A/N: This story has the same history as the show's history up until mid-season 6 and it is my head cannon from there on wards. Basically a year after Emma and Regina become canon they found out they have a daughter. This story is set 3 years after their daughter first arrives in Storybrooke and now she is 16 and happily with her family. Henry has moved out and is living with Violet, he is 20 but should be 26 because for 6 years right after Swan Queen became canon the town went under a curse and none of them aged.
The lights are bright tonight, the music loud A perfect mess that's what surrounds me
I smile and survey the diner. My mom's head is resting on my other mom's shoulder, dark circles stand out underneath her emerald green eyes and her blonde curls (which she had done especially for mom) cascade messily down her front. Across from them in the booth are Gran and Gramps or otherwise known as Snow White and Prince Charming, Emma's parents. Robin, Neal and Henry are seated on stools at the bar sipping soft drinks and chatting. Zelena is just walking out from the back room with Mulan, who she unexpectedly became quite close with after the warriors return to Storybrooke. She gives me a wicked grin, her signature, and then, with Mulan by her side, she joins Belle, Rumple and Gideon in another booth, squeezing her daughter's shoulder as she passes Robin. The lights are especially bright, tonight and the music blares through the new speakers Granny recently installed.
We are far from a perfect family, closer to a mess considering all the troubles we have been through but we are a perfect mess. And I wouldn't want it any other way.
Then I see you over there, I can't seem to break the stare
Maybe it's 'cause your shirt is my favourite colour
I glance outside and through the half-closed blinds I see a figure looming in the shadows across the road, watching me. I mutter something along the lines of 'i'm just going to get something' to Leroy and Archie and then quickly and quietly exit the diner, not wanting to make a fuss and ruin such a happy moment. Ready to use my magic at any moment I approach the stranger warily. He is a teenager, dressed in an odd green outfit which looks more like a costume from a fairy tale. I'm not at all caught off guard, I live in a town full of fairy tale characters, normal things surprise me these days. His hair is a dirty blonde and his eyes a bold green. Like his outfit, which I can't help but admire, a natural, musty green, my favourite.
"Excuse me," I say innocently, "I don't think I've seen you before. Are you new to the town?"
He looks at me curiously and steps back, "Who are you?"
"My name is The One but everyone just calls me Ona because it means one and sounds more like a name. I'm Regina and Emma's daughter," I reply, a little taken back by his demand of a question.
He seems to relax a little, his shoulders which were very tense visibly loosen and then he sighs, "Sorry. I have a… history. A lot of people don't particularly like me."
"I guess that means you don't want to come inside and join the party?" I ask, suddenly feeling a strange sense of ease, "It's my cousin, Robin's, birthday party. She's turning 5."
"No thank you," the boy says and there is a silence in which I'm sure he can hear my heart beating, loud and fast.
"So are you going to tell me your name?" I inquire with a hint of a smile.
He thinks for a moment and then says, "It can be a mystery for now."
"Well then," I say, "I hope you come find me so we can talk later. Maybe you can even tell me about your… history."
He nods, "I would like that."
Then you walk on over with a smolder
And you hand me your number, I say, "What is this?"
You say, "Love at first sight, it exists"
"Here," he says pulling something out of a surprisingly deep pocket in his green pants and hands the strange object to me, "When you want to talk just tap it three times."
I raise my eyebrow, take the object from him and tap it three times, he smirks and grins.
We talk and talk and talk about many things. He tells me that he's meant to be dead and that he deserves to be dead but for some reason he isn't. He tells me about his past, that he did horrible, unforgivable deeds and I tell him I've forgiven so many loved ones already that it wouldn't hurt to forgive one more person, as long as he believed he could be forgiven.
He smiles at me and his grin is lop sided and for some reason it makes my heart flutter and mind falter and I can't speak for a moment.
"What is this?" I ask quietly.
"Love at first sight, it exists," he murmurs and before I can do anything about it he's leaning towards me, his eyes gazing into mine. And then I'm leaning towards him and my eyes flicker down to his lips which are only millimetres away from mine. My wild emotions, which are too strong to be real – I just met him! –, get the better of me and I am unable to control my magic. It swirls around us and we are suddenly engulfed in a tiffany blue cloud.
But I've had my heart broken so many times before
Yeah, I've walked through so many empty doors
But then I remember all the times I had loved someone and then lost them, so, as much as it pains me to deny him, I do. I don't want to burden the boy with danger and monster hunting for the rest of his life but mainlyI don't want to love him and then lose him. If you get involved with me something bad always happens, it is a known, simple fact. I would have sent my family away if they didn't downright refuse, if it was possible for them to leave me and all the danger I create.
I quickly step backwards and the tiffany blue cloud dissolves into the air. Peter looks deathly disappointed and completely shattered. In that moment I wonder if I have done the right thing, if he really loves me, if love at first sight really exists, then I will be letting go of something rare and precocious. And I won't be the only one who loses love and whose heart breaks.
But if I see you in my dreams tonight
Then maybe you were right
And I'll call you in the morning
I decide I will have to let my dreams do the talking. If my soul and heart have really connected with this boy I will be able to tell through my dreams.
"I might tap for you in the morning," I say with a small, shy smile.
"Okay," he has recovered and he is smiling now too.
He waves goodbye and I watch him walk away down the street until he turns the corner at the very end and disappears out of sight.
If I see you in my dreams tonight
And you take my hands and tell me
"I've been waiting for you"
Then I'll tell you, "Me too"
If I see you in my dreams tonight
I wonder back inside to the party, it's not much of a party anymore. Most of the guests have left, I feel a little bad for missing half of Robin's celebration but I know I wouldn't change a thing if I ever got the chance. I happen to have the chance every moment of my life actually. I'm The One, the product of true love, of the Saviour and the Evil Queen, a girl purely made out of true love, the most powerful magic of all, until I came around. But that's another story.
Granny, Dorothy and Ruby are clearing the booths and wiping down the benches and chairs. Snow has a mop and is cleaning the floor with a tired but happy expression planted on her face. Neal, Zelena and Robin are looking through her pile of presents and Henry and David are fiddling around with the speakers which I assume broke.
I roll my eyes when I see a flash of dark brown hair and pale skin in the back hallway.
I make my way to the back, stop, place my hands on my hips and raise my eyebrows.
Emma and Regina jump apart, their cheeks flushed and their hair messy.
I smirk, "You really just cannot pass up an opportunity to make out, especially if it forces people to have to clean the place without magic because Snow is still too damned scared to walk into a room occupied by you two, let alone a hallway."
I cringe when I remember Snow's horrified screams that still haunt some of my dreams to this day. It was back in my seventh year of school and Henry had just cancelled our hang out session because Violet had a fever (I was extremely jealous and salty that day). I had called my mother's several times but with no avail I had asked Snow, who was luckily working late at the school, to give me a lift home.
We walked inside the mansion and I had gone straight for the kitchen (I am my mother's daughter) but Snow had unfortunately gone upstairs to make sure Emma and Regina weren't dead to find them in the upstairs hallway in a position you would never want to see anyone in, let alone your own daughter.
Despite the circumstances Emma giggles, "Zelena could do it."
"Oh come on, Mom, you know she would never," I laugh, Zelena may have changed but she wasn't about to become the new saviour.
"I refuse to clean up this silly diner for Granny, it's her responsibility, she offered to host," Regina says dryly. I roll my eyes, yeah… Regina wasn't going to begin to do random acts of kindness for the people of Storybrooke either.
I start to drive away and smile like I'm insane
How can I feel this way?
Idon't even know your name
The napkin doesn't say
Emma and I say goodbye to the family, Regina makes a noise of acknowledgement. I hug everyone and when I get to Henry I stop and squeeze him especially hard.
"I love you," I say. I think back to the years we missed when Regina and Emma didn't know I existed (long story, I'm made from magic remember, not human organs) and feel like crying. I cling onto him a little longer. Sometimes I wish he never left to go live with Violet. He is 20 now though, 4 years older than me, 10 actually but for 6 of those years the whole of Storybrooke was stone and no one aged until I came along and accidentally saved everyone when I was 13 and still believed I was an orphan. It's crazy to think I have only been with my family for 3 years.
Regina and I follow Emma into her yellow bug and we drive away from Granny's.
"You're exceptionally happy tonight, darling," Regina notes and I realise I'm grinning like an idiot. Oh come on, I don't even know his name.
I blush and shrug, "I had fun tonight."
I can't wipe the smile off of my face.
"With who? You disappeared after Robin's cake," Emma says.
"I was outside, looking at the stars," I tell her and in some ways it's not a lie. I was looking at – admiring – a star, a very special star.
Then I remember that I vowed not to let anyone enter my heart
I shake the feelings off and try to think of something else, I can't fall in love with this strange boy. Not until I know for sure that it really is love.
We pull up at the Swan-Mills mansion and I say goodnight to my moms and then I go straight upstairs to my bedroom and lock the door.
I will not fall in love with a stranger.
I tap the object he gave me and in a cloud of green smoke the boy appears with an excited grin, "That was quicker than I thought."
I say "What is this?" I know love at first sight can't exist
"What is this?" I ask more harshly then I intended to, "Seriously, I mean, I know love at first sight can't exist."
He looks more disappointed than sad and he cups my cheek with his hand and I freeze and he whispers, "Yes. Yes it does. It just might take you a little while to realise that, I'll give you time. I'll give you as much time as you need."
But if I see you in my dreams tonight
Than maybe you were right
And I'll call you in the morning
If I see you in my dreams tonight
And you take my hands and tell me
"I've been waiting for you"
Then I'll tell you, "Me too"
If I see you in my dreams tonight
He left and I crawl into bed, my heart pounding and stomach fluttering. I want to sleep, to dream, to find out if he is right but I don't want to find out he is wrong. I am terrified of having to give him up and accept him as something I can just never have. Because as The One, there is no time for short-lived flings with extended heart breaks, I have realms to save and places to be. I may love this boy but for me, love isn't enough, it needs to be true love. It has be.
Finally I drift off to sleep
Maybe we'll meet in a different dimension
And you can tell me all the things you didn't mention
Maybe we'll meet in a different dimension
And you can tell me all the things you didn't mention
I smile at the boy with the dirty blonde hair and bold green eyes. I love the colour of his shirt and pants, musty green, my favourite.
"Ona?" he questions, his voice hopeful and surprised.
"Yes," I murmur in awe. He's here!
We gaze at one another and then I ask quietly, "Are you going to tell me your name?"
"Peter. Peter Pan."
You'll say "What is this?"
I'll say "I guess love at first sight exists"
He looks deep into my eyes and asks with uncertainty, "What is this?"
I think for a moment and then a smile slowly creeps onto my face, "I guess love at first sight exists."
And then we are kissing and it's like nothing else in the world matters, I love him and he loves me and that's all I need.
I wake with a start, sweating and panting. I touch my lips and remember the beautiful sensation of true love's kiss.
Cause I saw you in my dream that night
And I knew that you were right
So I called you in the morning
Because only true love's magic is strong enough to send messages through dreams and only I am strong enough to receive them. I had known it along. He was right, Peter was right.
I am so wound up by my discovery I don't even realise that it is morning and the sun is shining through my bedroom window and the smell of a hot Sunday breakfast is wifting through the cracks of my door into the room.
I jump out of bed and wave a hand swiftly over my body to dress myself.
I pick up the object Peter gave me and tap it three times. He appears, as I suspected in a cloud of green magic.
He's still wearing his green outfit but something is different about him. It's his smile, vibrant and excited and hopeful.
Yeah I saw you in my dreams that night
And you took my hands and told me
"I've been waiting for you"
And I told you, "Me too"
"I've been waiting for you to call me," Peter says softly.
"Me too, for the right time," I reply and then add cheekily, "Peter Pan."
Peter doesn't look surprised and he lunges forward and picks me up and swings me around in circles. I'm laughing and it sounds so sweet, sweet, sweet like fairies and rainbows and happiness. It's beautiful, oh so beautiful, fueled by joy and love alone. Because beauty is joy and it's love and we both look so beautiful right now.
I feel safe and warm in his strong protective embrace but I also feel free. So very free.
Yeah I saw you in my dreams that night
If I see you in my dreams tonight
The End.
A/N: So I might do some kind of prequel to this one shot about Ona's childhood and when she first finds out Regina and Emma are her parents. I don't know, I really like this character. I want to expand her history and what 'The One' means because I have all these ideas in my head that will probably answer all of your questions about this story like, how is Peter Pan still young and alive? I have all the answers and I'll write about it all you have to do is ask. I could also write a sequel about how Snow, David, Henry, Emma and Regina take the news that Ona is with Peter. Please tell me what you think, this is actually my first fan fic that I have ever published, i created this account just yesterday.
