"It has been six years to this very day since we put the Evil Queen safely behind bars and I do not regret my decision for a moment. We are a good people, a noble people and our decision to imprison rather than execute a prisoner shows that. We will not stoop to such evil to achieve a goal, instead, we will always strive to find a better way, a good way to get results and keep our people safe and pure of heart. The Evil Queen never understood that and that is why on this day for the past six years and for many more to come we celebrate our freedom from her reign and her wicked influence. Happy Liberation day everyone, stay free and stay happy."

The crowd roared in jubilation as Snow White finished her speech and stepped down from the dais with elegance. Her kingdom had grown and prospered since she had taken her rightful place as ruler and the people loved her. It was a day of celebration and no one had a worry in sight, except for Snow White…

"Emma!" Snow called as she ran down the hallways of the castle flanked by two guards. "I asked you to watch her for ten minutes while I gave a speech. Ten minutes and you manage to lose her!" She fumed as she pushed open doors and looked behind statues. Snow never usually left the care of her daughter to anyone other than herself and Johanna but she had given her the day off to spend time with her family, being a national holiday and all.

"We're so sorry your majesty, the princess said she was just going to use the privy and-"

"And you believed her? You've known my daughter for five years and how she will do anything to run off and cause havoc somewhere." She put her hand to her head and sighed in exasperation. " Look, you two split up and look round the castle and I'll meet you back here in an hour ok?"

"Yes your Majesty, right away." The guards replied as they rushed off to scour the grounds for the young princess lest they get themselves into any more trouble. Snow White watched them disappear round the corner before resuming her own search for her beloved yet troublesome daughter.

Emma smiled wickedly as she made her way through the maze of secret passageways that ran through the castle. Those guards had been the easiest ones to trick yet, two minutes and she had escaped them. She smiled to herself as she shimmied along this latest tunnel. Emma hated being cooped up. She was watched all day every day and even had a guard stationed outside her bedroom at night time. She couldn't climb trees, she couldn't play with the other children outside the castle walls, she basically couldn't do anything apart from read, unless she managed to give her parents of Johanna the slip. She just wanted to be a normal kid and play outside with everyone else but she had been denied that simple pleasure simply because of her birthright, so this was her only means of escape. For a few minutes she could just be herself.

Emma sneezed loudly causing an explosion of dust and cobwebs ahead, she hadn't explored this passage before, she had only found it the other day and already it was becoming interesting. All the other tunnels went down or displayed the odd spattering of steps but this one was narrow and winding and nothing but steps; she must be travelling towards the top of the castle. Finally she came to the end. She examined the grey brick work carefully, her tongue poking out of her mouth as she concentrated. An apple fell out of her pocket and as she spun round to catch it, her back pressed against the wall and caused the door to open suddenly, dumping the princess on the floor on the other side with a loud thump.

Regina turned away from the window with a hiss. Stupid peasants, using any excuse to celebrate and get drunk. Liberation day was a ridiculous excuse for Snow White to pamper her ego and throw a party whilst she was stuck in jail. A day to celebrate them making the 'right' decision? What a load of tripe, the only reason the Queen wasn't dead was because precious Snow White didn't have the balls to do it. Never mind, soon Regina knew her day would come and her revenge would be even sweeter.

She was startled out of her bitter imaginings by a loud thump coming from the wall opposite her cell. She scoffed disdainfully as she spoke:

"You might as well come out you Imbeciles, I can hear you, obviously subtlety was not one of the skills taught to you in your training."

She sighed at the lack of response wishing they would just get it over with already.

"Look, I have things to do, lives to destroy, so if you're going to persist with your pathetic little game of insulting me and throwing things I suggest you hurry up before I bludgeon myself to death out of boredom." Regina called out in irritation waiting for the onslaught to begin. Snow White may consider her people 'good' but she had obviously never observed her prison guards up close for more than five minutes or she would realise they were far from it. The men had stopped fearing her and now used her imprisonment as a source of amusement, binning her food and throwing both objects and insults at the Evil Queen seeing which ones would strike home. She started growling under her breath with impatience as she waited.

"Why would I want to throw things at you Miss?" a small voice said from behind the wall.

A blonde head peeked out from around the corner as a little girl stepped into view. She couldn't have been more than five or six, Regina wondered who was irresponsible enough to let a child run around the dungeons unguarded. An Unsuitable playtime activity didn't even start to cover what this insanity was.

"What are you doing here child?" The Queen asked, ignoring the girl's question.

"I Live here and I'm exploring," she responded quickly, "what are you doing here?" the girl continued, stressing the 'you' petulantly.

"Well clearly I live here too girl, so don't get clever with me. Can't you tell by the lustrous décor of my chambers? You are in my bedroom so I suggest you get out before I get mad. Scurry off back to the kitchens or wherever it is you came from," Regina finished, pressing herself up against the bars menacingly but the girl paid her no heed and approached her curiously.

"Your bedroom is locked too huh?" she asked sadly, "I know the feeling. Mine is only locked at night though, how come yours is locked in the day time?" Regina's brown knitted together in a frown, clearly this conversation wasn't going to be brief. She would have to resort to scaring the girl off instead.

"My room is locked because I am being kept here as a prisoner little girl. You owe me your allegiance. If I hadn't been locked away by your precious King and Queen I would be ruler of this land and you peasants would bow and scrape before me in fear." She finished with a wicked gleam in her eye but the small blonde was undeterred. In fact, she looked uninterested as she rummaged around in her cloak pocket for something.

"Aha!" the child exclaimed, holding the apple aloft, it's red skin gleaming in the pale light. "I almost forgot about lunch for a second," she raised the fruit to her mouth and was about to take a bite when she remembered her manners. "I'm sorry, would you like one?" she said, revealing another from her pocket with a flourish.

"That question is invalid. No I would not like an apple, as God knows how long it has been rolling around in your pocket and even if I did I should not have to ask. In fact, you'll find that it is you who should seek permission from me, since that is an apple from my tree in the gardens." Regina finished haughtily, eyeballing the girl disdainfully. She needn't have bothered; the child just shrugged and took a bite of the fruit before speaking again with her mouth full.

"Say what's your name lady?" she asked as she chewed, completely disregarding the Queen's previous statement. In response to her silence the girl continued speaking. "My mother hates apples, she won't even go near one. She says she had a bad experience with one and a bad lady gave her food poisoning or something. Though, to be honest I think that's great because that means more apples for me and I love apples!" The girl paused to look at Regina with mild annoyance. "Look, I was only trying to be friendly, it's bad manners not to give someone your name when they ask. If I really want to know that much I can just go and ask the guards outside you know." She stated as Regina became a shade paler.

"It's Regina," she snapped as she turned away from the bars in anger. Who did this child think she was, threatening her with the guards. Once she got out of here she would make her and her ill mannered family pay, whoever they were.

The blonde saw she had upset the woman in the cell and immediately felt guilty.

"I wasn't really going to ask the guards," she said quietly. "Especially if they're as horrible to you as you say. I just wanted us to be friends," she finished, hoping the mysterious woman would turn around. Only silence and stillness followed. The child sighed as she shuffled back towards the wall, her shoulders slumped. "Well anyway, it was really nice to meet you Regina and thank you for the apple, it was really good." Regina felt herself softening at the child's words though she tried her hardest not to.

"What's your name?" Regina asked quietly before the girl left and she was alone again.

"Emma," came the soft reply.

The Queen spun around in shock only to find the room empty once more. The only sign anything had changed was the lone apple sitting by the bars of her cell, beautiful and untouched. A gift from the daughter of Snow White. Regina laughed at the irony.