╔══════════════════╗

INDIANA JONES
viii. THE HAPPY COUPLE

╚══════════════════╝

"AND DO YOU, SNOW White, promise to take this man to be your husband and love him for all eternity?"

A woman with an exquisite and beautiful, white dress smiled at the man standing before her as she said the two special words. Her name was Snow White and today, she was getting married to the man she was desperately in love with, also known as Prince Charming.

"I now pronounce you—"

"Oh, just kiss already!" a young teenager exclaimed excitedly. She twirled a strand of her long, light-brown hair, grinning like a madman as she watched one of her pupils and closest friends smile at her.

"Indie!" Snow and David scolded in amusement as the Orchestra began to play from within the ballroom they all were in. Indiana merely shrugged and giggled, being the child she was when it came to weddings.

Snow White and Prince Charming leaned into one another for what promised to be the storybook kiss to end all storybook kisses. Just as their lips near each other, there was the sudden crack of thunder booming. The orchestra stopped playing while everyone spun around to see lightning flash through the stain-glassed windows. The doors at the far end of the ballroom suddenly flew open, causing Indiana Jones to suddenly grab the whip that sat at her hip. Though she was wearing a nice dress, there was no way she was going to walk around empty-handed.

In walked a woman with raven hair and an evil smile on her face. Her name was the Evil Queen. She carried herself with casual menace as she strode up the aisle toward the platform. Those assembled gasped in fear, parting like the red sea.

"Sorry I'm late," the Evil Queen said.

Three of the Prince's guards rushed at the Queen. She casually waved her hand at them, causing them to be thrown up into the air, right through the stain-glassed windows. The Queen continued to march right up toward Charming and Snow as one of the Dwarves, Doc told everyone to run.

Snow White's face tightened. "She's not a Queen anymore," Snow declared. "She's nothing more than an evil witch!"

Snow reached for her husband's belt, pulling out his sword. She pointed it at the Queen and stepped forward, but Indiana seemed to block her way. "Don't get so excited, Snow," Indiana told her. "We all know what happened the last time you didn't think before you acted with a sword in your hands."

"Indie's right, Snow. Don't stoop to her level. There's no need. She's powerless now," Charming said in agreement. He turned to face the Queen who stood at the base of the platform, smiling malevolently up at the trio. "I will not let you ruin this wedding. You're wasting your time, you've already lost."

"I'm not here to ruin anything," the Evil Queen said with a deceptively sweet tone to her voice. "On the contrary, dear... I've come to give you a gift."

"If it's a fruit bearing some kind of curse, you can keep it," Indiana muttered, keeping her eyes locked on the Queen.

Snow glared at her. "We want nothing from you," she snapped.

"But you shall have it. My gift to you is this happy, happy day. Enjoy it," the Queen said. "Because tomorrow is the beginning of the end." More Guards suddenly rushed in toward the Queen, but she remained unaffected. "For tomorrow my real work begins. You've made your vows. Now I make mine." She pointed her index finger at the happy couple. "I shall destroy your happiness if it's the last thing I do."

It seemed as though Charming and Indiana had had enough. As the man grabbed his sword back from Snow, Indiana pulled out her whip. The two hurled their weapon toward the Queen, but just as it was about to hit her, there was a puff of smoke that enveloped the Queen. She disappeared, nothing but the cracking sound of a whip filling the air.

Anna James jolted in her place slightly as the strange vision played in her head. She wasn't sure where it came from, but she was too focused on Emma Swan using Henry Mills' computer to worry twice about it. The 10-year-old boy was missing once again and this time, they were going through his computer to find evidence of where he could've gone.

"Kid's smart. He cleared his inbox. All his emails are gone," Emma informatively told Anna, Regina, and Sheriff Graham. She pulled out a USB card on her keychain, plugging it in. "Luckily, I'm smart, too. Little hard disk recovery utility I like to use. When you delete something, all you're doing is telling the computer to ignore the data. Doesn't mean it's gone yet."

"I'm a bit more old fashioned in my techniques," Graham mentioned. "Pounding the pavement. Knocking on doors. That sort of thing."

"Well, you're on salary. I get paid for delivery. Pounding the pavement isn't a luxury I get," Emma responded. On the screen, the inbox reformed. Email after email began to reappear. Emma raised her eyebrow at one. "Huh. A receipt from a website." She clicked on it. "Who'sYourMommy.Com? Guess we know how he found me."

"And he just... believed it?" Anna wondered in surprise. "What if it was just a website some weird kidnapper made to... kidnap kids?"

Ignoring the quirky and awkward girl's question, Emma proceeded to read what was on the website. "Expensive. Does he have a credit card?" Emma wondered.

"He's ten," Regina and Anna monotonically stated in sync.

"Well, he used one... let's see if I can get a transaction record..." Emma trailed off, tapping the keys on the keyboard. "Who's Mary Margaret Blanchard?"

Regina's face tightened as Anna's face paled. "Henry's teacher," Regina answered. Her tone said it all. She really didn't like Mary Margaret Blanchard, unlike Anna, who took quite the liking toward the teacher. "Thank you for the help, Ms. Swan. But I've got it from here."

That was when Graham shocked them both by nodding at Emma and saying, "Emma should go. This falls under pounding the pavement. My area." He turned to Regina. "If Mary Margaret helped him find her... then she's the only one to get him to stop running."

Before Regina could protest, Emma sighed. "He's right. I'll go," Emma decided.

"But we've troubled you enough—"

"All due respect, it's on me. Don't worry, I'll bring him back," Emma interrupted. She turned to Anna. "Come with me? I have a feeling this Mary Margaret will be more willing to talk if she sees a familiar face."

Anna nodded and with that, they made their way to the middle school. They arrived just as the bell rang for the fourth graders within the class to go to recess. Emma and Anna entered, gaining Mary Margaret's attention. She was happy to see a familiar face, but was a bit puzzled when she saw Emma.

"Anna, hi! Can I help you?" Mary Margaret wondered, glancing between her and Emma.

"I'm looking for one of your students. Henry," Emma explained. When Mary Margaret asked who she was, Emma faltered. "I'm his... It's complicated."

"Well, I'm reasonably bright and as I'm not really in the habit of discussing my children with strangers. You might want to tell me," the teacher responded.

"I'm his mother," Emma finally spat out.

Mary Margaret raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure the Mayor is his mother," she pointed out. She glanced over at Anna to reassurance. Anna nodded her head slowly.

"Yeah, right. Thing is—I gave birth to him," Emma began to explain. She pointed a finger at the black-haired woman. "But you already know that considering you gave him your credit card to track me down."

Mary Margaret blinked, putting it all together. Her face fell. "My... credit card?" she repeated. She hurried to her handbag before rifling through it. Her face fell when she realized the object was missing from her wallet. She sighed. "He's a clever one. This is all my fault. I never should have given him that book."

"The fairytales? Are you the one who put that craziness in his head?" Emma wondered.

"That was not her intention," Anna defended. "You have to understand. Henry is—he's a special boy. So smart, so creative, and so lonely. He needed it."

"What he needs is a dose of reality," Emma fired back.

Anna shot Emma a look, who didn't seem to notice it. "Tell me something... what do you think stories are for?" Anna quizzed.

Emma shrugged. "Getting through a long flight?"

"Dan Brown, maybe. But these stories? The classics? There's a reason we all know them," Anna told her. "They're... They're a way for us to deal with our world—a world that doesn't always make sense. Henry's had this share of hardships."

"Kid seems like he's got a pretty good life to me," Emma opinionated.

"Yes, but Henry's like any adopted child. He wrestles with that most basic question they all inevitably face," Mary Margaret said in agreement with Anna. "Why would they give me away?" That question practically tore right through Emma's heart. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean in any way to judge you."

"No... It's okay," Emma dismissed.

Mary Margaret sighed. "Look, I gave the book to him because I wanted Henry to have the most important thing anyone can have. Hope. Believing in the possibility of a happy ending is a very powerful thing," Mary Margaret told them. "But I guess he took it too far."

"Yeah, no kidding," Anna grumbled before perking up. The comment surprised Mary Margaret, considering the girl wasn't one for sarcasm or sass. "Sorry! I... don't know where that came from."

"Do you have any idea where he might be?" Emma wondered.

Anna's face suddenly lit up. "Oh! I'm so stupid—how could I forget?" she asked herself. "Come on. I have a feeling he's at his castle."

Confused, Emma Swan followed Anna James out the door after they said their farewells. She dropped her off at the shitty renaissance playground on the edge of town that Henry called his "castle", wanting Emma and Henry to have some bonding time.

As Anna walked back to the Mayor's home to inform Regina and Graham of what was going on, she took the time to think. She couldn't help but notice that Mary Margaret looked a lot like Snow White in her little daydream. But surely it meant nothing. Fairytales aren't real. Anna had to keep reminding herself of that.

So why did she keep forgetting?