Disclaimer: I do not own the Characters nor the first part of the story. It's just my edited version of it.
Authors Note: I like this chapter! Hope you do too. Thanks again for the reviews/follows/favourites it gives me motivation to keep writing. Please don't forget to review! Thank you and enjoy
Emma and Neal were left alone in the open space where they had first appeared. Neal was sat down by a tree, still staring at the place where Zelena was only moments ago. Neither had dared to touch the pendant; in fear of what it might do. Emma began to pace up and down, hopelessly searching for something.
"What are doing?" Neal looked up at her "Would sit down, you're givin' me a headache." Emma continued to pace.
"I'm figuring stuff out. What did she mean 'time shifted'?" Emma stopped and stared down at Neal. He looked up at her in confusion.
"What?" he said simply.
"Zelena! She said time shifted" Emma stated while pointing down to the witches pendant. Neal stood up; something caught his eye in the distance. There was something pinned to a tree not to far from them. He began to walk towards it out of
curiosity. Emma's gaze followed him as he completely ignored her. Unbelievable.
"Hey where are you going?" She asked following behind him. He didn't say anything he just pointed to the paper.
"Is that?" He didn't need to finish his question as Emma already knew what he was trying to say.
"Snow" she finished. Emma pulled the wanted poster of her mother off the tree. Looking down at it that's when she realised what Zelena had meant. Time Shifted.
"I've got it" She beamed.
"What? How can your mum be here?" Neal asked still confused over the situation. Emma walked closer to Neal and grabbed his bag; she pulled out Henry's book and opened it on a page that showed the exact poster in Emma's hand.
"Look" He looked at the book and he too finally realised what Zelena's final words meant.
"Time shifted! We moved in time." He said in realisation. "So what time are we in now?"
"Well by the looks of it we are-" Emma began but was cut off by the sound of horse's drawing close. The pair rushed to hide behind some bushes in hope on not being seen. They peered through the spaces in the branches seeing a white carriage being drawn by pure white horse. The carriage was bought to an abrupt stop. There was a fallen tree stopping them from continuing further. A man appeared from out of the carriage. It only took Emma a few moments to realise that the man in front of her was, in fact her father.
"Is that?" Neal asked, once again not finishing his sentence.
"David." Emma smiled. She then turned her gaze to a woman crouched up in a tree, knowing it was her mother. Emma couldn't wipe the growing smile off her face as she looked between her parents. Neal followed her gaze to the woman in the tree.
"That's your mom isn't it?" He said with a smile almost as big as Emma's.
"Yeah" Emma said breathlessly; not wanting to take her eyes off the scene that was playing out in front of her. She began to lean forward to get a better look, when Neal grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back.
"Hey, we don't want to screw anythin' up" He whispered and pointed to the branch she was just about to lean on, noticing how fragile it looked. "That would be a bitch to try and fix" he said with a laugh. She smiled at him, tears welling up in her eyes. She turned her attention back to her parents when an orange light started to appear again.
"No" Emma gasped; she took one final glance at the scene, seeing her mother straddle on to one of the knights horses. The light once again filled the spaces between them sending the couple to a new unknown time.
When the orange light had dissipated, Emma opened her eyes and just as she expected, she was no longer looking at her parents meeting. She sighed heavily and sunk down from her squatting position. What ever time they were in now it was noticeably darker. Emma assumed it was night time; she began to trail off thinking about where they could have possibly ended up when she realised the lack of presence beside her. She turned abruptly to where Neal was, not but seconds before. Her eyes widened and panic set in.
"Neal?" Emma whisper quietly. She franticly began to search the surrounding area for any sign of her missing ex.
"NEAL!" she began to shout. She continued to shout his name as she ran through the trees. Panicked thoughts began to rush through her head. What if he had ended up in a different time? How will I get home? How am I going to explain this to Gold and Henry? She could feel tears filling her eyes once again, but for very different reason to before. She could feel the wind stinging her cheeks as it brushed across her face. It was starting to get much darker. Emma was finding it hard to see where she was going; out of breath and close to tears Emma came to a halt, grabbing on to the closest tree to her.
"Neal" She helplessly whimpered one last time. She was about to let all her fears over take her mind when she heard a voice. It wasn't Neal's; that she was sure of. It sounded as if it came from someone much younger.
"Whose there?" He asked shining a light in Emma's direction. She moved closer to get a better look. She had been right; it was nothing but a young boy. Emma felt an ache in her chest as she thought about Henry. She couldn't leave this boy alone in the dark. She decided if she couldn't find Neal or a way home, the least she could do is help a young child.
"Its okay I won't hurt you" Emma said softly as she emerged from the trees. She could see he was wearing brown worn out rags with a pale green cape.
"Who are you? What do you want?" He asked hesitantly, making sure to keep his face out of the light.
"I'm um, no one important" Emma exclaimed "I just want to help. Are you alone?"
The boy looked down, keeping his face covered. Emma noticed he was very closed off and seemed slightly paranoid.
"No I'm fine really" He replied. She wasn't buying it.
"Okay kid, I can see you're on edge, but I swear to you, I'm not gonna hurt you" Emma persisted
"I said I'm fine, my papa will be back soon. He told me to wait here" The boy looked up at Emma, finally bringing the light to his face. Emma was taken back by the young boy. He looked so familiar, something about his eyes she knew. She took a second compile a reply.
"I'll wait with you then" She declared, finally.
"No, please just leave me alone, thank you" He shot back quickly; obviously not wanting Emma to stay. She sighed.
"With all do respect kid, I'm not leaving you here on your own" She stated. She waited for him to protest, when they began to hear screams in the distance. They both turned to see the castle on top if the hill ablaze with orange flames.
"Oh my god, what the hell is going on?" Emma said in awe of the burning castle. She looked back to the young boy who didn't look as surprised as she was to see the fire.
Emma was about to speak again when someone grabbed her shoulder.
"What the hell are you doing" they said quickly pulling Emma back. She turned around to see Neal gazing back at her with a rather angry expression.
"NEAL!" Emma cried as she rapped her arms around his shoulders.
"Oh my god, I thought I'd lost you again" She said pulling back from his closed off embrace. She looked back at his face to see he was staring at the young boy behind her.
"Who are you?" The boy asked Neal in the same tone as he did Emma.
"Ermm no one" Neal shot back then turned his attention back to Emma. "Look we have to go now." Emma looked at Neal and then back at the boy.
"We cant just leave him here alone" She protested "there is a fire!" She said pointing to the flames growing higher into the night sky. Neal looked up at the flames, they seemed all too familiar to him. He didn't like this one bit. They needed to get away from here as quickly as possible. He looked back at the Boy.
"Hey look your Papa's coming back okay. Don't worry. Everything will be okay in the end" Neal said avoiding eye contact with the child. He then grabbed Emma's arm and began to pull her away. Once they were far enough away from the young boy Neal turned back to face Emma.
"What hell are you thinking? Are you trying to completely screw up the future?" He question in a firm tone. In all the confusion and fear of losing Neal, Emma's mind had slipped the fact that she was in the past. She looked up at Neal with realisation in her eyes. Squishing her face together and pinching her eyes shut.
"Crap" was all she said. There were a few moments a silence before either spoke again.
"Look I wasn't thinking" Emma started "I just saw the kid and I thought of Henry" Neal's face soften at the though of his son. Emma continued. "I couldn't just leave him there" She motioned back to the direction they came from. Neal Understood Emma's need to help the boy and in any other situation he probably would have done the same.
"Look he'll be alright, I promise" Neal said in an attempt to make Emma feel better about her mistake. He took a seat on a near by log. He placed his head in his hands and began to think about the consequences' they may encounter in the future. Emma hadn't moved from her spot, she was also thinking about the meeting with the young boy. Then she remembered what Neal had said. 'Hey look your Papa's coming back okay. Don't worry. Everything will be okay in the end' she looked over at Neal sat on the log. 'Look he'll be alright, I promise' Then it clicked.
"You knew him" Emma spoke up. By the tone in her voice Neal could tell this wasn't a question.
"The young boy. You knew him didn't you?" She asked moving closer to him. Neal didn't say anything; he just kept staring at her. "Was he your friend? Cousin? Neighbour?" She asked her questions getting more frantic. Neal broke his gaze from Emma's and turned his attention to his hands. Emma took a seat next to him on the log.
"Neal, talk to me" she said gently. Silence hung in the air. Emma could see that this was a delicate subject for Neal and didn't want to push him. Finally he spoke up
"He was…." He started not taking his eyes of his hands. "me". Emma didn't know what to say. She wanted to reply but couldn't get her mind around the fact she had just spoken to the father of her child, her first love, the man she had known for so long, as a child. She turned back to stare at the direction in which they came. She wasn't sure why she did this, as if she might get another glance at him. I knew I'd seen those eyes before.
"Oh my god, it was you" Her attention was now back on Neal. He looked up at her and nodded his head.
"I was waiting for my father; he had gone to get the dagger." Emma's eyes widened
She grabbed Henry's book from out of Neal's bag, which lay on the floor beside them. She opened it on the page of the story Neal was explaining.
"Tonight was last time you saw him as a man" She assumed.
"By morning all that was left was the monster" He said sadly turning the page to show Emma the inevitable fate of the young boy and his father.
"I'm sorry" Emma whispered softly.
"Don't be" Neal whispered back. The sky quickly became light once again. The orange glow, blinding the pair. But neither moved form the position they were sat; Neal only simply placed his hand in Emma's, entwining their fingers, in fear of losing her to another time.