Finished this chapter way earlier than i thought lol. Hope you guys enjoy
~J
Henry awoke with a groan as he sat up from the ground. Where am I? he thought. He looked around to see that he was in a forest.
"Mom? Emma?" Henry yelled out. Silence followed as he decided to walk around and explore the forest as he continued to call out. "MOM! EMMA!". He stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a growl behind him. He looked back to only fall back on the ground. A bear? no, that is not a bear. he thought. He slowly studied beast in front of him, It was as bigger than a normal bear, way bigger, it had orangish brown fur and its eyes were red.
"My my, what do we have here?" it asked. Henry just looked at the beast with wide eyes, the last thing he expected was for it to talk.
"A silent one eh? You smell different." the beast said slowly creeping closer to Henry. "I take it you're an outsider, not of this world so to speak." Henry just nodded.
"Well, I wonder how outsiders taste.." That was the last thing he said before it started to walk faster towards the frozen boy.
There was not a cloud in sight as the sun shone on the lake engulfing it with sparkles. The lake surrounded by a field with emerald grass and countless trees. Everything was peaceful, until blue smoke filled the air and two women appear in the middle of the field only a few feet away from the lake.
Both Emma and Regina landed with a slight scream and a groan as they made contact with the ground. Regina laid on the ground while Emma was on top of her, arms at the sides of brunettes head and one of her legs in between the other woman's legs. Slowly the blonde lifted herself so that her arms were holding her up. Green met brown and held each other. Both women slightly blushed but did not notice it. The silence however, was broken by Regina after she realized what was going on.
"Miss Swan, Please get off of me." Regina said still not taking her eyes off of Emma's. It took just a little longer for Emma to realize herself, what was going on. Quickly she got off of the mayor.
"Oh god i'm so sorry." Emma quickly said looking down slightly flustered.
"Its fine, don't forget what we are doing here in the first place" Regina replied as she stood up and shook off all of the dirt that was on her clothes.
"Where are we anyways?" Emma asked looking around. She couldnt be sure if this was part of the Enchanted Forest or not for she hasn't stayed too long there to fully know its territory. "Is this part of the Enchanted Forest?". Regina took a moment to look around and saw the lake. Oh no.
"No, its not."
"You sure?"
"Yes Miss Swan, I think I would remember the land I once ruled. This lake was definitely not a part of it." Regina quipped back.
"The lake? Thats it? Thats how you're able to tell that its not the Enchanted Forest?"
Regina just let out an angry sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose to help stop her from tearing this woman apart. "Look at the lake Miss Swan, its not a normal lake, there is magic in this land but it doesn't mean that its the Enchanted Forest. Many realms have magic in them" Regina
"OK OK! God. How do we even know if Henry is here?" Emma asked. Regina just stood silent and looked down.
"I don't know. I guess we just have to hope for the best that he is."
Emma put her hands up on her head to shield her eyes so she could look up. "Come on, we should get moving the sun is high up so it will give us time to search". Regina simply nodded and the two women began walking.
Neither one of them spoke as they made their way through a forest trying to find what ever form of civilization they can. The woods here are more dangerous than the ones in the Enchanted Forest, these woods have more loose roots here and there making it more likely to trip over them. Also the grass was much taller making it hard to see where you are stepping. Emma and Regina barely made an effort to see where exactly they are going for if they look around all they see are trees. Countless tress as far as the eye can see. No path, no route, nothing. Just trees everywhere some even scrunching up against others. Emma is having little to no problem walking through the forest due to her attire. The blonde is wearing her usual blue skinny jeans (which Regina believes to be more than just 'skinny', but that her legs just painted blue), her brown boots, a white button up blouse and that red leather jacket that Regina just loathes oh so much. Regina on the other hand, is having a hard time making her way through said forest and is falling behind. Emma notices this and decides to throw a look over her shoulder and towards the brunette.
"You ok there Regina?" Emma asks as she continued to walk.
Regina huffed. "I'm perfectly fine Miss Swan". Not believing a single word the mayor said, Emma stopped dead in her tracks and turned around to face the queen, placing her hands on her hips and putting on a playful smirk.
"Yes, lie to the person that can spot a lie from anyone a mile away. Brilliant plan your Majesty"
"Keep walking Miss Swan, as you said before, we need this time to search for Henry"
"If you would like to take a break, then I would be ok with it"
"Now why would I need a break?"
"Well," Emma began as she took a good look at the woman before her. Starting with her shoes, she sees Regina wearing her Prada stilettos, which is obviously not the best choice of footwear for trailing through a forest (then again this was all so sudden), moving up she sees Regina wearing a tight black pencil skirt that stops just before the knees visibly hugging her curves in such a manner, that it makes Emma;s skinny jeans come second, and finally, a solid blue button up shirt with small sequences on the collars. "You're not in the best attire for this kind of 'trip', so to speak."
"My goodness Miss Swan, your deduction skills are as impressive as ever. How do you do it?" Regina said with full blown sarcasm and annoyance in her voice.
"Im just gifted like that. Cant you just poof yourself new clothes or something?"
"No, no I cant just 'poof' myself new clothes. Theres something wrong with my magic here and before you ask, no I don't know what it is." Regina said. The blonde nodded knowing that she can't really question Regina's magic for she has no idea how magic works. So she just sat down and leaned her back against a tree.
"What are you doing Miss Swan?" Regina asked getting more annoyed with the blonde.
"Sit, Regina. Its obvious you're in pain because of your monstrous heels. Lets rest for a while and then we will continue our search." Emma calmly explained.
"We don't have time Miss Swan!" Regina was done. She was yelling at the top of her lungs because she is just completely infuriated with the other woman. "Are you saying that we are going to search for Henry when it gets dark?! News Flash dear, Its pitch black in the forest at night! God knows what kind of creatures live here!". As if to prove her point they hear a growl. Regina whipped her head to find the source of the noise. Emma was in shock in first but face palmed herself.
"You see what you do, Regina?" Emma said as she got up. The growling came closer to them. Regina and Emma subconsciously moved closer together and weren't aware of this movement until their arms touched each other.
"Well well well". A deep voice said. Emma and Regina quickly turned around to see some sort of beast glaring at them with hungry eyes. "It seems I got lucky. I just found two gorgeous women standing before me in fear. This should be a good meal." The beast smiled and showed off his sharp teeth.
Emma reached for her gun but couldn't find it. She cursed herself for leaving it back home. She looked over to Regina and she just saw fear all over the woman's face. Emma never believed that she will ever see Regina in such a state. Her eyes screamed for help. She looked back at the beast. Orangish brown fur covering its body. Its eyes were red. And its paws, had sharp claws as if they are ready to tear up flesh.
"Now should I have some fun with you two? I mean, you trespassed onto my territory, so I believe you should pay for that. I do believe some torture is in order." It said with a sly grin
"OR," A voice called out from behind the two women. "I could just cut you up and go on with my day" The three of them all flinched at the sound of another voice. Slowly, both women turned around to see a teenage girl standing behind them. As soon as they saw the girl she disappeared and ended up right before the woman having her back face them and her dangerous glare on the beast in front of them.
"Tch, I really did not want to run into you any time soon." The beast snarled.
"Who would?" The girl countered as she prepared to attack. Before she could, the beast quickly spoke up.
"How about this! You spare my life, and I will spare the lives of those beautiful women. Its a win-win!" The beast said trying to sound as confident as possible. With out a second thought, the girl drew out her sword and the next thing any one knew, the beast fell with a giant gash on his chest and the girl was about 10 feet behind said beast.
"No" she said to answer the beast.
She turned around to face the two women and began to observe them. "You two alright?" she asked. Regina was the first one to come back to reality. Seconds later, so did Emma. Emma and Regina both looked at the girl in front of them and saw her with her sword still out, quickly they began to stumble backwards.
"Oh calm down, I just saved your asses. Why would I hurt you?" She asked. The two women flinched at the sudden tone of voice.
"Th-Thanks" Emma said. She took some time to observe the girl. She was wearing tight black leather pants, a ruby red button up long sleeve blouse and a tight black leather vest. She had black lace up boots and her hair was up to her mid back. She looked very young as well. Too young to be doing this sort of job. "What was that thing?"
"That," She said as she pointed to the carcass in front of her. "Is a humanloyd. Animals that pick up skills from watching us humans. They can be peaceful if they witness peaceful human actions, however due to our love for violence and bloodshed, they witnessed humans at their lowest, during war between two kingdoms. Shouldn't you two know that by now?" The girl looked at them with questioning eyes. "And shouldn't you know not to come to these areas?"
"I- uh" Emma stuttered not knowing what to say
"Yes, we are truly sorry. We were taking a walk but lost control of time and our sense of direction. I guess we just accidentally wandered into their territory." Regina interrupted. She has seemed to come back to her senses. "We will be on our way. Thank you for saving us". And with that she tugged on Emma's arm and led her away from the girl. The girl just raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms across her chest.
"You two aren't from this land" The girl said. The two women stopped dead in their tracks. Carefully they turned around.
"Of course we are, what makes you say that?" Regina said, trying to sound as regal as possible.
"Many reasons make me say that. But one is that, you are holding that blue orb that clearly belongs to Sapphire Kingdom, but yet you two are heading in the completely opposite direction of said kingdom. Those who have that orb or find that orb, must return it to the royal family at once" The girl explained with a smirk on her face. The two women stood dumbstruck on what they just heard. They have no idea how to process it or what to say.
"Fine. We are not from here" Emma said
"Miss Swan!"
"No point in lying anymore! She already knows!" Emma stated.
"I honestly don't care if you two are from a different land. In fact, I couldn't care less just as long as you don't pose a threat to me" The girl said in a non nonchalant tone. She drew closer to the girls and put away her sword in its sheathe.
"What kind of sword is that?" Regina asked as she looked at the long pitch black blade. There was a rectangular guard and the hilt was also black but with red diamond patterns on it.
"Its a katana. I tend to fight better with them than a gun or a regular sword." The girl said. A silence followed.
"Umm can you help us with something?" Emma asked sheepishly.
"Depends. What is it?"
"We are looking for our son Henry but we don't know if he is here in this world let alone this forest" Emma explained.
"Oh so you two are partners?"
"Oh no! We are most certainly not partners!" Regina exclaimed. Emma just nodded in agreement.
"Ok ok.. Well that depends. Did he take that same orb in your hand here?" The girl asked
"Yes, he did. I don't even know he activated it, he just disappeared in a puff of blue smoke" Regina said.
"Well he is definitely here because that orb only transports its user to one place and one place only and that is Sapphire Kingdom, or any of its territories. This forest just happens to be one of them. Which is why I should get going. But first, who is the biological mother of the boy?"
"Me" Emma said.
"Ok well i'm going to need some of your blood in order to find him" the girl explained. The other two just stood quiet un sure of what to do. Emma quickly looked Regina for advice but the latter simply shrugged not knowing what to do but Emma can see the slight twitch of the mayors lips causing the blonde to narrow her eyes.
"Why do you need my blood?" Emma asked nervously.
"Well you share the same blood no?" the girl asked. Emma just nodded. "Well ill be able to create a link between the two of you and a path visible to only your eyes and that path will lead you to him." the girl explained.
"And how will you do that?" Emma asked.
"Through the same way you got here. Through magic." The girl bluntly stated.
"Wait." Emma said as she turned to Regina. "You said you cant use magic here. Something about it being difficult."
"You can use magic?" The girl asked sounding surprised as she began to walk closer to the silent brunette. Regina just nodded nervously. Emma has never seen Regina like that, she seemed so small and nervous. Was it because of the lack of magic in the air? Surely this girl cant be intimidating enough to scare the brunette. The girl was now only a mere few inches away from Regina and she stared directly into her eyes. Emma was about to ask the girl what she was doing when suddenly the girls eyes widened and she could've sworn that she saw a deathly scowl on her face but it disappeared. The girl just turned around and headed towards Emma leaving a dumbstruck Regina and pulled out her sword. "Give me your arm" she stated demandingly.
"What?! Why?!" Emma yelled out in fear as she started to back away.
"You want to find your son or not? I just need a few drops of blood and this sword is the only sharp object I have to get it" the girl said with an angry tone. Emma just stared at her and stretched out her arm. The girl pricked the blondes forearm and took some blood on each of her left fingers. She mumbled and incantation with her eyes closed and smacked her left hand on the ground, through this, a thick red line was made on the ground and stretched into the forest.
"Follow this line and find your son. I unfortunately cant go with you for I am part of Ruby Kingdom and unless allowed, I cant go into Sapphire territory, or in this case, any further. Ill get into a lot of trouble. If anyone is with your son, don't tell them about me, because if you do, then i'm in trouble and neither of us want that." The girl said. With that, she turned on her heel and began to leave.
"Wait!" Emma yelled. The girl stopped and turned around, an annoyed look on her face and stared at the blonde. "Whats your name? And are there going to be any more of these beasts in this forest?"
"Jane. My name is Jane. And no, if you walk right on this path, none will sense your presence, I enchanted it making it as though its a repellent, also i made it thick enough so your feet will fit in the space. Just make sure to walk one in front and one in the back. I should get going.". Emma just nodded as the girl left. As soon as she was out of ear shot, she turned to Regina.
"She seemed really upset after she took a good look at you. Any ideas why, Your Majesty?" Emma said emphasizing the last two words.
"If you're implying that I have a history with her, then you are dead wrong. Ive never seen the girl before. Don't forget Miss Swan, my land was frozen in time for 28 years, and she is only a teenager." Regina snapped back.
"Ok then. Lets get going." Emma said as she started to walk on the red path. "You can't see this path right?" Emma asked. Regina just nodded. "Ok"
"Ahh welcome back your majesty, can I get you anything?" a butler asked.
"Oh come on Marshal, you know I hate it when you call me that. Im sure we made it clear to not call me that. I don't want that title. Just call me by my name. And no its fine, i'm just gonna go rest long journey."
"My apologies, enjoy your rest and please call me if you need anything. Jane." Marshal said. Jane just nodded and head off to her room as she greeted a few of the other workers.
Reviews are more than welcomed :)