Scarlet Jones and the Dark Curse

Chapter 2

(Author's Note will be located at the end of the chapter.)

The Enchanted Forest… Before the Dark Curse

It had been a few days since the Evil Queen had approached Scarlet about this job. She actually considered backing out several times, thinking that she could just run away and never turn back. She wasn't that she was scared or anything, Scarlet just kept telling herself that this was a lot of unnecessary work.

Scarlet finally made the decision that the power she was being offered sounded a lot better than remaining in her childhood home forever. She made her way to the Queen's castle this day to prepare for her newest task. She was let in without any issues, which led her to assume that Regina would be waiting for her. Scarlet walked in the hallways of the castle with a confident stride. This place was beyond creepy, but she didn't let it phase her. She was pointed in the direction of the Queen's quarters.

It was there that she saw a vanity, various mirrors, some creepy drapes and furniture and… a young man. She had expected to see the same regal queen that came to visit her, not this young man who was surprisingly handsome. She stayed silent, watching him silently for a moment. She had to assume that this wasn't the guy she was going to seduce and then murder. Before she could ask who he was, the man was already whipped around and tossing a blast of cold ice at Scarlet's feet.

It caught Scarlet completely off guard, but with one step back, she stopped the ice from hitting her feet. In response, Scarlet's eyes fell on the other man with a glare and she shot a blast of red haze his way. It just barely missed his head. The two of them stared at each other for a moment, unsure of what exactly just happened. Scarlet was the first to speak up, "I would ask who you are but at this point I feel like I don't really care…"

"I should say the same thing for you!" The man responded, narrowing his eyes on her a little bit. All the thoughts that this guy had been very attractive and interesting, had completely dropped away in Scarlet's eyes. He had been attractive before he tried to freeze her feet off. Now, he was snapping at her like she had been the one to something wrong.

Scarlet crossed her arms and let out a bitter chuckle at this guy really trying to blame her, "If I remember correctly, you tried to throw ice at my feet first!" The other man went to open his mouth, but didn't say anything else. He probably knew that Scarlet was correct here, which made her smirk just softly, "That's what I thought…"

"Who are you anyway?" The man snapped a little. He had only just met Scarlet, but he seemed to already be annoyed. This seemed to be a common theme when first meeting this young woman. She annoyed everyone, and she loved it.

Scarlet raised an eyebrow at him then. She had only just arrived at this castle and right away, this guy was trying to make her have cold feet. There was no way she could be so certain to trust him, given their brief history of 2 minutes. Scarlet crossed her arms, "Why don't you tell me your name first?"

He rolled his eyes at this, because he really should have seen it coming. He wasn't one to jump on trusting people either, obviously. But, if he wanted information on her, he would have to give a little as well. The man leaned forward just a little to come face-to-face with the shorter girl, "My name is Frost."

Scarlet snorted instantly at this, "Frost… oh, how clever… that is not a name, sir, that is extremely cold water," She said, rolling her eyes a little. Go figure the guy with the ice powers would be named Frost. It also made her stop and feel just very slightly sad for this man. How unfortunate to have an embarrassing name. She figured now that he had given his name, it was time for her to reveal her own name, "Scarlet Jones." The woman introduced herself.

"Scarlet, like the color?" Frost started to say, crossing his arms as he smirked at the girl. She was significantly shorter than her, but was clearly filled with fire, not like it scared him or anything, "Fitting, I suppose. I usually associate the color red with destruction, and you look like a wreck."

Scarlet almost couldn't believe that insult that had been thrown her way. She was not really used to people standing up to her like that. This guy was something else. Scar opened her mouth to fight back in some way, but was cut off by the Evil Queen. Regina entered the room with a small smirk on her face, walking right in between the two of them and towards her seat that was in front of the vanity, "I see you two have met…"

"Unfortunately…" Scarlet mumbled, still clearly upset by his insult and the fact that she even had to meet him at all. She could have gone along with her life just fine without having to know Frost. But now, he would probably never get out of her head. A wreck? Ha, you have no idea… Scarlet thought to herself.

The Queen stepped up then to explain a few very vague things. She had apparently hired both of them to do very separate things, both which would benefit her in their respective ways. Scarlet did not care whatever Frost had to do, she just wanted to get done what she had to do. It wasn't until a moment later that Frost left and Regina gave Scarlet the full rundown on what she had to do...

You will play the part of a princess whose kingdom was destroyed. He is already expecting you. Scarlet sat in the carriage that would take her to the kingdom of the man she would seduce and kill. She played the Evil Queen's words in her head. This shouldn't be hard. I have set everything up for you; you can take it from here.

Scarlet knew this would be no problem for her. She was beautiful, she knew that, and she was apparently unable to fall in love. She was too wrapped up in herself to really care about another. The Queen made sure Scarlet looked the part of a princess, in a dress where the color matched her name. It was a change from her usual dark clothing; she just hadn't decided if she liked it or not.

The journey to the prince's kingdom was not too terrible. It was long, but Scarlet was comfortable. Upon arriving, the prince was ready to greet his new guest, standing on the pale steps. Scarlet watched as her carriage approached the grand palace. And she had thought her home was glorious. There were gardens and ponds and fields with pathways. The castle was a light color, all the columns, balconies, window sills and walls matched perfectly. It was homes like this that made Scarlet sick most days. But, hey, this would be her home for her next job.

Scarlet's carriage stopped just in front of the grand palace, and she waited a moment for her door to be opened for her. A princess never opens her own door. The driver swung the door open, and with all the grace Scarlet could muster, she took a few steps to get out of the cart.

Scarlet glanced up at the prince, the two of them meeting eyes for the first time. She batted her eyes in a flirtatious manner, while his were bright and full of joy, full of life. They were bright, but they seemed to light up more upon seeing her.

The prince made his way down the steps, making his way towards the supposed princess. Scarlet had to admit, he didn't seem like an ordinary prince. He was not dressed in royal clothing, or decked out in royal jewels. He was in the clothing for a sports man, and he was shiny, like he had just been running for a few hours. But despite the sweat, he was insanely attractive. Scarlet noticed his eyes first, so blue and inviting, then his muscles…

Scarlet shook her head a little. She was getting off track, she couldn't let herself get distracted already. The two of them walked towards each other until they were face to face - sort of. Scarlet was shorter than him, she was shorter than most people. It must have been from the fairy side of her. The prince smiled, bowing slightly and greeting her, "Princess…"

"Scarlet," She replied. She had considered telling him a totally different name for herself, but decided against it. It really didn't matter that much.

The prince kept his charming smile and brought her knuckles to his lips, "Princess Scarlet," his voice was so smooth it sent a shiver down her spine, "I am Prince William. I am here to welcome you to my kingdom." He went on to invite her to follow him up the steps, which she accepted. Scarlet took his arm as he led her to the front door of his castle, "I also wanted to say I am very sorry for your loss."

Scarlet paused. She wasn't sure what exactly he was told about her fake story the queen had set up. All she was told was she had been a princess from a broken kingdom, which was not exactly a lie… "Yes, it's tragic…" Scarlet looked down. Maybe if she just remained vague about the subject, he wouldn't try to pry.

William had decided to leave that alone. Instead, he took Scarlet for a small tour around his land. Scarlet had really just wanted to find her room, and maybe drink a little in privacy. She kept wondering what her temporary room would look like, probably gorgeous like the rest of this home. But, William had insisted on showing her around, so Scarlet dealt with it; she was trying to win him over after all.

The prince gave her facts about different things in the gardens. How old the statues were, what the pillars and decorations were made of. He even knew every type of flower. He must not have gotten out much, Scarlet assumed, or he was just that interested in stupid facts. However, Scarlet acted as though she was actually interested in all he was saying. She mostly just focused on his gorgeous features, nodding when she assumed she was right to.

A maid came and found them in the center of the garden. She was an older woman and introduced herself as Valerie. She told Scarlet she would be serving her during her stay. Scarlet almost wanted to thank the woman for saving her from this boring gardening lesson, but that probably wouldn't have gone over well with William.

William said his quick goodbye, kissing Scarlet's knuckles tenderly once again. His lips were soft on her hands, it made Scarlet smile.

"I look forward to knowing you better, my prince," Scarlet winked at him, which made the prince blush for once. Before he could respond, Scarlet turned around and followed Valerie down the path and towards the home. The entire walk, Scarlet had a feeling this wouldn't be the most terrible situation to be in. She had a feeling she would have no problems getting away with this…

Storybrooke… During the Dark Curse

Over the last few days, Diana finally decided that she was officially sick of being busy all the time. She wasn't sure what exactly came over her, she just woke up one day and realized that she wasn't living her life the way she wanted to. She had plotted to maybe confess all of this to the mayor or Jackson or anything. And then when the time came… Diana chickened out.

As much as she hated all that she was doing, Diana Rogers had a lot of responsibility on her shoulders. And as busy as she was, everything she did, she supposed it was what she wanted. It was all supposed to help her with her future, her reputation, and all of that was important to her. So even after she decided that she was sick of being busy all the time, Diana still did what she had to…

So, here she was, on this beautiful Storybrooke Saturday, stapling flyers to a wooden post. The flyers that she knew would end up blowing away in the wind. Flyers that she knew no one would really, actually look like. They would get overlooked, thrown away, all of that. But she was still doing it. Why? Because it was her responsibility.

The stapler got jammed right in the middle of hanging one up, causing the flyer to appear lopsided and terrible. This made Diana's OCD go crazy just a little, so she tried to unjam the stapler. Nothing seemed to be working, so her final solution was to slam the stapler on the wooden post a couple times. At this point, she seemed to just be taking out all her frustration on this one staple gun. She must have looked absolutely insane to anyone walking by. In fact, someone did stop to make sure Diana was okay, because she looked far from okay…

"Now, was it the staple gun or the post that screwed you over?" A woman's voice spoke to her, causing Diana to stop banging her stapler on the wood. She looked like she had just got caught red handed robbing a bank or something. She tried really hard to make sure no one saw that she was completely unstable underneath her perfect faucude. So, Diana recomposed herself a moment later to smile at the woman.

"My, uh, my stapler broke and I was just… trying to fix it," Diana let out a little chuckle, making a light hearted comment to avoid what just happened. She took this brief moment to take a look down at the object in her hand, that was now completely shambled and beyond repair. Banging it against something hard enough seemed to do that, "And now it's completely broken. I just need a new one at this point…"

Diana said nothing else at first, instead just tossed the staple into the nearest trash can and ripped down the flier that had caused her anger in the first place. The woman was clearly trying really hard not to laugh, like this display was funny or something, "This is just me guessing, but I assume you are not enjoying your Saturday."

Diana rolled her eyes, wanting to reply with a sarcastic comment about how stupidly obvious that observation was. But instead she only nodded, "Yeah, you could say that… I could be doing so much more with my day. But instead here I am, hanging up flyers, breaking staplers, and for what? It's not like I…" The young girl stopped when she realised she was ranting about all of this to a complete stranger. She glanced over at the woman, offering her an apologetic smile, "Sorry about."

"You don't have to be sorry," The blonde woman replied, crossing her arms as she faced Diana. She was watching her, like she was trying to read her face for something. She continued, "I do have to know something though… why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?" Diana asked her curiously, turning to face her.

The blonde shrugged, gesturing to the scene in front of her, "This… hanging up flyers for something you obviously don't care about. Wasting your Saturday."

"Because I have to…" Diana said softly. This was really the only answer she could think of at the moment. She really had no idea why she was doing all of this. It was because she had to. It was her responsibility.

The woman nodded slowly, "That's what I thought," She said in a mumble. It was pretty clear that this woman was older than Diana, so maybe there was some life lesson that was about to be thrown at the younger girl, "Listen, I am not one to really be giving life advice… but if I can offer you some, I would suggest stop doing things because you 'have to'... Try living for yourself."

These were the truest words to ever strike Diana. She had never really attempted to live for herself. She had never attempted to be selfish. These thoughts never even occurred to her. It was almost like this woman opened her eyes for the first time in… many years. Diana didn't reply at first, which clearly made the woman think that her words weren't going to make an impact. She shrugged, "Just keep that in mind, okay?"

Diana glanced up towards the woman as she went to leave, "Well, wait, hold on… you are going to give me life changing advice but not your name?" She asked her curiously. She had never seen this woman before in her life, which was really strange. Usually in Storybrooke, everyone knew everyone. But this was definitely a face she had never seen before, "I'm Diana Rogers, by the way."

The blonde smiled a little, shrugging her shoulders as she said her name before she walked away, "Emma…" She responded, "Emma Swan."

Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time and any characters, places and ideas I use from that show. I do own all Original Characters mentioned (unless specified otherwise), including Scarlet Jones/Diana Rogers. All Original Ideas mentioned in this story, including the idea Fairy Hybrids, belong to me and cannot be taken unless given permission. The character Frost/Jackson Snow belongs to my good friend Katia, who actually gave me permission to use him here.

Author's Note!

Thank you for reading Chapter 2 of my story! I hope you have enjoyed it so far. There is not much I need to note with this one, as it was another sort of introduction chapter. I hope you all keep reading because as said before, I do have big plans for this character and her story.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to PM me or leave a review. Both are very much appreciated!

Keep an eye out for Chapter 3 coming soon and thank you again for reading!