tower where they held Alexander since he was fourteen years of age.

Alexander, or as he preferred to be called Alec, was sitting on the floor watching through the narrow window as some raindrops got into his room.

Time had passed and he was now eighteen years old and still held prisoner. Alec sighed and looked back at the window. It was his way to know what time it was if the sun decided to show up. As it was right now, Alec had no idea what time it was, just that today was his birthday, the 23rd of November. He had craved lines into the wall to keep track of time. That didn't make it better though because he still had nightmares every day and couldn't breathe when someone knocked at his door which rarely happened. Alec missed the sunlight, feeling the wind on his pale cheeks, hearing the water drop in the pond and looking at Jace's perfect profile. He missed him so much, that every time he thought of him his eyes began to water. He didn't even know if Jace had survived the attack on the castle he just prayed for him every day. He took the wood piece he had been carving to something that looked like a very thick arrow with a very pointy tip. He went with his fingertip over the tip and pressed till he felt drops of blood drip onto the wood.

Knock, knock

Alec got up from the floor and put his weapon behind his back and into his pants. Just as he was pulling the hem of his dark blue shirt out of his pants to cover his weapons the wooden door opened and revealed a very pleased looking Jeremiah. Alec got the farthest away from him. He had to learn the hard way that the man liked him a bit too much. On several occasion throughout the years Alec had Jeremiah kiss him just so that maybe one day he might take pity on him and let him go. That day never came.

"Helene needs you beautiful." He said and walked up to Alec and caressed his cheek with his thumb.

"You know, in all those years you have grown and became strong. You are even more beautiful now than you were back then." He whispered against his cheekbone. Alec stood frozen there like a statue and looked at the door that Jeremiah had left wide open.

"Your ebony locks, your rosy cheeks and porcelain skin, your luminous and piercing cerulean eyes. The people haven't forgotten you, they think that you died, but they haven't forgotten the fairest of them all."

Jeremiah kissed Alec on his full lips and pulled away just a bit to make eye contact

"They call you Snow white, beautiful, because you are just as charming as a winter day. "

He wanted to kiss him again but Alec pushed with everything he had the wooden arrow in his stomach. Jeremiah went to his knees crying out in agonizing pain and Alec stormed out the door. His mind was racing, he didn't know where exactly his location was, just that he must be inside the castle. He wasn't weak, he did train in his cell as much as he could, but he still was very much inferior to the soldiers. He didn't have any more weapons and his running was getting slower and slower. He heard Jeremiah scream at the soldiers to get him. Alec dodged them and ran outside. Somehow he was there where all began. He looked behind him and began running faster. Three soldiers were following him. The rain made the ground slippery and the rain didn't help his case either. Then, and it was just his lucky day today, he saw a carriage leaving full of wheat grain. The gates were opening and they were too far up to be lowered in time to prevent Alec from running outside. He jumped into the grain that covered him fully and saw how the heavy gates closed behind him. The soldiers were yelling orders and running around without any of it. Alec couldn't believe it, he was out, he had made it, he was finally free. The rain grew heavier and the driver of the carriage took something that looked like a big blanket and covered the grain and Alec with it. Alec tried not to fall asleep but exhaustion took over and he slipped into unconsciousness.

A/N: Okay so this might remind you a bit of the movie if you have seen it, when I watched the movie I just thought about how it would with Alec and Magnus. english isn't my first language so if you see anything werid jus tell me! And alos, its my first time writing. Thank you!