{ enchanted forest }

3. { lady of the lake }

There were tall mirrors surrounding her. The tiles on the floor were reflective too. In the middle of all these mirrors stands a simple wooden chair which someone occupied.

Princess Winter had not expected to ever return to this room.

For the princess there were still so many unanswered questions. The Dark Curse somehow ripped her from this room to bring her back to the world of the living. When it broke it brought her back here, making her wonder why she was ever let go in the first place.

The Curse had taken twenty-eight years to be broken. Twenty years she had spent in Storybrooke, she knew that now. Eight years were spent in the Land Without Magic before her arrival, moving from foster home to foster home. Perhaps that time was a perversion of what her brother once promised her in the Enchanted Forest.

Without him, she lacked everything a loving home should supply. She lacked everything he once promised her.

Upon her arrival in Storybrooke that all changed. Mr. Gold, or, as she knew him, Rumplestiltskin, took care of her. Winter was sure that the only reason he did so is because he recognised her. Now that the Curse was broken she could vividly remember how he looked at her when he saw her, physically at the same age as he last saw her, yet mentally like the twelve year old girl he took in as a servant. 

Was it a courtesy from the Evil Queen to the beast that was once her tutor to give him back the girl he lost, the girl she was before everything went downhill?

She doubts she will ever know. She may never question him, because her One True Love was not there to wake her up. He was in a different realm, perhaps even wondering if she still loves him. Maybe he even thought her to be dead..

Winter feels herself become sick at the thought of her love grieving her loss because of her stupid mistake. She wished she had never gone back. If she had stayed none of this would have happened. She would be happy and free.

The mirrors around her gave her solace. Seeing herself being reflected so many times almost gave her the illusion that she was not entirely alone.

Besides, the mirrors had a very special function. They could show her the world she was now closed off from. She could see how things unfolded in the Enchanted Forest because that was the place where she fell under the Sleeping Curse.

Some might see it as a blessing. Sometimes it truly was, but most of the time Winter didn't look. It made her long for something she couldn't have. Because, for as long as she was asleep, she would never be part of the real world. She would always stand on the sidelines, desperate and lonely.

And that was a fate crueler than death.

●

Aurora watches as Mulan prepares to leave the camp with the two invaders. The invaders who were the cause of the death of her fiancé.

Anger was simmering inside her. It was because of them that she would never hold the love of her life in her arms again. She wasn't thinking rationally anymore. Perhaps Mulan had been right when she said not to mistake vengeance for justice.

But perhaps she wanted vengeance just as much as she desired justice.

She didn't trust anyone here except for her prince and Mulan. Now one of them was gone and the other was about to leave with the people responsible for his demise. She felt very alone and very tired, considering she had not gone back to sleep since waking up from her curse.

Aurora follows them as they leave the campsite. It was difficult to go after them without making a sound, but she managed. She saw them stop to prepare a place to camp. It was perfect, considering they all spreaded out to collect things for the camp.