The group had been traveling for a couple of days now, with Mulan and Mary Margret leading the way to Regina's old Castle. Emma had her doubts that the plan of taking a magic mirror back to Storybrooke was going to work, especially if Cora knew about it and she hasn't shown up since she nearly got away with the compass, but she would try just about anything at this point to be able to get back to Henry and the rest of Storybrooke. Even if it meant dealing with the charismatic and annoying pirate captain for a little longer than she would have hoped.
"How much longer until we reach this castle?" Emma asked, she was about ready to just sit down right then and there after walking the entire day again even though she didn't want to admit how truly tired she was.
"Actually…we're here." Mary Margret said just as they reached the edge of the woods they had been walking through for days where the castle had come into view.
Regina's castle looked perfectly untouched compared to the rest of the land that Emma had seen, including her family's castle which was practically in ruins. Emma started to notice some of the similarities now between Regina's castle and the playground that she had built in the woods after the old wooden playground was torn down after that awful storm. Despite the twenty-seven years that the palace had been abandoned, the castle still seemed to shine brightly in the sunlight. Emma also noticed how out of place the castle felt here in the Enchanted Forest, while there used to be small villages and towering stone castles, Regina's castle made out of metal and glass stuck out like a sore thumb against the forest covered mountain side, but the castle itself matched Regina perfectly. In fact, Emma couldn't really imagine Regina living in any other place after seeing this.
"I haven't seen this place in ages." Mary Margret said to herself, just above a whisper. Judging from the look in her eyes that Emma noticed, the castle didn't always look so…well, evil. "If we keep going, we might be able to reach the castle by sunset." Mary Margret said aloud now.
"Yes, and walk right into what is probably another one of Cora's traps." Hook finally spoke up. "Do you really think she's just going to let us waltz right up there through the front door without putting up some kind of fight? She's probably been waiting for us for days now."
"He's right." Mulan admitted. "We're going to have to find another way in, some way that Cora won't notice."
"There were the tunnels underground, that was back when it was my father's castle though, I have no idea if Regina filled them in or if she even knew they were there in the first place. They were put there in case of an emergency if we had to get out of the castle unnoticed." Mary Margret said. "If they are still there, the exit is not too far away from here."
"Would Cora know about them?" Mulan asked.
"Cora knows about everything here lass," Hook said. "But if they're supposed to be secret tunnels than it might take her a little longer to realize what we're doing."
"If it's the only chance we have of getting back home then I say we do it." Emma said. "Where is the tunnels entrance in the castle?" Emma asked Mary Margret.
"In the throne room, it's the only entrance to them." Mary Margret said. "Did Cora say where the mirror was in the castle to this supposed friend of hers?"
"In the Queen's Chamber." Hook said.
"We're going to have to go up a couple flights of stairs, we'll be noticed once we're in the castle, who knows what she has waiting for us." Mary Margret said.
"We'll just have to fight then," Emma said. "There's no way around it. It's the only way back to Henry and David that we have." She said to Mary Margret now.
"I knew there was a reason I liked you Swan, you love a good fight, don't you?" He asked with a smirk and Emma rolled her eyes at him.
"Let's just go in there and get this fight over with." Emma said and followed Mary Margret who was already leading the way to the secret tunnels exit.
Meanwhile inside Regina's castle, Cora was pacing back and forth in Regina's chamber with the ashes from the burned wardrobe in her hand, she was waiting for her newest accomplice to report to her that every entrance to the castle had been guarded by his "pets" that will warn him if someone enters. She had her doubts about recruiting him, especially after her partnership with Hook did not end the way she planned and he ended up joining the group of women, all because he was tailing around that blonde one worse than a puppy. Love, or whatever Hook felt for Emma, had made him weak in Cora's eyes, she knew he was useless to her the moment she found him in the forest after escaping the giant's castle, but she also knew she couldn't get to Storybrooke by herself. Even her powers were too weak to get the kind of magic she needed to make a portal. Cora heard footsteps approaching and her attention was directed towards the open door where her newest partner stood, a tall and thin man who was dressed in an array of brightly colored clothes with an equally bright hat that had a long feather in it and holding a golden pipe, he was the Pied Piper.
"Have your pets found all of the entrances?" Cora asked with some venom obvious in her tone.
"Yes, they have." He smiled. "I can see that your not a big fan of rats, are you?" He asked amused.
"They're not my favorite creature. They belong in sewers or in small villages, not in castles." Cora said.
"Ah, but these are not ordinary rats. They listen to me and the music that comes from my pipe. They don't eat or sleep unless I say so." He said confidently.
"And these rats of yours, they'll let you know if anyone tries to enter the castle?" She asked.
"They are my loyal rats, they have not let me down yet. If I told them to go find a golden goose egg, they wouldn't dream of returning until they had one for me." He said.
"Good. Let's keep it that way." Cora said and turned to face the shattered mirror that sat on the wall in Regina's chamber. Despite the fact that the mirror was of no use now or since her daughter pushed her through it, Regina still chose to display the mirror even if it was useless for now. "As soon as we get that compass, we're going to pay the people of Storybrooke a visit."
Mary Margret and Mulan both heaved the large wooden door open that was practically a part of the ground now as grass and vines had grown over it. Once the door landed on the ground, just a few inches away from smashing their toes, a puff of dust and dirt drifted up into the air, nearly choking everyone standing around the door. Emma saw an old set of stairs that were carved out of the ground itself that led down into the tunnel, and judging from the cobwebs that were on them, she knew no one had been in these tunnels for years.
"Everybody stay close, the tunnels are kinda narrow if I remember right." Mary Margret said as she traveled in first, followed by Mulan, Aurora, Emma, and Hook.
"Do you have to be so close?" Emma hissed to Hook as she noticed that she could practically feel the warmth radiating off of him from behind her.
"Narrow caves love." Hook smiled. "But something tells me you really don't mind it all that much do you?" He asked and Emma could hear the smirk in his voice. If she could have reached back to punch him in the jaw, she would have by now.
As soon as they passed the first torch that was in the caves, it lit up by itself, illuminating the dark and dusty tunnel they were walking through so they could see where they were going.
"Regina must have enchanted them. She knew about the tunnels." Mary Margret sighed now.
"Just because she knew of them doesn't mean Cora does, right?" Aurora asked.
All Mary Margret could do was shrug in return, if Cora did know about the tunnels, they were in for a lot more trouble than she originally thought. The tunnels went of for twists and turns, steadily going up along with the mountain that was on the outside, and torch after torch was lighting up as they passed it. Mary Margret was sure they were almost halfway there since the tunnels started to widen now, when Aurora stopped dead in her tracks making Emma stop suddenly and Hook almost falling right on top of her.
"Aurora, what's wrong?" Mary Margret asked confused.
"Don't you hear that?" Aurora asked.
"Hear what?" Emma asked now as she pushed Hook off of her.
"That music." She said and started to move ahead of the group in a trance-like state. "That wonderful music." She said dreamily as she walked through the dark tunnels ahead of them.
The group quickly followed her and when Mulan saw the trap that was set, she grabbed Aurora and her force seem to knock Aurora out of her trance.
"What happened?" Aurora asked confused as she looked down at the ground and screamed at the sight of the small army of rats that were sleeping on the ground in a line in front of her. Mulan quickly covered her moth to keep her screams from disturbing the rats.
"It's a trap." Mulan said.
"That's not one of Cora's traps." Mary Margret said and kneeled down in front of the rats as Emma slowly backed away from the.
"What's the matter Emma? Scared of a couple of rats?" Hook asked amused that for the first time, he saw Emma show a little bit of fear.
"Those aren't rats, those are giant mutant rats." She said, suddenly stopping when she felt herself back right into Hook.
"Their the Pied Piper's rats." Mary Margret said as she rose to her feet. "That must be who you heard talking to Cora, he's working with her."
"The Pied Piper?" Emma asked. "As in the guy who took a whole village of children and trapped them in a cave to die?"
"I'm impressed, that's the first story you've got right lass." Hook said.
"How are we supposed to get past…those things?" Emma asked and pointed at the rats with a disgusted look on her face.
"Quietly, I guess." Mary Margret said as she carefully stepped over the large line of rats and waited to see if any of them would stir from their slumber, nothing happened. "Come on, let's go before something wakes them." She whispered.
Note: First of all, I really wanna thank LiterarySiren for the idea of the Pied Piper, I never would have thought about bringing in another fairy tale character! And of course thank you so much to everyone else for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! So they're finally on their way into Regina's castle, I would have posted this chapter sooner but I've been so busy getting ready for Thanksgiving this week that I totally forgot about it. At least there's a new OUAT this Sunday, I missed it last week. I plan on posting the next chapter much sooner and maybe they just might get back to Storybrooke...if they can face the Pied Piper, his rats, and Cora first of course. Maybe Hook will protect Emma from the big bad rats? ;) xoxo