Part Two: Eighteen Years Later
A blonde stranger arrived in a bar. She peered in face after face. She finally settled on a woman wearing a yellow ballgown and sipping a Rosé.
"Belle," she began.
The thick lashes fluttered in the blonde's direction as the brunette with red overlapping brown locks squinted confusedly. "Do I know you?"
"Um," Emma hedged, her face growing pale. Stupid Isaac. She'd been many towns away and had finally sighted a familiar face after years of travelling. Only now she realized The Damn Author had erased all the memories except hers. Bastard. "I had a crush on you in school," she blurted then buried her face behind one palm while she massaged her forehead with the other and dropped into a stool near her. She needed a drink…perhaps with Rum?
Belle countered, "But I was homeschooled and changed my name when I left to follow the Ogre Slayer."
Emma was about to ask if that was Will Scarlett or some dweeb in a cone-shaped hat when she spotted another familiar face.
Ashley! She abandoned Belle to say hello.
As she headed in that direction, she noticed Ashley was smoking a cigar in the smoking section and chatting to Mulan.
She overheard her say, "I mean, I didn't want to earn my spot through decades of hard work. So I lied. Got him fired for sexual harassment. He'll be in prison for life, thanks to me!" She flashed a proud grin. "God, it's so much fun to taint a brute's name. Especially because a part of me is insulted that he wasn't attracted to me."
Emma stopped in her tracks. What'd Isaac do, turn Cinderella into a villain?
Mulan cracked up and slapped her knee. "That's nothing. Wait until you hear what I did to the Huns!"
Emma didn't want to know. She spun on her heel and smashed into Lily. Lily, who was waitressing in the bar, dropped her tray of food on the peanut-covered floor.
Her eyes rolled back into her head. Emma jumped out an open window as Lily began to transform into a dragon, amidst shrieks and yelled orders issued by Lily's boss.
Once outside, Emma surveyed the town.
My parents. She'd have to find them. They'd know what to do.
She saw a flash of someone running in the shrubbery about six miles off. She could have sworn it was Regina.
But it couldn't be. Upon entering this land, Emma had found posters and buttons promising a large reward if someone gave the queen Regina's head.
Only if it was detached from her body.
