Hope you all enjoyed the previous chapters! Now here's a batch of three new ones, the first being an EF-chapter and then there are two SB-chapters coming up. Enjoy!
One Year Prior
Outside the Dark Palace, Enchanted Forest
This was the second time they had been attacked by a flying monkey since their return to the Enchanted Forest. At least the fact that they had now been able to identify the creature as a flying monkey meant they knew who they were up against; the Wicked Witch from Oz (although Grumpy had been quick to point out that they did not know if it was East or West they were facing). Most likely she was the one currently holed up in the Dark Palace with a protection spell keeping the former residents of Storybrooke out. To say that David felt uneasy about their new predicament would be an understatement. The fact that Regina also claimed that she had never met the Witch or in any way done something that could possibly cause her to want revenge did not exactly make him feel calmer.
A rumbling sound made them all look up at the sky once more, half-expecting another creature to swoop down towards them. What they spotted instead was nothing like that; a swirling, green vortex that swept down like a tornado towards the ground. Except for the strong winds and trembling ground that it created David was also sure he felt several thuds, as if the vortex dropped something off in front of them.
"Stand ready!" he ordered, raising his sword in front of him. Slowly the vortex withdrew from the ground and disappeared up in the sky as if it had never been there. The only difference was that it had left something behind; on the ground in front of them lay eight people, grunting and struggling to get up.
"Remind me to not ever jump into one of those things again", a boy, or a young man, with black hair said as he rolled over onto his back.
"I think I'm going to throw up", a ginger girl managed to say. A boy close to her, also he a ginger, lifted his head and blinked a few times in order to regain focus. When he noticed the group further down the road he frowned.
"Er, guys? You might want to see this."
"I'm only opening my eyes if you can get the world to stop spinning", a blonde girl responded.
"No, seriously; you have to look", the ginger boy said. Slowly several of the others rolled over and looked up, also they blinking several times before managing to focus.
"Who are you and who sent you?" David demanded to know.
"Were we just transported back in time?" a girl with strawberry-blonde hair asked, rising to her elbows.
"It almost seems like it, doesn't it?" the dark-haired boy who had spoken first responded. David stepped closer and pointed his sword at the group.
"Answer the question."
"Well, I'm Chris", the ginger boy said, "and this is Tessa, Maryse, Rowan, Clarissa, Catriona, Indira and Miranda."
"Wait, there are only eight of us here?" a dark-haired woman, Indira, said, looking around. "What about the others?"
"Others?" David heard Snow White ask behind him. "What others?"
"Our friends who fell into that vortex with us", Catriona answered. "They should also be here, right?"
"Am I the only one who finds this story very confusing?" Grumpy asked.
"There were fourteen of us", Miranda explained. "Six of our friends are missing."
"That still does not explain how you got here", David said.
"If we could explain it then we would", Clarissa, the blonde girl, responded.
"Am I the only one who has noticed the fact that they are dressed in a completely different way than we are?" Regina suddenly said, sounding vastly uninterested. Everyone turned to look at her before turning back towards the newcomers and now they, indeed, noticed that the eight young humans in front of them wore clothes that did not belong in the Enchanted Forest.
"Earth-clothes", Snow breathed.
"I'm sorry, did you say Earth-clothes?" Tessa, the ginger girl, asked.
"How could they have come from Earth?" David asked, looking at Regina. "I thought you said all of the portals there have been shut."
"That was what I believed", the dark-haired Queen answered.
"So we're not on Earth?" Maryse, the girl with strawberry-blonde hair, asked, sitting up.
"No", David said and lowered his sword. "You are in the Enchanted Forest."
The group stared at him before they all started laughing.
"And that makes you, what, Prince Charming?" Rowan asked.
"Actually yes."
The laughter died out as quickly as it had started, replaced by stunned stares.
"You're kidding", Clarissa said. David stepped aside slightly.
"Allow me to introduce my wife, Snow White, the Seven Dwarves, Belle, Neal, Granny, Red Riding Hood, the Merry Men, Robin Hood, and Regina, the former Evil Queen."
"Okay, that's... really not what I was expecting to happen when I woke up this morning", Indira said, slowly rising.
"Until you are reunited with your friends and find a way back home you are welcome to stay with us", David continued. "Meanwhile we others stick to our original plan; arm up, then attack. Assuming you can get the shield down."
He looked at Regina who gave him an icy glare.
"You don't have to worry about me", she responded and took a step forward, aiming to leave.
"I'm coming with you", Snow said, readying her bow once more.
"No", Regina interrupted. "This is a one woman job."
"What?" Snow said. "Against the Wicked Witch?"
"Sorry, the what-now?" Clarissa asked, expressing the confusion she and her friends probably all felt. Snow decided to ignore them for now.
"Regina, she has flying monkeys and who knows what else!"
"I don't care if the Lollipop guild is protecting her", Regina said, her voice sharp and her dark gaze piercing. "I can lower that shield on my own."
David looked at Snow and saw something in his wife's expression that he could best describe as realization. However, what it was that she had realized he did not know.
"Then we'll be waiting for you on the other side", Snow eventually said, managing a smile. Regina held her gaze a short while longer before she turned and headed off down another path. The group of newcomers looked after her in sheer surprise before turning back towards the fairytale characters.
"The Wicked Witch?" Maryse asked. "As in the one from Oz?"
"It would seem that she has taken over our home in our absence", David said. "What her reason might be is unknown."
"Why do I get the feeling that your stories are not exactly the ones we grew up hearing?" Catriona asked.
"They probably aren't", Belle responded. "It's a long story, though."
"Is there anything else we have to do besides hearing that story?" Miranda asked.
"We need to find somewhere with a good view of the Dark Palace so that we know when Regina has lowered the shield", David said and sheathed his sword. "Robin?"
He looked around, but to his surprise he found that the outlaw had disappeared, leaving his young son, Roland, in the arms of Little John.
"Where did he go?" one of the dwarves asked. None of the Merry Men answered; apparently they were too loyal to their leader to reveal wherever he had gone off to.
"He's not going to cause trouble, Charming", Snow said, giving him a slight hint of a smile. "One of his men might know a good location."
"There's an old campsite not far from here that might suffice", Little John eventually answered. "It is well protected but also has good look-out locations."
"Good", David said. "Let's get moving."