"Yes!" Esme screamed as she was overcome with elation; however she was immediately reminded of her whereabouts when she saw the cage was enclosed in and so she immediately covered her mouth. She did however do a little dance, the one she used to do with Roland, as she was unable to hide her joy. They were safe! She had somehow managed to negotiate Robin and Regina's freedom; now Roland and Henry would have their parents back and Esme could sleep knowing that nothing she did would affect them. She couldn't describe the relief she felt, knowing that Robin and Regina wouldn't have to stay here, but her joy shattered the second she saw the blazing looks on her parents faces; she was suddenly pleased that there were strong iron bars separating her from them.
"What?!" Esme asked, utterly confused as to why they weren't as happy as she was.
"'What?' Are you kidding? Did you not listen to a word we just said? Esmerelda, we are not leaving this place. Not without you!" Regina screamed as she paced around her cell and told Esme off like a naughty school child.
"What? But now you get to see Henry! You'll get to know he's safe, and don't say you haven't been worried because i know you have-"
"Of course i'm worried! But Henry and Roland will be with Mary Margaret and David or guy liner or somebody. They have a whole town that i know will take care of them! They are safe! You are not! I won't leave you here, Esmerelda, and thats the end of it," Regina stated.
"We won't leave you here!" Robin said as he put his hand carefully on Regina's back. Esme could actually see Robins face grow a deeper shade of red every time she spoke.
"But-"
"But nothing! You are our daughter, whether you remember that or not! We have lost you once already, over my dead body is that happening again!" Regina declared.
"You won't-"
"You aren't even strong enough! You will be injured or worse and those idiots won't even care! We need to be here to care for you!" Robin explained.
"Listen to me, both of you," Esme said as she walked over to the bars and extended her hands. Neither Robin nor Regina seemed particularly keen - Esme could see Regina was still incensed - but eventually they took her hands and she began to explain.
"Look, the only reason you guys are here is because of me. You forget that I know what they do to people here and i can't let that happen to you; every single mistake i make will affect you. I don't do a spell as well as they want; you go without food. I disobey their orders; you get beaten. You guys and the boys are the only people who have ever really cared about me so i won't let anything happen to you. Please, you have to leave. I need to know you and the boys are safe, which means you need to leave Messene. Please!" Esme pleaded.
"Esme we love you, and will do whatever it takes for you to be happy," Robin explained, but as he saw a smile spread across Esme's face, he was forced to explain.
"But we won't endanger you to make that happen," he said.
"The only way we are going home, is if you are with us," Regina stated in the tone that Esme knew meant her mind, and ears, were now closed. This being said, Robin told Esme frequently that she got her stubbornness from her mother, so two could play at that game; Esme would help her parents leave this squalor, with or without their approval. Esme simply sighed in response to Regina's pigheadedness, but the breath in that she took initiated a yawn.
"Well now that that nonsense is settled, why don't you go lay down sweetheart?" Regina said as she pushed a strand of Esme's hair that had fallen across her face behind her ear.
"You guys don't mind? I'm kind of exhausted," Esme said as another yawn claimed her voice.
"Of course not! Here take this," Robin said as he handed her his cardigan.
"You must be freezing," Robin continued. She was. Esme had mostly been wearing Granny's granddaughter's old clothes ever since she decided to stay in Storybrooke, but the girl had a peculiar sense of style. Even though Esme always chose the more moderate items of clothing, it was a hot day the day they left Storybrooke, and the shorts and cami that had provided her some relief back there was causing her great discomfort here. She gratefully took his cardigan, lay on the straw bed she was provided with in the corner and wrapped the cardigan around herself as a blanket.
"Esme! Esme!"
Esme bolted upright and was rudely woken up not only by the shouting of both Regina and Robin but by the harsh clanging of chains, rattling of keys and the dim glow of candle light. It was pitch black from what Esme could see of the single window in the tower, and Esme could smell the nauseatingly familiar scent of evening waft through the tower. It took Esme's eyes a second to adjust to the darkness but she saw that Regina and Robin were being carried away by the armoured guards that brought them there mere hours ago.
"Wait, what's happening," Esme said in a confused daze, as she clamoured out of her 'bed' and made her way to the bars. It was too late, despite their fighting and protests Regina and Robin were transported down the stairs before Esme could say or do anything; within seconds of her waking up, the guards had left with her parents. Evan, however, stayed behind. Esme could barely make out his face in the candlelight but from what she could make out, he looked dishevelled. Esme guessed that he was in his late twenties, or early thirties, with a rough beard across his face and shaggy blond hair.
"You told us to let your parents go. That's exactly what's happening," Evan said with a smirk.
"You didn't even let me say goodbye!" Esme shouted as she gripped the iron bars as if she was willing them to move just so that she could wipe the smirk of Evans face.
"I'm afraid that wasn't on your list of demands," Evan taunted.
"How do i even know they are going back to Storybrooke?!" Esme demanded as she pressed her head against the cage. As she did so, Evan walked closer to her and lowered his face to her ear.
"You don't," he whispered, after which he laughed and sauntered through the door and down the stairs as Esme was left, speechless.
Now left alone, in the dark, Esme returned to the corner of the cell and was too exhausted to even attempt to hide her pain and as she felt tears begin to fill her eyes, she made no effort to stop them. Why should she? No one was there to see her cry.
Once she felt them softly roll down her cheeks, all of her pain and anger poured out and her shoulders heaved and sank as she sobbed in the corner of her cell. She cried so hard, and for so long that her head began to ache, however the pain and sadness that she felt slowly bubbled into anger. She could almost feel her blood boil and the palms of her hand now had imprints of her nails as her fists were clinched so tight. She couldn't describe it, but she felt this overwhelming need to through something, anything. She started with the straw, which she hurled all across the room with as much force as her chains would permit. She then moved on to the cup that once held a trickle of lukewarm water, and then the plate that somebody had somehow placed in her cell. She through it through the bars and it smashed as it met the wall inside Regina and Robins cell; Esme watched with delight that she had broken something that belonged to the monsters that put her here. With just one candle burning, Esme could barely see that the smithereens were dispatched throughout the now empty cell, but the glass did illuminate one thing; the knife. It glistened as the reflection of the candle bounced off its shiny silver blade. The problem was that it was wedged into the corner of the cell, well out of Esme's reach. In the moments that ensued, Esme tried everything she could think of to bring the knife within her reach, but her resources were limited and her movements were restricted and so the knife remained in the corner. Esme was trying for the 10th time get the knife when she heard the clanging of armour and so she scurried into the corner, away from the scene of the crime.
The guard that entered looked around in disbelief; there were shards of ceramics and straw everywhere. It was only when he turned the candle torch that he was carrying that he saw Esme huddled in the corner.
"Ummm… I just thought you'd want to know Levi got your parents home safely," the unnamed, unrecognisable man told her.
"How do you know?" Esme ordered. The man looked at the door before he crouched down onto his honkers.
"Levi, he said to give you this," the man explained as he extended a small mirror into Esme's cell. He had planned for Esme to take it, however when she refused, he simply set it down and left Esme in her cold, dark cell.
The second she heard the door close, Esme crawled over to the mirror. It was so small, that it fit in the palm of her hand and showed no sign of being anything remarkable. It's surround was simple metal, with not unique markings that Esme could see in the dark but when she flipped it open, Storybrooke came into view, and she watched in disbelief as she saw Regina and Robin.
They had both been thrown through the portal with such force that when Esme saw them through the looking glass, they were on the hands and knees. Robin rose to his feet first and then proceeded to help Regina to hers before they both whirled around.
"No.. No!" Robin said as he saw the huge beam of light had disappeared almost immediately. He looked to Regina for some sort of reaction but she simply stood where she was, her eyes transfixed to the space that once connected them to their daughter. Esme watched in horror as Robin paced and spoke to Regina, but Regina simply stood in a daze.
"Regina?" Robin asked once he noticed that she hadn't responded to anything he had said. He stood in front of her and saw that the confusion that he felt was not reciprocated with her; instead, she looked almost in pain.
"Hmmm?" Regina asked. She jumped when he touched her arm but she continued to stare at the small area of pavement she and Robin had just been plunged into mere moments before.
"Were you listening? How do we get back?" Robin asked, concerned.
"We don't," Regina said as she looked at Robin, as if his question had brought her back into the real world. Ignoring the confusion on Robins face, she turned and began to walk down the street; Esme presumed she was going home.
"What? We aren't leaving her there!" Robin shouted, remaining firmly where he was while Regina continued to walk in her trance like state.
"Yes! Yes we are!" Regina shouted back as she whirled around to look at him. Esme had watched as Regina maintained a cold, confused expression, until now. Now she was angry, and hurt, and sad and it pained Esme that she could see almost every emotion on her mothers face and know that she had caused it.
"How can you even say that!" Robin shouted.
"She doesn't want us there, Robin!" Regina screamed, her eyes gleaming as they began to fill with tears; as did Esme's.
"Wh-" Robin began but Regina continued.
"We aren't her parents! Not to her! We've missed over 20 years of her life! That's 20 years of scraped knees, of boy trouble, of sickness, of worry that we didn't get to help her through! She couldn't even hug me…." Regina said but the anger that had been fuelling her rant was quickly overcome by sadness and all she could do was bury her face in her hands, her shoulders heaving as she sobbed. This was the last thing Esme saw before the mirror vanished into a cloud of black smoke and just as Regina had cried, as did Esme.
This wasn't how this was supposed to happen. Esme was supposed to tell them how grateful she was that they had helped her, how lucky she felt that she had this amazing family and how sorry she was that she didn't always show it. She wanted to tell them how they made her stronger, braver and taught her that love was a real thing, a powerful thing. She wanted to promise them that this was only temporary, that she would come back home. They wouldn't understand, but Esme had never had one before; a home. She had never got to know people in the place where she lived, she didn't get to be on first name basis with her neighbours but more importantly, she didn't get to go home to people who wanted her there. The fact that she had that now made her feel tingly and excited and giddy more than they could ever imagine. The fact that they didn't know any of this, the fact that she didn't get the chance to tell them any of this, angered her slightly but pained her even more. And so she sat in the corner and cried until she fell asleep.