Beane Odette - Reawakened - A Once Upon A Time Tale

She liked David, even though he’d been such an idiot about the affair. But she couldn’t let that keep her from doing her job, and with the phone record, it only made sense to bring him in for some questioning. There was no body — not yet, anyway, but Emma knew that a few days going by with no leads was a bad, bad sign for a missing person. So on the night of the Miners Day Fair, when most of the town was distracted, she discreetly approached David and asked him to come down to the station.

— I’m not arresting you, — she told him, — but we need to talk about that day.

David came willingly, although he was adamant about his innocence. Emma expected nothing less and went easy on him during the interview. He said he couldn’t explain the phone record, and that there had to be a mistake.

— You don’t understand, Emma, — he said. — This whole thing — this has pretty much destroyed me. — He shook his head, rubbed his eyes. — If there was just some way to have done it all better, you know?

— Sometimes life is just messy no matter what you do, — she said. — But, David… I shouldn’t say this, but I’ll say it: I believe you. I don’t think you had anything to do with this. I don’t know where she is or what happened, but I don’t think it was you.

— Thank you, — he said. — I appreciate that. A lot.

— I do think you might want to get a lawyer, though, — she said.

The worried look came back.

Regina showed up in the office an hour later, wanting to know where Emma was with the investigation. For the moment, it seemed as though their personal war was on hold. Emma had never seen Regina so concerned for something other than herself. She, like David, was legitimately broken up about Kathryn’s disappearance.

— Nothing new, — Emma said. — I’m sorry to say.

— Why did you have David Nolan in?

Emma looked at her, surprised.

— Were you staking out the station, Regina? — she said.

— I saw him come out, — she said and shrugged. — And now I want to know what you’re thinking. It’s the chain of command and I’m within my rights.

Emma shook her head. The woman knew everything about the town. It was inhuman.

— I was asking him about the phone records. He apparently…

— Pocket-dialed Kathryn the night she left, yes, — she said, nodding. — I was informed of the erroneous record.

— That’s a bit of a leap, — Emma said, — but I’m not coming to any conclusions.

— Ms. Swan, please. He had nothing to do with it.

Interesting, Emma thought Regina’s pulling for David. She didn’t know what it meant. Not yet.

— And you’re so sure because…?

— Because I know him. And I know this town. Perhaps you have an advantage as an outsider, as someone who can see things anew, but I’ve been mayor here for a long time and I have a sense for these things.

Emma didn’t like how adamant Regina was.

Regina stood. — The point is flat I’d like to see some more urgency coming out of this office. Perhaps a little more creativity. What about this new stranger in town? What about carjackers? What about Gold? Have you talked to him? I want you to find my friend. It’s as though you haven’t even looked.

— We all want to find her, Regina, — she said. — Just be patient. I’m good at finding people. Sometimes it’s tricky.

After the huntsman released her and she fled into the woods, Snow White had little more than the clothes on her back. It was hard going as she forged a new path, all alone, without the help of a single friend, and she lived hand-to-mouth and slept in the woods for weeks, counting on the generosity of strangers to get through the days. She was just getting the hang of life as a fugitive when something new changed everything: snow.

And cold.

And wind.

And ice.

She had been doing all right in her first weeks on her own, scavenging and begging for what food she could, sometimes finding a kind peasant who’d let her sleep in the barn. The Queen and her men had begun printing wanted posters and distributing them across the land, though, and she knew that the kindness of the people would only go so far. If she exposed herself much more, someone would turn her in.

One night, when the temperature had dropped considerably, Snow found herself shivering and stumbling through the woods, thinking tor the first time that this — all of it — might be the death of her. She’d escaped the Huntsman only to have become invisible. Not the worst thing in the world when you were on the run, but the problem with being invisible was that no one could help you, either.

She couldn’t feel her hands or her feet when she saw, at the top of a hill, a small farm and a little light in one of the windows. She stopped beside a tree and watched. A young man was at the window, and he was talking with someone. Thirty feet from the main house, there was a chicken coop. Chicken coops, she knew, tended to be excellent places to sleep. Warm, free of humans, and full of eggs. She was so cold, and seeing that whoever was in the window was distracted by the young man, she decided to risk it, and ran through the snow toward the coop.

Once inside, she crinkled her nose at the smell of the chickens, who clucked and stirred at their new guest. The rooster seemed mildly disturbed by her presence and put on a show atop some hay, but soon he settled down as well, and Snow tucked herself into a corner of the coop. She fell asleep almost immediately.

She dreamt of her father, and the time before Regina, when her mother had only just died and he took her to the shore to play castle on the rocks. It was a memory — a cherished memory — but in the dream, there was more: Her father was happy, looking out at the water, and when Snow turned to look where he was looking, she saw her mother rise up out of the waves, a smile on her face. She held her arms out to Snow, and the weight of all the sadness lifted. They would be together again, if only for a day, if only here.

She turned to her father.

— It’s Mommy! — she cried.

He nodded.

— Yes! — he said. — Go to her!

Snow looked back at her mother, who was twenty feet out into the sea. Worried, she looked back at her father.

— I can’t get to her! — she cried.

— You can! — he cried. — You have to swim!

— But I’m afraid!

— It doesn’t matter! — cried her father. — She’s dead anyway! And so am I!

Snow woke up with a start, the image of her father’s wryly smiling face still lingering behind her eyes. It was dawn and the chickens were restless again.

Her stomach growled, and Snow sat up and looked at them.

— I’m sorry, — she said to one of them, — but you have something I need.

She moved around the coop and collected a couple of eggs, not wanting to take so many that the owners would be in difficult straights. She gently placed them into her satchel and was about to leave when she heard something.

Footsteps.

Someone was coming.

She darted to the back corner of the coop and crouched down behind some crates, knowing that she could very well meet her end here and now. It wouldn’t take the Queen or any of her men. Just an angry farmer.

Someone came inside, and Snow pulled herself into a ball. In so doing, though, her cloak scraped against the wooden wall, and she closed her eyes, knowing the noise had given her away.

— Hello? Who's there?

A woman’s voice.

Snow’s initial vision of an angry farmer with a pitchfork changed into someone else. A girl. Someone kind. Perhaps.

She took a chance.

Slowly, Snow rose up from behind the stack of crates. A young woman, pale-skinned, wearing a red cloak, stared back at her.