Summary: Over four years after the death of the Snow Queen, Storybrooke is at peace. That is until a girl shows up one night with a mysterious past that not even she can remember. As she grows closer to our heroes, unrest grows in the magical town. This time, it's Henry's turn to face adventure and romance in the fight of good vs evil.
Background: Story starts off at Thanksgiving dinner at the Mills/Locksley house (by my timeline, November 23rd, 2017). Killian and Emma have been married for 3 years now and have their daughter, Elizabeth. Regina and Robin have also been married for 3 years now and have their daughter, Danielle. Rumplestiltskin and Belle took awhile to reunite after his return to Storybrooke, but eventually they arrived at a good place and started a family. They now have been married for over 4 years and have their daughter, Juliette.
Pairings: Henry/OC, Killian/Emma, Robin/Regina, David/Snow, Whale/Ruby
Chapter Rating: T
Chapter Date: November 2017 (Ages: Henry – 16.5, Roland – 9.5, Neal – 4.5, Juliette – 2.5, Elizabeth – 2.5, Dani – 1 month)
CHAPTER 1: THE GIRL
The response was instantaneous; everyone was up on their feet at once, weapons drawn. Henry pointed his sword at the figure that was beginning to take shape within the purple fog in the center of the room. He pointedly ignored the fact that both of his mothers were instinctively standing in front of him despite him proving to them time and time again that he is especially gifted with a sword.
The pressure of a tiny fist holding onto the back of his shirt tells Henry that his little sister is still behind him where he shoved her as soon as the smoke appeared. Glancing around, he breathes a slight sigh of relief noticing that all of the children are out of a direct line of fire if it should come to that.
As the smoke evaporates, a figure of a girl becomes apparent. Henry would have dropped his sword in surprise if not for the fact that the gun in her hand is pointing straight at his grandfather. Despite this fact, Henry's mind can't help but notice that she is beautiful, in a deadly kind of way. Her wavy chestnut hair blowing behind her and the defensive form of her stance would have been intimidating if not for the look of utter confusion gracing her soft features.
Her eyes scan the room as if trying to memorize every face holding a weapon pointed at her before quickly glancing at the gun in her hand as if she does not know how it got there. The hesitation lasts a fraction of a second before her grip tightens and her eyes harden defensively.
"Where am I?" she asks suddenly, all the while keeping her hands steady.
"We'll be the ones asking the questions here." David replies, his face unyielding and his voice unwavering. The years of ruling his home kingdom followed by several more working for the sheriff's office in town has shaped his authority into an unquestionable tone.
"Yeah," adds the sheriff herself, Henry's mother, Emma, "Who the hell are you and how did you get in this house?"
The girl's gun shifts to point at Emma. Her bright brown eyes meet the sheriff's green ones but says nothing.
"Well, are you going to answer her or not?" demanded a voice from the other side of the room. Henry glances over at his step-dad, Killian, who had come to his wife's defense. With his notorious hook held out in front of him and the cutlass in his remaining hand, he would look menacing if Henry didn't know the honorable family man behind the façade.
Ignoring the arsenal that he calls his family, Henry decides to be the peacemaker before a full scale war breaks out over Thanksgiving dinner. He gently removes his sister's hand from his shirt, pushes past his mothers and steps between the girl and his family. He hears his mothers' whispered objections at the actions from behind.
"We don't want to hurt you," Henry tells the girl kindly while sheathing his sword. He steps in front of the gun barrel with his hands raised in surrender and looks her directly in the eyes. "We just want to know who you are."
The room was silent but for the slight whimpering of a frightened child. The girl's eyes meet Henry's and he feels his breath catch in his throat. Just as suddenly as she appeared, he is inexplicably drawn to her. He observes that her eyes are clearly wise beyond her years; they are beautifully broken. Henry knows her but at the same time he doesn't know anything, not even his own name. He finds that he wants to know everything about her. He is frozen and realizes that fact only a second too late.
His momentary distraction was enough for the girl to take advantage. In a split second, her supporting hand leaves her gun and wraps around his shirt collar, pulling him toward her and spinning him around. Henry hears the click of a safety and feels the cold metal of her gun against his temple. Her forearm against his throat is making it difficult to breathe and the slightly awkward backward angle from the height difference is making his back ache. Now facing his family, all Henry can see is the panicked, angry looks.
"Let him go!" yells Emma, while both her and Regina lift their hands in unison. Henry can feel the invisible hands telltale of the use of magic tugging against his skin, but it is as if the small arm around his neck is impervious to their obvious power. Henry can see the eyes widening around the room as his family realizes what is happening.
"Now," the girl's voice demands, her warm breath tickling his ear. "Where am I?"
"You're in Storybrooke. Storybrooke, Maine." Says his grandmother quickly, her eyes wide but strong. She returns the steak knife that she had grabbed in self-defense to the table, gesturing the others to drop their weapons as well. "I'm Snow, Snow White. Or Mary Margaret, if you prefer. Can you please let my grandson go?"
"Snow White. Like the fairytale?" the girl asks, sarcasm dripping in her voice, yet he can feel her head cock slightly to the side in question, "Or the tv show?"
Henry stifles a snort despite the seriousness of the situation. When his family found out that someone had gotten enough intimate details of their lives to create a television show that lasted a couple seasons, they were not happy. He's sure the show would have picked up for a fourth season if his mother, Regina, had not paid the creators a visit.
However, it was not the comment about the television show that concerned Snow.
"Are you not from our land?" she asks the girl.
"I suppose not." The girl responds dryly.
"How is that possible?" Regina questions harshly, a look of almost panic on her face as she shares a glance with her husband, Robin, whose arms protectively cradle their daughter. "I sealed Storybrooke so that no one from the outside can ever enter again."
With the girl pressed so close behind him, Henry feels more than hears her take a deep breath. It is only then that he realizes that she is trembling slightly against his back. He is sure that no one else can tell due to the fact that the arm enclosing his neck and the hand holding the gun are both completely steady. Henry realizes that she is terrified and is very good at hiding that fact. He can't explain why that thought makes his heart ache just a little bit.
Henry can see that his family, whom has fought, and won, countless battles side by side, is at a loss of what to do next. They are confused as to why Emma and Regina's combined magic is having no effect, curious to where the girl came from and how she got here, and, most obviously, they are terrified because it is his life that is in danger. If it was anyone else, they would have acted by now. Doing the only thing he can do, Henry starts talking.
"By your response, I can tell that you have seen the show that is based on our lives, and by your skepticism, I can tell you are from this land. I'm telling you, it's true. All of it. I know that can be difficult to believe when you are from the land without magic but the fact that you showed up in a puff of purple smoke tells me that magic is somehow involved in your life, whether you believe it or not. I can tell you are confused and frightened right now, but I meant what I said before. We don't want to hurt you. I can promise you I won't let them hurt you. My name is Henry. What's yours?"
The girl's arm loosens slightly around his throat but the gun doesn't move from its position against his head.
"I don't know," she replies, and Henry can hear the honesty in her voice. "It was like I woke up here. I don't know who I am, how I got here, or where I came from."
Henry looks up at Emma, knowing she would be watching the girl's face for any signs of a lie, and by her expression, he can tell that this is the truth.
"We can help you figure that out." He says, glancing at Regina, who quickly nods in agreement to her son's words.
"How?" asks the voice behind him.
"Magic," his mother replies, "As difficult as it is to wrap your head around the idea, this use of magic is not, in itself, difficult. I can help you extract your memories from your mind. You just have to let my son go."
A minute went by in silence, while his mother and the girl stared each other down. Finally, Henry felt the arm around his neck pull away and heard the safety click back on the gun before the cold barrel left his head. He turned to look at the girl as she took a step back from him, placing her gun in the holster at her hip. Henry hears a few sighs of relief behind him.
Henry knew his mothers couldn't wait to throw their arms around him in relief but he was still too drawn to this mystery girl to step back toward his family just yet. Without the threat of a gun pointed at his head, this time Henry lets himself really take note of her. She looked to be about his age, but, unlike him, she clearly had the look of someone who was alone. He could see the unmistakable signs of someone who is used to running in the distrustful look of her eyes and the wear in her clothes.
The sound of her voice breaks him from his trance.
"How does this work?"
"Why don't we all go sit in the living room while I go get the supplies," Regina suggests, glancing once more at Henry as if making sure he really is alive and well, before disappearing up the stairs.
Henry observes that his family is noticeably more at ease now that the excitement is over and the weapons are put away, but the curious glances at the girl and the tight grips on the children show that they are, understandably, still uncomfortable. Emma confiscates the girl's gun then follows her husband into the living room. Henry can see Emma make room on the couch next to her for him but he ignores it in favor of sitting opposite his mother, right next to the girl. He can't explain his sudden, almost overwhelming need to protect her.
The girl glances at him curiously but seems to decide he means her no harm.
"I'm sorry for interrupting your dinner," she interjects the silence, surprising everyone. She is clearly tense but her face shows more confusion now that the initial defensive reflex is gone. "And for holding you at gunpoint." She adds with a glance toward him.
Before anyone can say anything, Regina enters the room with a small bottle in her hands.
"This is a memory potion," she says, handing the purple vial to the girl, "If someone took your memories from you, then they should be restored the second you drink that."
The girl uncorks the vial, a doubtful expression on her face, before taking one last look around the room and a deep breath. Her eyes lock with Henry's and he gives her a slight nod of encouragement. He notices that she seems to trust that he wouldn't let her be poisoned because a second later she throws back the potion and swallows.
All is silent for a moment before the girl lets out a loud, pain-filled gasp and squeezes her eyes shut. She grabs her head, dropping the bottle in the process, hands fisting in her hair and starts shaking. Henry reacts instantly, worried she is having a seizure before hearing the faint whimper of compressed pain escape her lips. He twists in his seat and places his hands over hers, tilting her face to look into his but her eyes stay shut.
"What is it?" He asks her in a panicked voice before glancing up at his mother whose eyes are wide with shock, "What's happening to her?"
"I don't know!" She exclaims, getting down on her knees in front of the girl and shaking her slightly.
As suddenly as it started, everything was still. The girl unclenched her hands and looked into his mother's eyes.
"Did it work?" asked Killian from where he was standing protectively in front of Emma and their daughter.
"I – I can't –," the girl mumbled in confusion, her eyes shutting again, a look of deep concentration on her face. "There's…feelings…and flashes of faces and things. No real memories."
She opened her eyes slowly.
"Why didn't it work?" Henry hears his grandfather ask to no one in particular.
"That's what I was afraid of," Regina responds, directing her answer toward the girl. "I had hoped I was wrong but the way your mind was untouchable from both mine and Emma's magic made me think you were magically protected."
"What the hell does that mean?" asks Emma, handing her daughter to her husband and kneeling down next to Regina in front of the girl.
"It means that she was cursed for a specific purpose and her mind has been protected by pure magic until which time it deems it is safe or necessary to remove itself."
"But that sounds like a good thing," Robin comments, "Pure magic, not dark magic."
"That's because it is a good thing," Regina replies, turning back to the girl, "Pure magic is protecting your mind from something. You are here for a reason, and it's not a malicious one."
"But I still don't know who I am," the girl says, frustration evident in her voice, "So how am I supposed to know what my purpose here is?"
"We will have to discover it," Snow says with a kind smile, walking over and taking the girl's hand, "But until then, we will be here for you. You showed up to us for a reason, which must mean we are involved."
"When are we not?" Mutters Emma in response, to which Regina glares at her and Killian and David snort.
"Snow's right though," says Robin, "You must be frightened and confused, so as long as you promise not to turn your gun on any of us again, you can stay with us until you figure everything out."
Regina nods at her husbands words as the girl turns to her, smiling slightly for the first time since arriving. Trying not to let it show that he clearly thought she had the most beautiful smile he's ever seen, Henry turns to his mother.
"Isn't there anything we can do to, I don't know, give her mind a shove or something?"
"There is one thing I can try." Regina says after a thoughtful minute, "Do you mind?"
The girl hesitates only for a second before shaking her head. Regina places her fingers to the girl's temples and closes her eyes. Suddenly the girl gasps, at the same time Henry watches his mother yank her hands away as if she had been shocked. Everyone looks at the girl curiously while she takes a couple of steadying breaths.
"Anything?" Emma asks.
"Addison." The girl says as she opens her eyes, her slight smile returning to her face, this time filled with curiosity.
"What?"
"I didn't really get anything except that name." She answers, "I think that's me. My name is Addison."
NEXT on BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN: Regina offers Addison a guest room and takes her shopping, Henry meets Emma and Killian for breakfast and they discuss the connection with the mystery girl, and David and Snow decide to pay Rumplestiltskin a visit to explain the situation