Wolf was dead. His mate for life, his reason for living, had rejected him, and so he had died. He hadn't died physically, but that wasn't important. He had died inside. The thing that made him who he was, the thing that was Wolf, had turned to dust, along with years of memories and emotions. Now, he was but a shell. A shell of hate, cunning, and a need for revenge.

It had been almost immediate, like a snapping in his brain. Wolves mated for life, he had once told her, and it was true. Now, just as he had died, so would she. He would make sure of it. As this thought crossed his mind, he smiled, and a man in the street who was next to him moved back unconsciously. He would work for the Queen, he decided, and destroy the girl at the moment which she least expected it.

"You are different, my wolf. Fiercer. Colder."

"I am dead."

"You seem," the queen said, smiling, "quite alive to me?"

Wolf didn't respond, but simply stared at her. When the queen stared back, she got quite a surprise. In his eyes, where she had once found intellegence, cunning, honor, bravery, humor, and a strange humanity, she found nothing. All the things which had drawn her to his prison cell in the beginning were gone. And she knew, deep in her heart, that he had been plunged far deeper into the pit of madness than even she had, and he had returned empty. Empty of heart, soul, and humanity. The emptyness of that gaze scared her more than anything else in the world. But she had to test it.

"Bring me the maid from my chambers," she commanded Wolf.

"Yes my queen."

When he returned, he had the young girl in tow, her short brown hair matted to her head from sweat, and her blue eyes filled with fear. She looked about ready to bolt, but a firm grip from Wolf kept her where she was.

"Now," she told him, staring right into his eyes to see his reaction, "I want you to kill her."

Wolf didn't even blink. "Yes, my queen." As he said the words, his eyes seemed to be filled with a red-orange glow and large fangs sprouted in his smile. He turned to the girl, who began fighting him outright then, beating at him uselessly. It was no matter. The girl might as well have beat at a wall.

The queen watched calmly as Wolf ripped the maid's throat out and dumped her body into the moat below. He was quite neat, with little blood on the floor and his coat. He hadn't hated the act, nor did he relish it, but he had done it much the same way one cleans the dishes: a simple job that must be done.

When he was finished, he bowed before her once more. "It is done, my queen."

"Good," she said, putting up a smiling face over her slight discomfort. "Very good..."

The girl-Wolf couldn't even remember her name-had slapped the queen. He couldn't believe it. She had given the girl her life, and the girl had refused it. Not that it mattered anyway. Even if his queen had allowed her to go, he would have caught up with her anyway. But this seemed to make it even more sweet.

The queen ordered her Huntsman to kill the girl, but Wolf stepped up first.

"My queen, if I may beg a favor?"

"Yes, my wolf?"

"I wish to kill the girl myself. I feel it only fitting..."

The queen appeared to think about this for a moment, then nodded. "Yes. You may take her to my chambers and kill her there. I have a feeling that might help..."

Wolf bowed once more than grabbed the girl. For some reason which made Wolf smile, she had a glimmer of hope in her eyes. However, Wolf decided he would have to kill that as soon as they reached the room.

When they did, he took her to the room of mirrors. Still hauling her, he brought her over to the Traveling Mirror, then set her down.

"Oh, Wolf! I knew you hadn't turned bad. Not after I told you I loved you! Not after what we shared!" she seemed so happy, and the being that had once been Wolf couldn't wait to destroy that happiness.

"No. Wolf is dead. You killed him, as efficiently as if you had let those villagers burn him to death. And maybe you should have, for what you did was much worse. Wolf is dead. Everything you loved about him, knew of him is gone, dust. Out time together? It meant nothing. It was a trick. No more. You killed me when you walked out of that resturant. Wolf couldn't be more dead if you had buried him. Now, all that remains is hatred. Hatred and cunning and an animal."

"No. No. You can't be serious..."

"Yes I am," he replied calmly. He had no passion. Passion had been burned from his being. "But I am not going to kill you. I'm going to do something worse..."

"What?"

"I'm going to send you home," he said, activating the mirror so that it showed the bright lights of NYC. "I'm going to send you home with the knowledge that you let everyone down. That you failed the Nine Kingdoms. That you failed Snow White. That you let evil triumph. That your mother never wanted you. With the knowledge that you killed the soul of a man who only wanted to love you..."

She couldn't even speak. The horror of what he said, the reality of it, bit to the bone.

"And you won't forget. No. No, you won't. You won't make believe this never happened. I made sure of that. You're not even aware of it now, but I can feel it. Since I won't get a chance to see you after this, I will tell you now. You are carrying Wolf's child. The child of the man you killed. And every kick you feel, every time you change him, or wash him, you will remember all that happened, all that you destroyed with your selfishness.

"And it will happen, just as it did to Wolf. You will die inside, slowly but surely, until you are as dead as I am. Your body will live, but not your self. You will end up shell. An inhuman, loveless shell."

And with those last words ringing through the room, Wolf threw her through the mirror.

"I hear the queen's chief of police is coming to town again."

"Yeah," the other old man answered his comrade, both of them leaning on the fence, "I've heard he's the best actor alive. Some even say he fooled a Truth mirror. That it only showed a black hole!"

"I've heard that too."

"Hey, Lester, how did you find out about the Chief coming?"

"My son. He was taken in for qustioning a few days ago. Said he heard it through the wall, someone saying that Wolf was coming."

"Truly?"

"Truly."

"So, how is your boy?"

"Dead."

"If he's dead, how did you find that out from him?"

"Oh, he made it back from the questioning all right, but had an accident yesterday."

"Accident?"

"Some wolf accidentally ripped his throat out..."

"Oh, that kind of accident."

The other nodded. It was common, with the way thenqueen ruled the kingdom. Her secret police killed people often, even on rumor, and were headed by Wolf, a cold and cruel creature. Almost everyone in the Kingdoms had dug a grave since her ascension to the thrones. Both men were contemplating this when a man came shouting amazing news.

"The queen is dead! The Lost Monarchs have returned!"

Both Lester and his friend nearly fell over from the shock. It was too good to be true. When Lester found his voice, he stopped the shouting man and asked, "Who? How?"

The man's eyebrow went up. "Why, her police chief, Wolf. They say he was giving her a report, stopped for a moment, and then suddenly jumped up and bit out her throat!"

Both men were plundged back into shock, so the man continued. "Then, he did something even more unbelievable. He invited back all the old monarchs, claiming that he had merely drugged them and told them to hide! By Cinderella's slippers, happily ever after has returned to the Nine Kingdoms!"

"Indeed! Happily Ever After!"

"Hi, Mom! I'm home!"

"Hi Warren!" his mother shouted back, hugging him fiercely, "How was school today?"

"Good. Good. The teacher read us the story of Snow White and everthing! And I got a new friend!"

"Wow," replied Virginia, "That's wonderful!"

However, when Warren saw the look on her face, he wasn't sure if it was.

"Mommy?" he asked, pawing his eyebrow, "What was Daddy like?"

Mommy almost looked like crying, but kept on the smile. "Well, he had blue-grey eyes like you, thick black hair like you, the same face as you, and a bushy tail like yours too!" As she said each feature, she gave him a kiss.

"Did he act like me, Mommy?"

"Yes. He had a good heart. He was a good man. Just like you'll be..."

"One minute, Mommy..."

With that, Warren bounced over to the doorway. Virginia could see his little tail wagging in his pant's leg. When he got to the door, he stuck his head out and yelled.

"Mister Wolfson! Come on, Mister Wolfson!"

Virginia froze. No. This wasn't him. It couldn't be him, no. He was in the Kingdoms, doing something horrid for her mother. She was in NYC. No. Not him. It wasn't real. No. It was somebody else. Some stranger from the streets. She picked up a baseball bat of her son's and held it up defensively.

"If I wanted to kill you, Virginia, you'd already be dead." No. It wasn't his voice. It couldn't be his voice. And it wouldn't be he that walked through that door. It was a crazy from the streets. It had to be.

"Put the club down, Virginia. I can smell the metal tang on your hands."

"Go Away! You just go away!" she shouted, breaking into angry tears at this horribly cruel joke. Her mind didn't even stop to question how anyone here would know Wolf. "Go away!"

"I can't, Virginia," the voice said again. "I listened to you once when you told me that, and it drove me insane. I can't."

"GO AWAY!" It was a plea.

"No." She heard the door open, but couldn't make herself look. Instead, she looked at Warren, her child, who she had raised for more than six years, who looked so much like the man she had loved. Warren looked confused, and kept on pointing towards the door. Finally, her little boy lept over and turned her face physically.

It was him. She couldn't believe it. It was him. The same face, the same hair, the same body, the same eyes. Yet different. That face, once brushed with laugh lines, now held the signs of worry wrinkles, and those eyes had an age to them that seemed unreal. His hair was thick and black, but now had an attractive brush of grey to it. She couldn't believe it. It was her greatest dream come true. And her worst nightmare.

"Stay away, Wolf. I swear, if you try to hurt me or Warren, I'll kill you."

He looked so tired. So tired and guilt-ridden. "I don't wish to hurt you. Not anymore. I've hurt you enough already."

"Why did you come here? To torment me?"

"No." he answered, moving closer in a graceful step, "I came to apologize. To atone. To fix what I messed up so badly."

"Don't lie. You work for the queen."

"The queen is dead. I killed her this morning."

Virginia's eyes opened wide in shock. He said it so calmly. Once, he had been upset about killing sheep, let alone people, and now... Had he changed so much?

"I was working as the chief of her secret police. Have been since that night I... Anyway, I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't let her. So I killed her, and called the lost monarchs out of hiding."

"Hiding? But you poisoned them!"

"No," he said, getting closer and closer unconsciencously, "I merely gave them a dose of troll dust, and when they woke up, I told them to hide. I don't know what made me do it. I guess a part of me was still sane."

"Maybe."

"Maybe."

"So what are you doing here?"

"I came to apologize, as I said, and to be what I should have been for the last seven years, if you'll take me..."

"And what is that?" She couldn't hope. She couldn't. She couldn't hope, because then there was a chance she would have her hopes crushed.

"I came to be a father," he answered, putting his hands around her face, "And a husband. If you'll take me..."

"Yes." Her heart soared, but her mind screamed. How could she forgive him? He had let evil win. He had killed countless people. He had betrayed her love. And then, she realize why she could. Because she loved him. And he loved her. Because she had hurt him so badly, so often in their previous time together. Because they had to forgive and remember.

The moment was wrecked by the excited shouting of little Warren. He was jumping up and down, running around the room. He stopped to sniff his father, then his mother, and then continued to bounce around. He was so happy, his tail had fallen out and was wagging like crazy.

"I'm guessing you never..."

"No."

"I figured he was mine..."

"Indeed."

"You're different," Virginia said finally, echoing the words of seven years ago.

"We are both different."

"Different, but good."