AN: Just a little theory how things could go from where we are now.. Going to be Outlaw Queen eventually. I'm trying to reasonably get there.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
"Tinkerbell?!", he called.
"Yes?", the fairy asked a little annoyed as she appeared infront of him only moments later.
"Tink, I need your help", he said and knew that it was a lot to ask.
Tinkerbell stared at him, "and why would I help you after EVERYTHING you have done?"
He knew it wouldn't be easy to convince her but he regretted a lot of the things he had done or hadn't done in the past.
God they had been through so much misery because of him. All of them. Just because he was being selfish and wanted his own happy end. But now, now that he himself had lost every reason to live for as well he eventually realised he was the one who had to change it. He was responsible in the first place so he had to change it back before it got even worse.
The last few weeks his writing got even more messed up than it had been before.
He hated himself so much for the things he put in their way, her way mostly. He knew no matter what she would eventually always find back to her soulmate. But he had to make sure that it wouldn't work out in order to have a chance of his own happy ending.
Looking back now he regretted it so much. He hated himself for doing it.
The characters didn't want to do what he wrote. That was clear and he very well knew that that was not the way to write a good book. But he didn't have a choice back then. Or well he did but he was selfish. He had chosen himself over everyone else. Time and time again.
He had wanted to be with Cruella for such a long time that nothing else seemed to matter to him anymore. And just now, now that she was dead he realised that it was never meant to work out. No matter how hard he had tried.
And he realised that in the process he destroyed a lot of people's lives. Altered things, took happy moments and endings.
But that young woman on page 23 was the person he had hurt the most in the process. Not just once but time and time again.
He had made her what she never wanted to become.
His selfish actions turned her into that Evil Queen that everyone feared.
He was the one who took away her happiness in the moment she needed it most. As a young woman until then she had already been through so much that was more than enough for one person. Her first love had been killed infront of her eyes by her own mother so that she could become Queen. That she could marry a man she barely new and who wouldn't ever treat her the way anyone deserved to be treated.
The girl had a big heart. Naturally she wasn't pleased with what her mother had done to her but nevertheless she had forgiven the woman. Even though she had pushed her through a portal to another realm but that wasn't her idea and she regretted it deeply.
And he knew that humans make mistakes. They all do but it was his writing of her story that pushed her over the edge.
She had survived that much already. She had come to the point where she eventually met Tinkerbell who showed her that happiness was still possible. That she had a chance to get out of there and find love again. True love.
And he, what did he do? He chose to make the life of that poor young woman so much more miserable than anyone could have ever imagined.
"I'd like to give you your happy ending, Tink, but I need your help with that. I know after everything it is a lot to ask for but I know I've made mistakes, a lot of them."
Tinkerbell couldn't believe what she just heard, "my happy end? But you, you do know-"
He cut her off, "yes I am the author, I do know that your happy end is for a certain person to be together with her soulmate. And I would also give you a best friend for a lifetime in the process."
"Why?", she asked him, "why would you do that?"
"I eventually realised that I've been selfish for a long time now and it isn't supposed to be about me. I ruined so many lives in the process of having a chance to get what I want that there's no way to ever make up for that, alas..."
"Alas what?", she said, "how could you possibly fix all of this?"
He pulled the book from behind his back, "you remember that book, don't you?"
She nodded and he opened it on page 23.
"This is not how it should've been in the first place he said", pulling a crumbled, cut, broken and mended piece of paper from his pocket.
"I had to break into Regina's office to get it", he stated, "but this is the way it should have been."
"Then why has it never been in the book?", the fairy asked.
"To make this short, because I was selfish, I had a choice and I chose myself over doing the right thing. Back then I didn't care where and what that would lead to. But it changed everything... Anyway so I had a choice and I changed it."
"So what are we going to do now?"
"Hoping this works", he said ripping the perfectly intact page out of the book.
Tinkerbell gasped, "wha-"
Then he took the other page and held it in the place of the old one.
The book glowed magically white for a few seconds and perfectly mended the page into the book and soon after both of them felt the ground beneath them and everything around them shake.
That's when he smiled, "it seems to work", he said as the two of them alongside everything else, including the whole town of Storybrooke, Maine, got swallowed by the book which in return disappered as well in the end.
It would reappear if someone somewhere sometime needed it most.
- / - New York - / -
She couldn't believe what she just heard. What? Zelena was pregnant? By Robin? She's been trying to find a way to get him back ever since he left town and he must've not given much about her.
This this couldn't be true. She knew him, this wasn't him. Even if he believed Marian had been Marian all along he must've had his reasons.
Whatever it was, she needed some time to herself. She needed to think she only knew that right now she couldn't take this and she couldn't stand her sisters satisfaction.
So she turned around and ran. Past Emma and Lilith down the stairs, and out of the building.
She didn't make it much further because suddenly her legs gave in and she fell on the ground between sidewalk and the road. Her head was spinning and she didn't know what was going on but she couldn't move.
She heard Emma calling from what appeared to be further away, "Regina?"
Then she heard Emma scream, "what's going on? LIL-"
Emma had stopped between Regina and Lilith who by now where both on the ground as she saw Robin running past her throwing himself next to Regina on the ground so she turned to Lilith trying to help her up.
"Regina", Robin said as he grabbed her from under her arms trying to put her back into a standing position, "what's going on?", he said feeling a little dizzy himself.
"I don't know", Regina said leaning into him to not fall back down again.
His arms protectively around her she stood with her back to his chest looking around trying to figure out what was going on.
Not much seemed to happen as suddenly she felt dizzy again and before she knew it everything around her went black.
"Noooooooooooooooo!", screamed Emma as she saw all three of them falling to the ground. She couldn't hold her once best friend up anymore and sunk with her to the ground and within seconds all three of them vanished into thin air.
It was as if they'd never been there in the first place.
A few seconds later Emma was still standing in the middle of the sidewalk in New York. 'What was I doing?', she asked herself figuring she must have dozed off while walking to her appartment once again.
