A/N: Here is the next chapter! Hope you like it!

Emma and Ella

Chapter 17: Belief

Unaware to Ella, Mr. Wood started to wake up and remember who he was. Regina found out and got worried that her curse was starting to break from Emma being in Storybrooke so she devised a plan to get rid of her for good.

Saturday at 2pm

Emma was alone at home as David was at work from 1pm to 5pm. She was finally off restriction and allowed to stay at home alone for shorter periods of time. David would call and check on her to make sure she was okay every once in awhile.

Emma heard a knock on the door and hoped it was Ella. Ella had been sneaking out when she could to see her and she figured it was her.

She opened it to see she had been wrong. It was Mayor Mills.

"Hi Emma." She said in a polite voice.

"What are you doing here?" Emma asked rudely.

"I came to apologize to you." Regina said in her best kind voice and Emma looked suspiciously at her. "I was wrong to keep Ella from you and I want to apologize and let you know that you two can be friends again. I won't stand in your way."

"Really?" Emma asked.

"Yes, I have seen how down my daughter has been and realized I was wrong to ask her not to be your friend. I'm so sorry, Emma." Regina said in her kindest voice.

Emma nodded, stunned by her actually caring for Ella.

"Well that's all I came to say." Regina started to turn and then stopped. "Oh I almost forgot. I brought this for you. I hope you like apple." She added with a smile.

"Thanks." Emma said as she took the container containing an apple turnover.

"Your welcome and you are welcome over at the house anytime. Ella and I would love to have you." Regina added with a kind smile before leaving.

Emma shut the door and looked at the apple turnover as she thought of what just happened. She ran into the kitchen to grab her walkie talkie. "Ella. Come in. Come in." Emma said over the walkie talkie.

"Hey Emma. What's up?"

"Your mom...I mean Regina was by and she changed her mind about you seeing me! She apologized and everything!"

"What? She wouldn't do that."

"She did. I think she actually cares for you! She even gave me an apple turnover she made! Come over and we can share it while we celebrate!"

"Apple?! Wait for me! I'll be there soon!" Ella said quickly.

Emma giggled to herself. "I didn't know she liked apples that much!"

10 minutes later...

Ella knocked on Emma's door. She hoped she hadn't taken a bite from that apple turnover. When the door opened, she sighed in relief.

"Geez, did you run all the way here? That can't be good for your leg." Emma said with a chuckle. Ella's leg was taking a long time to heal since she hadn't been using crutches or resting it like she should.

"Yes, well mostly. What happened?"

Emma told her everything that Regina had said.

"She's lying. She doesn't care about me one bit."

"Ella, I think she does. She seemed very sincere for once." Emma said. "She even gave me the turnover. I doubt she'd do that for me if she was faking it. Come on let's go eat it."

"No! You can't eat it! It's apple!"

"What? Why?"

"She's the Evil Queen and wants to get rid of you. Don't eat it!"

"Are you kidding me? You think the apple is poison and going to put me in a sleeping curse like Snow White?" Emma asked with a sigh.

"Yes!" Ella yelled seriously.

"It's just a turnover, Ella. There is no curse and I'm not the savior. I'll prove it to you." Emma said as she started to the plate where the turnover was.

"No!" Ella said as she ran around Emma and grabbed the turnover. "You might not believe in me, but I believe in you." Ella said before taking a bite from the turnover.

"You want some ice cream with that..." Emma started to tease her, but then Ella fell to the ground, passing out. "Ella!"

*****OUAT*****

2:45 pm

"She took a bite out of this and just collapsed on the floor!" Emma explained in a panicked voice.

"Well it isn't any poison...it's like it's ..." Dr. Whale said.

"Magic." Emma said as she grabbed Ella's backpack and took out the book. As soon as she did, a flood of memories came to her of being held by her mom and dad and being taken to the wardrobe. "It's real." She breathed.

"What happened?" Regina said as she came into the room.

"You! You did this! That apple turnover you gave me, she ate it!" Emma yelled at her.

"What? That was meant for you!" Regina said in anger that her plan didn't work.

"Why couldn't you just leave us alone?!" Emma yelled.

"Because you two are ruining my life and I wasn't going to stand for it anymore!" Regina yelled before turning on her heels and leaving.

"Emma! Emma! What happened?" Mary Margaret asked as she looked over at her daughter in the hospital bed.

Emma looked stunned for a moment as she saw Mary Margaret and David. They were her real parents!

"Emma, what happened?" David asked when she didn't answer.

"She ate this and passed out." Emma said, showing the bag with turnover in it. "Regina gave it to me. Ella told me not to eat it."

"Then why did she?" David asked.

"To prove to be that the curse is real and to help me to believe." Emma said with tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

David hugged Emma tightly before asking her to go wait outside of the room.

David and Mary Margaret went to Ella and talked with the doctor who told them the situation and that there wasn't anything he could do. He didn't know what was wrong so he didn't know how to fix it.

Emma watched from outside of the room. She knew she had to break the curse, but she didn't know how.

"Emma." Mr. Gold said as he approached her.

"Who are you?" Emma said, knowing who he was in Storybrooke, but not who he really was.

"Why I'm Mr. Gold..."

"I know that. Who are you really?" Emma asked.

"Is that a look of a believer?" said and Emma rolled her eyes. "I'm Rumplestiltskin."

Emma's eyes widened. She knew enough to know he wasn't exactly a hero, but then she realized he would know how to help Ella.

"Can you help me wake her?" Emma asked urgently.

"Yes, but you will need to come with me. I have hidden some magic below the city and only you can get it."

"Will it save Ella?"

"It's magic from true love, from your parents' true love, so yes it has the power to break any curse."

Emma followed him to his shop where he got her father's sword and told her what she must do.

When she finally got the egg, Gold managed to escape with it and leave her alone.

She rushed to the hospital not knowing if Ella was okay or not. She hated that Gold tricked her, but she had to try to help her friend still.

Meanwhile, Mary Margaret had freaked out when Ella started to flat line and left the hospital with David following her. She was overwhelmed and couldn't watch Ella die. David was trying to comfort her the best he could when he realized he hadn't seen Emma inside or on their way out of the building. David went off to try to find her.

Emma makes it back to Ella's room to find the nurses and doctors leaving along with Mother Superior, looking defeated.

"I'm sorry Emma, but we lost her." Dr. Whale said sadly.

"No.." Emma breathed as she walked slowly into the room and cried as she looked at Ella. Ella was like a sister to her. She couldn't lose her now.

She came closer to the bed and touched her friend's hand tentatively as she cried.

"I love you, Ella." Emma whispered before kissing Ella's head.

Just as she did a bright light spread out from them and throughout the town.

Ella took a deep breath and opened her eyes.

"You did it." Ella said with a smile. "You woke me up."

Emma smiled before hugging Ella tightly.

"What's going on?" Ella asked as she saw all the hospital staff looking confused and scared.

"I don't know." Emma said confused.

"You must have broken the curse!" Ella exclaimed.

"She did." Mother Superior said, "but it isn't safe for you now that the curse is broken. Regina will be after you."

"Ok." Emma said, but knew she would be fine.

"We should go..." Ella said trying to get out of bed.

"You can't go anywhere yet. We need to check you out before we discharge you." Dr. Whale said.

"I'll wait for you." Emma said.

"No. Go on without me. I'll be fine." Ella said, realizing she would finally be finding out if Prince Charming and Snow White were her parents too and she was all of sudden very unsure of the whole thing.

"Are you sure?" Emma asked in concern.

"Yeah, I shouldn't be apart of your family reunion anyway. Go ahead. I'll see you later." Ella told her confidently.

"Ok, but I'll bring them back here." Emma said before leaving the room and hospital to find her parents.

After Emma left though, Ella snuck off when the nurses weren't looking and followed her to see the reunion. She didn't want to join in case she wasn't their daughter, she couldn't take that rejection face to face. She would be crushed.

She heard David say, "wait, who's Ella?" He asked confused.

Ella's heart shatters into a million pieces. She isn't their daughter. David would know if she was his daughter, but he doesn't even know her! She didn't even hear anything else they said. Instead, she backed away slowly and then turned around and ran as fast as she could to the one place she felt safe. Her castle.

Ella sat in her castle with her legs pulled up to her chest, rocking slowly back and forth as she tried to calm herself.

Her life was about to drastically change. They wouldn't want her. She was nobody just like Regina said she was. She had always nobody. Why did she ever believe that she was Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter? The book had clearly had them have one daughter and her name was Emma not Ella. She wasn't their daughter. She wasn't anyone's daughter. She was alone now.