Erela

Darkness. I couldn't see anything. I couldn't move. My head was pounding and my ears were ringing.

Where am I?

"Handy trick," Scath commented, but there was something in his voice beyond wry humor. Worry?

I was about to land when something caught my eye. A huge cloud of roiling black smoke, so dark I couldn't see anything of the land it swallowed, was billowing towards us. "What the-" I began, but I was too late to pull up and the smoke washed over us, blowing my hair back and making Scath curse. My body went numb and I dropped Scath despite my best efforts to hold on. Coughing, unable to speak with the smoke filling my lungs, I dove and reached for Scath, my fingers brushing his arm-

And everything went black.

Slowly, I began to remember scattered fragments of memories. An island - green, sand, a beach -

We'd been flying. We? Yes - I'd been with Scath. Carrying him. Over the water? And then - and then - he'd directed me toward the forest - hadn't told me why, and -

There was nothing else.

"Okay, love. We're headed to the Enchanted Forest. Be careful." A familiar voice echoed in my head. Killian. The rest of my memories flooded back in a tidal wave that dragged me from unconsciousness. My eyes snapped open and I gasped for air. I blinked several times to adjust my eyes to the light. I had been lying on a relatively smooth, black surface with yellow lines running through the center. I had never seen anything like it before. Taking a deep breath, I got to my feet so I could see more. Buildings sat next to the road, stretching for a long way in almost every direction.

"I have to find Scath," I mumbled to myself, "he might be hurt." I jumped into the air, preparing to flex my wings and fly -

But I didn't go anywhere. I fell back down. "What the hell?" I turned my head around to figure out what was wrong with my wings. They weren't there. "Really?" I muttered, the shock of seeing them gone again momentarily blocked by annoyance. "I just got those back."

"Get outta the road! I'm trynna drive here!" A man yelled. I turned my head around to see a small man sticking his head out of a strange looking carriage.

"Where are the horses?" I wondered aloud. Nothing was making sense. The grumpy man looked just as confused as I was, but before he could respond, I heard a familiar voice. I whipped my head around and immediately started to walk towards it, recognition unfurling within my mind. The voice belonged to an older man with shoulder length brown hair and a cane. As I got closer, the face became even more familiar, until I finally managed to put a name to it.

"Rumplestiltskin? Is that you?" I asked, brows knitted in confusion.

"I think you've got the wrong person," he said, slightly irritated. It had to be him. He looked exactly the same, minus the scales. But I didn't remember meeting him. I knew that I had known him for a long time, but I didn't remember anything about him other than the appearance and name.

Rumplestiltskin began to walk away, but I couldn't lose him. Everything here was so strange, and he was my only sense of familiarity. So, I followed him.

"Please, just tell me where I am!" I called after him. He just continued to shake his head, not responding. "Rumplestiltskin!"

"R...Mr. Gold," a woman with short, black hair said, a hint of worry in her voice, "is this woman bothering you?"

"Truthfully, Madame Mayor, yes," he replied, talking as if I wasn't standing right behind him. "She believes I'm some man named 'Rumpelstiltskin.'" The woman's eyes widened, but she quickly recovered.

"Oh, I'm sure she's just confused." She smiled, her voice like honey, far too sweet to be sincere. "Here, come with me. I'm Regina Mills, the mayor. I can help you find whoever you're looking for."

"Mayor?" I questioned, still incredibly confused. I didn't know if I could trust her. I tried to use my power, tried to judge for certain her honesty, but it was somehow gone as well. She seemed friendly enough, however, so I guessed that she probably knew what was going on. She placed her hand on my back and led me to a building nearby, then to a room. Everything in the room was black and white. It was very clean as if no one had ever set foot in it before.

"Now," she said, locking the door to stop any possible eavesdroppers, "Who the hell are you?" Her whole demeanor changed from the friendly person trying to help to someone sinister in an instant and the air in the room seemed to grow heavier, the light darker.

"Who wants to know?" I spat back, immediately on the defensive. She ignored my question.

"How did the curse not affect you?"

"What c-" I froze, realization dawning on me. "Are you talking about that black smoke in the Enchanted Forest?"

"Answer my question! I am the Queen, you must obey me!"

"Queen? I don't answer to you! Where did you take me?"

"I cursed the entire Enchanted Forest and brought everyone to a land without magic," she said flatly, finally answering my question. She seemed to think that by telling me what had happened, it would jog my memory or something. Yeah, right.

"Why?"

"Why does it matter to you? You shouldn't even be here."

"Why?" I pressed, willing her to tell me. Finally, she seemed to cave, though it was more likely that she just wanted me to shut up.

"To take away Snow White's happiness."

"What?" I asked, dumbfounded. Is she for real? "That is literally the dumbest thing I've ever heard! You cursed an entire land because of one person?"

"You wouldn't understand," she snapped. "You probably haven't experienced such betrayal before."

"You're crazy," I scoffed, backing up towards the door. "I'm going to warn these people!"

"No one will believe you," she declared, her confidence returning as my confusion and fear became obvious. She laughed as she began walking towards me. "They'll think you're the crazy one!" Her face brightened as if she had gotten an idea. I couldn't just stand here anymore. I grabbed the handle on the door and just as I was about to swing it open, Regina hit me on the back of my head with a lamp. I fell to the floor, clutching my head as pain exploded into bright lights in my vision. I tried to stand back up, but the room was spinning and I couldn't grab on to anything. Nausea welled up in my throat and I hit the ground hard, the bright spots fading to black.

"Hello? Officer Graham? This crazy woman broke into my office and attacked me! She thought I was some 'Evil Queen' hellbent on revenge on some fairytale characters!" Regina was talking to a small, glowing box. I tried to stay conscious, tried to listen, but then I blacked out for the second time that day.

I woke up with a pounding headache on a weird bed in another strange room. I wasn't wearing Killian's dress anymore, and I examined the new dress that had replaced it. It was simple; just a rough, blue dress. I tried to move my arm, but it was chained to the bed. I looked around the room, but the light just hurt my eyes and moving was making my headache worse.

"Ah, you're awake," a man said as he entered the room.

"Yeah," I muttered, shielding my eyes from the lights with the arm that wasn't chained.

"Oh do you want me to turn those off?" he asked. I didn't know what he meant, but I nodded anyway. Then the lights were gone. He started talking again, but I stopped focusing.

"Ma'am?" he said after a while. "I asked you a question." I stared back at him blankly. He chuckled before speaking again, "I asked you what your name was."

"Erela," I mumbled.

"Full name," he said. My full name. Did I even have one? 'Erela' was the only name I remember. The only one I know. "It's okay, you can answer that later," he said slowly after writing something down. "I'm Officer Graham. I need to ask you a few questions."

I stared at him for a few seconds before I remembered what had happened before I'd woken up here, and I sat up, ignoring the way my stomach twisted. Officer Graham stared at me as I began to speak.

"No, wait, we can't just sit around here. I - we - need to go back and find Regina. She's lying to you. She's lying to everyone!" My voice rose to a yell by the end but I still couldn't quite seem to focus properly.

"How so?" Graham asked, writing something else down.

"She said she wants to take away Snow White's happiness so she cursed the whole Enchanted Forest! She's insane!" I shouted, trying to get out of bed and stand up only to fall back down again.

"I'm afraid, Ms. Erela, that you're not making much sense. Why would someone curse an entire forest if they're only mad at one person?"

"I don't know! You should be asking her these questions, not me."

"But you're the one who attacked the Mayor. I'm just trying to figure out the real reason."

"I didn't attack her! She was the one throwing things at me! She hit me in the head with a strange looking lantern - that's why I blacked out! I was just trying to leave so I could warn everyone about the crazy lady in charge!"

"Listen to yourself," he said calmly, speaking almost as though he was talking to a child, "does that sound even the least bit sane?"

His tone pissed me off. "I'm not making this up!"

"That's what I was afraid of." He sighed. "Why are all the cute ones crazy?" He muttered to himself. He walked out of the room and began talking to someone. I decided to relax - my head was absolutely killing me. I mused that I would need to get that checked out once I got out of wherever I was. I closed my eyes, hoping I could just fall asleep and that, when I woke up, this would all be a dream and I would be back in Killian's arms. About ten minutes later, I heard three pairs of feet walking into the room. I opened my eyes to see Graham walking back in, two men trailing behind him.

"Hi, Erela," one of the men said quietly, "I'm Doctor Hopper and this is Doctor Whale." He motioned to the man with brown hair wearing all white. Everyone was looking at me like I was a puppy with a broken leg, and it was starting to piss me off even more than their habit of talking down to me.

"Are you guys going to get me out of here so I can warn everyone?" I asked. "Because, if not, I don't care who you are."

"Actually, we were hoping to take you somewhere else," Doctor Hopper said. I sighed, ignoring him, and closing my eyes once again. Maybe if I ignored them for long enough they'd just give up and let me go. Sadly, that wasn't the case. Two pairs of feet thudded against the ground, heading towards me. "Can you please stand up?" Doctor Hopper asked.

"No," I muttered, shaking my chained arm while opening my eyes to give him a pointed look. I was being stubborn, but I also couldn't manage to stand up without falling back down. I'd already tried. I blinked my eyes and saw Graham unchaining me. I still didn't budge.

"I really didn't want to have to do this," Doctor Hopper sighed. Something in his tone sent shivers down my spine.

"Do what?" I asked, barely hiding the fear in my voice. Doctor Whale appeared next to Doctor Hopper and pressed something into my side, doing it so quickly that it was over before I could pull away. It kind of felt like a bee sting. I started to feel numb, and soon I couldn't move. Hands wrapped around me, picking me up and transporting me to another bed, but before I could really process what was happening, I blacked out for the third time that day.

~A/N~

Hey, guys!

A lot of people have been asking about the sequel, so here it is (well the first chapter at least)! I am working though some hardcore writers block, but I'll get over it! I was going to write the whole thing first and post it all on a schedule, but so many people have been messaging me and asking about it. So, I'll post as I go!

Thanks to those who have stuck around this long! It means a lot to me