And the updates continue. This isn't much of an action chapter, but sometimes you need to take time to set up for future chapters! Soutout to Kath9567, my new beta reader. From here on out it might take me a little longer to get new chapters out, but they'll be better written with less mistakes. Woo! Read on!

We were led into a small building. The building itself couldn't necessarily be described as 'modest' since it was the largest one here, though that wasn't saying much. Every building in the compound was small, maybe designed to house four people in a single room, at best. But this one was larger, almost grander. It had an air about it, of being a headquarters, as if the people in charge lived here. It seemed my assumption was right as Mulan directed us into a room with a large table in it. There were guards on either side of the door that led to the outside; serious-faced men who had obviously seen battle and would kill again if necessary. Mulan walked through a doorway on the other side of the large room and leaned in. "They are here." It all had a 'secretary and the boss' kind of feeling, minus the R-rated behind the scenes action.

"Good." A deep voice stated from the other side of the door. Mary Margaret's head lifted, almost as if she recognized the voice. A little bit of hope appeared in her eyes.

"What is it?" I whispered.

"Just wait." She whispered back. Mulan took a step back from the door and allowed a man to walk through. He was tall and strongly built. He was wearing most of his armor as if he expected to be called into battle at any moment. Mary Margaret gasped in surprise. "Lancelot!"

"Lancelot?" I questioned. Of the round table? No matter how many of these fairy tale characters I meet, I am still surprised each and every time I meet a new one.

"Snow!?" He exclaimed, rushing over and lifting her up in a bear hug. "I don't understand? We thought you were dead!"

"We thought you were dead!" She said with her arms still wrapped around his shoulders. He put her down. "I don't understand. How are you alive?"

Lancelot then said, "We've been frozen here. We don't know for how long, but there was something, some kind of curse. For a long time, maybe many years, we were frozen in the place wherever we had been when the curse struck. And then maybe a year ago, the curse broke. Since then we've been living in this safe haven. It's the only place the ogres haven't reclaimed. Where have you been?"

Snow and Lancelot reminded me of teenagers in the way they were catching up.

"It was Regina who cast the curse. I have been trapped in another land. She took away all of our happy endings, trapping us in a world without magic and frozen in time. We spent twenty eight years living our lives and not knowing that we had all been separated from our true loves and from our families. And then, a year ago, Emma came to Storybrooke. She broke the curse."

"Storybrooke?" He asked.

"That's the name of the land we come from."

"And Emma?" He looked at me and Mary Margaret pulled him by his arm to me.

"This is my daughter, Emma." He looked at her with a shocked expression on his face. "Emma, this is my dear friend, Lancelot. He saved me; more than once. And, Emma saved all of us."

I shuffled from one foot to the other, embarrassed at the tone of pride Mary Margaret had used when speaking about me. Lancelot kneeled in front of me like a knight before his queen. "Emma, it is an honor to make your acquaintance. Your bravery will be known throughout the land and all will clamor to be subjects in your kingdom."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa Lancelot. Slow your roll. I don't have a kingdom."

"Maybe not yet, but you are a Princess. Every princess will have her kingdom."

I looked over at Mary Margaret in horror. She stepped into the conversation, pulling Lancelot up from his knees. "We haven't really provided her with all the details of being royalty yet. She was raised apart from us and as an orphan." The sadness in her eyes when she said orphan made me look away, embarrassed by the moment.

Lancelot looked down at both of us. "It seems as if we have much to discuss Snow. For instance, where is Charming?"

"Charming is trapped in the other world with Emma's son, my grandson."

"You have a grandson? At any other time this news would be cause for a great celebration. As you can see we no longer have the ability to do such things. What is his name?"

"His name is Henry and you would love him." Tears welled up in Snow's eyes and I tried to contain myself. In watching the exchange between Lancelot and Snow I managed to grasp some of what my parents had lost. Everything. They had lost everything and everyone.

"I hate to break up this reunion but what about their punishment?" Mulan said. "They are responsible for Philip's death."

Lancelot turned back to us. "What happened? Mulan believes that because of you, our Prince is dead."

Mary Margaret turned to me and allowed me to explain. "It's kind of a long story but basically I broke the curse back home. Everyone woke up and they now remember who they were here, in Fairy Tale Land. Mr. Gold-err-Rumplestiltskin somehow brought magic to our land. Before that, there was no magic where we live. So he summoned a wraith and sent it after Regina, The Evil Queen." It pained me to call her The Evil Queen now but that was who she had been in this land and that was who Lancelot would know her as. "The wraith was targeting her and we had to protect her. Regina is the mother of my son and I would not allow her to be killed when I had any power to stop it." He looked confused so I needed to explain further. "I gave my son Henry up for adoption ten years ago. Regina adopted him and cared for him like he was her own. Anyway, I couldn't let her die. We found a way to open a portal and intended to send the wraith somewhere else. We were under the impression that Fairy Tale Land had already been destroyed by the curse so we thought to send the wraith here and it would then be destroyed. But it turned out that this land still existed and that Prince Philip had also been marked by the wraith. So when the wraith came here, it attacked him. But we didn't know that would happen; I swear. If I had known that you were all still alive and living here I would have done my best to find somewhere else to send it or come up with another way to be rid of it. We didn't want anyone to get hurt." I stopped talking and waited for Lancelot to say something, anything.

"Well…" He spoke slowly, as if he was worried about angering Mulan, who he was now looking at. "It seems to me that we can't blame them for this. They are to be protected. Do you understand?" Mulan nodded curtly. Lancelot turned back to Mary Margaret and I. "Snow, you and Emma," he nodded at me, as if to acknowledge that he was speaking to me and not just about me, "are my guests. I insist that you stay here with us."

"Lancelot, you are so kind. But we cannot stay. We must get back to Storybrooke." She looked at me and pulled me closer. "We have a family that needs us." I smiled, an embarrassed smile, still not used to this whole mother-daughter dynamic. I found it quite unsettling.

"What do you plan to do?"

"We don't know yet."

"Well then let's all sit down and discuss it. First, tell me how you escaped Fairy Tale Land."

"I did not escape. I was claimed by the curse. Emma did escape though. She escaped through-"

"A wardrobe." I cut in, feeling left out of the conversation. It felt like being the forgotten child at the adult's table. "They put me in a magical wardrobe shortly after I was born. The wardrobe had been carved from an enchanted tree with just enough magic to send me through to a different world." Reading Henry's book had truly come in handy.

"So this magical wardrobe created a portal?" Mulan asked, sitting down and joining our conversation for the first time. Mary Margaret nodded affirmatively. "Does this wardrobe still exist?"

"I have no idea. When the curse came down, the roof of the room we were in was destroyed and we were taken by the curse. I don't know how everything else fared or even if my castle itself still stands."

"We have no choice." I spoke, my voice sounding strong. "We have to go to your castle and see. It's the best hope we have right now."

"Is there anything I can say to convince you otherwise?" Lancelot asked, his hands clenched together and his shoulders hunched forward. "This is the safest place in the land and this quest you propose; it is dangerous. All of the kingdoms in this area are dangerous."

"There is no persuading me, my friend. We must go."

"Then at least do me one favor. Allow my best warrior to accompany you both."

Snow looked at me and I shrugged. She nodded at Lancelot. "Okay, I accept your offer."

"Good. Then Mulan will accompany you on your journey." He clapped his hands together as if that sealed the deal. Mulan bowed her head in acknowledgement. "The sun has almost set and traveling at night is unwise. You can begin your trip first thing in the morning. Mulan will show you where you can retire for the night."

"Thank you." Snow gushed to him. "For everything."

"It is my pleasure. Good luck to both of you and may you find what you're looking for."

Mulan rose silently, nodded to Lancelot and exited the room. We followed her. "There are not many open beds within the camp. However, there is one cottage with two beds. You may rest there for the night." She led us to the cottage, opened the door and walked through the door ahead of us. "There are only wool blankets. That is all we have." She pointed to a large wooden bowl. "That is your washing water." She pointed to a slightly smaller bowl on the other side of the shack. "That bowl is your drinking water. Do not confuse the two. Rest tonight. We leave at dawn." And then she left. Mulan was all business. I was pretty sure I would never like her, even if my jaw didn't ache from the hit she gave me.

I sat down wearily on one of the beds which seemed to be simply constructed from a wooden frame with a stuffed straw mattress on top. It didn't look comfortable at all. It didn't feel comfortable at all. Mary Margaret sat down on the other bed across from me.

"Emma? What happened before?"

I considered pretending I didn't know what she was talking about but that seemed like a waste of time. "I don't know. I'm not even sure if it was real." She looked at me questioningly. "I was afraid. Terrified. I knew I was going to die. Except," I paused, bracing myself. "It wasn't me. None of it was me."

She looked at me, concerned. "Who was it?"

"I was Regina."

"What do you mean, you were Regina?"

"I was in her head. I could see what she was seeing. I could feel what she was feeling. She knew she was going to die. And she called for me."

"Regina knew she was going to die and she called for you? From Storybrooke?"

"Yes. But I don't think she called for me, exactly. She thought about me. She thought, 'Emma, save me.'"

"What was she in danger from?"

My jaw almost dropped. "You believe me?"

"Of course I believe you. You're my daughter and magic is far more powerful then you know."

I smiled. "She was being attacked." I thought back to Regina's thoughts. "By Daniel. He was choking her to death."

Mary Margaret stood up and appeared to be in shock. "Daniel? Her lover Daniel?"

My blood boiled a bit. It took me a minute to realize the feeling I was having was jealousy. "Yes."

"How?"

"I don't know."

"And what happened?"

"I saved her somehow. I don't know how or why but together, Regina and I somehow make magic work. It happened yesterday with Jefferson's hat and then again today, with Daniel. I don't know how to control it or even if this is all real. But if it is, somehow, Regina and I share something powerful. Something magical." I kept last night's dream to myself. Snow White might be my mother but something told me she didn't need to hear about my dreams on hooking up with the Evil Queen.

Mary Margaret sat back down on her bed and I stood up and paced a bit. I pulled off my jacket, revealing the simple tank top I was wearing underneath. "What is that?" Snow asked.

I turned to her. "What's what?"

She stood up and crossed the few feet between the beds and pointed to my left arm. "That."

I looked down and around mid-bicep on my arm was a strange mark. The mark looked like a burn that had long since healed and was almost back to the same color as the skin around it. "I have no idea. That wasn't there yesterday."

"It looks like…," she placed her hand over it and her fingers almost fit over it perfectly." It looks like a handprint."

Sometime later, in the silence and darkness of the night, as I lay in the bed lost amongst my thoughts of Henry and Regina, one last thought snuck in my head before sleep overtook me. What is happening to me?

"Regina!" I coughed some more, gasping as air rushed into my lungs. "Regina." I heard footsteps come running towards me and then hands grabbed me around the arms and hauled me up from the ground. "Are you ok?" David asked me, concern written all over his face.

I had to take a few deep breaths before I could even speak. "Where's Henry?" My voice came out strangled, sounding hoarse. "Where's my son?"

"He's hiding." He turned away and shouted, "Henry, its safe!" David turned back towards me. "Regina, what happened here? Where is Daniel?"

I pointed at the pile of dust sitting in front of me. "There's Daniel."

Little footsteps came running towards us and I turned around just in time for Henry to slam directly into me. "Mom!" He wrapped his arms around my middle, holding me tight. "I was so scared!" It was the first time he had willingly hugged me in a long time and at first, I was stunned. But then I bent down and picked him up like I had done so many times throughout his life. He was almost too big for me to lift up anymore. He cried into my shoulder. "I thought I was going to die."

"Henry, I will never let anything happen to you. I love you." I said, the tears pouring down my face. "You're my son." He held on tightly, just like a little koala bear. I used to call him that until one day he decided he was too old to be a koala bear. I smoothed his hair over and set him down. "You're alright Henry."

"Why don't you take Henry home?" David suggested. "I've got to go and find Henry's horse and then visit Dr. Whale anyway. If Henry would like to stay with you tonight, that's fine." He looked down at Henry. "Is that alright with you?"

I braced myself for his 'no' but he surprised me. "Yeah. I want to go home." He smiled up at me.

"Go and wait for me by the car and we will go home." Henry hugged me one more time and began walking towards the car. I hope the battery isn't dead, I randomly thought, before turning back to face Charming.

"Are you going to tell me what happened here?" He asked.

"I will, but not until tomorrow. Tomorrow we can meet. Tonight I am going to go home, make dinner for my son and be thankful that I am alive. And I hope you can respect that."

David nodded and I started to walk away. "Regina!" He called my name and I turned back to face him. "I'm glad you're ok. For Henry's sake."

"Thank you." I said and walked to where my son was waiting by the car, which thankfully, was still running. Maybe Prince Charming does deserve his happiness after all.

Hours later, after I had made dinner for Henry and myself and had tucked him into bed, I laid in my own bed repeatedly going over the events of the day. I crawled out of my bed and walked down the hallway towards Henry's room. I opened the door and looked in, making sure he was safe and asleep. He didn't even stir as I peeked in so I shut the door and went back to my room, once more climbing into bed and tried to relax. Emma had saved me today. She had known I was in trouble and somehow she had come to my rescue. I tried to figure out how exactly our connection worked but there was still so much I didn't know about it. Long after midnight I finally drifted off to sleep, putting Daniel and the horrors of the day behind me.

Once again, basically a chapter to help me move on to my next part. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and approved of the Mark. Pretty soon I'm going to explain a lot more about the mar and such. Let me know what you guys are thinking, and all praises to my patient beta reader!

Dez.