Emma Swan jumped from the tree, ball in hand, barely landing on her feet. After regaining her balance she tossed the ball to the young boy standing before her. "Next time you'll be the one climbing the tree."

She raised an eyebrow as the boy ran to hug her, "Thank you sister!" He began to toss the ball gently in his hands and turned to walk away.

"Not so fast Sebastian. You can't expect me to climb a tree for you and not want something in return."

She took a step towards the child. His eyes widened with fear of what she might ask. Would she require his deserts this week, refuse to skip rocks with him, or make him be the seeker in their next round of hide-and-seek? He couldn't bear to think of these unspeakable horrors.

The boy took a step back, "What is it you want?" A smirk appeared on his sister's face making his nerves increase immensely.

"My dagger, I know you took it. I want it back." Emma extended her hand, giving him a chance to hand it over now.

Sebastian shook his head profusely, "I won't. I don't want to."

Her hands moved to her hips and she slowly shook her head, "Fine, then I'll just have to take it from you."

Her brother had begun fleeing to the garden before she finished her sentence and Emma couldn't help but smile. She waited a few seconds longer to chase after him. Their size difference made it easy for her to catch up with him, but she trailed behind on purpose. As they made their way through the garden Sebastian took advantage of their size difference and began cutting through the shrubbery. He expected her to go around rather than through, but Emma never did the expected. Unlike most princess it didn't matter that mud soaked into the ends of her gown and she hardly cringed when she heard something rip. No, she continued her pursuit of the young boy and followed him into the palace, mud and all. Sebastian ran to the nearest staircase and began climbing. She followed at a safe distance, assuring that he would believe he was outrunning her. As Emma made her way up the stairs the palace bells began to ring. She counted the rings, "One. Two. Three. Four." All the way to eight when she heard Sebastian yell, "You'll never catch me!" and suddenly she couldn't see him anymore.

Emma increased her speed and followed her brother through a series of hallways. 'How many rings were there?' she thought to herself. She could only remember counting to eight, but the rings continued after that. She hadn't been awake very long so she settled on eleven rings and convinced herself she had an hour to clean up. Sebastian was getting tired and his pace slowed and Emma was coming up behind him when he turned to two enormous, slightly cracked, brass doors. The throne room. He slipped in and Emma followed reluctantly, knowing that with the ceremony an hour away it would be full of people preparing tables and decorations. When she entered she was oblivious to the stillness of the room and it didn't seem odd that Sebastian was simply standing in the middle of the room.

She snuck up behind him and spun him around. "Now you have to give it back!"

She grinned and set him down, holding her hand out. His eyes were wide with horror and she was just about to ask if he had seen a ghost when someone cleared their throat. Emma turned her head to the front of the room where the King and Queen's thrones sat, shining with glory. In front of them stood the King and Queen themselves, faces covered with disbelief and disgust. It suddenly dawned on Emma how quiet the room was when there was to be a celebration in an hour. She turned her head to the left and her jaw dropped. Her eyes locked on the man standing there. It was him. It was her suitor, her fiancé, and her childhood best friend, Aidan. His eyes were glittering with joy at the sight of Emma. She began to chuckle as she ran into his open arms to embrace him.

"How nice of you to show up to our engagement." He teased.

Emma pulled out of the hug and nudged his arm, "I may have miss-heard the time."

Aidan opened his mouth to continue the jokes when, once again, someone cleared their throat. Emma turned to face the thrones and winced at the sight of her father's red face. She knew that this day was important to him and she had dragged it to ruin.

She moved in front of the King and Queen, her father and mother, and gave a small curtsy, "Father, I apologize for my tardiness and misconduct. I have acted in such a way that is-"

She was cutoff by her father who silently raised his hand. He gestured for her to take her place by her mother. The Queen smiled at her daughter as she moved next to her, until she looked down. Suddenly a look of horror had overtaken her face.

"Emma!" She gasped, "What have you done to your beautiful gown?"

Emma looked down at the skirt of her white dress, which had been ripped and tainted by mud and dirt. She looked up and saw the room full of friends, noblemen, and servants snickering at her appearance.

"Sebastian and I were playing in the garden." Her gaze shifted to the floor. Her mother began to shift the skirt and did her best to wipe off the dirt. She worked at it furiously, but there was no progress.

The King placed a hand on her shoulder, "Snow, there is no saving that dress. You should have expected something like this." Snow White straightened and replaced her look of agitation with her warm smile.

"Now that my daughter has so graciously decided to join us, we may begin the ceremony!" The King's voice boomed to all corners of the throne room. Emma couldn't help but roll her eyes as her father began his opening speech, which was really the reason the ceremony was scheduled to last over half of an hour. To occupy herself she began to examine the attendees. She smiled at the people sprinkled through the crowd who fought to keep their eyes open and gagged at the men at the back who stuffed themselves with little sandwiches and pastries. Eventually Emma's gaze made it to Aidan and those of his subjects and servants who had been selected to join his journey. This was the first time she noticed him. Not Aidan, but the man behind him, who seemed very intrigued with his left hand. She had never seen someone so beautiful, man or woman. His hair was thick and black, his eyes crystal blue, and his smile sat crooked. His beard added a few years to his face and his right cheek wore a scar. He seemed to be fidgeting with something in his hands. Emma held in a giggle when the tip of his tongue jutted out of his mouth and his eyebrows crinkled in concentration. His face reminded her of Sebastian when he attempted to solve mathematical equations.

Emma noticed that Aidan's gaze had fallen upon her and immediately moved her eyes to meet his. He smiled and widened his eyes as if to say, "This speech will never end." She smiled at him and tilted her head, remembering the first time they met. Aidan was seven and Emma was five when he first showed up in her kingdom. She sat on the dock where Aidan's ship had stopped to drop his family and servants off. Her feet swung off the edge, far from the waters surface. Emma wondered if she could touch her feet to the water so she scooted closer to the edge. Even with more than half her backside over the edge of the dock she couldn't reach. She scooted back and crossed her arms, thinking hard of a way to touch the water. Now that she had tried she had to succeed. A smile spread across her face when the brilliant idea to hang off the edge of the dock popped into her mind. She inched to where she was previously, backside almost completely off the dock. She turned over on her stomach and began sliding her stomach down the edge of the dock. Her head looked over her shoulder to watch for the moment that her toes hit the water. It wasn't until her chin rested on the dock, arms holding on tightly, that she accomplished her goal. Little Emma giggled with joy and swung her legs back and forth. Suddenly she realized she didn't contain the strength to pull herself back up and dropping into the water was not an option as she had not yet learned how to swim. Panicked, Emma attempted to pull herself up the dock, hands grasping for anything. There was nothing to grab so Emma tried something else. She swung one of her legs up onto the dock and began to push up with her heel. She was rising and almost on the dock when her heel slipped and she fell backwards, splashing into the water. Immediately Emma was underwater flailing her limbs to make it back to the surface, but it seemed the more she tried the faster she sunk. She stopped. Looking up to the surface of the water, pressure building in her chest as the need for air grew stronger, she wanted to cry. She closed her eyes and thought of the great life she had. The past five years were truly amazing and if it was all she got she was okay with that. Emma continued to accept what seemed to be her inevitable death when a figure broke through the surface of the water, diving towards her. Everything had begun spinning as the lack of oxygen took its toll on her. She felt arms wrap themselves around her and as the mysterious figure began pulling her towards safety her eyes fluttered shut.

Her body jolted up, eyes wide, gasping for air. She looked around to find she was lying on the shore next to the dock and there was a boy sitting next to her. She scooted back from him as she realized she did not recognize him.

"It's okay," He pleaded, "I'm the one who pulled you out of the water. I'm here to help."

She noticed his soaking wet attire and figured he wasn't lying. Emma jumped towards him and hugged him with all her strength, "Thank you so much. I was gonna die."

He returned the hug, "It's okay, and I wouldn't let you die."

She pulled away and stood up, "I'm Emma." She gave a little curtsey as her mother had taught her.

He bowed slightly, "I'm Aidan."