The Headless Horseman

Summary: Set after season 3. Elsa accidentally unleashes the Headless Horseman to Storybrooke. Emma, Regina, and Rumple tries to find a way to send him back, but the Horseman is only after one person...the only one who has ever escaped him in the Enchanted Forest. Meanwhile, in the Enchanted Forest, someone goes wandering into Sleepy Hollow, a forest of darkness and if one goes alone, they will hear the warnings of the Horseman's presence near.


Chapter 1: The Enchanted Forest.

The beginning scene takes us to the kingdom of Avonlea. The skies haven't gone totally red, but it was clear that the red was billowing on its way.

Maurice, the Merchant King of Avonlea, grew weary of timing. Two nights from now, it was promised that he would meet with the Dark One, and his daughter's marriage to Sir Gaston had been near as well. Would the deal work? Would they get married?

Maurice's thoughts had been interrupted when he heard the grand door open heavily and sweep the floor with a great impact that nearly shook the room. He accepted his right-hand man's bow of the head before listening to what he had to say.

"Sir Gaston is here from his journey. He has news about the war as well."

Maurice nodded. "Very well."

The dark skinned man that spoke stepped aside as a few militants dressed in clads of gold and sapphire from the neighboring kingdom of the Plains entered the room and parted like the wings of a bird to let Sir Gaston through. Sir Gaston proceeded to bow his head toward the elderly man.

"Maurice, my Lord. I've had some news. The Frontlands and Marchlands remain untouched. It seems to be skipped over due to what may seem like the protection of Queen Regina and The Dark One."

Maurice nodded his head and then sat regally upon his red and gold ornate throne.

"You assume they have a league with each other?"

Sir Gaston shrugged his broad shoulders. "More or less, my Lord."

Maurice contemplated on that and waved his hand.

"What of the other kingdoms?"

"Arendelle has almost fallen. Its physical state is staggering.", Sir Gaston replied.

Maurice placed a hand on his forehead and rubbed it. He had been stressed about this war. He wished it would end. Sure, having the Dark One's protection was an outrage, but he had covered the Frontlands well. He sighed and sipped some content from his chalice. He leant over his shoulder to one servant.

"Please send for my daughter.", the stressed merchant King requested.

The servant bowed and did as told. Sir Gaston was invited to take a seat. He denied a seat for a while during a conversation, but then finally conceded after shuffling his feet. Just as he would be fully-seated, the sound of rushing feet caught everyone's attention. All the men turned to see the servant.

"My Lord, Miss Belle is not in her room! I can't find her anywhere!"

Maurice leapt from his seat and sprinted to his daughter's bedroom.

It was surely vacant, a book was placed on the middle of the bed which was supposed to be made, but the sheets from the bed were twirled into knots and had been thrown over the open window.

"Not again.", Maurice muttered under his breath.

The merchant King snapped his fingers. "Guards, find her."

The sound of thundering hooves echoed on the castle courtyard. Many guards went on the searched for his bookish daughter. They headed to the town square and didn't notice a lone, hooded figure.

The figure poked her head around a corner with a small smirk. She giggled and shook her head before sneaking out a back way. She still had her hood over her head and a basket in her hands full of objects to take with her.

Belle had been free yet again this week. The guards thought they knew where she had gone off to, but Belle was ever the wiser. She went through a trail leading her to a dozen of trees. She parted a branch from her sight to see another nearby town. She stepped out into the dim light that came from the sun as it had been setting. She heard a league of boisterous laughter coming from nearby. She padded close to what had seemed to be a tavern. She stepped into the gloom of the tavern after pulling her hood back and had fixed her brunette curls, into the environment of raucous laughter.


After a swindle of beer or two, Belle hadn't been touched by the liquor one bit. She was a heavy-weight drinker. She would often have a fit of small laughter when she had seen a barged man drink the same amount she had and start slurring in his speech and shortening his vocabulary. She cleared her throat before asking for one more mug to clear her sorrows away and not think about the life she had to lead without love or hope.

That's why she left home. She didn't want to deal with the responsibility her father bestowed upon her. Selfish as it might have been, she always wanted adventure. She didn't want a life that had been pin-pointed for her.

After receiving her third mug, she heard a sound of a gathering crowd. She leaned over in curiosity knowing very well when there had been a gathering crowd that was about to be subdued in order to hear one voice, this meant a story was about to be told. Belle and stories were always grown to be hand-in-hand. She listened to the sound of one burly man tell his tale.

"Yes, I've been there, it had been dark and gloomy, but spooky?Gods no!"

"But, the only one we know who t-traversed in those hell-bent woods had been that Crane fool!", A voice interrupted the man's tale.

"What if I told you that I am that fool."

A bunch of gasps overlapped the setting and became contagious throughout the entire tavern.

"Yes, and I've got proof!"

Belle furrowed her brows and turned in her seat to see the group and the man in the center who had been telling his tale. He wasn't as what was described of Ichabod Crane. Crane was described as a thin man with a beak-like nose and black beady eyes. This man didn't fit the description. He had been muscular, burly, and had a massive beard. His nose was not like a bird, but chubby at the end. At least, that's what Belle had thought. These were the locals of the town that resided nearby the forest they had been raging about. She instead kept spectating and listened.

"There's no way in 'ell that you could have entered that forest and come out alive. No one, who has ever entered Sleepy Hollow had ever lived to tell the tale..." , A puny man argued before pausing in shock.

The gasps started again which made Belle roll her blue orbs. A tattered hat was thrown on the table from the burly man.

"This, men, is my proof."

"It is as the story says. Crane's hat had been left behind." One man spoke in awe.

Many that surrounded the table gathered closer to see it.

"When the creature threw its flaming pumpkin, it missed me head and formed a hole in my hat."

Belle slid off of her seat with a scoff not believing this story for one bit. The story after all was just a story. She used to tell stories to the children in her own village and her village knew of the Legend itself regarding Sleepy Hollow and the Horseman.

"So you actually went into Sleepy Hollow and stood face-to-face with the Horseman?"

All the men turned when they heard the light voice with an accent one wouldn't surely forget. They all shook their head with mutterings that seemed to be transcribed as 'it's a woman. They know nothin.'

"Why yes, woman. I've been there, done that. See this hat?." The burly man boasted with a smirk on his face.

The man chortled in laughter, but Belle remained unfazed and shook her head. She had a small smirk of her own as she stepped closer and placed her hands on the table right by the stench of sweating men and alcohol breaths.

"That hat doesn't prove anything. It could be just any old hat that is torn. How is that entirely any proof? Any man can come up with such a story.", Belle stated as she looked at the main individual.

The man tried not to seem meek in the presence of Belle. He sat up in his seat as his eyes were harshly locked upon hers. He got up and roughly gripped her fair chin. He stood up to tower over her. Belle shown no restraint as her expression hardened. The man leant closer with his warm, strange breath clouded over her face and his nose pressed against hers.

"I've been there, lady. Who would even listen to you anyway?"

Belle shoved him off of her and then glanced at the others who cowered their heads.

"Says the one who boasts about the forest without even a chill about the thought. Alright..." Belle contemplated about this now.

The men watched her pace in thought with wonder. Many wondered how in the hell would she stand up to the burly man without even a flinch or even without fear. Some had smug looks that matched the burly man thinking she had nothing to say.

"So, if I travel through Sleepy Hollow, I will come back unharmed right?", Belle finally summoned.

The men all froze in shock when she said that, even the mighty man there.

The burly man tried laughing, but it ended up coming out with a nervous trace. "You? A woman, go into Sleepy Hollow? I mean, that's...that's.."

"What? Suicide? I thought you made it alive and okay. It's not so bad right?"

The men looked back to the burly one. The burly one now hated the attention when it came to almost being sussed by a woman.

"You are just saying that aren't you? I mean no woman in her right mind would ever act on something they say hypothetically."

Belle tilted her head and shrugged her shoulders with a small smile.

"You'd never know.", she only replied.


The men continued to drink and tell stories to cover up what had happened before. They continued to laugh and jeer as some tried picking up barmaids.

All that ceased when they heard the sound of heeled boots click against the wooden floor and a figure walk by casually. They all craned their necks to see it had been the woman who spoke to the burly man earlier. She had a rucksack around her shoulder, and wore trousers and a corseted blouse with long sleeves and a cape on.

The burly man stood up, complexion turning pale. He attempted to walk forward, but it was as if he was stuck on the floor. He didn't want to lose this battle if it meant that this woman wouldn't come back alive.

"Where are you headed, wench?" The man spoke, voice now timid.

Belle turned around with a smirk on her rosebud lips.

"Sleepy Hollow."

After that, the bar grew silent and grim as they watched Belle leave the tavern.