Chapter Text
Storybrooke, 2016
Emma walks with purpose towards the edge of the forest, Hook glued to her steps. The blond woman is pissed off, decided to found, as fast as she can, the magic creature, potentially dangerous, according to Gold, which abruptly flown away from an item from his shop, creating a huge mess on its way out. Cars are turned upside down, windows are broken, and a mysterious purple trail shows a way to follow, the savior immediately rushes after that thing to avoid it to make new damages, her boyfriend just behind her.
Once on the edge of the wood, they both scan the surrounding area to find their prey.
“Look, there is something over there”, Emma points, walking slowly, trying not to frighten the figure she had spotted.
The form on the ground doesn’t have anything of a monster or a magic creature, Emma notices once she is closer to it. It’s a human being, more exactly a young woman, lying on her stomach, the side of her face buried inside the feathers and the wet ground of the forest. Light white skin, with long auburn hair falling on her left shoulder. With the shape of her body, Emma immediately notices that the young woman is pregnant, and probably close to the end. Hook observes the scene, watching Emma gently pulling away the unknown woman hair from her face and then looking for her hand to take her pulse.
“Bloody Hell !”, the pirate suddenly exclaims, while placing his right hand on his mouth, eyes wide open in a state of shock,
“What ?”, Emma asks. “Do you know her ?”
“Aye, love. I know her… She’s my princess.”
“What ?! What do you mean your princess ?”
“Not my princess in that way. It’s my princess, the one from the kingdom I come from, my birthplace. But I thought she was dead a long time ago…”
“Wait a minute, if I understand well, she’s the one you were talking about with Liam in the Underworld ? The one you asked for news ?”
“Aye, that’s her”, he answered. “How is she ? Is she alive ?”
“She seems to be okay.”, Emma tells him grabbing her wrist. “But she really breathes slowly, and has a very weak pulse, we need to take her to the hospital.”
Emma gently turns the young woman on her back. She pulls off some other hair, in order to see her face’s details. If she really is a princess, as Killian said, she has the beauty but not really the look. Her clothes are very simple, but Emma’s gaze stops on the young woman’s face, she can’t see her eyes color, but judging only by looking at the thin lines of her sweet face, her straight and delicate nose and her thin mouth of the color of a pink rosebud, Emma doesn’t doubt that this young person, who she thinks is not even thirty, has something noble.
While Killian bends to pick up his long-lost friend and takes her gently into his arms, while paying attention to not scratch his hook in the thin skin of her back, Emma thinks about what to do next.
“If she’s a princess, and considering her state”, Emma says, pointing at the young woman's belly, “she might have a prince somewhere. We need a prince. Her prince. If she has been cursed, I suppose she’s going to need a true love kiss to wake up.”’
“Oh no Love, that not how it works with her”, Hook answers with a smirk. “Believe me, it’s not a prince she needs.”
“If it’s not a prince she needs”, Emma sighs in complete disbelief, “what does she need ?”
“A hatter”, Hook answers, smirking at her.