Chapter 3

Emma's POV

The running was starting to take a toll on Emma. She risked a quick glance over her shoulder and saw that the group was right on her tail. She tried to push herself to go faster, but something was wrong. She was getting dizzy and she couldn't feel her legs. Emma figured it was just the cold so she ignored it. That turned out to be a huge mistake. Emma could barely move. Her breathing was getting labored. This did not go unnoticed to the group that was perusing her.

She stumbled for a couple of more steps, than she collapsed.

Snow's POV

"EMMA!" Snow screamed.

The group, which consisted of the Charming Family, Red, and somewhere along the way Regina joined the chase. The group circled around the girl.

"Emma, Emma please wake up!" Snow said, she was nearly in hysterics.

"Snow it's okay. I know what's wrong with her." Regina said calmly.

"Her 13 year old body isn't used to magic. Though I have to say this is one of the more extreme cases I have seen." Regina said matter of factly.

"So she's going to be alright?" David asked with a look of poorly masked panic on his face.

"Yes she'll be fine a couple of hours." Regina than proceeded to poof the whole group back to the Charmings.

"Gina will she remember who we are whe she wakes up? Neal asked with his bottom lip trembling. He missed his older sister. With her gone who was going to scare away the monsters under the bed? Or sneak him an extra cookie after dinner?

"She won't remember Neal." Regina said gently.

"Can't you change her back!" Neal exclaimed.

"No sweetie I can't, because Emma did this to herself."

"Why?"

"That's the question we're all trying to figure out Neal."

Emma's POV

Man Emma why do you always seem to get yourself in trouble?

Emma had been up for a couple minutes now, but she kept her eyes closed and her breathing even. She was listening to the conversation around her. Something to do with magic and becoming a teenager.

Well at least the teenager part is true. I just turned 13 today. Emma reminded herself.

"Regina can you do one of those magic checkups you used to do when I was a kid?"

"Well I really should be goin…" Regina immediately stopped. Neal was looking at her with his famous puppy dog eyes. Emma had taught him how to do it recently.

"Well I guess I could do a quick checkup." Regina grudgingly admitted.

Regina waved her hand over Emma's "sleeping" body.

"She seems fine. Her legs are a little sore from the cold and all the running she's been doing. You might want to get her eyes checked out.. I have no idea how she can see a thing."

Upon hearing the comment about her eyes Emma shot up. She hadn't told anybody here how bad her eyesight was.

"Well it looks like someone's awake." Regina said with a smirk. Emma looked down at her hands sheepishly.

"Emma Swan I can not believe you!" Snow shouted.

"Running away like that was completely irresponsible. You could have gotten hurt. God knows what would have happened to you if we hadn't been following you. You could still be lying in the street just waiting to get run over!" Snow practically screamed.

"Why do you care? You're not my mom so leave me alone!" Emma looked exactly like her mother when she said that.

"Because you're my daughter! I mean if you are staying in this house you are my responsibility." Snows quick excuse seemed to fool Emma for the moment.

This answer completely shur Emma down. She went back to looking at her hands. Regina was getting tired of the tension in the room.

"Do you have any glasses Emma?" Regina asked.

"I do actually." Emma said a little hesitantly.

"Well do you have them with you?"

"I don't know. They're in my backpack and I don't know where that is at the moment."

"So you've lost them." Regina said exasperated.

"No, I've just momentarily misplaced them." Emma said with her signature smirk.

"Wait a minute is your backpack black Emma?" Snow asked.

"Yes, wait how do you know that?" Emma demanded, but Snow didn't hear her. She was racing up the lofts staircase. Snow had already seen this backpack before. Snow had been doing the laundry when she looked under the bed for dirty clothes and found a ratty old backpack. Snow came down the stairs with an old looking backpack.

"Is this is?" Snow said with a triumphant look on her face.

Emma didn't need to say anything. The shock was written all over her face. Snow handed over the backpack to the young Emma. As soon as the backpack was in her lap she quickly opened one of the pockets. She then pulled out a pair of black-rimmed glasses. Upon further examination of the pack she found a hair tie too.

Emma threw her hair up into a quick ponytail and shoved the glasses on her face. Quickly after that Red and Regina left as to give the family some privacy.

"Emma will you play with me?" Asked a very excited Neal. He of course turned on hos puppy do eyes. You could say that Emma was flabbergasted, but that would have been an understatement. No one had ever asked her to play before. Her parents picking up on her discomfort were about to send Neal off to play with himself, but before they could Emma finally spoke up.

"I would love to play with you Neal. What do you want to do?" Emma said as she got off the couch. She swayed a little bit but she was determined to play with this cute little boy.

"Neal why don't you show her some of your books?" Charming suggested. He didn't want Neal to pick a tiring game. He saw Emma sway and it took all his willpower to not reach out and help her. Emma still wasn't comfortable with him. As Charming said this Emma refused to make eye contact. He couldn't help but feel a little sting when his little girl wouldn't even look at him.

"I was thinking I could show Emma how to play the piano." Neal said with a Charming smile.

"You have a piano!" Emma exclaimed with a look of pure excitement on her face.

"Yeah it's right over here. Come on I'll show you." Neal said as he tugged he along.

TBC

Well Thanksgiving break is over. Single tear. The updates might be a little slower because of how much work my teachers are trying to cram in before midterms. Hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving. If you don't live in America happy post Once Day.

FieryFlame12