Save Emma

Chapter 7

Part Two: The Enchanted Forest

Chapter 7

"Tell me the story of The Sleeping Lady again!" Princess Emma said, as she crawled into her large bed.

"Again? Didn't I tell you that story last night?" Queen Snow asked her five year old daughter.

"Yeah! It's my favorite story EVER!" The little girl said, a wide smile on her face.

"Alright." Snow smiled, tucking Emma in. "Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young woman, who loved to ride horses. One day while she was out riding, she discovered a young girl who's horse had gone wild."

"That little girl was you, right Mommy?" Emma asked, her smile growing wider.

"That's right, Princess. That was me." Snow smiled, brushing a lock of stray blonde hair away from Emma's face. "My horse had gone wild and was running, with me holding on for dear life. The young woman chased after the horse and once she caught up, she pulled me onto her saddle, saving my life."

"That was very nice of her." Emma said.

"It was extremely nice of her." Snow smiled. "It was so nice of her, that my daddy, your grandfather, decided he should marry her and make her the Queen, to say thank you."

"But she didn't want to be Queen, did she?" Emma asked.

"No, she didn't. She didn't want to marry my daddy. She wanted to marry someone else. And she asked me to keep that a secret, because she didn't want anyone to know that she was going to run away with the man she wanted to marry." Snow said.

"But you didn't, Mommy. You told The Sleeping Lady's mommy." Emma said, telling the story.

"That's right. I betrayed her trust. I told her mommy about the other man, and because of it, she made that man go away so The Sleeping Lady couldn't marry him." Snow explained.

"That wasn't very nice of you, Mommy." Emma said, a scowl on her face.

"No. It wasn't very nice at all." Snow frowned. "But I was very young, and I thought I was helping her."

"She married your daddy anyway, after the man left, right?" Emma asked.

"She did. She was my step-mother for a long time." Snow said. "But she was very sad the whole time. And she was very very angry, mostly at me, for taking the other man away from her."

"Was she mean to you?" Emma asked, already knowing the answer.

"She was. She was mean to everyone because she was so sad." Snow explained.

"But it was your fault she was so sad." Emma said, with confidence.

"That's right, it was. That's why I ran away after my daddy died. And even when I was gone, she was mean to me, with good reason." Snow explained.

"Then what happened?" Emma asked, her eyes wide with anticipation.

"Then, one day, she asked me to meet her at her old house, where she lived before she married my daddy. When I met her, she told me that we had been fighting for so long and she wanted to stop. She told me that one day I would have a little girl with blonde hair and green eyes." Snow explained.

"That's ME!!!" Emma said, bouncing in her bed with excitement.

"That's right, Princess. She was talking about you. Somehow, she knew that you would be my little girl. She said she needed to protect you, to keep you safe. And the only way she could do that was to put herself to sleep by using something called a Sleeping Curse." Snow explained.