Truce

Snow White

The closer they got to the Queen of Hearts' castle, the more worried Snow White became. According to Cheshire, the portal back to their world was in the queen's personal chambers, and even he was not brave enough or mad enough to follow them in there. There was only one way into the castle, and that was through the front gate. To get inside they either they had to be caught, or they had to request an audience with the Queen of Hearts. Snow White hoped the fake invitation the White Queen gave them would get them inside, not killed.

"You've been awfully quiet," Emma observed.

Snow White looked at Emma surprised. "I didn't know that you wanted to talk."

"I don't...unless you do. I mean, I don't like talking about...stuff, but you like talking. I guess what I'm trying to offer is a truce or at least a momentary ceasefire."

Snow White smiled at Emma. She loved this woman, everything about her, every stubborn, independent, loyal, humorous, evasive, caring, gentle bone in her body.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Emma asked awkwardly, kicking the ground as she walked.

"I love you, Emma."

"I, um...you too. Sorry. I'm not good at this."

"I know you love me," Snow White said and then added with a grin. "I mean, what's not to love?"

"See, it's comments like that that make it easy for me to imagine you growing up as spoiled princess."

"I prefer the word 'privileged' to 'spoiled'," Snow White said.

"I'll be you do."

"What were you like...as a child?" Snow White asked. She hated to press her luck by asking too much, but seeing as they might die very soon anyway, Snow figured that she might as well.

"I kept to myself," Emma told her. "I've always been shy. People, especially new people, intimidated me."

"Why?" Snow White asked.

"I don't know. Maybe it was growing up the way I did, or maybe that's just me."

"You don't seem like you have that problem anymore," Snow said, thinking of when they first met.

Emma laughed and said, "I'm glad I have you fooled."

"So you were - are - shy. What else?"

"Um, I liked school - nerdy, I know. I always got really good grades and followed the rules; so teachers liked me a lot. I think I liked the routine and structure. I usually didn't have that at home."

"Did you like to read?"

"Yes, but, ironically, I was never the fairytale-type. I was the kid who read the entire encyclopedia over the summer."

"You read the encyclopedia for fun?" Snow White asked.

Emma shrugged, "It's interesting. What about you as a kid? I bet you had lots of friends."

Snow White laughed and said, "I was actually alone most of the time. I didn't have any friends - not my age at least."

This surprised Emma. "Really? Why?"

"I was the king's daughter," Snow said simply. "The other children who grew up in the castle were told by their parents not to play with me. They weren't trying to be mean, but no one wanted to be the servant who had to explain to the king why their kid accidentally hurt the princess. I think my parents tried to help a couple of times by inviting one or two of them to play."

"Your parents set up play dates?" Emma asked with a smile.

"I guess you could call them that, but they never went well. The other child would usually stand in the corner, terrified that they would do or say the wrong thing."

"So, who did you play with?"

"Myself mainly...my parents...servants who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Oh, have you ever met the man who works at the hall of records?"

"The grey-haired guy with no personality?"

"Yep," Snow said.

"I think I met him when I was trying to track down those twins' father. Whoa, I just realized that they really are Hansel and Gretel. That's strange," Emma said and then asked, "So, what about the hall of records guy? Did you know him?"

Snow nodded. "He was my father's butler, and let's just say that he was pressured by me into more than one tea party."

Emma laughed loudly. It was a good sound. "I don't think I'll be able to look at him the same way again. I won't be able to look at anyone the same way again." She stopped smiling. "This is all so strange. What is it like knowing that you're a fairytale character?"

"You tell me. You're the daughter of fairytale characters, which, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but that makes you a fairytale character."

"Maybe it does, but I don't have any stories written about me like you do. Everyone doesn't know my name."

Snow White smiled at her and said, "Everyone from my world knows who you are and what you've done. Years from now, you'll be the story they tell their children as they go to sleep at night."

"I don't want that," Emma said. "Most of the time, I wish I could just be invisible so I could live my life in peace."

"Greatness isn't born, Emma; it's made. People don't know who I am as much as what I stand for."

"And what is that?" Emma asked.

"Hope that in the end, good will always win."

"How can you be so sure?" Emma asked. "Look at everything that has happened to you, to me, to everyone from the Enchanted Forest. How can you honestly believe that good will win?"

"Because after everything that has happened, I still get to be with you here and now. Emma, you are my happily ever after. Don't you know that?"

For awhile Emma didn't say anything, but then she asked again, "How can you know that good will win?"

"My father always told me that it's the nature of good to win and the nature of evil to lose. If good and bad were on equal grounds, then maybe evil would have a chance at winning, but they aren't. The definition of evil, Emma, is trying to get something good the wrong way. In the end, everyone wants the same good things, and people are evil because they don't know how to get something good except in the wrong way."

"I'm not sure I'm following you," Emma said.

"Take Regina, for example. She caused so much pain and misery not because she likes pain and misery but because she wants to be happy. Being happy is a good thing. We are made to want to be happy. We are made to be loved. Somewhere along the line, Regina lost the hope that she could be happy or loved unless she stole it from everyone else. She continues to try to get good the wrong way. That's why she is the queen of evil."

"If I tell you something, will you promise not to cry?" Emma asked.

Snow White looked at her curiously and nodded.

"You are a great friend, Mary Margaret; but, Snow White, you would have been an amazing mother."

Snow White didn't cry but instead told her, "You are an amazing mother, Emma."