Sophia looked around in mock amusement. She was seated at the back of the throne room with the rest of the royals. Her 'family' is what she had been told. She knew it was true, because sitting directly to her left was Emma Swan or who was Emma Swan until this morning when Sophia woke up in the Enchanted Forest and had been told that her last name was White along with her twin brother Henry and their mother Emma. Sophia had been adamant on the fact that this was a dream and everyone was content to let her carry on about their lives in Storybrooke until the end of breakfast when they had to oversee the days proceedings with Snow White and Prince Charming who had skipped the morning family time meal. Sophia wondered if Henry still had his book but she hadn't had a chance to ask him at all this morning.
Sophia was seated on the far right of the line of royals, in a dark gray chair with a white stag insignia encircled in black on the back if it. She was Next to Emma who's chair was light yellow with the same stag. Next to her on the largest chair was Snow who's chair was all white. Sophia thought it was funny the schoolteacher she'd known her whole life was now a monarch over a whole kingdom. On the left of Snow sat Charming in a dark green chair, Sophia thought he would have been more poised but he seemed as bored as she was and she would have laughed if she wasn't so confused with everything. On the opposite end of her was Henry in a light blue chair with the same insignia all the chairs had and that adorned their Grandfathers cloak. Sophia almost wondered why a white stag but it kind of made sense, Snow had been a skilled hunter back in the day.
Sophia could remember their whole lives in Storybrooke and every time she had brought it up this morning everyone around her looked at her as though she had grown another head. There were two people she thought about who could help her and she spent the next three hours in that gray chair that was too straight and too hard trying to think of ways out of the castle without getting into trouble or at least ways to speak to the only people she thought could help her.
Sophia only woke up with one thing that made any sense. A sword leaning against the foot of her bed. She didn't recognize it but it felt familiar and when she unsheathed it she noticed it was too heavy for her hand and that the hilt had an apple made from onyx with an intricately designed tree under it. The blade had swirling patterns like it had been cooled and then heated again repeatedly. Sophia knew the blade wasn't hers but she felt the need to hide it in her wardrobe for know until she knew what it was.
When court had finished for the day she decided to take a walk. She needed air, maybe she could find something familiar that would help. She had just made it to the second garden when she heard distant clanging and faint yelling. She wasn't one to go looking for trouble but it seemed too repetitive to be anything dangerous. Sophia kept walking in that direction and came up to a small field with about twenty soldiers with white cloaks on over full body amour and she realized she'd found the royal guard during training. The sight that kept her there though was the only man without a cloak, her Grandfather. Prince Charming was single handedly 'fighting' three men. Although it seemed to be a fair fight no real damage seemed to happen. Sophia walked around the edge of the field and stopped when she was across from their small battle. She watched as they all moved in large leaps and also small steps at seemingly the same time. It was beautiful and fearful all at once. She hadn't even noticed the other smaller groups of men around the field stop or the fact that she was shifting closer almost at random. When she was about ten feet away one of the men 'fighting' Prince Charming noticed her standing there and immediately fell to a knee. "Your Grace." Sophia blushed deep red and looked down at her boots.
"Uh. Hello." She said quietly as the other two men stopped fighting and kneeled too. It was only when she looked up at her Grandfather that he smiled at her before speaking. "All right boys that's enough embarrassing the Princess." The men rose silently and shuffled away. That was the moment her eyes moved to the sword her Grandfather had pulled up from the ground and was putting away.
"Grandpa…Why does your sword look like that?" She asked as unsuspiciously as possible, as if she was merely commenting of the color of the sky. Charming looked up and smiled. He handed his sword over to her slowly and let her look at it. "I'm the champion of the White Realm so my sword reflects that. See the hilt has the Stag with a diamond and the bow with the nocked arrow, and the blade has the swirling patterns. All Champions of the Realms have blades like these or well I guess a consort could have a blade similar as well if its deemed, I'm both the Champion and the consort." He said taking his blade back from her. "I thought you would have learned this a few years ago when you learned of all the great Champions." He asked looking at her carefully trying to see what brought the inquisition.
"Oh yeah I did but I…um never saw a blade up close so I was just wondering." She stated slowly trying not to let the lie get detected while thinking about something he had said.
"You know how you have a Stag. Do all Champions have the insignia of their Realm on their hilt?" She asked trying to act nonchalant. Her grandfather looked her up and down. "Yes every Champion does when they receive their sword it comes with a ceremony and many say the insignia is to remind them to carry out the wishes of their ruler for as long as they wield the power of the sword. Why the sudden interest?" He asked as he started walking making sure she was following. "No particular reason I suppose. Just curious. But since you're full of answers how about a few more questions. How long can a Champion serve? How do they get the title?" She asked jogging to keep up with his long strides.
"You're full of energy today huh." Her grandfather stated with a small laugh before he started speaking again. "It depends on how old they are when sworn in and when they wish to stop although no one wishes to stop. Maybe I shouldn't tell you about that part. But you get the title when you best the old Champion." He said before stopping. "You should ask your mom these questions and if she cant answer and says its alright I'll finish them but not without her permission alright." He said looking her right in the eye making sure she understood whatever it was he was trying to prolong wasn't something good.
"Okay sounds like a deal Grandpa." She said smiling and holding her hand out. When his hand wrapped around hers and they firmly shook he stood back up and they parted ways.
Sophia had spent the whole afternoon in the library, effectively missing her lessons for the day and even lunch. She could even miss dinner but she wasn't sure yet if that would be necessary since she almost had everything she needed. She has already found out that she couldn't be a Champion since all Champions were sixteen or older. She also knew that to have the blade meant that the last Champion was dead. The only way to be a champion was to kill the predecessor. So she held a Champion's blade in her wardrobe and she had no idea how that happened. She was grateful that Champions could be female. There was only one so far who had been named Gwendoline but she had been the best of her time. Sophia was currently looking for the insignia that adorned the hilt of the sword in her possession. She had been through seven books so far with out a clue as to who's insignia it could be. She didn't want to ask for fear of her mother and grandparents finding out that she had been searching. She was almost going to give up and head to the dining hall a little early and act like nothing ever happened when she was shelving the books she had been using she saw one book on a shelf above her head that looked newer than the ones she had been pouring over all day. She jumped up and when her fingers brushed the spine she pulled it down and walked back to the corner she had been sitting in all afternoon. The book had no title on the spine or front cover but it was dark purple and made of a leathery type material. She opened it and found Kingdoms and their reigning monarchs as well as dates and insignias and other related facts. She paused when she reached WHITE and read the list of things. She read that her Mother would take over from her grandmother and that Henry would take over for Emma, that was unless Emma married. She found that the castle was over a thousand years old and one of the largest in all the realms, which didn't surprise her, the thing was huge and she had gotten lost trying to find the library earlier three times. She quickly moved on when there wasn't much else to learn. She had flipped through about sixty pages when a name she hadn't expected to see adorned the top and her breath hitched and her heart started racing. On the top of page MILLS appeared with the list of things under it. Sophia wasn't sure if she should check the reigning monarch or not but when she did she felt like her heart would burst because there across from Reigns; was the name Regina Mills/Evil Queen. The next line told her that the insignia was indeed an apple and went from being blood red to midnight black.
Sophia was silent the majority of dinner only speaking when she had been asked a question and even then she knew the sound of her voice sounded detached and lifeless. She didn't know if she had expected her other mother to come back a Queen or what she knew in Henry's book she had been the Evil Queen, but she had completely forgotten about it. She knew this morning when she woke up her mom was missing from this life and she'd even told everyone but they hadn't said anything about it just ignored her. She must have missed a question because it was deathly quiet and everyone was looking at her all of a sudden. "I…uh..what?" She asked slowly looking from face to face. It was Snow who answered.
"Your mother informed us that you missed all your lessons and lunch today. Is there any specific reason as too why?" Her grandmother asked her with a pointed look. Sophia hated being the center of attention which is why she always froze up when anyone bowed or had pointed out her status that day. But at the table with everyone looking a her waiting for a good answer she could feel herself blushing and she just wanted to disappear. "I was in the library doing research." She stated because it wasn't a lie and it seemed plausible enough. Sophia knew she was a horrible liar so she hoped they stopped questioning her. It was Emma who spoke up this time. "Research for what?" She seemed genuine in her question but Sophia knew the answer was not gonna be one they liked. "Well. Um. It was about what I was talking about this morning. About Storybro.." She didn't even finish her sentence before her grandmother interrupted. "Sophia that's enough of this non sense Emma told us about it earlier and there is no such thing as this Storybooke place you keep going on about. You should just drop it. It must have been a vivid dream but this is reality Sophia." She said surely with no seeming compassion for the girls feelings. Sophia stood quickly and pushed her chair back. "You haven't been dismissed." Her grandmother announced. But she was already halfway out the door and she made no move to stop leaving. Sophia had to find a way to get out of the castle to see the only two people who she was sure could help her now.