Long Lost | Once Upon a Time (REWRITING)

Chapter Six: Queen of Hearts

After only an hour of travel, they made it to the jail cell, where they would supposedly find the squid ink that Snow told them about. Somehow it will stop Cora from traveling back to their land and defeat her, or so the Dark One says. Grace found it quite ridiculous that they were doing this, mainly because of that fact that even Snow wasn't sure what it was for. Figures. As they walked through the dark stone hallways, Mulan lit the torches that hung upon the walls, lighting the entire area.

"Huh. Rumpelstiltskin's cell." Snow said, seeming to be in a trance. "I haven't been here since Regina's curse." She currently stood back with her daughter as Mulan, Aurora, and Grace searched the cell for the ink. They suspected it'd be in a jar.

As Snow and Emma talked on, they were beginning to come to the conclusion that the ink wasn't in the cell. Grace couldn't see past a few rocks, so she placed her foot on the edge of one and climbed up as far as she could in search of the object. "The squid ink--it's not here." Aurora said worriedly.

That's when Snow and Emma seemed to grow concerned as they quickly stepped into the small enclosed area. "Gold said we would find it." Snow marched up to a wall, inspecting it, looking for any sign of the jar.

"Yeah, and look where he was. Do you really trust him that much?" Grace said casually as she gestured to their surroundings. She'd been in that situation before, though she didn't exactly want to seem like a Debby Downer.

Mulan, however, began to go straight to conclusions. "Well, was there anyone else in here with him?" As she said this, Grace felt her hand brush up against something unfamiliar. "Could they have taken the ink?" She quickly grab it and pulled it out, soon finding that it had been a scroll. Her face wrinkled in confusion as she turned slightly to be more in the light. She placed the lantern she held back down beside her feet as she looked over the worn parchment.

Grace then slowly opened the scroll, revealing its contents. She lightly gasped at what She saw. Written over and over were two names in a very elegant style,

'Emma Grace Emma Grace Emma Grace Emma Grace...'

Over and over, again and again. Grace felt a weird tingling feeling surge through her hand, the same hand that was holding the scroll. She couldn't tell if it was a good feeling or not, but somehow she knew that it was magic. She couldn't help but gawk down at the scroll, reading the words over and over, not once finding a fault in the repeated names. It felt weird reading her name, even if it really wasn't her own. It was Snow's daughter, right? This was all just a coincidence that she was here with them... but what does this mean?

That question lingered within her mind, before she was suddenly sucked out of her thoughts by a hand on her shoulder. She jumped and quickly turned to be face to face with Snow. She must have noticed her surprise, as she then questioned, "Hey, are you okay?" It was then that she saw the scroll within her hands. "What did you find?"

Grace shook her head to herself before turning to face her fully, the scroll now out in the open for them all to see. "Uh, it's some sort of message. And I think it's for Emma." She said, nodding towards said woman.

Upon hearing her name, Emma turned towards them in confusion. "Why would you think..." she began, before seeing the words on the scroll. It slowly unrolled, revealing their names even further, "...that?" She gaped at it, seeming shocked. Grace really couldn't blame her.

The girl let her take the scroll as they continued their search for the ink. Emma slowly paced away towards the wall as she read the scribbles over and over again, much like Grace had done. She was trying to find any sign or any difference in the writing, though judging by her face, Grace knew. There was nothing.