Long Lost | Once Upon a Time (REWRITING)

Prologue

It was dark in the poorly lit tunnels. To say that Snow White and Prince Charming were uncomfortable was an extreme understatement. But they wouldn't be down there if they didn't have to be, their reasoning being that it was vital if they wanted to save the lives of their kingdom from something dark, something twisted - the Evil Queen's curse. The deluded woman's form of revenge would put all of their lives in danger and for that, they had to stop her. Even if it meant turning to an even darker being, someone even the queen herself didn't dare turn to in a moment of desperation: Rumpelstiltskin.

"...The first born child is our only hope."  The well-known imp had begun.  The newlywed couple had come down to the humid tunnels with high hopes that Rumpelstiltskin would be able to help them stop the Dark Curse, and what he had told them so far had already been shocking enough. "Get the child to safety. Get the child to safety, and on its...twenty-eighth birthday, the child will return. The child will find you...and the final battle will begin!" He finished as he finally snapped his eyes open and began to cackle like a madman.

"I've heard enough. We're leaving." Prince Charming snapped as he suddenly took his wife by the arm and turned to leave, forcing her to follow.

For a moment, Snow looked back at the caged man before beginning to walk away with her husband. However, her steps faltered upon hearing the Dark One's sickening chants, "HEY! YOU!  WE MADE A DEAL! I WANT THEIR NAMES! WE HAD A DEAL! I NEED THEIR NAMES!"  He continuously shouted at their retreating forms, though what the scaly man had said caused them both to turn.

"'Their'?" Prince Charming repeated, confusion getting the best of him. He glanced back toward his wife, an incredulous look on his face. "We're having only one child."  He corrected the imp before he turned back towards the exit once more.

Snow, however, stood stock still and soon, her husband had begun to notice.  He stopped and turned to face her, bewilderment apparent on his features.  She only snapped her eyes shut as she continued to listen to the Dark One from behind them. "Missy! Missy, you know I'm right!" He called as he reached a scaly arm out through the bars of the cell.  A sigh left Snow's figure as she realized this.  He was right. "Tell me," he continued in a much softer voice than before, "what are their names?"

At that, she opened her eyes while turning back to face him, an almost sad look gracing her features. "Grace and Emma." She stated and at that, both her and her husband could see the corners of the man's lips just barely turn upwards. "Their names are Grace and Emma."

"Grace and Emma..." The imp breathed out as he watched the royal couple walk away from his cell. Not long after, the man began muttering words and phrases with very little meaning to anyone else but himself, though anything he had said had been cut off for the couple by the door slamming shut. Snow continued to walk alongside her husband, an almost solemn look in her dazed eyes. All she could think of now was the hope that she had done the right thing by telling him their future daughters' names, though only time would tell for this one.

~<>~

Snow's screams of pain traveled throughout the stone halls of the castle.  Prince Charming sat beside her, dabbing a dampened cloth along her forehead with one hand while squeezing his wife's hands with the other. Tears ran down her face as she sobbed, "I can't have these babies now!"

It was clear the amount of pain Snow was in, and Charming couldn't help but feel sympathy towards his wife's misery. Snow was in so much pain that she couldn't even hear what her husband had said to Doc, one of the many dwarfs. It had all just been jumbled together in her ears, illegible words with no apparent meaning. Charming suddenly turned back towards his wife as he wiped the tears from her porcelain cheeks. "It's gonna be okay. The wardrobe's almost finished, just - just hold on." He said comfortingly, but she knew that even he was petrified, not only because of the up and coming curse, but also because of the fact that he may never see his wife or children again for many years to come.