Forest of Fireflies

Chapter 42

(Henry's POV)

I took a moment to process Daniella's confession. Before I could say anything however, she quickly muttered, "Do you hate me?"

I frowned, "For what?"

I saw fear in Daniella's face when she stuttered, "For being who I am."

"Who would you say you are?" Now, I'm starting to regret giving those pages about the Evil Queen to Emma. She burnt them and consequently, I have no clue about how Daniella fits into the story. 

Daniella bit her lip. So, I continued, "Well to me, you seem to be really caring, pretty and smart."

Daniella's eyes lit up a little as she quietly muttered, "Really? But what about everything you've said before?"

"About what?"

"About Mother being...well...evil."

"I'm not talking about her, I'm talking about you."

"But she's our Mom."

"But you're my sister." 

Daniella frowned before replying, "How are you willing to accept me into your family but not mother?"

I immediately avoided the question. Instead, I asked Daniella, "Why do you ask if I hate you?"

Daniella shrugged. "Because you've made it clear that you hate Mama. You've made it clear that you don't want to be part of our family. You've made it clear that you want nothing to do with people who you call 'evil'."

Daniella's words plummeted into me. She held her stare until I looked away. Then, I said quietly, "I don't hate you, Dani. Cos you're my sister."

"And how about Mama, hm?"

I clenched my fists together as I started, "Well...I don't..."

My sister stepped up to me, forcing me to look at her in the eyes. I slowly put my head up and continued, "I just wish she hadn't done all those bad things to Snow White and everyone else."

Daniella gave me a tiny smile as she took a deep breath. Then, she replied, "I wish things were simpler between our families."

My heart dropped a little at Daniella's choice of words. Our families...is she segregating herself from me? She must have caught my concerned expression for she quickly said, "Henry, you're still my brother. Mama loves you and so do I, alright? I don't hate you because Snow's blood is running through your body."

I felt a little bit of relief rush through my body. "Really?"

Daniella enveloped me into a hug. "Yeah." As I returned the hug, I murmured, "'love you too sis. Thanks for coming down here with me."

Daniella parted from our hug and smiled. "We don't abandon family, do we?"

"No we don't." 

I watched as a grin lit up Daniella's face. She was about to say something but the ground suddenly shook. I gasped and held onto the glass coffin to see rocks falling from the ceiling. Luckily, none of them hit Daniella or me. However, there was a larger problem coming our way. One that paralysed me with fear. I shone my torchlight at the walls only to realise that it looked like a series of rough scales. Nervously, I whispered whilst pointing to them, "Dani..."

My sister turned her head around and stepped back whilst muttering, "No, no, no, no..."

Before I could ask her what was happening, the walls started to move and a large lime green eye appeared out of nowhere. It gleemed and blinked. Then, it focused on us for a second before a large mass of darkness heaved upwards and grunted. I stared at the beast in front of me in shock, unable to move or to respond.  The dragon roared and bright red flames of heat blazed the insides of the cavern.