Mulan stood guard outside the doors of Red's chambers.

Truthfully, the real reason she guarded those doors, day after day, night after night, was more for the fact that if Red needed her for anything, she could be there for her. Rather than actually needing her as a guard - it's not as though much really got through The Queen's palace gates to begin with.

So, there she sat in the hall, for the time being, her heavily armored back against Red's door. In her hands she held one of her blades, in the other, a beautiful bright red apple - plucked fresh from one of the Queen's very own apple trees.

As she peeled the apple, Mulan could smell it's tart, sugary sweetness float up into her nose every time the sharp edge of her blade sliced into the fruit, separating the skin from its firm, pulpy flesh.

Just as she opened her mouth to take her first bite, Mulan heard the faint whisper of a sob, or a cry coming from Red's chamber.

Pausing just before sinking her teeth into the fleshy fruit, she thought to herself, "..is that Ruby? Could she be hurt??"

Tossing the apple to the floor and keeping her knife close, Mulan stood up. She put her face to the door - cracking it open just enough to be able to see inside.

Seconds later, Mulan's eyes fell upon the beautiful young woman; Sitting at her vanity with her head in her arms, sobbing. Her long, tumbling brown curls bouncing with every sob.

Mulan took her breath in, and quietly entered the room, closing the door behind her, "Ruby," she said quietly, "are you alright?... I heard crying outside the door.."

Red did not answer her, she only continued to cry more.

"..Ruby?" Mulan continued, taking a few steps closer.

"..Yes..I'm.. I'm fine, I'm fine!" Red replied between sobs.

"I.. it doesn't sound like it." Mulan replied, standing now just a few feet away, "won't you tell me what's happened? Perhaps I can help.."

Red took a few deep breaths and wiped the tears from her face. She then turned to face Mulan, and forced a half smile on her face, "I don't know how you can help me! Especially with The Queen."

Mulan furrowed her brow. Her intense hatred for Regina grew stronger every time her name fell from Red's lips,

"Ah, so it's The Queen you need help with then," Mulan answered, "what has she done to you?"

Mulan.." Red began, "...have you ever loved someone so much but, they do not love you back.. no matter what you do or say... it's like their heart belongs to someone else??!"

Mulan moved her eyes over Red's face a moment. There were so many things she wanted to say, but how could she say them?? She closed her eyes shut, and squeezed her fists tight in reaction to Red's words.

When she opened her eyes a moment later, she saw Red looking away, to which she replied, "Yes, I have. I live with that feeling every day of my life."

"...but I made a promise."

"Oh?" Red sat up straighter now, seemingly more interested in what Mulan had to say, "what promise?"

"I made a promise to myself, and to the one I love, that we WILL be happy together.." Mulan replied, "..I swear it."

"That sounds very noble of you," Red remarked, "this person is quite lucky to have you in their life."

Mulan stood quiet for a moment, and smiled at Red before she answered, "No, it is I who am lucky to have her."

***

Moments later ...

"!!" The Queen's voice echoed through the halls of her castle as she moved through It with haste, "Claudias! I need your full attention!"

"Yes, My Queen!" Her favored soldier quickly approached, taking a knee by her side, "What would you have me do, your highness?"

"Ready my carriage," The Queen commanded, "..it's high time I paid my dear sister a visit..."

"Yes, of course!" Claudias bowed his head and left The Queen to do what she commanded, as she looked on with the most wicked smile.

"It's about time to get things rolling around here." She said quietly to herself, taking a quick glance in one of the many magic mirrors that decorated her castle, before exciting through the front of her palace.

***

Around the corner of the hall, Emma watched the commotion The Queen caused, as her booming voice drew the attention from more than just The Queen's guard.

"I wonder what the hell that was all about.." Emma said to herself, then shrugged, "doesn't matter. Now's my chance, if I'm ever gonna take it!"

When all was clear, Emma quietly made her way to The Queen's Bedroom Chambers.

When she approached the familiar wooden doors, Emma quickly opened them and slipped inside the room, closing the door behind her.

Taking a quick glance around the lavish room, Emma smiled. She walked over to The Queen's bed, gently placing her hand on one of the soft fluffy pillows. Emma stood there a moment, smiling. Thinking back to prior evenings with Regina, as they lay on this very bed, holding each other, their warm bodies laying close, sharing the warmth of the sheets on the bed.

Quickly, her smile faded, as she reminded herself, "The key Emma! You've got to find the key to the spellroom..."

Emma began rummaging through Regina's belongings carefully, yet quickly; she knew time was of the essence. Checking her dressers, near the bed, the area near her bathing room - everything! Yet the room keys were no where to be found. "Damn!" Emma cursed herself in frustration, "she probably keeps them on herself.."

Then, just as she were about to give up the search, Emma saw something that caught her eye...

On a small nightstand stood a goblet with the remnants of what appeared to be red wine, behind it, was a large cube shaped jewelry box. It appeared to have some lettering on it, and some gears.. "..was it mechanical?"

Emma thought to herself as she moved the wineglass out of the way and picked up the box to inspect it.

"Hmm.. how the heck do you open this thing?" She said to herself. At the top of the box, there was a large red jewel. Using her finger to feel it, Emma pressed down on it, as if it were a button. Suddenly, the cube began to vibrate in her hand! Caught slightly off guard, Emma quickly put the cube back down, as it continued to buzz about the nightstand for a moment.

Then, it abruptly stopped. The gears on the box started to slowly turn, and the top of the box lifted about an inch on its own from the bottom, and slid over to the left; exposing what was inside once and for all!

Emma eyes went wide as she reached in and pulled out her prize...

"...alright!" She said, congratulating herself, "jackpot!"

Closing the box on the nightstand and taking the keys with her, Emma made her way quietly out of The Queen's Chambers, down the hall and up to the library doors. Just as Emma approached the door, she heard the familiar voice of Red and another person coming toward her. Emma started to panic, she wasn't in the mood for any of Red's questioning, and quite frankly, she didn't have time for it either!

Emma quickly opened the library door and slipped in. However, in her haste she accidentally slammed the door shut behind her, "shit, shit, shit!!" Emma knew the sound of the library door slamming shut could be heard from down the hall for sure. With her back up against the wall, she scanned the room, desperately trying to remember exactly which bookcase Regina used as the portal to her secret spell room...

As the voices on the other side of the door seemed to be coming closer, Emma's eyes rested upon a section of the library in the far side that looked familiar to her from the other day, "...that's it!"

Emma ran over and examined it, "yeah this is definitely it!" Stepping back, Emma reached into the pocket of her leather jacket and pulled out the vile Regina gave her containing the dust from The Black Fairy. Quickly now, she emptied the dust onto her hands as Regina did before, rubbing her hands together. Then, Emma put her hands on either side of the bookcase, and just as before, the outline of the case began to sparkle and glow. Bright beams of light leaked out between the cracks along the frame of it, as Emma turned her eyes away to shield them from the light.

A few seconds later, the light diminished and Emma straightened herself out, fumbling for the keys to finally unlock the door, "Fucking hell..." she muttered to herself as she fingered through the keys, "there's like, fifty keys here! How do I know which one is right??!"

At that moment, Emma's attention was forcefully turned from the keys to the Library doors, as she heard some commotion and saw the doors starting to move, "I'm out of time..!"

Emma picked a key on the key-ring at random, pushing it into the keyhole of the magical door, turned the key and pushed - only the door seemed to be stuck!

"Oh, come on!!" Emma pleaded to no one in particular, "just open!"

Bracing herself, and pushing with all of her might, Emma was finally able to barrel herself through the door, into Regina's Spell Room; The doors quickly closing behind her.

"Oh thank God...!" She said to herself, wiping the sweat from her brow.

She took a minute or two to fully collect herself from her panic just a few seconds ago. Once she was calm, she began to walk around the room.

She wasn't really sure what she was looking for, and she wasn't really sure what she might find.

After wandering around the room a little bit, something odd caught her attention in the far corner of the room.

Emma walked over to get a better look at It.

"Hmm, interesting." She thought out loud, "...three of the four corners of the room look different, but this one mirrors the one across from it - exactly. As if it were a duplicate. Like everything about it is the same, it's so weird.."

Emma glanced from one side of the room to the other, comparing the two. Trying to figure out if there was a reason for it or if it were just her imagination, "i don't know why I didn't notice this before..."

As she stared, it seemed as though something in the air shimmered. "What the.." Emma approached one of the matching sets of corners in the room for a more in-depth examination, "whoa!!" The shimmer came back stronger as she got closer.

Emma's chest began to heave as her breath got heavy with nerves, "ok Emma, just breathe..." she said, trying to calm herself down. Emma put her hands against the wall to lean on it for some support as she caught her breath.

As she did, her hands began to spark, and she jumped back, holding them out in front of her.

"Holy shit! What the.."

The white glow of her hands intensified, as she held them out in front of herself. Suddenly, white glowing light released itself from her fingers, moving around the details of the seemingly carbon copied corner of the room, melting it away, revealing something else entirely...

When the magic light dissipated, Emma fell backward onto herself, exhausted. She sat on the floor, her fore-arms resting on her knees as she took a few minutes to collect herself after what had just happened.

After a few deep breaths, Emma slowly looked up, and saw something she absolutely did not want to see..

"...No.. No! NO!!" Emma yelled as she scrambled to her feet, "...Please, tell me this is not what I think this is..!"

When the mirage disappeared, it left behind the truth of what The Queen was keeping in that corner of her Spell Room... Completely lined from floor to ceiling on the two walls leading into that corner, were rows and rows of pull-out drawers with names on them, and a small logo insignia of a Heart with a knife going through the center of it.

Emma swallowed hard. Among the many names, the first name she saw was Red's.

Emma reached for the drawer and pulled. So easily it rolled out, revealing a beautiful wooden box inside, detailed with silver embellishments, and personalized with Red's full name, Ruby Lucas, on the box.

Emma, now held the box in her hand. "Please tell me this is not happening right now.." she tried to convince herself, but Emma knew better.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the box..

... and upon Emma's denial, inside the box marked with Red's name on it, was presumedly, Red's Heart. Just exactly as Mulan has described and warned her about.

Emma's pulse was racing, she began to sweat. Frantically, she put the box back where she found it, closing the drawer, "I have to tell Mulan.. I have to let her know I found it."

Her eyes continued to scan the drawers in the vault for the other names; "Claudias.. Bae.. Blu.. Mulan.. Henry"

Until something made Emma freeze completely over like the dead, "...Emma. Emma Swan." Emma felt as though she were going to faint and her breath became short.

Emma slowly reached for the square shaped drawer with her name on it and gave it a light tug as it slowly rolled out, revealing a beautifully detailed wooden box, engraved with her name on it..