Black Heart {OUAT fanfiction}

Part 11

-Enchanted Forest, 5 hours later-

"Head. Hurts." I grunt as I sit up. I look around me and realize these are not the clothes I was wearing a second ago. This also wasn't the place I was a second ago. "Wait what?" I scratch my head and take a good look at the place I'm sitting right now.

"Rose!" A loud scream comes from the other side of the forest, wait Forest?? "Rose, Rose is that you?"

"Who are you? Show yourself." I yell into the forest, I have no idea where the noise did come from.
Suddenly I hear heavy footsteps coming my way, I crawl onto my feet and pull my sword. Wait, sword? Seriously. With the sword in my hand, I spin around slowly. Waiting for the footsteps to come closer.

"Oh put that down, you wouldn't want to hurt me." I turn around in a fancy way. I'm looking up to a tall browned haired guy. "Well, well, well, it is really you." The guy in front of me crosses his arms over his chest. Looking at me sort of jokingly.

"Joe? The almighty Joseph Lynch Jones." A chuckle escapes my mouth. "Long time no see, Big Brother!" I drop my sword and take a few big steps before I jump in his arms and hug him tightly. His arms wrap around me tightly, and he spins us around. I giggle in the progress.

"Long time no see, indeed little Pirate." He sets me down on the forest grounds again and takes a good look at me. "You have grown." He spins me around to look at me even better. "God, you're a full grown woman now."

"Seventeen, Joseph. Seventeen."

"Full grown to me." He gives me a slight smirk, I want to laugh but I can't. "How are you back? I mean the curse brought you elsewhere. You've been gone for ages, so was your father. Not that I've seen him, but you get what I mean."

"I know, and I was. But something inside me was triggered and now I'm back here. If I could only figure out what had happened back in Storybrook... I wonder if I sent the rest of town back, or just me." I explain him the entire story not long after. We discuss a plan, like the good old days.

We walk around the forest for quite a bit. Until we reach a village, on the waterside. It looks a lot like Misthaven. The last place I've been before this whole mess started. Joe is part of the Royal Navy around here, only I know where his heart really lays... The last time I saw him, he was engaged to a beautiful woman, a woman I'll never be.

"How's Ellie?" I ask out of the blue. He looks at me and just laughs. "It's serious."

"Ellie and I are no longer." A small 'Oh' escapes my lips. "Just before the curse hit, I broke up with her. I went to find you to tell the good news but I was dragged onto a ship and sailed away from the curse, I've been looking for you ever since..." He explains. I stop in my tracks and look at him. When he notices I'm not walking next to him, he stops and turns around.

"Joe..." I breathe. I take a step back, because I know what's coming next. He takes a few big steps and grabs my face, then his lips finally meet mine. A magical shield dances around us, but I couldn't care less. My hair flows in the wind of the shield as the kiss becomes more passionate.

"So this is where your heart really lays?" I pull away as soon as I hear a voice behind me, the magical shield disappears immediately. "With a filthy Pirate...?"

"Ellie, I have told you this before. I never fell for you in the first place, Rose has always won my heart but we couldn't make it because of the issues between the lives we live." I turn around to look at Ellie, it hurts me to see her breaking. I am the reason they're not getting married anymore... And being a reason for something bad is not something you would like to be. It's not something anyone would like. Now more people want to kill me, job well done Rose. "I never loved you, but because of the kingdom, I had to do this. A Navy guy can not go with an actual Pirate. Royal is Royal." He has told me that story a lot in our younger years...

"She isn't even a full grown woman! You are a man of honor, a grown up." Ellie states.

"Just for the record, Ellie. I have been cursed for somewhat years. I didn't age back there, but according to this life, I should be 20 right now." I point out and smile. It works, normally.

"That doesn't make you full grown." She sasses right back at me.

"It is for me, Ellie. Besides, you didn't act like a 20 years old when we met. But all that is over now, you don't have to worry about me or us anymore, I'll not stand in your way, your highness." Oh yeah. Princess Ellie of the Lowlands. I forgot that part. "If you want, I can step out of the Royal Navy." I slap his arm immediately. He can't do that, he will have nothing left. He'll lose everything he has. Everything he had. Including me.

"We will speak tomorrow. With my father, and the captain." She points out and leaves us. I stare at him, big-eyed.

"You did not," I say. "You didn't just do that." He raises his eyebrow at me. "You're on the point of losing everything you have, they can even hang you for this. You betrayed them, you betrayed the trust of the Royals, of the king! Do you even see that?" I try to talk sense into him, but he doesn't seem to understand anything I say. He's in big trouble when he'll talk to the king...

I was born to kill a king...