Once more this is a bit of a filler chapter, but it's also got some important stuff, so bear with me.
Please, let me know what you think, I love your feedback, I really do.
Enjoy!
Travelling with Leopold proved to be a fair more enjoyable experience for Henry than travelling with The Evil Queen. Perhaps it was because Leopold wasn't kidnapping Henry, or arresting him, but merely escorting him to another Kingdom. Of course, Henry would much rather go home and be with his mother and Robin, but someone how he didn't think that was one of options.
"So, can you fight?" Henry asked to break their silence. It hadn't been an awkward one, not at all, but still Henry felt the urge to fill it. He was in a carriage with the crown prince of Snow White's Kingdom, Henry felt he was allowed to be a little star struck. Leopold smiled at Henry, pushing his dark hair off of his forehead.
"Of course I can fight." Leopold said with a laugh, gesturing beside him to where his sword sat, sheathed but within arm's reach. Henry couldn't help but marvel at it. Of course his mother had a sword, and he'd seen her use it more than once, but this was a prince's sword, forged out of the strongest metals and - if legend was to believed - in the breath of a dragon. It was slightly more impressive than the one Emma had stolen from a bandit during a journey through the woods. "Perhaps I could teach you once you speak with my mother."
"With Snow White." Henry said and Leopold nodded his agreement.
"I promise she is a far kinder queen than the one who took you in." Leopold said with an encouraging smile, on Henry felt himself returning. There was nothing unwelcoming about this prince. His smile was bright and genuine, his eyes open and kind. He was trustworthy, Henry had decided, and so he asked what he'd been bursting to know.
"Will I ever be able to go home?" Henry's voice was quiet, but Leopold's gaze was nothing if not sympathetic.
"My mother does not have the same morals as the Evil Queen. Should she believe you are better off at home, she will do everything she can to get you back there." Henry nodded at this, a small ball of hope beginning to spark in his chest. All he had to do was convince Queen Snow that he wanted to go home, it was a simple task, one Henry knew he could pull off without a hitch. "Where is home for you, boy?" Leopold asked, his question genuine and curious.
"Right now, Sherwood forest." Henry said and Leopold raised his eyebrow in question of 'right now'. "We travel a lot. We never stay too long in one place."
"I understand." Leopold said, but somehow, Henry doubted he did. He knew the story of Snow White's kingdom, of how no one born before the Evil Queen's curse could leave. Leopold was an exception, obviously, but it was doubted that the prince every travelled far from home, only going so far as to search the neighbouring kingdoms for his long lost sister. "And your family? You have one, I assume. A mother and father?"
"A mother." Henry said quickly. He's lived with this question for most of his life, the villager he'd used to lay with asking who his father was, if he was a knight or a warrior, if he was as brave as theirs. Henry never had a good story to tell. He knew his father had left him and his mother, knew that Emma had gone to prison King Mitas' kingdom, but that was all. "We live with a friend, Robin Hood, in the forest."
"Well then, Henry," Leopold said with a kind smile, leaning forward on the velvet bench inside the carriage. "I'll do everything I can to get you back to your mother. I may even be able to accompany you home on one of my patrols."
"To find your sister" Henry said eagerly and Leopold's eyebrow rose curiously. Living as the son of a thief, Henry learnt many things about many kingdoms. He'd heard Emma and Robin talking on multiple occasions on where the best places were, the places the royal's very rarely visited, and places where the penalty for theft was lower. Emma never did fancy losing her hand for stealing King George's Kingdom. "I know things." Henry said and Leopold laughed. It was a nice laugh, with actual joy in it. It reminded Henry of Robin Hood's laugh whenever Roland did something particularly entertaining. Like when the four-year-old had spent half an hour chasing a cat around the tavern, the poor thing skittering over tables and onto the bar in an attempt to get away from the young boys grabbing hands.
"Well, you're correct. I patrol the roads in search of my lost sister, Emma."
"My mother's name is Emma."
"Her and most of the kingdoms. Many women born after the princess's disappearance are named Emma. My mother said it was a sign of respect, like naming me after her late father." Henry nodded in understanding, remembering days when he was young trying to convince Emma, his mother, that she was the lost princess. She'd laughed at his words good-heartedly before pulling him close, tucking his head under her chin and telling him she wished what he said was true. Henry had spent hours once trying to convince Emma to follow the lanterns back to the kingdom, that she could find her family. Emma had smiled, picking up her still young boy and holding him close. "You are my family, Henry. You're all the family I could ever need." Henry needed to get back to her. He knew in his heart that she would be looking for him, he was all she had, and she would fight for him.
"I want to go home." Henry said, he'd not meant to be loud, only whispering to himself. But in the small space Leopold had heard him.
"We're here, Henry." He said and Henry steeled himself as the carriage rolled to a stop, preparing himself to meet Queen Snow.
Henry hadn't known what to expect of the benevolent Snow White's kingdom. He'd thought it would be a place filled with life and love, street dancers dressed in brightly coloured dresses, women passing out beautiful flowers and children playing with one another on the cobblestones. Birds should have been flying overhead, singing brightly against the clear blue sky, the streets should have been alive with people, merchants and travelling salesmen. It shouldn't be empty.
As Henry stepped out of the carriage, all he saw was grey. The sky was dull and lifeless, barely even blue with the sun shining weakly. Weeds grew up through the cobblestones, dry and dying as they searched for the sun. The buildings were shabby, windows and doors boarded up, flower boxes empty. Henry had never seen a place so lifeless.
"The curse." Leopold said, noticing how Henry eyed the square around them with trepidation. A few people were appearing, pale faces in windows, hollow eyes peering from behind barrels and whispers in the alleyways. "that's what happened here." Henry hadn't actually asked, but was glad that Leopold had said. "Follow me."
Leopold led the way, having grown up in this kingdom as the sole heir, at least until the princess was found, Henry noticed how respected he truly was. Inside the castle servants bowed to him, smiles on their faces as he told them it wasn't necessary. Knight's stood to attention beside the doors they were guarding, nothing short of welcoming towards their prince. These were Leopold's men, the ones who accompanied him on patrols, searching the woods for both his lost sister and criminals of the land, bandits, thieves and pirates alike. Henry couldn't help but wonder that had he chosen to stay with The Evil Queen to begin with, would he have been treated with such respect. Would people bow to him with smiles on their faces or fear in their eyes. Would Henry ever be loved by his subjects as Leopold was.
"My mother is just through here." Leopold said, nodding to the two knights in their silver armour either side of the grand, wooden doors. "There's no need to be afraid. My mother is not the Evil Queen. She only wishes to speak to you."
"Okay." Henry mumbled slightly, working to straighten out his tunic, not feeling al that comfortable in the fancy cloths the Queen had provided him with.
"Are you ready?" Leopold's hand was on Henry's shoulder, the prince's kin blue eyes seeking affirmation. If Henry didn't want to do this, he didn't have to. But then where would he go? Would he be released to return home, or would the Evil Queen poof him back into her castle without a second thought.
"Yes." Henry sounded far braver and confident than he currently felt, and Leopold seemed to realise this with ease. Still, he didn't hold back, forcing open the towering wooden doors and gesturing for Henry to walk on through.
The throne room at least was everything Henry had expected. A long, deep red rug rant eh length of the room that Henry and Leopold were currently walking across. The stone walls were high, strung up with tapestries and banners of the royal Charming crest. At the very end of the long room were five, stone steps leading up to a dais, atop which sat four thrones, high backed and made of glistening metal, covered with plush looking velvet. The two central and bigger ones were the only two occupied.
Queen Snow stood up at the Prince's approach, and Henry tried to pick up his feet more in the presence of yet another royal. Three in a matter of days, that was more than most people met in a lifetime.
"This is the boy, Mother." Leopold said as he reached the base of the steps. Snow, dressed in her white, very long tailed jacket, studded with dots of silver, her long raven hair pulled back and braided away from her pale, tired face.
"Thank you, Leo." She said with a smile as she stood before them. "Your patrol is ready to leave when you are."
"But what of the boy? Should he wish to return home then I'd like to be the one to escort him." Leopold said, clearly a man of his word as he looked to where Henry stood, far shorter than he was, with a far scrawnier build.
"He'll still be here when you get back." Snow smiled, a sweet, understanding gesture than reminded Henry, with a pang, of his mother, the way she had smiled at him sat beside him on his bed, telling him the thief's life wasn't the way. "Go. And be careful." She said, placing a gentle kiss on her son's cheek. Leopold took it in stride, nodding to his mother before ascending the dais, no doubt to speak to his father, greeting him with a clap on the shoulder. "You must be Henry." Snow's attention was on him now, and Henry fought to urge to squirm under her gaze.
"Yes, your majesty." He said with a feeble nod, his hands clasping together behind his back.
"There are no need for the formalities, Henry," Snow said with a slight laugh, her face brightening with the uplifting sound. She looked far less tired when she laughed. "You are our guest. You may call me Snow." Henry nodded his agreement, but didn't speak out. Being allowed to call the crown Queen of Misthaven by her given name was one thing, to actually do so felt very foreign, even to Henry. "Now then, we have a lot to talk about. Why don't you start by telling me about yourself?" She had begun to guide Henry up towards the dais, and he was grateful that he and Snow were the only occupants of the room left, everyone else having followed King David and Leopold from the room.
"I'm from the Sherwood forest." Henry said as Snow guided him to sit on the smaller throne next to King David – presumably Leopold's – Snow sitting down on her husband's throne. He wasn't sure what else there was to say, Henry was always having trouble with being too trusting, something his mother often warned him about. His instinct's weren't as sharp as Emma's, he never knew when someone was lying to him or when they were being sincere, but he wanted to trust Queen Snow, he really did. "I live with my mother, and a man called Robin Hood." Snow chuckled at the name, and Henry found himself stopping.
"I'm sorry, I know of Robin Hood, that's all." She said, her face alight with a soft nostalgia. "Our faces once graced wanted posters side by side."
"Really?" Now Henry couldn't keep the awe from his voice as Snow smiled down at him.
"I wasn't always the Queen, Henry. I had a life before the crown, a bandit's life no less. That's how I came to meet David." She was smiling still and Henry found himself smiling back. "Tell me about your mother. Regina said you ran away from her."
"I didn't run." He'd feel guilty for snapping had Snow looked at all affronted, instead she continued to listen, a small smile urging him on. "I wanted to help. She steals, it's kind of how we survive, and she said I couldn't help. But I wanted to prove to her I could."
"So you tried to rob a royal carriage." He should have felt ashamed of what he'd done, but Snow sounded too understanding for the feeling to settle in. Instead he felt that perhaps he'd done the right thing, and if Snow could get him home, then did it really matter?
"What does the Queen want from me?" Henry asked quietly, hands fiddling together in his lap.
"She wants exactly what he said. For a chance. She wants you to give her a chance." Snow sounded hopeful, even speaking about Regina, something she'd sworn off doing years ago.
"Should I?" He wished he didn't sound so much like a child in that moment, seeking guidance from the closest mother figure he could find. His mother would tell him to trust his instincts, to listen to what his heart was telling him because it never lied, even if you ignored its wisdom, it still spoke the truth. Emma claimed that's where her super power came from, from listening to her heart. But Henry's had decided to be rather quiet for the past few nights, and now it wasn't making a sound towards him.
"I think that you need to decide that, Henry. Not me."
"What would you do? If it were you, would you trust her?" Snow seemed to ponder this for a moment, her eyes looking out upon the empty throne room I thought, or perhaps in memory. Henry knew the two queens had a very long running history, and a feud that ran back just as far. A feud that had cost Snow White her first born.
"Regina has done some terrible things, and I know that for a very long time her heart has been closed off to all kinds of love. But something about you, Henry, something in her has changed because of you." It wasn't quite an answer, Henry knew, he only hoped the Snow would elaborate. "And I believe that there is hope for her. I think that if she was willing to come to me for help then she is truly willing to change."
"So, what are you saying?" Henry asked, but he already knew what her answer would be, and Snow knew that he knew, her soft smile proved that.
"I'm saying that a true hero forgives." Snow's hand had reached across and taken a hold of Henry's where they sat in his lap. "You have to have hope that someone can change for the better. If you don't believe in them, they won't believe in themselves." Henry could hear what his heart was saying now, and he knew even without its soothing whisper what it was he believed. He may not trust the Evil Queen, but he did trust Snow White, and if she of all people was offering to give the Evil Queen a chance, then who was he to oppose her. "There is strength in forgiveness."
They were silent for a moment, Snow's hand holding Henry's as he tried to find the words, tried to understand what it was that he was trying to say.
"What am I supposed to do?" He asked instead, hoping for more of Snow's wisdom, however vague and open to interpretation it might be. Instead, she just gripped his hand tighter in her own, green eyes seeking out is as she spoke, her voice a soft whisper.
"What do you want to do, Henry?" She asked and henry knew the answer before he eve registered her question. He'd know perhaps since the Evil Queen had taken him what it was he wanted.
"I want to find my mother." He said, because she would be looking for him, especially by now. He'd been gone for over two days and she worried about him being alone in the upstairs of the tavern most of the time. She loved him, he was her family, and Emma would move heaven and earth to find him. "I want to go home."
"Well then, Henry, that's what you're going to do."
Killian had been right about a storm rolling in, that was for sure. What Emma wasn't sure was how t was he'd figured it out so early on. She knew from looking at the sky, watching as the dark grey clouds rolled overhead, but the pink light of the sunset still shone brightly on the horizon.
"It's a beautiful sight." Killian sidled up beside where she stood on the deck, the way he often seemed to when she stood leaning on the side of the ship. It had been two days now, two whole days aboard the Jolly Roger and two days since she'd seen Henry last.
"I've never seen the sky like this." She said, and it was true. For all her time aboard ships and offers from various crew members to learn about the weather or navigating by the star, Emma had never once given it a try. Most of the captains she'd met she'd never even seen since. There was something beautiful about the way the storm clouds quite literally rolled across the sky, thick and bristling. Despite the chill of the ocean spray against her hands, Emma could feel the thundering humidity that promised a storm. "It's pretty amazing."
"A woman as well travelled as yourself must have seen some beauty in the world?" He pressed and Emma knew he was digging for information on her, he wasn't as subtle as he seemed to think he was.
"Just because I've been around this world it doesn't mean I've seen much of it." She said, expecting a snide remark, maybe even a euphemism, but he said nothing, just looked at her with a curious raise of his eyebrow. "You don't have time to sight see when you're on the run."
"Have you heart of Agrabah?" He asked, Emma didn't reply, only shaking her head in way of response. "Well, do you know that there are cities in that realm where the air smells of spices." Hook was edging closer to her, but Emma didn't pull away, instead standing her ground, staring out onto the ocean like it was the most interesting thing she'd seen. "Where women are carried on jewelled chairs and the snakes dance at the song of a flute."
"Sounds fascinating." Emma said, and she hated how breathless her words came out. Because it did sound fascinating, it sounded beyond that, it sounded astounding, beautiful and beyond all imagination. Emma had spent her life running, never setting down for one moment. She'd travelled the seas for weeks at a time, never treading land or even eating proper food and yet, she'd not experienced a moment. Emma may have travelled, but she hadn't seen, she hadn't lived – only existed. She'd been like a ghost, caught up on the slightest breeze and floating away with the wind. And look where it had gotten her.
"Would you like to see that?" he asked, and Emma could smell how close he was to her, the scent of rum mixing with the ocean and making her hands tingle. She didn't know if it was her magic making its special and extremely unwelcome appearance, or if it was simple his body so close to hers, but she didn't like it. Emma did want to see it, she wanted to see the world with her own two eyes, she wanted to swim in rivers clearer than crystal and to eat fruits that exploded with flavour on her tongue. She wanted to run with Henry through the sands of Agrabah and to dance with him beneath the glowing lights of the lantern festival like he'd always wanted.
"I just want to find my son." She said, turning towards him for the first time, her green eyes seeking his in the slowly dying light. "I don't care about anything else." Turning to leave, Emma made her way back up towards the helm, fighting against the erratic beating of her heart. Finding Henry, that was what mattered. She would weather this storm and she'd come out of the other end, just like she always did.
So, maybe I'm being overly critical of my own work, but I'm not a huge fan of this chapter.
Please, let me know what you think though.
