"Daddy, do I have to go to the ball tonight?" five-year-old Emma asked Prince Charming.
The Prince picked his tiny daughter up. "I'm afraid so, my little princess." He couldn't resist kissing her cheek. Emma loved her parents, and she loved their kingdom in the Enchanted Forest, but she wasn't your typical "princess." She much preferred running around in the forest and playing tag with some of the neighbors, even if none of them were royalty.
"But I don't wanna wear a dress!" Emma whined.
"But you're going to look so pretty. And you've never been to a ball before, so how do you know you won't like it?"
"Well, there's lots of things I haven't done, but I know I wouldn't like them. Like kissing a frog." She made a face, and Charming found it hard not to laugh.
"That's true," the Prince conceded. "But you're a princess, and unfortunately some things come along with that."
Snow entered the room, having overheard their conversation. "Your father's right. A woman named Regina was in line to become queen, but she didn't like all of the things that came with wearing the crown. She gave it all up to marry her true love, Daniel, who worked in her father's stable. Is that what you want to do?"
Emma thought about that. She didn't like being a princess very much if it involved wearing dresses and going to fancy balls. But she also wasn't thrilled by the idea of true love, either. Of the two, she guessed being princess was the lesser of evils. "I guess not," she said, hopping down from her father's lap.
"Good," Snow replied. "Because, one day, this kingdom's going to be yours, you know."
Emma didn't quite know what to say to that. After a moment, she asked, "Do I have time to go outside before I have to get ready for the ball?"
Snow glanced at the royal clock on the wall. "Yes, I believe you do," she said, knowing how much her daughter needed this.
"Yay!" Emma cried. She quickly left the room, all thoughts of the ball now forgotten. Once outside, Emma found that none of her usual playmates were around. They were all at home. Their parents were probably busy getting ready for the ball. It was a disappointment, but, being an only child, she was more than able to entertain herself. She found her favorite tree in the entire forest. It was one of the tallest, and Emma loved to climb it. From here, she could see almost the whole kingdom.
When she'd gotten to the top, Emma couldn't help sighing. This was her favorite place, even including her parents' castle. She'd found that it was a good place for thinking. Several times, her parents had been unable to locate her, only to discover her here, lost in thought. Right now, what was on Emma's mind was what her mother had said about a woman who'd given up the crown in order to marry her true love. Emma couldn't really see herself being the kind of queen her mother was. Snow White was much beloved by her subjects in the Enchanted Forest. The story of how she and Prince Charming had found one another was legendary. Emma was grateful for the wealth which came with being a princess, but she didn't really like much else about it.
Of course, her mother had mentioned an alternative: giving up the life of a princess for love. She had to admit, there was a certain romance to that. But Emma thought of the boys she played with in the kingdom. She couldn't see herself kissing any of them, much less marrying them! Little Emma shuddered at the thought. So where did she belong? For the first time in her life, Emma was beginning to consider that maybe she didn't have a place here at all. She began to wish she lived somewhere else.
In Storybrooke, Emma Swan awoke with a start. What had started out as a pleasant dream about what might've been had taken a sad turn. As her mind began to clear, she remembered she was in this world, safe and sound. Not only that, but her new little brother was asleep in his bassinet not far away. Emma thought back over her life: meeting Neal, being sent to jail, and then giving birth to Henry. None of those things would've happened without the curse which had sent her to this land in the first place. Emma thought back to what her five-year-old self had been thinking just as the dream ended. It would've been nice to grow up with her parents, literally living a fairytale. But maybe she really didn't belong in that world. Maybe the curse, as horrible as it had been, had led Emma to exactly where she was meant to be.
The End