This chapter is a little less Charming Family centric than the others have been. I promise that they will be more featured in the next one. All of what I included may not seem to make sense right now, but it will eventually.

Chapter 10: The Real Threat

1 ½ Years Ago

Emma walked through the woods, doing her best to cover up her tracks. August was going to find her eventually, that much she knew, but she wanted to put it off for as long as possible. She was going to be 15 in just a few days, it wasn't fair that he still followed her everywhere. Her parents didn't seem to mind that they did and Alise was of little help as she always was since Hank entered the picture. She was growing up, she didn't care what August felt his job was. One day, she wouldn't need any of them. Sure, she was never going to be queen, but she could do something important.

An idea struck her and she attempted to put up a forcefield so August couldn't track her, but it wouldn't work. "Damn it."

"That's not how you would go about doing that."

The sudden voice made her jump and Emma spun around, keeping one hand in the air, ready to attack if necessary. "Who said that?"

A blonde appeared through the clearing, someone Emma had never seen before. She was wearing a torn green dress and matching leggings. A simple green handkerchief hung from around her neck and her hair was thrown up in a tangled bun. Overall, she seemed to have dirt sprinkled everywhere. Definitely not royalty but not a villager either.

"Who are you?" Emma repeated, still keeping her hand up in defense. "And what would you know about what I'm doing?"

"My name is Tinkerbell," she gave her a sly smile. "And magic used to be my job."

"Are you some sort of wizard?"

"No. I was a fairy."

"A fairy?" Emma slowly lowered her hand. She had heard of fairies in books, but never met one. August had told her how a fairy had changed him from a puppet into a real boy. "So you have magic?"

Tinkerbell shifted uncomfortably. "I did. Before I lost my wings."

"Oh. What are you doing here? I've never seen you around."

"I just arrived…I don't even know what here is."

"We're a small kingdom not far from Swan Lake. Where are you originally from?"

"It's a really long story. I was just looking for a place to rest."

Emma thought about it for a minute. She didn't know this woman, but from what August had always told her, fairies could be trusted. She looked to be on the younger side anyway, about her brother's age. It wouldn't be very princess-like to not offer her a room. "You can come back with me, to the palace."

"The palace?"

"My name is Emma, I'm one of the princesses of this kingdom."

"Oh...thank you…but I really couldn't. I don't belong there. I've had a bad experience with helping royalty."

"Is it why you lost your wings?"

Tink chuckled, in spite of herself. "You ask a lot of questions."

"The only way to get answers."

"You're right." The former fairy smiled.

"Well look, if you won't come with me, what kind of stuff are you used to?"

"Anything would be better than my last resting place…I was in a cave."

Emma thought for a moment and then saw a nearby tree. With Alise and Hank clearly the next in line, they would surely be producing heirs. Emma had been learning spells dealing with children's toys and such. She had recently learned one to how to conjure up a tree yhouse. Thinking as clear as she could, she flicked a wrist towards the one in question and a simple house appeared.

"It's not much, but it'll do for now, I suppose?"

Tinkerbell was in awe. "Why would you do that for me?"

"I don't know," Emma replied, honestly. It certainly wasn't something her parents would want her doing. They were kind rulers, they helped the less fortunate when the could, but in that situation there is no way they would've helped. Sometimes, she felt so different from in that way.

"I wish there was a way I could repay you."

"Let me hide out with you for a bit. Tell me stories of wherever you came from."

Tinkerbell grinned and the two climbed up into the tree house, sitting on the ground. The former fairy told her tales of Neverland, where she had ended up a number of years ago, far longer than she could ever remember. She informed her all about Peter Pan, a boy who never seemed to grow up. No one ever did in Neverland, they were all trapped. Despite having magic, it wasn't a happy place. In fact, between Captain Hook and the aforementioned Peter Pan, it was quite dangerous. Tink had managed to finally escape via a coconut and ended up where she had met Emma. Emma told her some stuff about herself, her life as a princess. About how it wasn't as glamorous as one might think. She had a loving family, but no friends given her powers. In fact, Tink had been the first non-family member or palace employee that she had spoken to in quite some time.

Tink was just about to give Emma some tips when it came to her magic, when a familiar masculine voice filled the princess' ears.

"Emma!"

Emma shut her eyes, groaning a little.

"Your father?" Tinkerbell asked.

"Worse. My brother."

"Oh, the former puppet you were telling me about."

Emma scurried down the steps of the tree house with Tinkerbell on tail. Sure enough, there stood August, arms folded over his chest. Though, as soon as he saw the mystery woman, he pulled his younger sister behind him and drew his sword.

"Who are you?"

"August, she's not a threat."

"I beg to differ. I asked you a question," August said, looking her up and down.

Tinkerbell rolled her eyes and reached into her dress, emerging with a knife of her own. It wasn't as large as August's sword, but she wasn't about to go undefended. "The name's Tinkerbell."

"What are you doing with my sister?"

"She was just giving me some assistance…your majesty," Tink bowed, knife still in hand. "I'm not going to harm her."

"How am I supposed to be so sure?"

"We've been chatting for hours and she's still alive."

"You can trust her, Auggie," Emma said, pulling away from him. "She's been through a lot."

August sighed. His sister didn't trust just anybody. "Put your knife down and I'll return my sword."

"No," Tinkerbell gave him a Look. "You put your sword away first."

"Or you two could just do it at the same time," Emma suggested with an eye roll of her own.

August and Tinkerbell didn't take their eyes off one another as they tried to return their weapons to their final place. However, Tink's hand slipped and the knife fell to the ground. She crouched down to get it and August knelt in front of her to help look through the grass. He found it first and offered it to her. That's when their eyes locked. He hadn't noticed they were hazel before. They looked so tired and while she was trying to look tough, he could tell she was close to giving up. He had seen that same look in the mirror many times over the years. He reached up with his other hands and carefully wiped some of the dirt off her face. She smiled a bit, a genuine one with no snark behind it.

"So," she said. "You're August?"

August was so captivated in her, he almost didn't hear her. "Oh, uh, yes. And you're…"

"Tinkerbell."

A smile formed on the prince's face. "Nice to meet you, Tink."

In The Present

Emma still hadn't left her room in the few hours since Snow had brought up the hot chocolate. Charming was trying to give her some space, but it was hard.

"Are you sure she's okay?" He asked Snow while she busied herself by making dinner in the kitchen.

"She's fine."

"If she was fine, wouldn't she be down here?"

Snow sighed. "She hurt someone she really cared about."

"It was an accident."

"Yes, but you heard what she said. Her whole life, a lot of people have made her feel like a freak because of her magic. August was one of the few who didn't and now she's scared that he's going to look at her in the same way."

"If he does, then he's a moron. I don't see him reacting like that, though. He loves Emma."

"She's scared, Charming. She's lost so many people in her life, she doesn't want to lose him either."

Charming bit his lip. In his own life, he had lost both his parents along with a brother that he never got to know. Yes, from what he could tell, James was an ass. He had hurt many people in the kingdom, but that was still his brother. Even his own father had been an alcoholic, but all of that made sense. He had to give up one child, to give the other a good life. He wasn't sure if he could compare what he and Snow had done with Emma to his own parents, but maybe it was similar in some sense. Some may have thought that just because James was raised as a prince, that his life was perfect. At the same time, people would assume that Charming's upbringing would mean that he didn't have a good childhood. Both were wrong assumptions.

Emma had been through a lot, even as a princess. Magic came with a price and she was stuck paying it over and over again. Not only had she lost the only parents she ever had, she also learned that they had been lying to her for her whole life and it was her responsibility to save the town. It wasn't a life he wanted for her and he wished there was something he could do to help her.

"She broke the curse," he finally said after some silence. "That was her job as the savior."

"Yes, it was." Snow looked up at him confused.

"So…maybe that should be it."

"What do you mean?"

"We'll find a way home, with the help of Blue." Charming saw the look on his wife's face and held up a hand. "I know we may not want to trust her, but she's not the one who cast the curse in the first place. I'm sure she wants to get back to the Enchanted Forest as much as we do. We don't ask Emma for help. You heard what she said, she's worried if she can't do anything, that we won't want to know her. We can't put that on her."

Snow nodded. "I get what you're saying and of course I don't want her to use her magic unless it's necessary, but I don't think that not getting her to use it at all is going to help her either. It's a part of her, she needs to accept it."

"She's just been through so much."

"I hate to say it, but I don't think it's going to get any easier."

"How can you say that? We're a family now. We're together. It's what we hoped for when we decided to put her in the wardrobe."

"You heard what Regina said," Snow frowned. "She's not the person we have to worry about."

"She could just be trying to throw us off."

"Think about it. She was locked up when that earthquake hit. There was no way that she could've brought the magic back. Her sister must have done it."

"Is anyone really worse than Regina?" David wondered out loud. "I mean, I always thought that she and George were at the same level."

"I don't think Regina would just be throwing that around, she likes to think of herself as the best."

"So…what do we do?"

"We focus right now on finding a way back home. We stay on high alert for both of the sisters and we get ready for the fact that we may have to fight."

"We're going to have to be prepared for every possibility."

"And we will." Snow gave him a soft smile. "I promise."

Upstairs, Emma laid on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. She could hear the hushed whispers in the loft below her, but she didn't try to make out their words. She was glad that they didn't think she was weird, but she worried that she was going to end up hurting them too. She didn't want that. She didn't understand why she could just be normal.

Then there was the matter of how she had gotten her magic back in the first place. She didn't understand, Blue had said that it was a place without magic. Who had brought it back? And if it was, that meant that things were possibly dangerous. She wasn't going to let anyone hurt these people, the ones that had given birth to her. Even the rest of the town, she may not have known them well but it wasn't fair what they had gone through. Her entire life, she had thought of her magic as something that made her weird, a monster. It wasn't really needed where she was from. She had learned how to control it and use it when "necessary" (though sometimes she wouldn't listen to that).

No matter what anyone said, she was going to help them get home. She was going to prove that she wasn't a monster, no matter what the cost.

August came to in his bed, looking around the room. Like old times, it was his father, Blue and Jiminy. He blinked a bit and sat up straight, only to have a glass of water shoved into his hands. He slowly sipped it, blinking a few times.

"Where's Emma?" It was the first thing he could think of. One minute, the two of them had been standing in the middle of Main Street when an earthquake hit. Her magic was going out of control and then suddenly, his world had gone black.

"I don't know and that doesn't matter," Geppetto said. "All that does, is that you're okay."

"Emma just used her magic for the first time in a while…I have to check on her…" August tried to get out of bed when he saw their faces. "What?"

"I don't think it's a good idea for you to see her," Geppetto said.

August's eyebrow arched. "Excuse me?"

"She hurt you…"

"She couldn't control that. That's the first time she's ever done something like that to me…it was an accident." August realized what was going on. "What did you say to her?"

"What?"

"After it happened what did you…" Suddenly the memories of the incident came flooding back. He had been barely conscious and unable to speak or move but he could remember it, clearly. Emma feeling terribly, offering to fight, his father not letting her.

Monster.

August pushed the covers back fully and jumped out of the bed.

"Pinocchio," Geppetto began to say.

"I'm going to go check on my sister and you are never to speak to her that way again."

"She…"

"I don't care if she turns me back to wood! She is my baby sister and no one treats her the way you did!"

"Family needs to come first," Blue piped up from her corner of the room.

"Now this family is important to you?" August snapped. "It doesn't even matter. Yes, this is my family but so is Emma. That's what happens when you shove a 7 year old into a box and tell him to look after a baby."

August stormed out the door, slamming it shut behind him. His entire body was shaking with anger. He knew his father didn't have a lot of good experiences with magic, but it didn't matter. Emma had been through way too much. She didn't deserve any of that. She wasn't a monster. He wasn't about to let her lose him. Not after she had lost her adoptive parents along with the only other friend that she ever had.

He couldn't believe he had dreamed that again. He hadn't been present for when Emma and Tink met, yet somehow, he could still see it so clearly every time. Maybe because he had been told it so many times, maybe because it was what lead to him meeting her. Either way, he wished it would stop. Just as Emma had lost the only friend she ever had, he had lost her too. He didn't like to compare pain, but he felt his was worse. Maybe not in the same sense as losing Odette and Derek, but he had no way of ever finding her. She was just gone. Any chance they had to use a portal was to go back home.

More anger was filling him over that, he could feel his blood boiling. If he were Emma, he would've had a magical outburst by that point. He tried not to let himself get worked up over the past, it was just hard. Especially when he had dreams like that.

"Well, well, well… someone's not in a very good mood." August snapped out of his thoughts at the sudden voice. It wasn't very late, but even so, the streets of Storybrooke were quiet. He looked up and saw someone he didn't recognize. Her red hair was pulled back and she was dressed in all black.

"Can I help you?"

"Zelena," she said, extending a hand. He was hesitant, but shook it. "And you're Pinocchio."

"August," he corrected. He allowed Geppetto, Jiminy and Blue to call him otherwise but that was it.

"My apologies. I could just feel your anger."

August raised an eyebrow. "How?"

"No matter. I just wanted to offer my assistance."

August looked her up and down, unsure of how to feel about all of this. "I don't need your assistance."

"I think you do. If you want to be on the right side of things." Zelena's green eyes twinkled.

August slowly stepped back. "The right side of things?"

"We're a lot alike, August. I understand you, more than anyone else and I can help keep you safe, keep Emma safe."

"You won't step anywhere near Emma," August growled. "Or you'll regret it."

Zelena smirked. "Your precious sister is safe…for now. Just keep in mind what I said."

"I'm not going to help anyone except Emma. That's where my loyalty lies." August continued his walk, but Zelena kept talking.

"What has loyalty ever gotten you? You promise to be a good boy and your father put you in a wardrobe, shipping you off to a nearby land…then your other daddy didn't even love you."

August froze in place. "How do you know any of this?"

"I know enough about your dear old adoptive daddy. A lot that would make your sister hate him for good."

"She doesn't need to know that," August turned back around. "She's mad enough over them lying to her…but he was a good father to her."

"To her, yes. But you? Her big brother that she adores oh so much…"

"I don't even know how you know this."

"Let's just say I wasn't cursed in Storybrooke for 28 years like everyone else." She gestured to a necklace on her neck and touched it. A cloud of green smoke overtook her and her body was replaced by one he did recognize. One of Emma's magic instructors. August felt like he was going to be ill as she turned herself back. This can't be real, he thought to himself. It just couldn't be.

"How…how did you even…"

"It doesn't matter. But I know everything. Everyone thinks Regina's the problem around here, they couldn't be more wrong. Like I said August, we're a lot alike and I think we'd make a good team. There's war coming to Storybrooke and when it does, you're going to want to be on the right side of things."

Before he could say anything else, she was gone. August sank down onto the sidewalk. He wasn't sure what he was going to do. He couldn't team up with that woman, it was going to lead to nothing but trouble. But if she was telling the truth about war coming, there was only one person who was going to be able to help them.

Emma.

How was he supposed to tell his sister that it was her job to defeat someone like that?

Slowly, he was beginning to realize why this whole thing had been kept a secret in the first place.

Shorter chapter and again, as I said, it was less Charming Family centric, but the next one will be, I promise. Please let me know what you think, I always love hearing from you guys. I hope to have the next one up soon, along with chapters for my other multi-chapter fics. As always, feel free to follow my Tumblrs and send in prompts, ask me questions or just see me reblog random stuff: just-an-outlaw is my main account and justanoutlawfanfiction is what I use to talk about my stories.