𝙁𝙪𝙜𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 [𝙋𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙋𝙖𝙣]

③:①①

David
Present day
Enchanted Forest

I watch as Snow's eyes flutter back open. Emma sits up from her seat and leans forward.

"Hey," The blonde says quietly, "Hey, you okay?"

Snow looks at her daughter then jumps up from the rock in a hurry.

"What!" Emma says with a worried expression, "What happened? What are you doing?"

"I'm looking for more powder," She answers as she kneels in front of the rock Mulan crushed the poppy on.

I look down at the woman as she claws at the rock helplessly, "Well, I'm pretty sure we're out of that."

"What happened?" Emma says as she stands up.

"No," Snow yelled as her voice broke, "I have to go back in. He's all alone."

By the tone in her voice, I could tell who she was talking about. 

"Henry?" Emma asks with a frightened look, "What? Is he okay?"

"No," I corrected her, directing her eyes to me "David."

Emma looks back down at her mother as she explains, "He went under a sleeping spell so he could see me. He thought that my kiss would wake him, but it didn't. And now he's trapped."

"Okay, slow down," Emma tells her, "David is trapped in there?"

Snow nods and gets back up, "I have to get back. There's only one way to help him."

"True love's kiss," Emma answers.

Snow nods, "Yes, but... It won't work in there. We have to get back. If we don't-"

I walk up to the girl and place a hand on her shoulder, "We will."

Emma nods and takes her mother's hands into her own, "Yeah, we will."

"Now you're so sure?" Snow says sarcastically. 

"Yes," The blonde smiles, "You told me to have faith, and now I'm telling you. We will make it back. Okay? Did you get the information?"

I remove my hand from her shoulder.

"It's Rumpelstiltskin. He said the key to stopping her is in his jail cell," Snow says a bit calmer.

"Okay. Then let's go get it," Emma says and lets go of her mother's hands, "Come on, get your stuff. Come on."

Snow walks away to get her things and Emma pats her jacket for the compass. I watch as she pauses for a moment and looks at me.

"No..." she says quietly.

My lips parted as I looked at her. She lost the compass.

Snow turned around, "What?"

I began to look around the camp frantically. 

Emma turns to her mother with wide eyes, "The compass is gone."

I stop looking and turn back around, noticing that something was missing, "And so is Mulan."

Emma looks at me and gulps. Snow quickly grabs her thing and starts to track the trader down. Emma and I follow close behind her as she follows the kicked up dirt.

I could tell we were getting close because Snow loaded her bow. After a while, feet could be heard hitting the ground a few feet in front of us. Snow stopped and aimed her bow at the running figure in front of us. I smiled and teleported myself in front of her, just in time for Snow to release the arrow.

Mulan gasped at my appearance and stopped. I stared at her as the arrow came next to us. I reached my hand over and caught it.  

Snow walked up to us, "That was a warning shot. Try to run, and I promise the next one won't be."

"How did you find me?" Mulan asks, still staring at me.

Snow loads her bow again, "I know a thing or two about tracking."

Mulan turns around as Emma stands next to Snow, "All we want is the compass."

"Very well," Mulan says, then draws her sword.

Before the warrior got the chance to make another move, I used my power and pinned her against a tree. She dropped her sword on the forest floor and struggled to get out of my magical grip.

Snow walked up to her, "Give me the compass."

"And seal Aurora's fate?" Mulan yelled.

"We learned how to overpower Cora," Snow informed, "Once we get what we need, we will defeat her, and Aurora will be free."

"Another journey," Mulan said with sass, "just as I predicted there would be. Our best chance to save Aurora is to make that trade now."

Snow shook her head, "Not going to happen. Without that compass, we can't get home."

Mulan looked at the arrow in Snow's hand then back up at her, "Then I hope you're prepared to use that arrow."

Snow debates her choices before drawing back her bow and arrow, but suddenly a voice yells out at us.

"Stop!"

Our attentions turn to the voice and Aurora appears from the trees, causing me to accidentally drop Mulan. She falls to the ground with a grunt and coughs. Aurora rushes over to her and kneels down.

"Okay, don't take this the wrong way, but how the hell did you get here?" Emma asks with wide eyes. 

"Were you followed?" Mulan asks as Aurora helps her up.

"I... I don't think so," the princess shakes her head, "Cora may know I'm gone, but she didn't see me escape."

Emma takes a step closer to the two, "How did you escape?"

Aurora oddly smiles at Emma, "It was Hook. He let me go."

"Why?" I asked with a confused look.

"Because of you," Aurora let go of Mulan, "He said he wanted to prove to you, that you should've trusted him. That if you had trusted him you could've defeated Cora together. That the two of you could've gotten the remains of the wardrobe. Without him, you'll have to go up against her all by yourself. He only wants to help. I... I think he may care for you."

I squinted my eyes and looked over at Emma as she stared at Aurora in shock. This didn't sound right. Why would Aurora speak so fondly of Hook? Maybe it was because he truly did save her, or maybe he was somehow manipulating her.

"Did you find a way to stop Cora?" The princess asks. 

Emma nodded, "Yes."

Aurora crossed her arms, "Where are we going?"

"Rumpelstiltskin's cell," Emma informed.

"Great," Aurora smiled, "Then lead the way."

Emma nods and sighs. Snow leads the way to the cell as the four of us follow her.