The Coward's Daughter [An OUAT Fanfic]

The Unborn Savior

Y/N stared at the Dark One in horror, her father's features dimly lit by the light of the torch. His ribs were protruding through his suit, and his hair had grown even more greasy and unkempt.

"You insult me." He said sweetly to Snow White and her husband. "Step into the light! And take off those ridiculous robes." The royals obeyed, revealing their fair faces and shimmering hair, Rumplestilskin cackled in response. "That's much better."

"We've come to ask you about the-" Prince Charming began.

"YES, YES, I KNOW WHY YOU'RE HERE!" Rumplestiltskin suddenly yelled, slamming himself close to the bars. "You want to know about the Queen's threat."

"Tell us what you know!" Snow White demanded.

"Oh, tense aren't we?" Y/N began crawling around the cell, searching for anything. A key, a potion, a lock. Anything that might show how to free her father. "Fear not! For I can ease your mind. But it's gonna cost you something in return..." Y/N's ears perked up, it was a deal they'd come for.

"No" The prince said curtly, "This is a waste of time."

"What do you want?" Snow White asked.

"Oh... the name of your unborn child?"

"Absolutely not!" Yelled Prince Charming.

"Deal. What do you know?"

Still eavesdropping, Y/N sniffed the air, smelling dirt and rot, she edged the perimeter of the room, checking for escape routes.

"The Queen has created a powerful curse. And it's coming, soon you'll all be in a prison. Just like me! Only worse, your prison, all of our prisons, will be time. Time will stop. And we will be trapped." Y/N sat atop a pile of chains and stared at the beautiful Snow White, who looked horrified and angry all at the same time. "Some place horrible, where everything we hold dear, everything we love, will be ripped from us. While the Queen celebrates, victorious at last!" Suddenly the Dark One's face fell into a serious frown. Snow White stepped forward, closer to the cell bars.

"What can we do?"

"We can't do anything!" As Y/N stared at the Dark One, she noticed his eyes shifting ever so slightly to the pile of chains, as if he was telling her to listen. "That little thing growing inside your belly. The infant," He turned back to Snow White. "Is our only hope. Get the child to safety, and on its 28th birthday, the child will return. The child will find you." A vicious smile broke out on his lips "And the final battle will begin!" He began to laugh, cackling like a maniac.

"I've heard enough. We're leaving." The prince told him, hugging his wife to his side.

"Hey! No! We made a deal! We had a deal! I need her name!"

"Her? It's a boy." The prince said, still walking towards the door.

"Missy! Missy!" He pleaded to Snow, "You know I'm right, tell me. What's her name?" Snow cast one last glance at him.

"Emma. Her name is Emma."

"Emma." He smiled, as if it were a prize he'd won. The royals hurried out of the room, their foot steps echoing. Y/N walked past the cage, still searching for a lock to pick, when suddenly she felt her clawed feet lift off the ground. "Well, well, well what have we here? How kind of you to come and visit, Y/N dearie!"

He hoisted her higher into the air, causing her to squirm.

"I take it you're here to rescue me from this squalor? Hm? My knight in flea ridden armor?" He teased, twirling Y/N's rat body in his hands. "Here to whisk me away are you? Well although this is a truly val-lee-ent attempt, I'm afraid you'll have to... be on your way now!" He tossed her down outside the cage. Y/N stared at him "Well go on!"

She stared at him in shock, her eyes watering. All this journey, all that searching and spying, her mind raced thinking of all that had led her to this place, stinking of rot and decay. And now he was shooing her away, like an unwanted pest.

Rumplestiltskin looked at her and clicked his tongue.
"Go on now dearie! Trust me." He plopped onto the ground. "I'm exactly where I need to be. Just like where you need to be-" He pushed her closer to the dungeon doors. "Is inside my palace. I need you to brew 100 of your famous love potions!"

Love potions?

Y/N looked at her father, he looked half-mad and yet... he spoke with such a certainty. The dagger granted him the power to see the future... was this where he wanted to be? In a filthy dungeon?

He grinned at her, gesturing for her to go. She cast one last look, she wanted to hug him, to sob in his arms, beg him to come back with her.

But she couldn't, she couldn't speak as a mouse. And even if she could, she knew it would do nothing, his mind was made up.

But she made her way back to the entrance, squeezing under doors and dodging guards' feet. By the time she'd reached the courtyard she could feel her teeth shrinking, the transfiguration potion was wearing off!

She sped as fast as her little legs could carry her, sprinting towards the crack in the wall. As she squeezed into it, her fur began to disappear as her spine lengthened. She writhed in pain as she yanked herself through, gravity plummeting her to the ground.

She sprinted past the pile of unconscious guards and ran into the black pile which was her dress. Slowly her limbs lengthened, her hair thinned and her nails shortened, until she was back in her ordinary form.

She looked at the moon, it was beginning to sink lower in the night sky, the next shift of guards would be by soon. Putting on her boots as she began to run for the forest, Y/N could still hear the unborn savior's name, bouncing in the crevices of her mind. Emma. Emma. Emma.