Darkest Before the Dawn: 03
Author: t8kmybreathaway
Title: It's Always Darkest Before the Dawn
Fandom: Once Upon a Time
Pairing: Swan/Queen
Rating: M
Summary: Emma finds a strange book that doesn't belong to anyone she knows, nor does it seem to exist anywhere. She takes it home and on the eve of her 28th birthday her and her son are both sucked into the world it depicts.
Background: The Curse as we know it does not exist. Instead, what happened was everyone got amnesia and knows nothing about the Evil Queen or Emma, except for Pinocchio who was sent into this world with her. Twenty eight years have passed in the enchanted forest and everyone has aged except Regina and her father.
Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.
A/N: This is going to be a fairly new experience for me. I have never gone far into the realm of fantasy before. Please review it will make me want to write more and update sooner.
A/N2: I just want to take a moment to thank all of you that have favorited, followed, or commented so far! You are my motivation to keep writing. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
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Cora paced the floor in front of her throne waiting for word on the intruders or the arrival of her captives should her guards succeed in their task. She wanted to know who they were and why they were here. She didn't let just anyone stay in Wonderland, not since her wretched husband had banned her there. She stopped briefly and readjusted the crown on her head when the doors flew open.
"Your majesty," her captain bowed. "The intruders as you requested. There is another, however, she managed to escape," he added. The terror in his voice was the only thing that belayed his fear of what his Queen might do to him since he had failed part of his task. He dared not shake for fear that the rattling chainmail might anger her further.
The Red Queen turned to him with a fire in her eyes. "You let her escape?" her lips curled into a sneer. "You imbecile!" she yelled. She had half a mind to shove her fist into his chest and yank out his heart crushing it for his stupidity but refrained from doing so in front of the little boy in his grasp.
She attempted to smile warmly but it came out as more of a grimace, she was only known to smile when it was something sinister. "And what do we have here?" she wondered. She reached out to touch Henry's face and he jerked his head sharply freeing his jaw from her grasp.
Dark hazel eyes stared back at her in defiance. "My mom will come for me!" he shouted at her, insolence and determination flashing in his eyes. It reminded her of a younger version of her daughter. It disgusted her but she knew this would all work to her advantage. It was clear that this boy and his companion were the key to capturing the other delinquent in her forest.
"Be quiet," August shushed the boy in a harsh whimper.
"You would do well to listen to Pinocchio," she agreed. The confusion flashes across August's face. "Yes, I know who you are," she smiled coolly.
"And when she finds me she'll destroy you! You're an evil old hag!" Henry added with venom. Cora almost laughed. Oh if he only knew just how evil she was.
"What a sharp tongue for someone so small," Cora remarked her head leaning to the side slightly. "Take them to the dungeon," she said with a wave of her hand.
Henry struggled and kicked his legs wildly striking several of the Queen's men square in the face. "My mom will find me!" he screeched as the forcibly held his limbs.
"Oh, I'm counting on it," Cora laughed manically looking right at him.
Henry was still struggling with his captors when they were coming upon the dungeons. The guards descended the stairs with both Henry and Pinocchio in their grasp opening a large wooden door. They walked down a dark corridor lit by candle sconces barely bright enough to light up the floor. A large wooden and steel barred door opened to reveal a nasty cell with straw thrown about the floor and possibly what looked to be mice droppings. Henry frowned and scrunched up his nose at the sight. The soldiers shackled Henry's leg to the wall and then both of August's hands to the opposite wall. "Why aren't you fighting?" Henry yelled at him yanking on his chain.
"It's no use, you will only tire yourself and waste the energy you have left, which you will need. We have to stay strong," August explained. "I will formulate a plan in the meantime but cooperate, please, if anything happens to you..." August shook his head, he did t even want to think about the wrath that Emma would surely possess.
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Emma slowly opened her eyes as consciousness seeped back into her mind. Her hand rose to meet the bandage on her head again and she winced. Green eyes took in her surroundings carefully taking note of everything that had happened. Her eyes fell upon a lone figure looking out the window; from her hair and her dress she guessed it was the Queen.
Her assumption was proven correct as she watched the woman turn around. "You're awake, good," she smiled brightly and glided towards her bed; black eyes focused on Emma.
"Where's my son?" Emma demanded as she propped herself up on her elbows.
"The Red Queen has taken him and your other friend. I am sorry, but do not fear, we will rescue them soon."
"We need to rescue them now," Emma said trying to sit up.
"You are still weak, we cannot risk it. The fate of all the fairy tale lands depend on you," she said just as brightly as if it were no big deal and sat on the edge of the bed.
Emma shook her head and fell back down on the bed in defeat. Then, her brain processed the last thing the Queen had said. "What are you talking about?" Emma asked turning to the Queen and grabbing her pale hand.
"Hmm?" the Queen answered but she was in a complete daze. Emma wasn't likely to get any answers anytime soon. She sighed and dropped the hand she was holding to stare at the ceiling.
She was startled when the Queen fell from the bed and started to shake violently. Emma slid herself to the edge and yelled for help. "On the 28th anniversary of her birth she shall return to the land to which she belongs and light and dark shall battle for the heart of stone," the woman whispered violently her eyes rolling back in her head. Emma shivered but heard no more as McTwisp returned with help to take the Queen away.
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Emma was stunned into silence even long after the Queen had been taken away. Was she talking about her? Was she the woman that the Queen had referred to? And what the hell did it mean if she was?
Emma moved to the edge of the bed and stood up before walking over to the window gingerly holding her ribs. Her eyes took in the surrounding cherry blossoms and she rubbed the back of her neck with her uninjured hand. The castle and the grounds were beautiful; there was no doubt about that. She sighed and leaned against the window pane.
A few moments later she went to the bathroom. What she saw when she looked in the mirror made her frown. She had large purple bags under her eyes and her hair was matted down against her head in every which direction. She sighed heavily and began removing her clothes and bandages. She turned the faucet and let the gigantic tub fill with warm water before she checked it.
It felt heavily as she sunk into it and let it work out all the soreness of her body. Her mind was racing and it was beginning to get a lot harder for her to call this - whatever this was - a dream like she had been from the beginning. All the reasons she formulated amounted to nothing, she needed answers, but first she had to rescue Henry.
When she emerged from her bath she found it much harder to tend to her wounds than it was to strip her body of the bandages. She sighed and gave in calling for help. Much to her surprise and relief it was the Queen who had come to her aid.
"Emma," she greeted.
The blonde grunted and plopped on to the bed. She allowed the Queen to take care of her and once the woman was finished Emma reached for her hand before she could walk away. "This is real, isn't it?" she asked softly not meeting the onyx eyes above her.
"I'm afraid so," the Queen replied softly.
"And who am I?" Emma asked almost afraid to know the answer.
"Only you can know that," the Queen replied cryptically. "I apologize for the incident earlier, I faint now and again," she offered with a small smile and brief shrug of her shoulders.
"Wait," Emma blinked. "You don't remember anything you had said?" she asked. The Queen looked at Emma with confusion written plainly across her face. "You said on the 28th anniversary of her birth she shall return to the land to which she belongs and light and dark shall battle for the heart of stone, what did you mean? Were you talking about me?" Emma said a little more demandingly than she had meant to.
The Queen shook her head her white curls bouncing around her shoulders. "I'm sorry, dear; I do not know of what you speak. Now, come, let us prepare for your daring rescue," she said.
Emma watched the Queen walk away dumbfounded. How could she not know what she had said? The blonde followed her wordlessly wanting to get started doing something, anything to save Henry. When she finally broke out of her haze she looked around finding herself in an armory of sorts. "Ah, the Princess has awakened from her slumber," she heard and turned sharply to her left finding a blonde with wavy yellow curls flowing around her shoulders. "I was wondering when we would be starting your training."
"Training?" Emma asked. She looked to the Queen and then back to the blonde confused.
"Why yes," the Queen replied. "My Champion will train you in using the sword, possibly the bow for an added element of stealth," the woman shook her fist excitedly. "You must learn to defend yourself and plan a tactical attack in order to mount a rescue of such proportions. Even then you are not guaranteed success," she said before leaving.
Emma looked the blonde up and down, she was thin and didn't even look as if she could hold a sword let alone swing one. "I'm sorry, but this is all too much," she laughed softly with a shake of her head.
"Pick up your sword," the blonde instructed and pushed off the wall where she was leaning. She circled Emma watching her with pointed grey eyes. "I am the Queen's Champion and I will instruct you in how to wield a shield and sword." Emma shook her head and picked up the weapon. She hefted it in her hands before rolling her shoulders and charging at the other blonde. The armored woman moved out of Emma's way easily and she fell forward with an oomph. "You are rash," she spoke evenly as if she wasn't even breaking a sweat. "Stop, think before you attack, study your opponent, then strike."
Emma growled at her and charged forward after scrambling to her feet. The blonde shook her head and spun out of her line of motion and then pushed her to the ground. "Ugh!" Emma groaned in frustration.
"Stop!" the blonde yelled at Emma. "You are clearly far to rash to learn the proper techniques for a long sword. Your movements are quick and far better suited to short swords. Maybe if you can learn some patients you can also learn to wield a bow."
Emma picked herself up off the ground and stared at the blonde. "Who are you?"
"I am Alice," the blonde replied.
Recognition spread across Emma's face. "Of course," she shook her head. She moved to walk forward but faltered in step nearly losing her balance.
"I believe we should stop for the day. You must rest, we continue tomorrow at day break," Alice said. "I will send the Queen to tend to your wounds."
"I'm fine," Emma stated holding her ribs. "I'll be able to take care of myself," she said.
Alice rolled her eyes. "Don't be obtuse. The Queen is the best practioner of the healing arts in Wonderland. I will send for her and she will tend to you," the blonde said with finality and helped Emma to her room.
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Emma woke up to whispers and slowly lifted one eyelid. McTwisp was standing next to her bed looking over at her while the Queen changed her bandages. "Who is she?" the rabbit asked.
The Queen sighed. "I wish I knew, Nivins, but I do not."
"Alice called her the Princess, what did she mean?"
The Queen shook her head. "I think that was just Alice's way of mocking our guest," the Queen supplied.
Nivins' nose twitched his whiskers bouncing about his nose. "That's rude," he said and disappeared from Emma's view.
She sighed feeling a cooling sensation on her shoulder. "You're awake," the Queen smiled. "Wonderful, breakfast will be in just a little while and then you will begin your training with Alice. She has informed me that you will be taking up short swords and learn to dual wield. How exciting," the Queen clapped. Emma barely kept herself from rolling her eyes. This woman was altogether too chipper for her liking.
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Emma twisted to her right going down on one knee as she brought her left hand up to block a heavy blow from the blonde. She grit her teeth together and then pushed off with her right knee using the blonde's momentum to her advantage knocking her back several feet as she pushed up and threw her left arm up. Sparks flew as metal scraped against metal and Emma was now on two feet holding her defensive stance with one sword eye level and the other protecting her stomach.
The Champion carefully stepped backwards and circled around Emma, her left foot inching to the right slowly as her right shifted back. Emma waited for the blonde's next attack. Normally Alice would double back around her, stop, and gather her sword with both hands before she moved to strike at Emma's feet. The first few times she had completely caught her off guard but this time the blonde was ready and jumped over the blade twisting in the air bring her own swords close to Alice's neck. The other blonde barely had time to dodge Emma's attack and stumbled into the rack of spears behind her.
A loud clatter sounded and Alice reached out dropping her sword to keep herself from falling. Emma had thought she had her right where she wanted her and was closing in quickly, swords pointed forward. Alice rolled to her right and over the her sword successfully picking the weapon back up and blocking Emma's whirling attack.
Emma could feel the sweat dripping off her brow and steadily flowing down her back and between her breasts. Her breathing was severely labored. They had been at this for hours now and no end was in sight. At least not until she saw a brief drop in Alice's defense; a small opening that Emma could exploit, and that's when she made her move. She ran at Alice and dropped to her knees sliding across the floor leaning back as she did to block the low attack from the Champion then twirled on her knees somehow pulling her feet around so she sprang up so fast that Alice had no time to block her. Her right arm came down on top of the sword heavily while her left lifted from the bottom and sent the sword skyward. Emma used her momentum swinging her right leg up with a round house type of kick hitting Alice square in the chest.
The Champion stumbled backwards arms flailing about a surprised look plastered on her face. Emma came at her again this time dropping low to her left knee and sweep kicking Alice's legs from under her. When Emma was finally standing upright Alice was flat on her back rubbing the back of her head looking up at her wide-eyed. Emma's chest heaved with each breath as she looked down at the other blonde. "You have mastered your skills in the short sword," the blonde wheezed with a smile. "I cannot teach you any more, you have surpassed my own skill." Emma smiled back and put her swords down so she could help Alice to her feet. "Thank you," Alice replied.
Emma nodded. "You're welcome, thank you for teaching me."
"You're a pretty determined person, it was only a matter of time before you got the hang of it," Alice said brushing herself off.
Emma picked up her swords and sheathed them in their scabbard. "I'd still like to learn the bow, would you be teaching me?" she asked as they walked towards her chambers. She was in desperate need of a shower.
Alice shook her head. "I will not I'm afraid. But Nivins is quite adept with the bow, maybe you should ask him," Alice suggested.
Emma looked at her like she had three heads. Surely no rabbit his size could shoot a bow and have it go very far. But then again she had underestimated Alice and the woman had proved to be just as strong if not stronger than her when they had started sparring. She shrugged her shoulders and nodded. "Okay, I'll do that," she said and watched Alice smile with approval before skipping off to the Queen's quarters no doubt. Emma had seen them together more than once in the garden and the second time they had shared a kiss thinking no one was looking. It didn't bother the blonde, just served to show her what was missing from her life.
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Emma had just finished bathing and was now dressed in fluffy grey pajamas that could be compared to sweats if anything in Wonderland could remotely come close to the sweats she would wear at home. She padded through the castle in search for Nivins, the white rabbit, hoping she would bump into him as she usually would, but she wasn't having any luck.
No matter, she was content to roam the castle. There was still much of it she hadn't seen. She dallied down the corridor to her right looking at the fascinating paintings that adorned the walls. She had learned that most of them were recreations of Alice's great battle against the White Queen's sister's pet Jabberwocky. A very odd name for a creature, Emma would have just called it a dragon. She moved from painting to painting inspecting it as if it were a picture in a book. She had always loved the illustrations in her books when she was a girl. She was so intrigued and enraptured by the scenes she hadn't noticed the change in atmosphere or the darkened walls of the hallway. Before she knew it she was lost.
She stepped back from a fairly gruesome painting with a no-faced knight charging into a crowd of soldiers, short swords at the ready. It gave her a chill but she brushed it off and simply figured the oddity of the whole thing was what bothered her. Her eyes followed along the hallway and it also gave her a chill. It was eerie to say the least. On each side of the wall were sconces that held four candles but as you descended deeper into the corridor one by one the candles lessened.
Curiosity got the better of her and she continued down the hall keeping her eyes peeled and ready for anything. Her muscles twitched slightly in anticipation of action. At the end of the hall was a large metal door with a small peephole big enough for someone's head. She couldn't help herself; she had to see what was inside, or rather who was inside, especially after she heard the clinking of metal chains. She reached to door and pressed her hands to it trying to get a good position to rear up on her tippy toes.
"Why hello, dearie," a voice called out to her from the cell. "It is mighty nice of you to come visit me, but you mustn't dawdle, for if you are caught the consequences would be great," the same smarmy voice said with a sing song tone.
"Who are you?"
"Ah," he started. "That is not the question you came here to ask, now is it?" she could hear him shuffling around inside. "No, you came to ask me who it is you are, didn't you, dearie?" suddenly a face flashed before her and she jumped backwards. His face was barely light but she could make out the scaly like features of his green-ish skin. She nodded even though she continued to stand where she was instead of peering into the cell again. This man gave her the creeps. "Well then, who are you…" he stepped back from the little window and she could hear him pacing.
She chanced a look into the window and stood back up on her tippy toes. "Wait…"
He was back in an instant. "I'll tell you, but it'll cost you," he sniveled mischievously.
"What do you want?" she asked, her eyes desperately searching his face for answers.
Suddenly, he was upside down and the whole thing disturbed the blonde a great deal. "Why the name of your unborn child of course," he cackled.
Emma shook her head. "But I'm not…" she was confused.
"Oh but you will be…" he smiled with a knowing smarm. "I want the name of your unborn child should it be another boy…"
"Wait, how do you know I already have a son?" she questioned the impish looking man.
"Why I can see into the future of course," he stated with a giggled. "Now, do we have a deal?" he asked.
"A name, that is all?" Emma asked. The man nodded. "Very well, I would name another son, should I have one, Ayden," she replied.
He smiled as if he had won and faced away from her. "You are the long lost daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White, but alas, they do not know you exist. They think you dead, so even if you should see them they would not recognize you. For that to happen you must break the curse…"
"What curse?" she asked.
He turned back to her with a smarmy grin. "The Evil Queen's curse of course," he replied.
"What did she do?" Emma asked.
He shook his index finger at her. "Ah ah ah, each question is deal that must be made and I've already answered two. You've gotten a freebee, I'm afraid I can't answer another without a deal…" he smirked at her evilly.
"Funny how deals work," she stated crossing her arms, his smirk turned into a frown. "Oh yes, I figured out who you were when you asked for my second son's name. The funny thing is, I'm not quite sure what I would name him. It could be Ayden, Aaron, Derek, Liam, Shaun… who knows," she shrugged. "It really depends on who I am with if I am with anyone," she smiled.
"You tricked me!" he replied angrily. "Give me a name!" he thrashed around the cell bouncing off the walls angrily. He should have seen it coming. He was spending far too much time cooped up in this cage to have his mind in the right place to keep from being tricked in such a way. "Give me a name!" he shouted. "GIVE ME A NAME!"
"Sorry, but you lost this time, Rumplestiltskin…" she said and turned around walking back down the corridor leaving him yelling after her.