Author's Note: My apologies for this update taking so very long. Real life has just been very tiring and busy these last few weeks, three family emergencies in four weeks is not something I wish on anyone.

The next few weeks don't promise to be any different. However, I am here with an update. This chapter originally was one of the longest I've written (twice the size it is now making it around 16,000 words) but I've cut it in half until I can figure out whether or not I still want to travel down the direction this chapter would lead the story on. Guess it's a bit of writers block or my mind catching up with the grand idea for this story. Whatever it is, I'll figure it out as soon as I possibly can.

Thanks to all of you who have waited and stuck around. I hope in three weeks I'll be back to posting every week on Friday with a steady length in the chapters. Until then I can't even speculate when I'll be able to update. Hope you enjoy.

As always thanks to those who have read, reviewed, favorited and put this story on their alert list. It means a lot.

Chapter 9
'Truthful Dilemma'

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Emma wakes to the sight of long ebony hair on her pillow. Blinking away the sleep she feels her head swim with thoughts of where she is. Her heart races within her chest at the thought of lying beside the dark haired witch. However, as her gaze slides down she is met with a familiar face, far too familiar to be the dark witch's.

"Mom…?" Emma whispers, her voice is rough as she looks around the room—her room. How had she been brought here? When had she been brought here? The last thing she remembered was agreeing to let Regina—the evil Queen—heal her ankle. What had happened after that? The witch had seemed content, even amused with her before she'd lost consciousness. Had it been a trick?

"Emma," Snow White's eyes slowly open until brown eyes meet blue. "Emma!" The Queen wraps Emma tightly in her embrace, locking Mr. Antler between the two of them as she dry sobs into her daughter's shoulder.

"How long have I been…?"

"All night, I was so worried. That woman she, she swore that it was just a slight sleeping spell but she's lied so many times before I…"

"Mom. Too much, too soon." Emma complains in a soft whine, her hand pressing against her forehead. It feels like she's had far too much to drink at the Watering Hole.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I know how disorienting it is to come out from this kind of spell. I shall be right back. You need to hydrate and eat. I know you'll be nauseas but you truly need to just eat and drink." Snow White speaks in one breath, making Emma's own lungs burn. Opening her eyes when she realizes that Snow White has not gone anywhere, Emma waits. Tears gather in her mother's eyes; and her hands are tight upon her shoulders keeping her close. "Oh…Emma, I was so worried." Snow buries her head back against Emma's shoulder, the warmth and smell of her daughter soothing her even as she sobs through her emotional release.

"I, mom I'm well, I swear." Emma attempts to pacify her mother, her own arms wrapping tightly around her shoulders to keep her close. "I am right where I belong."

Sniffling, Snow leans back, her eyes glazed over with her tears as she stares at Emma, almost suspicious of her daughter's safety. Emma feels like a specimen as her mother bores into her, trying to find anything afoot with her. What could possibly be suspicious about her Emma does not know, but to appease her mother she remains still and smiles softly at her.

"I could use that water…"

Snow shakes her head and hops up from the bed, smoothing down her dress as she does. "Of course, just one moment. I'll be…" Snow looks at Emma and then the door. "…one moment." She disappears through the slightly ajar doors to her bedchambers, her voice carrying through the sitting area of her rooms.

Sighing, Emma leans back in bed and looks up at the canopy above her head. There above her head, on a smooth painted wooden awning, are unskilled hand drawn tress and stars with a moon peeking above the tops of the green peeks. Grinning at her handiwork Emma relaxes. She painted the natural landscape on the awning when she was eight, it was an activity she and her mother did together to connect right before Emma was told about Snow's pregnancy and Jamie's imminent arrival.

Scooping up Mr. Antler Emma holds him tightly against her side and closes her eyes. Beneath her skin her muscles relax and her headache eases. She is home. Sometime in the night she was brought back to her own rooms, whether by her parents, guards, or her kidnappers themselves she does not know. Emma chuckles at the idea of Maleficent or Regina, or the both of them, fumbling with her into the room grumbling about how ridiculous it is that her rooms are as warded as their own castles.

Smiling at the image conjured in her head Emma slips back to sleep.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Waking up once again, the window curtains are drawn open and the sun is streaming in through the balcony windows. Cringing at the light, Emma covers her eyes with her forearm and sits up slowly. The smell of eggs and fresh bread reach her and instantly the sun isn't shining as brightly as it had been moments before. Or she just didn't mind the sting as much with the prospect of food. Her stomach growls at her, angry she hasn't fed it since the afternoon before. She hadn't had any time to eat more than a bread roll or two during the feast. She had been so busy speaking with one dignitary or another that the meal had passed her by. She realized it right after the plates had been taken to be cleaned and she'd hardly had more than roll and a glass of wine. She'd added "missing dinner" to the on-going list of reasons to hate suitors.

"You're awake!"

Emma's lips curve up, "Jamie!"

The young Prince bounds into bed beside her and hugs her tightly, his ankles hanging off the edge of the bed as he wraps himself tightly around her waist. "Ugh…gosh. You got so big! You must have grown overnight by at least three inches!" The smell of him and the weight of him in her arms calms Emma immensely. Just like her presence has always soothed Jamie, even as a colicky infant, he does the same for her years later.

"Emma…" Jamie chuckles, though his tone is accommodating.

"No, really…you're bigger."

Jamie sighs, "You think?" His eyes brightening at the thought. He is the shortest kid in the castle and is always looking to grow. No matter how often Emma, Snow White, or James assured the young man that he would sprout up like a beanstalk in a few years, he hasn't believe them. So, Emma had taken to measuring Jamie every few days, and with every inch or centimeter Jamie's smile would grow bigger and bigger.

"I do—at least an inch this time!" Jamie's eyes lit up as he leans back to look into her eyes. "We'll measure you after we eat." Emma promises.

Suddenly, Jamie doesn't just want to lay around in a hug. "Come on, Eee breakfast is ready."

Emma bites into her lip to keep from groaning, her body extremely. Still she lets Jamie pull her off the bed. Moving over to the table set up for four by the open balcony door, Emma sits down slowly. Jamie holds out her chair for her and she helps him push herself and the chair under the table. Now, this is a little gentleman and whomever he married would be lucky to have him. Emma would make sure of that.

"Here, mom said you need to drink this. I hope it tastes good. She said it was going to make you feel better." Jamie puts a small crystal glass in front of Emma, the liquid in it green. Jamie looks sympathetic. Jamie hates the medicine Doc makes him take just as much as Emma does. Sighing, she knows she has to be a good role model, but sometimes she wishes she could be as immature as she felt, especially in this moment.

She truly despises medicine. It tastes like thick dirty bath water with an even nastier after taste. Picking up the small crystalline cylinder Emma brings it to her lips and the smell wafts up, making her flinch, even as she takes the medicine like a shot. Slamming the cylinder back upon the table Emma groans, swallowing and shivering at the taste.

Jamie cringes from his seat beside her left and pats her hand, truly sympathetic. When he doesn't lift his hand away, Emma turns to him, her brow raised in question. His eyes no longer seem able to lift above her wrist, his focus on her fingers.

"Are you…did they hurt you?" He asks.

Emma's heart contracts inside her chest. The fear her brother must have felt at watching her disappear before her very eyes. He's been told the stories of the Evil Queen like all the other young Princes and Princesses. He knows the dangers in being taken prisoner, kidnapped, by the witch. He is far too young to have to worry about such things and although she is safe and Regina did not mean to cause any harm, Emma curses her. Curses her for taking a piece of Jamie's innocence from him long before it should have been taken from him.

Squeezing Jamie's hand tightly Emma brings his hand up to her cheek, her own mimicking the position, making him look into at her. "I am unharmed, she did not hurt me. She took very good care of me." In all honesty, she had been the one to hurt Regina.

Jamie takes this bit of information to heart and thinks on it silently as he once again stares downward, this time his eyes on the table cloth.

"I was so scared. Mommy she was—she, she stopped talking and Aunt Aurora told me that I had to…" Jamie sighs bringing his hands up to his face. He hides his tears behind his hands, although his shaking shoulders and attempts to quiet his sobs are useless. It breaks Emma's heart.

Pushing out of her chair Emma kneels down in front of Jamie's chair and tugs him out of his chair and into her arms. She does not voice any of her discomfort, her muscles still stiff. She kisses his forehead and rocks him back and forth, "It's alright Jamie, it's alright. Mother is fine, I am fine, everyone is going to be fine…." Emma did her best to reassure Jamie.

Jamie wipes at his wet cheeks as he tilts his head up to look at Emma. "She was good to you?"

Emma can only smile kindly, "She was very gracious." Regina had no reason to heal her, she could have allowed her to suffer but she had not.

Jamie looks at Emma, as if staring straight through her. She wonders what it is he find within her eyes that she cannot. "She was nice to mother too."

Emma's brow knits together in confusion, "When was she nice to mother?"

"When she brought you back. Mommy hurt her nose and the witch healed her. Fairy Fauna made us stay quiet, her and Blue Fairy hid us so mom and the witch couldn't see us. They were arguing and talking about grandmother Lily." Jamie's chin falls down to his chest as he sniffles again. "The witch killed grandfather Leopold, she said she did it, but…"

Emma is fixated; enchanted by the story that Jamie is weaving for her. What had she missed while asleep? What had been said between her mother and Regina? There was hardly any talk of her grandparents, her mother's parents or father's parents either. Her dad's father is a rather nasty man and they all did well not to speak of him.

"But…?" Emma encourages.

"But she says she dids it to, to…" His face scrunches up like it does when he's trying to remember something important. "…to help mom take the throne."

Emma's eyes widen, she cannot help it. The mere idea that Regina had killed her grandfather to ensure her mother the throne seems ridiculous. After all, after his death it was not Snow White that took over the Kingdom but Regina.

"What else did she say James?" The fact that she called him James spoke of the importance this conversation held to her.

Jamie seems to understand this because his shoulders straighten and he tries to seem older than his eight years. "I can't remember. They both got really angry and I, I tried not to listen to it anymore. Mommy was so angry, Em, she was so angry and so was the witch. She didn't hurt mommy though, she told her that she wasn't lying and then she left."

Emma nods, trying to wrap her brain around what Jamie has told her. She needs to know what else was said between her mother and Regina.

"Jamie, where is mother and father?"

"They're at a meeting. They told me I have to keep you here and…" Jamie's eyes widen, knowing he has just told her a secret he was not supposed to tell.

Emma stiffens as she looks at Jamie, her eyes bright with her rising anger. "Keep me here?"

"I oh man, I wasn't supposed to say that." Emma stands from her kneeling position by Jamie's seat slowly. Her eyes swipe across her rooms, across the table in front of her and the breakfast feast upon it. The wind from the open balcony door plays with the back of her neck, her hair billowing against the cool touch as she looks to the closed doors of her bedchambers. Last she had seen they were open and conversation had been fluttering in on hushed whispers while she tried to sleep. That had been hours ago, and those hushed whispers had moved on to somewhere else it seems. Somewhere where she could not hear them.

Bunching the skirt of her gown into a tight fist, Emma stalks towards the closed doors, leaving Jamie scrambling behind her as he pleads with her to pretend he hadn't said a word. Normally, she would allow her brother that kindness, but not today. Not when she knows very well why she is being excluded from such a meeting.

Slamming the doors wide open she pays little heed to the prospect of breaking the doors or hitting unsuspecting persons on the other side. Her stride is long and purposeful as she leaves behind her chambers. There is a meeting to get to after all and she'll be damned if she misses it because she slept in.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Emma feels her ire steady her steps as she storms through the halls of the White Castle. Many servants tried to speak with her, most inquiring about her health. She listened to each but answered none of them. Behind her Emma hears the slap of Jamie's feet against the floor as he tries to catch up with her. Her anger does not lie with Jamie. Her anger stems from her parents use of Jamie as a distraction. They would only use Jamie as a diversion if they knew she would wish to be present at the council meeting. They obviously did not wish for her to join them. That was too bad for them.

Glaring at the hallway before her several servants made way for her, none now braving her anger to sate their curiosity. Four hallways later, Emma sees her destination. The red double doors stand stark against the eggshell stone walls through the castle. At either side of the door stand two guards, several more are stationed through the hallway. As was routine there were equal amounts of guards from each kingdom present at the meeting. The captains of each guard would be inside the hall itself beside their individual rulers.

Emma sees the questioning look pass between the two guards at the door. Each look for an answer from the other, but it seems the answer eludes them both because one guard tries to stop her with a "halt" while the other remains still.

Huffing a laugh, Emma elbows the guard's collarbone just above his plate of armor, making him catch his break in paint. His hand drops away from the sword he'd been reaching for in favor of grabbing at his neck while trying to catch his breath. The other guard doesn't move and with a nod he—dressed in the White Kingdom's regalia—opens the door for her.

"Make sure the boy following me does not enter." Emma tells the guard with her Kingdom's regalia, knowing he will treat Jamie with respect but also keep him out.

Stepping passed the doors she enters the 'scared' council hall. The same hall she'd been summoned to after she'd arrived home from Queen Uberta's Kingdom. No one save the unoccupied Captains notice her entrance, as there within the center of the hall at the large round table are the arguing monarchs that saw fit to exclude her.

"You feel secure in your assumption but look at what has come of our inaction!" King Phillip stands away from his chair, fists knuckled against the top of the table. To Phillip's left her father stood mimicking the other King's stance, both decidedly aggravated.

Watching silently in the shadows Emma fathers very quickly what it is she's already missed. Their inaction—as in the inaction of King Phillip and his army as well as Cinderella's—against Regina. They are arguing about actions to be taken against the witch who had quite effectively unnerved not one kingdom but several with the ease in which she'd walked into the ballroom.

"Inaction? You lot sent bounty hunters after her and she retaliated by kidnapping MY daughter!" Snow accuses as she too stands from her seat.

"Your daughter, Emma, is safe. She was unharmed." Red tries to soothe her friend, going so far as to put her hand on Snow's to coax her back into her seat. It doesn't work.

"For how long?" Aurora asks, wilted in her own seat as she is. "How long is it before they decided to attack again? This time harshly and swiftly? Without warning? What happens when it's not Emma that is taken? When it is Penelope or young James? Someone that cannot defend themselves. What then Red?"

"I do not pretend to have the answers, Aurora." Red defends herself weakly against the Queen.

"Maleficent would never hurt Penelope!" Steven shouts, gaining the eyes of everyone. "She cares for Penelope! She cares for us all, mother! It is not by her own doing that she's threatened us." If Emma remembers correctly, the only person to be threatened by the shape-shifting witch is her, but those gathered around the round table know nothing of that.

"But threaten us she has!" Phillip argues. "No matter what pushed her to do so, she has, son. She's collaborated with Regina, and broken her truce with our kingdom."

"But she didn't kidnap Emma! What if…what if what the witch said is true?" Steven challenges. "What if she has returned to live peacefully in her home? What if she wasn't lying about her past? What if she has worked behind the shadows to help Queen Snow White? Would you be so willing to execute her then? Would you?" Steven looks to Snow White. Steven, unlike his mother and sister was not present during the argument between Queen Snow White and the Evil Queen. He has only heard what was said by the witch from Penelope and his mother.

Emma watches as her mother's cheek turn a deep shade of pink, her eyes on Prince Steven. Her father stands beside her chair and looks ready to kill the young Prince for voicing something so ridiculous.

"Of course they are lies. You would not know, Prince Steven, but Regina is a calculating woman. She has always had one agenda after the other. She is evil, as evil as they come. She has worked her entire life to see the downfall of my wife," James looks to Snow and takes a hold of her hand. "My dearest Snow…" Emma usually does not mind her father's devotion to her mother, but in this instance she wishes he'd be a King rather than a love sick man.

Emma notices something her father does not, her mother's shoulders sag just a bit beneath his gaze. What Steven has said has struck her. Just like it has struck Emma. She is not as sure as her husband about Regina's treachery.

"We will not know until Merrywheather returns." Fauna reminds those around the table. "My dear sister has yet to return from her mission across the seas. It will take her some time to return, and until then, we all will not know whether the witch has lied to Snow White or has told us the truth. Surely we can wait until that time comes before taking further action?" The plump fairy asks, seemingly hopeful that the violence that King Phillip and King James are willing to commit can be forestalled.

"No, we cannot wait. It must be now. We must strike before she gathers her forces back!" Phillip decrees and around the table another argument begins. King Phillip and King James siding with each other on the matter of dealing with both witches while Fauna and Steven try and argue on behalf of the two witches. Aurora remains quiet, as beside her Cinderella and Alexandra begin their own argument with Pinocchio and Red.

"She took my daughter, I do not expect you to understand, Steven, you have no children."

"Son, they must be stopped. With their powers combined we might stand a chance, little as it may be."

"They won't call on their armies, they won't attack! They want to be left alone just as much as we do!"

"I'm sorry son, but we must do this. The guards have standing orders to kill them on sight."

"You cannot condemn them both to death so easily, it is wrong. They must be given a proper trial if anything. Capture them is you must but to have orders to kill on sight? That is barbaric!"

"They've both killed hundreds of men. There is no trail needed, they are guilty."

"Who are you to decide who is guilty?" Steven and Fauna both protest together.

"I am King!" Phillip and James' raised voices cut the tension in half.

"That gives you no right to…"
"You may be King but mother is Queen…"
"Who is a King to decide if…"

Emma steps forward, she has eavesdropped enough, has heard enough.

"ENOUGH!" Emma bellows, her voice rough as she calls the attention of the room to her.

"Enough…" She says softer, shaking her head at the production around her. "You are fighting over the lives of two living beings. One who has only just returned and the other who has been trying to amend for her crimes for years. You so willingly throw them under the executioners blade? Then you are as bad as you think they are!"

"Emma…" Snow breathes at the sight of her daughter.

"You should be resting," James admonishes.

"I have rested long enough, father. I have a right to be here for this meeting."

"We only thought it best that you take the time to heal from your ordeal…" Alexandra stresses.

Emma laughs, shaking her head as she looks to Princess Alexandra. "What ordeal?" Gasps echo through the room. "It seems that there was more trouble here in the castle than there was in Maleficent's fortress."

"So you were taken to the dragon's fortress…" Phillip exclaims, almost excited at the news as he looks to Steven and then Aurora for…something. What that is Emma does not know and does not wish to find out.

"Yes, I was taken there, but as you all know not for very long. I hardly had enough time for tea…" She teased with a smile, Red and Steven laughed at her joke while the others seemed fit to watch her walk to stand between her mother and father's chairs.

"You say that there was no ordeal, what happened while you were there?" Red asks, curiously.

Emma brings up her hand and ticks off on her fingers a list of what happened while at Maleficent's fortress. "I broke the witch's nose, sprained my ankle, attacked insulted and belittled her, and in turn was insulted by Maleficent, belittled and then healed by her." Emma sighs shaking her head at the events of the evening before. "Then apparently I was returned here fast asleep, woke up this morning and here I am. Not even worse for wear. Though I do wish to get out of this conflabbed dress as soon as possible." Emma whined as she looked down at the bothersome gown.

"I do not understand, why then did she take you?" Aurora asks, her fingers pinching at the bridge of her nose.

"According to her?" Emma pretends to think about it. "An accident, an old habit dying hard. She apparently only wished to spook mother…" Emma places her hand on her mother's shoulder at this announcement, "and had meant to transport us to my rooms but with the wards around them and my impromptu attack she was forced to bring us somewhere else."

"And that somewhere else just happened to be Maleficent's fortress?" Phillip asked, huffing indigently.

Emma looks to the King with a sad shake of her head, his question literally making Aurora and Steven both sink into themselves.

"Maleficent is Regina's friend…"

"Regina!" Snow gasps, looking at her child like she has grown a fourth head. "When did you begin calling her by her name?"

"When she told me to." Emma answers simply though she realizes for her mother it is far more complex than being given an instruction. "I would not call her Queen, she has no right to the title. Evil, maybe, but for all purposes, I'll call her by her name so as not to confuse anyone here with whom I'm speaking about." As far as Emma should be concerned Regina didn't deserve the title Queen, but Emma has a sinking suspicion that Regina will have more than earned the title in comparison to those around this table. They, all those save for Cinderella and James, were born into royalty, and even in consideration of her father Emma is sometimes uncertain he deserves his title of King. Everyone else, including herself, has never had to work for their status in life. They were merely born into it and thus expected to fulfill the roles. Whether they were decent rulers or not hasn't seemed to matter. So long as the blood within their veins was that of a royal bloodline they ruled even when there were others, like Regina, who earned the title and practiced being a fairer ruler than others.

"As I was saying, they are friends, when Regina had nowhere else to go she brought me to Maleficent's fortress. It is not as if I have not been there before."

Red snorts as she watches Snow and James both shutter at the memory of having to collect their ten…or was it twelve, year old daughter from Maleficent's castle. Red still wishes she had been present for that retrieval.

"Friends, ha, they are cohorts trying to undermined our rule. They will combine their forces and attack." Phillip announces once again.

This time Emma's hostility is plain. "They have no such plans. I believed them when they stated they simply wanted to talk. We were the ones to threaten them." Emma reminds them all, looking to her father and the two Captains who'd attempted to attack them on sight. "I know of your troubles with Maleficent, King Phillip."

"You know nothing." The frustrated King spits.

"Perhaps I do not know of the troubles personally, but I know of my parents troubles with Regina. Queen Cinderella I know of your toils with Lady Tremaine, I've heard the stories like all of your children have. I've been warned against those with evil intent since the day of my birth." Stories and tales that Emma now feels she should question the merits of after meeting her mother's 'evil' villainess, after hearing such good things about her from commoners she'd taken care of and ensured the health of for years as she ruled all while opposing her mother.

"You've never had to face evil of your own." Cinderella whispers shaking her head at the mess they've all fallen into once again. "You've never had to deal with the devil himself…" Why could their lives not be simple? Even after all these years they had not found Thomas, her beloved forced to face the wrath of Rumpelstiltskin that was meant to be hers. Their lives before Regina's return had been peaceful, as much as it could be while ruling a kingdom full of opinionated people. She just wanted it to go back to how it was not two weeks ago. Was that too much to ask?

Cinderella's eyes glaze over with something Emma cannot recognize. Alexandra seeing the faraway look quickly grabs a hold of her mother's hand and squeezes it, forcing the cloud to disappear from around the blonde monarch.

"It has been years since they have caused you any trouble. Years in which one of them has tried of her own will to make things right with those she's hurt, and from the stories and tales I've heard from Prince Steven and Princess Penelope, she has done a fine job of it thus far." Red offers to the room, helping her god daughter a bit in calming those around the table.

"She has been rather pleasant." Pinocchio offers, looking to Jimminy Cricket upon his shoulder who nods his agreement.

"That she has, Maleficent has proven to be a rather intriguing individual. A change of heart is hard to come by to those who are not truly wishing to seek forgiveness." Jimminy explains to the room, touching the side of his glasses as he does so.

"Sod off, Jimminy, what do you know of the evilness of that foul woman?" Phillip growls, sick of everyone defending the witch who'd he once had to face to the death for the life of his beloved wife.

"The moment that witch comes around Maleficent's suddenly back to her old tricks. It's just not like her!" Steven insists. His vehement protests gain an extra look from Emma as she looks at the young man. He is rumored to be the best swordsman of their generation, the strongest, fastest, and most intelligent of the monarchs—male monarchs. Yet his view seems clouded when it comes to Maleficent and Emma does not know why, but recognizes, at least a part of it. Recognizes it for what it resembles, at least in her own mind. His defense of the shape-shifting witch is like hers of Regina. She wonders if his interests in the blonde witch are similar in nature to hers. Maybe he could enlighten her to what it is she is feeling for the witch because intrigue can no longer cover it. Not anymore. Not after standing before all of these men and women and fairies defending the witch against their contempt and their intent to behead her.

"Maybe it's not, because we are looking at it the wrong way." Desmond, Steven's twin, puts in as he steps away from where he'd been standing amongst the Royal Guards.

"Yes!" Emma exclaims, happy that someone is seeing where she is going with this. "Why should we try and take away that progress Maleficent has made by her association with a woman who thus far has not harmed anyone?"

"Regina has harmed more than enough people!" Snow hisses, making Emma jump at the disgust in her mother's voice.

"Mother…"

"No, do not mother me, that woman…she…" Snow's fists clench at her sides as she glares into the emptiness between her and the other side of the round table. "We cannot forget what they have done. Even if they are trying to make amends for them. We cannot ever forget what evils they have done. It would diminish the memory of those that they have hurt."

Emma winces, knowing her mother is speaking of her grandfather and perhaps even Graham. Emma often wonders what her mother's response would be if she were to tell her of Graham's continued existence, and wish to remain hidden from her. Those thoughts, however, are for another day.

"No, we won't forget mother, but if she is looking for her own chance, her own retribution, why pick a fight with her? Why start a war with an enemy that is far more powerful than we give them credit for?"

"They have no power here…" Phillip boasts, as if he is right in his assumption. Did he so easily forget what they had just faced the night before?

"Surely you jest, my King," Emma breathes an unbelievable laugh, "because you must realize that Maleficent could decimate your entire army with one long breathe of fire in her dragon form." His eyes widen, and Emma notices both Steven and Desmond each grip the hilts of their swords tightly, the very idea frightening to the three men. "You've seen the power she has. You've fought against it and won."

"Yes, I did!" Phillip slams his hand on the table, again. This time no one jumps except Aurora who is seated right next to where his fist has landed on the table.

"For a time you won, you did not defeat her. You did not kill her. She still lives. And you only stopped her, for a time, with the help of others with power opposite her own." Emma speaks of the help Phillip received from Fauna, Flora, and Merrywether.

Fauna looks at the King she once helped as a young Prince while Emma subjects him to his 'failings'.

"We've all seen the power they possess, but that is just a show, an illusion meant to placate us, appease our fears that they are not capable of more!" Sometimes Emma wonders if Fauna recognizes the same boy within this man, or if Blue Fairy recognizes Jimminy Cricket as the man he once was or if Aurora is the same woman she was while living in a cabin and called Briar Rose thinking herself nothing but a commoner. Of the three Emma feels that Jimminy has changed the most for the better, while Phillip has let the power of ruling the Enchanted Kingdom seep into him for the worse. Aurora, at least from what Emma has seen of her Aunt, has not changed from the caring compassionate woman she was while growing up as a commoner. She, much like Cinderella are thankful for the lives they have now within their castles.

"They can't possibly be capable of more…" Red interjects, suddenly looking at Fauna and the Blue Fairy, both of whom are the only other magical beings in this room besides herself. "…could they?" She asks, her voice soft.

"They can, they are…much more powerful than we've ever seen. Their powers are unspeakable and limitless. Ours, ours are confined to boundaries that they, those of a dark nature, can easily surpass as they need not follow any rules of nature. We must follow those rules, and by doing so it limits our powers but balances out our very souls." Blue Fairy explains.

"It is their disregard for the natural rules of magic and their search for ultimate power that make them the dark witches that they are. Whatever their reasons for searching out the darkness, the limitless power, they are their own. Each different then the next." Fauna sighs, "What Maleficent and Regina share in their searches are broken hearts, and a broken heart is one of the darkest places for magic to grow. If they were to team together and unleash their true power, there would be nothing to stop them, not even us." Fauna explains, with a sullen expression, knowing that the young mortals in the room are looking for their savior in her, her sisters, and the Blue Fairy. They will not find the Savior in them, but in one of the very people who stand beside them, as mortal and magic-less as they.

Every last person in this room knows the secret, the prophecy, at least they all know a versaion of it. It's been spoken about several times whilst around this very round table through the years. Yet, now it seems they all wish to remain silent on the matter. They fear it, fear what it will mean for the young girl they all love so very much. Fauna turns to Blue Fairy and they share a long look before they both search out the blue eyes of the youngest Princess in the room.

Emma turns away from both Fauna and Blue Fairy's odd looks, focused solely on her. It unnerves the Princess, so she turns to Steven who stands to the left of his father, Desmond to the right of his mother's chair.

"Phillip, if you choose to pick this fight against them, I assure you that you will lose." Snow says. She, like her daughter know that the stretch of power that Maleficent and Regina has showed them in the past is only a taste of their true strength. To go against them while they are together is suicide, and Snow White happens to enjoy staying alive like any sane mother would. There is too much to live to see to die now, too much to protect to even consider Phillip's plan of vengeance.

"How do you know this? How can you be so sure?" Queen Aurora asks softly. Emma recognizes the woman's look. The Queen is looking for hope, blindly reaching out everywhere in her attempt to find purchase on it, even against her husband's obvious refusal to let her grab it.

"You are just a child..." King Phillip breathes, surprised that James is allowing his daughter to lead this conversation, this meeting. She is just a woman after all, the contempt is evident in the way he has disregarded everything she has said.

"She is no child, Phillip." Snow's eyes are fierce as she looks to the other King. Snow, like Emma bristles at the insult. Both mother and daughter are sure that this is the King's way of trying to wave off their concerns and Emma's inside knowledge as nothing but petty nonsense and fanciful delusions…of a girl.

Emma says nothing to Phillip, grateful for her mother's support and her defense. "I can be sure, Aunt Aurora, because I've seen just a taste of their true power. I've seen how both witches' emotions play vital parts in their power supply. What do you think they will do when angered? When frustrated? Or enraged at being attacked unwarranted?"

"They attacked us first!" King Phillip sounds like the petulant child he truly is. Even James remains silent, although he too agrees with Phillip; he is far too entranced by his daughter's courage and ability to stand against the other King's wrath. Though, should Phillip overstep the lines drawn, James will not be responsible for his actions. No one would touch or insult his daughter. Not even a friend.

"They crashed a ball! My ball, your highness. If you decide to attack, to fight them head on, it will not just be your army that you lose, but your family and friends! Heed my words, heed Fairy Fauna's words! Because if you do not, not only will your family pay the price but so will mine, and I cannot allow that."

Phillip laughs, "And what could you do about it? You're just a girl…"

Emma wishes, deeply, that she had her sword on her. That she was not wearing this ball gown. Perhaps King Phillip would take her more seriously if she wore her sparing clothing, or even her hunting leathers and cape. He only sees her as a little girl, a woman, who has no 'right' to speak out against him.

"Phillip!" Aurora gasps scandalized by her husband's candor.

"That is more than enough my friend," James' voice is grave as he looks to Phillip his hand clutched tightly around his own sword, matching Phillip's. The second Phillip even dares lift the blade an inch from its sheath James swears he will cut off his hand.

"I am not just any girl, your majesty," Emma says it like an insult as she leans forward, bracing herself on the edge of the table as she leans over it, her eyes hard as she stares at King Phillip. "I am the next rightful heir to the White and Grassland Kingdom. I am the child of King James and Queen Snow White, the best swordsperson and combatant any of our Kingdoms have seen in generations. I am the one that Regina has taken an interest in. I am the one that was kidnapped and, to be frank, your majesty, I am your only hope in this matter."

Fauna and Blue Fairy smile, locking eyes as the Princess accepts the role she was born to fill. Months before Emma was conceived, Blue Fairy and Merryweather were contacted by a mutual friend, a seer of sorts. The seer spoke of a prophecy that one day the Evil Queen would fall, her heart lost to that of the White Princess. Everyone had thought the prophecy had been about Snow White. They had been wrong.

Snow White turns her head to watch as Emma delivers her speech, the pit of her stomach tightening as she grasps for James' hand immediately. Her breath is short, her chest tight as she closes her eyes against the tears threatening to flood down her cheeks. She, like all of her friends present are aware of the prophecy decreed long before this day, before Emma was ever born. It is why, at Emma's words, everyone has fallen silent.

Emma looks around the room, her heart racing against her chest as she looks to each face around the table, all familiar to her as she has grown up watching them age as they have watched her grow. It is with a sinking pit in her stomach that she finally realizes what it is she has said. It had, she hadn't meant to say such a thing, she had no intention of being anyone's savior. She believes with everything in her heart that there is nothing she, or the people around her, need saving from.

Regina has not come back to harm them, she is sure of it. Why else would she still be alive? After all the opportunities the witch has had to kill her, why is she still alive if Regina truly did mean her and her family harm?

The wind that had been billowing in King Phillip's sails vanish as he stares, like all those around him, at Emma. "So it is true…"

"Of course it's true." Red rolls her eyes at the clueless king.

"What's true?" Steven asks as he looks from Desmond to Emma, both siblings at a loss.

"The prophecy." Fauna breathes the two words, happy as a clam.

"What prophecy?" Desmond has known Emma for all his life and he's never seen her look as pale as she does right now.

"There was a prophecy…" Emma whispers, having trouble speaking for the first time since arriving. "Before I was born. They thought…everyone thought that it was about my mother." Emma's eyes flicker to her mom before she stares towards Desmond and Steven, but does not see either of them. "It foretold that the White Princess would be the fall of the Evil Queen, that I would steal her heart, like she had stolen dozens of others. It was, it was only supposed to be a tale, a tall tale. It wasn't, I've heard of it since I was a child, so have you, Steven…Desmond, in one way or another. You might just have heard it as the White Knight slaying the Darkness…"

"Well, that, uhm, I thought, I ah, I thought you didn't want to hurt them?" Steven's shoulders suddenly tense once again, since he was a boy he has imagined that he was the White Knight meant to rid the world of Darkness. His opinion had not changed even as he had fallen slippery and unheeded in love with one such woman of darkness.

Emma turns to look at Steven, her whole presence suddenly timid and withdrawn, so very unlike the person she normally is and has been in this meeting. "I don't, I have, I don't want to hurt her." Not anymore. "Them, I don't want to hurt them."

"The prophecy does not speak of her killing Maleficent, just Regina." Aurora quickly clarifies for her sons, or just one of them, and maybe she says it for Phillip as well. She and her husband are long overdue for a conversation about the shape-shifting witch.

"And that makes it better!" Emma wails, pushing stiffly away from the table. "I don't want to kill her! I tried, you don't think I tried? She's not the easiest person in the world to kill, the hardest ever in fact!"

"Emma…" Snow whispers slowly rising from her seat so she can approach her daughter slowly.

James too is slowly moving towards their daughter, everyone else silent as the White Princess absorbs the weight of the prophecy she's denied being "the spoken of" since she first heard of it at thirteen. She is no savior, she is no White Knight. Her father won't even Knight her for goodness sake! How can she be a knight if her father won't knight her?

"No, no mother. She's a slippery little fox that hides behind her magic inside the trees and saves…saves lives." Emma feels her heart race against her chest painfully, her breath coming in short pants as she panics. "I tried, I tried to kill her, but I can't. I won't…she's not…" Emma stares passed her mother at Fauna and Blue Fairy, "…you can't make me…you can't. I will not kill her. I won't."

Phillip laughs, shaking his head ruefully at the panicking woman before him. "No, of course you can't, you're just a girl after all. No woman is going to kill if they don't have to."

"And our world would be a better and safer place if men didn't kill for sport." Red bit back at the King, who'd finally stepped over one too many lines.

"Ehh, you all put such faith in these evil women's goodness. Well, when they come silently in the night and take what you love most from you, do not come crawling to me for assistance in retrieving it."

"Phillip, what are you saying?" Cinderella asks, turning to her left.

"It means, Cinderella, that it's everyone for themselves if we cannot come to an agreement."

"WHAT!"

Emma watches the room erupt into indignation, everyone who'd remained silent in the last few moments standing suddenly at the announcement. Phillip and Aurora's kingdom had the second largest army of all the allied kingdoms, if they withdrew their support from Cinderella's kingdom and the villages in Red's woods there was going to be disastrous repercussions. Riots, rebel uprisings, destruction, deaths, the peace they had all worked so hard to keep would fall apart.

Beside her, Emma turns into her mother's arms, her heart racing beneath her chest as she lets Snow wrap her in a comforting hug. The touch of her father's hand on her shoulder cements her courage, pushing back the panic that had encased her in a moment of weakness.

Looking into her mother's eyes, she swallows, knowing that if she is to keep the peace between these kingdoms she will have to come clean. She will have to tell all those present about her moonlighting job as a bounty hunter, about her connection to the Evil Queen and her window of opportunity to secure a position or at least a meeting with the witch.

The admission is at the tip of her tongue, it is milling around inside her lungs waiting to be pushed out, but as the uproar around them grows and her parents each squeeze her hand they too turn into the fray around them, for Emma, silence reigned.

Emma cannot trust them, especially Phillip, or her parents. If it is assurances that King Phillip wants, stone cold facts and knowledge that Regina and Maleficent have no intent to attack them unwarranted, then she will get it from the witches' very mouths.

Emma will contact Mandy as soon as she can escape this meeting. She'll take the job.

Meanwhile, watching those around her, Emma hears not a single word that is said by the wildly gesturing council members, friends, and family. The guards have come to stand their grounds nearest their monarchs now that the debate has become so heated. Through all the chaos surrounding her, Emma's eyes catch Steven's. Steven's slight nod, the smallest of dips of his head in her direction, catches her attention.

Gears turning, mind racing and raging with scenarios, possibilities, outcomes, thesis, and general experiments and ideas, Emma starts to come up with a plan. A single plan what she is sure will blow away her closest friends and worst enemies alike.

First step, get Steven alone for a little…talk.

End Chapter Nine

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