we should've been forever [Anyone at all]

[rogerrabbit]

When Roger came home from work to an empty house, he thought, Oh, Snow must've gone shopping. Ooh, I can try to make dinner. She'll probably be darn tired when she gets home.

One gigantic mess of pots, pans, and, for some reason, flour, Roger took a looksie at the clock and realized he had been home for a good hour and there was still no silky soft hide or gorgeous raven hair of his darling Snow. Not that this made for a particularly long shopping trip, but he'd feel better if he called her. So he did; it went to voicemail. Huh...that was funny.

"Hey Snowy...I'm home, and hopefully I'll have the kitchen all nice and tidy when you get home. Call me, okay? I miss my Snowflake...love you."

Well, he might as well make good on his cleaning promise while he waited. This took a lot longer than it should've, seeing as he kept making a bunch of clumsy, but hilarious, mistakes, but soon he was sweeping the remains of the exploded flour bag with a proud smile. He checked the clock again...two hours? And she still hadn't called? That wasn't like Snow at all!

His little heart started going pitter patter in the most unsettling way as he grabbed the phone and dialed her number again, only to hear the terrifying voicemail again.

Oh gosh, what if she was in trouble?? Like during Christmas?? What if that Queen got out and kidnapped her, tied her up...or worse...given her an apple!!!

In sheer, wannabe heroic panic, Roger raced out the door and began to howl at the top of his lungs, "Snow White, where arrrrrrrre yoooooooou??? The hysterical man could probably be heard from China, let alone his own neighborhood.

[Deleted]

Plum was busy writing a paper in her apartment all by her lonesome. It wasn’t very fun but it had to be done, so she was trying to get it done as fast and as best as she could. Of course, it also wasn’t due for two weeks, but it was always better to get a head start then to leave everything for the last minute. She’d learned that from experience, except that it was twice as bad then because she had had to scramble to get everything the way it should be and nothing turned out the way it was supposed to. After that Plum had learned to get a head start on everything.

Needless to say that it was a much welcomed distraction to hear someone’s agonizing cries and without a though Plum was up out of her chair and half way to the door when she realized that she was a fairy and that if there was trouble about it would be much more efficient to use her magic to get her there faster. So she pulled out her wand and made the wish, dematerializing from her apartment and materializing only steps away from the rather distraught young man. And she recognized the rather distraught young man as Roger, the very same young man who had been heartbroken this past winter. Well, she would do whatever she could to help him, just like last time.

“Roger, are you alright?” she asked concerned, not even worrying about probably scaring him half to death with her sudden appearance. She had bigger fish to fry, so to speak. “Is everything alright? What are you yelling about?”

[rogerrabbit]

In his panic, the fairy’s sudden appearance almost made Roger jump straight out of his skin (there was actually a little debate on whether or not he actually could and live to tell the tale thanks to Cartoon Physics, but now wasn’t the time to be dwelling on that kind of thing), and for a wild moment, he was hoping that Snow was popping up and was about to yell “Surprise, surprise!” And then they would laugh and laugh, and he’d kiss the stuffing out of her and bring her back home so they could have some carrot cake and a good laugh over the funny (albeit terrifying as all HELL) joke.

Instead, however, there was another familiar face before him…and okay, it wasn’t gonna be better than Snow, but it sure as heck was the next best thing, and even though he was awful scared, he immediately lit up as the fairy asked him what was wrong and why he was yelling!

“Plum! Boy am I glad to see you!” In fact, he wound up jumping up, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, and if he weren’t so worried that one wrong move could mean that Snow was never ever coming back, he probably would have given her the biggest kiss on the cheek ever, just as Toons often did. Heck, his dad Bugs had the overeager cheek kiss down to an art! But nope, he just stuck to hugging the fairy.

Now was the time for talking a mile a minute. This was an emergency after all! “Snow’s gone again! I mean, she came back, did you know that? Turns out that wicked old stepmother of hers had kidnapped her and tried to kill her, but she got back just a week after we talked, and I was so so so glad, and did I thank you for being such a help back then? You’re real swell, Plum, really! A true friend…but now she’s gone again! I thought maybe she had gone shopping, but she’s been gone for almost three hours and she’s not answering her phone, and I think something awful musta happened to her!”

That was around the time he brought out the Bambi eyes. “I know I ask you for a lot, but could you please oh please help me find her so I can rescue her? And I swear, I will find a way to make it all up to you, you beautiful, beautiful fairy, you!”

[Deleted]

Plum was honestly surprised by the hug. No one had ever jumped right up at the sight of her that fast just to give her what seemed to be the world’s biggest hug. Of course she hugged him back because she was quite happy to see Roger, though she only wished it was under better circumstances. One didn’t usually scream like that when one was fine, so clearly something was wrong. Hopefully Plum could help.

She listened while he rambled at her with such speed, trying to take it all in. Snow had left him again and that was really awful because he seemed to really love her. Her heart went out to him and she resolved to help him in whatever way she could. Although it did not seem to bode well seeing as last time she hadn’t been able to help him. She probably wouldn’t be able to bring her back this time either.

Oh, but those eyes. How could she refuse him when she looked at him like that? Those eyes were killing her. “Roger, of course I’ll help you,” she told him sincerely. “Slow down and tell me what happened and then we’ll go from there, alright?” It would be easier to help if she knew the facts and she knew where to begin. And that way she knew the whole story and she could help Roger through it.

[rogerrabbit]

Awww, Plum hugged him back, wasn’t that just swell of her? Roger meant it when he said that she was a true friend, and now she was good at giving hugs to boot…oh wait, he knew that from last time. Haha, he had been trying to block out “last time” from his brain, so he supposed that he almost forgot, but now that Snow was gone again, it was all rushing back, although Roger was more than prepared to fight against the gloomy droopiness that was his sad self. Now wasn’t the time to be sad! Now was the time for action, and he was sure that Plum could help him take action, even if maybe she wasn’t able to before. He was sure there was still a chance for them. After all, she came back last time, right? She probably just needed him to be the big, conquering hero, that was it. That was how all the stories went, and that was what was happening. He hadn’t earned her yet, that was all. Well, now he would. He would give all those bad guys something to be sorry for, because he might act idiotic, but he wasn’t stupid, and he demanded to have his true love back in his arms so they could have their happily ever after and their baby and everything would just be peachy keen.

So needless to say, Plum’s reassurance that he would help her made him even happier and he wound up hopping out of her arms, because he figured if he was going to go off and be the big action hero, he was gonna have to stand on his own two feet, y’know? Maybe he would go back to his Toon form too…’cause rabbit feet were lucky, and that way he’d have two perfectly good ones, ‘cause he needed all the luck he could get, seeing as, well, his last stint at being the big hero…heh, y’know what? He wasn’t going to talk about his near Dip experience at a time like this. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Plum!”

So he took a deep breath, and decided that as funny as it would be to talk really fast again, that this wasn’t the time for jokes. His true love was at stake here! “Well, like I said. I came home, she wasn’t there. So I worked on dinner, but then I wound up making a humungous mess, so I cleaned it up, and I realized she still wasn’t home or answering her phone. That was when I started screaming, ‘cause, you see, last time, her stepmother kidnapped her and almost killed her, but then she came back up through the ice.” He then nodded. “So I figure that maybe it’s something like that again, and I can’t just let her go through the ice again, ‘cause there isn’t any ice left. So I’ve gotta save her.” By now, he had a rather determined look on his face. This was probably gonna be perilous, perhaps even deadly, but if it meant getting his Snowflake back, he was gonna do it.

[Deleted]

Plum did not want to be the bearer of bad news. She would try her best not to be, though she didn’t know not to be and she was far too realistic not to tell Roger the truth. As much as it would hurt to be straight forward with him, it would so much worse not to be. She couldn’t and wouldn’t lie to him about the situation. He deserved better than that. He had at least deserved a goodbye, but he didn’t get that. Plum had often found that seldom did people get what they deserved, but she would really try to help Roger, because he deserved a good friend. And that was all she could be.

Plum listened to what Roger had to say, though she listened suspiciously. Stepmothers were clearly getting a bad rep, but perhaps there was more to it than this. Perhaps Snow hadn’t been kidnapped. And Roger, he looked so determined to rescue her. She hated to say what she was going to say, but he had to hear. But this was really quite heartbreaking you know.

She looked at Roger, taking in his appearance and knowing how much this was going to hurt him. But she had to say it anyway. “Roger,” she began carefully. “Are you sure she was kidnapped? She might not have been. She might have left on her own. I don’t know why and I’m not saying she did, but it’s a possibility. Did you check to see if she left anything behind?” Plum hoped she was wrong and that Snow had been kidnapped.

[rogerrabbit]

Roger had always been sort of a fool when it came to love, so it really made sense that he didn't realize that Plum's expression was less than, well...optimistic. Like his late boss once said, "His wife's poison but he thinks she's Betty Crocker." Truth was that this sort of outlook could be applied to just about everything that Roger couldn't see wasn't a good thing. Of course he knew that this was a bad thing, but he couldn't see that Plum might not have the good news that Roger had sincerely been hoping for. Not that Roger would blame her, of course, seeing as he was now on a kick of blaming himself for all the people who seemed to like leaving him (it was getting to the point where if he didn't hear from Eddie soon, Roger was going to blame himself for messing up their friendship, somehow, as well). After all, he was a Toon. Toons were supposed to make people happy, and if they failed to do that to the point where people left...well...how could it not be their own fault?

So when Plum suggested that maybe Snow just...left...well, his stomach dropped. Because if Plum couldn't see Snow from where she was, not even a sign that maybe she had been kidnapped...but...NO! They were happy! They were gonna have a baby!

"She...I...I'll go see!" Then he gasped. "Maybe there's some clues!" he realized before he bolted back into the house (not so hard, since the door had been wide open all this time, it was just a good thing this was such a safe neighborhood, huh?), then proceeded into their bedroom, because it just occurred to him that there was bound to be have been a struggle! After all, struggles always happened in kidnappings, and there was probably the world's biggest mess in their bedroom, and then they could crack this case wide open and--but then he froze at the doorway.

Why? Because their bedroom had never been cleaner. There wasn't even a sock on the floor. But...no, she wouldn't have just...

He threw the closet door open...none of her dresses were left...shoes! She had lots of shoes, like any pretty girl and...therrrre were just his sneakers and tap shoes...wait! That blanket he had made for the baby (he had made it green, and yeah, he knew that it was more alien than neutral, but c'mon, lots of people liked green, right?)! That had to still be there! Because...because she wouldn't leave without it on her own will, she just wouldn't! In fact, maybe she had been clutching onto it when that bad old queen came in! She had said she loved that little blanket...

...which he eventually found in the linen closet, perfectly folded, barely touched. Now Roger's hands were shaking, but he reached into the closet and held the blanket for a solid two minutes, eyes widening and tears starting to peek out. He then brought it to his nose, breathing...there was maybe a little trace of Snow's scent, but hardly enough that would indicate that she paid it much attention at all...

"It...it's all so..." And that was when he started to really cry. "Clean....."

[Deleted]

Plum felt horrible, she really did. She hated seeing anyone so heartbroken. She knew what it was liked to have your heart broken and it wasn’t a nice feeling at all. If only she could wish away all the pain. But that was part of the process of getting through. But it pained her all the same, and to know there was nothing she could do to fix it made her feel worse.

The fact that it hadn’t occurred to Roger that Snow might have left on her own was just so heartbreaking. He wanted to believe so badly that she hadn’t left him. That she had been kidnapped and that he could save her. He wanted to save her so badly that it was up to her to suggest that this time she might not be coming back. It broke Plum’s heart.

She followed him inside when he went, hoping desperately that she was wrong and that Roger was right. She had just been kidnapped, that was all. And then Roger could go off and save Snow and the world would be right again. If she could grant any wish, any wish at all, that would be the wish. Please, be wrong, she thought.

But she wasn’t wrong. She had been spot on. She had hit the nail on the head without even trying. It wasn’t even fair. Poor Roger. The poor dear. He had been left by the love of his life. He had been left and it seemed like there wasn’t even a note to tell him goodbye. But she hoped she was wrong about that too.

She watched Roger, standing in the doorway, but when he broke down and began to cry she couldn’t take it any longer. She crossed to the floor to stand beside him and put an arm around his shoulders. “Shh,” she hushed gently. “Shh, everything will be alright. I’m so sorry Roger.”