Enchanted Forest
"Thank you, Mr. Gol-," Emma stopped herself in mid sentence. "Rumpelstiltskin, for believing us. I know that time travel is a little hard to swallow," We walked through his castle, Rumple leading us somewhere.
"Not as hard as the other mystery you presented to me," Rumple turned and looked at us. "Why haven't I killed them?" He pointed to my father and I. I was surprised he didn't point his finger at Peter. True, he was impossible to kill. I'm saying this based on experience.
"If it makes you feel any better, it wasn't for lack of effort," Hook phrased, sheepishly. "Let's say we buried the hatchet."
"Yes, but why not in your skull?!" Rumple growled and Hook got a lump in his throat from being taken back and afraid.
"Don't worry. I've thought the same thing over and over again too," I informed him and Hook glared at me. "No hard feelings?" We entered his throne room and he sat down in a huge chair at the end of a table. A woman entered a few moments later and it was Belle.
"Oh, Rumpelstiltskin, you're back. Do you need anything?" She smiled.
"Belle!" Emma beamed with a grin on her face. Belle furrowed her eyebrows and looked at Emma with confusion.
"Do we-uh-we know each other?" Belle stuttered and Emma collected herself, shaking her head.
"Sorry, no. Mr. um-Rumple, the Dark One told me about you," Emma lied and Belle looked at Rumple, oddly.
"Did he?" She smiled, sweetly.
"No," Rumple denied, scoffing. "Go away and read a book or whatever is it you like to do. Come back and clean later," He commanded.
"You could ask nicely," Belle hinted, heading out of the room.
"I could also turn you into a toad!" Rumple threatened, calling after her.
"It's a miracle you two fell for each other," Peter scoffed with a chuckle. Rumple's eye nearly flew out of his head.
"What?! First, you tell me I let the pirate and bandit live, now you tell me I fall for the help," He exclaimed in disbelief.
"Yeah, Peter has a strange sense of humor, but let's get back to her parents," I said, changing the subject and nudging Peter for saying that.
"Yes, who are they?" Rumple asked, waving his hand all around.
"Snow White and Prince Charming," Emma confessed. I guess Rumple didn't get the 'Charming' part. "His real name is Prince James."
"King George's son, whose wedding I've just arranged?" Rumple asked and Emma nodded.
"You see that's what we're trying to tell you! That wedding isn't supposed to happen because the ring he gives her gets stolen by Snow," I explained, throwing my arms in the air.
"It's quite a tale you're spinning," Rumple teased, raising an eyebrow.
"Here, let us show you," Emma rushed over to Hook who had a bag on him. She opened the bag and pulled out Henry's book. She put it down in front of Rumpelstiltskin and opened it, but it was blank. All of the pages.
"What the hell," I mumbled, grabbing the book and picking it up, paging through it. Peter came up behind me and he studied the pages.
"It's all gone," He awed, reaching over my shoulder and flipping some of the pages. "Anything that was supposed to happen after they met has all disappeared," I handed it over to Rumpelstiltskin and he smiled, giggling.
"The ripple effect!" Rumpelstiltskin cheekily marveled. "Once you change something in the past, anything from that point forward is uncertain. The future you can see is a blank page," He picked up the pages and let them flow out of his fingers. I kept staring at the book. In a panic, I snatched the book back and flipped to the section where Peter and I's story was located. It was still there. Thank you.
"We need Snow to steal that ring to get their story back on track," Emma stated the obvious.
"You're in luck!" Rumple exclaimed. Sparks surrounded his fingers and he rolled out a scroll with writing on it. It looked like a poster of some sort. It hung down to the floor. It was for a ball. "There's a ball tonight at King Midas' castle. Prince James will be there and so will his ring."
"So we just need to get Snow there," Emma thought aloud.
"How?" I asked, looking at her. "We don't know where she is?"
"Aha!" Rumple shouted, catching me by surprise. "Allow me," He got up from his chair and walked over to a podium where a crystal ball sat on it. He placed his hands on it, closing his eyes. We walked over and watched as Snow White appeared in the ball. She was at the port.
"There she is," Emma awed.
"And she's with Blackbeard. She's trying to secure passage on his ship," Hook added, peeking over her shoulder.
"And appears to have failed," Rumple finished, seeing Snow walk away from Blackbeard and off of the docks where she was.
"She can't escape the Queen without the money that she's supposed to get for the ring," Peter theorized. Emma turned to Rumpelstiltskin with haste.
"Can you help us?" She begged and Rumple laughed.
"Help you?! I can work on getting your portal to the future open again," He offered. "But getting your parents together? You made that mess, dearie. Only you know what you did, now go undo it!" He gritted his teeth at that last part, snarling before walking past us and out of the throne room. We need a plan.
"If she's looking for a passage out of town, I might know a ship's captain who can help us," Hook proposed and we all looked at him in confusion. Not one pirate was going to help us. They're greedy. If they knew that we were baiting Snow White to go to the palace, they'd take the reward the Queen was offering.
"Who?" Emma asked, confused. Hook raised an eyebrow and a smirk played on his face.
"Me," He smirked, an idea popping in his head. We exited the castle doors a few minutes later and I had my arm looped around Peter's.
"I wonder why he was so nice to you?" I blurted, looking up at Peter. Peter gazed down at me and tilted his head. "The Dark One. Your son. If I were him, I would've snapped your neck the moment I saw you, no offense," I laughed at that last part.
"I know. It was because of Baelfire," Peter looked away from him and admired the clouds. "He wants his son back who's probably on my island right now with past me."
"You mean my island," I correct him, nudging his side, playfully. He shook his head and grabbed my hand, gently like it was the most fragile thing in the world.
"No, our island."
