224And another new story!
I hope I don't swamp myself with too many stories, but this one has been nagging at the back of my head for a while now, and I just had to write it!
So, the inspiration from this fic [which is also the image on the cover] was made by the talented and wonderful mishka47 over on tumblr, and they generously allowed me to make a fic from this!
Here we go, a complete total AU in FTL. I have skewed most things, as you'll see further on, but I have kept some of the history intact.
As a little background to situate yourselves into what is still the same: this story takes a complete turn from the point that Regina offered Snow to give up her claim to the throne, who said yes. Up until then, mostly everything happened as in the show.
Panic. That was the only thing that surrounded her as she ran as fast as her little legs could carry her.
"Stop! This isn't funny!"
She heard a bark of laughter in response. "That's only 'cause you're losing, princess!"
"When I catch you...!" The little girl let the threat hang, for how much of a menace could a 5 year-old be against a 16 year-old?
The teen turned to look back at the blonde, smirk on his face as he kept running. "Do your wooor-!"
The rest of the comment died on his lips, for the teen had ran right into the edge of a hill, and went down rolling. Thankfully he had enough sense to shield the bundle he had been carrying from the brunt of the fall.
The little girl braked at the top, and in last-minute decision, went down after the teen, ready to give him a piece of her mind.
As the blonde reached the bottom, she saw the teen slowly groan as he tried to make sure his limbs were still intact. She rushed to take the bundle into her arms, and saw that the little baby was fine, babbling happily at seeing her.
She wheeled back to stare at the boy. "You idiot!"
The teen rolled his eyes. "He's fine ain't he? Get your knots untwisted, princess."
"They are not! You need to grow a brain, Neal!"
Neal stood up, crossing his arms. "I do too have a brain, and plus I'm older than you, so that automatically makes me smarter."
The little girl stuck her tongue out in response, walking away from him.
"You're going the wrong way."
"Don't care, I'm not going with you."
Neal sighed, and resigned to follow the little girl a little ways behind. He'd otherwise be in a lot of trouble if he came back without her, and he'd rather not get kicked out of another place, and have to go world-jumping once more. He was sure she'd eventually give up and they could actually go home.
After a while, the young teen saw some markings on a passing tree. They were in a foreign language, and although Neal wasn't much of a linguist, he could hazard a guess the markings wasn't some benign message like 'home sweet home'.
He looked up at where the little girl had just been, and didn't see anyone. Well shit.
"This isn't funny, princess!" He called out, jogging towards where he'd last seen her.
His blood ran cold as he heard an ominous voice yell out "HA! Now I've got you Malkroth!"
He burst through the clearing just as the little girl let out a scream. She was crouching with her back towards her attacker, shielding the baby with her body. The man who had yelled out was clearly a warlock or wizard, and was casting a spell on his unwanted charge.
"Hey!" He grabbed a rock and pelted it to the warlock, hitting him square in the face, getting him to stop his attack with a cry of surprise.
The little girl trembled a bit before collapsing into the ground unconscious.
"Emma!"
3 Years Later
She heard the carriage approach beneath her, and smirked. Another day, another unwitting victim.
The hooded green-clad thief jumped from her perch on the tree right on top of the carriage, making the faintest of thumps as her leather boots collided with the hard surface. The guards riding ahead of the carriage were none the wiser, neither was the driver steering said vehicle.
Emma carefully sneaked up towards the front, and as she reached the edge, she laid down on her stomach on top of the carriage. She stretched her arm down towards the driver, pinching the right pressure point on his shoulder to render him unconscious. The driver slumped forward and she grabbed the reins before they dropped out of reach, pulling on them slowly to get the four horses to slow down. If she did it too fast the horses would make a noise, alerting the guards.
After a couple of minutes, the guards were far away enough for her to pull on the reins tighter, getting the horses to stop altogether.
Letting the reins fall, she quickly made her way to the left side of the carriage, dropping down a little ways, feet finding purchase on the indentations that decorated the carriage. She waited for a bit, forearms resting comfortably on the roof waiting for the bumbling royal to go outside to investigate why they had stopped.
It was always quite a performance to watch if they were just the right kind of victim. And this one didn't disappoint. A rotund monarch scrambled out from the right side. "Charles, why are we stopping? Charles!"
Emma resisted the urge to let out a laugh. She grabbed a rock from her pouch and aimed it just right so that it would fly into the trees and make a rustling noise beyond where the clueless monarch stood. Throwing it, she silently chortled as the man startled himself with the noise.
"Charles?!" While the king was preoccupied, Emma shimmied down lower. She set herself on opening the window on the left side of the carriage, using her trusty tools for the job. She moved them around for a bit until she heard the small click and lowered the window.
The king was still bumbling around by the time Emma reached in to find the heavy pouch of gold. Securing it on her belt, she jumped down from her spot, and quickly went back away from the path and deeper into the forest.
She found her horse just as she had left him, and dropped the pouch of gold into the saddle pocket before climbing onto him and heading home.
Their hideout was well hidden; after all, being thieves meant that they couldn't exactly settle down in the middle of a bustling town. It took the best wizards and spells to make sure the surrounding area was fortified and hid the village of thieves from prying eyes and soldiers who chased them.
She made sure the swan necklace was still around her neck as she walked towards the strange archway in the middle of the forest.
Further ahead, two trees stood on either side of the road. They were peculiarly curved towards each other, creating a wide arch above the rocky way. Wearing a magic pendant allowed the wearer to be transported into their village when they passed through the archway.
For horses, one of their horseshoes did the trick, and soon Emma found herself with a change of scenery. What had been the bleak Enchanted Forest was now vibrant Storybrooke village.
Emma had always found the peculiar name interesting, but didn't question it. She climbed down her horse, taking his reins gently and leading him towards the stables.
"Emma!" She was nearly crushed in a hug by none other than Henry.
"Hey kid!"
She and the child had gotten extremely close after their encounter with Razart 3 years ago. The senile warlock had mistaken little Emma and baby Henry for his old nemesis Malkroth, striking them with a spell. Emma had been able to shield Henry from most of it, getting the curse to hit her mostly. Ever since them, the two have been inseparable. Emma saw it more as sibling thing, but little Henry, who was an orphan, was more than happy to consider her a parent and mentor of sorts.
"How was your hunt?"
She fished the bag of gold up from the pouch to show Henry. "Successful, as always. How was your training?"
He puffed his chest out just a little bit as he said, "Best of my class!"
She ruffled his hair affectionately. "Just what I like to hear."
"Ooow! Stop it!" Henry groaned as she mussed up his hair, quickly using his hands to make it like he wanted it again.
"Relax! It looks fine! Like you just came from a journey fighting dragons! Girls love windswept hair!" Emma tried to appease the kid, but with the glare she got, it wasn't successful. 8 years-old and already worrying about how handsome he looks to try and impress a girl. He'd be a nightmare by the time he was a teen.
"Well, Prince Henry, if you're done tidying your hair, you can follow me, and after I drop Ban off at the stables, we can see how well your sword-fighting really is. What do you say?"
He perked up immediately, hair forgotten. Already heading in the direction of the stables. "Let's go!"
Emma shook her head with a smile, tying the bag once more to her belt, leading Bandit along with her. The horse had been rescued from a burning stable a couple of years ago, and Emma had taken ownership of him. Trying to find a name for the horse had been difficult, since nothing worked for the steed.
One day, while Neal and Henry were playing in the barn, the teen had yelled out "Stop! Bandit!" Immediately the horse's ears perked up and the name stuck.
"Well well, the prodigal daughter returns," Neal drawled as she entered the building.
She rolled her eyes, extending the reins to him. "Stuff a sock in it Neal."
Emma and Neal had never gotten along. The only reason they even tolerated each other was because Henry liked to hang with both of them, though Emma was not a fan of Henry's fond and misplaced fascination with the teen and the outlandish tales he told of his adventures.
The 19 year-old grumbled silently, taking the offered reins and leading Bandit to his stall.
Emma knew what this was about. "Stable duty isn't a punishment you know?"
"Says the Princess who can do no wrong." It was always jealousy with Neal. She didn't understand what the teen's damage was. He had apparently shown up one stormy day requesting asylum 4 years ago and had been here ever since, constantly getting into trouble and breaking rules.
Emma sighed, plopping down on a bale of hay. She saw Henry outside the stables practising his parries and blocks, before turning back to Neal. "You're exaggerating."
"Oh forgive me, I hadn't realized you get into trouble for sneaking out."
"I do too get in trouble."
"Never seen you get Stable Duty."
"Worse, I get Bookkeeping Duty. Pick your poison man."
That effectively shut him up.
Before they could find anything else to start an argument about, Snow had rushed in. "Oh Emma thank goodness you're here."
"Everything okay, mom?"
She grimaced as a response. "Walk with me."
Emma stole one last look at Neal, who glared at her pointedly, before following her mother out.
She quickly let Henry know that she'd be right back before rushing to follow Snow back to her parents' home.
Once inside, Emma saw that they had a visitor. "Aunt Red!"
The appropriately named red-clad woman stood up from where she was sitting with her father, going over to give her a hug. "My my, you keep growing!"
Emma laughed sarcastically in response, before breaking away to face her mother once again. "What's wrong?"
It was her father who answered. "There's word that the Evil Queen is on the move."
Emma had never met the fearsome woman, but she sounded like a formidable foe, if the stories that she had head of the Queen's hell-bent crusade to end Snow White's happiness were any indication. Her mother had barely survived some of the attacks from the Evil Queen, and had only managed to stop the merciless manhunt from the monarch when Snow had abdicated her claim on the throne more than a decade ago.
Ever since then, Snow White has kept to the darker corners of the Enchanted Forest, taking the role of leader with noble thieves and outlaws who still believed in the Princess. Although the Queen had stopped chasing Snow White, there was constant fear that if Snow White or any of her supporters were to ever appear, the Queen wouldn't hesitate to kill them.
No one had wanted to test the theory, so whenever the Queen went travelling, their merry band of thieves hid out in their refuge until it was safe once again.
Red, along with Granny, had their inn within the Dark Kingdom and were privy of the Queen's comings and goings. With that information relayed confidentially, Storybrooke village had persisted, hidden from view.
Things had been quiet for the past couple of days. Red had gone back to the Dark Kingdom to help at Granny's Inn, and Storybrooke village was under lockdown until Red came back to give them the all-clear.
Emma groaned, sitting up from her desk where she was keeping track of this week's 'earnings' so that they could figure out how much they could give next time they went out. Unlike some of the gangs of outlaws out there, they worked to make sure people who were less fortunate had enough to eat. They robbed the rich to give to the poor, a motto Snow White had taken quite a shine to from one of their right hands, Robin Hood. He and his merry men had helped Emma's parents to build Storybrooke, and their silent way of helping those in need was renown throughout the kingdoms by the people they helped.
Of course, no one knew who they were, as they were disguised every time. Circus troupe, theatre group, farmers trying to sell their wares, they always changed it up so as to not arouse suspicion with guards and the ruling monarchs.
Now, Emma stood up and headed outside, wanting some sunshine and a break from the work that awaited her when she returned.
"Emma!" She hadn't made it too far out before she heard her name being called. She turned to see the stable master, Jonathan, running to her, waving his arm.
"Is everything alright?" She glanced at the man now standing in front of her, trying to catch his breath.
He looked worried, and as he responded, she knew why. "Have you seen Neal and Henry? They were supposed to be helping me today but I haven't seen either one of them anywhere, the only one who did was Robert, who saw them an hour ago heading towards the gate."
Without responding, she ran towards the stables, grabbing Bandit and leading him towards the entrance gates.
She quickly explained to the guard on-duty that she was going out, not giving too many details as to not alarm anyone. She climbed onto her horse and pulled her hood up before urging Ban forward.
Although she didn't much care for Neal, if Henry was out with the Evil Queen so nearby, she couldn't help but worry. She made a mental note to remember to suggest Bookkeeping duty for when they caught Neal, so he could get a taste of it.
As she reached the crossroads of pathways, she paused. Where could they have gone?
She didn't have to wait long for the answer.
"Emma!" Once again she turned towards the voice calling for her, and her heart leapt at her throat seeing who it was. Henry was running towards her, and he had soot all over his face. Looking at the direction he was coming from, she saw a wall of smoke. Oh no.
She jumped down from her horse and ran the rest of the way, sinking to her knees as she reached the boy. "Henry!" Emma hugged him quickly, and then checked for injuries. Seeing none, she grabbed him by the shoulders and asked, "Are you okay? Where's Neal?"
"I'm fine. Just a little bit of ash. And Neal's still trying to put out the fire-"
Emma didn't even give him a chance to finish; she grabbed him and took her back to her horse, putting him on the saddle in front of her before climbing in herself. She quickly urged Bandit to head in the way Henry had come.
"Start explaining, kid."
"Neal was bored, so he asked me if I wanted to help him rob some bad guys. And I said yes, 'cause who doesn't want to defeat bad guys, especially if it means that you get out of shoveling-"
"Focus Henry."
"Right. Well anyway, we sneaked by Mario and headed out. Then we saw the Ne'er-Do-Well gang running around and we decided to follow them. For information, of course."
Emma didn't believe that for a second. If she knew Neal, he was probably trying to see if he could one-up them in their own game, or rob whoever they were planning on robbing before them. "And how did the fire come into play?"
"We didn't do it! Promise. By the time we reached them they were setting the carriage on fire with whoever's in there still trapped-"
"Wait there's a person still in there!?" Emma didn't wait to hear more, rushing her steed to go faster, "Come on Ban!"
Once they got there, the fire was out of control. Emma quickly checked her pouch for a small bean. She had asked it to be made last year, and Simon, the resident potioneer had laughed at her. Now she was going to prove him wrong.
Ordering Henry to stay on Ban, she climbed down and ran towards the fire, and once she was close enough, she pelted the bean towards the flames.
Suddenly a boom was heard, and it was as if a dam had broken open, as water shot out from where she assumed the bean landed, drenching the area in water, dousing any fire in the area in one fell swoop.
"That was so cool!" Emma smirked at Henry's exclamation, but now she had to rescue both Neal and whoever had been in the carriage. Though chances were that the person in there was a royal, who'd be none-too-pleased at being rescued by a thief, even if she did save their life.
She ran towards the charred area, easily spotting Neal. Crouching beside him, she saw he was still alive, just unconscious with a thick branch holding him down.
Thankfully it wasn't too heavy, so she was able to throw it off relatively easily. Either the branch had fallen after he fell unconscious, or the lack of oxygen depleted his strength. Emma noted that he had some nasty burns on his arms and legs; he needed help right away. She heaved him up and took him back to where Henry and Bandit were.
"Okay kid, you're gonna scooch back so Neal can go draped in the front. Make sure he stays on the horse, and go as fast as you can back to the village. I'll go help the poor soul in the carriage," provided they're still alive, she added morbidly in her mind, not wanting to scare off the child.
"What about you?"
"I'll come back later as soon as I finish here. Tell Snow and David that I'm fine and to not worry. And Henry, under no circumstances are you to run away again, understood?"
He nodded. "Yes, mom."
Emma let the title slide. Although she wasn't too comfortable with the name of the role, she knew Henry needed a family, and he had appointed her as his sole family, no room for questions.
"Okay now go!" She watched as Bandit carried Henry and Neal off, taking a deep breath.
Now to go rescue a royal.
And that was the first chapter!
Just to clarify some things, yes that is Neal, as in Rumpelstiltskin's Baelfire, and no, Henry is not Emma's nor Neal's kid.
To that end, the ages I mentioned here are correct, Emma in the beginning scene was 5, Neal 16, and Henry was a wee baby. Now 3 years later Emma is in her 20s, Henry is 8, and Neal is 19. I'm pretty sure the answer is obvious, but it shall be explained further into the story for clarification.
As for the Razart and Malkroth, they're just warring old-timers.
Please let me know what you think, and in the next chapter, we'll see who Emma is rescuing!
Meanwhile I'll be updating Such a Heavenly view, so keep a lookout for that!