On Stranger Tides

~Introduction~

Once Upon A Time,

In a land far, far away from here. A land full of pirates, princesses, princes, and dragons. There lived a king and a queen. The queen gave birth to a beautiful baby girl with hair as dark as night, skin as white as snow, and lips as red as blood. They called her Snow White.

When Snow was young, her mother died of a horrible illness, leaving Snow with no mother to look after her. One day a young woman had saved Snow from her horse which was dragging her across a field, her name was Regina. Regina was a beautiful young woman with raven hair and golden eyes. The king had thanked Regina for her bravery and asked for her hand in marriage, but Regina did not want to accept because she was in love with someone else. Regina telling young Snow of her secret lover, Snow couldn't keep the secret. Having told Regina's mother, a miller's daughter, her red hair streaked with gray and her face wrought with wrinkles from her past decisions. Her mother was powerful and she had the boy killed because she wanted her daughter to be queen. Ever since Regina blamed Snow for ruining her life.

Regina had planned to get revenge on Snow for so many years, her once calm and gentle demeanor turned dark and corrupt. Snow's father had died and had never known of his wife's intentions towards his daughter. When the King died, Regina used her new power to her advantage. Snow was now a young woman, by the time she heard of the plans her stepmother had for her. She ran away, the Queen's guards searched for her day and night, so they could give her heart to Regina. Regina terrorized villages and countless other towns full of people trying to find Snow, this is how she earned her title of the Evil Queen.

Snow ran across a cottage, where seven dwarfs lived. They welcomed her into their home, giving her a place to stay, and they eventually became friends who would never turn her into the queen. The only way to survive was to become a bandit, she had become a professional at the bow and arrow. This was her life now, full of banditry and hiding.

One day Snow was planning on stealing from Prince James as he was riding in the forest with his fiancée. Distracting them, she took a ring, she was then she was off to sell it. However, the next morning she had stepped on a trap which hung her in a tree. Prince James, golden hair and charming smirk, stepped out from some foliage, demanding for his ring. She told him she sold it to the trolls under the bridge. That's when they made a deal, he would guarantee her freedom if she helped get his ring back.

Snow tried to reason with the trolls but they found out her true identity and were going to turn her in to the Evil Queen. James saved her, and in the end, Snow ended up saving him as well. They escaped with their lives and the ring. Then it was time to say their goodbyes, but they promised to see each other again as they couldn't deny this mutual feeling they had each other, for it was true love.

Snow called him Charming because it suited him, and just like they promised, they found each other again. For a while, the two went on many adventures. When the perfect moment came Charming proposed to Snow with the ring she had stolen from him, she agreed. Charming had decided to take his kingdom from his dictating father, Snow fought alongside him in every battle. They won, earning their place as the new rulers of the Enchanted Kingdom.

They got married very quickly because they could never have a break, the Evil Queen, Regina threatened them. She was going to take away their happiness if it was the last thing she'd do. Her efforts were strong and cruel, she tried everything but failed. Her Dark Curse was a failure and she had killed the one person she had ever loved, other than the stable boy, in order to enact it. Full of rage the Evil Queen had disappeared into the unknown, leaving them in peace. Not long after, Snow found out she was with child. Everyone was ecstatic, for they would have their heir, the product of true love.

When it was time for the baby to come, the whole kingdom waited silently to find out if their future ruler would be a boy or a girl. A beautiful baby girl was born. She had golden hair, green eyes, and lips as red as blood. Everyone rejoiced for their new princess was born on a night full of stars.

They named her, Emma.

She was the sunshine in everyone's day. People from across the land brought swan lilies for they were in the season of her birth. The white, unique flowers fit her well, for she became as light and graceful as a swan. Young Emma was truly the fairest of all the lands. She was strong, smart, confident, brave, but also quite stubborn. Since the day Emma could walk, her parents wanted her to learn how to fight, just like them. She was a princess, and a girl, but that didn't matter to them. By the age of ten, she could beat her father at any sword fight and could hit nearly a dozen targets within a matter of seconds with her bow. She was definitely a strong-willed girl. Snow and Charming called Emma their Savior because they believed she was the one who brought hope to the kingdom that ultimately ended The Evil Queen's reign. Her parents were so proud of what their daughter had become. She was a fighter, a believer, and a leader and they knew she would do good to the kingdom someday.

The Enchanted Forest, known also as Misthaven, was the most spectacular realm in all the lands. Its abundant forests and waterways brought much beauty and people from all over the world. Trade and community became a huge part of The Enchanted Forest's culture, there were many ports surrounding this realm, making easy access in and out of the land. Trade and traveling the waters of this land was how the people made their livelihoods, because of that The Enchanted Forest was a hub of many different cultures, traditions, families, and ideals. The diversity is what truly made Misthaven the greatest realm. The Charmings' were the best rulers for the greatest kingdom in the world, everything was brought straight to them, leaving The Enchanted Forest was unnecessary as they already had all the wealth that they could possibly need.

However, Emma never wanted riches, royalty, and the realm. She wanted to explore and see everything that the world had to offer. Emma had so many natural talents, that she would have been perfect in any environment she was thrown into. She snuck out on many occasions to see the people of the neighboring towns and spent many days pretending to be someone she was not. Emma had left the realm once, a very eventful adventure, one she hopes to keep a secret forever. Despite all the things Emma faced internally, she became the most beautiful maiden in all the realms but had become hidden behind the palace walls.

When she turned of age at eighteen, it was time for her to find a suitor. But by this time, Emma was entirely fed up with the idea of being royal, and she felt trapped behind her parent's shadow. She just wanted to be free and adventure like her parents did. As she grew older they wouldn't let her out of their sight, especially since her last dalliance and adventure. Emma didn't know who she would marry, because she kept telling herself that she had never been in love before. Emma had also vowed that she would never let herself be vulnerable to the image of love, she wanted to prove to her parents that she could be an effective ruler and adventure. It was hard to prove that to them if they didn't trust her. Quite honestly, Emma didn't even trust herself sometimes. Emma had her natural talents and great strengths but was also quite reserved and could sometimes show distaste. While she scoffed at the idea of love, Emma didn't know was that she was betrothed to the son of King Frederick and Queen Abigail of the neighboring kingdom and she found out in the worst way possible.

Snow and Charming had surprised Emma with a huge enchanted ball for her eighteenth birthday. There were so many people there to celebrate her glorious day of birth, from Misthaven and from foreign lands. There were bright lights and colors, the people dressed in their most extravagant of clothing, servants with trays of small delicate appetizers and sparkling drinks surrounded the room. Spectacular music filled the great ballroom, dancers splayed across the room. Emma herself stood at the top of the stairs in an elegant lacy white ballgown that had flowing sleeves and hugged her body nicely. Her mother had made a flower crown of swan lilies and daisies to put upon her curly blonde locks. She stood unmoving watching the great spectacle unfold, Emma didn't want this, she would rather spend her birthday as a quiet night in, reading a good book. Emma made her appearance, tried the appetizers, danced with princes, kings, and commoners. She was unhappy, but she kept on her smile and made sure that her parents noticed.

At the end of the night, Emma was on the way to her rooms after her great celebration when she overheard two maids speaking of the secret her parents had kept. They had discussed the royal wedding plans, the menu, the venue and all the details that had seemed to be planned before she even knew about it. She was furious, she thought her parents would be the last people to ever do this to her, she was going to do everything in her power to stop it. It was one of Emma's dreams to prove that she didn't need to be married to be an effective leader, but she also wanted to prove that she didn't want to be a leader at all.

What she really didn't know was, her whole life was about to change course.