MY GOD, IT'S TIME ALREADY!
First, some notes also mentioned in the intro-thingy (which is still up because if I just replaced it with this people wouldn't get notified about it, but it will be removed eventually).
1, This story won't follow the storyline of the show like An Unexpected Journey did but I will include things that I find interesting and that I can spin on.
2, I might change the rating of this story as we go along because the drafts that I've written so far are sometimes more M-rated than T-rated.
3, There will be a lot of new characters featured in this story, so I'd suggest that if you feel like you can't tell one from the other, use the Wiki! Link on my profile and I'll try to update it as we go
(and an added note) 4, No flashbacks from the Enchanted Forest but there will be flashbacks to things happening in Storybrooke while the new characters aren't there and this prologue happens to be one of those.
Second, remember to read through all of AUJ before actually starting this or you'll be causing yourself some major spoilers (a friend of mine is currently catching up on it and has managed to read almost 70 chapters in 2 days, without spending 24 hours a day doing it, so it's highly possible to do quite fast, apparently).
Third, I cannot believe how many followers this got the moment I posted the notif about the story-link being up. Really, you guys are incredible and, like I said at the end of AUJ, I really don't care about the reviews but the fact that people are actually following and favoriting this thing that I initially wasn't going to post and was sort of a side-project - THANK YOU!
Alright, I think that's everything. On to the story!
Storybrooke, Maine
Early April, 2014
She had run from the barn, through the forest and down the road to the town. Thus, when she entered Granny's Diner, her lungs were close to exploding.
She did not care.
She was home.
It still felt a bit odd to say it, but also so right; Storybrooke was her home.
She opened the door to the diner, the bell chiming above her head, and looked around for the people she wanted to see the most. She soon spotted them at the back of the room, smiling adoringly down at their baby boy. Her brother.
She did not speak as she walked up to them with long strides, but they still heard her coming by the sound of her boots hitting the floor. The woman with black hair turned, the recognition in her eyes almost making the woman approaching weep.
"Emma", the dark-haired woman said, just before the approaching woman wrapped her arms around both her and her husband.
"You weren't answering your cell", the man said as she pulled back. "We were starting to get worried."
"I'm fine", Emma replied and smiled. "I'm home."
The couple in front of her looked from her to one another and then back again.
"Do you mean", the dark-haired woman said, "that you're not... leaving?"
"I'm not going anywhere", Emma answered, feeling her smile widen. A teenage boy sitting at a booth close by rose and smiled widely.
"We're staying in Storybrooke?" he asked, sounding excited. Emma nodded and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
"Yeah, kid", she said. "This is where we belong. This is where our family is."
Smiles spread over the faces of the couple in front of her and she felt like crying again.
"Mum", she said, "dad, I missed you."
She then wrapped her arms around them again and allowed herself to cry in relief.
When they eventually parted and sat down in the booth nearby, Emma's father, David Nolan, pulled up his phone and frowned at the screen.
"What?" Emma asked.
"He's been trying to get in touch with Rachel", her mother, Mary Margaret, replied. "No answer. Was she with you?"
"Kind of", Emma replied and launched into the story of what had happened when she and Captain Hook had been transported into the past. To prove her tale she pulled out the old, worn storybook and flipped the pages until it showed a dancing couple at King Midas' ball.
"Wait", Mary Margaret said when she had finished, "you're Princess Leia?"
Emma smiled sheepishly.
"Nice alias", her son, Henry, said to her right.
"And Rachel was Princess Weronika, the one I danced with?" David asked with a frown.
"Yes", Emma said. "They were all there, disguised and using aliases."
"Seems like you all really became one of us", Mary Margaret said with a smile. "Fairytale princes and princesses at last."
"Yeah", Emma said, "but I don't know where they went later. I didn't see any of them after... I don't even know if..."
She thought back at the fireball the Evil Queen had thrown at Clarissa and shuddered.
"They're fine; they're probably on their way here now", Mary Margaret assured her. "The reason David can't get to them is probably because of that they forgot to pick up their phones when they got back here."
Emma nodded slowly and crossed her fingers beneath the table.
"Well", she then said, "now that I am a fairytale princess, I have a princess-y request. I would like to know the name of my baby brother."