Break the Rules, Break the Walls

Chapter One

This is my first story I've written, not only on this website but in general, so please forgive any errors! I've always loved the idea of what could've happened if the curse never hit the Enchanted Forest, so I've written down the way I imagined it here. Please, nothing more than constructive criticism. Thank you!
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Emma Charming woke up tangled in her feather covers and silk nightgown underneath her canopy bed in her dome-ceilinged room that was just a small part of the grand castle she called home from the same dream as the one she endured every night.

In her dream Emma was in charge of the entire kingdom, and she failed. Every time. Every night. Every night she would get the bubble of panic in her chest that refused to pop, and the sad, disappointed look from her parents as everything around her crumbled. Sometimes literally.

As the only heir to her parents throne, there was no chance of the burden of leadership being passed onto someone else. Emma's mother, Snow White, tried to convince her that when she found a husband, he would help her rule and carry that weight, but Emma knew the truth.

She would never find a husband. Because Emma refused to marry out of anything besides love, and that was one thing she never seemed to be able to find. No one was ever able to hold her in one place long enough to make her want to stay.

Emma threw back her many quilts and sheets from her body, sweaty from her dream, and padded barefoot across the stone floor to her balcony. She opened both glass doors and stepped out into the cool night air and leaned against the railing. A breeze picked up and rustled the pale green nightgown around Emma's shins and chilled her feverish skin.

She sucked in a deep breathe tasting the nearby ocean on her tongue and forced it out with a whoosh, imagining all the tension leaving her body as the air did.

The blonde haired and green eyed princess stared out at the sky that still held an almost full moon and a bucket full of stars. It really was a beautiful night.

Suddenly, Emma remembered that tomorrow was her birthday.

Emma sighed audibly. Her 20th birthday meant that tomorrow night, well really tonight because by the looks of the eastern horizon is was almost morning, would be a ball. The ball. The ball where she would have to find her husband. Nobody had said that out loud, but Emma knew it.

Coronation was only a few months away, and if she didn't want to rule this kingdom alone, tonight would be her last chance to find a husband.

Emma looked out towards the sea one last time to calm herself. It almost worked, with the stars and the moon rippling in the waves, but the spell that the ocean always seemed to have on her didn't last very long. As soon as she closed her balcony doors, once more that little bubble of panic began to rise again and the urge to run came back.

But she couldn't. Emma was an adult and a princess. She could no longer run and hide in the garden anymore. She had to set her jaw, straighten her back, raise her chin and bear the responsibility of her future kingdom.

With a yawn Emma decided to try and get a few more hours of sleep before her mother and maids came in rushing about to prepare for the ball. As Emma climbed back into bed she gave one last glance out her balcony windows and she could've sworn that she saw something out on the water, but her brain was too tiered to look twice.

As the princess drifted back to sleep, a ways out to sea, a pirate ship sailed within view of the Charming's kingdom.
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