DISCLAIMER:: do not own
A/N:: inspired by the songs paradise and princess of china by coldplay. just a random idea i had and decided to write while i was supposed to be writing a paper for american lit class. i am quite the slacker now that i am shipping swanqueen... but i happily do not care. enjoy and review. let me know if you're interested enough for me to continue.
SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN
-28 Years Ago (in measure of human years), The Border Village of Pike, Enchanted Forest-
The pub's patrons seemed to sense the woman's presence the second she crossed the threshold of the doorway. She wasn't welcome here, that's what their silence told her, but she had little care for the concerns of the common folk. She was tired and she'd managed to shake loose from the men pursuing her. If she was lucky, she'd have enough time to grab a drink and maybe dinner before she set out after dusk.
She walked to a table near the back, empty, and sat down. A barmaid came over and took her order, eyeing the hood she wore that covered her face from view. Long red hair was visible from where it spilled out the hood, confirming the strange patron was most certainly female, if the obvious curves didn't give it away.
She remained tense as she felt everyone's eyes scrutinizing her. She was a novelty here, something new and mysterious. If she was being truthful, before the disappearances, she wouldn't have been caught in a hovel like this. She was amongst thieves, bounty hunters, and other less savory criminals. But she had bigger things to fear than them now.
The barmaid returned promptly and set down her order. She sipped at the water thirstily, not sure when she'd have the opportunity to refresh herself again. They would pick up on her trail soon enough, just as they had with the others. No one had escaped them yet and she wasn't fool enough to think she'd be any different. It was only a matter of time. But while she still had her freedom available to her, she was going to do everything in her power to get the word to Snow White, to warn her of the impending doom that threatened to consume them all.
She knew going to the new Queen directly was suicide. They knew that would be where she'd head; it was the only logical option left available to her. So, instead, she was doing something illogical. She was trusting a stranger. And not just any stranger, but one very close to the heart of the problem, so to speak.
He slid onto the bench across from her. Unlike when she had entered, no one spared his arrival a second glance. He obviously frequented places like this, doing his mistress' dirty work. That, and he was somehow much more adept at flying under the radar.
"You have a service you'd like me to perform?"
The hooded female nodded. "I'd like you to get a message to the fairest of them all."
The man frowned. "That is no easy task. Bounty hunters prowl her lands."
"I would do it myself if the danger weren't high."
He could hear the desperation in her voice. "I'll do what I can, but I make no promises."
She slid a blue velvet satchel across the table towards him. "Give her this. She'll know what it means."
He opened it and looked down at the lone object hidden in the bag. "Is this what I think it is?"
The woman nodded. "I once swore to myself it would never leave my possession, but I fear it is safer now in your hands, tainted as they may be, than it will be in mine." She looked down at her untouched food and was suddenly not hungry. They'd caught her trail; she could sense it. She stood and tossed a few coins on the table to cover her meal.
"There's a back door down that corridor, to the right of the bar."
She nodded gratefully to him. "Thank you." She darted down the corridor in question, racing for the door at the end of the long hallway. She pushed through it and was confronted with a dozen swords pointed towards her heart.
"We've been expecting you." The black clad queen stepped between the group of her hostile henchmen, with a predatory smile.
And the young woman realized, too late, that she had made a mistake in trusting the Huntsman after all. A mistake that would cost her life.
SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN
-10 Years Ago, Phoenix, Arizona-
"Come on Emma." Carmen grabbed her best friend's hand and dragged her through the carnival toward the tent. It was set away from the rest of the crowd, isolating itself in a far corner, just beyond the reach of the bright lights and swarming crowds of the main thoroughfare.
"I'm really not into this. Isn't this like… something you do when you're fourteen?" Emma tried to wrench her hand from Carmen's grasp to no avail.
Carmen rolled her eyes. "It's fun. Loosen up a little. You've been so tense ever since…" She looked at Emma apologetically. They were both painfully aware of the slip her friend had almost made.
She never spoke of him. No one in her life did. Not that there were many people in her life.
Emma squared her shoulders. "Fine. I'll do it. But the second she throws out some bogus bullshit about my past, trying to bait me, I'm out of there, got it?"
Carmen nodded. "Fine." She lifted the curtain of the tent and pushed Emma into the dim space within in front of her.
Emma looked around the small cramped space. It was very typical of the carnival fortune teller tents you see in the movies. Small, round table the most prominent piece of furniture, a deck of tarot cards stacked in a neat pile in the center, dim lighting and the thick smell of some type of incense or oil in the air. It was warmer in the tent than it had been outside, a pretty big feat considering this was Arizona. The only thing missing was a crystal ball.
"What can I do for you ladies?" A woman appeared as if from nowhere. She was dressed the traditional getup of flowy fabrics in pinks and purples. But, she talked with no fake accent and Emma could tell she wasn't fond of the pomp and circumstance her job required of her. She had an air of 'hey, a girl's gotta make a living', for which Emma immediately respected her. Maybe this would prove to be fruitful after all. She was young, maybe in her mid to late twenties, with long dark hair and bright green eyes.
"It's my best friend's birthday today. I'd like to get her fortune read."
The young woman eyed the locket around Emma's neck with an intense gaze, causing Emma to grasp at it protectively. Once the woman realized Emma had noticed her scrutiny she smiled and gestured to the seat nearest Emma at the round table. Emma took it and the woman sat across from her. She stared at Emma, her bright green eyes boring into her. "What would you like to know?"
Emma pondered the question. In truth, there were numerous things she'd like to know. Where had she come from? Why had her parents given her up? Why had he… Where was her life heading? Would she find her family? Would she fall in love? Would she ever truly belong? There were a million questions she wanted answered, but how to pick just one?
"Do things… get better?" Emma stared at the woman, unsure where her sudden burst of vulnerability came from. She didn't know this woman… of course, maybe that was the point.
The woman held out her hands.
Slowly Emma reached forward and cautiously placed her own hands into the woman's.
Instantly, she tensed and her eyes snapped closed. Emma tried to pull her hands away, scared by the older woman's reaction, but she held tight to Emma's hands. Finally she opened her eyes and stared at Emma, causing the blonde to freeze. In the older woman's eyes there was… knowledge.
"You are special Emma."
"How do you know my name?" Emma glanced over her shoulder at Carmen, but her best friend looked, if it was possible, more surprised than she did.
"Your future is yet undecided."
Emma looked at the fortune teller, once again skeptical. That vague shit was exactly what she had anticipated.
"Ten years from tonight, on your twenty eighth birthday, you will make a wish that will affect the course of your life. Until then, you are a marked woman, cursed, unable to ever make attachments. This curse has been with you since birth."
Emma rolled her eyes and was finally able to yank her hands from the grasp of the woman. "Cute. Someone," She glanced pointedly over her shoulder at Carmen, "told you I grew up in foster care." She stood and tossed a couple bills on the table. "I think we're done here." She motioned for Carmen to lead the way out of the tent.
"It was the curse that took him, nothing you could have done differently would have saved him. His fate, like yours, was decided at your birth."
Carmen was already out of the small space, but Emma froze just inside. "Who are you talking about?"
The fortune teller behind her let out a small breath. "Henry."
Emma whirled around to face the woman. "I've never spoken that name aloud, not even to Carmen." She narrowed her eyes. "Who are you?"
"A friend. Someone who was meant to cross your path."
"Are you coming, Em?" Carmen peeked back in the tent.
Emma turned to her and nodded. "Just give me one second." But when she turned back, the woman was gone.
That night, Emma asked Carmen to run away from Phoenix and go with her to Tallahassee. Carmen agreed and they left two nights later. They spent a whole year together, living life to the fullest like the wild, naïve teenagers they were. Then, three days after Emma's nineteenth birthday, exactly one year after they'd arrived in Florida, Carmen was shot and killed in a convenience store robbery gone wrong. The next morning, Emma Swan was on a bus to Memphis with only a suitcase and a promise that she'd never let anyone in again. And she kept that promise (and that suitcase) for almost a decade. Until one day….
SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN
-Present Day-
Why do they always run when I'm wearing impractical shoes? Emma kicked off her heels the second she closed the door. They'd never really been her first choice of footwear… sure they made her butt look absolutely stellar, but at the expense of her feet, and she really needed those feet. She unzipped the dress as she padded towards her bedroom to slip into more comfortable attire.
She emerged in her usual thin white a-shirt/ skinny jeans/ red leather jacket combo and headed straight for the counter where the bakery package stood. She opened the package and pulled out the cupcake. Grabbing a solitary candle she pushed it down into the decorated cake and grabbed her lighter, lighting the candle. She crouched down and rested her arms on the edge of the counter, resting her head on them. She stared at the flame. What should she wish for this year? A pony? A Red Rider BB Gun? Love? Ha, like that would happen! No, she'd wish for what she always wished for.
I wish I didn't have to be alone on my birthday.
And then, Emma Swan knew only blackness.