Chapter 1: I Wish
"Oh, Emma how I wish I had hair that looked like yours," Ruby gushed while she fussed impatiently with her brown curls. The constant pulling and prodding, curling then straightening then recurling, turned Ruby's normally smooth brunette locks into a veritable bird's nest, complete with fun surprises hidden inside. Leaning over, Emma snatched a hairpin that had been dangling precariously on the side of her head before meeting her eyes in the mirror with a smirk . Emerald green reflected off of bright hazel.
"And how I wish I didn't have to go to this ball," she huffed as she pulled harshly at the lace finishing on the sleeve of her gown. "If only our wishes had power," she added wistfully.
"Don't be like that Emma," Ruby admonished gently as she lightly tugged on an errant strand of her friend's blonde hair. "Perhaps you shall meet a prince worthy of your love tonight."
"Unlikely."
"Oh? What about Prince Bae?" Unaware of the sudden shift in mood, Ruby began to fumble through her drawers once again in search for more ornaments to place in her hair. The clink and clatter of makeup brushes sliced through the silence that began to settle in the room.
Eyes narrowing, Emma attempted to study Ruby once again the mirror. "What about him?" she finally spat, not even attempting to hide the sneer on her face or the contempt in her voice.
"Is he not your," Ruby glanced back and furth furtively before finishing with a whisper "paramour?"
"Did he tell you that?" The sound of Emma's voice, usually melodic and calm, came out as a shrill shriek, less of a question and more of an accusation.
"No... Victor-" Before Ruby could finish, the sound of trumpets and other brass horns filled the air. Glancing out the window, the two girls began to see the dark clouds of kicked up sand that signaled the arrival of horses and carriages. The moon was finally beginning to rise and the entire scene was bathed in a rich silver glow. Throwing open the window, Ruby craned her neck and squinted to see if she could identify the flag, thrashing wildly in the wind, carried by soldier that lead the pack. The air bit mercilessly at her face, a sure sign that autumn was ending and another turn of the calendar was approaching.
Once upon a time before the curse, one could apparently tell the changing of the seasons based on the trees. During autumn the leaves on the trees turned red and blazed orange and old. Grandmother Wolf had told many fanciful stories about the fairytale that was autumn. Back then, autumn meant that the air was crisp and the sun, a big ball of warmth that sat high in the sky, gently warmed your face and cast a golden light over your favorite book as you read in a cozy corner of the grove. Now, all anyone had to go by was the changing of temperatures followed by a period of death and stagnation. The grass, what was left of it, would soon wilt into hard nubs that hurt to walk on as all of the animals disappeared only to return again when the warm breezes returned. However, each year the animals returned fewer in numbers and the foliage grew back in sparser quantities.
Ruby can hear their grandmother's voice echoing in her head."The four brothers will soon destroy our lands as we know it unless we can break their curse with the most powerful magic of all. True love."
But what did that old bat know, Ruby thought to herself. The curse came long before even she was born and will continue to ravage the lands long after she was gone.
As the carriages approached, the mahogany and forest green stripes became more apparent. The colors of Sherwood Forest.
"Regina's going to be in a good mood," Ruby remarked to no one in particular.
Before Queen Snow and King David took the throne, Princess Regina was the one slated to inherit the Enchanted Forest. Cora and Leopold had made it abundantly clear that Snow was too soft and fanciful to run the kingdom and that Regina was the one who had the strength to ensure that war would never cross into their borders. Unbeknownst to everyone but Snow, Regina had no interest in becoming Queen. She had fallen in love with their stable boy, Daniel, and had concocted an elaborate plan to run away with him. True love, she called it. Unfortunately, a miscommunication between Snow and Regina led to a moment of poor timing.
Harsh. Sharp. Metallic.
At three, it was the first time Ruby had ever caught the scent of blood in the air.
Ruby remembered the moments that followed clearly. Regina was inconsolable and spent the next few years designing powerful weapons of destruction.
"She has been taken by August. There is nothing we can do now except for hope that she will somehow perish before she can cause any real destruction," Grandmother Wolf would often comment with a judgemental click of the tongue as she walked past Regina's closed chamber door.
Everyone feared for the worst until the day King David signed the trade treaty with King Robin of Sherwood.
"You think he'll finally go through with the last stages of the courtship tonight?" Ruby asked as she turned back to her friend. "Maybe we'll finally be able to celebrate a new marriage."
Emma shrugged, her anger seeming to dissipate as the tension released from her shoulders. "Better her than me, I guess."
Picking up the silver hairbrush, Ruby moved to stand behind Emma. Adroitly, she moved the soft bristles through Emma's already silky hair.
"If you don't want to get married, you should tell your parents. They'll understand. No one said anything when I announced my desire to remain alone."
"Yeah, but that's because-" Emma had to bite her tongue to make sure she didn't say it out loud.
"You can say it," Ruby replied with a smile. "Because I'm a wolf." Just for show, she ran her tongue across her sharp canines.
Emma attempted to throw a simmering glare at Ruby only to have it extinguished with a fit of giggles. The wolf's attempt to level a look of an unyielding flame was thwarted by her own hoots of laughter. "Put your fangs away before you hurt yourself."
Before Ruby had a chance to reply, the air was filled with the booming sound of bugles.
"Announcing the arrival of the Kingdoms Sherwood and Neverland." The generic voice of a Castle's Guard reverberated through the walls of the small room.
"I guess that's our cue," Emma sighed with an air of defeat. Ruby couldn't help but notice the heaviness that plagued the princess's normally graceful and animated steps. Something was amiss here and she was determined to find out.
Royal balls were reserved for special occasions and special occasions only. With all of the lands suffering at the hands of the curse, food and resources were growing increasingly harder to come by. Every kingdom, even one as affluent and blessed as the Enchanted Forest, had their fair share of starving villages. Oz was currently in the midst of attempting to mitigate a civil war that had emerged as a result of a grain shortage. Perhaps that was why Queen Snow was feeling so anxious.
"No," she thought to herself. "That wasn't the reason." She wrung her hands nervously as her mind wandered back to the conversation she had with the Mother Superior, Blue herself.
"What are you saying Blue? My daughter, my Emma is the one who's supposed to break the curse?"
"Yes, my queen. It is prophesied that she is the princess with the power to control the Four Brothers. She will be the one to end their reign of terror."
"But how?"
"She must marry before the next full moon if she is to break the curse as the prophecy has predicted."
"That's in less than 4 weeks! There's not enough time."
"It must happen my Queen or we shall all starve and pass before the next turn of the calendar."
Sensing his wife's unease, King David gently placed his hands on her shoulders, grounding her once again to reality. "I can hear you thinking. Stop worrying so much. Everything will be perfect." Her husband's placid baritone pulled her from her racing thoughts.
"I know David, I just can't but feel like we're doing Emma a disservice through this trickery." This plan made her nervous. Nervous that it wouldn't work. Nervous that the prophecy was wrong. But most importantly, nervous that she was sending her daughter away with a dishonorable man.
"It is not trickery, Snow. What royal family does not arrange the marriages of their children." His attempts to lighten the moment did not go unnoticed and yet did not manage to have their desired effect.
"But is it what we should be doing as parents?" The question slipped out as a whisper, an unconscious thought that had fought through all of her better judgement.
"We are not just parents Snow. We are the King and Queen of the Enchanted Forest and we must also protect our people." There was a tone of finality in his voice that made Snow back down from whatever she was going to say next. Defeated, she placed her hand in her husband's as the two of them entered the ballroom.
The main hall was cavernous in so far that it was an actual cavern carved out to be an homage to the traditional ballrooms before the Curse of Eternal Darkness. In an attempt to mimic the bright lights and merriment that used to come with balls, icicles of glass dripped from the ceiling, embedded with glowing, glittering chips. A gift from the fairies. Centerpieces were crafted from the finest gems as to look like colorful glowing candles. Scattered around the room were bubbling springs that rose up like fountains that gave off of the faintest of floral scents. Another fairy trick, but an effective way of making the room seem less desolate than it actually was.
A myriad of fairy lights twinkle against the inky darkness. Even the bare branches and dried leaves hanging from the ceiling were vibrant with a certain type of brilliance that made them reminiscent of chandeliers. Bolts of the finest silk and brocade cascaded down the walls, opening up to tapestries of beautiful sunsets. Gold, silver, and other jewels were scattered like confetti, catching the light cast by the magical lights. Everything was opulent to the point of excess in the hopes that all that was cruel in their world would be forgotten, if only for just one night.
The court musicians started a simple waltz, the only thing that any of them really knew how to play. Nonetheless, each of them attempted to throw in their own flourishes. Despite that, it was all wrong. Structured and rational, but nevertheless lifeless, joyless, and constrained. It did not breathe, take flight, or live. Nothing was the same after the Muses turned their loyalties to August.
Sporadically throwing glances at Ruby, Emma wandered around reluctantly and chose to remain on the peripheral of all the pomp after her introduction had been made. Her mother had insisted that she dressed in jewel tones even though all the other ballgoers donned earthen shades. To match your emerald eyes dear.
She turned her head just as Ruby let out a shriek of laughter. Victor, the healer's apprentice from Neverland, had somehow managed to stumble over her feet and fall into a misplaced chair, a sheepish look on his face. No doubt he was trying to impress Ruby. Shaking her head, she made her way over to the fumbling pair before she noticed him approaching out of the corner of her eye.
"Emma, darling." Her name curled on his lips in a sneer. Pressing his hands to her lower back, Bae approached aggressively, thrusting their hips together.
"I'm am not your darling," she bit back forcefully.
"Oh, but you will be soon, darling." He was toying with her and she knew it. Determined to not let him get the best of her, she shoved him away from her with one fast and fluid movement.
Her blood boiled and quickly sent her anger bubbling to the service. "Not after what happened with Tamara. If you know what's best for you, you'd stay the fuck out of my face. Before I get my parents to call the guards on you." Normally she wasn't partial to cursing, but in that moment was blinded by her rage. It scratched and scraped at her until it felt like her insides were burning.
"Didn't your parents tell you?" He cocked his eyebrow upward arrogantly. "We… are to be married."
Time seemed to slow around her. The music, the laughter, the hum of the various conversations happening around her seemed to wilt into a droning hum. She felt like she was drowning, suffocating under the weight of the prince's leer. "What? No, that's not possible," she barely managed to squeak.
"Oh, my dear. Not only is it possible. It's happening tomorrow at sundown."
Blindly shoving her way through the crowd, Emma searched frantically for her parents. It was a lie. It was a trick. He was just trying to get a rise out of her.
"Emma? Emma what's wrong?" Ruby? Was Ruby talking to her? She must be making a scene, but she didn't care. Ducking around her, Emma continued to stalk toward her parents.
"Is it true?"
"Emma what are you-" Snow looked at her daughter with worried eyes.
"Is what he said true?"
Gripping her daughter's hands, Snow attempted to pull her daughter into a hug, half for comfort, half to shield her from the now gawking crowd. "Emma, just let us explain," she whispered imploringly in her ear.
"Oh my God. It is true! How could you do this to me?" Not even giving her the chance to go on with their explanation, Emma sprinted toward the far door. The click clack of her heels echoed as she raced up the stairs before finally crashing into dark meadow above.
"I wish she would just leave me alone. I wish I never had to hear another thing she said to me ever again." It came out as a growl as she sent dirt flying with a violent kick of her sharp heel. Just as words slipped out of her mouth, the air around her grew cold as the world around her darkened. She gasped as the chill invaded her, starting from her toes and working its way up until her whole body was encased in an invisible frozen chamber.
The figure rose from the ground slowly, forebodingly. The dark smoke around him was sinister yet… strangely familiar, comforting. He was clad in all black leather, metal pins, rings, and hooks making him glow in the night. Dark hair stuck up wildly from his head. He was tall and slim, but well muscled. There was grace to every line of his body; elegance was not only in his air, but in the way he moved. He was disastrously beautiful.
"Be careful what you wish for, dear Emma. You never know what might come true." Despite the menacing tone, there was something wistful in his words that belied his cool command of composure. There was something vulnerable, fallible in the way he spoke. She suddenly felt herself drawn to his eyes. They were so impossibly, remarkably blue. For just a moment, she was struck by that feeling of familiarity again. It ticked at her brain, an itch that she could not scratch.
Before she could say anything, another black puff of smoke filled the air.
She saw it just as the smoke was beginning to clear.
Her mother lay unconscious in his arms.
She didn't even have time to scream before they were gone.