"Do you miss it?" Aurora asked in a slightly out of breath voice as she stopped to lean against a tree trunk. She silently vowed never to agree to patrol the area with Emma again, no matter what Mulan said. Apparently the blonde was a fan of power walking. "Storybook?"
"Storybrooke," Emma corrected, having stopped as soon as Aurora had spoken up. She turned and noticing Aurora leaning against a tree trunk, walked towards her. "Yeah, I do."
"What's it like?" Aurora questioned curiously. "From what you say about it, it seems like everything in your world is magical."
Emma chuckled as she leaned her shoulder against the tree trunk. "There is no magic in the real world. It's just more advanced than…" she cast a distasteful look around the woods. "This."
"You don't seem to like this world." Aurora observed, watching Emma intently.
"If you were from my world you wouldn't either." Emma shrugged.
"I can't imagine disliking the only world I've ever known." Aurora frowned defensively.
"Maybe not," Emma sighed, already irritated without having to put up with the Princess's irksome attitude. "But if you knew what my world was like you wouldn't want to be here."
"You seem annoyed." Aurora said, shifting slightly away from the blonde.
"I am!" Emma exclaimed irritably. "I'm here chasing witches and avoiding ogres instead of at home with my son where I belong. I'm sleeping on a hard floor instead of in my own bed, I haven't gotten laid in God knows how long, Mary-Margaret…or Snow or whatever won't stop asking me about my feelings and I want a freaking CHEESEBURGER!"
Aurora merely stared at Emma open-mouthed and Emma heaved a sigh.
"Shit."
When Aurora was finally able to speak her question caught Emma by surprise. "What's a cheeseburger?"
"What's a…fuck you really are deprived here, aren't you?"
Aurora straightened up against the tree, rather affronted by Emma's question. "Excuse me?"
"I'm sorry." Emma apologised quickly as Aurora shuffled even further away. She reached out to lightly grip the Princess's wrist in case she decided to leave. "I just mean that you miss out on a lot here."
"How can I miss out on something if I don't know of its existence?" Aurora asked curiously.
Emma shrugged before something occurred to her suddenly and a smirk formed on her lips.
"What?" Aurora questioned, worried that Emma was mentally making fun of her.
"I was just thinking about how awesome it would be if you came back to Storybrooke." Emma said through a soft chuckle. "It would be like I was showing you things for the first time."
"Like cheeseburgers?" Aurora asked, intrigued despite her reservations. "And what else did you say? Getting laid?"
Emma laughed unreservedly at the question. "I don't think you'd want me to show you that."
"Why not?"
"Unless you swing that way of course, though I don't think that's likely. I've never heard of a gay fairy-tale character anyway. You guys are all about your Princes."
"…What?"
Emma glanced at the confused Princess. Aurora obviously didn't have a clue what she was talking about.
"Well…" Emma used her shoulder against the tree as leverage to pivot herself until she was standing directly in front of Aurora. She pressed her forearms against the tree trunk on either side of Aurora's head and leaned close, smirking to herself when Aurora's breath caught in her throat. "Would you let me do this?"
"Do wha…?"
Aurora words were cut off as Emma closed the distance between their lips and kissed her gently, using just the faintest bit of pressure. Aurora gasped into the kiss and she instinctively lifted a hand to give Emma a firm slap for the intrusive action. Emma apparently predicted the action or else she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye however for she blocked the blow with her arm. She pulled back with a sheepish smile.
"I guess not then."
To Aurora's surprise she found herself missing the sensation of Emma's lips on her own and without thinking about what she was doing she moved her hands to the back of Emma's neck, pulling her back towards her. Emma's eyes widened in surprised but slammed shut when her lips found Aurora's again. Despite her surprise she didn't question the action, instead moving the hand that was hovering in the air to Aurora's cheek. It lingered there for a moment before slipping into the Princess's dark locks. Aurora gripped Emma's leather jacket, tugging her firmly against her and Emma deepened the kiss, sliding her tongue past more than willing lips. Aurora whimpered at the unexpected but not at all unpleasant intrusion. Philip had never kissed her like that. So absorbed were they in each other they didn't notice the light footsteps heading towards them.
"Emma!"
Emma broke the kiss and jerked back, almost falling over in her haste to turn around. She found Snow and Mulan standing a couple of feet away, obviously stunned by what they'd seen. "I can explain."
Aurora straightened her skewed clothing and locked eyes with Mulan, expecting some kind of chastising for her behaviour. All she received was a wounded look before Mulan turned and stormed off in the direction she'd come from.
"What, no lecture?" Emma asked in surprise as she stared after the warrior.
Aurora was completely still for a moment before she hiked her dress up off the floor and rushed after Mulan leaving Snow and Emma behind.
"Mulan!" Aurora called rather loudly as she struggled to keep up with Mulan's rapid pace. They'd started moving within a few seconds of each other but Mulan already had a good ten metres on Aurora and she was showing no sign of slowing down. "Mulan, wait!"
Aurora stumbled over a protruding tree root and had to throw her arm out to remain standing. In doing so however she felt behind even further. Already breathing heavily she began to run as best she could after the warrior in front of her. "Mulan. Mulan, please wait!" After a few more feet Aurora was forced to stop because of the stitch forming in her side. She resorted to stomping her foot and yelling. "MULAN!"
Mulan eventually came to a stop and turned around, motioning for Aurora to shut up. With an angry look on her face Mulan walked briskly back over to Aurora who shrunk back slightly.
"Need I remind you that there are ogres here?" Mulan asked sharply as she came to a stop in front of Aurora. "And the sound of your yelling will only attract them?"
"S-sorry." Aurora stuttered, still slightly out of breath and rather unnerved by Mulan's furious yet still unbelievably hurt expression. "I was trying to stop you."
"I know that."
Aurora hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "Why did you run off?"
"Why did you come after me?" Mulan retorted angrily. "You were clearly busy with Princess Emma."
Aurora's eyebrows rose in surprise. Mulan had never referred to Emma as anyone of royal standing even though she knew that Emma was in fact a Princess. Her tone was mocking however. "Why do you care so much about who I kiss?"
Mulan stared at Aurora for a moment before visibly deflating, the anger on her face given way to simple hurt.
"Mulan?" Aurora frowned, instinctively stepping forward to comfort the upset woman. As soon as her hand made contact with Mulan's arm however she was shrugged off and Mulan averted her gaze to hide the pain in her dark eyes.
"It doesn't matter."
"Of course it matters!" Aurora exclaimed as if the statement was the stupidest thing she'd ever heard. "What's wrong?"
Mulan looked up to meet Aurora's gaze and smiled a self-deprecating smile. "I'm beginning to think it's typical of me to fall for someone whose heart belongs to another"
It took a moment for the words to sink in but when they did Aurora could do nothing but gape at Mulan in shock. "You…I…"
"As I said, it doesn't matter." Mulan said, hiding her hurt behind a mask of neutral emotions. "It changes nothing."
"But…"
"I'm going back to camp." Mulan interrupted in a steady tone though she pointedly avoided looking in Aurora's direction. "Do you know the way back to Emma and Snow?"
"Well yes but…" Aurora tried to protest though she was quickly cut off again.
"I'll see you back at camp Princess."
Without another word Mulan turned and walked off. Aurora watched her go with a torn expression before she too turned around to make her way back to their companions.
THE END.