Part 2

A door opens, shining some light into a dark room. The squeak from the opening signals someone to call out, "Hello?" And a second voice shouted, "Help!" As the door opens wider, Jill and Pippi are revealed. They are a bit older from being locked up so long.

"Whose in here?" A female voice called.

"US!" Jill screamed.

"Please let us out," Pippi begged.

Mulan came down the steps and used a rock to break the lock for each cell. Pippi hugged Mulan after getting out of the cell. "Thank you so so much."

"How long have you two been in here?" Mulan asked them.

"I don't know," Jill replied as they walked up the steps into the sunlight. "We were knocked out and woke up here. There were slots in our cells that gave us food and a fountain for water."

"And a drain for the bathroom," Pippi added. The two embraced the sun as they stepped on land.

Mulan closed the cellar door they were trapped in and asked, "Did you have any sort of contact with anyone during that time?"

"Just us," Jill answered. She took a moment and asked, "How did you find us?"

Mulan said, "I was walking along this path and felt the hollow door. So I opened it."

"Were are you on your way to?" Pippi asked.

"Wait-" Jill cut her off. "While we were trapped, I mean, things were very repetitive for a while. We didn't notice until much later. But it felt like it had been years, and I mean decades went by, yet we look like we're fourteen."

"You two have been trapped since before the curse?" Mulan was shocked.

"The curse?" Pippi wondered.

"The dark curse. Cast by the evil queen. It made most of the land be transported to another world without magic."

"Such a place exists?" Pippi noted.

"The curse lasted for 28 years, until a savior broke the spell." Mulan continued.

"So everything is as it was before?" Jill assunmed.

"Not exactly. The curse broke, allowing time to move forward and the others to have their memeories back."

Jill and Pippi looked confused.

"Long story, but they're all still in that world. Though they did coime back, twice. But that's another story."

"I'm so lost," Jill stated.

"So who all is in that other world?"

"At first, it was everyone, but this corner of the land, protect by Cora."

"Queen Regina's mother," Jill remembered.

"Yes," Mulan nodded, as the three started walking. "For those of us not taken to this other world, time was still. Then, just after the curse broke, the Savior and her mother, Snow White came here, transported by Jefferson's hat. After they went back, the savoir's former boyfriend came here. Then, there was another curse that brought everyone here, except Emma."

"Emma?" Pippi asked.

"The savoir. And her son. They stayed in the other world. Then, another curse-"

"Good Lord, how many curses have there been?" Jill asked.

Mulan tilted her head to the side and slightly smiled. "Everyone form this land, including those who weren't taken before, including Robin Hood and Aurora," Mulan paused. "Were transferred to that world."

"But what about you?" Pippi wondered.

"Once again, this corner was unaffected. The others were all at the castle when the curse hit again."

There was a pause before Pippi asked, "Is Queen Regina in the other land?"

"Yes, and actually," Mulan remembered, "That land does have magic now. Rumpelstiltskin brought it to the town."

"He's there?" Pippi was relieved.

"Indeed. Everyone it seems is with the one's they love," Mulan turned away.

Jill noticed. "Is there someone you love who is in that town?"

"It wouldn't matter. This person is gone." Mulan walked ahead of them.

Pippi and Jill eyed each other before Pippi side skipped up to her. "Is there anyone else over her, besides us three?"

"That's what I've been searching for since I left Robin Hood's merri men and the curse hit. No one else so far." Mulan looked down.

"Well don't look so glum," Jill beamed. "That means the castle is ours."

"No," Mulan denied. "It belongs to Snow White and her family."

"But they have a home in that other world," Jill complained.

"That doesn't make the castle ours for the taking." Mulan scolded.

They continued walking for a few miles, until they found a spot to rest. Jill complained that they could have slept in a house they pasted a mile back.

"If everyone else was taken back," Jill realized as she lied down on the grass, "then that means my brother is in that town."

Pippi sat up and faced her. Mulan was asleep.

"We have to get to that other world," Jill insisted.

"How?" Pippi questioned.

"There's lots of ways. The hat, a bean, a shadow, a curse."

"Yeah, but how are we going to get one of those?" Pippi asked her.

Jill turned over, smiling. "We have a whole world to explore. I'm sure the castle has a lot of that stuff."

The following day, the three went fishing for their breakfast, then walked along. After about two hours of walking, they discovered a castle in their view.

"It that the grand castle?" Jill said in awe. She had never seen a castle up close, even though the castle was about 200 feet yards away. The clearing was large.

"That's not Snow's castle," Mulan noted. "Nor Aurora's…"

"Cinderella's?" Pippi wondered.

"I'm not sure." Mulan was perplexed.

They found a small back door and entered the castle. The backdoor entrance was all bricks and mud. When they found a staircase out, they entered the grand kitchen. There was a surplus of food such as bread and fruit. Jill snatched a roll and took a huge bite.

"Real classy," Pippi commented.

Jill ignored her and took another bite.

Mulan and Pippi cautiously moved across the kitchen and into the next hallway. Jill finished the roll, took a piece of watermelon and dove her hand into a tall chocolate cake and licked it off her hand.

Mulan and Pippi heard a noise and hid in a closet nearby. Pippi walked down the hall as a man entered the hall. He saw her and shouted, "Halt! You thieving ruffian."

With the evidence on her hand, she sighed and stayed there.

"You'll be thrown in the dungeon," the man said.

"You won't take her anywhere," Mulan emerged, holding out her sword and pointing it at the man.

"Please," the man pleaded, "I'm just a servant here. I don't want any trouble."

"A servant for who?" Mulan asked still holding up her sword.

"For the majesty." He answered.

"Take us to them," Mulan ordered.

"Not if you plan to kill them," the man denied. He made a confident face.

Mulan put her sword back in her holster and said, "We not here to kill anyone. We're looking for people untouched by the latest curse."

He nodded and led the way. They followed him up a grand white staircase, as other servants walked past them carrying blankets and dresses. Jill was looking at all the details of the castle. Everything was so elegant, beautiful, fragrant, and most of all…Spacial. So much room.

When they reached the bedchamber of the majesty, they were all surprised then they did not recognize them. They had dark hair and dark skin. They each sat on a soft armchair. Their room was huge. Plenty of space from the table to the bed. It was larger than Jill and Pippi's new house would have been.

"Who are you?" Jill asked. Pippi gave her a look for asking so bluntly.

"May I present King Richard and Queen Marie." The servant announced.

A beautiful young girl walked into the room and asked, "What's going on? Who might you be?"

"No worries Princess," a female tailor addressed her. "We have visitors from the outside."

"They're more?" her eyes widened.

"Apparently," Jill spoke.

"I'm Mulan," She introduced herself.

"I'm Rapunzel," she revealed.

The two girls smiled at each other until Jill said, "I'm Jill and I would like a way out of here."

Pippi nudged her and said, "It's lovely to meet you all. My friends call me Pippi."

"If you're from the outside," the King spoke, "Then perhaps you could tell us about it."

"Not much to say." Pippi said. "Jill and I were licked up for years. We were just freed yesterday. Form what we saw, it's empty and lonely."

After a long chat with the royals, Mulan, Jill, and Pippi were invited to dinner and asked to stay as workers.

"What would we do exactly?" Pippi wondered.

"You could help out tailors or our cooks." The queen suggested.

"Oh yes," Pippi agreed. "I enjoy cooking."

"I don't" Jill mumbled.

"We could also use more help with security," the queen eyed Mulan.

Rapunzel added, "I could use a personal body guard."

The queen smiled at them. "What do you say, Mulan? Would you like to be our daughter's protector?

Mulan looked at Rapunzel and then to the queen. "Yes, your majesty."

Pippi smiled, knowing what was going on. The King remained oblivious to the situation.

That night, after they all bathed, as Pippi and Jill were taken to their own room, with a mere soft bed and candle on a table, with a small window, Jill was unhappy. She got up and looked out the window. "This is not my future."

Jill opened her bedroom door and crept down the hall but was caught by Milan.

"Where do you think you're going?" Mulan called.

Jill turned to her and blurted, "I can't stay here."

"You're a castle, safe. You don't have a difficult job. It's just washing the clothes." Mulan noted.

"I don't want to live my life serving others. I want others to serve me." Jill claimed.

"That's not how it works. You can't have everything you want" Mulan told her.

"They can. The royals have everything and have lost nothing, ever." Jill said.

"You really don't know anything about them."

"And you do in the hour you've spent with their daughter."

"They've have to make sacrifices."

"Please," Jill scoffed. "I lost my brother."

"You think you're the only one who's lost family?"

Jill walked away.

"You won't be happy out there, alone." Mulan called.

"I won't be alone. I'll have my brother, once I find him."

Jill spent all night going through the royal's vault. It was a huge room full of treasures. Everyone thought she left the castle, which bought her time. She wasn't stealing their gold. She was looking for an item. After searching for hours, rummaging through a mountain of gold coins, artifacts, and trinkets, she saw a box at the top of the shelf against the wall. She grabbed the ladder and climbed to the top. The laddered ended just a little too soon. Jill could almost reach the box. She placed her foot on the shelves and climbed up that way. She reached the box and then fell backwards. She got up after a minute and checked the box. It was opened and empty. Jill looked fanatically for what was inside the box. She was a blue gem, and wondered if that was it. She sighed in defeat and looked away.

That's when she saw the bean! The magic bean! Jill grabbed it and realized that if she took some gold, she could just use the bean to get away. She filled her pockets with some gold and wore some of the jewelry.

She threw the bean down just as Pippi entered the room. "What are you doing?"

"Why are you here?" Jill asked.

"They wanted me to get the gold plates for their meal because it's the king's birthday. Are you stealing?" Pippi asked.

"Uh," Jill was cut off by the bean creating a green whirlpool on the ground.

"What did you do?" Pippi shouted.

"I'm going to find my other brother." Jill stated.

Pippi got closer. "Where the children are?"

Jill nodded. "Come with me."

"I-I" she hesitated.

The whirlpool increased in size and Pippi slipped falling down the portal. Jill took a second before jumping into the vortex.

When Pippi landed, she looked around rapidly. Jill entered a few moments later and smiled. "We're here."
"Where?" Pippi looked at the all the funny looking buildings and odd looking black ground with yellow lines. Strange looking carriages with rubber wheels. Less grass and trees around.

Jill walked down the street and saw a big sigh with the name of the town in big letters. She smiled, "Storybrooke."