The Princess and The Pauper Chapter 11
So this chapter is pretty slow but take it as a transitional chapter between part A) and part B) – so now the drama will really begin thus this chapter being slow and short.
Emma glared at Zelena over the top of her glass, eyeing the wench carefully – as she was batting her eyes at Rumple seductively; he didn't seem to pay any remote attention to her what so ever. It had been almost two weeks since the sisters fallout and Emma had slowly fallen back into her old routine – she absolutely loved being home, she had missed it terribly, however, she couldn't help but miss Killian: his warm hands in hers, his scruffy face and soft lips against her own. It pained her to know that in a weeks time he would be married, to the wrong sister no less – Edalene clearly didn't want to marry him, it should have been her.
"Are you alright, dearie?" She turned around and gave him a sincere smile.
"I'm fine papa, don't you worry about me." Zelena rolled her eyes at the father and daughter; picking at the food in her plate. Belle was sitting next to Emma – her face was clammy and an unhealthy shade of green. "Are you alright?" Emma asked quietly her hand finding Belle's under the table. Belle shook her head violently as she abruptly pushed away from the table – the chair screeched against the hard wood flooring as she dashed out of the room.
Rumple looked up worriedly at the young maid – standing up he quickly followed her, leaving Emma and Zelena to themselves. "Now is this part of your plan in getting rid of her or am I just lucky?" Zelena sneered as she looked towards Emma.
Emma smiled at the witch in victory. "Oh, you have nothing on me now. I'm the real Emma." Zelena gasped at the young women. "And even if you did mention the little switch, do you honestly think he'd believe you?" Zelena remained silent. "That's what I thought."
Rumple walked back into the room, his arm was wrapped tightly around Belle's waist – preventing her from falling to the ground in exhaustion. "I'm going to take care of Belle today, so you can dispose Zelena." Rumple muttered as he guided Belle towards one of the chairs. Zelena groaned loudly before storming out of the room.
"What's wrong with Belle, papa?" Emma asked eyeing Belle carefully – the young maid shook her head.
"I'm not quite sure, she's burning up,and clearly supper didn't do well to her stomach." He muttered nervously. "Why don't you take her to bed and I'll brew something up. You'll feel better in no time." Belle smiled up weakly at him before leaning her head against his strong frame – her dull glazed eyes closing upon their own accord. Emma nodded before standing up from her chair and walking towards Belle. Rumple leaned down and kissed Belle's forehead lovingly before walking towards the arch that lead out of the dining room. "Bring her to my quarters, she'll be much more comfortable there. I'll join you two shortly" Emma nodded her head before helping Belle to her feet, guiding her out of the room.
"You have to tell him Belle, maybe something's wrong with the baby." Belle nodded in agreement as the two climbed the long marble staircase. "He needs to know."
"I know. You're right he deserves to know, it is his baby after all." Emma smiled at the maid as she pushed open the double doors that lead to Rumple's chambers. His chambers were the largest in the castle, with a massive lavatory connected to it; colours of red and gold adorned the room in massive quantities.
"I haven't been in here since I was a little girl." Emma muttered in awe as she guided Belle towards the large bed. When she had been nothing more than a small child she often was plagued with vivid nightmares that would result in her waking up with tears strolling down her cheeks and the only way Rumple had found to ease the young girl's pain was to bring her to his chambers and to allow her to nestle up close to him until she drifted off to sleep.
Belle pulled back the covers before collapsing amongst the mountain of pillows – sighing contentedly. "Thank you Emma, for everything." Belle said in nothing more but a quiet whisper as she closed her eyes falling into a peaceful slumber.
Emma smiled as the young maid drifted off to sleep. Crossing the room, she took a seat in the large canopy chair that was next to the window. She sighed happily as she looked outside: the large oak trees that surrounded the grounds had turned lovely shades of red and orange, the biggest of them was closer to the castle and attached to the tree was the old wooden swing that Rumple had made for her all those years ago still hung proudly; the wood had long started splitting apart.
The door to the bedroom creaked open and Rumple's head popped out from behind the frame; his eyes weary as he took in Belle's stilled form on the bed. "Is she alright?"
Emma nodded with a small smile as she stood up from her seat and carefully walked towards him. "She fell asleep a few minutes ago."
Rumple nodded. "By the way, a letter came from you this morning, I left it on the side table in the parlor." Walking towards the bed he took a seat next to Belle and started to soothingly rub the small of her back. She sighed contently in her sleep and rolled around to face him – her eyes small and tired. She scooted away from him, enticing him to join her below the warm covers; he eagerly complied. Emma smiled at the two and slowly slipped out of the room leaving the two lovebirds in peace; not noticing Zelena who was sneaking around behind the column next to the door, that same evil sneer plastered on her face…
"Oh Edalene sweetheart, you look beautiful." Snow said tearfully as she wept into her handkerchief. Edalene rolled her eyes as she stared at herself in the mirror: she was wearing her mother's wedding dress, a beautiful dress that had been made with only the finest dove feathers around, the upper portion of the dress had been crafted with the softest of lace that accentuated her bosom quite nicely. "Your father and I are both so very proud of you sweetheart, you have no idea." Snow muttered as she pulled Edalene off the pedestal and brought the girl into her open arms. "I'm so glad you decided to go through with the engagement." Edalene nodded in her mother's embrace. When she had initially returned at the palace she had been quite conflicted upon whether or not she should continue with the whole marriage thing and after talking it over with Killian she had come to realize the young man's very evident feelings towards her sister, the two had agreed to continue with the engagement in hopes that everything would be sorted out with Emma before the actual wedding; this had been two weeks ago and yet still no news had come from Emma. So that morning Edalene had taken a stand and had personally addressed the letter to her sister and insisted they meet at their usual spot.
The door to the bedroom opened and Killian casually walked in – clearly unaware of what was happening within the room. Snow quickly pulled back from the embrace. "What are you doing in here?" She shrieked loudly catching him completely off guard. Killian closed his eyes as Snow pushed him out of the room. "It bad luck to see the bride in her wedding dress before the wedding!" She said as she slammed the door in the poor boys face – causing Edalene to burst in a fit of giggles.
"Mother." Edalene reprimanded with a small smile as she looked back towards the mirror.
"It is bad luck. Now that he has seen you in your wedding dress something awful will most likely happen." Edalene sighed loudly.
"Nothing is going to happen."
"Your Majesty?" The mother and daughter both looked towards the closed door as Sarah walked in. "Someone has just arrived and would like to talk with you and the king."
"And who might that be, Sarah?" Snow asked – her brow creased in confusion.
"The Queen of Hearts herself your Majesty – Queen Cora." Edalene froze as she looked towards Snow who had a very a composed look on her face.
"Very well. Tell her to wait for us in the throne room – I shall go get Charming myself. I'll be back in a bit sweetheart." Snow said pecking Edalene's cheek before following Sarah out of the room – leaving a very perplexed Edalene in her midst. She quickly shuffled out of the dress and carefully hung it in the closet; carefully as to avoid any wrinkles in the material. She slipped on her casual gown and slipped out of the room.
She easily made her way towards the throne room without being intercepted by any of the staff – she stopped in her tracks when she reached the large doors that lead to the throne room. "Thank you for having me." A crackly feminine voice said – which she could only imagine was Cora.
"It's not like we had much choice." Snow muttered annoyingly. "What do you want, Cora?"
"I might have something you're interested in."
Charming scoffed loudly. "What could we possibly want from you?"
Cora cackled loudly the same kind of laugh Zelena had. "Well this is where things get interesting. If I'm not mistaken the Dark One took something very valuable of yours years ago, am I correct?" Silence. "Well, what if I told you that I know the location of his dagger." Edalene gasped quietly as her heart started the race. "What if I told you that I could help you both get back your precious daughter?"
Emma tore open the envelope and scanned through it briefly – it was Edalene alright, just like she had thought. She wanted to meet on the hill, same time as always. She plopped herself down in a chair and sighed burring her head in her hands. Killian, she hadn't mentioned herself at all; please come meet me for Killian's sake. She did miss him a lot, and hopefully he would be there with Edalene, this was the chance to convince the both of them to say no to this silly engagement. This was the perfect opportunity to go, with Rumple taking care of Belle and with Zelena out of the picture - for the day at least. With a snap of her fingers the letter caught on fire and turned to ashes. She abruptly stood up and walked towards the main hall and grabbed her cloak that hung on the hanger near the large doors that lead to the entrance of the grounds. Closing her eyes she pictured the hill – that darn hill they had met so often in the past two months. She felt a pull at her navel and in a moment she was gone from the Dark Castle grounds and instead she was standing amongst the greenery of the hill.
"Thank god you came!" She opened her eyes and couldn't help but smile at her sister who patiently sat on top of the boulder; Killian however was nowhere to be seen.
"Killian's not with you?" Emma questioned – trying to cover up the tone of disappointment in her voice.
"Originally, he was suppose to come but things are now much more serious than just him marrying the wrong sister." Edalene said with a small smile as she scooted further away, leaving Emma enough room to come join her on the boulder. "First off, I'm sorry for all those terrible things I said about Rumple, I never really meant it. I never meant to hurt you or Belle for that matter. I was just jealous I think, jealous of how much attention you get from him when he's not even your real father." Edalene explained with a sad smile as she fiddled with the crown pendant on her wrist. "I don't care if you stay mad at me but whether you forgive me or not, we have a problem, and a big one at that. Cora came to talk to mother and father today."
Emma's breath hitched in her throat. "What... what did she want?"
"She knows where the dagger is. And she's planning on helping them destroy Rumple to get you back. Now I know me telling you this probably doesn't change what you think of me but you need my help, you won't be able to defeat what's coming on your own." Emma nodded as she looked down at her joined hands that rested in her lap; her hands were shaking.
"How could she possibly know? Even I don't know where it is…" The two looked at each other, but knowing deep down how Cora had figured out the position of the dagger in the first place. "Zelena, of course…"
"The first thing is that you have to tell Rumple – he needs to keep that dagger safe or else who knows what might happen." Emma nodded with a small smile, happy to be seeing her sister take control for once. "You have to also warn him about the possible attack."
The two quickly wiped their heads around at the sound of crunching leaves coming up the hill. "Emma." Emma breathed a sigh of relief as Killian came into view; she immediately frowned.
"What's wrong my love?" He asked worriedly as he stepped forth bringing her into his arms. Edalene smiled as she observed the two.
"You shaved." Emma giggled as she ran her hand over his smooth face.
"My mother forced me too, for the wedding." Leaning down he pecked her lips softly.
"Right the wedding." Emma pulled away sadly and turned towards her sister. "Well the wedding is far from our worries at the moment."
"Does it have anything to do with that foul woman who was at the palace earlier?" The twins nodded. "Why would your parents trust her anyways? She's just as bad as the Dark One." Emma took the moment to punch him in the shoulder. "Sorry my love. I tend to forget, you know…"
"Right." Emma muttered in annoyance.
"But in all honesty, my father has made deals with Cora in the past and it never ended very well." Killian muttered as he gave Emma his best puppy dog eyes.
"Yea she shouldn't be trusted. But my parents would do anything to get Emma back." Edalene said as she looked down at the ground – lost in thought.
"Well whatever happens don't worry I'll be there to protect you my Lady." He said twirling Emma around.
She merely laughed before pushing him to the ground. "Please I'm not the one who needs saving."
"But seriously Emma. Don't worry we won't let anything happen to you, Belle or Rumple." Killian said with a smile as he pulled Emma towards his strong frame. Edalene nodded as she stood up from her place a top the boulder and in turn wrapped her arms around her sister. They would figure it out together – one way or another.
Here we have it! I hope you guys enjoyed and hopefully you will all review and all that good stuff. Also please go check out my brand new fanfiction; Dear Professor. This story is rated M so do beware before reading it! As always thank you to the following for reviewing: Guest, minigrey, Juicytubegirl, charmiah, Guest and ZizhunWriter.
Guest No 1: I do realize Emma was sort of rude about the whole thing but I did want to show off the difference in not only personalities but also how differently the two were brought up – I do hope this hasn't thrown you off this story however!
Charmiaj: I love seeing how different people see these different events that occur in the story. And I do agree who would exchange their daughter, but you know they might have though they could get away with it – but what can I say! Thanks for everything!
ZizhunWriter: Yea I agree I sort of feel bad for Killian but he does truly love Emma and hopefully you managed to see this throughout this chapter! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
So these were the questions I got! So once again thank you all I love you all so so much and I hope you guys like this chapter!