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chapter six - nap time
ophelia happily followed mulan, knowing she was their best bet for literally anything. she trusted the warrior more or less and had seen first hand that she could handle mostly anything.
"once we crest this ridge, we'll be near the woods of the dead. the last poppies in this realm have taken seed there," mulan explained as she used her sword to clear a path.
ophelia nodded, having understood only half of what she said. her eyes wandered to her mother, who seemed lost in thought.
"you okay?" she asked as she fell back to stay beside mary margaret.
"yeah, i'm fine," she reassured.
ophelia didn't believe her for a second and when she tried to walk away, she sped up, stopping the woman in her tracks, "wait. wait. you look nervous. this netherworld, how bad is it? what's it like?"
"it's like you're, um, lost, drifting in the dark. no one to talk to, nothing to do, except think of all the people that you love, and how you'll never see them again," she revealed.
ophelia's heart sank as she glanced to emma to make sure she wasn't listening in. henry had been trapped there. henry had been trapped there and it was all her fault.
"henry was lost in that dark too because of me," she muttered.
"what are you talking about?"
"he tried so hard to convince me i was the saviour," she stated.
"stop it. nobody would've believed henry's stories," her mother argued.
"but his aunt should have," she fought. "i should have."
"okay. you want to play the blame game?" mary margaret began, stopping in front of ophelia. "if i hadn't told cora about regina's true love, cora never would've killed him. regina wouldn't want revenge. the curse? never would have happened. we could spend all day trying to figure out why each of us should feel guilty, but it will not help us get home."
"you really think we're going to make it back?" ophelia questioned and for the first time in a long time snow felt like she saw her daughter as the child she'd never gotten to meet. she was scared and lost and she realised despite her being an adult, ophelia had a part of her that still needed a parent.
"if there's one thing your father's taught me, it's not to give up," she assured. "now, it's time for me to go back to sleep."
"don't tell emma what it was like there, she'll blame herself even if she wasn't the one he was trying to convince," ophelia pleaded. "she may be older than me but it doesn't mean i can't try and protect her."
with a nod and a small smile, mary margaret moved to catch up to mulan and emma, leaving ophelia to walk behind them.
when they finally found the poppy, mulan got to work, crushing the seeds with her dagger and explaining the unpredictability of such a powder.
