Emma Swan had been through a hell of a lot in the past few months. It was a lot for anyone to go through and truthfully Emma had no idea how she wasn't in some psych ward by now, curled up in a corner in the fetal position asking how the hell her world got like this.
In the past few months the kid she gave up for adoption ten years ago managed to track her down and took her home with him to Storybrooke, Maine. And there she'd had the pleasure of meeting his adoptive mother, who also happened to be the mayor of the town. The two became fast enemies. The woman was evil, plain and simple; a pure sociopath. But as Emma grew to know her, she softened her idea of the mayor, and found unfortunately that she cared about her. She'd watched Graham die in front of her on the floor, and became Sheriff after some of Mr. Gold's lovely manipulative tactics. She then had to arrest her new best friend and roommate for murder, got abducted by a crazy man with a ton of hats and most perplexing of all was told to believe in magic. Magic. First, by Henry, whose idea that everyone in Storybrooke was actually a fairytale character had thrown her for a loop. Second, by August, who used the last ounce of his strength to get her to believe in what she so desperately didn't want to believe. If Henry (and August) were right, well then that meant, as August had put it, that everyone's fate rested on her shoulders and God, she did not want that burden. And third, by the crazy man, Jefferson, who'd abducted her. And anyone could imagine her reaction once she learned all of that was true, actually true, and that magic, sure as hell, was real. She'd slayed a dragon—yeah, really-, found her birth parents—Snow White and Prince Charming (who would have ever imagined that one)-, and, finally, managed to get herself sucked through a goddamn portal to Fairytale Land with no way back to the real world, back to her son.
Emma sighed for the umpteenth time and hit her head against the rocks behind her that made the wall to Rumplestiltskin's former cell. She, freakin' Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Mulan, had already been bested by Regina's evil bitch of a mother and her sleazy sidekick Captain Hook. They had everything; the magical dust from the wardrobe that had transported her to the real world twenty-eight years ago, the compass that would lead them straight to Storybrooke, and even Aurora's freakin' heart. And the four of them were currently locked in a cell that was impossible to break out of while Cora and Hook moseyed themselves along to wherever they were going to make this portal and to Storybrooke; to Regina, Gold and Henry. Which was exactly why Cora wasn't getting anywhere with that compass, not if Emma had anything to say about it.
"This is useless," Mulan said, frustration evident not only in her voice but also in the way she continuously clenched and unclenched her fists, "There's no way out of here!"
"There's got to be," Mary Margaret replied, furrowing her brow in a way Emma would have called cute if she wasn't her mother. Mary Margaret's optimism was a stark contrast to Mulan's pessimism, and Emma found her hope in that.
"I don't see one!"
"Guys! Seriously!" Emma shouted, "That sure as hell isn't going to get us out of here!" Mulan sighed, defeated, slumping down on the ground next to Aurora, who was staring at the ground, still knocked out over the fact that Cora and Hook had literally taken her heart and controlled her.
Emma glanced up as she felt Mary Margaret slide down next to her, a weary smile crossing her face.
"We'll find a way out. I'm sure of it," said the short-haired woman, her hand squeezing Emma's softly.
"I hope you're right. And I hope it's before Cora and Hook use those ashes." Emma let her head fall back against the rocks again, closing her eyes in frustration. She did not want that woman getting back to Storybrooke where she could potentially hurt her son. She also didn't want Cora there because Regina was there, and no one, even Regina, deserved having that bitch unleashed on them. And Emma also had that stupid nagging voice in the back of her head that would always make her protect Regina. It was like second nature, she just felt a compulsive need to keep her safe, and it was something she didn't fully understand. (And after all, Regina was Henry's mother too, and the ten-year old wanted Emma to keep her safe).
"It will be," Mary Margaret responded, breaking Emma from her thoughts, "Have faith, Emma." She nodded, closing her eyes again to be immersed in her thoughts.
Hours seemed to pass yet time seemed to tick by ever so slowly. Emma found herself counting the number of times her heart beat, how many times Mary Margaret shifted in thought, how many times Mulan heaved a sigh. It was terrible, and Emma couldn't decide if the silence or the overwhelming feeling of helplessness was worse.
All Emma wanted to do was get out of here. She didn't want to lose her family, not when she'd finally found them. There was Mary Margaret and David (well technically Snow and Charming), her real parents, and even if she was a little (a lot) flabbergasted, she still wanted to know them. After all she'd spent her whole life wondering who they were. And then there was Henry, her wonderful, amazing son, and Regina, who, despite everything, Emma considered family, although she'd never tell the brunette that.
"Good always wins," Mary Margaret piped up, yet again jarring Emma from her thoughts.
The blonde scoffed, "You sound like Henry."
"I guess optimism runs in the family."
Emma scoffed again, "I think it skipped a generation." Emma twirled the scroll with her name on it between her fingers absentmindedly, glancing down at it as she did.
"What if this was all I was meant to do?"
"What?" Mary Margaret asked, glancing sideways at Emma, a curious expression on her face.
"You said it yourself. I was prophesized to be the savior. Gold planned all of it. Everything. And everything I've ever done in my life, it was all supposed to live up to this, to breaking the curse," Emma said softly, "This was my purpose."
"Emma—"
"You know it's true." Emma tossed the scroll of paper at her companion, turning to look out into the bleakness of the hallway of their cage, feeling the hope she'd mustered before slowly seep from her being.
All of a sudden Mary Margaret jumped up, her face grinning, "This is it!"
"What?" Emma and Mulan asked simultaneously.
"This is it. When I was a little girl," she continued excitedly, "I used to sneak into Cora's study and watch her practice magic and she had this book of spells but the spells were inside it."
Emma scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. What the hell was she talking about?
"Of course it had spells in it. Isn't that what a spell book is? A book of spells?" Emma barked sarcastically.
"No, no," Mary Margaret said, rolling her eyes before blowing on the scroll of paper.
Emma watched in fascination as the words on the paper lifted up into the air.
"The squid ink!" Mary Margaret yelled, as if she hadn't been sure she was right, "He wrote the scroll in squid ink!" She blew the ink towards the cell door and the four of them watched in anticipation as it eroded the bars of the cell, creating a gaping hole, freeing them.
"You did it!" Emma shouted, her, Mulan and Aurora jumping up off the ground.
"I told you! Good always wins!" They raced out of the cell but Aurora's voice stopped them in their tracks.
"Wait."
"What's wrong?" Mulan asked, stepping back towards the princess with concern.
"You must leave me here. I can't be trusted, not as long as Cora has my heart," she said softly, her eyes downcast.
"Then I shall get it back for you," the warrior said fiercely.
"You would do that for me?"
"Of course." The two stared, seemingly lost in each other.
"Mulan!" Emma interrupted the moment, "We gotta go!"
"Leave me." Aurora said. Mulan reluctantly grabbed a coil of rope from her belt and bound Aurora's hands to the bars of Rumplestiltskin's cell.
"Let's go," the warrior said, nodding at Emma and Mary Margaret. With a final glance at Aurora, the trio took off sprinting into the forest.
"Where would Cora go?" Emma shouted in question, fear taking over yet again at the thought that they were lost as to where Cora would go to make the portal.
"Lake Nostos!" Mary Margaret answered back almost immediately, "She may have somewhere better that I've never heard of but it's the best chance we have! The waters there have magical properties!"
"We better hurry then!" Mulan shouted back, "We don't have much time. The lake is a good distance from here and Cora's had a marginal head start!"
"Let's hope we aren't too late," Emma growled out, newfound energy propelling her forward, her feet pounding the soft dirt beneath her. This was about protecting her family. Cora was not getting to Storybrooke.