False Memories

Enchanted Forest… 28 years ago (Intro)

"Push Snow! I know you can do it!" the man shouts. The woman lying on the bed looks up into the eyes of the man she loves with all her heart, and gives a final push. There is a cry of pain, and then a different cry. This cry is one of freshness, of hope, of the possibility of a family, the family she always wanted.

"David," she whispers, holding her new daughter close. "We can't give her up.

"I know," he replies softly, his eyes shining with love as he looks at his baby girl. "We'll find a way," he says, with a look of grim determination on his face.

"We always do," the woman says, looking up at her husband. With a chuckle, she finds that the man is already lost in their baby daughter's eyes. He's wrapped around her little finger, and with a tired grin, she realizes that she is too. They fall asleep side by side, with the baby in between them. The couple was too tired to notice the subtle glow of the baby's already emerald green eyes, or the pulsing energy that flowed beneath her skin. Right now though, it didn't matter. All that mattered was them, and their little family.

Eight days later…

The door to the cell clanged shut, and the couple stared at the woman behind the enchanted bars of metal. The husband saw a monster, one who had tried to destroy his family, his kingdom, everything he held dear. The wife saw a lost woman, one who had done nothing to deserve the pain she had endured. A woman that she had once called mother. The baby cradled in the husband's arm looked at the woman behind the wall of magic and saw nothing but a woman who glowed dark purple, and thought nothing of it. She nestled into her father's arms and fell into a deep sleep.

"Your child carries great power," the witch cackled, "And that power, will be this realm's undoing." The mother of the child looked at her baby girl, and thought about the woman's words. The man stared at his wife, and then looked at his beautiful daughter. The mother shook her head and pulled her husband and her child away from the monstrous woman, up the stairs. She shut the heavy door behind them, and barred it shut.

"I will not have my daughter know of her existence," she announced to no one in particular, though everybody was paying attention. "Guards will be posted at this door at all times, and no one but I or David goes down, understood?"

"Yes Queen Snow!" the guards said in union. The queen took her daughter from her husband and started walking to their shared chambers. David hurried after her, and asked a little breathlessly, "What shall we name her?"

"Emma," Snow White replied to her prince charming, "Emma Ruth Swan."

(Chapter One)

The First Year

Snow sat at her desk with her little daughter placed next to her on the floor sound asleep, or so she thought. Only a year old and Princess Emma was already a trouble maker.

"She takes after her father," Snow often thought. She looked down fondly at her child only to find herself staring at an empty blanket.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Snow cried, jumping up from her chair and looking around frantically. One of the guards hears her shouts from down the hall and runs to her aid.

"What is it Milady?" he asks, looking around for signs of trouble, his hand at the hilt of his sword. The queen just gestures to the white and purple blanket by the desk, and the man relaxes. He watches the queen throw open the closet doors, look under her husband's desk, and even under the king sized bed in the middle of the room.

"Milady, it looks as if the Princess has made her way downstairs," the guard states cautiously.

"I think you're right Graham," Snow sighs. "Let's go find her."

"Shall we?" Graham asks, offering the seated queen his hand. She grabs it, and he helps her off of the ground. Together, they carefully make their way out of the room, avoiding the various items Snow White had strewn all over the floor in her search for the princess. They descend the stairs and continue looking for Emma.

Out in the gardens, King David is practicing sword fighting. He parries and thrusts against his opponent, and skillfully blocks the offensive attacks. Very suddenly, a stuffed horse appears right where he's about to step. The king tries to avoid it, but to no avail. He crashes to the ground. He's had the wind knocked out of him, but other than that, he has no injuries, except for maybe his pride. He pries his face up off the ground and rolls over, coming face to face with his mischievous one year old daughter, hiding underneath a Japanese maple tree, which had been a marriage gift that his best friend Mulan had procured during her travels.

"Is this yours?" he asks, holding the horse in one hand, his daughter in the other, with a face that can only be described as, trying to look mad and failing miserably on. The girl shakes her head, her curly golden locks shining in the sunlight as she grins at her father.

"It is isn't it!" he says, feigning shock. "Wait till your mother hears about this!" he cries. Right on cue, Snow briskly walks into the garden, wearing the same expression David had on just a moment ago.

"There you are!" she laughs. "She just crawled right out from under my nose David!"

"Who does that remind you of?" he asks with a sly glint in his eye.

"Oh no one in particular," she replies, giving both her husband, and her daughter a bop on the nose. "Come on, Emma let's go get some lunch," Snow says. David hands his beautiful wife his beautiful daughter and watches them go.

"She takes after her mother," he thinks, a smile etched onto his features. The king is too busy watching his family to notice the stuffed horse, lying forgotten on the ground, shimmer and then disappear altogether.