Long Lost | Once Upon a Time (REWRITING)

Chapter Three: The Doctor

They, meaning Mulan, Aurora, Emma, Snow, and Grace, all trudged through the woods on a direct path to their camp. The sun was still fairly high up in the sky, giving them plenty of time to head back before it got dark. After the whole incident over in Snow's castle, they had taken the night to rest and recover. Now that the night was over, they were all discussing what to tell the camp once they arrived. By now, they weren't far from their part of the island and it was then that Grace suddenly became very aware of how thirsty she was. Said girl reached down and grabbed hold of her canteen before bringing it up to her lips, only to find that it was empty. She scrunched her brows at the container and even tipped it upside down, as if to prove to herself that there wasn't any water. Sure enough, not a single drop fell from the nozzle, earning a slight grumble of annoyance from her.

Grace quickly looked up and inspected the area they were walking through, almost immediately recognizing it to be apart of Sherwood forest. Well, this was all Sherwood forest but Grace at least knew the area they were in currently. This was actually near the place they came to gather water, which coincidentally is just what she needed. The girl grinned to herself, feeling smug at her findings before walking forward and tugging on Mulan's sleeve. This caused her to turn, her hand already out like she was about to swat a fly, only for her eyes to land on Grace.

"Oh, it's you." She sighed out, and while Grace wanted to question what she meant by 'you', she sided against it. After all, this is Mulan, and from the amount of torture she's had to endure while traveling with her, Grace couldn't blame her for having such a reaction.

The girl slowed to a stop beside her, causing her to do so as well. The three behind them stopped soon after, not once questioning why they had. They seemed to be deep in discussion about what they were going to tell the village and didn't seem to notice that they had come to a halt. Grace didn't say anything and instead turned back towards Mulan. The girl nodded her head back in the direction of the river before saying, "I'm gonna go get some water. I can fill up the canteens as well, if you want."

Mulan looked Grace up and down, as if skeptical of her generous offer. She probably feared her poisoning the water between the four of them, causing the teen to stifle a scoff. "Alright." Mulan finally gave in before reaching behind her and grabbing hold of two canteens, passing them to Grace. "Don't be long, we're only about two klicks out from camp." She said while the girl took the containers from her hands.

When she heard what she said, she furrowed her brows in confusion. "You don't have to wait for me. I've practically memorized these woods by now."

Her reassurance did nothing for the woman. "Are you sure? It wouldn't be the first time you've gotten lost." She asked, causing the teen to chuckle at the distant memory.

"I'm a big girl! I can handle myself." Grace called back enthusiastically as she began to walk back in the direction of the river. Now that she thought about it, she probably said that a little too enthusiastically.

Mulan rolled her eyes. "Sure, you can." She spoke before beckoning the others to continue on in the other direction. Grace said nothing and merely turned, finally continuing on her new path. Of course, the girl couldn't help but to let her mind wander back to what she had said and only scoffed at the thought. It was one time. One time Grace had gotten lost, and when she had, it was when she first met Mulan. It's crazy to think that it was only a little over a year ago, but times have since changed, and she was going to prove it to her. She is not gonna get lost.

~<>~

It wasn't long before Grace got lost. She fought a hard battle against the distance between the river and the camp, though she was ultimately defeated. She tried to retrace her steps, though she somehow ended up right back where she started: at the river. Grace cursed herself for not laying out breadcrumbs to find her way back, but then again, she didn't have any bread. In the end, she just decided to walk in an unknown direction, in hopes of finding at least some part of the forest that was familiar, and with surprising luck, she did. Grace found where they had settled their camp just last night and quickly used that land marker to travel west towards the other side of the island. Eventually, she saw the familiar sentry towers in the distance and sighed at the grateful sight.