"Wow. You weren't kidding when you said this place needed some work." Emma and Roni had arrived at the docks at the designated time Tiana had set. They met up with Tiana, her fiancé, Naveen, along with their friends Ray and Louis. Tiana had set up a table and laid out a blueprint of the building.
"Yes, but when we're done, this place is gonna sparkle like stars in the night sky. See, I was thinking the kitchen should go here, and the stage should go here, and maybe add a balcony up here..." The more Tiana described what she wanted, the more her companions could see it. As long as they were committed to getting the work done, Tiana's dream could become a reality.
Once they each had their jobs, they got to work. The cobwebs were slowly disappearing from every surface, as was the copious amounts of dust. Not ten minutes in, they were all sneezing like crazy. The water-damaged floorboards were then ripped up to be replaced with new ones. It was around their lunch break that Naveen started playing on his ukulele. Louis joined him with his trumpet and they entertained the group with their jazzy music.
"When the restaurant opens, me and Louis here will perform for all who dine here." Naveen informed, continuing to play his ukulele and dance around.
"There won't be any performing if we don't get this done." Tiana reminded.
"But Tia, what's a few more minutes?" Naveen flashed her a charming smile.
"Well, with you, a few minutes turns into a few hours. Let's get to work." Tiana took his instrument and replaced it with a hammer. Naveen pouted, but that was erased by a peck on the cheek from his fianceé. They just barely got stared when Emma got a call.
"Hello?... What? Why?... Mom, I'm kinda busy here... But... Ugh, fine. Bye." Emma hung up and then proceeded to thump her forehead against the brick wall.
"Let me guess: your mother?" Roni said.
"Yes." Emma grumbled. "She's called an emergency town meeting. She wants us to be there."
"I hope everythin' is okay." Tiana said, having overheard Emma.
"It's probably because of me. Now that the 'Evil Queen' is back, everyone's probably worried I'll continue my reign of terror." Roni rolled her eyes.
"Hey, I'll be right there with you." Emma promised.
"Me, too." Tiana added. "We're all here for you, Roni."
"Thank you." Roni said with a watery smile.
"Let's get cleaned up and to Town Hall before Mom sends a search party." Emma said.
Roni was in a foul mood when she finally returned home. Emma found her in her living room, holding Lenny close and scowling. The emergency meeting hadn't gone over well. Despite a good handful of people on Roni's side supporting her and trying to convince the townspeople that she wasn't a problem, people were still fearful. In the end, it was decided that Roni wear a magic-suppressing cuff for as long as she stays in Storybrooke.
The black cuff on Roni's wrist stood out like a beacon. Just looking at it made Roni's skin itch. It felt like another shackle, another thing trying to pull her back under to that dark, dark place inside of her. She didn't want this. The cuff was another reminder of why she left in the first place.
Roni closed her eyes and tried to remember her old neighborhood. It was late afternoon, so Mrs. Smith would be sitting out on her balcony, the Martinez twins would be out playing on the sidewalk across the street with their chalk or dolls, Boris will be making his rounds before ending the day at her bar... God, she missed her bar. She missed talking to Boris and Charlie and all the other regulars. She missed the old couple who would come in every Friday and the retired navy captain that would tell her stories of his adventures in WWII.
"Roni?" Roni opened her eyes and realized she'd been sobbing. Emma gently sat down on the couch beside her. Roni scooted closer to her and laid her head on Emma's shoulder.
"It's going to be okay, Roni. Just give it some time. I'll figure out a way to get the cuff off. It'll be colder soon, so with everyone wearing sweaters and jackets, no one will notice if you're wearing it or not." Emma said.
"Thank you, Emma." Roni whispered. "But why are you so willing to go against your mother?"
"I brought you back to this hellhole, the least I can do is help make you as comfortable as possible." Emma answered.
"It almost sounds like you're not enjoying it here." Roni commented. "Not that I blame you."
"Don't get me wrong, I'm incredibly happy I found my family, but... sometimes it feels too... too... suffocating. After you left, everyone suddenly saw me as their princess, their savior. My parents tried taking over as King and Queen and everyone was fine with that. It took a lot of reminding that this isn't the Enchanted Forest and the US didn't have monarchs. Even after, everyone expected me to be their princess, but we both know that isn't me.
"You once said I needed roots to be here, that I was too flighty. Maybe you were right. Now, I feel like I have too many roots. That if I try to leave, I'll just end up hurting everyone."
"Do you want to leave?" Roni asked.
"Sometimes. After Neal was born, I planned on getting my own place, maybe move to New York, but... I don't know. Mom made me feel guilty for wanting to leave. She was like 'but Emma, we haven't gotten that much time together. Why would you want to move to another state when your family is here?'" Emma imitated Snow's voice, albeit a lot higher-pitched than it really was.
"You are an adult, Emma. Your mother shouldn't control your life. Trust me, I know what that's like." Roni said.
"Yeah, but... Henry's life is here. It wouldn't be fair to uproot his life just because I can't stay in one place for too long." Emma replied.
"Maybe not, but how about one more trip to Seattle?" Roni asked. Emma looked to Roni with a questioning gaze.
"What do you mean?" Emma asked.
"My car is still there. I would like to sell it and maybe show you and Henry my neighborhood. That is, if your mother doesn't try to keep me under house arrest."
"Don't worry about that. If she does, we'll make a bed dummy and sneak out the window." Emma shrugged. "Henry and I have been playing this game where you escape from different prisons. I think we got the gist of it." That made Roni laugh. Emma would be willing to break her out of her prison, despite what Snow said. Friendship felt good.
Snow White walked downstairs the next morning. She walked past the living room before backpedaling. Sitting on a shelf of the bookshelf was Regina's cat. What was his name? Larry?
"Hello, what are you doing up there? Are you stuck?" Snow took a few steps forward but stopped when the cat looked Snow dead in the eye as he placed a paw on a porcelain bird decoration.
"No, don't you dare!" Snow warned, but the cat slowly pushed the figurine forward until it tipped right over the edge. Upon hearing it shatter on the hardwood floor, Lenny leaped gracefully from the shelf and sprinted through the door and up the stairs.
"Reginaaaaaaaaa!" Snow yelled up the stairs. Two floors up, Roni buried her face in her pillow. She was just riding Rocinante through a sunny field when Snow's voice cut through her dream and brought her back to reality.
Snow stomped up to Emma's living room and confronted Roni.
"Regina!"
"Sorry, Regina can't come to the phone right now 'cause she's dead." Roni mumbled from beneath her pillow.
"Regina, Roni, whatever the hell your name is... your cat just broke one of my bird figurines!" Snow cried.
"Not my fault he has better taste than you." Regina grumbled.
"Roni!" Snow chided. Roni growled and sat up.
"Look, he's a cat. He's going to be an asshole. What do you want me to do? Magically fix it? I can't. You made sure of that. So, either figure out how to glue your stupid bird back together or throw it away and get over it. You can't keep blaming me for every bad thing that happens." Roni got up and disappeared into Emma's bathroom.
A.N.: Do you think Emma would like The Escapists?
Sorry I didn't finish this chapter as quickly as the previous ones. I fell head-first into another fandom that is so small, Fanfiction doesn't even have a category for it. Join me in this trash bin that is The Arcana! It's a romance/mystery visual novel app by Nix Hydra. I am all about that Julian route, but tbh, I have a low key crush on all the characters. Except the creepy goat man.