A/N Let me start off by saying that this won't jump straight into Swan Queen. There was a reason I provided that fastforward of Emma with the Queen for a little taste of what's to come. First we'll be going along with Emma on her little adventure to the Evil Queen's castle. We'll be meeting a few characters along the way as well. I promise that if you're patient it will be worth the wait. I didn't want to simply jump right into Emma and Regina's meet-up without any background and I felt that a few clumped up paragraphs wouldn't do it justice.
Much gratitude to you all. I love the response I got on the first chapter and I'm looking forward to hearing your next reviews. I'm always open ears if you wish to offer up ideas or if you simply want to chat. (Stop on by Tumblr: Femphoenix. I won't bite too hard.)
That being said, here is the next installment of A Soulless Demeanor!
"Why do you always do this to me?" the blonde fumed with her hands raised up at her mother.
"You're a princess, Emma. Just because you're eighteen now doesn't mean you're free to run around with the soldiers. It's very dangerous."
Groaning in frustration, Emma fell backwards onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling. One of the soldiers had ratted her out about hanging with them in the barracks when she had strictly been told that area was off limits. A princess wasn't supposed to be throwing back flagons of ale while laughing maniacally at fowl jokes, yet there she had been for the past several days after dark.
Her first thought of betrayal had been towards Johanna, but when she asked the maid she denied it with every ounce of her heart. It didn't take much time to she piece together the degrading looks of one of the soldiers who always claimed she had no place there regardless of how much the others enjoyed the company of a beautiful girl.
"I wasn't doing anything, mom. We were just—"
"Having a few drinks. Yes, I know sweetheart." Hearing a sigh fall from the older woman's lips, she felt the bed dip beside her before soothing hands were running through her pale locks. "I understand your aggravation. I'm just trying to make you understand that what we're doing is for your best."
"How can I understand when you won't try and understand me?" the blonde pushed herself up onto her elbows, "You've done nothing but entrap me in gowns that I can hardly move around in, force me to dance at balls that I despise with princes I don't even know. You don't know me! This," she held her arms out to the room, "isn't me."
"This is just a phase, darling. It will all pass away with time and you'll truly understand why your father and I are doing this. One day when we're long gone you'll be the one to rule Lucia."
Her room was spinning with ill thoughts and all she could do was grind her teeth and bunch up her fists. This world didn't make a bit of sense to her. In all of her eighteen years she had seen nothing but rules laid out endlessly to trap her within these castles walls. The closest she had traveled from the castle was during her travels with her father, but still they never left Lucia. Fulfilling
She wasn't meant to rule anyone. That wasn't her place in this life. The only thing that meant a damn to her anymore was freedom.
Her mother took her silence as a sign of resolution, giving her daughter a gentle squeeze to her hand before leaving her alone to her thoughts.
This plan was crazy. Absolutely crazy. Nevertheless, she was now staring directly at a white horse who huffed in her face. Throwing the sack across her shoulder that held only a few essentials, she touched the muzzle of the horse.
"Ready for this, Selene?" she asked the steed and pressed a gentle kiss to her nose.
She had only ridden a few times in her life. The first time was still engraved into her brain as if it were yesterday. Sneaking out right after her father had returned home, she managed to mount one of the royal steeds only to get thrown off five minutes later into a pile of hay.
The explanations as to why she was covered in bruises came up short when Snow had pulled a piece of hay out of her hair. That only led to once again another long talk about how women weren't meant to ride unless it were simply for display. It seemed insanely hypocritical, for she clearly remembered seeing the dark woman, whose name she later found out was Regina.
Checking everything over in her head, she straddled the horse and took hold of the reins. The pounding organ in her chest was beating rapidly, so fast that she could barely hear anything else, but she knew she would be safe to depart tonight.
This is crazy, she thought to herself, Am I actually doing this?
The taste of freedom was on the tip of her tongue. It was clearer than day in her mind's eye and she could reach out, but as soon as she touched it, it shattered upon impact. It was still just a dream. A dream that she would turn into reality very soon.
She gestured to horse into a steady pace, cautious not to draw attention. Knowing the route that was the least traveled, she steered herself there. Her parent's faces stung her sight as she focused forward, and just before she turned to head away from the castle she turned her head around to glance at her home for one last time.
This place would be but a memory by morning. If she thought too hard about it, it would have made her turn right back around, but no. She had to do this. This wasn't her place here. Her heart craved freedom, adventure, and most of all truth. One last deep breath and she spun back around, galloping away with only the moon and the stars as her guide.
The gods were being cursed far more times than she had ever done in her entire life as her horse trotted onward through the muddy path. Not even an hour through her journey the sky had opened up to cry its tears for the princess's departure from the kingdom. She still had time to turn around and forget this night ever happened; her parents would never suspect a thing, yet she refused. A few more hours and she would be gone from this prison that chained her down. The chains around her heart were already growing slack the further she treaded and it only made her press onward.
She would have to thank the boys at the barracks if she ever returned. They were probably the only reason she had been able to keep her sanity. They knew she was far different from her parents and preferred the company of their silly, immature slander rather than sitting in the throne room listening to the constant drawl of farmers and merchants complaining. However, they would have never expected her to run away from home.
Her life was comfortable. From an outsider's perspective she had everything one could ever dream of. A warm bed, fabulous clothes, a full belly, a huge palace to wander around, but those things meant nothing to Emma.
She needed more than that. She needed excitement. Freedom. Most of all, she needed the truth. No one would have ever thought the tomboy to indulge in written words, but she really did enjoy reading so long as it was of a topic of her choice which normally pertained to subjects that were labeled taboo and occult in their kingdom. As much as her parents warned her against the use of magic, she drowned herself in books of the dark arts.
It wasn't something she would ever actually attempt, but it intrigued her. Especially because of the stories about how it could devour your heart and turn it black just as the Evil Queen's was. Restoration magic was the only kind allowed in Lucia, for it aided in soley helping people and even then her parents wouldn't allow her to practice.
"You'll have no need for that," her father said, "That magic is only for soldier mages in battle."
Of course it was! Everything Emma was interested in was off limits.
A roaring crack of thunder and flashing streaks of light jolted her from her thoughts as the rain continued to pour down. Her hood had become a soggy rag that lost its job to keep her hair dry and she merely huffed.
She passed a small village as dawn was approaching. Her horse most likely needed a good rest, but it would be a risky maneuver to stop while she was still in Lucia. She may have been in trousers with her face covered by the shadow of her hood, but she didn't trust herself enough to go by unnoticed. There would always be that one person to pick her out of the crowd, notice that her face was far too flawless for a penny picker, that her attire, a step down from royalty, was still several hundred more thread counts than their own. As consequence, she pushed onward through the now damp, but rainless night.
A few more hours sauntered by and she was struggling to keep hold of the reins. There wasn't the steady pour of rain on her head anymore to keep her awake and she squeezed her eyes shut, letting out a yawn. Regardless of the sunlight that was beginning to peek through the trees, she had to get some rest or she would end up on the ground unwillingly.
"I have to keep going," she whispered to herself as she leaned down onto her trusted steed.
There wasn't regret for how far she had come, but she definitely didn't know what she was doing. Her only plan was to get from point A to point B in one piece; after that? Well, she decided she would go with the flow. Nevertheless, her body was screaming at her since she hadn't slept in almost a day now. If only she could have slept through the sunlight and then taken departure with an alert mind. Unfortunately that would have raised a red flag with her parents.
Suddenly she began to notice they were slowing down and she lifted her head back up. Green eyes widened with realization of how different the surroundings had become in the last hour. Through her exhaustion she had failed to notice how the thriving forestry had begun to wither.
The atmosphere had turned completely upside down. Emma could literally feel the absence of something she couldn't pinpoint, but she knew she wasn't home anymore. The air was colder and the wind blew harshly against her damp clothes making her shiver.
Even her horse's footsteps proceeded with evident caution. Pale hands ran through Selene's white mane, coaxing her to calm down. As they continued on, she glanced at the passing trees and how they twisted around in abnormal manners, the bark darker than usual. It contrasted with the fiery light of dawn that crept between their bare branches, reaching out towards her.
Pearly teeth found her bottom lip as her heart thumped in a mix of awe and wonder. She had made it to Obscuria, the kingdom of the Evil Queen.
Regardless of the hood that shrouded her face, their eyes were piercing into her like dirty knives as she stood among the drunken men of the village tavern. She had left Selene tied up outside before she had ventured into the rundown building in search for a bed. The keeper was looking at her strange; in a place like this, newcomers were rarer than a blue moon, but that wasn't the only explanation. It finally dawned on her what he was waiting for and she internally hit herself. Out of all the things she had brought in her sack she had forgotten the most important thing of all. Coin.
"Apologies," she told him with a weak smile.
She slinked away from him and found refuge in the corner of the room. Her eyes examined the men and women around her whose minds were drowning in alcohol regardless of the fact it was morning. As far as she could gather, that seemed like the best life for them if the neglected town were anything to go by. When she had arrived before wandering into the tavern, she noticed how the buildings were barely held together, some roofs fallen in. Nothing had been renovated in what seemed at least a decade or longer. The sight caused much distress to the blonde since her parent's would have never let any part of Lucia fall into such turmoil. Had the stories she had read been right?
She shook her head. No. She couldn't let one village be the deciding factor. This was her first visit. The entire kingdom couldn't be this bad.
Sinking back into the chair and kicking her feet up on another, her mind started to wander over what she has just done. All of this time she had been craving for something new and here she was in a realm she knew hardly anything about.
There was definitely not turning back now.
Had anyone noticed her absence yet? Soon enough Johanna would call her down to breakfast. Some mornings Emma wouldn't budge and on occasion she would be allowed to sleep in. However, eventually their maid was bound to take suspicion, perhaps thinking the princess was ill, and looking for her only to find out that the sleeping blonde was actually just a set of pillows. Following her revealed disappearance, Snow would first assume that Emma had gone to the barracks the night before, but the men would deny ever seeing her there. Would her mother believe that? She could see their faces now. Her mother's face would crumble out of fear that something happened to their poor baby and David would coax her into believing they would find her, but would they? Where would they start? Needless to say, the entire kingdom would be in disarray by noon.
"What's a pretty girl like ya doin' in a place like this?" said a slurred voice and she looked up to find an unkempt man with a bad eye. Lifting the metal flagon to his crusty lips, he took a swig before slamming it down on the table as the ale sloshed from side to side.
"That's none of your business," Emma replied sternly and reached for the sword at her side that she had stolen from one of the knights several years prior. She watched his face, searching for any sign of recognition that he might know who she was but all she saw was the contorting lines of her forehead as he opened his mouth for a comeback.
Before a single word could spill from his lips, the sudden intrusion of a crimson silhouette cut him off.
"Leave her alone, Bullseye," demanded a soft female voice.
Her pale hand was placed on his shoulder as if they knew each other and he gave her a firm look.
"I was just trying to have a chitchat with this lady."
A warm laugh and the red hooded figure shook her head.
"Sure you were. Go on, looks like you need another round."
Muttering nonsense, the man whose name was apparently Bullseye wandered back over towards his rowdy companions.
Just as Emma removed her boots from the chair, the other woman took a seat upon it. Most of her face was still shrouded but a big smile could be seen.
"Don't mind him. He's a bit of a lady's man…or so he thinks."
"His name is Bullseye?" the blonde questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"A game of darts gone wrong."
Almost instantly they were both grimacing at the thought.
A few seconds later, the mystery woman slid down her hood to reveal chocolate locks and bright green eyes and extended her hand out.
"The name's Red." There was an awkward pause and when it became apparent that Emma wasn't going to shake hands or disclose her name, the brunette pulled back. "We haven't met before, have we?"
"No. I'm new around here."
"I assumed as much," she clasped her hands together before motioning towards the blonde's own hood, "there's no need to wear that here. Around here you're either a familiar or a ghost."
Emma fidgeted in her seat and crossed her arms, trying to deduce why this girl decided to randomly initiate a conversation. Yea, she saved her from an awkward situation with the village drunk, but was there need for anything more? This Red was an attractive girl, but she wasn't exactly ready yet to make new friends.
"Unless someone's actually looking for you?" Emma's breath caught in her throat and she opened her mouth to attempt at correcting her, but was beat, "apologies. That's not really any of my business."
Pulling out a reassuring smile, they both sat there in uncomfortable silence.
"You live here?"
It was an idiotic question but only one Emma could think of asking.
"Kind of. I'm a bit of a traveler myself, but I've gotten to know people here and there."
The blonde nodded and no sooner she was trying to hide a giant yawn.
"You look like you could use a good rest," Red commented as she took in the bags under blue-green eyes, "Do you need a place to stay?"
"I'll be fine."
Without even looking she could feel the green eyes reading straight through her words. The brunette reached inside of her cloak and pulled out a small pouch. Dipping her hand inside, she drew out a few gold coins and laid them on the table next to Emma.
"Go get yourself a room."
Before the princess could even decline or show gratitude, the other woman rose to her feet and walked off. The kind gesture left Emma feeling rather confused, yet a bit content. She definitely needed rest, but why would a stranger offer such kindness? Nevertheless, she swept up the coins into her hands and proceeded back up to the inn-keeper. After a full night's rest…er day's rest, she would finally be able to initiate her new life in Obscuria. Whatever that meant.
A/N Please review!