Chapter 31

"Wait a minute, back up." Emma lifted her hand to halt August as she attempted to process the statement he'd made. "Where you left me? You're telling me that you're the one who left me there? Am I supposed to believe that you're, what? My dad? You look like you're the same age that I am."

He laughed softly with a wide grin. "No, I was six when you were born. Obviously, not your father." He halted, leaning forward and glancing at the others sitting with them around the table. "Are you sure you want company hearing about this?"

"Tell me," she demanded. She'd long ago abandoned any hope of finding answers about her past, her origins. These were answers she'd craved her whole life, and she had no desire to postpone that satisfaction now.

His brows lifted as he sighed. "All right then. So, where to begin? I'm sure you've heard of the Evil Queen's famous failed curse?" He waited for Emma to nod before he continued with measured words. "You were born on the very day that she cast it, and your parents went to great lengths to keep you safe from it. I was supposed to protect you, and I failed. I couldn't handle the responsibility, so I left you. I'm sorry for that." He paused, the sincerity prominently displayed on his face and in his tone before he brusquely cleared his throat. "You and I, we were both sent through a portal in a magic wardrobe that was supposed to take us to another world where the curse couldn't reach us – a land without magic. On the other side, we came out in this dark, dense forest. I got disoriented, and I had no idea how to take care of you. So when we stumbled on a home that took in wards, I opted for the easy way out. I'm not proud of that. When I found out later that we were still in the Enchanted Forest, I tried to go back and find you, but I had gotten too turned around. I didn't know how to get back to that house, or how to describe where it was to anyone else. We finally found it, years later, but they told us that you'd left, and your trail had long since gone cold."

"Who do you mean by 'we?' Who would send a little kid and a baby through a portal like that all by themselves? Because whatever they planned, it sounds like getting lost was the best possible outcome. I'm kind of surprised that we aren't both dead."

"Huh." He stared at her a moment in bemused contemplation. "I always expected you'd be more angry with me for ah, misplacing you." The lull stretched on, and just as she was about to press him again to continue, he did of his own accord. "Your parents didn't actually know that I went through the portal with you. They thought it only had power enough for one, but it had enough for two. My dad was the one who built it, and he decided to get a little sneaky and send me through first so that I'd be safe from the curse too. Everyone else thought that they were sending you alone through the wardrobe."

"Why would they do that?" She frowned. "There are much easier ways to abandon babies."

"Like I said, they wanted to protect you from the curse. Everyone did. There was a prophecy that foretold you would be the one to break the curse. You were supposed to be the Savior." He waved his hands in the air before him in a flourish for emphasis. "After twenty-eight years, you were supposed to return somehow and set everyone free from the Evil Queen's influence. Luckily, you might be able to save yourself the trouble. The job you were supposed to do did itself."

"Hold on a second," Baelfire cut in, laying his palm down on the table's surface. "You said that the both of you went through a portal that was supposed to take you to a land without magic, and you ended up in the Enchanted Forest?"

August blinked at him. "Yes, why?"

"Well, I went there once." He cleared his throat. "The land without magic, I mean. When I escaped Neverland, that's where I was trying to get back to. I couldn't get there, though. When I tried, it was like I was hitting this invisible wall. It was magic, no doubt about it. It had that unmistakable tingle when I touched it, and I saw some green sparkles. I ended up having to turn around and come here instead. This wasn't long before the failed curse, either. That's got to be related somehow."

"Interesting," August drew the word out long, speaking it more to himself than anyone else. "Everyone who saw the the Evil Queen's curse clouds roll in says the same thing about them – they were the dark purple that her powers always seem to manifest with, but when they evaporated, it was with flashes of green light. It sounds like whatever disrupted her curse did more than only that."

"It would also mean that she didn't stumble on her words or use expired ingredients or something," Baelfire added. "It didn't just fizzle out. There was something else going on that stopped it. Maybe it still is."

"Hello?" Emma slapped both her hands down on the table. "Can we stick to the subject, please? I want answers. You keep saying 'we' and 'everyone.' You're talking about more people than just my parents, but who? Who do you mean?"

"The Resistance, of course." August stated it as though it were the most obvious fact in in existence. "You were the best hope of getting back to this world, our lives, everything that we knew and loved. You were supposed to save us all from the Evil Queen. The Resistance used every resource at our disposal to keep you safe. You can imagine there were more than a few people that weren't very happy with me for showing up alone. That's why they've got me stationed all the way out here, even all these years later. They still don't trust me enough to put me on the front lines. But now you're back. You know, there are some who still think you can save us. Curse or no curse, the Evil Queen still reigns unchecked. As admirable and inspiring a leader as Snow White may be, we haven't won this war yet. Anything that might shift the tides in our favor is wholly welcome."

"Don't get your hopes up," Emma scoffed, shaking her head. "I'm not exactly a decorated soldier. Whatever was supposed to make me special before probably died along with the curse."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." August reclined again in his chair. His face constantly bore the expression of one successfully puzzling out a long-held secret, and Emma was finding that profoundly irritating. "After all, you're the product of true love. That's a powerful kind of magic to have running through your veins. Whether or not it's something you know how to use, it's in there."

"Magic." Her skepticism gnawed voraciously at her. "You think that I have magic? Me? I hate to disappoint you there, but I definitely do not. It would have made my life a hell of a lot easier if I did. And based on what? Simply because my parents were in love? I've heard that lots of mommies and daddies fall in love before they start making babies. That doesn't make me all that special."

"Emma, he said true love," Baelfire pointed out. "And he's not kidding. That's one of the most powerful types of magic there is. That's why they say that true love's kiss can break any curse. If you're the product of true love, then he could be right and maybe you've got a gift that's lying dormant and waiting to be activated."

That idea worried her more than she could adequately explain. "Activated? How?"

He shrugged. "Maybe time. Maybe some kind of catalyst. Tough to say."

Her brow furrowed in her uncertainty, but the possibility couldn't be entirely dismissed, it would seem. She released her breath in a whoosh and chewed on her tongue, faltering. Here she was, on the precipice of resolving the riddle that had plagued her for her entire life, but the question felt cumbersome in her throat. It was more awkward than she could have imagined to unleash. "So, who, then? Who are they? My parents?"

August's smile was soft but sly. "You, Emma Swan, are the daughter of our true queen Snow White, and her husband Prince Charming."