A/N:Exactly as it says in the description. I really wanted to explore the idea of Gold training Emma how to use magic (Hopefully the OUAT writers will too). Hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: As you are all aware, I do not own Once Upon a Time or The Sorcerer's Apprentice. They belong to Disney/ABC

Chapter 1: School Field Trip

"That looks really good," said a voice behind her.

Emma turned her head to look at the boy leaning against the seat behind her. He wasn't exactly looking at her. He was staring at the notebook in her lap where she had drawn a dragon breathing fire.

"Thank you," she smiled at him. "It's from a book."

"Which one?" he asked.

She turned in her seat so she was sitting on her knees and facing him. "It's an old storybook my dad gave me. It has dozens of stories about magical dragons, sorcerers, knights, and a whole bunch of other stuff. It's really cool."

"Miss Blanchard!" Mrs. Lucas scolded from the front seat of the bus. "Please turn and sit back down. We'll be at the museum shortly."

Emma inwardly cringed. She gave the boy an apologetic look and did as she was told. It was her luck. The one time Graham Humbert actuallyspoke to her, and she almost gets in trouble. She had wanted to be friends with him since he and his family moved to Storybrooke, Maine from Ireland. She was always too nervous to talk to him, and whenever she tried, other kids would walk past her and speak to him instead. It was like she was invisible.

She went back to her drawing, staring at the dragon as it tried to burn the knight she had yet to draw legs for. Maybe if she was brave enough like the people in her storybook, maybe she wouldn't feel as small as she did.

….

Once they arrived at the museum, Mrs. Lucas gave everyone their special name tags so everyone would know they were from the elementary school. They were then separated into small groups. Emma was with Jeff, her friend since childhood, and Ruby, Mrs. Lucas' granddaughter. She was happy she'd get to be with her friends, but Graham was with a different group with Ashley Boyd, the popular girl of their class.

"I don't he likes her all that much," Jeff said to her, almost making her jump. He had caught her staring at Ashley as she smiled and tried laughing at everything Graham was saying.

"What's not to like?" Emma said sarcastically.

"Hey guys!" Ruby ran up to the two, excited and clutching a pamphlet. "They have an exhibit with zoo animals here! The program says they have lemurs!"

Thankful for the distraction, Emma pulled out the syllabus the teacher gave them of all the exhibits they had to visit for their assignment. Of course they would be forced to school work on the one day they weren'tin school. This was torture!

"I don't think the zoo animals exhibit is on our list," she told her dark-haired friend, skimming through the list.

Ruby rolled her eyes as she grabbed both Jeff's and Emma's papers. She pulled out a pen, holding the papers on the wall as she wrote. "It is now," she smiled triumphantly, handing them back their papers.

Jeff eyed her handwriting uneasily. "I doubt Lucas will fall for this."

"Oh come on! Let's just go really quickly and come right back!" She didn't wait for a reply as she grabbed Jefferson's hand and started dragging him down the opposite hallway.

"Guys!" Emma called. "We have to stay with the group!"

She looked behind her, noticing that no one was paying attention to either of them. She sighed irritably as she ran after her friends.

By the time she turned to the next hallway, she couldn't see any sight of them. Ruby was always a faster runner than she was. Emma mentally kicked herself when she remembered Jeff had her map of the museum, and she didn't want to ask anyone where the zoo exhibit was for fear of being sent back to Mrs. Lucas.

Emma shrugged, deciding to go back to her group. If she got back without anyone noticing, she wouldn't get in trouble.

As she began walking back, a door caught her eye. It was dark green and had a "janitor's closet" sign on it. Emma didn't know why, but something felt… off.

Emma, stop staring. It's only a janitor's closet, she scolded herself.

Nonetheless, she found herself walking towards it. It was as if a magnet was slowly pulling her forward, and she couldn't resist. She stopped, her hand on the gold door knob. She looked around her, no one paying any attention to her. With a deep breath, she pushed the door open.

When walking into a janitor's closet, one would expect to see mops, brooms, and a bucket that reeked of vomit.

This was not what Emma had seen.

The room was much larger than a closet. There were shelves with statues, bottles, jars, and scrolls from all over the world. Was this where they stored all of the other display stuff they didn't have room to show?

She walked further into the room, letting the door shut behind her. She looked all around her,; eyes wide with wonder. Everything in here looked more interesting than the artifacts that were on display.

She stopped at a shelf that had old jars lined up next to each other. She stared closely at one that had what looked like dried up leaves molted and crumpled together. One of the leaves jumped, and she gasped. It was a cricket!

"Excuse me," a gruff voice said behind her.

She quickly turned to see an older man staring down at her. He had sand-brown hair that hung around his neck, graying at his sideburns. He was very thin, but not tall; she stood to his shoulder.

"What are you doing in here?" he asked in a stern voice. She noticed his accent was different. It sounded like a mixture between an English accent and Graham's Irish one.

"I…" she stammered, her arms jittery with fear. "…I got lost…"

"How did you find this room?" he questioned, ignoring her excuse.

"I-I don't know, I just…" she trailed off again. Emma knew she was done for. He was either going to call security or take her back to Mrs. Lucas.

She didn't know which was worse.

His dark brown eyes scrutinized her curiously. He didn't look as angry as he did annoyed. After a moment, he rubbed his hand across his face and said, "Follow me, Emma."

He started to walk away when she asked, "How do you know my name?"

Looked back at her and whispered, "I can read minds." Emma's eyes widened, her breath almost caught in her throat. He broke out into a grin and said, "You're wearing a name tag."

She breathed out, rolling her eyes. Duh! she mentally slapped herself.

She followed him to a desk that was littered with yellowed paper and unrolled scrolls. She wondered how long it had been since the man had cleaned this place. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Call me Mr. Gold," he replied passively as he opened a tiny drawer. He pulled out something tiny, clutching it in his fist as he turned back to her. "Emma," he began, opening his palm for her. "I want you to put this on."

She looked down at his hand to see a necklace. It didn't look very extravagant like the other pieces in this room. It was a tiny gray/black coin tied to a tarnished chain. It looked very old. Her gaze went back to Mr. Gold, his face serious and expectant. Warily, she gently took the necklace and clasped it around her neck.

She stood still, watching his expression change. He had a small grin on his face. This man was starting to scare her.

"Um…. Are you okay?" she asked, thinking about leaving the room as fast as she can. She tilted her head to look at the necklace around her neck.

She gasped. The blank coin now had a white swan on the front of it. Did it just appear? Or did she not see it before putting it on?

"Stay right there, Emma," he told her in haste. "I will be right back."

She watched as he disappeared behind a row of shelves.

She was thoroughly confused, but she did as she was told. There was something off about Mr. Gold, and she wanted to know what it was.

She made sure he was completely out of sight before going through everything on his desk. Most of the scrolls were either in a handwriting she couldn't read or an entirely different language. She pushed those aside only to find pencils and quills with dried up ink. What century did this man think he was from? He dressed liked everyone else - she reminded herself of the dark suit he wore - but there was nothing 21st century about this room.

As she continued to dig through his desk, she opened the bottom drawer to mind nothing but a hand mirror. The silver caught in the dim lighting of the room. She pulled it out to get a closer look. It was shaped like a rectangle and had intricate patterns around the frame. She blew off the dust from the glass. Instead of her reflection, she saw the still face of a woman.

She looked rather beautiful, but her dark eyes and red lipstick made her look menacing. Her ebony hair was pulled back into a braided bun with her scalp covered by a piece of black lace. She absentmindedly traced the contours of her face, not paying attention to the patterns she was making.

She felt a cold chill brush through her, making her shiver. She heard Mr. Gold curse as he bumped into something. She quickly dropped the mirror on the desk and stepped back to her original spot. Mr. Gold reappeared holding a large, leather-bound book. It looked a lot like her storybook back at home.

"What's that?" she asked.

"This is a very special book," he held it out for her. "All will be explained to you in time."

She took the book from him. Odd lettering covered the entire front cover, just like the scrolls on his desk with the different languages. In the center of the book was a blue gem. She rubbed her fingers across it, feeling its smooth texture.

"Emma?" Mr. Gold's cautious voice got her attention.

She looked at him to see he was staring at the top of his desk where she left the mirror. Butterflies formed in her stomach. She knew then she was in trouble.

He picked the mirror up and looked back at her sternly. "Where is she?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Where's the woman that was in this mirror?" he asked a little more angrily, holding the mirror up for her to see.

She gulped, seeing that the dark-haired woman from before was replaced with a different girl, this one with slightly darker skin and almond-shaped eyes.

"I…" Emma stuttered once more, truly frightened at this point.

"Where is she!?" he all but shouted.

"Oh Rumpel, don't be angry with her," a different voice said. "She doesn't know what she's doing."

Both of them turned to see someone else was in the room. It was the woman from the mirror. Her hair, face, and eyes were exactly the same. She wore a black leather outfit with a jacket that had a lacy train trailing behind her. Her red lips were stretched into an evil smirk.

Mr. Gold quickly stepped around Emma so he was standing in front of her, facing the strange woman.

"Regina, if you know what's good for you," he said menacingly, "You will back off."

The woman arched her eyebrow, a dry laugh escaping her. "After spending a century and a half being trapped in that pathetic thing? You must be joking."

"You should know by now who you're messing with," he threatened, holding the mirror towards her. "If I can trap you once, I can trap you again."

"I don't think so," she glared, raising her hand up and tossing it to the side.

Suddenly, the mirror flew out of Mr. Gold's hands as if she had smacked it out of them. Despite her shock, Emma instinctively jumped to the ground and grabbed the mirror before it could land.

"Emma, run!" Mr. Gold shouted.

She clutched the mirror as tightly as she could and scrambled to her feet. She didn't get very far when she felt herself being lifted into the air and thrown against a shelf. A few of the jars rattled and fell to the floor when she made impact.

She thought she was going to fall to the floor, but she was stuck to the shelf like someone had tied her down. She tried moving her wrist, but to no avail. She then saw she was being pinned down by shining blue rope.

She looked over at Regina who had both of her hands lifted in the air. One was aimed at Emma, and the other at Gold who was tied down to the shelves across from her.

Regina snapped her attention to Emma and the mirror still clutched in her hand. "Emma, was it?" her voice was as sweet as honey with a hint of arsenic. "If you give me the mirror, I promise no harm will come to you."

She couldn't look away from her. She knew the woman was lying. Fear iced through Emma's veins. She could feel the sweat from her hands threatening to make the mirror slip away from her. "What about Mr. Gold?" she had to ask.

Regina laughed. "I think this man is the least of your concern, little girl. You need not worry over him."

"She's right," Mr. Gold replied.

Both of them looked up at the older man. During their chat, he had managed to break one of his hands free from the restraint. Before Emma could blink, he shot his hand forward and blasted a fireball out of his open palm. It hit Regina in the chest, causing her to fall back and release her magic on both of them.

Emma landed on the ground hard, almost spraining her ankle. Gold landed with his knees bent, and feet planted. Emma picked herself up and started running for the door again.

Before she could reach it, however, a giant, iron bar fence blocked her exit. She turned back to see Regina pushing herself back into a standing position. The girl stared wide-eyed at the scorch mark on her collarbone.

"This is the last time I will ask this," she glared. She began taking slow steps towards the girl, running a hand over her collarbone and making the burn disappear. "Give. Me. The. Mirror!"

"No!" Emma screamed at her, hugging the mirror to her chest. She didn't know what the woman wanted the mirror for, but she knew it couldn't be good.

Regina stopped, her lips pursed and sneering. "No?" she asked as if she didn't hear her. "Little girl, I can turn your bones to dust before you can beg me not to. No one says no to me!"

"Oh yeah?" Emma shot back. She had no idea where this boldness was coming from. She figured she was doomed anyway. "I just did!"

She could've sworn the woman's eyes had turned red at that. As Regina raised her arms, ready to strike, a long, glowing white rope wrapped around her waist, pinning her arms to her leaned over to see Gold holding a tiny black jar with the rope sticking out of it.

"I'm sure you know what this is, dearie," Gold smirked at her.

Regina turned to look at him. "Where did you get that?!"

"An old friend," he replied. "Once you're trapped in this jar, you'll have no way of escaping it."

"You're aware that it can only keep me captive for one decade, right?" she scoffed at him.

He just shrugged. "By the time you are released, you will be powerless to stop me or the Swan Sorceress."

Regina glanced back at Emma who was watching the two sorcerer's with curiosity and confusion. She turned back to Gold, a big smirk on her face. "Not if you can't train her."

Gold didn't have time to react. Regina bent her arm and shot out her own purple rope to wrap around Gold's waist. Once he realized what was going on, he tried to struggle out of it. The rope from the jar started to reel Regina inside, Gold following her.

Both of them screamed as the whole room engulfed in a bright light. Emma had to shield her eyes to keep from getting blind.

The screams quickly died away and the room dimmed down. Emma slowly moved her arms away from her face. Both of the sorcerers were gone, leaving her alone.

She looked down at the floor, the black jar a few feet away from her. She took a couple of steps closer to it. It wasn't very big, about the size of a normal table vase. A peach color on the side of it made her bend down to get a better look at it.

There was a drawing of two people on it. They both looked like Regina and Gold.

Emma quickly backed away from the jar. She ran to the door, thankful that the bars had disappeared. She pulled the door open and ran down the hall of the museum.

When she turned a corner, she ran right into another person. She stepped back to see it was her teacher.

"Miss Blanchard!" Mrs. Lucas scolded, looking down at her. "Where have you been? And where is your name tag?"

"There was this janitor's closet!" she explained, her voice high with nerves and shock. "There was this guy, and a woman who could do magic! The guy did magic too! She came out of this!" She held the mirror she still held onto up for Mrs. Lucas to see. "And now they're both in a jar!"

"A jar?" a new voice scolded.

Emma turned her head to see Ashley Boyd and the rest of her class staring at her. She hadn't realized they were there. Ruby and Jefferson were off at the far side, already having received their scolding for running off to see the zoo exhibit

Her stomach tightened as she repeated, "There were sorcerers in the janitor's closet."

The whole class instantly busted into laughter.

"I'm telling the truth!" Emma tried to tell them, but it only made them laugh harder.

"Emma, you should never tell lies!" Mrs. Lucas wagged a finger at her.

"But I'm not lying!"

"Oh my gosh, you still think witches and magic is real?" Ashley teased. "What a baby!"

The kids continued to tease, a couple of them tried singing the "Emma is a baby" song.

"Children, stop it," Mrs. Lucas tried to tell them.

Emma closed her mouth tight, and she began to run out the front doors of the museum.

She ran to the side of the building where the employee parking was, collapsing against the wall by the dumpsters. She looked down to see she was still holding the mirror with the Asian woman's face on it. Angrily, she threw it as far as she could, not caring if it broke.

She slid down the wall, slapping her hands over her face as she broke out sobbing.

"It didn't happen," she repeated between sobs and hiccups, tears pouring down her face. "There's no such thing as magic."