If someone had told Emma Swan a year ago that she would literally be living in a castle, that her parents had re-taken their thrones, and that she was going to be trained in how Misthaven worked, she would have laughed in their face.
But it wasn't last year anymore, and she really was standing in a traditional riding outfit, staring at herself in the mirror. Two dresses hung behind her - one a deep navy blue and the other a gorgeous shade of red. She would be wearing one of those to the ball tomorrow night, celebrating the one year anniversary of their return to the Enchanted Forest from The Land Without Magic.
A ball. God, Emma never thought she'd actually be going to one of these. Sure, her mom had told her all about what her life would've been like in the Enchanted Forest had Regina not cast her curse, but the mere thought of having to actually live it wasn't something she'd considered before.
At least Henry seemed to be having fun, going between Regina's palace and theirs. He, to no surprise, had taken to the Enchanted Forest like he'd lived there all his life. Riding lessons with Regina, sword fighting lessons with David, history lessons with Mary-Margaret, art lessons with Neal… and yet Henry had taken to it like a duck to water.
She felt horribly out of place. She knew this would have been the life her parents gave her had the curse never happened, but this was still nothing like the almost thirty years she had already lived.
A knock on the door startled her from her thoughts, and she tensed, really not in the mood for another princess lesson from her mother. Instead, she found Neal at the door, and exhaled in relief.
"Hey," he said. "You alright?"
She shrugged, scuffing her boot across the floor. "I'm… trying to be. This is a lot to take in for someone who only visited once for a week and fought most of it along the way. Now I have to learn how to be a princess, and it's weird."
"At least your mom's letting you wear what you want, instead of forcing you into a dress."
Emma couldn't help but laugh. "You really think she could have forced me into wearing what I didn't want to wear?" She loved her mother, despite how awkward it could still be between them, but she knew her mom would never force her to wear a poofy pink princess dress if she didn't want it.
"Nah, you'd never let her live it down."
"Where have you been anyway? It's been almost a week since you've visited."
Neal shrugged. "Belle thinks she's close to figuring out a way to get Papa's magic back without killing him."
"What? Neal, that's great news! But… you don't seem all that happy about it."
"You know how I am with magic, Emma. It makes me uncomfortable, especially when it comes from my father."
Emma could feel her own magic crackling beneath her fingertips. She'd had practice with Regina, but it didn't feel right. Didn't feel natural, despite Regina, and everyone else, telling her that she was literally born from magic. "Yeah. I get what you mean. I can't say I'm too excited about having magic after what you've said your dad put you through."
"Shit, Emma, I didn't mean - "
"No, I know, it's okay," she said. "We both have our issues."
Neal nodded and glanced at the dresses that hung on the wall. "So this ball that your parents are holding -"
"Ugh, don't remind me. I don't even know what I'm going to do about it. My parents want our family to have the first dance, but I'm barely able to keep tempo, let alone dance a full waltz like they're planning."
"What, are you afraid you'll step on your date's toes or something? Who is your date, anyway?"
"I don't know."
"Your parents aren't picking him out for you, are they?"
She rolled her eyes. "Of course not. I just… haven't figured out who I'd want to be on that dance floor with me, that's all. Plus, it's not like I've had a lot of time for romance with Henry's kidnapping, the Neverland shit, and then Pan's curse causing us to come back here and rebuild everything."
Granted, she'd been working up the courage to meet Neal at the diner when chaos had struck Storybrooke for what would be the last time, but now that they'd been back here, fighting to reclaim the kingdom from trolls and a very nasty witch with a vendetta against Regina, romance was hardly at the forefront of her mind.
But then again… was there anyone better suited to be her date than someone else who was struggling with their sudden return to the Enchanted Forest? Someone who had known her longer than everyone else in the kingdom?
"But," she finally said, "I wouldn't mind if you were my date."
Neal's eyes widened in disbelief. "What?"
"Yeah. So… Do you want to be my date to the ball?" Was this what normal teenagers back in the Land Without Magic felt like when they were asking each other to prom? If it was, she wasn't sure she liked the squirming, uncomfortable feeling in her stomach.
A wide, dopey grin spread across his face, and Emma felt her stomach do even more flip flops.
"Well, I uh - I can't promise I'll be any better at dancing than you are. I'm the son of a broke spinner, you know."
Emma laughed softly. "That's alright. I'd much rather make an ass out of myself with you than with anyone else."
"Thanks… I think."
She smiled. "I mean, I won't feel completely out of my element if I'm out there dancing with you instead of, I don't know, one of the twelve princes from the Southern Isles or something."
"Twelve? And your parents invited them all?"
"Yup. Like I told you, everyone was invited, whether they were from Storybrooke or not."
Neal whistled. "Your mom's really going all out."
"Yeah, well, she's got about thirty years worth of balls and parties to hold." Emma didn't understand it in the slightest, but it made her mom happy, so she didn't question it too much, and certainly not to her mother's face.
"Right…" Neal said. "You wanna take a ride? There's a nice lake not too far from here if you want to clear your head."
"I would love to." Being anywhere but the castle sounded heavenly right now.
Neal turned to open the door, before he paused, glancing at the dresses, and let out another low whistle. "So uh, are those your options for the ball?"
"Yeah, I can't seem to decide between them though."
There was a look on his face that had Emma's stomach doing a flip flop again. "Oh. Well… you can't go wrong with either of them."
She laughed awkwardly and followed him out of the room. "Thanks."
"We could get a castle. You, me, and Neal…"
Henry's words bounced around her head as they moved to the barn and got on their horses. Horses, surprisingly, was something that had come naturally to Emma, and gave her a sense of relief that not everything in this world was going to be hopelessly confusing to her. Tallahassee the horse was a far cry from the city Neal had once promised her they'd find their happy ending at, but she was a good mare, and gave her comfort.
Neal grinned as they rode down the pathway. "Hey, you know, I should've packed us a picnic."
"A picnic by a lake after we went horseback riding? What are we, a couple in a romance novel?"
"Well, you are a princess, and I am the dashing rogue."
"Rogue? You're basically the Sorcerer's Apprentice at this point," Emma teased. "But I'm not sure either of those are going to be good enough for a princess at a ball."
"Then the princess should have asked Prince Hans to the ball instead."
She had missed this, the way they could just banter back and forth like they were teeangers in a stolen car again. The car had been brought back to the Enchanted Forest, like most other things from the town, but without actual roads to drive it on, it sat near the horse's barn, not being used.
It made her sad, really. That car had been through so much with them - especially with her. To see it rusting, a relic of a bygone era… which was super weird because the Enchanted Forest - Misthaven, whatever it was called - was basically the past in her eyes.
"So what kind of dancing is Henry going to do? Did he learn to waltz too?" Neal asked, as the horses cantered down the trail.
"Yeah, he's going to be dancing with Regina during the opening number."
"I think that's awesome. Your parents sound like better rulers than the idiots who ran my village when I was a kid."
Emma frowned and slowly got off Tallahassee as they arrived at the lake. "You've never told me about your past here. Was it much different three hundred years ago?"
"Technologically? No, but my area was being wrecked by ogres. The duke had a law that everyone thirteen and over had to go to the front lines and fight. Ultimately, that's what led Papa to becoming who he was - because he'd fought in the first Ogre Wars, and wanted to spare me the same fate."
"He wanted to give you your best chance…"
Neal nodded. "Yeah, you could call it that."
Emma smiled a little. Their family seemed full of people trying to give their children their best chance. Despite everything Rumplestiltskin had done, it was nice to know there had been a good reason at the heart of it all - she herself had been ready to rip the world apart in order to get back to Henry when she'd been trapped here with Mary-Margaret.
They smoothed out a blanket and took a seat, looking out at the clear water. Neal's arm wrapped around her shoulder, and Emma couldn't help but lean her head against him, feeling safe and content in his arms. It was almost like she was home, and that was a feeling she never wanted to lose ever again.
"I love you," she murmured. When she felt him freeze, she leaned up, looking at him in complete seriousness. "I really do. I never stopped loving you. Even when I wasted ten years of my life being so angry at you. I love you, Neal Cassidy. More than I can say."
A goofy, disbelieving grin grossed Neal's features. "You do? I love you too. And I'm so sorry I let August talk me into abandoning you."
"You don't have to apologize for that. I know now that you were doing what you thought was right at the time." No sense dwelling on the bad, hard parts of their past, after all.
"So what happens now?" he asked. "Do you… want to go on a proper date? Because Granny's is still around and thriving. I guess people missed that part of Storybrooke."
"I can't say I blame them. Her onion rings are divine."
"Well then, your majesty, I shall take you to get your divine onion rings," Neal said dramatically, rising to his feet and holding out his hand to help her up.
Emma rolled her eyes and grinned. "Careful. You keep saying stuff like that and you'll end up a Prince Consort."
He hummed. "I don't know if that would be so bad."
With that, he pulled her into a kiss - their first kiss since they were awkward teenagers and while sparks had flown then, they were nothing compared to what she felt now. Warm, loving, a promise of a better tomorrow.
Finally, she pulled away, breathless and eyes twinkling. "You know… I don't know if I'm hungry for onion rings anymore…"
As always, Neal caught on immediately. "Oh yeah? Where else do you wanna go then?"
Emma could only grin, wrapping her arms around him and vanishing with him in a puff of smoke to one of her mother's old hideouts. No one would find them there, but even still, she felt like a teenager again as she and Neal fell together, each taking a turn to keep an eye out for those who might be lurking nearby.
And when they returned to the castle later that evening after retrieving their horses from the lake, no one seemed worried, or suspected a thing.
"I'm so happy I'm finally able to do this with you," her mother said softly, adjusting one of the pins in Emma's hair so it tamed a blonde curl that was stubbornly sticking up from the rest. "I dreamed of helping you prepare for your first ball ever since I found out I was going to have a girl."
Emma furrowed her brow in confusion. "I'm happy we can finally do this too, but that's a bit late in the game for you. I would have thought you'd dream of that the minute you started trying." Not that Emma wanted to imagine that.
"Late? What do you mean late? Oh!" she cut herself off, understanding, and went to a little box on her nightstand drawer, pulling out a necklace. "This told me. It was your grandmother's - David's mother's. It's enchanted to tell you the sex of your firstborn child, even if you aren't pregnant yet. See? Watch - oh."
Emma watched as the pendant swung north to south, but frowned at her mother's reaction. "What? It moved, right? That's what it's supposed to do?"
"Well, yes, but with you it swung east to west. That's what Ruth told me - north to south for a boy, east to west for a girl."
Emma frowned and held out her hand. "Well, here, try it on me. It should swing north to south, right?"
Her mother nodded, and they watched, staring in shock as the necklace moved east to west.
"Did Ruth have any other kids besides Dad and James?" Emma asked.
"No… and her mother was an only child too, from what I've heard."
"Do you think it might be enchanted to tell you the sex of any child you could potentially have, even after the first?"
Her mother looked a little pale. "I… it might be possible."
They stared at each other in an awkward silence.
"Do you think we keep this between us?" Emma finally asked.
Her mother nodded and returned the necklace to the box. "Right. Let's finish up."
Emma nodded and looked at herself in the mirror, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, then fixed her red lipstick once again. "I think I'm ready, actually."
Her mother smiled. "You are. You look beautiful, Emma. Red really is your color."
Emma smiled. "Thanks, Mom. I think white is yours, too. Just be careful about spilling anything on your dress."
She laughed. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."
"Presenting Her Majesty Regina Mills, Her Majesty Snow White, Prince Consort David Nolan, Princess Emma Swan, Sir Neal Cassidy, and Prince Henry Mills!" the crier called, the family standing at the top of a grand staircase overlooking the ballroom. From her position in the line, Emma could see Ruby and Granny, Ashley and Sean, Kathryn and Frederick, Rumplestiltskin and Belle… everyone she'd once known as citizens of an ordinary small town, now suddenly wearing grand ball gowns and suits, and felt overwhelmed all over again.
Neal squeezed her hand, breaking her from her thoughts. "Hey, I've got you, don't worry. I'm not gonna let you get lost in the crowd."
Emma nodded as they stood in the middle of the dance floor. When the music began, Neal gently led her into the waltz, keeping tempo far more easily than she could.
"Did Belle give you some pointers?" she questioned.
"Maybe a few."
"Well, good. I'm glad. I don't feel so silly now."
He grinned. "No? How do you feel, then?"
Emma smiled softly. "I feel like I'm home."