Chapter Twenty-one: An Apple as Red as Blood

.

"Any day now," Belle mumbled, rubbing her stomach. "Any day now, baby."

"Doesn't work like that," Emma called as she entered the library. "Trust me, I tried. Henry did not come any faster." Emma handed Belle a book. "Her Handsome Hero. Robin told me you wanted to buy a copy."

Belle took the book gratefully. "Thank you so much, Emma."

"Not a problem," Emma said.

.

Narnia, Many Years into the Future's Past

.

"We really should get back to the professor's house," Peter said seriously.

Lucy frowned. "But, Peter, we can't leave! You're the High King of Narnia now, and Susan, Edmund, and I are the Queens and King as well."

Susan laid her arrows out on the table in front of her. "She's right, Peter. If we leave now, who knows what will happen to Narnia. It's only been a year."

"A happy year, I hope?" A woman asked. She was pale and wore all white. "Peaceful? I suppose without me in your way-"

"Jadis," Edmund gasped. "But Aslan killed you!"

Jadis laughed. "That lion kill me? No, dear, Edmund, he did not."

Peter started tapping on Susan's hand underneath the table. In turn, Susan tapped Edmund's hand who then tapped Lucy's hand.

"I merely disappeared," Jadis explained. "But now I'm back."

"NOW!" Peter yelled. He drew his sword and charged Jadis. She easily deflected the hit and the two began a fierce sword fight.

Susan grabbed Lucy and shoved her towards a wardrobe. "Go!" She yelled. "We're right behind you!"

Lucy unwillingly stepped into the wardrobe and watched as Susan closed the door leaving it slightly ajar.

Meanwhile, Edmund had grabbed his aid Peter in the fight.

Susan snatched her bow and arrows. She took up a position behind Jadis.

"Surrender, witch," Peter growled. "You're surrounded."

Jadis smirked. "Am I?" She thrusted the point of her sword into the ground. A wave of ice expanded outwards from it, freezing over everything in its path.

"NO!" Lucy screamed as her siblings were turned into ice statues. She tried to escape, but the ice slammed the wardrobe door shut. She back away and willed the wardrobe passage to disappear once she made it to the other side safely.

Once there, she knocked on the door. Lucy heard voices whispering on the other side.

"Hello?" She called. "Is someone there? Please, let me out!"

A blonde haired woman yanked the door wide open. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Lucy. Queen Lucy of Narnia," Lucy answered.

.

Storybrooke, Present Day

.

"Do you think we'll remember the future once the curse is broken?" Emma asked Snow and David. She had decided to visit after Killian and Henry forced her to take off from sheriff duty.

Snow sighed. "Emma, that's the fifth time you've asked in the last two minutes. This is the fifth time I'm telling you that I don't know."

"But do you think?" Emma asked smugly.

"With luck, yes we'll remember," David said.

"Exactly," Snow said. "As long as we have hope, things will work out."

Emma nodded and placed her chin on her hands. "Hope is your solution to everything. It's just that...I feel like I'm missing something important. Then something happens and it's like déjà vu."

"What do you mean?" David asked. He looked confused. "When has this happened?"

"When Killian proposed," Emma began, "it felt like something unnecessary. It felt like he had already done so. And then Robin supposedly being dead? That didn't feel right. And, yeah, I was shocked when he appeared alive and well, but it felt right and like it shouldn't be a surprise. I don't think it's just me either. I mean look at Belle. She should have dumped Gold after finding out he was the Dark One again, but did she? No, she didn't."

A dawning look of realization appeared on Snow's face. "So we have to ask. Exactly what has already happened and why don't we remember it?"

.

Enchanted Forest, Many Years into the Future's Past

.

Emma stared at the reflection in the mirror. A woman with blonde hair stared back. A white dress with lacy sleeves adorned her body.

"Second thoughts?" Regina smirked as she walked into the room. She had on a black gown with minimal amounts of glitter.

"I can just as easily ask Belle to be Maid of Honor," Emma threatened. She lifted the white veil off the vanity and placed it on her head.

Regina scoffed and adjusted the veil. "Learn to dress right, Miss Swan."

"Okay, it's literally one time, Regina," Emma said sarcastically. "I won't be getting married a second time in my life."

The door burst open. Belle stood in a yellow gown. "They're, uh, they're ready," she said.

Regina tossed Belle her bouquet while flipping the veil over Emma's face. Then she handed Emma her bouquet and picked up her own. It was funny, really, how they looked. Emma in her white gown with a colorful assortment of flowers, Regina in her black gown with her assortment of dark colored flowers, and finally Belle in her yellow gown with flowers in colors of yellow, pink, red, and black.

Regina and Robin walked into the hall first, arm in arm, followed by Belle and, strangely enough, Rumple. Emma supposed Belle forced Killian into this. Alexandra, Cinderella's daughter, was the flower girl.

"Ready?" Charming asked Emma.

Emma took a deep breath. "Ready."

.

Storybrooke, Present Day

.

Emma knocked on August's door at the inn.

"Hang on," August called through the door. It seemed to take an eternity for him to reach the door and open it.

"We need to talk," Emma said forcefully. "What did you mean? How do we break the curse?"

August chuckled. "I can't help you, Emma, I'm dying. Take a look at the unvarnished truth." He rolled back his sleeves to reveal a wooden arm.

Emma flinched back. "You're almost completely turned to wood. August, what? We need to know what you meant. If the curse doesn't break… This doesn't stop."

"I told you all I know, Emma," August said sadly. "There's nothing more that I can do. I-I'm getting tired. It's hard to ride and it's hard to walk. Soon, it's going to be hard to breathe."

Emma slumped against the door frame. "No. You must know something else. Please, if you want this curse to break you have to tell me. Now."

"Then it won't break the curse," August whispered. "You have to believe it, feel it, Emma. But you know exactly how, the answers are in front of you and Belle's noses."

Emma crossed her arms over her swollen stomach. "August. This isn't time for games."

"I know. More than anybody," August said tonelessly. "But you know the answer, Emma. It's time for you to accept it and embrace it." He fell back onto his bed with a groan. "See you after the curse breaks, Savior."

.

Narnia, Many Years into the Future's Past

.

Susan caught Peter's eye from between the bars of their cells. They scooted back to back against the bars.

"Finished Ed's finally," he whispered. Peter grunted. "Move your hands back further."

Susan did and immediately felt the ropes around her wrists being cut apart slowly.

"Peter!" Edmund exclaimed in a hushed whisper. "She's coming!"

Jadis stormed into the room. Susan and Peter barely managed to push back to their opposite walls.

"How dare you disobey my orders!" She roared. "They were such simple orders too, weren't they? Simply leave your wrist bindings intact, and I will keep you alive." She pointed her staff at Edmund. A blue glow shot from the tip and engulfed him.

"What are you doing to him?" Susan shrieked.

The blue glow died down, and Jadis smiled. "Simple punishment. For fifteen minutes, Edmund's feet and legs with turn to ice. A very slow transformation. The next fifteen minutes will be a gradual return to their flesh and blood state. This will continue for the next three hours. Oh, and no food for all three of you today." With one last smirk, Jadis marched out of the prison.

Susan clung to the bars separating her from Peter and Edmund. "Ed! Ed, are you okay? Edmund, say something!"

"It hurts," Edmund moaned. "I can feel my toes starting to ice over."

"We will get out of here," Peter said determinedly. "Lucy will come for us. She'll find us. I mean, we're siblings and best friends. We will always find each other."

.

Storybrooke, Present Day

.

"He said it was right in front of our noses?" Belle asked in Mr. Gold's shop. She drummed her fingers on the top of her nine months pregnant stomach. "Mine and your's in particular?"

Emma nodded. "He wouldn't say more than that. All we've got right now is True Love's Kiss, accepting we're really here and not going back, and last time it was me kissing Henry when he was under the sleeping curse. But I don't understand what it is that we're missing." She spun a globe and stopped it with her finger. "Tallahassee again," she mumbled.

"Still not sure that's the right name, Miss Swan?" Gold asked, walking out of the back room. "What new problem are we facing now?"

"August said the answer to breaking the curse was right under our noses," Belle told him. "Emma and me in particular."

Gold laughed. "It's obvious isn't it? What's the one thing you and Miss Swan have in common?"

Belle looked unimpressed. "Uh, both female, both pregnant, both very irritated at Mr. Gold, both-"

"That's it!" Emma exclaimed. "Gold, you're a genius. Belle, it's your baby. You're due any day now. The curse should be broken any day now. That's when the curse breaks. When we accept this situation and have physical proof of True Love."

Belle's eyes widened in panic. She felt a sharp pain in her stomach. "Emma! Is this-? Is the baby-?"

Emma glanced at Belle hurriedly. She nodded and immediately began helping Belle to the door. "Gold, call the others. Meet us at the hospital."

The door closed on a surprisingly terrified Rumplestiltskin.

.

A/N: Baby Rumbelle is on her way! Dior, Chantelle, or Rochelle? Hmmmm. Decisions to make. Anyway, yes, Narnia with Jadis and the Pevensie's are being introduced. Um, incase it's not clear, the Narnia events are a few years after the defeat of Jadis but still way before they go back through the wardrobe to the professors house.

Next season/story will be Emma, Hook, and maybe Henry in New York to escape Emma's visions and it will introduce Neal earlier. Also it's when we get into the whole Narnia crisis and a lot more about why they time traveled and why they don't remember past Season 5A. So I need new story title ideas!

Last chapter coming up! Wow, this is so sad, yet amazing! Looking forward to Season Two!

Chapter Twenty-Two: A Land Without Magic; Baby Rumbelle, vision decisions, Cobra and August, Narnia, Enchanted Forest, and the curse breaks! (Finally!)