Chapter twenty-two
"No!" Charming shouted, as he jumped and landed on top of the hat. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he stood and looked at his grandson, who offered him a small smile.
"I guess you're looking after me," he said.
Charming nodded, and picking up the hat, he looked into it longingly.
"Don't worry, mom said they won't be gone long," Henry tried.
The sound of shouting interrupted them, and Henry noticed a group of angry citizens marching towards Milfin Street.
"I guess they think mom's still here," he frowned.
"Come on, we should probably tell the townspeople what's going on," he sighed.
Henry nodded, "mom said we need to give this letter to Gold," he offered said envelop to him.
Charming inspected it distrustfully, "fine, I'll do it," the boy huffed, before walking ahead of his grandfather towards his home.
Emma let out a groan, and pushed herself off the ground, to be met with the familiar sword pointed towards her.
"Hey Mulan," she grumbled.
The warrior was silent for a moment, before removing her helmet, "who are you?"
"Emma Swan, Snow White and...Re-Alexis Thompson," Regina looked at her questioningly, but Emma mouthed 'go with it." Don't think they would appreciate the Evil Queen, Emma thought.
"How do you know of me?"
"You're famous," Emma tried after a brief pause.
Emma noticed Aurora peeking from behind Prince Phillip, who also had his sword drawn.
"We mean you no harm," Mary Margaret said while holding her hands up in surrender.
Mulan inspected each of them, such strange clothing she noted, and she couldn't help but recognise 'Alexis'. Despite this, however, she sheathed her sword.
"Very well, we were just leaving anyway," she was about to turn to leave.
"Wait," Emma called, "err...it would be safer to travel together, right?"
Mulan gave her a sceptical look, only for her reply to be interrupted by a loud roar.
"Ogres," Emma and Snow said at the same time.
"What?" Regina choked.
"Never seen one?" Emma laughed.
Regina shook her head, and looked visibly paler.
"What's wrong?" Emma asked with a furrowed brow.
"My mother...she used to make it seem like I was trapped in a room with an ogre if I was bad, but I've never seen a real one," she whispered back.
Emma felt anger bubble inside her, why are we trying to save this woman?
"It's okay," she whispered, placing a hand on her shoulder, she pulled her closer, neither noticing Snow's jaw clench at the sight.
The next moment the massive monster burst through the nearby trees, its ears leading it to its newest prey.
Phillip froze in his place, dropping his sword to the ground.
Emma quickly ran and pick it up, and stood in front of Regina, "Snow needs a bow," she whispered.
Regina let out a shaky breath, but nodded. She closed her eyes in concentration, allowing the familiar touch of magic to reach her, she imagined what Emma had asked for and it appeared in Snow's hands a moment later.
Snow looked at it disgustingly for a moment, but Emma's nod of encouragement made her draw an arrow.
Mulan stared at the interaction in shock, the infamous purple smoke telling her exactly who 'Alexis' was, but she decided to deal with that later, and came and stood next to Emma.
"I hope you have a plan," the warrior announced.
"There's only one ogre," Emma muttered. "Snow, you have to shoot its neck," she whispered.
"I can't get a clear shot," she replied, as she desperately tried to find an opening.
The ogre continued grunting, walking slowly towards them, it's enjoying this, Emma thought.
The blonde sighed quietly in frustration, before an idea occurred to her, grabbing the sword hilt with both hands, she threw it towards a tree behind the ogre.
The sound of splitting wood, cause the ogre to turn in confusion, a moment later a arrow embedded itself in its neck.
"Nice one," Emma smiled at her mother as the ogre fell to the ground.
"Maybe not," Phillip said, pointing towards the tree where a symphony of grunting noises were being emitted.
"There's too many of them," Snow pointed out.
Phillip looked at his sword embedded in the tree, and felt shame. "We need a distraction," he muttered.
Aurora turned to him, "don't be foolish."
He quickly hugged her, and Emma noticed Mulan's frown.
"I'll be fine, just get to safety, I'll meet you as soon as possible back at camp," he whispered, placing a small kiss to her forehead, he nodded at Mulan and jumped on his horse.
Mulan grabbed Aurora before she could try and stop Phillip, "come on princess, we must make haste. Your prince will be fine."
"What about them?" she asked with a sniffle.
"They should come with us," Mulan replied formulating possible plans to capture the Evil Queen.
Once they had informed the townsfolk of what had happened, with the help of Graham to calm everyone down, David had convinced them to return home until they can make a formal system for reuniting people. He had promised a town meeting in an hour, but had no idea what to say. It was for this reason he paced the pawn shop while Henry watched his other grandfather read the letter.
"It would appear that people are unable to leave town with their Enchanted Forest identities intact," Gold announced.
"None of them are going to believe anything the Regina said," Charming sighed.
"Well, they have to," Henry replied.
"I can guarantee at least one of them is going to try and leave," he retorted.
Gold chuckled, "well then, warn them and if they are foolish enough to try and leave, it's their own fault."
Henry nodded in agreement.
"Was that it? She could have just told you that," Charming pointed out.
"It also contains some other information that doesn't concern you," the shop owner sneered.
"Is it about my dad?" Henry asked hopefully.
Charming looked at him in shock and Henry shrugged.
"Yes, she has supplied all of the information that I have yet to find," he replied with a small smile as he looked at the address.
"When are you going?"
"I need to overcome this town line issue, which is another thing your mother has assisted with. I would imagine I should be able to leave tomorrow," he answered while showing Henry the potion ingredients detailed in the letter.
"Alone?" Henry asked.
"It would appear I don't have much of a choice. Although it would seem that Miss Swan was of great assistance as well," he frowned, as he inspected the second envelop Henry had given him.
"Yeah, all you have to do is give him the letter from Emma," Henry smiled excitedly.
"Can someone please tell me what is going on?" Charming asked.
"My son is Henry's father," Gold replied casually.
Charming looked between Henry and Gold, before putting his hands over his face, "we share a grandson?"
"It would seem so," he smirked.
Charming shook his head, and decided to deal with this later, maybe I should try and draw a family tree?
"What suggestions do you have, for the town's people?"
"How about a rousing speech about having two identities?" Gold laughed.
"What am I missing now?" he asked with a frustrated sigh.
"He looked into the alternate future that mom and Emma lived through," Henry explained.
Blinking a few times, he just nodded, "okay...so I just need to inspire them?"
"Time to test just how much of a prince you are, David Nolan" Gold smirked.
A/N I needed to get Phillip out of the story, but don't worry if you like him, he'll make an appearance later :) Also let me know if you want to see Gold's trip to NY, or if you just want him to return with Neal (and no Tamara, but she'll come later)