A/N: So I re-watched The Walking Dead and started Fear The Walking Dead and this concept just popped into my head. It is a one-shot. There are plot holes and the beginning of SQ if you squint. No I will not be continuing it. If you read it and get inspired to write more, just let me know in a PM and I would be more than happy to allow you to use my work to start your own story from this. Ignore grammar and spelling mistakes because I obviously did. ;) Well, without further a delay, please enjoy this story.
Lead Me Home.
"You don't hesitate, either of you. Not for one second." She looked at the gun in her hand and the blonde woman in front of her who'd just given it to her. They'd stumbled upon her a few minutes ago hiding out in this looted store. She was waiting for the rioting to calm down before she tried to head back home. She'd been trying to go to her aunt's home but ended up hiding in this store because it seemed safer. Something was happening that much she knew especially since the adult before her had given her, a twelve year old, a firearm. But she didn't need it, she was a special girl with special powers, these powers could protect her because she knew how to use them.
"I don't need it." Her voice was barely above a whisper as she, the boy, and the blonde woman were crouched down hiding in the looted store as screams and other loud noises were heard just outside.
"Ye—what's your name kid?"
"Emma." Emma watched as the blonde woman chuckled and the boy beside her looked at her with interest.
"No way, that just happens to be my name too." Emma looked up at her with a smile before they all flinched at the sound of a very loud explosion sounding off.
"You can call me Lyn, my full name is Emmalyn." Lyn spoke as Emma nodded taking a moment to peek over the counter.
"I'm Henry." The boy spoke also holding a gun. He seemed scared but wasn't trying to show it.
"Well Lyn, you need this gun for protection. Those things won't stop unless you shoot them in the head. They're not human, well not anymore." Emma explained as Lyn handed her back the gun shaking her head.
"I won't need it, trust me. I go to a special school for kids like me." Emma cocked her head slightly and was about to say something but stiffened as she heard an animalistic like snarling. It was one of the dead, it must had stumbled in here while going after the rioting people outside. Emma placed her finger in front of her lips signaling both kids to be quiet as they nodded understanding.
Lyn watched as Emma was about to stand up and take down the reanimated corpse but Lyn stood up first and flicked her wrist in a quick slicing-like motion. The head of the snarling corpse slid from its perch and landed on the ground beside its body. Lyn stared as the head continued to snarl and try to get to them. Lyn blinked as the snarls didn't let up and its glazed over eyes continued to bore into hers.
"What—what did you just do?" Both Emma and Henry stood up looking from Lyn to the now incapacitated head of the living dead. Lyn didn't answer as she flicked her middle finger off her thumb and the snarling stopped. Emma looked at the head to see a hole the side of a bullet in the center of forehead.
"I told you I didn't need your gun for protection." It was all Lyn said holding the weapon out to its rightful owner who still didn't understand what had just happened. The rioting still continued outside of the looted store as Emma and Henry continued to stare at the child who shared her name. "I used air to slice his throat and to pierce his skull." Emma looked at the now permanently dead person before them.
"How did you do that?" Henry questioned not wanting to look at the mutilated corpse.
"I have the ability to use the elements at my leisure." Emma looked at the twelve year old with a raised brow who just shrugged. "I told you I go to a special school, I go to a school for magical beings like myself. We are all different and have different abilities, but they help us to control our manifested power, and they also teach us how to make potions and whatnot."
"You're kidding?" "That's awesome." Both Henry and Emma spoke at the same time. Lyn could see that Emma had asked with minor disbelief as Lyn cocked her head slightly looking at her.
"Seriously, I just killed or re-killed one of those things with nothing, and you're questioning my abilities?" Emma looked out the broken store window with a sigh.
"So you have magic?" Henry questioned and she nodded.
"Where is this school? Do you think it'd be safe to go and hide out in?" Lyn shrugged.
"It's in California, we use a portal and magic to get there but it's sealed off. That's where I was going before those things attacked me and my parents." Emma looked at Lyn as her face seemed saddened. "My parents were bit before they even realized what was happening. We went back to the house, it only took a few hours until they became one of those things. I-I had to put them down because they came after me." Lyn wiped at her eyes as Emma pulled the girl to her.
"It's okay, you're with me…with us now. We'll watch out for each other okay?" Lyn sniffled as she looked up at Emma and nodded. "Right now we need to get out of the city, do you live close? We can get some supplies and then leave?" Lyn nodded as Emma leaned over the counter and picked up her pack that had a few of her own belongings.
"We're going to Storybrooke, you have to break the curse Emma." Henry spoke as Lyn gave him a queer look.
"Henry, the world is going to shit right now. My only concern is keeping us alive and unbitten. I'll take you to your mom. If…you know she is still there when we arrive." Emma spoke as Henry's smile fell. She was right, it didn't matter if his mom was the Evil Queen, she might not even live long enough for Henry to see her again. He blinked think about this, he'd said some pretty mean things to her in the past few weeks after finding out he was adopted. What if she died before he could apologize?
"Where is Storybrooke?" Lyn found herself asking breaking into his thoughts as they waited for the right moment to leave the shop.
"Maine." He answered and Lyn was about to question him more but they left out the back of the shop and headed to Emma's car that was a few blocks away. It had stalled on her earlier which had led to her finding little Emma. She'd been holed up in that shop holding her knees to herself when Henry and Emma ducked into the store to escape the horde of those things that were slowly walking towards the rioters and the police trying to manage them.
Getting into her bug she really hoped that it would start and to her great pleasure it did. Emma found that Lyn lived about eleven miles from where she'd found the girl. Parking her car she got out and looked around the community. It seemed like a nice and quiet neighborhood, maybe they could hide out until morning, when it would be a little safer to drive. Walking into Lyn's home Emma listened to the stillness.
"They're in their bedroom, I shut the door." Lyn spoke as she walked past the stairs and went down a hallway. Henry and Emma followed with their guns drawn as Lyn opened a door that her full name painted on it. Emma smiled as she followed the girl in, it wasn't your typical pre-teen girl's room that was for sure. There were books everywhere, the one wall was painted black and had chalk written all over it. Emma stepped closer to read what was written. It seemed to be simple spells and ingredients for things she did not recognize.
"Pack only essential items." Emma spoke still staring at the wall as Lyn continued to shuffle about behind her. So this girl and her family were magical, she wondered if it was something like Harry Potter. Hadn't Henry also mentioned something about his adoptive mother being magical also? Maybe not magical but something about a curse having to be broken. A curse implied magic.
"Where are we going?" Emma turned around to see Lyn looking at her.
"I—I don't know, but we've got to get out of Boston." Lyn nodded before continuing to pack.
"We can go to Storybrooke." Henry suggested as Emma looked at the son she'd given up.
"Henry, we don't even know if—"
"You can still break the curse and bring back all the happy endings Emma. Then everyone will return to the Enchanted Forest, where it's safe. It'll be safe." Henry spoke as Emma sighed.
"Then why did you leave?" Lyn questioned. "If this place, this Storybrooke was safe. Why would you stupidly leave it?"
"I had to find Emma, and I left before people started coming back from the dead. And it's cursed right now, my mo—the Evil Queen cursed them." Henry answered as Emma wondered how safe it would be for them to travel all the way to Maine. It would more than likely take them some time especially with trying to out run whatever was happening to them to this world. If Henry was right, and this curse thing was real and she broke it, they could go back to this forest place. It would be or at least could be safe.
"We will leave in the morning, it'll be less dangerous then because we'll be able to see." Lyn nodded once more before pulling the strings on her pack. It was one her father had gotten her when she was eleven for their camping trips. She looked at the tye-dye bag with a sad smile.
"We can sleep in here, my bed is big enough." Lyn pointed out as Emma nodded.
"You two hungry?" Lyn swallowed and was about to say no as her stomach betrayed her and grumbled loudly. Emma cooked them a simple meal and after eating they placed food that they could take with them out on the counter and decided they would pack it tomorrow before heading out. Emma went around the first level of the house making sure all doors and windows were locked. The power was still available to them but they kept the house dark just in case.
Walking back into Lyn's room Emma stood in the door way watching Henry who was sitting across from Lyn as she held a small flame in her hand. "So air and fire, anything else?" Emma commented as Lyn closed her hand extinguishing the flame.
"I'm not like ordinary magic wielding people. We found out when I was ten, that's when my active power manifested. Those who can control the elements are called Elementals. We're special because we're different from the others. I can brew potions, but I can't cast spells. I don't know why, but it's the way it's always been apparently." Lyn answered as Emma walked into the room closing the door behind her and locking it.
"Are there a lot of people like you, well not like you, but like you?" Henry asked causing Lyn to chuckle as Emma sat on the other side of the bed.
"In this world there aren't a lot of magic wielding people, in other worlds yes."
"There are other worlds?" Emma questioned this time and Lyn nodded.
"Yes, it's one of the first things we learn at magic school. Wonderland exists, Henry already mentioned one of the largest worlds next to ours; the Enchanted Forest. Oh and Neverland too, Peter Pan is a real person or kid." Emma blinked at hearing this, a part of her wanted to not believe what she was hearing, but the dead were coming back to life and trying to eat people and she'd watched this girl incapacitate one of them by using nothing but air.
"We break the curse and I bet it'll take us back to the land, right?" Henry spoke up.
"Yeah, and if that doesn't happen our only other option is to find a magic bean and portal jump. I know there are spells, but it takes a very powerful magic user to cast them." Emma sighed.
"Well I guess until we arrive and Storybrooke and break this curse, we're stuck in this messed up world." Lyn nodded before lying back as Emma took off her shoes and got a more comfortable. "Get some sleep kids, we've got a long day ahead of us."
zZz
It'd been almost three months since the initial outbreak of the dead coming back to life. Emma, Henry, and Lyn had traveled from Boston to Salem and found a safe haven for all of twenty days before the dead breeched the inside. They had abandon her bug about an hour ago when it had run out of gas. They'd taken to walking through the forest because it provided more cover for them. They'd learned early on that not all humans were to be trusted. They had no where to go, but would walk until they found an area safe enough to sleep for the night, because it seemed that nowhere had guaranteed safety for long.
"Emma, do you see that?" Lyn questioned as they slowly approached the wall.
"It's a wall, that wasn't there before. I know we are close to Storybrooke." Henry spoke as Lyn gave him a sad smile. She hoped that for his sake his other mother was still in Storybrooke and alive. The dead seemed to travel in packs now and it was hard to escape them once they caught your scent.
"And here I thought I might have been seeing things, but you both see it too." Lyn looked at Emma's profile a little questioning.
"Were you going to try and walk through it?" Lyn questioned as Emma reached out and pushed the girl slightly causing her to almost run into a tree. "Ow rude!" Lyn whined rubbing her shoulder as they continued to walk towards the wall.
"You think it's compromised?" Emma asked as Lyn shrugged her shoulders.
"No," Henry breathed causing both his companions to look at him sadly.
"Henry there is no guarantee, you should know that by now. It's been three months since you found me." Emma swallowed as he shook his head.
"I believe it, she's in there and safe." Emma raised a brow.
"I thought she was the Evil Queen to you?"
"She's still my mom regardless. I…she has to be safe." Henry swallowed. They'd had so much happen to them over the past three months. While at the Salem Safe Haven Henry had made friends and he had to watch them be taken down by the dead. He'd also had to kill himself, he knew not everything was black and white. He wanted nothing more than to hug his mom because he'd realized she'd cast the curse so long ago that she wasn't the woman his lost storybook painted her to be.
"We should probably—" Emma looked at Lyn as she stopped talking and her face scrunched up slightly.
"What's up?"
"I can feel magic." Lyn spoke as they turned to walk around the wall and try to find an entrance to the possible community.
"That a good thing?" Emma wondered looking at the curly haired blonde child.
"It's possible, but then again, other magic wielding people might not be as nice as me." Lyn gave a cheeky smile as they could see the road just ahead of them.
"Stop!" Emma and Lyn stopped just as they hit pavement and looked up to see a few people pointing firearms at them. "How many in your group?"
"Just us three." Emma answered.
"Either you or your kids bitten?"
"Graham, it's me!" Henry shouted as the man who'd been speaking to them lowered his weapon and looked at Henry.
"H-henry," He spoke in disbelief as Henry smiled with a nod. Emma watched as the man disappeared and looked to Lyn who was removing her hand from the sword that was on her back. They found it three weeks ago when they had entered an abandon home and stayed for the night. Emma and Henry had guns and a machete so Lyn had taken the katana saying using her powers was weakening while she lacked proper food and water to sustain her energy.
"Grahams a good guy, he's the sheriff, or he was." Henry pointed out as Emma looked to Lyn.
"I guess Henry was right." Lyn whispered as Emma exhaled. It'd been almost a week since any of them had eaten or slept properly. She was looking after the kids, she'd taken on the responsibility since the start of this chaos. "Also, you look old enough to be my mom." Lyn chuckled as Emma pushed her shoulder causing her to laugh a little harder.
"Hey, I gave birth to the ten year old, I could have easily given birth to you two years prior." Emma stated as Henry looked between the two.
"Yes and selfishly named me after you." Emma rolled her eyes as the large gate opened enough for them to walk in. Emma took note that the others were no longer pointing their firearms at them but on alert for the dead.
"Names Graham," The man introduced when the gate had been secured.
"Seeing as how you already know Henry, I'm Emma and she's Lyn." Emma spoke as he nodded.
"I'm going to take you to Regina, she'll be more than happy to know that you've brought her son back to her." Graham spoke before turning and walking to his police vehicle. "She'll more than likely grant you membership to our community immediately." Graham spoke as they all got into his car. "You a former cop?" He asked having taken noticed to her belt.
"No, Bounty Hunter, took that from a fallen officer, kind of figured he had no use for it." Emma shrugged as Graham began driving.
"That's good, we could use someone like you when we go on runs looking for more survivors." Emma didn't say anything as she stared out the window when they began driving through town. Emma was in awe by the time they reached the Mayor's rather large home. It was a fully functioning town seemingly untouched by the outside mayhem that was happening.
"Henry!" Emma and Lyn watched as a woman flew from her front door straight to Henry as he yelled mom. Emma and Lyn saw the smile on his face as he hugged the woman just as fiercely. It was a few minutes before she let go and Henry was wiping his cheek from the kisses.
"Mom! That's embarrassing." Henry groaned like any ten year old would.
"I don't care, I thought…" Emma watched as she shook her head no longer wanting to entertain those kind of thoughts in regards to her son.
"I found her mom! I found my birth mom! She kept me safe all this time." Henry explained as Emma and Lyn watched the woman stand and take a second to compose herself before looking at the two strangers. "I brought her back to break the curse and send us to the enchanted forest." Emma noticed the slight change in expression at the mention of the curse.
"Regina, if you no longer need me I am going to return to the wall." Regina nodded and Graham said his goodbye's before getting into his car and driving away. Regina looked at the two worn out people before her. She cocked her head slightly upon looking at the little girl, she could feel magic coming from her.
"You possess magic." Lyn smirked as she looked at Regina.
"As do you, your magic is protecting this town." Lyn stated matter-of-factly.
"My magic is the main benefactor but there are others." She spoke after a moment of examining the little girl. "And here I thought this was supposed to be a world without magic." She spoke out loud as Lyn shook her head.
"So you did cast a curse and are from another world? And no world is without magic, it's certainly helpful to have during this apocalyptic time." Lyn breathed as Regina nodded.
"Yes, I cast the curse to get my happy ending." Regina looked to Henry with a sad smile. "Shortly after you disappeared and the dead waltzed into Storybrooke, the curse broke when the first person was reanimated. I don't know how but my magic returned to me and myself, Gold, and Maleficent went about putting up the wall and protecting the people."
"T—the curse broke?" Regina nodded as she looked at her son.
"I'm sorry that I made you believe it was real. I—I was afraid of what you would think of me." Henry hugged her.
"I love you mom." He mumbled.
"I love you too Henry." Regina looked to Emma. "Thank you for keeping him safe all this time."
"It was nothing, just, sorry it took so long to get him back to you." Emma smiled.
"How would you like some of the best apple cider you've ever tasted?" Regina offered with a smile still holding onto the son she thought she'd lost three months ago.
"That sounds sexual." Lyn commented as Regina's eyes widened as did Emma's.
"Emmalyn Rosemarie Faust!" Emma spoke as Lyn looked at her and shrugged her shoulders.
"C'mon Em, you know it does! But I could go for some food, you have any of that?" Regina chuckled and nodded looking at her.
"You're also Emma?" Regina questioned as they walked into the house.
"Emmalyn, but just call me Lyn, it's less confusing." Lyn shrugged as they followed Regina into the kitchen. Lyn and Henry immediately pulled out stools from the kitchen island and sat there was Emma leaned against it watching as Regina pulled out a container from the fridge.
"So now what? Since the curse broke and you're still here?" Henry questioned.
"We continue living and finding other survivors. It's what we've been doing for the past two months." Regina spoke as she turned the oven on before turning to look at the three. "It's what we've done since a truce was called. We protect the town and the people in it. People who enter are reviewed by a council and given jobs within Storybrooke."
"Is that what will happen with us?" Lyn asked as Regina looked at her.
"With Emma yes, you'll go to school, just like Henry." Lyn shook her head.
"No, I want to help, I have magic just like you. I shouldn't be going to some school and learning about things I've already learned at my magic school." Regina raised a brow.
"Magic school?"
"Yes, we…meaning those who possess magic, we attended a school that taught us how to use our magic. We start when we're three years old. I've been taught up to tenth grade level of normal schools. We have this special room, it stops time and aging. It allows us to learn at an accelerated rate."
"Children should be witne—"
"Don't do that, not patronize me by calling me a child." Lyn breathed as Regina looked at the girl she had fire in her eyes as she held onto the former mayor's gaze. "Let me help, please?" Regina looked to Emma who gave her a look indicating that she agreed with the preteen.
"I—you can help me." Lyn looked at her.
"With?"
"Maintain the barrier and I can also continue your magic training. You'll need it." Lyn nodded finding that more agreeable than going to a school where she'd be bored out of her mind.
"Do I have to go to school?"
"Yes, Henry you do." Henry groaned eliciting a few chuckles.
"So what? Now we join your community and act like nothing wrong is happening in the world?" Emma questioned looking to Regina.
"No, we address the problem, we don't ignore it. We search for survivors and bring them in. We don't let this stop us from living." Regina looked at the blonde who smiled at the answer.
"So, when do I meet with this council?" Emma smirked causing Regina to chuckle.