Snow White II: Child of the Bite

**Snow White II: Child of the Bite** is a sequel to Disney's Snow White, starring the son of Snow White and Prince Florian.

Albin is nothing like his good-natured parents and affected by the poisoned apple piece his mother ate in the original movie. The remnants of the witch who imbued it with deadly liquid magic happened to linger inside the resurrected Snow White and become one with her offspring, but even though Albin's green eyes and vain personality are familiar, his mother is oblivious to the signs and both parents see nothing but a short-fused teenager in him.

When he escapes the castle to get a break from the boring routines, he finds a small house in the forest and a single dwarf sleeping inside. Harassing the stranger becomes a loved pastime, until she gains his rare affection, which in turn leads to an unintended tragedy.

Conception started with the creation of Albin, though the exact date of this is unknown and guessed to be 2009. The main story wasn't conceived until 2021.

Relevant artwork was drawn, but never finished or uploaded, except for an descriptionless drawing of an older Snow White at Deviantart on May 19, 2011.

Proper promotional artwork was officially released on June 19, 2021.

## Story

> **CHAPTER 1: Introduction**The kingdom gains a new prince, described to have skin white as snow and hair darker than a starless night. All who witness the baby are instantly smitten by his fairness, and as he grows older, he gains the romantic attention of many bashful girls.
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> But Albin doesn't return anyone's feelings and appears to have an inherently self-absorbent and sociopathic personality. Whenever a reflective object is near, he stops to inspect himself, and he has the overall demeanour of a bully who can't resist pulling pranks on people. Nevertheless, his mother manages to make him behave himself when in the presence of others and Albin does a meagre, yet accepted job of greeting guests visiting the castle and faking appreciation towards his "fans".
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***CHAPTER 2: The Meeting**
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> Eventually, castle life starts to bore him and he decides to explore the land's spacious wilderness, without leaving anyone informed. Accompanied by dangerous and unpleasant wild animals -who see a friend in the equally unpleasant prince- his leisurely stroll takes him to a secluded cottage.
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> He barges right in and helps himself to the bowl of apples on the table. Whilst badmouthing the spotless house with every step, he moves upstairs and finds himself inside a bedroom. Since its ceiling is even lower and forces him to walk hunched over, he decides to sit on the fluffy bed and finish his apple without going through more back pains.
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> The small piece of furniture crunches loudly upon his landing, and a woman's voice is heard shrieking behind him. Albin shoots away, but the lack of space causes him to fall, giving the woman time to grab a broom.
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> She demands the reason for his presence, but upon seeing her, Albin thinks it to be a mere child and smirks in relief. He excuses himself, saying he didn't expect anyone to be playing here in the middle of the woods. The woman responds insulted she's a dwarf and this not to be a playhouse. He's already stopped listening, though, and heading back down the stairs.
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> She angrily follows him, still demanding an explanation, until she stops and sees her home is infested with frightful vermin. She loses her mind even more and demands everyone to get out, but Albin's not in a hurry and helps himself to more apples from her bowl, now swarmed with rats doing the same. The dwarf scrunches her face in disgust.
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> She repeats her demand over and over, but Albin gives no response and lays down on her table with a confident smile. Baffled by his rudeness, she asks where his parents are. He answers not to be a child and to find it a strange question for a child to ask. The dwarf bitterly reinstates to be an adult.
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> He asks why she's sleeping in the middle of the day if not a little girl, to which she explains to work at night, therefore, he needs to get out and let her rest.
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> But no such courtesy is given and Albin keeps eating from her once loaded fruit bowl. She smacks him with her broom multiple times, but only when the straw ends hit his prized face does he acknowledge her again. He pulls her up by the arm as if she were a disobedient toddler and throws her out of her own home, with multiple wolves awaiting her outside. They approach her with hungry growls and she loudly knocks on the door to be let in, but only at the last second does Albin reappear to pick her up and soothe his canine friends with a raw chicken.
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> The dwarf expresses displeasure over the continuous decline of her food stock, whilst watching her gluttonous assailant now holding onto a whole wedge of cheese. Albin still doesn't care to respond to any of her scoldings and starts throwing chunks at her. Rats instantly swarm at her feet to get to the food, making her shriek; only enticing the sadistic Albin to continue. Her pleas are ignored, and instead, he opens up the front door to call for more rats to come. He walks out and throws the rest of the cheese inside, turning the house into an unsalvageable nest of scurfy rodents, whereafter the door is closed and the screams of terror become muffled.
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> Albin feels refreshed and ready to go back home after his short adventure of torturing a random stranger. Upon his arrival, he receives some minor scolding over having missed his educational activities, concluding the day.
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***CHAPTER 3: The Mine**
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> The rest of the week is the same handshaking and faking of courtesy expected from Albin, and the eventlessness urges him to go out explore again. After only a few minutes of walking through the boring, unchanging scenery, the dwarf from last time pops up in his mind. Without hesitation, he agrees with himself it'd be more fun to visit his bully victim, but the little house he only found by accident is hard to retrace. His wolf companions are unable to track down a target they didn't care to remember the smell of, and when the sun starts setting, he deems himself officially lost.
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> Though not too beaten up over having wasted a day, he drops himself down against a tree and rubs his hungry, aching stomach with a pitiful smile.
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> Right on cue, his target passes by, carrying a bag on her back. She recoils when their eyes meet and starts moving faster when he addresses her. The tall tyrant has no problem catching up and patronizingly tells her to had been looking for her. She moans what he came back for, he replies he merely wanted to hang out. The dwarf scoffs with confidence, though feels uneasy by his refusal to leave her side.
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> She asks if he shouldn't be going home for dinner, but Albin states not to be hungry. She comments on his pale face, assuming he's sick, which manages to hit a bit of a sore point and earn her an insult in return. Albin remarks his pale skin deems him "beautiful, something someone like her has no understanding of". She frowns, but doesn't care to argue further over an insignificant topic like physical appearance.
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> She does her best to manoeuvrer away from him, but he keeps shadowing her with determination and none of her warnings are taken seriously. Irritated with her unanticipated stalker, she asks why she's made a target and if he hates dwarfs. Albin replies to have never seen a dwarf and was only ever told they existed. She replies one doesn't need to get in contact with something in order to hate it, but he promises not to care about her species, or her personally for that matter.
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> The constant cheerful insults and tailing get on her nerves, and as she can't determine his true intentions, she settles on threatening him with her pickaxe. The confident prince is not alarmed by it and remarks that murdering an innocent jokester not an appropriate punishment. The dwarf angrily reminds him of his earlier escapades; like breaking into her home, stealing her food, and causing property damage by letting in wild animals. Albin just smirks at the growling woman's list of complaints and explains it's her reaction that make it worth it. Angered, she asks who he thinks he is, to which he casually answers to be Albin.
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> Since he's undoubtedly a bored sadist, she wishes to get rid of him as soon as possible, but knows not to have the speed to outrun him or the courage to inflict actual harm. Though not wanting him anywhere near her home again, she considers going back in order to keep the delinquent away from her workplace; a diamond mine humans are not allowed to know the whereabouts of. On the way back, she picks up on the particularly careful way he follows her and stops again.
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> She grins in her confidence and reveals to know he doesn't remember the way to her house, as he would've already visited her and not been lying around for her to find. Albin sees no reason to deny it, but says not to care either, as he's found her either way.
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> With his admission, the dwarf contemplates her options again. Though leading outsiders to a dwarf mine is undesirable, she settles on sacrificing her work place in order to keep her private domain safe a bit longer. She resumes her journey with her good-spirited stalker, and no words are exchanged this time around.
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> Albin thinks to lift the mood by pulling a prank on his serious-faced companion and summons a large spider to hold in front of her face. It startles her, causing the pickaxe in her hand to go airborne and make a bloody dent in her arm. She yelps in pain, but receives no empathy from Albin, who only remarks to had expected better handling of her tools if she's an experienced user.
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> The dwarf utters some complaints under her breath, then digs inside her bag for something to bandage herself with. The napkin that held her late-night lunch ends up being the only suitable item.
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> They reach a formation of rocks, with at the bottom a small self-made hole that functions as an entrance. Expecting he won't fit through, the dwarf says her goodbye and goes in. Inside, she finds Albin still standing behind her. She perplexedly asks how he got in, to which he confidently explains to her the art of being slender and able to crawl. With that, she's forced to take him along and expose to him the details of her job.
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> The deeper they enter the cave, the more its walls change from bland rock into a wallpaper of beautiful diamonds. After a few short steps, they reach a small open space with a wooden bench and barrels holding the same gems. Albin asks what it is she does, and though she's not in the mood to talk, she tells him about the dwarfs' affinity and expertise in stones, and how they use them to make powerful tools or sell them to races who see high monetary value in them.
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> He doesn't find it very exciting and asks if this is all dwarfs care about, and while some take on different professions, she admits they're not particularly good at them. She adds to believe they made themselves too dependant on other races by buying most services and goods, since their large gem collection makes this more enticing to do than putting in the effort themselves.
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> Albin browses the barrels like he owns them, urging her to tell him not to touch or let anyone know about the mine. He chuckles to be rich and the cave to hold less value than his personal bathroom. The dwarf is skeptical of his claims and asks what a rich man is doing roaming about in the forest this late, harassing a lonesome dwarf. He again argues for the fun of it and says little else. She replies he'd do well getting a hobby or finding a job, to which he says this to be his hobby -and is a student.
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> When he keeps angering her by touching the diamonds, the spiteful Albin decides to knock the whole barrel over. The dwarf has a fit, only increasing his smile.
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> Not wanting to give him more attention, she focuses on her work. After an unknown amount of time, exhaustion and hunger forces her to take a break. While grabbing some water and food from her bag, she finds her unwelcome guest asleep against the victimized barrel. He looks unwell to her and she carefully approaches to inspect him better.
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> By listening to his stomach, she can discern he's been without food for a long time, while his tired eyes and dry lips are signs of dehydration. The complete picture convinces her he's a vagabond; and the story about being rich made up in order to avoid pity.
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> Albin's eyes then shoot open, startling her. He confidently grins no woman can resist him, regardless of species, but she snarls she wasn't trying anything and was merely inspecting his "vampiric face". She advises him to eat something and hands over her food -a cup with a muffin-like pastry in it- and a flask of water with the added warning she already drank from it. Albin doesn't want his mouth to touch someone else's saliva, so immediately throws the flask down the cave. The dwarf walks after her precious water, her irritation growing as the concept of her cup muffin and cooking talents are criticized with every chew, whereafter the empty dish too is chucked away. It hits a floored diamond and loses a piece upon impact.
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> After telling her to expect something better next time, he's splashed with a gush of water and the dwarf stomps off. He watches her leave with a mixture of surprise and amusement on his drenched face.
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> Later that night, Albin arrives home and is greeted by castle staff. His parents show up with worry, but he's all smiles and intercepts that nothing happened. He pushes a diamond in his mother's hands and walks off to his room, leaving his father to stumble over his words while trying to lecture him.
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> With Albin out of sight, Florian turns around in defeat, but Snow White has her eyes on the large diamond and reassures him their son is doing fine. Her relaxed stance surprises him, so she reminds him her dwarf friends were diamond miners, and though she never got to see their produce, the fact she's holding an unprocessed gem makes her believe Albin befriended dwarfs as well.
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> Florian carefully smirks he could've also robbed someone, but she doesn't think his clothes looked like he was holding more loot, nor it to make sense for a wealthy prince to put in the effort. He can't disagree with her points, but mentions the fact Albin likes to inconvenience others. Snow White replies to be hopeful she's right he found himself friends and not more trouble.
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> The next day, Albin is told to focus on his education, but wastes the whole day on skin and hair care instead. When he notices evening is about to arrive, he hurries himself outside with sudden motivation and -thanks to the trees he marked the night before- heads for the location he last met his comical dwarf victim. He calls the assistance of a frighteningly large bear, and hides until she shows up to head for work again.
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> Right on time, she's seen strolling past them with her equipment. Albin commands the bear to threaten her, and as expected, she chooses to retreat back to her home. He follows suit and rediscovers the whereabouts of the house, and marks the way for future harassment.
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> He whistles the bear to come back, which the nervous dwarf hears from inside her home. When she sees the animal obediently turn around from behind her window, it doesn't take long to connect the dots. She barges out and angrily -and incorrectly- yells out Albin's name, but the area has cleared out and no response is given.
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> Upon arriving home, Albin's again lectured for running off and neglecting his work. Since his father is being especially persistent, Albin makes a lacklustre promise to do better if he's left alone. His threatening tone and poisonous green eyes make Florian uneasy, but he accepts the deal and gives him his thanks. Albin returns a slow bow and heads back to his room.
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> Snow White happened to hear the end of their interaction, but she and her husband don't say anything upon encountering each other. They silently walk off together, their faces expressing uncertain feelings.
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***CHAPTER 4: The Boredom**
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> The following three days, everyone does as promised. Albin isn't bothered or expected to join for dinner or other events, while he catches up on his studies. Nevertheless, the days of work and no play begin to bore him and he drops down his quill to go stretch his legs.
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> In the hallways, a male servant passes him by. Albin trips him on purpose, but the man immediately gets up to apologize for "bumping into him", whereafter his journey is resumed; a response that leaves Albin unsatisfied.
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> In the mood for a snack, he barges into the kitchen where staff is hard at work for an upcoming dinner gathering. He snatches a bun from a plate and sleazily asks a nearby assistant if him taking some won't be a problem. The lady urges him to take as many as he pleases with no hesitation in her voice. Albin gives his thanks as he grabs way more than one person could eat, but the unconcerned woman is no longer looking at him and already busy making more to replace the empty spots on the plate; a response that leaves Albin unsatisfied.
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> He approaches the castle's main entrance, leaving behind a long trail of crumbs, and spots a cleaning lady sweeping the floors. He shouts at her about having missed the hallway as he points at his freshly made mess, but the woman humbles herself with an apologetic bow and hurries over to clean it up; a response that leaves Albin unsatisfied. As a last attempt to get some enjoyment out of his well-deserved break, he smashes a bun onto the floor, but not a hint of anger is spotted on the woman's face.
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> With nobody daring to throw a fit in front of their prince, he feels more bored than before his break started. He looks at the huge doors leading outside and becomes enticed to run off again and meet with his more excitable playmate.
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> At the dwarf's house, she's awakened by the aggressive sound of a bell. As she installed this object above her door the night before, she knows what it entails and hurries down to see the human intruder standing. She barks what he's doing in her home this time, then is thrown a bun. Albin says to be on a break and walks over to her table to finish up his remaining food, but an unfinished contraption is occupying it. He asks what it is, but even though the dwarf refrains from answering, he's able to discern by himself it's a barricade for her door.
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> He pushes it off the table, causing the heavy contraption to loudly crash onto her wooden floor, and sits down. She futilely scolds him for it, but he whines it's not nice to lock out a friend. She replies he's a criminal.
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> She diverts her attention to her edible present and desires to know if he spit on it. Albin's eyes light up and he deems it a brilliant prank, but is not given the bun back for this missed opportunity. The dwarf determinedly eats it and says to accept this as compensation for the pastry she gave him back in the mine.
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> Albin says nothing and instead gets comfortable by purposely making a mess while eating. He receives many complaints and groans, visibly pleasing him. The dwarf urges him to go back home after finishing up, since she needs to be well-rested before evening arrives. She starts sweeping the crumbs around his chair, but he keeps sitting there, watching her, making her antsy. Her tone becomes louder every time she has to tell him to leave.
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> Finally, he gets up and calmly starts moving, his penetrating eyes locked onto hers. She flinches as he leans her way and passes by, her face showing uncertainty and fear. Albin feels oddly unsettled by her momentary expression, though keeps his face static and continues his journey to the door, where he bows and says his goodbye.
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> Nevertheless, and almost as expected, she finds him inside the diamond mine the next evening and is happily greeted as she enters. One of her barrels has again been pushed over to function as a back support. The mental exhaustion has her tolerate his presence, and she silently manoeuvres herself through the scattered diamonds to get to work.
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> Albin plays around with her tools in the meantime and asks relevant questions on how they work and how she can determine a diamond's value. She gives him curt answers, while trying to get him to give back the loupe stuck in his eye. She states everything inside the barrels is the best of the best, which is why he should be more careful with them. He doesn't think she's quite the professional miner she argues to be; as it's taking her forever to get one stone out every time. This insults the dwarf, who insists the cave is made out of especially hard rock, and reminds him of the pickaxe wound in her arm. Albin grins that to be her own doing and is not impressed by any of her excuses.
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> She invites him over to try and free the diamond she's working on, and as claimed, the pickaxe hardly dents the rock wall. Since her hits are more effective in comparison, he concludes she's pretty strong for someone her size, but adds he could still throw her if he wanted. She warns him not to think about it.
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> As his name keeps getting mispronounced throughout the conversation, though, Albin corrects her it isn't "Alvin". She finds his real name worse and calls it made up. He curiously asks her for her name, but she doesn't care to tell. Since he's familiar with the odd names of his mother's old friends, he goes through many awful and overly silly titles that could possibly be hers. The dwarf frowns and insists to have a great name, but simply doesn't want to share any personal info with someone like him.
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> Albin places the loupe back in his eye and picks up a floored diamond to see if he can discern its supposed pureness, though it's more like a game of pretend. The jokey uttering *"You're perfect, diamond."* visibly catches the dwarf's attention, who pauses her work to turn around and face him. Albin looks back at her for a few seconds, then understands he just guessed her name.
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> His smile widens, while Diamond's face sags after realizing her mistake. He coos her name to be beautiful, then expresses the more sincere-sounding wish he was named Diamond. His lamentation to want a girl's name earns him a genuine chuckle from the usually annoyed dwarf. He jokes to be surprised she can smile at all, erasing the moment as soon as it came.
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> She resumes her silence, while he watches her face intentively. To have made someone smile with earnestness.. felt strange.
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***CHAPTER 5: The Routine**
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> The next day, Diamond's slumber is once again rudely disturbed. The sound of someone trying to kick down her door is heard downstairs, and not wanting her newly installed barricade to break, she opens up and shouts down her pale-faced visitor. The tirade is ignored like always and she's thanked for letting him in, while some kind of bread stick with cream is pushed in her hands.
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> She's doesn't want to deal with him this time and more sternly asks him not to disturb her anymore while asleep. Albin points out she isn't sleeping and helps himself inside.
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> He steals the newly added apples from her bowl and continues she shouldn't be sleeping during the day in the first place, as it'll interfere with their meetings. She decides not to respond to the odd comment that assumes she wants to meet him, and argues it can't be helped, as the nighttime darkness is needed to hide her from possible lurkers wanting to find and rob diamond mines. Albin looks at her, then condescendingly smiles at her poorly done job. She growls not have expected to get a stalker with too much time on his hands.
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> He repeats the earlier made request back at her; and promises to no longer disturb her when she's asleep. He bows and leaves, whereafter Diamond glances at the pastry still in her hand. Like the bun, it was made with a level of craftsmanship she'd never seen before. She sticks it in her mouth as she heads back up to her room.
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> To no one's surprise and despite everything, she finds Albin inside her mine that same evening, this time having flipped over all barrels to make a bed. Diamond is baffled by his persistence and notes him on his promise to leave her be. He reminds her he only promised not to bother her during the day.
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> She calls him a handful and presumes he doesn't have friends or is generally disliked, which is rebutted by Albin. He argues everyone loves him, since he's attractive. She finds it implausible people are willing to ignore someone's arrogance just because of their face, but he insists he's always given the benefit of the doubt and people sooner suspect themselves to be the problem. Though he used to find it funny, he says it now bores him.
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> The remark worries Diamond he's some kind of chaos addict and keeps looking for stronger stimulation, but he reassures her that not to be so and his practises haven't changed over the years.
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> The conversation doesn't paint a clear picture of what his home life is like, though, and Diamond thinks back to the quality of food he brought her and examines his clothes. As a hermit who doesn't get involved with other races, she can't begin to guess his background, so decides to ask him directly where he got the food from. He smiles and asks if she liked the cream roll. She confirms it was good and looked well-made, whereafter he concurs the palace kitchen has the best food and he'll bring her more in the future. Diamond is alarmed and thinks he's admitted to breaking into the royal castle. She urges him to stop it for his own safety, making Albin snicker, but before he can clarify who he is, he's interrupted by more motherly talking-to.
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> He teasingly coos not to have expected this level of care for him from her, to which she replies the world would be a better place if everyone behaved and abided to the rules. She warns him that the people he wronged will understand he's the problem sooner or later, and he'll have to deal with the consequences. Albin assures her no one ever will, then mutters everything to bore him.
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> Diamond peers at the boy gone limp, but has no words of encouragement or cares to come up with any, and carries on with her work.
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> The next evening, she wakes up to find her fruit bowl kidnapped, with a napkin holding baked goods placed in its stead. The many soot-covered rat feet prints going from the table to her fireplace give a good idea of what's aspired, and she grumbles as she gets some water and soap. Nevertheless, the snacks are appreciated and her mine stayed untouched and unvisited this time.
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> Unwelcome animals routinely break into her home to deliver edible presents, and every other day, Albin himself is found waiting inside the mine.
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> She decides to bring it up one evening and asks what makes her such an interesting target to harass; believing his real interest to lie in her diamond stash. He promises the mine would've already been cleared out if that were the case, and she shouldn't think so ill of him. The request of not looking down on the wicked character is bold, but Diamond chooses to drop the subject.
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> Seeing her hack away like always inclines Albin to ask if she even has hobbies or leisurely pastimes. Diamond replies her job demands all of her time, which he finds an unhealthy way of living. She snaps back that his way of living is an unhealthy way of living. He laughs it off and says not to disagree, but insists she should skip work sometime and do something fun. She repeats not to have the time and again steps out of the conversation.
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> Albin looks at the barrels, holding more diamonds than is sensible, and catches Diamond off-guard with the question if she's wasting time on purpose. She plays dumb, so is noted on the overstuffed barrels that have been ready for delivery for a while now. He asks if the dwarven village is off-limits to humans as well, and Diamond clarifies tourists are not preferred, but those who come for business are allowed in.
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> With that, he offers to help her move the barrels -activating a frenzy of "no's"- and enjoy a day out with him at the village. She doesn't trust his intentions of wanting to see the place so badly and expresses as much. Albin jokes to like feeling like a giant, but also wishes to hang out with her during the day for a change. He deems a village the perfect location for all needs, including her need to take a break from work.
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***CHAPTER 6: The Village**
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> The next morning, Diamond's awakened by Albin, accompanied by her own wooden cart holding barrels, strapped to a familiar bear. She's not pleased by the sight or the news he broke open the mountain's entrance to get them out, but upon mentioning the effort he's gone through, she's guilted into coming with.
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> They start riding, but Diamond's exhaustion in combination with her reluctance to tell him the way makes for a slow start of their journey. Albin calls over some wolves to come smell her -the ambush giving her a near-heart attack- and use her scent to find the nearest dwarf establishment. She asks what he needs her for if he can use this technique to find the village, to which he says the point of their trip is for her to get a break from sitting in dark caves, not to torment more dwarfs. Yet.
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> When buildings enter their sight, Diamond wants to have the bear removed, but Albin argues it'd be best to pull the cart inside as far as possible, as neither of them are strong enough to pull it. She nervously allows for it, but as expected, dwarfs are immediately heard panicking upon their entrance. When they reach the village's taxation office, she hurriedly demands Albin to send the bear away, who does so in time before a foreman shows up to complain.
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> Not wanting Albin to speak, Diamond takes the forefront and promises the disgruntled man the bear was needed as transportation and is a tamed animal, as evidenced by its peaceful departure. Nevertheless, he keeps berating her over the incident, testing Albin's patience. He demands him to be more respectful towards her, whereafter a foul stare is returned. The dwarf asks Diamond who the human is, and she claims he's her courier.
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> Since her goods have been delivered, the foreman sees no reason for Albin to stick around and wants him out. She nervously responds he's her ride back home and asks for permission of entrance. The man scoffs, and orders them to finish up what they came for and leave.
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> As he walks off, Albin summons a snake to follow after him. Diamond hisses at him to stop it, but he assures her the snake isn't venomous and it to be deserved karma. After the public humiliation, she's not entirely against the idea and thus turns her attention to her barrels, still waiting to get registered. While screams are heard in the distance, she informs Albin to be back and begs him not to pull more mischief while she's in the office. Though his smile doesn't look trustworthy, he promises to wait for her.
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> With the bear gone and the public scolding having come to an end, the streets start filling up with residents again. Female dwarfs can't keep their eyes off of Albin and he gives each one of them an alluring smile.
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> A minute later, a group of workers climb the cart to collect the barrels -the women nearly tripping over their own feet as they pass by Albin- and Diamond appears with a small pouch of coins. Albin asks if that's all her barrels are worth, whereafter she reminds him that gemstones have a different value to dwarfs. He doesn't think that to matter, considering the hours she's worked, and doesn't find it a fair trade. She explains that mining is the lowest job on the class chain and her payment fair within their community.
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> He lets the topic slide and remarks he'll be paying for their breakfast, anyway. He asks what's a good place to get a beer, to which Diamond replies not to drink and it'd be better for them to leave; as he shouldn't make himself look like a tourist. He doubts that two "business partners" aren't allowed to have a quick drink, and walks off to find a bar.
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> The buildings and their entrances are especially small, though, and Albin has to hunch down to shout his order through the door opening. His additional note they need to hurry up as he's the prince earns him a hiss from Diamond, who urges him not to make stuff up or keep drawing attention to himself. He argues his good looks to be the reason he's being watched, and Diamond discerns that to be at least half-true when taking in some of the facial expressions glued to him.
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> The waiter arrives outside with two beers. Diamond repeats she doesn't drink, so Albin claims them for himself and orders her a tea instead. She raises an eyebrow at the obvious play of getting himself two beers.
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> Upon the waiter's quick return, Albin asks him about the availability of apple-themed meals, sparking the question from Diamond what his fixation on the fruit is. He states apples to be forbidden in his household, but became his favourite food upon first try, which she is to thank for. Since he can't get his fill at home, he takes every opportunity to get his hands on them elsewhere.
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> She finds the concept of banning food mystifying, but as Albin never cared to ask his parents for further context, he can't give her an explanation for it. In any case, she decides to stay in the village a bit longer and let him order his breakfast.
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> Albin splurges with his money and the makeshift table placed down for them becomes cluttered with food. Diamond feels awkward about taking things paid by someone else, specifically someone she's always considered a pest, but his urging has her eventually join in.
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> Their prolonged stay catches the attention of the foreman from earlier, and the odd date meets its end when the human Albin is kicked out the village. With no care on his face, he waves Diamond goodbye from the distance, leaving her to consume the abundance of food by herself.
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***CHAPTER 7: The Sale**
 (Click "Expand" to read)>*

> Back home, Diamond sits her tired body down and looks at her coin pouch. Remembering what Albin said, she begins to wonder if she's truly not being compensated properly for her nights of work.
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> She manages to catch him roughly 2 days later, during a moment he's instructing animals to break into her home for whatever reason this time. She asks for his advice on the matter and they go inside to count her earnings. Albin suggests to cut off the middle man and directly sell her wares to buyers, starting with the nearby human towns. The ignorant Diamond worries Albin's harsh behaviour is a common trait among the human race, and that her size and absence of protective measures will make it easy to get attacked and robbed of her wares.
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> Albin thinks to himself, and after looking around her cabin for a bit, asks the question what she even needs money for if he's bringing her food and if most of her belongings originate from the woods. Slightly confused by the question, she says her tools need frequent replacing, and soap and a diversity of food to be important. The forest offers her relatively little and his gifts qualify as sweets.
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> He shrugs he can bring her soap and other kinds of food, but Diamond thinks that being too dependant on others will make one lazy and create problems in the future. She wishes not to be taken care of and retain responsibility for herself.
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> With her being hesitant to mingle with humans and little other options available, Albin offers to contact some jewellers and business owners for her. Knowing what kind of person he is, she says not to be optimistic he'll produce results, nevertheless, she gives him her gratitude.
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> That same week, Albin uses one of his parents' party events to approach guests who'd be most likely interested in her wares. He turns on his charms like never before and manages to draw in many interested buyers for the huge diamond sample Diamond gave him. His parents, only able to see his back, look on in the distance, thinking he's finally changed his act and is enjoying himself in other people's company.
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> The next day, Albin returns to Diamond with the money. She's struck silent with disbelief when the amount appears to be similar to what was paid to her for the multiple barrels that took weeks to fill. Albin calls the dwarven taxation organization a scam, and Diamond is saddened to discover her own kind is exploiting each other.
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> With her first experimental sale being a success, he declares her free to take some days off and advices her to try and sleep at night for a change. She replies it to be a drastic change after the many years of slaving away, but to be curious how it'll work out for her. She grabs half of her gold coins and pushes it towards him over the table, wanting him to have a cut. Albin rejects the offer, saying it to be table scraps of table scraps to him. She keeps insisting, he keeps rejecting, until his hand accidentally cups hers. After some silence, she insists that time itself is valuable and he should be compensated for giving up his to help her. He says her apples will do.
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> For the first time in years, Diamond sleeps an entire night and day away. After finishing up breakfast, delivered by what appears to be bats this time, she heads out to enjoy her first spare time activity. With coins in her pocket, she visits the more leisurely parts of the dwarven village.
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> As she has the appearance of a commoner, some dwarfs are surprised to see her spend this kind of money and become interested in her. Diamond only shares to have partnered up with a human, as she doesn't want to talk business on what should be her day off. Mixed opinions are returned, as some feel inspired by the idea, while others believe humans are a deceitful race only the experts should do direct business with.
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> It's a topic she doesn't care to join in on and some people appear a bit too eager to befriend her. When she starts getting surrounded, she announces her leave and resumes her walk, but in the end, doesn't know what else is considered fun and feels alone.
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> After this short day of shopping for clothes and ordering a cup of tea she couldn't finish, she buys an apple strudel and heads back home dissatisfied.
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***CHAPTER 8: The Date**
 (Click "Expand" to read)>*

> Albin visits her the next day with more diamond sale earnings. He takes the opportunity to ask how she liked her first day off, but Diamond says to feel silly for trying to go out alone and without any kind of schedule to help her on the way.
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> She takes the money, and as thanks for his continuous efforts, places the strudel from yesterday on the table. Upon seeing the insides of the foreign pastry, it disappears within seconds.
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> He tries to console her with the promise to take her out, but she doubts he knows how to create a relaxing atmosphere and adds she's difficult to entertain, as little interests her. Albin argues a day off isn't synonymous with surrounding yourself with silence and that most things require a second person to be enjoyed. He lists up activities for them to do, making it seem like he's planned this out days ago.
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> The suggestion "dog racing" is not understood by her, and Albin clarifies it's something he used to do as a child, which entails sitting on a wolf and racing each other. Diamond stares at him with big eyes, confused by his casual explanation of the made-up activity. She says not to feel safe doing that and he's too big to sit on any canine's back. He smirks those to be the words of a loser, but she replies it'd do him well to find calmer hobbies.
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> Albin wants to know about her childhood pastimes, but Diamond can't list any. After expressing to find that implausible, she recalls sitting at the fireplace alot, waiting for people to show up. Albin asks if she means her family by that, whereafter she tells him about her orphan status and how a group of old dwarfs each took turn taking care of her. Since they were often gone working at the mines and there were no toys in their homes, there was little for her to do.
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> Albin moans to finally understand why she's a humorless workaholic, earning him a frown.
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> Since she prefers silent relaxation over sitting on the back of a wild carnivore, he proposes to hang out at her fireplace. Diamond passes and says those moments in her life weren't particularly enjoyable, but Albin thinks it'd be good to turn a bad memory into a good one. He invites her to try out wasting time with company for a change.
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> She wants to know if he has ulterior motives, like trying to set her house on fire as a "joke", to which he says to have tried that already, but her home isn't very flammable. His tone of voice makes it hard to decipher the validity of his confession, so Albin gives her a wink as reassurance. She shoves him and tells the idiot not to say those kind of things.
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> With the abundance of money he brought her, Diamond is struck with an abundance of time and decides to let Albin, the time waster expert, choose how to spend it. He suggests to go outside and look for food they can roast in the fire.
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> The scavenging takes them a while, and seeing Albin so focussed for a change tempts the cheeky dwarf to carry out some late and well-deserved payback. She throws chestnuts at him whenever he's not looking and tries to scare him with twigs, simulating crawling insects. The pitiful bullying attempts end with her getting chucked into a lake.
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> By the time they've found enough of everything they want to eat and try, the day has nearly ended. They arrive back at the cottage, where Diamond finally has the chance to get out of her wet clothes. Albin lights up her fireplace in the meantime, then is joined by her.
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> He notices her new clothes and gives her an uncharacteristically sincere compliment. She waits for some kind of jab to follow, but Albin turns his attention back to the fire. Slightly flustered, she sits down next to him and helps him increase the flames.
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> They get out their booty and discuss what to throw on first, while hands keep touching and eyes keep meeting. Diamond is unsure what to make of the tingling sensation in her skin, and assumes to have caught a fever after walking around drenched for so long. But the fireplace feels nicer than it ever did and her body subtly leans into the direction of her new friend.
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> With the chestnuts still in her hands, Albin repeats they may be placed on the plate, visibly waking her up from a trance. He leans over to grab and place them down for her, but his hand keeps resting on hers and his eyes lock on. They draw in closer for a kiss.
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> Mere seconds after their lips touched, Diamond goes limp and collapses onto the floor. He looks at her with a careful and puzzled expression, but when her body shows no signs of life, it turns into panic.
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***CHAPTER 9: The Sleep**
 (Click "Expand" to read)>*

> A listless Albin is sitting in the garden, surrounded by ogling staff. The image of their proud prince next to the glass-contained body of a person they've never seen before, of a race they never thought would earn his civility, has everyone struck silent with surprise and confusion.
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> His parents watch on, their moment of shock long passed. Snow White approaches to sit down next to him, and tells him of the time she was cursed with death, visibly not interesting him. She gets to the point; and thinks Diamond's skin to still have its healthy shine, a sign she's not really dead. Albin growls she shouldn't get his hopes up with guesses, and Diamond's absence of a pulse to be the only sensible symptom up for consideration.
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> Snow White opens up a large book, resting under her arm, saying she and Florian found this while looking for possible answers at her old home. She shows him the recipe that took her life and possibly his friend's, and the cure, stated to be a "love's first kiss". Albin grinds his teeth in bitterness at his mother's insistence to give this a try, and barks that Diamond collapsed after he kissed her.
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> She's shocked upon learning this detail and the implication of his words. She tells him not to blame himself over something that hasn't been proven.
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> Albin gestures a large spider to sit on his hand, and gently places his lips on the animal's back. It drops onto the grass with its legs curled in the air. Snow White's eyes widen, and Albin turns his attention back to Diamond.
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> She gets up and rejoins her husband. Florian wonders if they should send out a call to all men and dwarfs to try and kiss her awake, but Snow White calls it a dreadful suggestion that will only hurt Albin more. Florian goes over to ask his son anyway, and as expected, Albin doesn't support it and points out that the book stated the kiss needs to be one of love. Florian replies he and his mother fell in love at first sight, and the same thing could happen with any of the men that come to see Diamond. Albin snarls love at first sight isn't real love.
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> Florian begs him to consider it if no other options are available.
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> With reluctance and sickening anger raging through his blood, Albin agrees to try for Diamond's sake.
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> The following 3 days, many men show up to kiss her under Albin's displeased, yet carefully hopeful eyes. With the promise of a handsome reward, the line is long, but no one succeeds at waking her up. Witnessing the countless men touching lips with Diamond wears heavy on Albin, and eventually becomes too much for him. He orders everyone to get out of the garden, then turns to her himself. He kisses her multiple times, hoping one of his attempts will register and confirm him as her first and true love, but no matter how often he tries, she remains a lifeless shell. Feeling it to be officially hopeless and have defiled her body for no reason, his eyes can no longer hold back the water.
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> Snow White shows up again, more distraught than before. She apologizes for the plan and argues Diamond's predicament to be her fault. He asks her not to speak nonsense, but she clarifies it was because of her gullibility she accepted the poisoned apple, which made him the victim of its effects. She pulls him in for an embrace, even though Albin isn't feeling it and is actively struggling to get her off.
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> She manages to briefly force his head against her shoulder, whereafter he yanks himself off. He calls her a fool for allowing his mouth to touch her skin, but with his mother still alive in front of him, bewildered silence follows. Snow White, as his mother and primary caretaker, remarks her skin is no stranger to his mouth. Albin grabs her hand to plant a kiss on it and confirms she's immune.
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> He's seen thinking to himself for a while, then pleads for his mother's help.
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> As instructed by him, Snow White leans over the open coffin and gives Diamond a careful kiss on her lips. Albin follows, then keeps his attention on her face. The seconds feel like hours, but before gloom can wash over him again, her eyes open.
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> Diamond wakes up confused about the changed scenery and Albin replies this to be his house. Not wanting to alarm her, he only shares with her the detail she fell asleep. She apologizes and says not to be used to staying up during the day.
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> He lovingly caresses her in response, which reminds her of their interrupted date, turning her a bit shy in his presence. In order to make her comfortable and his further intentions clear, he performs a familiar serenade.
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> Snow White is beaming and sneaks off to give them their privacy. She and Florian watch the two contentedly from a faraway balcony as they exchange words they can't possibly make out.
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## Characters

### Albin

Albin is Snow White and Prince Florian's son. He's somewhere in his late teens.

His appearance and personality are molded by the poisoned apple his mother succumbed to years ago. Though he doesn't qualify as a reincarnation of his late stepgrandmother and is perceivably his own person, he shares some of her most notable traits.

The effects of the poison itself lives on inside of him as well; and a kiss will kill the recipient within seconds. As Albin never loved anyone and doesn't like to be touched, this ability wasn't explored before the sequel's events.

Albin is the heartthrob of the kingdom, despite being mean-spirited, narcissistic, and hyper-focussed on his appearance. He thinks everyone to be beneath him, which is why he tends to do what he wants without concern for others.

He enjoys to argue with people and test their limits, but as the prince, few dare to engage. It's also insinuated he possesses an almost involuntary charm that makes many people not pick up on his insults and sarcasm -or they believe they're to blame for his lashing out. In the story, Albin expressed that the constant showering of subservience and admiration equally annoyed and bored him.

Albin's interest in the dwarf, Diamond, started over the fact she acknowledged his wrongdoings and had "funny" responses to them, though he dialed back his bullying after she exhibited fear, just to keep her comfortable with clapping back at him. Having that said, Albin seeks the certainty that the people he's interacting with are genuine in their words and feelings for him, which is why those who let his rudeness slide are not respected.

Though he's lived his life surrounded by smiles, he knows and expects to be solely liked because of his good looks and royalty status. To have made Diamond smile was a new experience for him and made him recognize the appeal of being kind to someone, and his crush on her started developing.

He doesn't respect his parents and snarls at them often. His father is seen as meek, while he's strangely jealous of his mother's appearance. Since Albin's a confident character, it's unlikely his jealousy is based on self-doubt, but linked to his desire to be the only and most attractive person in the land; a dangerous trait inherited from Snow White's stepmother.

Like Snow White, Albin is gifted at earning the friendship of wild animals, but only hostile and less admired beasts. When outdoors, he's often greeted by spiders, snakes, rats, bats, and wolves. Many of these predator animals wish to eat each other as well, and Albin has to routinely command them not to.

He has an ironic, yet fitting affinity for apples, but did not get introduced to the taste of them before meeting Diamond.

Albin has piercing green eyes, half-long black hair, and extremely pale skin that's devoid of the healthy blush his mother has. While it's seen as an admired beauty standard by most, Diamond believed he looked unhealthy and vampirish.

Besides his eyes and longer face, another feature that more closely links him to his stepgrandmother is his hair structure, which doesn't mirror that of either one of his parents and is very straight in comparison.

### Diamond

Diamond is a female dwarf. Her past and way of living give no clear answer to how old she is, though she looks to be a young adult.

As a baby, she was found abandoned by a group of worker dwarfs inside a diamond mine and claimed to be as small as one, earning her the name. They each took turn caring for her, and because of this and the fact they were busy people, she grew up with no particular attachment to anyone.

Despite the risks and it being unlike dwarfs to do so; she went on to live by herself inside the forest, away from most establishments. Her lack of education didn't allow for many job opportunities and she settled on becoming a diamond miner herself. She works solo and digs her own mines, making her job more physically demanding than is normal.

As a born and raised loner, she considered Albin a pest for a long time and suspected he was after her diamonds, though also feared he had a disdain for dwarfs and intended to harm her. Though she recognizes he has all the signs of a villain and is not the type of person she likes to associate with, upon getting to know him better, she saw a real, though still unorthodox friend in him.

It took her a while to learn and accept his name was "Albin" and she calls him "Alvin" for most of the story. Besides that, he more than once expressed to be royalty, but Diamond never believed it because of his inappropriate behaviour and the fact he spends his free time on a commoner.

Diamond is stout and curvy, has dark eyes, dark messy eyebrows, a small and pointed pink nose, and long, messy, voluminous blonde hair. She wears a blue short-sleeved tunic, a black belt with a silver buckle, yellowish brown pants, brown shoes, and tends to tie her hair up in a ponytail or a half-low bun when going to work. She only wears her red hat when meeting up with other dwarfs.

### Snow White

Snow White is the mother of Albin. She's in her early 30s.

She's the benevolent queen of the land, who's fairness is still widely revered. Though her son has always been hostile towards her, her parenting methods have been consistent throughout the years and she treats him with kindness and patience.

She believes his misbehaviour to be a symptom of loneliness, and wishes for him to make friends above all. When she thinks he found himself some friendly dwarfs during one of his many solo adventures, she feels somewhat relieved, though her husband's words keep her worried she might be too optimistic.

When she realizes the traits her son inhabits aren't as random as first perceived, she feels she's to blame for Diamond's death. She attributes her acceptance of the poisoned apple as the reason Albin is cursed with perpetual feelings of anger, loneliness, and dissatisfaction, and in addition, the lethal power that killed a loved one. Nevertheless, after having gone through the sleeping death herself and getting resurrected, she built up a transferable immunity for this particular potion and became the key to Diamond's rescue.

Some time after her husband rescued her from her sleeping death, her dwarf friends shared with him the details of the incident. It urged him to ban apples from the castle as a gesture of compassion, even though Snow White never expressed to fear the fruit. At the same time, she doesn't appear to miss it and never knew Florian enforced this rule.

### Florian

Florian is the father of Albin. He's in his early 40s.

He's the benevolent king of the land, but seen and treated as a mighty, untouchable ruler. While his kindness is a respected trait among his underlings and other royalty, it doesn't impress his son, who thinks he's a weakling.

Florian supports his wife's methods and wants to share her belief their son will grow up a good man, though an unspoken truth is that he's intimidated by Albin's antagonistic words and glares. Despite some of the heavier moments between them, he nor Albin have ever laid hands on each other, though this also includes the casual and affectionate touches expected from a loving parent.

Unlike Snow White, Florian feels hurt by the emotional and physical distance Albin keeps between them.

After Snow White's dwarf friends shared with him the details of the incident that led to her presumed death, he banned apples from the castle as a gesture of compassion, even though Snow White never expressed to fear the fruit.

## Trivia

* The name "Albin" is derived from the Latin word, "albus", meaning "white".
* In early, unpublished artwork, Albin was roughly 11 years old;
	+ The pastime of riding wolves is a reference to this early design, where he had a large pet wolf he rode around.
* In movie format, Snow White II features no songs, except for Albin's rendition of "One Song".
* Prince Florian was never given an official name, though some official Disney events started addressing him as "Florian".
* Diamond has never celebrated her birthday.