A Fine Line

Chapter 6

Emma woke to Snow shaking her awake. "Zoey. Zoey!" Emma's eyes fluttered open and a look of confusion crossed her face as her mother pulled her to her feet. "We need to go. Now." Snow grabbed her bow and the blonde's hands before going deeper into the forest. "What's going on?" Emma asked, stumbling beside her over tree roots and rocks.

"The Queen found us. Her guards spotted me as I was getting us breakfast." Snow answered. Far off in the distance they could hear men yelling and the pounding of horses running at full speed. The brunette pulled Emma behind a tree as the noises became louder.

Arrows were shot into the air and trees around them, one narrowly missing Emma's arm. Snow gasped in pain and the blonde turned towards her, thinking she was hit. Then she heard a strange hissing sound. Emma looked down to see a snake with its fangs lodged into Snow's leg. Thinking quickly, she cut the reptile in half with her sword and detached it.

Snow's face was pale white, and she swayed on her feet. Arrows kept flying all around them, and Emma knew they were surrounded. "We have to keep moving, Snow." She encouraged the brunette, wrapping an arm around her waist for support. "Running won't help you, dear." Chills ran down Emma's spine as she recognized the voice.

"Regina." She turned to see the woman with a fireball lit in her hands. The Queen looked unstable despite her perfect exterior. "Well, well. Look who we have here. My prisoner with my bandit stepdaughter. It's almost too good to be true." Regina chuckled, a dark and sinister sound. "I'm not letting you hurt her. She needs help, she was bit by a snake." Emma said, holding her sword out to the older woman.

"Then heal her. You have the power, after all. Show her your dark side, Emma." Regina said. Through unfocused eyes, Snow stared at the blonde. "Emma? You said your name was Zoey." She mumbled. Regina pulled her arm back to hurl the fireball, and Emma made it vanish in thin air. "You didn't tell her? Snow, dear, she is the Dark One."

Snow pulled out of Emma's grasp and fell back, landing on the ground. The blonde tried to help her up but Snow pushed her away. "You're evil. You have dark magic. You tricked me into taking you to Rumpelstiltskin so he could finish me off, is that it? Because I broke our deal." Snow accused her. "No, I- "

"I trusted you! I gave you food, offered you shelter, confided in you. And to think that all along you were using me." Snow snarled. "That's not true! I really did get sucked into a portal, and I'm trying to get back home!" Emma yelled, frustrated. "You made it so easy to get my revenge. Now I can finally have my happy ending by killing Snow White." Regina smiled evilly. "You can't do that!" Emma said to her.

"I'm the Queen, and this girl is guilty of treason and theft. She ruined my life!" Regina screeched. "If you kill her, you kill me too." Emma said. Both women looked at her in shock. "I'm from the future. My name is Emma Swan, and I'm the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming." Emma admitted.

"What?!" Snow and Regina said, staring at each other in shock. "I was abandoned as a baby. Regina enacted a curse that sent me away. All of the people here in the Enchanted Forest were sent to another land. But I broke the curse, and I found my family." Emma turned to face Regina. "I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to change the past. You need to enact that curse instead of trying to kill Snow or else I will never have existed. The life we have back home will never have existed."

"So, Charming is the one I end up with? That boring prince with the prissy fiancée?" Snow asked, confusion evident on her face. Emma knelt down next to her and healed her bite mark before pulling her up. "He's your True Love." She said softly, smiling. "So that's why you ran away even when I asked you to stay." Regina said.