Esme opened her eyes and was greeted by the scent of the damp, smelly stones that encompassed her and the rusty, iron bars that imprisoned her. Once everything gradually came into focus, and the reality of her situation had set in, she immediately looked towards Regina, unsure about how Regina would feel about what she had just seen; what she had just remembered. They were engaged. Robin had asked her to marry him after they had just put their baby girl, Esme, to bed; this was everything Regina had ever wanted. Regina was loved and she had a family, which was beautiful to see, but now, as they began to sit themselves up in their dingy cells, Esme watched as she was forced to realise that that had all been taken away from her. The slight smile on Regina's face, the one that Esme noticed when she first woke up, slowly faded and Regina lowered her eyes to the ground and allowed her hair to fall across her face hoping to conceal from Robin how she was feeling. Robin was looking at them both attentively, desperate to aid their recovery in any way possible, but he knew he couldn't do anything, at least not in the cell. He had learned that Regina was usually emotionally drained but Esme needed sugar, otherwise she would lose too much strength and lose consciousness; but there was no sugar in this godforsaken tower.
"Regina?" Esme tried to say as she continued to hold her mothers hand but the words slurred out of her mouth and formed an almost incoherent sound. Her head hurt. Really hurt and she wasn't surprised; she had used a lot of magic in the days prior to travelling back to Messenne and had had little to no sleep or food in days. She knew that the sound that had escaped her mouth must have revealed more than she wished because Regina stopped gazing at the ground and looked at Esme. She held Esme's face in her hands, desperate to see if her eyes were weary or if she was pale, but it was no use because Esme's eyes had already started to roll back into her skull and Regina couldn't support her as she fell back in a slump on the floor, with the chains that connected her hands and feet clanging together as she hit the floor.
"Robin! Get her some water," Regina said as she tried desperately to reach Esme but she couldn't; the bars that were separating them were doing far too good a job. Robin stared for a moment, frozen with confusion before eventually scurrying around the cell desperately trying to find something but there was absolutely nothing in sight.
"Regina there's nothing," Robin said helplessly. He looked down at his frail daughter and saw that beautiful, porcelain skin had turned a horrific, ghostly grey colour.
"Well we can't just do nothing!" Regina exclaimed as she grew more and more frustrated that she couldn't even try to comfort her daughter; she was out of her reach and too heavy with the shackles that restricted her own grip.
"Oi! Can someone get in here! We need water quickly! Hey! Do you hear me!" Robin yelled as he banged his chains agains the metal iron bar but it was fruitless; after 5 minutes of non-stop blowing, there was nothing. Robin thumped his hand hard against the cell, bursting his knuckle in the process, but he was too angry to truly feel the pain.
"Robin!" Regina exclaimed. Typically, it was her that was in need of calming down.
"What? Our daughter is lying unconscious on a freezing cold block of stone, in chains, Regina. Our daughter," he emphasised by practically screaming it, "who we got back in our lives barely a year ago!" Robin shouted, however he stopped when he saw the shock on his beloved's face. His hands were trembling with anger. But he had to remember that this wasn't Regina's fault. So he quickly apologised and continued to pace the room like an angry lion just waiting for something to kill.
"We will fix this. You know that she usually wakes up-" Regina said soothingly as she took his rough, dirty hands into hers, but her attempt to comfort him was interrupted by Esme beginning to groan and move a little. The two forgot about worrying about one another and immediately ran to be as close to their daughter as their cage would permit.
"Ouch!" Esme said angrily as she struggled to sit up. Her head was throbbing but she had no recollection as to why; more importantly, she felt a small, hot trickle of blood ease itself down the back of her neck. She move her hand to her neck to see the extent of the damage but when she then brought her hand forward and saw the worry on Regina and Robin's faces, she immediately wished that she hadn't.
"Esme! Come here, let me have a look," Regina ordered, worriedly. Typically a gash wouldn't be a problem because she would heal, but her hateful sister must have told these people that she was a witch because she now had a cuff, like Esme's, which prevented her from using magic. If she couldn't heal Esme, she would need medical attention and being locked up in this tower didn't make that possible.
"What's all the shouting about!" a very angry guard shouted as he burst in through the door. The anger, however, subsided when he saw Esme's hand covered in blood. Esme watched as the guards frustration quickly transformed into utter terror. He fumbled around for a second, dashing from left to right, appearing unsure about what he should do. Regina saw his confusion and grasped the opportunity.
"I can heal her," she said.
"Then why aren't you doing that!" The guard quized, as he worriedly glanced at the door for the 10th time in one minute.
"Because you idiots put a cuff on me that prevents me from using magic," Regina said in her true Queen-like style. It was then that the guard understood what Regina wanted and he eyed her suspiciously; evidently he was not convinced she would only use magic to heal Esme. To be quite honest, neither was Esme. She watched as her mother began to form a plan.
"Fine. But her cuff stays on," the guard demanded and with that evaporated Regina's hope of saving her family; no magic meant that Esme couldn't use the portal Regina as hoping to open. As the guard quietly opened Robin and Regina's cell, Robin had a strange expression on his face that Esme couldn't quite place. Once Regina had the cuff off and had moved over towards Esme, Robin watched as the gash that had caused Esme such pain began to disappear. Esme felt immediate relief, with an odd tingling sensation where the gash had once been, but her hopes of Regina or Robin doing something, anything, to get them out of here were cruelly taken as the guard almost immediately cuffed Regina again, and she, uncharacteristically, offered no resistance. He then hurried to close the cell and practically ran downstairs, leaving a very confused Esme and Robin to question Regina.
"Why didn't you do something!" Esme said exasperatedly, once she was confident the guard was out of earshot.
"You were cuffed!" Regina exclaimed. She looked at Robin for reassurance but he didn't seem to understand the importance of the cuff either, as he sat down beside her with the same confused expression on his face that Esme had on hers.
"So!" Esme said.
"Esme, you couldn't have travelled through that portal with a barrier that prevents magic!" Regina hissed, desperate to ensure that no guard heard them. She didn't care what happened to her but she couldn't risk Esme or Robin getting hurt.
"I know, but you could have saved yourselves!" Esme shouted. She couldn't understand why they had let such an easy opportunity pass them, but when she said so, the two of them simply looked at each other, then back at Esme.
"Do you honestly believe we would ever, ever leave you here?" Robin asked. The truth was that she didn't. She knew that the only way they would leave here was if she was with them, but she didn't understand why. Not really.
"No, I just meant-" Esme began but she couldn't truly explain what she meant, at least not in any coherent way. "Your children are back home and-"
"You are our child too! And you do know the reason," Robin said. Esme usually found Robins philosophical statements funny and endearing, but she was beginning to dislike them in times like these.
"Do I?" Esme asked.
"Yes! The reason you are here is because you wanted to save me and your mot- Regina," Robin explained, his frustration growing with almost every word.
"And so the reason we are not leaving is because we want to save you," Robin explained and with that he took Regina's hand. Esme smiled as she saw these two people, two very different people, become this perfect, powerful team; they were stronger when they were together, better. Esme had never believed in the soulmate things she used to hear when people told stories; she had always believed that you make your own way in life - only you are responsible for the choices and the decisions that you make. Although she still believed that, watching as Robin and Regina fell more and more in love with each other, and watching how loving Henry and Roland were, had taught her that its always better to have someone rooting for you. In that moment, Esme remembered that Regina's smile may be for another reason; she remember Robin had proposed. Esme desperately wanted to talk to her about that, but she couldn't. For one, Robin was well within earshot. Secondly, the door eased open and another guard carefully crept his way into the tiny rectangular room that held their prisons. He was trying desperately to be quiet, going as far as to close the door as slowly and carefully as if a baby was sleeping, and he stood dramatically in-front of their cells, in full armour and looking incredibly daunting.
"Eugh, we have just had one of you in here. What do you want!" Regina exclaimed as she rolled her eyes. Esme couldn't help but giggle a little at her mothers utter fearlessness; Esme saw the huge figure of a man, draped in armour and adorned with swords and daggers and she was terrified, but Regina seemed to see him more as a joke than a threat. Ironically, the guard apparently found her contempt amusing and grinned, before he set down his sword; a sign Esme interpreted as him trying, but failing, to make them more comfortable.
"My apologise. I'm Evan," the guard said. He stopped after the sentence and looked at all three of them in anticipation; apparently under the illusion that stating his name was somehow reassuring to the three people imprisoned and cuffed.
"And i'm angry," Regina stated, much to Robin and Esme's amusement.
"We have been caged up like animals and not one of you metal morons will tell us why," Regina continued. Prior to the guard entering the room, both she and Esme had been holding hands; Regina found it was the only way to comfort her daughter who so desperately wanted to hide the fact that she was terrified. However, as her anger and frustration grew, she rose to her feet and now she joined Robin who stood at the very front of their cage. Regina couldn't ensure her daughters safety here and that was something that she simply would not accept.
"They told me you were unaware of your situation," Evan said, completely ignoring Regina and staring straight at Esme as she sat pitifully on the damp stone floor with her legs and arms crossed. She looked at him with utter confusion, unsure about how she should react, and so he continued.
"I am not here for the same reason as Cyrus, Miss Esmerelda. At least, not entirely-"
"Stop speaking in riddles you imp, and tell us what you want with our daughter," Robin demanded, as he thumped the iron bars so hard that his already injured knuckle burst and a thin trickle of blood oozed out of the wound.
"I assume Cyrus hasn't told you of his plans for you, Miss Esmerelda?" Evan asked, continuing to overlook Regina and Robin.
"No, he hasn't. He wants me to train for something tomorrow?" Esme answered.
"And his plans for your parents?" Evan questioned.
"I assumed they were collateral," Esme said steely, trying not to give away any of her emotions. "You were correct. Are you happy about that?" Evan asked in a patronising tone that ignited Esme's temper.
"You're kidding right? I don't think i am meant to be happy in this situation. Fear of something happening to them is sort of the point isn't it? Thats why we are chained, that's why we are starving and thats why we are in this disgusting hole of a tower," Esme spat as she stood up and made her way towards Evan, who simply sat and stared at Esme for a few moments.
"Cyrus wants you to kill Zoe," Evan explained. He showed no emotion whatsoever, instead, he was focused on Esme. He stared at her as he said it and watched to see what emotion flickered across her face; Esme felt his intense stare follow her every movement.
"What? If i could kill Zoe, why would i have been running for the last 4 years?" Esme said, looking at Regina and Robin for some sort of reassurance, but their confused and shocked expressions didn't quite afford her any.
"That's what the training is for. It is unpleasant, i admit, but necessary i'm afraid," Evan said as he feigned sympathy.
"Well if Cyrus wants me to kill Zoe, what the hell do you want?" Esme asked, to which Evan laughed.
"You really are like your mother," Evan said as he leaned back and placed his hands cockily behind his head.
"We want you to take out the Dean Dynasty," Evan explained. Esme laughed for a moment, almost certain this was a horrendous and elaborate practical joke, but Dean's face remained still.
"HA! The Dean Dynasty? You mean you want me to kill Cyrus and Zoe?" Esme gawked.
"Yes."
"What? You are actually serious?"
"Yes," Evan said calmly.
"Okay… well completely ignoring the fact that i can't, why do you think i would ever help you people?" Esme quizzed.
"Because Cyrus will torture your parents every time you fail, and you will fail. We, however, can and will release one of your parents-"
"One?" Esme questioned.
"Come on now Miss Esmerelda, you can't expect us to through away our only assurance of your obedience!"
"Oh i think you'll find i can. You see, you have just told me that you are planning to overthrow your emperor. Now i don't know how Cyrus does things, but in Zoe's land, that was punishable by death," Esme teased as she watched the guards confidence slowly crumble.
"You let both my parents go or i tell Cyrus that you're a traitor," Esme said as a smirk spread across her face.
"You do that, I gut your parents," Evan said. He was standing now, but the nervousness in his voice gave Esme the reassurance that she needed; she now had a plan.
"You do that and i'll use that pretty little knife that Robin just grabbed and ill plunge it through my stomach. I would love to see you explain to Cyrus how the only chance he has of defeating his sister died while under your supervision," Esme taunted as she quickly grabbed the knife from her father, who passed it through the bars. As she was lifting the knife, and while Esme was grinning with pride that she had possibly just negotiated her parents safe way back home, her parents looked an awful lot less enthusiastic.
"We'll open the portal in one hour," Evan snarled at Esme after a moments silence. He had now lowered his face to hers towards the bars, trying desperately to reignite the fear he had seen in her when he entered, but even with his breath brushing her cheeks, Esme didn't flinch. Her parents were safe.
"Fine," Esme spat, remaining exactly where she was until Evan eventually gave up and left.