Regina watched with a sort of morbid fascination as the apple sitting on her desk began to wither and rot away. When the shriveled up thing started to smell, she angrily swept it onto the floor, and stormed towards the door, grabbing her jacket and her purse along the way. As she waited impatiently for the elevator, her thoughts wandered, and she did not like where they went.
"Oh dear God!" she shouted, turning towards the stairs. She went as fast as her black pumps would allow, blowing out the door, and down the street, towards Mr. Gold's pawn shop.
"GOLD!" she yelled as the door slammed shut behind her. Her breathing grew frantic as the worst possibilities of what could have caused the apple to rot flooded her brain. "RUMPLESTITLESKIN!"
"No need to shout dearie," the imp's voice floated across the room, making her more uneasy than she already was. She pivoted towards the man, and if looks could kill, he would've been dead in an instant. He only smirked at her anger.
"What seems to be the problem?" he inquired. Her brown eyes tracked his every move, her muscled coiled like a gazelle ready to flee at the drop of a hat. She was nervous, extremely. Gold chuckled.
"Well? I'm waiting. Don't have all day," he stated, busying himself behind the counter. She took a deep breath.
"The apple," she started.
"What about the apple?" Gold pondered.
"It—it rotted right in front of me, just shriveled up and withered away right there on my desk," Regina said rather timidly, almost like she was afraid of what the man would say next.
"Tsk tsk, I told you girl, you left too many loose ends," he tutted.
"I took care of the captain! Sidney left him lying in the street!" she cried. Rumple only tutted his tongue again.
"You just don't understand, do you," he leaned forward, across the glass counter. "You will never win dearie. That family will fight you until their last breath, and if that time comes, God forbid, I'll take up the sword. And that dearie, is a fight you cannot, will not, win. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some business to attend to."
The Enchanted Forest, a long time ago.
"Belle!" the monstrous looking man shouted desperately, clawing at the portal, as he tried to reach the girl who was hanging on for dear life. The Evil Queen's cackle could be heard above his desperate cries, and the swirling wind created by the green vortex beneath him.
The beautiful girl shook her head at him, tears sliding down her cheeks.
"You have to let me go Rumple," she mouthed at him, for her voice could not be heard over the roar of the portal.
"No," he whispered, shaking his head. "I can't." The girl looked at him, the beauty of her eyes, filled with so much love, distilled by the heavy sadness that threatened to overtake her.
"You have to," and as her mouth formed the words, she released her grasp on the edge, and then she was falling, and then, before he could even blink, she was gone.
"Where did you send her," he growled, turning to face the woman.
"Oh Rumplestitleskin, don't be mad. I didn't know you couldn't pull someone out of a portal with magic!" Regina pouted. Rumple's eyes burned with hatred, and tears threatened to spill over.
"I'll ask you again. Where. Did. You. Send. Her." he hissed menacingly, disappearing from where he was standing, and appearing an inch in front of her, holding a dagger to her throat. The witch only cackled louder.
"The land without magic, dearie."
KEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEK
"What do you mean I don't remember?" Emma asked the boy. Leo sighed, and shook his head.
"Home, the curse, any of it. You haven't been having strange dreams or anything?" Leo asked, his tone hopeful. Emma remembered the nightmares she'd been having, about Killian.
"Uh, no," she responded, her voice breaking. Leo sighed again exasperatedly.
"You've always been a terrible liar. I don't even need to use my super power to tell," he responded.
"Yea," Emma started. "About that. How can we both do that?"
"I guess that's a good place to start," Leo said. Emma gestured for him to continue.
"It's genetic," he said simply, knowing what her response would be. When he felt her emotions ramp up, he closed his eyes, and concentrated, and soon, they were at a normal level again.
"What—what do you mean it's genetic," she stuttered. "And why am I so calm about this? What the hell—I mean heck, is going on here Leo?"
"Emma, I know this is going to be really hard for you to comprehend right now, but you, Emma Ruth Swan, are the oldest child of Snow White, and King David, or James, that part is rather confusing. You have two younger brothers, and we can all do magic in some way, shape, or form. And we inherited the 'super power' as you like to call it from mom," Leo started to explain. Emma shook her head, because the poor kid was obviously delusional. She started to reach for her call button, but he reached out and grabbed her hand.
"Emma, I know you don't believe me, but you will," he promised.
"Kid, we aren't from fairy tale land," she tried.
"Yea I know, we are from the Enchanted Forest. A painting of our castle hangs in the hallway back at home," Leo responded. Emma remembered the feeling of déjà vu she had experienced looking at the beautiful painting, but quickly shut the thoughts down, the thoughts that the boy might be right.
"It's just a scene that Neal came up with Leo," Emma said, but even she wasn't so sure herself.
"He can paint the future Emma!" Leo exclaimed, slumping back against the pillow, and covering his face with his hands. It sounded weird coming out of his mouth, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense, and that frightened her to no end.
"Leo, you, me, Neal, we are just three people who got dealt a bad hand in life," she said.
"Don't tell me you aren't the least bit curious."
"Not at all."
"Liar."
"Fine!" Emma relented. "Tell me more about this Enchanted Forest."
"Well, the evil queen wanted to kill Snow White, but with help from her Prince Charming, who later became King David/James, she escaped, and together they defeated her, literally on your birthday. You, have two brothers. Neal, as I've already said, can paint the future. And I, kinda, I don't know, can influence people's emotions," he started explaining, eyeing a very baffled Emma.
"What can I do?" she interjected.
"You see, we are all products of true love, so we all have magic. You're the very first one, so you kind of get the whole package. You can move objects with your mind, poof from place to place, heal people, you even started a tornado in the dining hall once," Leo reminisced, his eyes misty, because God, did he miss his home, his family. Emma pretended not to notice the raw emotion on the boy's face, instead trying to make light of the situation.
"Why did I start a tornado?" she chuckled. Leo shook his head, and stretched out instead, taking up as little of the bed as possible, and tucked his arms under his pillow.
"You aren't ready for that," he stated matter of factly.
"Leo come on tell me," she tried. He rolled over to face his sister.
"Emma, you don't even believe this is real, you just think it's some story that I made up for attention or something. You are not ready to hear some of the stuff that you want to know. And I am not going to tell you, no matter how much you pester me, so please do us both a favor, and go to sleep. You're going to need a lot, dealing with a newborn," he reasoned, and she couldn't argue with him, because she couldn't see any flaws in his reasoning.
"Uh, goodnight Leo," Emma said awkwardly.
"Goodnight Emma," Leo sighed. See you tomorrow.
That night, she dreamed of castles and grand balls and a king with dark blonde hair and blue eyes, and a queen with skin as white as snow, and hair as black as ebony, and emerald eyes that matched her own. She dreamed of a man in a red vest, and a blonde haired, brown eyed boy, bouncing a black haired, blue eyed boy on his knee. She dreamed of running through gardens with a boy on crutches struggling to keep up with her, while a teenager, ten years her senior laughed at the sight. But she also dreamed of the crushing despair that came when the boy left, and the feel of a slap connecting with her face over and over, and how deep the words that were said cut. But he was always there, swooping in to save her from harm, over and over again. She dreamed of his limp, little body being carried into the gates of her castle, and the white light that emanated from his body when she laid her hands on it. And she dreamed of the one night that changed her life forever, and when Emma Swan woke up, she was different.
"You had the dreams didn't you," Leo smirked. Emma just looked at the boy in wonder, and when she opened her mouth to speak, no words came out. Leo, seemingly reading her mind, plopped a heavy leather bound book down on her lap.
"You still aren't sure whether you believe or not. But you will, once you read this. And, it makes sense, for the first story my nephew hears to be the one about his mother and father."