Once Upon a Dream:

Page 49: Conversations About What Happened:

After a few seconds, Hook started to slow down the ship. 

Regina turned to him, noticing that he was stopping. "Why are you slowing down?" Regina asked, looking away from Dream, who was trying not to throw up her guts over the side of the boat. "In case you didn't know, my son's life is in danger," Regina impatiently said to Hook since they were the only ones around the ship's wheel.

"Oh, I know, my hotheaded Queen..." Hook said, smirking at Regina. "My plan is to bring us to the far side of the island, link up with the widest part of the river. Then we sail right through and take him by surprise." Hook explained his plan to the queen before looking over to Gold and Dream, talking by the ship's edge. "The irony..." Hook sighed, shaking his head when he looked at them.

"What irony?" Regina asked him, confused as to what he was talking about.

"Oh... I spent more time than I care to remember trying to leave this place and to kill Rumpelstiltskin. And here I am, sailing right back into its heart with him as my guest of honor." Hook said when he and Regina looked over to Gold and Dream. "It's not quite the happy ending I was hoping for." Hook sighed when they saw Dream look over at them.

"Greg Mendell said something funny to me," Regina said to him, making the two of them look at each other. "He said I'm a villain. And that villains don't get happy endings. You believe that?" Regina asked him, feeling confident enough to confide in Hook.

"I hope not..." Hook sighed, looking at Dream, whose face lit up in the moonlight. "Or we've wasted our lives." Hook said, looking back at Regina.

Regina smirked to herself when she watched Hook look back at Dream. "So that's why you came back." Regina chuckled a little, making Hook look back at her. 

He furrowed his brows when he was confused about what Regina meant. 

"If whatever you have for my daughter helps us get Henry back, then I shall say nothing... But I can assure you. I know my daughter more than anyone. And she has had small crushes before, and just like they start... they end..." Regina smirked, giving him a cruel smirk. 

Hook only raised his brow, looking at Regina. But neither of them said anything, especially when they saw Dream walking over to the two of them. 

"So, are we almost to the shore?" Dream asked, looking at her mother and Hook.

"Almost, love... We're taking a different path so that no one will know we're coming." Hook said, giving her a smirk when she nodded. 

"Any luck on seeing him?" Regina asked when Dream shook her head. 

"No... But I'm trying." Dream said, looking at her mom. "I will find Henry." She continued to say that when Regina rubbed her daughter's arm.

Meanwhile, Emma stood off to the side, staring off towards the island, when her parents walked over to her. 

"Hey..." Mary Margaret said softly when she walked over, but Emma kept staring into the distance. Mary Margaret quickly looked at David before trying to get Emma to talk to her. "What happened to Neal and Henry... it's not your fault. You can't blame yourself," she said when Emma sighed to herself.

"I don't..." Emma finally spoke up before she turned to look at her mother. "I blame you." She said to her parents in a monotone. 

David and Mary Margaret looked at Emma, confused and hurt by their daughter's words. 

"All of this happened because I listened to you. You say good always wins? It doesn't. I didn't grow up in some fairy-tale land. My experience is different. That's all I can go on." Emma said, letting her anger and sadness out on her parents.

"And all we have to go on is ours. So... if you would just let us share our wisdom--"

"I appreciate you trying to be parents..." Emma said, interrupting her mother. "But we're the same age. We have equal amounts of wisdom. And I'm sorry that you want the ideal relationship like Dream and Regina. But that's not possible. She's still a kid." Emma paused when she saw Mary Margaret look over to Regina, who was talking to Dream. "And all I want is Henry back... I should never have broken the curse. I should have just taken Henry, and--" Emma continued to rant when she was trying not to cry.

"You're right." Mary Margaret sighed, interrupting Emma's rant. "Then you'd be together... Yes, we didn't have what Regina had. We missed you growing up, Emma. And it haunts us every day. I look back at my cursed memories, watching Regina have that Dream..." Mary Margaret sighed when she looked back at her daughter.

"And that's why we're here now." David sighed when he tried to speak to his daughter. "We don't want you to have to go through the same thing, too. And you won't. We are gonna get our family back." David said when Emma scoffed at both of them.

"How can you two be so infuriatingly optimistic?" Emma asked, yelling at her parents, which gained the attention of Hook, Gold, Regina, and Dream. 

"It's who we are," David said, making Emma scoff again.

"Why? Ever since you got your memories back... ever since you remembered that you're Snow White and Prince Charming, your lives have... they've-- Well, they've sucked." Emma yelled at her parents when David shook his head. 

"No. No, we found you." David said when Emma sighed again. 

"And lost Henry. And Neal. And countless other people."

"Emma, the minute I let go of the belief that things will get better is the minute I know they won't." Mary Margaret spoke up again when she tried not to cry, either. "We'll find Henry." Mary Margaret said when Emma tried to think of something to say.

"No, you won't."

~season 3, episode 1: "The Heart of the Truest Believer"~

~991 words~