Chapter One: The Beginning
It is said that soul mates are twin souls wandering in the world somewhere. Two souls that would do anything and everything for their partner soul. However, meeting is a whole different thing. 98% of soul mates never meet; the two either just ignoring the calling of their other soul or settling for someone else because of lack of desire to even search for the other. It's sad, but true.
It is also said that thunderstorms signify the world deciding to ignite a desire in two soul mates to find one another. Lightning hitting actual ground is an odd phenomenon, but when it happens twice, one right after the other, people say it's the world hitting two souls, telling them to go find one another. Whether they listen to the call is an entirely different thing; but it is said that is the calling…
Boston, Massachusetts
Emma Swan sighed and placed her hands on the sides of her face, staring down at the massive amount of paperwork on her desk. She was supposed to be working on it, her boss had decided he wanted it all turned in by the end of the night. She turned, looking at the clock. It was already nearing six at night. There was no way she was going to finish all this unless she stayed and pulled a double. Something she really didn't want to do. For some reason, her desire to work today had been almost zero to none. That wasn't like her. Normally, Emma was always eager to be at work. It was the best thing she had to distract her from the boring and lonely life she had here in Boston.
"Swan!"
Her head shot up. Her boss, Edward Randolff, was standing in the threshold of her door, staring at her, a very strict look on his face.
"Mr. Randolff," she cried, quickly moving the papers around busily on her desk. "I was honestly just about to…"
"Save it, Swan," he barked at her. "I'm not here to yell at you."
Emma looked up at him. "You're not?"
He shook his head. "I'm here to give you an assignment."
"What?"
"Are you deaf, Swan? I said, I'm here to give you an assignment."
"Not deaf," she said, "it's just, you usually give the assignments to Gordon. I didn't think that you would…"
"They specifically asked for you," Randolff explained walking into her office and shoving a piece of paper in her face.
Emma scanned over the top of the report quickly before turning back to her boss. "Storybrooke Maine?" she asked. "I've never heard of it."
"It's in Maine," her boss said sarcastically. "Apparently, people have been turning up dead, or, should I said, not turning up at all and just disappearing into thin air."
"That's not strange or anything," Emma breathed.
"Uh huh," her boss went on. "Anyway, the guy that called me specifically asked for you to be assigned to it. Or maybe it was a woman, I couldn't really tell. Anyway, it doesn't matter; you leave tomorrow morning. I'll have someone else do the paperwork for you. Go home and get ready. I expect a phone call when you get there tomorrow, Swan."
She nodded and rose from her desk. "Yes, of course, thank you sir."
"Don't let me down," he replied, smiling faintly at her before turning on his heel and walking out of the office.
Emma sighed and scanned back over the report she had just been given. So, finally Randolff was sending her out into the field. True, someone had asked for her specifically, but she wasn't going to even think about that. She was too focused on getting there and getting the job done. Maybe if she did a great job, a promotion was going to be waiting for her. Maybe then they would send her out into the field more often. She gathered up her things and headed out of the office, silently laughing at whoever was going to have to finish her paperwork.
By the time she got back to her small apartment, it was nearing seven. On the paper, her boss had noted she had to be in Storybrooke by nine in the morning. There was hardly going to be any time for her to get anything done before she had to start the six hour drive there.
Emma swung the door to her apartment open. Ignoring the mess on the floor, she immediately headed for her bedroom and started packing. Unsure of what to exactly bring, she just threw clothes in there, not caring if they were clean or dirty. After that, she showered real quick and headed into the kitchen for something to eat. While waiting for the microwave to finish her food, she stared out at the night sky. It was extremely cloudy, a storm looming in the air. Suddenly, she heard thunder clash and smiled; she loved storms.
Sometime within the next thirty minutes, Emma was passed out cold on her couch, having fallen asleep watching "Kitchen Nightmares" on the television. Outside, the storm raged on, one of the worst Boston had ever seen. As the clock in her apartment hit nine, almost on cue, a flash of lightning flew down from the sky, hitting the concrete outside her apartment, startling a couple walking across the street and the other citizens that saw it. No one had ever seen lightning strike the ground before.
Six hours away in Storybrooke, the same storm was raging on, another bolt of lightning flying down from the sky, hitting the sidewalk outside of a house, the person inside missing the phenomenon having mysteriously fallen asleep in the past thirty minutes.
Regina Mills.