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INDIANA JONES
xxxii. NOT YOUR TYPICAL SHREK

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PRESENT
THE ENCHANTED FOREST

AFTER HOURS OF WALKING throughout the forest, it was decided that the group would stop and make camp before continuing to move the following morning. All they needed to do first was collect firewood and locate freshwater.

"Uh, if we're hiding from Ogres, shouldn't we maybe, I don't know, not start a fire?" Emma wondered.

Snow and Indiana simultaneously shook their heads. "Ogres are blind. They hunt by sound alone," Snow informed her daughter, taking the words out of the teenager's mouth.

Indiana nodded. "They're not your typical Shrek," she added.

"Right," Emma sarcastically muttered while looking back at her mother, "because that's something everyone would know about Ogres."

Exchanging glances with Mulan, Snow walked closer to where Emma and Indiana stood. "Look... I know you're out of your element..." Snow began to say.

"I'm fine!"

"I know, but maybe you should just stay here while we get wood and water, guard the campsite," Snow suggested.

"You mean the big, empty clearing?" Emma queried with raised eyebrows.

"It's the safest place. Indie, stay with her please. It's safer for you, too," Snow begged. Slightly offended, Indiana opened her mouth to object, but closed it when Snow gave her a look. "We'll be right back."

With that being said, Snow White and Mulan made their separate ways to gather the items they needed for the night. Indiana was a bit annoyed that Snow forced her to stay back, but she could tell the woman needed alone time. However, she was positive that she would help out the next time.

Night fell rather quickly. Indiana was too engulfed in her thoughts to notice that Snow White had been attacked by the princess from before and Mulan had blamed Snow for talking to the princess harshly. She was brought back to reality when Emma fired her gun into the air, creating a loud booming noise.

"Emma, what the hell are you doing?" Indiana demanded, jumping up and running toward them.

"Protecting her," Emma answered while pointing her gun in Mulan's direction. "Drop the weapon!"

"Do you have any idea what you've just done?" Snow questioned while looking around, suddenly on high alert. The sound of Ogres growling was suddenly heard. "Run!"

In a line, they ran. The Ogre was getting closer, which led Snow to tell everyone to split up. Mulan took the princess named Aurora while Snow completely bolted. Indiana grabbed the hopeless and confused Emma's wrist and pulled her away. This backfired when Emma tripped over something and fell onto the ground, pulling Indiana down with her.

"Stupid, stupid girl," Indiana muttered. It was barely audible over the sound of the Ogre growling. Within seconds, it appeared right in front of the two girls. Emma pulled out her gun, but before she could pull the trigger, the Ogre smacked it right out of her hand.

Crushing in the gun while it growled, Indiana cringed as its breath filled Emma's and her nostrils. She reached down to grab her dagger and got ready to chuck it into the Ogre's eye. However, the Ogre turned around, for Snow had called out to it.

Indiana wanted to tell Snow to run, for she wasn't sure if Snow still had accurate aim. Still, the woman nocked an arrow in her bow and shot it at the Ogre. It fell down in seconds, dead. As Snow pulled the arrow out of its eye with a grunt, Emma and Indiana made their way over to her.

"You have to shoot them in the eye," Snow told her daughter, who was in pure awe.

"When was the last time you shot an arrow?" Emma breathlessly asked, full of shock over what happened.

Snow shrugged. "28 years ago. Guess it's like riding a bike."

"Yeah, but how did you know you could hit that?" Emma continued to question.

"I didn't," Snow answered. She looked back at her daughter, then at Indiana. "My aim's good, but it's not as good as her's." Indiana arrogantly grinned at the sound of that while speaking.

"That thing," Indiana motioned to the gun, "isn't going to work here. I don't know much about parents, but next time, listen to your mother."

➖➖➖

Snow White judiciously shoved open one of the innumerable doors in the castle that she grew up in. It made a clanking and creaking noise as she released the doorknob. The castle looked as though it had gone through hell and back. It was practically ripped apart. It was just like Indiana and her friends had left it when Regina cast the curse.

Taking little steps in the direction of the scorched wardrobe, Emma positioned her hand on it. She stared at it in surprise as she recognized it from Henry's book. Emma couldn't believe that she was standing in the castle that she was supposed to grow up in. Mulan and Aurora had stepped out to stand watch, leaving the trio alone. Emma walked over to the large windows, staring out at the broken kingdom.

"I never thought I'd see this place again," Snow White confessed, looking around. "This room... it was your nursery."

Emma walked toward her mother. "I... lived here?" Emma asked in surprise.

"You never even got to spend a night," Indiana mentioned, staring at a small, worn out teddy bear. It was originally supposed to be her gift for baby Emma. It was one of the few things Indiana didn't steal. "I was supposed to teach you how to protect yourself here."

Snow bitterly laughed at this. "This is the life I wanted you to have. I was going to teach you how to walk in here, how to talk, how to dress for your first ball..." Snow trailed off gloomily. "You never got to do any of it. We never got to be a family."

"We have a family—in Storybrooke," Emma reminded her mother. "And right now, they need us to get back there." She slipped her leather jacket back on that she had previously taken off. "So how do we get this to work? Where's the on switch?"

Indiana snorted while Snow pulled open the wardrobe's doors. "It's not as simple as it looks," Indiana revealed. "Maybe someone back at the Haven has access to enough magic to make it work again."

"How are we gonna carry this thing?" Emma asked her mother in disbelief. Before Snow could answer the question, Lancelot's voice came echoing into the room.

"With the help of an old friend," Lancelot declared. They turned around to see the man walking into the nursery. Upon seeing him, Indiana narrowed her eyes at him. She couldn't fight back the odd feeling that was rising in the pit of her stomach. "We heard about the Ogre attack, and I had to make sure you were all right."

"Right," Indiana doubted. "Where are Mulan and Aurora?"

"I sent them to find food. Tonight, we'll make camp, and in the morning, we'll head back," Lancelot decided while glancing over at the wardrobe. "So... this is it—the portal you were after."

Snow nodded. "The same one Emma went through," she added. "It's how she escaped the curse. Geppetto carved it from an Enchanted Tree, but... there's no magic left."

"A portal this powerful... there must be another way to recharge it," Lancelot said.

"I'm sure there is, but..." Indiana trailed off. "Why exactly are you so interested in the wardrobe?"

"Well, I just want you to get home to your husband, and your son, Henry," Lancelot answered while looking at Emma and Snow. A thought suddenly hit Indiana. "They must miss you."

Indiana nodded, exchanging glances with Snow. "Stay away from him," Snow ordered. "He is not who he says he is."

"What are you talking about? Who the hell is he?" Emma questioned, confused.

Indiana slowly grabbed the hilt of her whip. "There's one little flaw in your story, darling," Indiana said. "There's only one person we told Henry's name."

"Cora," Emma realized.

A puff of purple smoke emerged around Lancelot. When it faded away, Cora stood before them with a bittersweet smirk and her hands on her hips. "Clever, as always," Cora greeted once she revealed herself to them.

"Where's Lancelot?" Snow demanded with her sword drawn and pointed at Cora.

"Let me guess, you killed him, right?" Indiana asked, clenching her jaw.

"Of course," Cora confirmed. "I did a long time ago."

"And you've been posing as him ever since," Snow realized while putting the pieces together.

"Well they'd never listen to me," Cora responded matter-of-factly. "And besides, every Kingdom needs a hero, don't you think?"

When Snow tried to run at Cora, she raised her hand and levitated Snow, pushing her against the wall. When Emma and Indiana tried to do the same, Emma was pushed to the floor and Indiana joined Snow's side on the wall. "Thank you, Snow. I've been looking for a way over for so long."

As Emma tried to get up again, Cora raised her hand so that the carpet on the floor wrapped around her body, making her temporarily unable to move.

"I never thought the people to help me find it..." Cora trailed off, listening to the two grunt as they tried to free themselves, "would be you!"

"Why?" Indiana demanded with a strained voice. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because, dear old friend, I want to see my daughter," Cora revealed. "It's been too long. And you know, I would love to meet my grandson, Henry."

"I have a feeling he would feel differently," Indiana muttered. Suddenly, the Wardrobe caught on fire, making Cora gasp.

Angrily, she looked over at the one who set it ablaze, which was Emma. She raised her hand, taking the fire and morphing it into a fireball. As she shot the fireball at Emma, Indiana's eyes widened. Suddenly, Mulan burst forward with a sword in hand, deflecting the fire.

"Mulan!" Snow shouted.

Cora looked around, seeing as she was now surrounded. "We're not done."

Then, she disappeared.

➖➖➖

Somewhere not too far away from our friends in the Enchanted Forest, there was a man with eyes that sparkled with vengeance and pain. His eyes were something that were hard to come by. If you simply gazed into his orbs, you would end up being deceived into thinking you were looking at the ocean on a stormy night. They were eyes that belonged to a man who had experienced enough pain and grief to last a lifetime. He was a man that had a story that wasn't quite finished yet.

With a telescope over one of his eyes, he gazed out at the island that was also known as a Safe Haven. After gazing at it for a moment, he lowered his telescope as a woman called Cora Mills walked over to him. "Hello, Hook."

"Hello, Cora," the man who went by Captain Hook responded, unimpressed by her presence. "You tell me it's something important you needed to show me."

Pulling out a small vial with purple ashes in them, Cora raised it into the air at eye-level.

"Sparkly dirt. Wonderful."

Cora shook her head, saying, "Just the remains of a magical wardrobe that can travel between worlds." She lowered it.

Hook glanced down at it. "Is it enough to get us where we need to go?" he queried.

"Not quite," Cora revealed, "but it's a start."

"We're almost set to sail. What's our port of destination?" the pirate wondered.

"Storybrooke."

"Curious name," he opinionated, "Is that where—"

"She is. And so is he," Cora interjected in confirmation.

"Excellent. You'll be able to see your daughter, and I can skin myself a crocodile," Hook declared.

Humming and nodding, Cora continued to speak. "I have other news," she revealed. "Whether or not you enjoy what I'm about to tell you is your decision."

"Is that so?" Hook sarcastically wondered.

"My dearest friend and your baby sister, Indiana Jones is here," Cora finally revealed.

The pirate immediately tensed up as he stared at her with widened eyes. "She's here?"

Cora nodded. "Yes, and I believe she still doesn't remember you," Cora continued. "She acts just as you once described: emotionless, ruthless, and outspoken. She isn't that childlike girl she once was, yet I can still see the similarities between the two of you."

Hook looked back at the island. "Well personality change is common when taking a forgetting potion," he reminded her. "And she is a Jones." With that, a single thought ran through his head.

'I'm coming for you, baby sister.'