Prologue

"Mama?" Her daughter spoke after the story was finished.

"Yes, my dear girl?" She smiled as she smoothed her daughter's blonde head.

Emma looked up at her with hazel eyes that reflected the moonlight shining through the large window beside them, her fingers absentmindedly drawing lines on her mother's hands. "Why do you always tell the story of 'The Evil Queen'?"

"Because she is a very dangerous woman," Snow softly replied, still perched on the edge of her daughter's bed as the younger girl peered up at her, looking not at all fatigued for someone who just spent the entire day in celebration of her birth day.

"Dangerous and powerful," she added. "So you must be careful."

Emma furrowed her brow, a trait definitely inherited from Charming. "Where is she now?"

Snow White sighed. It had been five winters since Regina had barged into her wedding and threatened everyone in the kingdom to take away their happiness. Although word had gone around that the Evil Queen was preparing for a dark curse, no one had detected any danger nor heard or seen any further provocation from the Evil Queen. Some townspeople had even risked their lives to travel to the Dark Castle, armed of course.

When they brought back news of the state of the abandoned castle, everyone was convinced that the Evil Queen had fled and only made an empty threat to scare them. None the less, Snow White had stepped up precaution and set up wards around the kingdom from the Dark Castle and with the help of Rumplestiltskin, who remained imprisoned in their castle's dungeons, enchanted every mirror in the castle to prevent Regina from spying on them.

"Honestly," Snow admitted. "I do not know. No one knows; it's as if she just disappeared into thin air overnight. This is what makes her even more dangerous, because she is an unseen enemy."

Just then, the doors to Emma's bedchambers squeaked open and Charming stepped in, grinning at his wife and child.

"Not tired yet, birthday girl?"

"No, Father," Emma grinned back up at him. "I want to stay up until the last hour of my birth day!"

Charming chuckled and settled on the other side of the bed. "Turning five is delightful, isn't it?"

"Yes!" Came Emma's enthusiastic reply then she turned toward her father. "Father, have you met the Evil Queen? Is she as evil as the stories say?"

Immediately, Charming glanced toward his wife who only gave a small nod.

"Well," he started. "I have definitely had some encounters with her in the past and let's just say they weren't pleasant."

"Oh." Emma replied and Snow cannot help but detect a trace of disappointment in her tone.

"Why do you ask, honey?" Charming asked, sensing the question from his wife and helping her ask instead.

Emma stared at the foot of her bed, silent for a while. Then she said, "I just think that everyone has a good side to them, that nobody is born evil."

Snow White listened to her daughter as her memories brought her back to a time where the brightest of smiles, now almost absent on her erstwhile stepmother, had come from a Regina she knew was kind and gentle. She wondered if that woman still lived in her now. No, she shook her head. It was impossible. Regina had spiraled into a void of hate and darkness it cannot be.

Snow smiled to herself as she watched her husband and daughter play little hand games and giggling, oh what she would give to prolong such a moment.

"Alright little one," she gently said, standing up. "It is about time you go to sleep."

"But it is not midnight yet!" Emma pouted.

Charming laughed and stood as well, reaching forward to pull the covers over his daughter. "You will still fall asleep before that anyway."

Although lightly grumbling, Emma acquiesced when she felt her eyelids becoming heavier and settled further under the covers. Just as Charming and Snow both leaned down to give their daughter a goodnight kiss, the doors to the bedchambers burst open and a flustered guard ran in and immediately knelt on one knee with his head bowed, a common gesture in their kingdom when asking for forgiveness.

"Your Majesties! I apologize for the intrusion into her Highness's chambers, but there has been grave news!"

"Rise," Snow brushed off his aside frantically. "Tell us."

"It's the Evil Queen! She has cast a very dark curse, and it is now approaching the kingdom quickly."

"What!" Charming bellowed, outraged. "How did this happen?"

"I-it seems that the Evil Queen had been in silent preparation all this time she was absent, my King. She is on her way to the castle right now."

Snow took this all in and her head quickly went to action.

"Guard," she ordered. "Gather all the troops and station them at all corners of the castle. She is sure to bring her own army."

The guard nodded and sped off, immediately tending to his role. Suddenly, she felt a tug on her hand and looked down to see a scared Emma clutching tightly onto her baby blanket. "Mama, what is happening?"

Snow immediately knelt down and carried Emma, "It is not safe here anymore. Charming, what should we do?"

Still donned in his armour and sword prepared at his side, Charming snapped his fingers. "The wardrobe!"

How could she forget, Snow chastised herself as they hurried to the chamber in which the wardrobe had been kept, Emma's small frame wrapped tightly in her arms. Right after the birth of Emma, they had received a tip-off (which later proved to be false) that the Evil Queen was waiting for the birth of the little princess before casting the curse. Worried about the repercussions, the royals had engaged the help of Geppetto to construct a wardrobe from a tree small enough to fit one and the Blue Fairy to enchant it.

"It will bring the child to somewhere safe should there be times of danger," the Blue Fairy had said.

"Mama, what is happening?" Emma asked again, fear gripping her voice as she was carried by her mother over corridors and staircases.

Hearing the plead in her daughter's voice, Snow cannot help but leak a few tears about the revelation of what is to come. When they finally reached the chamber which was situated at the top of the castle, Snow put Emma down and looked into her eyes.

"Listen to me," she said with urgency. "Something is going to happen to all of us here, but you are going to be safe."

Charming pointed to the magical wardrobe. "See that wardrobe in the tree trunk over there? That is where we're going to send you, to keep you safe."

"But-"

Emma was in tears now and when she was interrupted, starting crying even harder.

"There is no time, honey," Snow hastily said, ushering her into the wardrobe.

"But where will I end up in?"

She watched as her parents looked sadly at each other.

"We do not know," Snow admitted.

"But," Charming added and knelt beside the wardrobe, taking her hand in his. "We know you will always find us."

Snow smiled through her tears and took Emma's other hand. "Family always finds each other."

"Please…" Emma whimpered but her cries were drowned out when a loud bang resounded on the door of the chamber that Charming had locked behind them.

"Go!"

Emma heard her mother shout to her father as Snow slammed the door of the wardrobe as she brought the baby blanket tighter around her, the only thing that proved to be a source of comfort right now. She could hear muffled swords clanging and loud screams beyond the thick wood of the wardrobe door but everything went to a dead silence in a matter of seconds.

And then in the midst of her sobs, everything went black.