Hi everyone! Sorry for the hiatus, I've had a serious case of writers block! Hope you enjoy this, I know it's a little short but I've uploaded two chapters at a time to feast in!
The castle was a bustle of activity. Emma watched, detached, from the windowseat in the ballroom as hundreds of maids, musicians, footmen and chefs transformed the room into a place full of colour, smells and magic. Emma sighed. She looked down at her 16-year-old hands and wringed them unnecessarily hard. She had begun doing that too much lately, it worked as Elsa's gloves once had, a way for her to hide her real emotions.
Emma looked out of the window, out onto the courtyard and along the fjord. Boats had been arriving all night and hadn't stopped throughout the day. It all felt so real, yet how could it be? The real Arendelle, the one Elsa talked about, was far, far away. Emma watched as a young pale, blonde Prince and his staff were greeted by a man in green livery. They walked with airs and graces Emma had grown up to loathe, yet here she was, a Princess, in fake Arendelle and in real Storybrooke. The Prince surveyed the castle, and for a moment Emma felt him looking straight at her and he dashed a bright white smile. She growled, scaring a maid carrying some pristine salad plates, who scurried away from her.
Emma's eyes were drawn away from the arriving guests to a boat, far out in the distance, which was different to the other arriving boats. It's sails were black, its planks darker and the way it moved more ominous, like a tank, instead of a carefree ride. She watched it as it sailed past the port, where the other boats were arriving and continued. She wished she could be on that boat, as anything, a slave for all she cared, for that was a life better than the life she was living right now.
"Princess," A maid addressed Emma. She shivered a little. "Her Majesty requires for you to get dressed." Emma glanced at the clock and frowned. It was 5. The party didn't start until 7 which meant she wouldn't even be allowed in until 8. She looked back at the maid.
"Princess?" It sounded more like a threat - if Emma didn't come then Ingrid would come to get her. Slowly Emma got up from the seat. She turned around one last time to look out the window, to where the black-sailed boat should have been. Emma felt a hand slip into hers.
"It's a pirate ship." Elsa's little voice said. Emma looked confused. "The one with the black sails. I know it. I know it well. Once when I was 11, they came before, the Captain's name was Hook."
"Hook." Emma tested out the word on her tongue.
"Yes, Captain Hook." Elsa smiled. "It was funny, I was rather upset, I escaped the castle late one night and sat by the sea, his boat came and they took me aboard, I was scared...but I'm always a bit scared..."
Emma had stopped listening. There was something about this Captain Hook that amazed her. Why was he called Hook? Had he saved all the seven seas? How did he get here? Wasn't this place made up? Did Ingrid make him? No that was impossible! Only Elsa knew Hook. So, how could he have crossed between the real realm and this one?
"Princesses, please." The maid was still behind them. Elsa became quiet, but her story hung off her lips and dribbled into the air around her. Emma turned away from the boat. She walked off, but for once, not in exasperated fury, but instead in a daze of confused happiness. Someone else was here, someone who might be able to save them.