When I woke up my head hurt. A lot. I could barely open my eyes, and what I could see was pretty blurry. I appeared to be in... a cell. I suddenly heard pounding feet, or was that just my head?

"Emmy, Emmy, she's up! She's awake!"

I sat up groggily. I saw a boy come into view, about 14 or 15. "Hey", he said, handing me a glass of water. "You okay?"

I could barely process what he was saying, let alone respond to him. "Yeah... fine... thanks..." I started to doze off again when suddenly very cold icy water splashed over my face. "AHHHH!" Well now I was awake.

"Don't go back to sleep", said a younger voice, a girl's voice. "You might not wake up."

My vision was clearer now. The speaker was a little girl, maybe 7 or 8, with chocolate brown hair and the bluest eyes I had ever seen. I focused on the boy now. His hair was dirty blonde, and his eyes a soft brown color. Both were covered in dirt.

"What's your name?", asked the boy.

I was still a bit slow. "Uh... Elizabeth. Elizabeth Jones."

He smiled. "Nice to meet you, Elizabeth. I'm Michael Rivers, and this is Emilia Park, but she prefers to be called Emmy."

"Emmy... sounds like Emma. I know an Emma. And..." Suddenly I sat straight up. "Henry. And Bae... Where's my family? And... where am I?"

"You're in prison", said Michael. "At the breeding ground of evil."

"What?"

"Evil things are bred here, and they do experiments."

"How did I get here?"

Michael shrugged. "They brought you in here unconscious two days ago. Said something about how they rescued you from the void."

"What is the void?", asked Emmy.

"It's... a void. Emptiness. I sort of jumped in. Thought I'd be destroyed, but I guess I was saved."

"Why'd you jump?", asked Emmy.

"To fix a mistake I caused", I said. "It's a long story."

Michael smiled. "Well, keep it in, we have to go. It's cooking time! Best job."

"Job? You have jobs?"

"That's what we do. We work."

"Why?"

"Cause we have to. You coming?"

I considered it. Cooking was fun, and I needed to get to know the place in order to escape. "Sure."

The kitchen was huge. And I don't just mean for a kitchen. It was the size of the Storybrooke town hall, easily.

"Who are they cooking for?", I whispered. "An army?"

Michael looked at me seriously. "Yes."

A man spotted me, and immediately turned and whispered to another, who ran off. Presumably to say that I was awake. I began to study the room for exits. I found a promising-looking corridor behind the dessert section. A woman came up to us. "Prisoner 1, Section 3. Prisoner 2, Section 11." She eyed me. "Prisoner 3, Section 14." She walked away.

"Section 14 is desserts", Emmy whispered, pointing. Perfect. I could check out that corridor. I walked over and when nobody was looking sneaked down the corridor. Part of being a pirate - I was sneaky. It was relatively long, with crates and barrels lining the sides. But at the end was a door. I opened it and peeked outside. It was... outside. Judging by the landscape, it appeared that we were on Earth. Good. An easier, if long, way to Storybrooke. There was a fence, but I could climb it easily, having grown up on the Jolly Roger and then in various back alleyways and closed-off areas. I could do it. Right then. I could escape. But then I thought of Emmy and Michael. I had to take them with me.

I went back to the dessert section, where a man shortly came up and greeted me. "Prisoner 3. State your name, age, and realm of origin."

I considered what to do, and eventually settled on the truth. No point in lying. "Name: Elizabeth Anabel Jones. Age: 14. Realm of origin: The Enchanted Forest."

He marked something down on a paper and muttered. "Enchanted Forest... that's a new one."

A few more people came over, and we cooked for hours. Finally, Michael, Emmy, and I were released back to the cell.

"Guys", I said once we were alone. Michael and Emmy listened up. "How would you like to get out of here?"

Michael laughed ruefully. "As if. I've been trying for over two years now."

"And I've been here almost my whole life", Emmy said. "There's no way out."

"I found one in the kitchen. A corridor that leads outside."

"Yeah, but there's the fence", Michael said.

I smirked. "I was born and raised on a pirate ship, and spent half my life living on the streets. A fence is no issue for me, trust me."

Michael and Emmy looked at each other, then at me, and grinned. "Really?", Emmy asked. "We could get out?"

I smiled. "Really."

It was simple enough. There was surprisingly little security. We walked out the corridor and into the cold night. The fence stood, about 20 feet tall. I could climb it, easy, but how would I get Michael and Emmy up? I had to, I had promised them I would get them out.

"It's impossible", Michael said.

"Nothing's impossible", I replied. Then I remembered magic. It would drain my energy to use it, but I could. I would just have to get over first.

"Alright", I said. "Wait here, I'm gonna go over, and then I'll get you over."

"Why should we trust that?", Michael asked.

"Cause I could have left hours ago", I answered him. He nodded, and I began climbing the fence. When I reached the other side, jumping the last 5 feet, I turned back to Michael and Emmy. Concentrating really, really hard, I conjured a bubble around them and began to levitate it.

"How are you doing that?", Emmy asked.

"Magic", I replied. "Did I forget to mention that I'm also a sorceress?"

Michael and Emmy both grinned as I brought the bubble down to the ground and popped it. They came out, and the world turned black.

I woke up on the ground in what looked like a makeshift camp. Emmy was still sleeping on the ground, and Michael was cooking something over the fire.

"How long was I out this time?", I asked.

He looked over. "About 9 hours."

"And you did all this?"

He shrugged. "I know a thing or two about living on the streets. Been doing it since I was about 6."

I chuckled a bit. "Me too."

"But you said you had a family."

"Long story. I sort of became reunited with them about a year ago... then we got separated again... then I found them again, then the void."

"Wow", he said.

"So... what about Emmy?", I asked.

He looked over at the little girl. "When I was 11, they brought me to that place. Emmy was 4, and she'd already been there for two years. She barely remembers anything about before, just living in an orphanage and being taken there. Now I'm 15 and she's 8, and she's spent three quarters of her life in that place."

"Well now she's out."

He smiled. "Yeah she is." He finished what he was cooking. "Breakfast?", he asked, holding out a pan of eggs.

"Thanks", I replied, taking one. After we ate, we turned our attention to the future.

"So, you'd better be getting back to your family now."

He meant alone. But no way was I just going to leave him. "Yeah. Come with?"

He looked up. "You're not serious?"

I smiled. "I am."

"Well... that's great!"

"Yeah. Um, you know where we are, by any chance?"

"Yes. Somewhere in New Hampshire."

"Oh good. I live in Maine, it's not far."

"So we can just hop a bus."

"Not quite that simple", I told him. "The town's not on the map."

"What?"

"It's sort of illegitimate... and... long story."

"Um... okay."

"But if we can get to the nearest town via hitchhiking, I can find it."

"Alright", he said. "Let's get ready."

About a day later we crossed the town line into Storybrooke. We went into town, and I immediately went to Golds' pawn shop. When the bell on the door tinkled, he looked up and gasped.

"Elizabeth! You're alive!"

"Yeah long story. Don't have time. Where's my Papa?"

He grimaced. "Like I will ever keep track of where that man is."

"Alright. Where's Emma?"

"With Bae and Henry. At the park. But who are these new friends of yours?"

"Michael and Emilia. Part of the long story. Got to go." We headed off towards the park.