Long Lost | Once Upon a Time (REWRITING)

Chapter Five: Into the Deep

The sounds of animals like birds called in the distance, crickets chirping not far off. It was after midnight in the Enchanted Forest, the time where most people were asleep. Though there was a certain mind still racing out there, thoughts coming in before others were even fully thought out. Snow White sat in the middle of the forest with her arms loosely wrapped around her legs as she took the rare time alone to think. She thought about all kinds of things, like how her Charming was back in Storybrooke and her and her daughter were stuck here.

She also thought of different scenarios, had the curse never taken effect. What would her family have been like today if the curse was never cast? Would they have been happy?

A more specific question she had in mind was 'What if that one day had never happened?'

The day that started it all. The day that she told Cora about Regina's love for the stable boy, resulting in his death and Regina swearing vengeance against Snow. She had never meant to hurt anyone. She only thought that she was helping, that she was doing right by the situation. She was Snow White, for crying out loud--the fairest of them all.

Her mind then drifted to her daughter for about the tenth time that night. No, not Emma. But her beloved Grace.

Was she alright? Was she at least happy?

Questions like these started to bounce around her head ever since the curse broke back in Storybrooke. She just couldn't stop thinking about her. She couldn't bear the thought of her baby alone and without a family, the thought of her growing up just how Emma had. It killed her, and it didn't help that the young brunette teen they were currently with had the same name as her missing daughter. There was no doubt that Snow felt somehow connected to the teen, whether it be because of her name or the fact that she was just drawn to her. She certainly wasn't a very likable child, but there was just something about her that made Snow want to, well, mother her. Perhaps it was because of the girl's lack of family. Or perhaps it was something else entirely.

Her thoughts were then abruptly cut off by her other daughter. She was surprised she had let her guard down and hadn't heard her approach from behind. "What are you doing?" Emma asked lightly as she saw the position she was in and that she wasn't really doing anything.

Snow's head snapped towards Emma as she forged a small smile. "Uh, just thinking." She said truthfully. She didn't want to ever have to lie to her daughter, even if it wasn't the full truth.

Emma only shrugged it off, thinking nothing of it. "Come on. Mulan has some ideas where Cora might be hiding." Snow simply nodded before standing up and lightly brushing off her bottom. She quickly followed Emma, keeping up with her fast pace.

When they reached the camp, they first noticed Grace and Aurora asleep under the tent they had just set up a little under an hour ago. They were turned away from each other on opposite ends. Aurora had been using her thin cloak as a blanket, whereas Grace used herself to keep warm. She was also the one closest to the fire, so that made up for the lack of covers.

Said fire crackled in the wind as the wood slowly burned. Aurora slightly stirred in her sleep, as she had been dreaming. Suddenly without any warning, she awakened and sat up at an alarming rate, the shock still present on her face as she was filled with new information. "Snow! Snow!" She desperately called out for said woman.

Her calls had awoken Grace from her dreamless sleep as Snow and Emma rounded the corner quickly. "Hey. I'm here. It's okay." Snow reassured her, thinking she had another nightmare.

Grace had obviously been annoyed by the sudden wake, her already grumbling to herself as she sat up from the ground. It was clear that she wasn't gonna be sleeping anytime soon, seeing as how whatever Aurora needed to say was so urgent that she had to talk about it at ass o'clock in the morning.