Chapter Thirteen

Emma had no idea where she was. The forest she was currently (seemingly trapped) in was unfamiliar. She had no idea how long she'd spent there, either; how long it had taken her to stop crying, for her hearing to return. The forest was dark, and endless, and she was tired.

She sat on a fallen tree, trying to get herself home. Teleportation didn't work either.

"What are you looking at?" she snapped, suddenly frightened and slightly offended by the finch that watched her from the low branches of a tree.

The bird kept its beady eyes trained on her. It tilted its head to the side before turning her harsh affront into a sweet melody.

Emma sighed, the tiniest of smiles tugging at her lips, and sang a few notes from a nursery rhyme. The goldfinch, more pleased with this titbit, hopped closer, repeating it.

It continued that way, back and forth between the princess and the bird, as the latter flew closer until hopping onto Emma's hand.

"Hey, Tweety," she murmured to the creature. "Are you trapped here too?"

A single chirp. A yes?

She gaped at the bird. "Are you a person?"

Another chirp, identical to the last.

"I'm gonna try and help you, okay?"

The bird chirped again, more sweetly this time. Emma screwed her eyes shut, focusing on the idea of a human being. She had assumed that the bird was once a woman, but what if it was a man? What if something went wrong? What if none of her magic worked in this place? What if—?

She was pulled into a tight hug. Hazarding at opening her eyes, she saw that it was a woman she had saved. Her hair was long, blonde and dirty. She was naked, and some of her bones were visible under her pale skin. When she pulled away, her brown eyes swam with tears.

"Here," she waved a hand, and a dress covered the young woman's body. "My name's Emma, what's yours?"

"Elle," she managed to say eventually, her voice weak. She coughed. "My name is Danielle, but my friends call me Elle."

Emma glanced up at the canopy of trees. "How did you end up here, Elle?"

Danielle gave the tiniest of shrugs. "My father angered a dark wizard. I was trapped here as revenge. And you?"

She grimaced. "This is my own doing, I fear."

The young woman cocked her head to the side, much like she'd done when she was a bird. "You imprisoned yourself? How?"

"A witch – she cursed my fiancé. I panicked, and ended up here. I can't get out."

"It's the Infinite Forest. Only magic can get you out."

"I've tried that."

With a sigh, Elle seated herself beside Emma. "Well, your magic is working. That's not a problem; look at me. Something else must be keeping you here."

"Like what?"

"Fear? Of the witch? Of losing your love?"

"He's not—"

Elle frowned. "You don't love him? Yet you are to marry him?"

Emma was silent.

"Maybe that's what you fear."

"Love? I don't fear love."

"Maybe not. But you fear something, and unless you admit it to yourself, you'll be trapped here and your betrothed will die."

"He won't die," was all Emma could reply with.

"What?"

"He won't die," she repeated calmly. "It's a sleeping curse. It won't kill him."

"You're afraid he's not your true love, then? That you won't be able to save him?"

"No!" Emma exclaimed, a little too quickly. She sighed. "I think he's my true love, but I'm not sure if I'm his."

"Only one way to find out," said Danielle. She stood, taking Emma with her, and, joining their hands, she screwed her eyes shut.

"What are you doing?"

"Helping you. Close your eyes."

She obeyed, concentrating on her magic. Perhaps Elle was right, and she was afraid. Afraid of what? That true love's kiss wouldn't work? That it would?

Danielle harrumphed, and Emma opened her eyes.

"Stop thinking," the woman ordered. "Your energy's scattered. You need to focus on emotions. That's how magic works."

"How do you know so much about it?"

"I tried to learn magic, when I was younger, but I don't have the natural power." She shrugged, in an 'oh well' gesture. "Some are born with it; some aren't."

Emma opened her mouth to apologize, but Danielle laughed.

"Besides, after what happened, I don't think I'd want to have anything to do with magic, would you?"

"You're helping me."

"Your magic is light. Good."

"It's still magic."

Danielle huffed again. "You're my only way out of here; of course I'm going to help you. Focus."

Again, she obeyed, attempting to focus her energy, as she had been schooled. She was sure she had better control of her magic than this. She sighed. Elle was right; she was fearful. If she admitted her love, she opened her heart to a world of pain. Regina was the way she was because she had lost her true love. What was to stop the same thing from happening to her?

It's not the same, said a small voice. She caught hold of that thought, and allowed it to pull her from the darkness the rest of her thoughts had created in her brain.

"There!" Danielle proclaimed after a moment, letting go of her hands. She opened her eyes. "I knew you could do it! Thanks for the lift."

She set off with a purposeful stride, stopping dead after a few steps. "I have no idea where I am."

Emma laughed, for the first time since before Killian had been placed under the curse. "I'll take you back to the castle. It's not far from here."

"Where's your fiancé?" asked Danielle, grinning as she returned to Emma's side. Her mood had improved drastically now that she'd been freed from her prison. It was almost infectious.

"He's there," she replied, as they began to walk. She couldn't muster enough strength to teleport again. "With his brother."

"Tell me about him," Elle requested.

"Who, Killian?"

Danielle scoffed. "Assuming that's your fiancé's name, who else would I be asking about?"

"All right," Emma acquiesced.

Liam ran to meet them as they approached the castle. "Emma! What happened? Where did you go? Who's this?"

"This is Elle," Emma replied. "Liam, Elle. Elle, Liam."

"Charmed, but there's more pressing matters at hand. A sleeping curse?"

Emma nodded sagely. "We ran into the Evil Queen."

Liam sighed, running a hand through his hair. "He needs true love's kiss, Emma."

"I know."

"Did you try it?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't know what I'm going to do if it doesn't work, Liam!" Emma exclaimed, shocking herself with the outburst. The tears threatened to return, and she blinked them back furiously. "If I'm not his true love, then how are we going to find someone to save him?"

Liam placed a consoling hand on her shoulder, still strong even in the face of his brother's plight. He'd had to be strong ever since he was five years old, when his father abandoned him and Killian was the only one he could rely on. "I've never seen Killian like this with anyone else. If that isn't true love, then what is?"

"You have to believe that it will work," Elle added. "If you don't try, then what good are you to him?"

She nodded, continuing on her way to the castle. "Where is he?"

"Still in the stables," Liam replied. "No one else knows, yet. But they've probably missed us."

"We'll deal with that later," said Emma, determinedness overtaking all other emotion – most notably, fear.

Not that it didn't return as soon as she reached the stables and saw Killian lying on the ground. She knelt before him, looking up at her companions.

"What if it doesn't work?"

"You have to believe that it will."

She nodded. It was just a kiss. What difference did it make if it was the only thing that would save him?

Quite a big difference, but she pushed the thought away in favour of closing her eyes and pressing the lightest of kisses to Killian's lips.

She sat back, eyes still closed, refusing to open them until she received some indication of whether it had worked or not.

It arrived in the form of a hoarse, "Emma?" Her eyes flew open to see him struggling to prop himself up on his elbows. "Are you all right?"

She laughed, but it was strained. "You're seriously asking me that right now? You were cursed!"

"Oh, so that's what it was," he said, smiling as though he had not just been under a terrible curse. "I thought she was going to slice open my throat."

"Don't joke about things like that," she said, her voice close to a whisper, tears brimming in her eyes.

"It's okay," Killian assured her, sitting up straight. "I'm okay."

"I know that, you idiot," she replied, wiping away the traitorous tears. "It doesn't change the fact that you could have died today."

"I didn't. That's all that matters."

She nodded, but the tears continued to fall. He hugged her, kissing her hair and murmuring "It's all right" into it.

"So," Danielle broke the ensuing silence. "As lovely as all this is, some introductions wouldn't go amiss."

"How rude of me," said Emma, brushing away the last of her tears – or what she hoped were the last of them. "Killian, this is Elle. She used to be a bird."

She smiled. "It's a long story."

"Okay," said Emma, standing up. "Do I look like I've been through an ordeal?"

"A little bit, yes."

She sighed. "Well, I have been through an ordeal. Time to go tell our long stories."

Elle was offered chambers, clothes, and a bath to wash the dirt from her hair and skin. She cut it, too, and emerged looking much better. She grinned, slipping into the seat next to Emma.

"Much better."

"Where did you live, Danielle?" asked Snow, spreading a map of the kingdoms across the table.

"Newing," she replied. "In the Northern Kingdom?"

"My mother was princess of the Northern Kingdom," said Snow, with a small smile. "Your father is Samuel?"

"Yes!"

The queen's face fell. "I'm afraid he's dead, Elle."

Danielle nodded. "Okay. I don't know how long I was trapped there – and with Mom gone, after I left it was probably hard on him. I hope he's at peace, now."

"Me too. But it does mean that Newing is ruled by a cousin of your father's – Edward?"

She smiled. "Ed. He'd be a fair ruler."

"You have no desire to seize control, then?" asked Emma. Danielle shook her head.

"No. I'm only sixteen. Or … I was. When I was trapped in that forest."

"I don't think you're sixteen anymore."

"When were you born?" asked Snow. Elle cited the year. "That makes you twenty-three."

"I was trapped there for seven years?" she asked, glancing between mother and daughter.

Emma nodded. "I suppose time moves differently, when you're in that place."

"And when you're a bird."

"That too."

Snow folded the map away when the others arrived, and they ate lunch together. Danielle wolfed down everything in sight, while Killian appeared to have little appetite, picking at his food.

"What's wrong?" Emma asked, catching up to him in the hallway.

"It wasn't a normal sleep."

"I figured. It being a curse and everything. What was it like?"

"Mirrors," he said, brow furrowing. "I was surrounded by mirrors. They showed me all of my flaws. All of my faults."

"You're free of it now."

He smiled a fleeting smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Yeah. Thank you."

She shrugged. "It was just a kiss."

"True love's kiss," he corrected. He smiled a proper smile this time, one that set his eyes twinkling with amusement. "We're true love."

"That hadn't escaped my attention."

"Who would've thought?"

Emma smiled in return, thinking of what Melody had said. "All this time, and my true love was right there in front of my eyes."

"Well, you know now."