CHAPTER SIXTEEN
°⋆∴☽°:۵≼

i. birds of a feather !

the enchanted forest . now .

— CHRISTOPHER HAD BEEN SEATED BETWEEN EMMA AND MARY MARGARET, Emma not wanting him to leave her sight for even a second- despite him probably being more equipped to handle this land than she was.

A meal was placed before them on the wooden table, the weight of the plate managing to shake the very bench the trio were sat on as Lancelot took his place at the head of the table.

"What is that?" Emma looked at the meat before them with plenty of apprehension.

"That is Chimera," Lancelot answered, "An acquired taste, but all our hunting party could bring back. One part lion, one part serpent, one part goat."

"Like turducken?"

Emma's musing went ignored, though Christopher found the phrase funny and smiled up at the blonde while she placed some berries on his plate.

"I don't understand." Snow began, "We were told this land didn't exist anymore. How did you all escape the curse?"

"It is a mystery." Lancelot started to explain while Emma examined the foods they had to offer and tried to put together decent plates for herself and Christopher. "The curse struck, and when the smoke cleared, most of us had been torn from this land- but some of us here, in this particular region, were left behind. We don't know how and we don't know why. Finding this safe haven wasn't easy. It took some spilt blood. But, worry not, you're safe here."

Christopher couldn't help but disagree. He looked up at Snow to see if she had any sort of reproach in her eyes- trying to figure out if she had seen what Christopher did.

That something was wrong.

He didn't say anything, for fear of being so wrong and embarrassing himself- or, more specifically, for fear of being worryingly right.

Christopher barely paid attention to the conversation at hand, being hungry and rather homesick already. He simply chewed on a few berries and examined the area.

He did catch a few comments. Mentions of ogres returning and wreaking havoc on survivors of the curse. Cora having been stripped of magic. A certain chance to get back home.

Christopher pulled his attention away from the goat he had been having a staring contest with and back to the conversation at hand, briefly understanding that Snow had an idea of how to get home, back to Storybrooke; back to his mother, his dear brother- and his best friend.

Though she refused to tell Lancelot what it was, not trusting anything knowing that Cora was near.

Christopher thought it was for the best, still unable to place what that gut feeling he had in the pit of his stomach was when he looked at Lancelot.

Lancelot agreed to let them journey to find what they needed, only insisting that they take his bravest warrior for protection.

The woman he gestured forward looked powerful as she moved to his side. Her armour flashed blood red and fine gold, and she kept a hand on her sword at all times, ready for battle.

"Allow Mulan to defend you." Lancelot both bargained with Snow and Emma, and introduced his warrior at the same time.

Though Emma was clearly against it, Snow agreed instantly, thanking the man for always looking out for her.

the enchanted forest . now .

— EMMA MADE SURE CHRISTOPHER HAD EATEN ENOUGH BEFORE THEY PREPARED TO LEAVE. Really, he only ate a stem full of berries, (and tucked a few away into his pocket), but it left him relatively satisfied and ready to find a way home. He was sure his mother would be worried, and he missed his brother and best friend so dearly.

Mulan brought them to a chest full of various weapons, allowing the trio to each take their pick of the thing that would be defending them during their journey.

Snow quickly took up a sword in its sheath, managing to pull the strap around her waist so it hung at her side. Then, she went in for a quiver of arrows and a longbow to match.

Emma simply pushed a dagger into the holster on her left leg, requesting her gun to be returned to her. Mulan complied with little argument.

Christopher, however, was far too small for a longbow or sword. The daggers they kept felt unbalanced in his hands- and Emma was worried he'd sooner cut himself on the blade than defend himself. He instead settled on a rock pouch and slingshot- meant more for sport than weaponry.

Snow saw his choice, and hid an extra dagger away in her quiver just in case Christopher were to change his mind.

Once they felt they had prepared enough, the small group set out on their journey, Mulan taking the lead.

Christopher stayed behind to very briefly hear about what the plan was from Snow and Emma- but once he had gathered the idea, he forced his shorter legs to catch up with Mulan, who was brooding and silent as she moved.

"I like your hair." Christopher announced as he hopped up to her side.

Mulan barely spared him a glance, but seemed surprised by the claim.

"Thank you?"

Christopher nodded, falling quiet as he simply glanced at the trees surrounding them- seeing small birds and flies buzzing about in the decent breeze.

"How do you expect to defend yourself from a ogre with those?" Mulan spoke again after a short while, gesturing to the slingshot in Christopher's hand and the rock pouch at his side.

Christopher shrugged, "I don't, it's just a precaution I suppose."

Mulan tilted her head and looked down at the boy, "You do realize these are extremely nasty beasts that'll kill you before you're able to load a rock into that slingshot of yours, right?"

Christopher didn't seem phased by her statement, and instead smiled up at her, "I can talk faster than that, though."

"You mean to defend yourself with words?" Mulan seemed off put by the idea, knowing that ogres cannot be reasoned with.

"No," Christopher shook his head, "I mean to defend myself with friends."

"You cannot rely on us to save you." Mulan reminded.

"It's not you I rely on." Christopher smiled, looking up at the trees.

"Then who?"

Christopher scanned the trees ahead of them before his eyes fell upon a thrush, high on a branch and looking for food.

The small boy laughed, grabbing Mulan's hand and tugging her towards the tree, "I'll show you."

Emma and Snow protested the two picking up their pace, but recognized that Christopher was entirely fine- so they didn't argue too actively.

Christopher and Mulan stopped at the base of the tree, looking up at the thrush as Christopher began to whistle, imitating a bird tweedle almost perfectly.

The thrush responded, chirping back to the boy, who grinned and chirped in response.

The bird suddenly spread its wings and fluttered from the branch, hovering above the two.

Mulan turned to Christopher, "I don't understand."

"Don't worry! Just follow me." Christopher assured, nodding to the winged creature and continuing to direct Mulan as they followed after it.

Soon they came upon a clearing in the woods, and the thrush shot up into the open air, scanning the area before returning to the ground as Snow and Emma caught up to them.

The bird chattered and chirped again, and Christopher returned the strange sounds and pulled a few berries from his pocket, tossing them to the thrush before turning back on the group.

"My thrush is a bit rusty but I think Edwin said there's a stream over there," Christopher said, pointing in one direction of the forest. "That we can get fresh water from."

"You speak bird?" Emma asked incredulously.

"Only a little." Christopher admitted sheepishly, "Mama is a lot better with understanding it than I am. I'm better with bear."

Emma nodded, as if saying 'this is hardly the weirdest thing I've discovered all week, why not add a bit more crazy to the mix.'

Though Mulan and Snow seemed grateful for the direction, and Mulan now understood that the young boy that travelled with them was far more complex than she thought.

Mulan split off for water, while Snow left to gather fire wood. Emma stayed with Christopher for protection. She would be damned if anything happened to this kid. She cared about him and his mother too much to see pain in either of their eyes should he get hurt.

Though it seemed as if Christopher had a growing armada of birds at his beck and call, as the trees began to fill with thrushes that watched over them like protectors.

They sat quietly for a while, finding a comfortable patch of grass as Christopher played with the string of his slingshot.

Emma grew more nervous as the thrushes that surrounded them chirped out into the growing darkness, spotting a few more that joined the twelve that were already hidden away in the leaves.

Christopher noticed her unease, "They aren't here to hurt us." He assured.

Emma looked around at the many beady eyes that could barely be made out now that the sun was setting, "Yeah?" She asked uncertainly.

"They're just watching. It isn't often that animals meet someone that can speak their language." Christopher explained, managing to pull the last few berries from his pocket, tossing them out into the open grass for a few of the thrushes to come down for.

Emma could somewhat understand that these little winged creatures were both curious and protective of the boy. Not only had he been giving them good food and kind words, he could also speak to them in a way they sort of understood.

They seemed to appreciate the effort it took to learn such a language, and therefore grew to like the child.

Emma had heard of the intelligence of birds before, but never to this extent. Still, she settled into the idea as Christopher leaned into her side, looking up at the stars as they became visible through the slight fog of sleepiness and moonlight.

the enchanted forest . now .

— THE QUIET PROTECTION OF THE BIRDS STANDING WATCH OVER THE PAIR SLOWLY BECAME A COMFORT, and Christopher found his eyes falling closed as Emma laid him on the ground and pulled her jacket off to make it into a makeshift pillow for the boy to lay his head upon.

Christopher was content with laying in the grass and snoring softly through the night.

That was, until a loud, echoey bang of gunfire forced him from his sleep, followed by the wailing of beasts and creatures in the distance as their quiet routine was also disturbed.

Groggily, Christopher managed to slowly pull his mind into a coherent understanding of the situation.

His vision cleared and he saw Emma carrying the source of the sound, a gun, pointed towards Mulan, Snow, and a newcomer whom he didn't recognize.

Christopher didn't have time to question it before the thrushes that had surprisingly stayed with him began to chirp loudly in warning, followed by a deep growl within the woods.

"Ogre!" Christopher warned as he shot to his feet as quick as he could, a little wobbly while he grabbed Emma's jacket and rushed to Mulan's side.

"Run!" Snow shouted, turning tail and beginning to run in the opposite direction to where they heard the growl.

The group ran together until they came to a split in the natural path and Snow called for them to split up.

They did so- with Mulan and the newcomer, who Christopher had heard Mulan refer to as Aurora, going in one direction, while Snow, Emma, and Christopher ran in the other.

Christopher stayed by Emma's side as they ran, and while he managed to hop over the felled branch in the way, Emma wasn't so lucky.

The blonde tumbled to the ground and watched Snow continue on into the trees, while Emma herself turned to face the ugly beast that had been chasing them.

It was massive, just under the height of the trees surrounding them, and it looked like what one would imagine an ogre to look like- though it's eyes were lidless and a milky sort of blue.

Emma then noticed that Christopher was still at her side, reluctant to leave her.

Before she could open her mouth to usher him away, he brought his fingers to his own lips and gave a loud whistle, before turning and pulling on Emma's arm, encouraging her to stand.

"They can hunt by sound! What are you doing?" Emma asked, referring to the whistle that gave away their location to the blind beast as she stood and saw her gun had been crunched under the ogre's foot.

"Giving us a head start." Christopher breathed, "Quick!" He turned to run again but Emma was caught up in trying to understand what he meant.

She didn't have to wonder long.

Loud whistles and chirps in response to Christopher's came upon them like a hurricane of noise. Birds swooped in and circled the beast, cawing and crowing and creating as much noise as possible so as to disorient the ogre.

"Christopher! Call them off!" Snow's voice called out, appearing a few paces away with an arrow poised and ready to shoot at the ogre, though not wanting to risk hitting one of the birds that had selflessly sacrificed themselves as a distraction.

The tornado of birds didn't even need Christopher's twittering command, as they understood perfectly what Snow had said. They dispersed and many of them flew off in Snow's direction, singing as they went to coax the Ogre to face the woman, allowing her to release an arrow into it's eye.

The ogre collapsed, rumbling the ground as it did so, but falling dead in the grass all the same.

Christopher shuddered as Snow pulled the arrow from the ogre's eye with a horrible squelch noise.

"You have to shoot them in the eye." Snow muttered, clearly a little proud of herself.

"When was the last time you shot an arrow?" Emma asked incredulously, impressed that the woman had been able to hit her target first try.

Snow thought for a second, "Twenty-eight years ago." She mused. "I guess it's like riding a bike."

"Yeah, but how did you know you could hit that?" Emma asked.

"I didn't." Snow shook her head slightly, looking down on the ogre in reflection before she brought her gaze back to Emma, "Next time, listen to me? That kind of thing isn't gonna work here."

She nodded to the crushed gun in Emma's hand.

"Yeah." Emma agreed, putting a hand on Christopher's shoulder.

"We should get going." Snow turned her back and began leading the way again, while Emma sighed heavily and followed after her, Christopher sticking close to her side.

author's note

ahaha it's six thirty am this is fine

also this is low key an extra long chapter, I promise I'm really really trying to get to killian as soon as I can without totally leaving plot holes so this chapter may be super bad and rushed but I promise better stuff is coming soon

Also I hope this new ability that's been introduced isn't wildly out of the way of the plot- like I totally haven't mentioned it before now but this decision was only recently made for the plot and I feel cheap going back to foreshadow it in previous chapters- though it's been sort of implied with the way winnie knew loaf was pooh and the few flashbacks of Christopher and his brothers but yeah idk lemme know what you think of this mess I guess 😭😭 a lot is happening

Also btw there's a pinterest board for the ELT journey so far and a little bit of what to expect in the future, you can find it on my wattpad profile through my linktree oR search for me on pinterest @ llunaetic, I promise a spotify playlist is coming as soon as I  sort out my profile

ANYWAYS I talk too much in these things, I love y'all, i hope this chapter wasn't tOo disappointing, I know you're looking for Killian- HES COMING I SWEAR- and I'm very appreciative of all your support, thank you so much 💕