AUTHORS NOTE: I really hope you all enjoy this story. If you have any suggestions or changes of how you think it should go or end then please comment. This story is based on Beauty and the Beast but has the characters from Once Upon a Time. Enjoy :)
CHAPTER 1
Today marked the eighteenth year since the Evil Queen attempted to cast the dark curse across the Enchanted Forest. Eighteen years since Princess Emma was born to her parents, Snow White and Prince David. Queen Regina remained on her throne and now King David and Queen Snow rule over their kingdom.
Their daughter, Emma, was an adventurous girl much like her mother. She enjoyed roaming the kingdom grounds but most of all she loved roaming outside their kingdom where she knew she was not allowed to roam. Her entire life was mapped out for her, her parents wished for her to find true love and be wed before her twenty-th birthday, they'd found a suiter for Emma. Baelfire, although he wished to be known as Neal, but both knew deep down that they had no romantic feelings for the other and both opted to remain friends. Both of their parents understood and neither pressured them to be romantically involved, this had taken stress off of Neal but Emma however was shown a new suitor. Killian Jones, an ex sailor who had to retire due to an unfortunate accident involving his hand which has now been replaced with a hook. The moment Emma had met Killian, she knew she disliked the man. He came across as arrogant and flirted with every girl in his sight.
Snow and David had very different interpretations of Killian. Snow on one hand seemed to like Killian and his 'charms' whereas David thought similar to Emma, he could see how big headed he truly was and was more than relieved when Emma refused continuing the relationship between the two. However, with Snow's insistence Emma had no option but to continue with the relationship for the sake of their kingdom as when Emma would rule she would need a king by her side. Little did Snow know how wrong she was.
An eighteen year old Emma wandered beyond her kingdom's grounds, against her parents wishes. She was told about the Evil Queen from a young age, it was the bedtime story her mother would always tell her. The heroic Prince and Princess and the villain Queen. Emma's life was near perfect, she had two amazing parents, a kingdom to inherit when her parents stepped down as rulers but for Emma she'd always known something was missing. It felt like a part of her was out there somewhere beyond the walls, and she needed to find it.
While venturing out, the close sound of horses and the voices of knights drew nearer. Emma knew she was in trouble as this was the one thing her parents had always told her to be aware of and if she sees them, she must run.
'Run' Emma thought as she realised she needed to hide from the black knights. She would have no idea what would happen if they caught her and she really didn't wish to find out.
"Over there!" One of the knights yelled from behind Emma, she tried to run faster but she was no match for the horse's speed.
"I command you to stop, Miss!" Another one yelled as Emma finally came to a stop as the knights stopped beside her. "What is your name, girl?" He asked. Emma's gaze lifted to look at the knight and she could see no emotion present, making her more fearful.
"Princess Emma of the White Kingdom, sir". The knight looked behind him to the rest of the knights who all nodded and he looked over at Emma once more. "You must come with us, princess".
"Why?"
"The Queen has asked us to take you to her". He answered.
Emma's eyes widened, "The Evil Queen?" She asked not being sure if she felt shock or fearfulness. The knight nodded once and Emma looked around her. She knew she couldn't escape them, so she did the only thing she could. Comply.
At her nod, he gestured to climbing on the back of his horse and with some assistance she was now sitting on the back of the black knight's horse wrapping her arms around his waist so she wouldn't fall.
During the journey to the Dark Kingdom, a million thoughts were racing around Emma's head. 'Will I ever see my parents again? What will happen to me? Why didn't I just listen to them, I could've never been in this situation'. Emma shook her head from the thoughts, she knew it was far too late to regret her decision now.
"We're nearly there, Princess Emma". The knight said as he felt Emma's body jump from the sound of his voice, she'd probably forgotten where she was momentarily.
Emma looked out over the knights shoulder, she could see in the distance the Dark Kingdom. The sight of the castle grew bigger as they drew closer.
The only sounds being known to her were the hooves of the horses against the floor, the sound normally is relaxing to Emma but this time she had no idea what was awaiting for her beyond the walls of the castle.
The gate opened on the arrival of the knights. Emma couldn't help but look around, the entire kingdom was filled with darkness. Not a flicker of light in sight. The castle was painted with black stone, windows darkened yet something puzzled Emma. An apple tree was just off the edge of the castle, a gate surrounding it.
She suddenly thought back to one of her mother's stories, she remembered the Evil Queen poisoning her mother to reenact her revenge for her lost love. She wondered if all the apples were poisonous or if she had enchanted one to kill her mother.
"Your Majesty", the knight called, snapping Emma out of all thoughts. "We found someone out in the woods, outside of the Light Kingdom". Emma glanced over the knights shoulder and for the first time glanced at the Evil Queen in the flesh.
"Who?" Was the Queen's simple reply. The black knight stepped down from his horse and assisted Emma off the horse, the Queen's face lit up. "You found the Princess". She said it as more of a statement than a question.
"Yes, your majesty. What would you like done with her?" The knight asked as he clasped one hand around her arm to assure she would not escape. Emma could see the Evil Queen's happiness with the knights finding her.
"The dungeon". She answered with a satisfied emotion lingering in her voice and in her expression. Emma could feel her heart racing, the fear was finally beginning to show and it seemed the Evil Queen was overjoyed to see it. She sauntered over slowly to Emma, as if she was hunting her prey and leaned down slightly to whisper, "don't worry, Princess. I won't hurt you…" Emma let out a sigh of relief, "...yet" and with a sharp intake of breath, Regina arose once again. "Take her to the dungeon".
The knight dragged her along the floor towards the entrance of the castle and Emma knew now that she really had messed up. She just hoped her parents would soon save her.
The castle had long corridors, many hidden rooms and many dark objects. They had reached the end of the corridor to a locked door which soon unlocked when the knight waved his hand.
'Did they all have magic?' Emma thought to herself but her trail of thought soon changed as she walked down the endless amount of steps towards what she assumed to be the dungeon. Emma had small time to look around her, only few cells were down here and none were filled. The floor was covered in straw and each cell seemed to have a blanket and nothing else.
The knight stopped leading her and this time had taken his set of keys out and unlocked the door of the cell before taking Emma's arm and throwing her into the cell. She hit the floor with a thud and automatically backed up towards the corner of the cell before realising that the knight had disappeared and the door was once again locked.
Emma took in her own cell, it was the same as the others. Limited space, a stench of what she had hoped to not be toilet waste. She only had one possession now.
Hope.
The Evil Queen on the other hand was over the moon with happiness that her knights had captured the Princess. Maybe this could be her final shot at revenge on Snow White.
'Snow White'. The Evil Queen suddenly knew she had to inform the Princess's parents of her capture, after all she wouldn't want them both to worry about their precious daughter.
"Sydney". She called out to her mirror whose face was revealed in the mirror looking back at her.
"Yes, your majesty". He answered as if the emotion had been drained out of him.
"Show me Snow White and Prince Charming". The Evil Queen beamed as their names rolled bitterly off her tongue. A picture emerged of the rulers of the White Kingdom, she could see the panic between them when the Princess could not be found. "Well this is a nice surprise, wouldn't you both agree?" The couple's heads snapped towards the direction of the voice and both were unsure of what to do when they saw the Evil Queen through the mirror.
"Regina?" Snow called out in shock, "what do you want?" She asked as David drew his sword from beside his wife causing Regina to roll her eyes at his stupidity.
"I heard about the Princess going missing so I thought I'd inform you of her whereabouts". Snow and David were immediately alarmed by her words, she knew where Emma was.
"What have you done to her?" David asked, his knuckles turning white from the tight grip on his sword.
Regina chuckled darkly, "I haven't harmed her if that is what you both are most worried about. She is just simply staying in my dungeon for a while". Regina said as if it wasn't an issue between them.
Suddenly Snow glared up at her, "you're lying". Regina simply laughed, "there is no way you have Emma, she must be roaming the village someplace else".
Regina didn't reply to her and Snow believed she'd won, "I knew she didn't have Emma, she can't have". Regina smiled evilly towards them both before waving her hand and Emma appeared looking more fearful than ever, Snow gasped and held tightly onto her husband's hand who was equally as worried for his daughter as his wife.
The image of Emma disappeared and Regina reappeared, satisfied with her commencing revenge. "I swear Reging if you hurt our daughter, I will destroy you". Snow threatened and for once Regina knew just how serious Snow was. Regina smiled wider, it was making her revenge better than she could've imagined.
"Well as much as I'd like to continue this wonderful conversation, I have obligations to attend to". Regina disappeared from the mirror and David took Snow into his arms, holding her as she cried.
"She's got our daughter… David, what do we do?" Snow asked through her tears, her head resting on his shoulder.
David took in a breath, "we will save our daughter, Snow. I promise you we will rescue her". But secretly, David did not know if they could save their daughter from the Evil Queen. He'd saved Snow from her curse once before but he did not know if he could save Emma this time, he now knew the true meaning of feeling terrified.
Meanwhile back at the Dark Kingdom, Regina made her way down towards the dungeons where her captive was held.
Emma jumped up at hearing the door to the cells open, she had hoped it was anyone but the Evil Queen.
"Ah, Princess", Regina began, "how've you settled in?" She asked, the sarcasm rolling out of her mouth.
"Why am I here?" Emma asked weakly, her strength was beginning to go.
"Well I would have assumed your mother had informed you of our time when she was younger?" Emma nodded, "then there is no need for me to explain why you're here. You must be smart enough to work it out yourself". Emma opened her mouth to speak but decided it would be wiser to not speak. "Now, do you have any more questions for me, Princess?"
"How long will I be here for?" She bit her lip after asking the question, truthfully she was terrified of the answer.
Regina came closer to the cell and Emma could see her features better under the light that shone through the roof. How dark and heavy her makeup was, how her clothes revealed more than what it should've. But Emma paid most attention to her appearance, that look that sat on the Evil Queen's face must've scared most people but for Emma she could see a broken shell of a girl from her mothers stories. Maybe Regina wasn't as bad as she first thought.
"You'll be here until your mother finally sees the true meaning of having your heart broken, then the price will be paid for you to be freed", Regina moved away from the cell towards the darkness of the dungeon again, "until then you will remain here". With the final word said, Regina made her way out of the dungeon feeling content with the beginnings of her new revenge plan.
'This time', Regina thought, 'my revenge will go according to plan'.
END OF CHAPTER 1
I hope you liked the beginning of this story. I have planned this story out for awhile and it means a lot that you read it till the end. Let me know any suggestions you have for the following chapter or how the story ends. Thanks :)