Later that night, Emma found herself eagerly anticipating Ping's arrival, as promised. "I swear to God, I just might wear down the tread of these damn boots with the amount of pacing I do in this room!" She thought out loud to herself, as she walked the room like a caged tiger.

Soon enough, there was a soft tap at her door, and Emma rushed over to open it. When she did, Ping was there waiting.

"Ping, thank goodness!" Emma let out a sigh of relief, "I am going stir crazy waiting to hear the news you have for me. I could barely concentrate while with The Queen.."

Ping smirked, "oh, I'm sure" Ping said with a sarcastic tone, entering the room.

"What the hell is THAT supposed to mean?!" Emma asked, a little annoyed as she closed the door and they now faced each other.

"Never mind that," Ping replied, "Before I get into what I need to talk to you about, there is something else you really need to know.." Ping stood facing Emma, then removed the soldier's helmet, allowing beautiful long black hair to flow out from under it.

"My name is not 'Ping', my real name is Mulan."

"Oh!" Emma was shocked by this, "Mulan, The Warrior? I've heard about you... it's been rumored you've been killed in battle years ago!"

"I know," Mulan acknowledged, "I had to fake my own death so that I could be here, in this castle undetected."

"So that you could serve The Queen?" Emma asked confused.

"No."

"...then why? I don't understand."

"Let's sit." Mulan suggested, "I have a lot to explain, and there is much you need to know.."

The two women sat on Emma's bed facing each other, and Mulan began her story:

"Years ago, before 'The Great Battle', I served my land as a noble in my kingdom. For years there were many rulers who tried to overthrow our kingdom."

"..it's well known that your kingdom trains the best warriors ever seen!" Emma added.

"Yes," Mulan continued, "this is all very true. Our kingdom stood tall; undefeated for centuries.. until Shan Yu and The Hun Army attacked."

Mulan was quiet for a moment, then she continued, "they came like a whirlwind of destruction; killing and ripping homes and families apart, lives completely destroyed! I fought for as long as I could, until I could no longer stand."

"The Huns," Emma started, "did they capture you?"

"No," Mulan answered, "I was able to escape, however, They captured the love of my life, and tortured her."

An expression of horror flashed across Emma's face, "God, please tell me you were able to save her..!"

"Eventually I did, thankfully."

"I don't understand," Emma said, "if you saved the love of your life, and escaped The Huns, why are you here?"

"Although all you say is true, my love for her was unrequited." Mulan explained, "it did not matter to me, and to this day I would do it all over again. She will always be my best friend."

Mulan drew a deep breath before continuing, "which brings me to the next part of my story."

"Go on," Emma replied, "I'm listening."

"I brought her back to her fairy godmother as she was very badly injured and I knew she could help. Her Godmother was so grateful I had saved her and brought her to her. She told me if I ever needed anything all I had to do was ask."

"OK.." Emma replied, "but I still don't understand how this is all connected."

Mulan glanced at Emma for a moment before continuing on, "This Fairy Godmother was no ordinary Godmother. Her name is Maleficent, and the woman I loved and brought to her was Princess Aurora."

"I see.." Emma thought out loud, "Maleficent is known to be an extremely powerful Sorcerous!"

"Yes, she is indeed." Mulan agreed, "Which brings me to why I'm here. Years later, I met Ruby.."

"You mean Red...?"

"It's Ruby," Mulan corrected her, " The Queen gave her that damn 'pet name' when she came to this castle, and she'll now answer to nothing else.."

"Oh." Emma exclaimed.

"Ruby and I were in love," Mulan continued, "I hadn't felt so good with anyone since Aurora until I met Ruby. Then, The Queen and her guards came and took Ruby away from me. Claiming she hadn't paid back taxes on her grandmother's property, so she was arrested."

"Surely if you tried talking to her.." Emma explained.

"I tried many times to reason with The Queen but she would hear none of it!" Mulan said, her voice slightly agitated, "on my last attempt, The Queen granted me an audience with Ruby present. I could see something in her had changed. It was as if she was under a spell or something, under her control."

Mulan stood now, full of energy, fists clenched in anger as she thought back in her memory, "so I asked around. I asked other villagers and towns people if they knew what went on in the castle? If they knew how The Queen controlled her servants when they weren't 'loyal' to begin with."

Emma, growing very eager to learn now asked, "Yes? And what did they tell you?"

"It all comes down to the heart." Mulan explained.

"Huh?" Emma furrowed her brow.

"That's what I thought at first too," Mulan began, "so I went back to Maleficent for some answers.. and to cash in my favor."

Emma's eyes went wide, "You went back?!"

"I did." Mulan explained, "and she told me about a time when a young Regina came to her for guidance on magic and spell casting."

"Maleficent explained how she taught her how to rip out the hearts of people in order to control them and make them do and feel whatever you wanted; whether it be love, joy or pain. When you were finished with them, you could simply put the heart back in to restore the person their own life back to them self or crush the heart to end their life completely."

Emma looked at Mulan in complete horror, "Oh my God! I refuse to believe Regina would do such a horrible thing to ANYONE!"

"I was afraid you might say that," Mulan said disappointedly, "I KNOW The Queen has Ruby's heart... and I think she has yours as well, Emma Swan. Ruby wouldn't be loyal to The Queen otherwise, she despises her in reality, and if you recall, you used to as well."

"..people change!" Emma blurted out.

"Indeed." Mulan agreed.

"And what about YOU?!" Emma continued, "you STILL havnt fully explained exactly what you're doing here!"

"After Maleficent told me about The Queen and her control, I knew I had to save Ruby," Mulan explained, "I would stop at nothing to do so. So, I asked Maleficent to help me. I asked her to place a protection spell over my heart so The Queen could not control me after I infiltrated the castle. She agreed, but added that to further fool her, I would still need to give up a heart."

"..ok, so what did you do?" Emma asked.

"It wasn't what I, myself, did" Mulan pointed out, "Aurora volunteered her own heart in place of my own so I could save Ruby."

Emma was in disbelief.

"At first Maleficent would not agree," Mulan explained, "but Aurora insisted. So, Maleficent enchanted her heart so that it could not be crushed, but, it could be placed into my chest and then removed so that The Queen would think it was my own."

"My god.." Emma could not believe what she was hearing.

"So now you know," Mulan confessed, "the real story why were all here. I must find Ruby's heart and return it to her, as well as Aurora's, and then we can all escape this place!"

"..what if we don't want to go" Emma asked, "it's not that I don't believe what you're telling me, but Regina has been kind to me and I believe my feelings to be true."

There was a long hard silence in the room, then Mulan spoke; "after you see The Queen's secret spell chambers, you will understand. That's where she keeps them all."

"All what??"

"The hearts."