Sisters
A guest asked for a oneshot of Emma and Neal have had a fight and Emma is blamed despite it being Neal's fault. She runs away and Stephanie goes and finds her for their parents.
Stupid brother. Stupid parents. Stupid whole thing." Emma grumbled to herself as she got rid of the dirt from the little cottage. She and Neal had ended up in an argument after Neal had ruined Emma's favourite riding trousers. Emma lost her temper when he refused to apologise and grabbed his sword. She couldn't deny she was going to break it anyway but before she had the chance in her rage her magic flared up and turned it into a dead rat. He started wailing and her parents came in. They didn't hear her side of the story. They just saw the dead rat in her hand and Neal pointing at it wailing about his sword. She was told on the spot that she wouldn't be allowed to compete in the junior archery competition. She had been practicing for that competition for months. She wasn't sure she could be around Neal just now without strangling him so she decided she would leave the castle for a few days until she'd calmed down. In fact, maybe until the tournament was over. She wasn't sure she could stomach having to sit on her throne beside her parents watching everyone else compete.
Emma heard the clip clop of a horse approaching. She prayed silently that the horse and it's rider would pass by the old cottage that used to belong to the dwarves before they moved closer to the palace. But they didn't. She heard them stop right outside the cottage, murmuring things to their horse as they clearly secured them outside of the cottage. Emma looked around the cottage frantically. It was small and relatively bare, leaving little places to hide. She quickly dove into a space between the wall and a cabinet as the person came into the cottage. Emma held her breath. Her heart was hammering so loudly in her chest she was worried they might be able to hear it. The person sighed in disappointment. Emma began to relax as she heard them turn around again.
"Well, I guess she's not here May. We'll have to look somewhere else. I was sure she would be though. I know there aren't many hiding places so she can't be hiding. Not even between the cabinet and the wall on the right hand side." Emma groaned, knowing she'd been caught. Her sister had found her.
"How did you know I was here?" She sighed, coming over and slouching down on a chair by the table. Stephanie raised an eyebrow at her.
"Emma, we come here every time we can't be bothered doing our lessons. Of course I knew if you wanted a place to lay low this is where you would go. And you left your bag and weapon on the table moron." Emma mentally kicked herself for both offences.
"Do mom and dad know?" She asked. Stephanie picked up on the worry in her voice.
"Have a think Em. This is where we go whenever we want to get out of lessons. Am I going to tell them about that so I get in trouble too?" She pointed out, coming and sitting on a chair opposite Emma.
"I guess not." Emma grumbled.
"No, exactly. I told them I'd go out looking for you, but I didn't say where. When we go back I'll say I found you in the forest…"
"Who said I'm going back with you?" Emma asked defensively. Stephanie had to bite her lip to stop herself from sniggering. For a twelve year old Emma was pretty feisty when she wanted to be.
"Emma, come on, I'm not going to leave you out here alone am I?" Stephanie told her. "Use your brain. People like Regina and George are still out to hurt mom and dad. If they hear that you're out here alone they'll strike."
"Like they care about me next to little miss magical chosen one." Emma mumbled bitterly. Stephanie's powers were stronger than Emma's, and as such the Blue Fairy herself had prophesised that Stephanie would be the one to rid the whole realm of evil forever.
"Emma, they're not going to care how strong your powers are when they kidnap you. In fact, with your powers not being so developed yet it'll be easier to get you. They just want to hurt mom and dad. Besides, even "little miss magical chosen one" as you called me need a sidekick. I'd be pretty bummed if they got mine and I can't really be bothered kicking either of their butts right now." Stephanie said with a grin. Emma looked up at her narrowing her eyes.
"Did you just call me your sidekick?" She asked. Stephanie nodded, reaching over and ruffling Emma's hair (which she knew annoyed her).
"Yes, yes I did. Know your role lil sis." Emma just rolled her eyes, not in the mood. "Now come on." Stephanie said in a gentler tone. "It's getting dark, let's get going." Stephanie told her, beginning to get up.
"They didn't even wait to hear my side." Emma said quietly, not moving. Stephanie sat back down again. "They just instantly blamed it all on me."
"Well in mom and dad's fairness look at the evidence they had. You standing there with a dead rat in your hand with Neal pointing at it and screaming about his sword. It would be logical to blame you. They've also had a pretty stressful week getting the tournaments all ready. Give them a bit of a break. Anyway, when you stormed out your trousers were on view to mom and dad covered in Neal's paint and they managed to fit the pieces together. Neal's in trouble now. He's not even allowed to watch any of the events going on. He knew those were a gift from Grandma Ruth. He should have been more careful."
"I didn't mean to turn it into a rat." Emma said, fighting back tears. "It was an accident."
"Yes, but let's not lie, you did mean to break the sword didn't you Em?" Emma remained silent, giving her sister her answer. "That's what I thought. Emma, magic is never easy to control…" Emma scoffed.
"You seem to manage just fine."
"Yes, but need I remind you again that I'm the big sister? I've had more time to learn. And your magic is different from mine, it's more controlled by your emotions. But I've slipped up too. Remember the time I thought it would be funny to turn the stool into a dog but I didn't do it right. I just had a stool with legs that barked, but I couldn't change it back again?" Emma smirked at the memory of the whole family chasing around this barking stool. "See? They're even reconsidering letting you compete." This caught Emma's attention. She looked up at her sister with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "Ah, see that's got you hasn't it? I overheard them talking about it before I left. They feel bad not giving you a chance to explain yourself. But if you're not at the castle you can't compete, can you?" Stephanie asked her sister. Emma bit her lip, thinking about it. She'd worked so hard to be able to qualify for this tournament. She couldn't give up her chance. She sighed, getting up and slinging her bag and bow over her shoulder. "There we go! Come on, May's out front." Stephanie said, lazily putting an arm around her sister's shoulders and walking out with her towards May and so towards home.