The Swan and the Witch
Story Summary: Once upon a time, there was a castle with a curse upon it that belonged to a fearsome beast-sorceress. A young woman ends up trapped at the castle with its inhabitants. What will she discover about this strange place, it's odd residents, and it's even more mysterious mistress? Can she break the curse? Beauty and the Beast re-tell, Swan Queen
Disclaimer: I still own nothing.
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Chapter Two
Unfortunately for them, David did not come home the next day. Or the next. Or even a week later. They began to get seriously worried.
Emma was going through her chores even more distractedly than usual worrying about David. She did her best to assure Mary Margaret everything was fine because she knew the other woman needed to hear it. Truthfully though, Emma was pretty convinced something bad had happened to him.
Any other man, she would just assume he'd left. But David would never do that. He was one of the rare few genuinely decent and kind-hearted people out there. Especially with Mary Margaret at home. Those two were so in love it actually made Emma faintly uncomfortable at times. She hoped it was only weather or complications in town, but her gut was telling her that it was something far worse.
What was she going to do though? She couldn't very well go find him. Firstly she couldn't leave poor Mary Margaret alone and more importantly she had no idea where he even was!
She was so lost in her thoughts she completely missed the next step and nearly went tumbling down the stairs. Fortunately, Neal had been nearby (stalking her) and grabbed her by the arms. Emma caught her breath quickly and pulled herself from his grip, uncomfortable. "Thanks," she said with a smile and Neal was reminded once more of her beauty.
He invaded her personal space, "No trouble at all." He reached and took her basket before she could protest. "I got this."
She frowned, not liking his presumption, but decided to allow it, too tired of worrying to argue with him today. She resumed walking home, leaving the town behind, and taking Neal with her.
"So," Neal said, disliking silence and loving the sound of his own voice, "I've been thinking…"
"That's never good," Emma muttered under her breath, her mouth quirking up at the corners.
"…And I think it's time I settled down."
Emma blinked, that not being what she expected—at all. "Settle…down?"
"Yeah! You know, find myself a nice little wife," Neal continued, mistaking her clarification for interest. He looked her over once more, obviously still finding her appealing and continued. "Picture this:" he spread his hands out in front of him as they followed the path to her cottage, "I get home from a long hunt and come home to a pretty young thing, ready with food and a foot massage. We'll have five or six strong boys—like me. Hm, a couple of good hunting dogs too."
Neal was lost in his dream as Emma unlocked the door, she used his distraction to take back her things. "Right," she said skeptically, "Sounds great."
He snapped back to her, "It will be. So what do you say?"
Emma furrowed her brow, "Huh? To what?"
"To being my wife, of course," he answered as if she was the slow one.
"…Me? Be your wife?" she stared at him uncomprehending. He couldn't be serious. How the hell could he think that she would ever want to marry him?
"I know, I know—it's a lot to take in. Not every day your dreams come true."
Oh God, he was serious. She let out a strangled laugh. "And what would you know of my dreams?" Emma asked incredulously. The very idea of Neal of all people knowing her dreams was ridiculous.
"What's there to know? All women want to get married and who wouldn't want to marry me?" Neal answered dismissively.
For a moment, all she could do was stare at him before she opened the door to the cottage ducking inside to put her stuff down. It was almost impressive how completely wrong he was. Marrying Neal was that last thing she would ever do. She wanted to leave this small town and travel. Probably not even to her home city. She wanted to explore the world, visit some of the places she's only read about in books. Go somewhere new and exciting, where nothing was ever boring or monotonous.
If she ever wanted to marry someone, it would not be to 'settle down' in some provincial town and raise a ton of children. She would want someone to share in her adventures with her, or who at least didn't think the idea was odd or strange like all these small minded people. Someone who understood her. An equal, not someone so idiotic that thought himself so far above her.
When she reappeared in the doorway, she almost said as much until she remembered she did have to live in this town for a bit longer, and David would live here for the rest of his life. She tried not to be as blunt as she normally was, "Neal, I'm flattered, really, but I'm not exactly "mothering" material—surely there are plenty of other women in town much more suited to you."
Neal blinked at her in confusion, a small frown appearing as it dawned on him she hadn't said yes immediately. "Nonsense, every woman wants children and can be a mother. And I want you."
Emma's eyes narrowed slightly, slowly losing her grip on her tongue, "Yes, well, I'm very sorry Neal, but I have a duty to my brother and his new wife. And I really don't think you'd be happy married to me. I must decline."
Neal stared at her and instead of getting upset or hurt, merely got angry. "You what?" He scoffed, "Obviously you're not thinking clearly."
Her eyes hardened, "I said no. Now please leave my home."
He didn't even seem to hear her and took a step in. "Wait a minute," his face was thunderous.
That was the final straw for Emma. She placed her hands on his shoulders and gave him a hard shove. To Neal's great surprise, she was much stronger than she looked, and he stumbled back, nearly falling down the steps. "I'm sorry, but I do not wish to marry you. Good day." And the wooden door swung shut.
-x-x-x-x-x-
After she was sure he had left, Emma retreated to the barn to think. David had personally fixed it up as soon as they settled in. She needed to get out of the cottage and calm down from Neal's ridiculous behavior. The make-shift stable was a comfort. She went over to her horse, Jaune.
She had visited him often enough after they first met when she tumbled into his stall by accident and hid from some obnoxious idiots that had been taught a valuable lesson, if you asked her—they hadn't exactly seen it as such. After that she had gone back to visit him often, and they had formed a solid friendship—one stubborn creature to another.
Truthfully, Emma had rescued him from his owner who was a bit too heavy with the riding crop, disgusted at his treatment of the horse. She couldn't ignore the treatment any longer even though she had no right or real ability to interfere. Unfortunately she was unable to keep him hidden for long (the city being a hard place to hide a stolen horse for very long—especially when you were poor) and so the owner had coming looking. David had saved them both by offering to buy Jaune.
Emma had contributed a bit, but the lion's share of the money had come from David's own coffers. David tried to pass him to her as a gift but Emma insisted that he was David's horse since he was the one who had paid for him. Still, she was saving up the little money she got from odd jobs and one day she would pay David back. She was almost there, only having been set back once or twice when money got low when they first left and then as they settled in here.
She sighed, when she could truly own Jaune would also be when she moved on from the quaint cottage in this quaint village. Neal had talked of her dreams. Ha! As if he could ever hope to know what she wanted.
Still, her angry thoughts and contemplation of the future could not hold off her despairing thoughts over David's absence for long. What would she do if David didn't come back? What would Mary Margaret do?
She brushed Jaune as she thought, chewing her bottom lip as she tried to keep her thoughts from spiraling out of control. All of a sudden she heard a loud commotion in the yard. She rushed out and was nearly bowled over by Pongo.
"Pongo!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here boy?" She wrapped her arms around the Dalmatian, surprised at how happy she was to see the dog. "Where's David?" she looked around, sure the man himself must be behind the dog, but no one was in sight.
Pongo let out a pitiful whine and panted. It was then she realized he was clearly distressed. "Come on, let's get you some water."
She led the dog over to the water trough, filled it up and thought as he drank greedily. If Pongo was here and not with David then something bad had definitely happened. However, if Pongo had found his way home, then he couldn't have gotten separated from David too long ago. That meant David couldn't be more than a day away, less probably. She looked around, but their other horse and cart didn't seem to have made it back.
The more she thought about it, the more determined she grew. She had to go find David and make sure he got home safely. She left Pongo to go inside and grab her dagger and cloak. If she left now, she should be able to find him before it got dark, especially if Pongo had only been traveling for the morning, which, judging by how tired he was, seemed to be the case.
When she came out, Pongo met her and she fed him some meat as they went into the stable. She quickly began saddling Jaune up. "Now Pongo, you did very good to come home, but now I need you to take me back."
Pongo whined in distress. "Don't give me that. We need to get David back," she scolded lightly. Pongo barked at his master's name and looked a bit more confident. She fed him another treat. "Good boy. We'll get him and everyone will be back home, safe and sound."
He barked again and she led Jaune out of the stable. She stopped once more to leave Mary Margaret a message not to worry, only saying that she had some news about David and was going to meet him. Which wasn't exactly lying. Technically.
Emma swung up into the saddle, gave Pongo a nod and clicked at the horse to follow him. She would find David and get him home safe to his wife, Emma vowed to herself, she would do her very best to make sure the man who had helped her so much could at least be guaranteed his own family. No one deserved it more.
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A/N: I hope nothing seems too off-base. 'Jaune' means yellow in French, as in Emma's yellow bug? Sorry, I know I'm probably the only who cares about that. ^^' Anyway, I know we're still on the boring stuff, but just bear with me. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, followed and read. :D
