Chapter 3

Several days had passed since I had arrived at the castle, and with no luck finding Terry in the first group, I was waiting anxiously for the second group to get there. I still had yet to talk to Regina; she had been away for two days with Robin figuring out how to get into her castle. I twirled my ring on my finger as I waited for Regina to come out of the great room. I was convinced that I was going to tell her today, I needed this and I couldn't hide the secret any longer. The doors to the great hall opened and I stood quickly as Regina and Robin walked out followed by Snow and Charming. I stepped towards them, my stomach was turning and I felt cold. Taking a deep breath I turned away quickly I closed my eyes.
"Everything Alright?" Snow asked coming up behind me resting her hand on my shoulder.
"I'm fine…" I said smiling softly, Regina was halfway down the hallway. "Thank you though." I said hurrying after her. "Regina, can I talk to you?" I asked she turned to face me.
"Of course, is something wrong?" Regina asked stopping in the hallway.
"No! Well... sort of. Can we talk privately? " I asked she nodded leading me to another room. She closed the door behind her and I went to the window looking out over the valley below.
"What did you wish to speak to me about?" Regina asked turning to face me.
"22 years ago I was born in the Enchanted Forest and cast away from here to OZ." I said slowly turning to face her. "For years I had no idea who my mother was. But before I left the Emerald City, my father told me of how I came to OZ and who my mother was." Regina just looked at me confused.
"You're my mother, Regina."
"That's impossible, I don't have a daughter. " Regina said angrily.
"I wouldn't..."
"No. You're mistaken." Regina snapped, before I could speak.
She turned and stormed out of the room. I could feel the room getting colder around me as small ice crystals started to form along the window sill and around my feet. Closing my eyes I willed myself to stop.
'Don't feel, control it Essie.' I breathed taking long slow breaths. I would have to relearn how to control my magic. I fell to my knees, broken and unwhole. I had no one now. Focusing, I tried to decide what to do next, then pushed back my braid and got back to my feet.
I walked out of the room a little while later, looking around me. Seeing Neal and Belle, I walked towards them trying to hide that I had been crying. But he noticed right away, as did Belle. She reached out bringing me in for a hug.
"She doesn't believe me." I whimpered, closing my eyes as I felt my tears turn to ice on my cheeks. "Everyone is gone Belle. And the one person I thought would be there for me isn't."
"What do you mean everyone is gone?" Belle asked moving away to look at me.
"Zelena already took everything from me, for all I know Terrence is dead and so is Oswin. All I want is someone to be there for me." I slid down the wall and onto the floor with a sigh. Belle and Neal both looked at each other then Neal knelt down in front of me.
"We may not be family but were here for you." I looked up at him.
"Thank you," I smiled softly.
"Is there anything we can do?" Belle asked.
I shook my head, "No, but thank you. I just would like to be alone right now."
Neal nodded helping me up. I gave Belle another hug before heading to my bedroom. I closed the door behind me leaning against it, closing my eyes I tried to calm my racing heart. The air grew colder around me once again. Once I opened my eyes, all around me was snow. It was just sitting there drifting in the air. I didn't do anything about it. I didn't even move. I only watched as the sun set in the horizon. Everything was quiet through the castle as I finally made my way out of my room towards the kitchen. Grabbing a glass I got myself some milk and sat down at the table running my finger across the rim of the glass.
"Can't sleep?" A voice asked behind me I jumped spinning around to see Charming standing behind me.
"It's hard to have trouble sleeping when you never went to bed." I replied as he moved into the kitchen and grabbed the bowl of cookies sliding them in front of me before sitting down.
"I know the feeling. Saw you looking kind of upset around the castle earlier. Would you like to talk about it?" He asked, but I shook my head.
"Thanks but not really," I said, softly taking a cookie from the jar he presented.
"You remind me of Emma, always keeping things to herself." Charming said.
"Sorry, Emma as in Neal's Emma?" I asked confused.
"Yeah, she's my daughter. Snow and I had to give her up when the curse hit. Hardest thing we ever had to do. But Emma's strong, strongest woman I know aside from her mother. She's the savior and she found us. Even though we've lost her once more I still have faith she'll find us again."
"We have a lot in common, our parents abandoned us and we lost everything. It's hard losing people you love." I said biting my lip. "Sorry, that was rude." I apologized.
"It's fine, I know it's true." He said taking a cookie. "But everything will work out somehow. These things always do" He said getting up he smiled at me and walked out.
I sighed looking out the window as the leaves fell. Maybe he was right, Terry could still come back and Regina just needed time. At least I hoped that was all she needed.