Scarlet

We Knew How This Would End

Golden eyes, shining in the darkness, woke Emma from her slumber, haunting her like a cruel plague and drenching her in sweat. She was met with darkness, something cold and harboring, as if something were held within the unknown, lurking, watching. A shiver shot down her spine as she moved; the floor beneath her hard and cold.

Those eyes, they were a memory, something she vaguely recalled witnessing as she was walking in the courtyard. She remembered feeling something consuming, filling the air with malevolent power, and it was not like the Evil Queen's; this was something that had been suffocating and left her drowning as panic seized her.

Her hands were bound, she soon found, as she attempted to pick herself up off the floor only to be met with resistance from the iron that bit into her delicate wrists. Magic was the first thing that came to mind –

something the Queen had urged her to use, over and over, and that she had refused. She was helpless in her position. Whoever had taken her had the advantage of surprise. Briefly, did she wonder if her parents had succeeded in breaking into the castle and her heart sunk at the thought of what might have befallen Regina.

But, as she moved and urged that magic to power through, she found that she could not access it. Naturally, she thought of her lessons and how they had not yet been completed. She knew little, still, of how to work her magic.

Gods, why did she suddenly have a penchant for getting kidnapped? The Evil Queen surely wouldn't do such a thing; not after what their relationship had evolved into and the passing moon of her new position. And her parents, after thinking for another moment, would not lock her up, either. Unless, of course, they feared the magic that she could wield.

"Hello?" she called out, expecting her voice to reverberate off the walls, but it sounded as if she were in a small, enclosed space. Cursing under her breath, she attempted to stand and explore the area, but as soon as she took more than two steps, she was urged back by the rattle of chains.

Whoever this was definitely did not want her to escape. She yelled into the thickening air, suddenly too heavy to breathe, and hoped for a reply.

But nobody came.

Emma stumbled back when she realized she was trapped. Of course, she thought bitterly to herself. She was cuffed and chained up, and it was dark and cold, but the air was thick and suffocating. Her breath shortened as she allowed herself to sink to the ground, wondering if she would ever see the light of day again.

As the seeds of turmoil started to plant themselves in her mind, she was blinded by a sudden onslaught of sunlight and squinted against the intrusion. She could see a silhouette eclipsing it and attempted to discern the form, but her answer was granted when a voice spoke, chilling and eerily pitched.

"Princess Emma, it does well to see you in one piece. Your dear parents were only weighing me down with notions of war. Pity that they underestimate my power and pity that they will never see you again."

...

"Where is she?" The Evil Queen's voice boomed throughout the courtyard. Several knights stood in a row before her, each with sweat on their brow and a distant fear of death in their eyes. She looked upon their faces, each one only fueling the fire already burning within her.

A meek knight, some shrimp of a man, was pushed forward, stumbling in the dirt. "I- I ain't seen her, Your Majesty," he choked out when glowing hazel eyes stopped on him.

As Regina strode forward, he quaked in his spot, but kept his ground, only to find relief when the Queen stood before the knight who had pushed him forward. "Ser Kadence, do you have knowledge of where Ser Emma might be?"