Alright my dear readers, here is another installment of my EC fic! Sorry for the slower and less action packed chapters, they are setting up the story! I'm going to ask you all to give me your opinion, via review or PM, whether or not I should make David and Regina take a trip down Regina's memory lane by coming across the stables where Daniel was killed. Please give me your opinions! I hope you guys all like the chapter! Oh, and James becomes David in this chapter, it'll make sense when you read that part! P.S. There's a small SQ joke somewhere in here ;)

Emma and Snow burst into Gold's shop, yelling out for the man until he came out of his back room with a sly smile on his face and both hands leaning on his cane as he stopped to stand behind one glass counter.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" he asked.

"You know damn well what we want. We want answers," Emma demanded.

"Like where are Regina and David?" Snow cut in.

"I'm sorry, dearie, but I don't know what you're talking about."

"Regina opened a portal," Emma began to explain. "She said she would be banishing the wraith thing to the Enchanted Forest, because it's basically a void or whatever. But they got sucked through the portal. What does that mean for them?"

"I can't say for certain, dearie."

"You're lying. I can tell. Try again and tell me the truth."

"There's always a price."

"Yeah, well consider David getting pulled through the portal the price. We wouldn't have had to open it if it wasn't for that wraith you set after Regina! Now tell us the truth!" she punctuated each word that she spoke.

"Very well. They are in the Enchanted Forest because it does still exist."

"Regina will probably kill him! We have to get them back!" Snow panicked.

"Well, even if we get them back tomorrow, dearie, time passes differently here than it does there."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, there isn't an exact formula, but I would say a day or two here is a week there. So your lovely husband may already be dead. That is, if the queen has tired of his idiocy already."

"No," she whimpered, clutching her chest and rushing out of the building.

The trio sat at a wooden table with food set in front of them. James dug in happily, filling his plate with meat and fruit, Regina, however, stared at it with a look of disgust.

"What is that?" she snarled.

"Chimera. One part lion, one part serpent, one part goat," Lancelot answered.

"That is vile."

"An acquired taste, yes."

"Well, princess, not everyone has been treated to the food of royalty all of their lives," James interjected.

"Indeed, dear. In fact, I seem to remember eating roast swan once when Rumple told me I would understand the humor behind it one day, and I do now. I can't wait to have some roast Swan."

"Cut it out, Regina."

"And…by the way, it's Queen, not princess, dear."

"Ah, right. I'm so sorry, your Majesty," he replied dryly, earning a glare from Regina. The brunette woman ended up filling her plate with grapes and various other sides, avoiding the meat altogether. David picked up a hunk of the meat, taking a large bite and chewing the food that overfilled his mouth. After his bite was fully chewed and swallowed, he offered Regina a smirk, waving the uneaten chunk in front of Regina's face below her mouth. "Are you sure you don't want any?" he said playfully. "It's so meaty and delicious."

She rolled her eyes at him but couldn't help smirking back at him and his teasing. "You're disgusting, Charming. Now, stop playing with your food like a child and eat it, dear."

"Hmm? Are you sure that you don't want to eat this meaty and delicious thing?' he asked, a boyish smiling playing at his lips.

"You're disgusting. And about as mature as your daughter. You want to talk about eating though? I'll tell you, I'd have eaten her any day of the week had she offered." James spit out the food he had half chewed in his mouth, spewing it onto his plate among his untouched food. He looked at Regina with a foul look, noticing the woman had a devious smirk playing at her lips. "Oh, I'm sorry, have I offended you?"

"That's not something a father ever wants to hear."

"Oh? You're unaware your daughter likes women? I'm surprised, I thought it was so obvious."

"Then explain how she has a son."

"Oh well, she may very well like men, too, but she likes women. I've noticed her eyes on my chest and my behind."

"Well, that's just…natural," he responded. Once he realized what he said and saw Regina's smirk broaden, his eyes widened and he opened his mouth, as though he was going to refute his own statement, but couldn't come up with a way to do so and ended up just closing his mouth before he spoke again, quite possibly making a fool of himself.

"Is that so, Charming?" she asked.

"I…I—well I meant…before the curse broke…David Nolan. I mean…you hit on him, of course as him I….looked…at you," he stuttered.

"I'm sure that's what you meant, dear."

Lancelot, seeing that James was flailing, decided to interrupt. "So, what is your plan now that you are here? Do you intend to take over your kingdom? I believe your castle was destroyed."

"That's quite unfortunate to hear, but I suppose I had no doubts about that anyway," James spoke before taking a pause. "I don't intend to stay, however, my friend. I intend to find a way back to Snow and my daughter. I have a grandson, as well, that I desire to get to know as much as possible."

"And how do you plan to get back?"

"I'm not sure. Regina and I will have to scour the lands for a way to make it into the other realm."

"What is this realm you speak of?" Lancelot asked, his eyebrows raised.

"That's not a good idea for us to speak of, Cora is lurking around, and there are too many ways for her to overhear, and pairing with the fact that I thought her dead, I really do not wish for her to find a way to make it back to our realm. I apologize, your tolerance of I, the former Evil Queen, is appreciated, but it is best if only James and I know this information."

"I understand," Lancelot replied, bowing his head in concession. "However, I will only supply the two of you with weapons so long as you allow my best warrior to accompany you. She is the one who brought you here, Mulan."

"I suppose if that is the only way we can go, we will accept. I would like a quiver of arrows and a bow."

"I'll take a sword," James requested.

"Of course you will, Charming," Regina added with a smirk.

"Keep it to yourself, Regina." The two Storybrooke residents stood after Lancelot and followed him to a chest of weapons. They each dug out the items they requested, and Regina grabbed a short-hilted dagger as well, wrapping it in a piece of cloth she found and sliding it into the side of her boot.

"Mulan," Lancelot called to the woman who was standing just across the opening of the haven. The brunette looked up and began walking over to the trio, closely followed by Aurora.

"Lancelot," Mulan answered once she was standing with the group of people, bowing her head slightly.

"You will accompany these two wherever they need to go. They are going to try to get home to their realm and I need for you to keep them safe."

"I will do all that I can, sir."

"Thank you, my friend."

"I must bring Aurora. I made a warrior's promise to her prince that I would keep her safe." Lancelot looked at James and Regina and asked them if they were all right with the princess joining them.

Regina looked at the fair redhead and rolled her eyes. "If you must," Regina said. "But do not hold us back." She walked away from the group of people, heading in the direction she desired and made it several feet away before she realized that no one was following. She turned back around and looked at the group pointedly. "Are you guys coming or were you planning on staying here all day?"

"Shouldn't we wait until start of day tomorrow?" Mulan asked.

"Did I not just say that it would be best if no one held us back? We're going now, Mulan and Aurora, you two may choose to wait until tomorrow, but James and I will be going now." James shook his head and caught up with her, walking at her side.

"You could be a little nicer, Regina."

"Whatever you say, James."

"David."

"What?"

"I was testing out James since we've been here, but I really prefer David," he answered. He figured she would scoff at him, or roll her eyes. Or make fun of him in some other cruel way, but she didn't. She shrugged and nodded, offering a closed-mouth smile. David could tell it was a sincere smile by how her eyes crinkled around the outer edges and he found himself noticing how beautiful she really was and wondering how no one had given her the love that such beauty deserved.

"Well, fine then, David. Shall we head out, then?"

Caught off guard by her sincere and non-abrasive tone, he just nodded and followed her lead noticing that Mulan and Aurora were following behind them. After they had walked what seemed like a mile, David looked up and noticed that he didn't recognize anything of the area. He closed the few feet of distance between himself and Regina, taking up at her side.

"Where are we headed first, your Majesty?" he teased.

"I prefer Regina," she replied without skipping a beat. She paused a moment to let it sink in before she continued, "We're going to my castle, of course."

"Ok," he replied slowly, sounding out both syllables of the short word carefully. "I know you think I'm stupid, and you know, I'm sorry if I am but I'm not sure why your castle is an 'of course' type of place?"

"Look at yourself, David. You're wearing jeans, boots, a cotton t-shirt and a jacket. I'm wearing heels and a business suit, with a blazer as my warmth."

"You look pretty?" he joked.

"Well, thanks, I'm sure pretty will help us so much along the way. But we're going to my castle to get some...more appropriate clothes for me to do this journey in. And…I may have some things of Graham's still if you want a change of clothes or two. You're more brawny than he was, but he also didn't wear his clothing very tight, so it may work. I could probably get that princess a new dress, too, since hers looks torn to shreds," she added, turning and pointing at the two following them.

"You know…take you out of the hostile environment and away from all your enemies, you aren't so bad."

"So touching, David," she smarmed. "But you're forgetting, you're my enemy, yes? And this is still a hostile environment, just...less populated."

"We don't have to be enemies."

"How chivalrous and charming."

"Come on, Regina. Is it so terrible to let someone just be nice to you? Ok…fine, maybe if we hadn't been sucked into this damn portal I wouldn't be acting nice toward you, but time goes by really slowly when you're bored. And I think if we seriously go the entire journey not talking or playing nice, time is going to go by dreadfully slow." Regina gave him a skeptical look, raising her eyebrows and pursing her lips, but in the end she nodded.

"Fine. Temporary truce." David smiled and Regina was instantly reminded of a puppy who had gotten positive feedback. The comparison made her smirk, but she shook it off and continued leading the way.

"How far is your castle?" he asked.

"I don't think it's much farther, the rest of today's journey and a couple hours in the morning, but there are two ways for us to get there from where we are."

"Ok?"

"Magic, but I can't transport all four of us, it would take a lot of power and I don't want to exhaust myself in case we come across something that I'll need the magic for."

"And the other?"

"We walk."

David shrugged. "So we walk."

"Yes, but on the journey we will find my childhood home."

"Bad memories? You don't want to go back? I'm not sure I understand the issue."

"The land on which my childhood home sits is home to stables. The very stables in which I fell in love. It is the very land on which I saved your Snow White. And they are the very stables where my fiancé died because of her."

"What will we do then?" David asked, noting Regina's saddened tone.

"We will keep walking until I decide if such an event will be manageable. Until I decide, though, we have much ground to cover before we rest for the night."

They walked for several more hours until dark was beginning to cover the lands. Regina looked around herself and tried to gauge exactly how much more of a walk they had. She was tempted to poof herself and David into her castle, where they could at least sleep in beds for the night. But, she knew that leaving the warrior and the princess would not be fair, especially considering the warrior was there to protect them. Instead she watched Mulan set up an awning type shield for Aurora to sleep under and decided to magic some blankets for her and David. After she handed one over to him, she saw him pull off his jacket and bundle it up so he could use it as a pillow. She built a fire in the middle of the small area in the trees that they had found. Two sides of the fire were compromised by heavy logs that acted as seats and the other two sides were occupied by David on one, and Mulan and Aurora on the other. She sighed and laid her blanket in front of where David had chosen to lay down. She did the same thing with her blazer that he did with his jacket and she laid down on her back.

"Something wrong, Regina?" he asked as she lowered her head onto her makeshift pillow.

"I'm just not used to sleeping so close to anyone who has ever tried to kill me."

"I'm sure you're not. But if it makes you feel better, I can promise not to kill you in your sleep. At least not tonight," he joked, winking at her. She rolled her eyes.

"And how do you know I won't kill you in your sleep?"

"I have faith that I've made you laugh enough today, you'll keep me around."

"You really are so full of yourself, Charming."

"It's David."

"Right. David."

"Have a good night, Regina."

"You too, David."