The dark grey portal disappears behind her as she stumbles through the alley. There's no wind to speak of anymore, but she still holds her leather jacket tight around her body so the corners don't go flying. Her brain is stuck on the image of her son with his family, stuck in the snow-globe while she's here. The horrors that can be wrote with the Author's Pen.
Roni staggers to lean against the wall of the building, muffling a cry as her arm brushes the brick.
Glancing down at the limb, she can't see what's wrong with it, but she knows there is. Roni can't heal it, either, not with her magic. Being here, in Storybrooke – in a Storybrooke, in a different Storybrooke where maybe, maybe she can find help – Roni is already feeling the effects. The town isn't cursed, thankfully, but the magic Rumple brought here hasn't settled into the ground yet. It still moves through the air, coming and going, like snow in a snow-globe. We're very early in the timeline.
"Where are we?" King Henry questions, rasping it out. Roni spares him a pained look, trying to erase the memory of what he did – what the Wish Realm version of Rumplestiltskin tricked him into doing. He's still in his Enchanted Forest tunic and chainmail, the Pen still clutched in his gloved hand. There's a slash across his forehead, one that dribbles down between his eyes, down the side of his nose, larger, longer and higher than the one above his eyebrow. "What is this place?"
Roni mumbles, "Rumplestiltskin wrote everything out and you made it truth. We're in Storybrooke, in another reality, trapped forever."
King Henry looks to the Pen, squeezing it tightly, "I can reverse it, with this."
"No, you heard him," Roni shakes her head, using her good arm to reach up to wipe her own tears, "No Author can write us out of this realm. We can't ever leave. We- we're stuck here."
"You mean I am," he says, glaring at her, "I still want my revenge. I will kill you, I- I will."
Roni looks at him forlornly, this boy who is her son, yet who isn't, who never knew that life. This Henry is – was – a king, abandoned by his mother and left alone, struggling and grieving. It's Roni's fault, too. She crushed the hearts of the Wish Realm versions of Snow and David. That was her mistake – King Henry is her responsibility, now.
"I'm sure you will, but let me get you settled before you do. This Storybrooke won't take kindly to strangers appearing in the middle of the night with dead bodies trailing in their wake." Roni warns, knowing just from the magic – the shifting magic, the new magic – that this is a newly-awoken Storybrooke. For all Roni knows, her mother is walking about. "We need new identities."
"Why?"
"Because there's already a Henry and Regina here," Roni says, knowing she already has her Cursed persona on hand to become. She just needs to change her face and then she's good. King Henry though, is another matter. "Were you ever called anything else in your realm? Did you have another name or alias you're comfortable with?"
King Henry shifts uncomfortably. "My secondary name was Daniel. My mother called me Danny, sometimes."
Roni sends him a disbelieving look for a moment, before thinking about it properly. The Wish Realm was many things, but divergent from most canon events – like Henry being born, like Neal being his father – it was not. He's called Henry Daniel, for goodness sake.
"Daniel," Roni murmurs. "Do you know the origin of that name?"
"No. Why? Do you?"
Roni clears her throat, biting her tongue hard as her hurt limb moves, aching sharply. "Your realm was created from a wish – Emma, she wished she was never the Saviour and the wish created your realm. History was different, the Dark Curse was never cast – but things were still the same. You were still alive. You were- are called Henry Daniel. In this realm, I gave you those names, after my father and a man I loved dearly."
King Henry looks at her in confusion. "But I don't understand, why would my mother, Princess Emma – why would my mother give me those names if you gave me them?"
"Magic. The Wish Realm wasn't perfect." Roni shakes her head before pushing off the wall. "If anyone asks, I'm Roni, Roni North. You're my son, Daniel North."
"I am not your son," he says, vehement and angry, glaring.
Roni glares right back at him. "That doesn't matter right now. This Storybrooke will vilify us both if we tell the truth."
"And how do you know that?" he questions, stepping forwards in a threatening manner, hand going to his sword.
"Because I do, now stay still," Roni steps forwards, raising her hand, focusing. King Henry – Danny – becomes confused, anger melting away.
"What are you doing?" he questions, an uptick in fear alerting Roni to his discomfort. However, she has to focus, the magic around her slipping away out of her grasp. She grits her teeth, before finally getting the glamour into place, panting slightly. "What did you do?"
"A glamour." Roni gulps down a massive breath, limbs shaking. She shuts her eyes, raising her hand again, focusing on herself. It's not easy, but she does it again, though this time, she can't help but stumble back again to the wall, leaning up against it. Her legs feel like lead, yet she can hardly feel them at all, at the same time. Her head pounds and the magic in her body feels weak, thinned out.
"You don't look that different," Danny says. Roni looks at him and smiles only very slightly.
"Neither do you, but it's the small differences that matter. We have to pretend we're people we're not. Which is why the armour has to go. Come on – we have to break into a shop." Roni forces herself up, guessing there's a fifty-fifty chance she's going to drop. Glamours have always been a hard enchantment for her to cast. Upkeeping it is nothing, but that original casting…
"Woah!" Danny leaps to her side as she nearly falls over, pulling her good arm over his shoulder. Roni chuckles.
"Ever the chivalrous boy."
"You don't know me," he argues.
"But I do, I raised you," Roni says to him, twisting her head to look at him. "You don't remember it that way, I know, but you're the same person. You are a brave, kind person. Every version of you means everything to me and no matter what, I love you."
"What about your real son? The Henry Mills with a wife and daughter?" he questions.
Roni smiles at him, pained. "He's alive. I know that we're both going to be lost forever to them – Rumplestiltskin made sure of that, with his writing – but Weaver, Gold, he'll take care of them. That's what grandparents do."
"Grandparents?" Danny questions, frowning.
Roni tilts her head. "You don't know, do you? About Baelfire?"
"Who is Baelfire?"
"You knew him as Neal," Roni says, smirking, "and he was the lost son of Rumplestiltskin. Every Henry is his son – the Dark One's grandson."
"Really?" Danny asks, astonished. "The Dark One – the Dark One – is my grandfather?"
"Oh yeah," Roni confirms, before whimpering as he arm shifts again. "I need to get to a hospital. You can't go in those clothes, though. You'll be caught out in an instant. We need- we need to get you clothes, first." She forces herself to look forwards, eyeing the street past the end of the alleyway. The door to Archie Hopper's office is in view, which means they're close – if not right beside – Granny's Diner. Roni walks forwards, Danny taking a small amount of her weight as she slumps a little, stopping them as they get to the edge of the alley.
Across the street, she sees herself.
"Oh my," Roni murmurs, watching Regina Mills in her boots and long coat stalk to the door, entering. It seems odd to Roni that she saw Archie so late at night, in the past, but this isn't just the past – it's another reality. Maybe it's normal for Regina Mills to see the cricket so late. She wrinkles her nose as another thought occurs to her. Maybe in this realm, they're sleeping together.
Popping her head around the brick, Roni spies Red gathering up the sign for Granny's, going back down the path a moment later.
"This realm is strange," Danny says in a hush. Roni tilts her head.
"You get used to it. Come on, hurry."
They head to the right, down to where Roni knows is a clothing store – she always used to buy Henry's things there when he was growing up. It changed with the times, unlike some parts of town. A lot of machinery – like cars, computers and phones, they never changed. Style though, like clothes and organic produce, those did and right now, Roni thinks it's a blessing in disguise. They reach the store and Roni leads Danny round the back, feeling coming back to her legs and her headache subsiding as soon as they're out of the streetlight.
"I'm okay, now," Roni murmurs to him as she pulls away, pulling a crate over to the side of the door, standing on it and peeling the cover off the security alarm.
"What are you doing?"
"My Cursed persona dabbled in, well…" Roni pauses, "Let's just say I was the most secure place in Hyperion Heights and it wasn't because the police station was right down the road."
"Police?"
"City guards," Roni translates, fiddling with some wires, in the back of her head already making a note to find a way for the security budget for Storybrooke to be increased. Or maybe, I could have a business. Danny and I could just slip into Storybrooke and make a life. I could buy out that place where Aesop's Tables is going to be, make a new Roni's Bar, doing security work on the side.
"There," she says, after turning the system off. "Now we don't have to worry about alarms going off. The Land Without Magic uses electronic systems – electricity being lightning trapped in wires and containers – to help keep things secure. Do me a favour and break down the door, dear."
Danny raises his eyebrow at her, before turning to the door and kicking it a few times breaking it around the paltry lock. They make their way inside, the alarm staying off. However, an issue arises in the lighting – the dim fire exit signs far from enough to see. She debates over whether she should turn the lights on, before she remembers her phone in her back-pocket. Taking it out is awkward and a little painful as her other arm shifts again, but she gets it out, the camera flash turning on, to Danny's surprise.
"What-"
"I'll get you one," Roni says, "It'll be a learning experience. You're young, you'll figure it out."
Searching the aisles, Danny at her heels, Roni picks him out several different outfits, figuring out his sizing with trial and error. Danny marvels at all the soft fabrics, plastic buttons and price tags, asking about them. Roni answers his many questions – and he's full of them. Only when they've finally decided on some new outfits for Danny and collected some more things more in Roni's range, does she spot the security camera, though.
"Damn." Roni stares at it. I'm an idiot. She hands their things to Danny, who juggles the plastic bags for a moment, already newly dressed in blue jeans, a black round-necked shirt, a grey hoodie, sports socks and trainers. His Pen is tucked into the hoodie pocket. Leaving him in the shop, she heads into the back, taking a couple of minutes to figure out the system before sabotaging the tapes. She wants to do more, but a look at a clock shows its nearing eleven at night.
Where do we go? Roni asks herself, liberating two cardboard boxes and bringing them out, so they aren't so conspicuous with their shopping bags. Might as well look like we're moving, rather than shoplifting. Where can we go, though, really? 108 Mifflin is out, everywhere I go regularly is out, we definitely can't get a room at Granny's B&B…
"We could camp in the woods," Danny offers casually, causing Roni to make a face.
"No. We don't have any gear, for a start. Also, I refuse. The outdoors are horrible and Maine is very far north – it's already freezing." At her own words, Roni grabs a winter coat for him on the On Sale rack, recognising it as one David has in the future, with the little brown leather strap around the high collar. It doesn't quite fit Henry's grey and blue aesthetic, but Roni would rather he be warm and of course, he has his sword strapped on too, so he's already a little out of style.
Danny, Roni corrects herself. His name is Danny.
In truth, camping might be safer than breaking into an empty house. Storybrooke is filled to capacity right now, with the exception of the apartment over the library – which will be filled with Belle's belongings soon enough, if it isn't already. Camping in the woods isn't Roni's idea of comfortable, however.
"Are there not any empty homes? Loggers cabins?"
Cabins.
"There is a place," Roni says. "It's an hour or two's walk from here. Rumple has a cabin in the woods – it's one of the only legitimate ones that are listed. If there are any others, I don't know of them. We can stay there. It shouldn't be inhabited, I don't think."
"Okay, let's go, then," Danny goes to move, but aborts at the last moment, focusing on her as she struggles to hold her box of clothes with one arm, resting it on the nearby counter. "Your arm. You need to see a healer."
"That's why I said I needed to go to the hospital." Roni breathes in deeply, before leaving the box, stepping away. "Could you take it? We'll go to the hospital first. Say that I fell or something."
"Where's the hospital?" Danny questions, taking the box with ease.
"Follow me."
Dr Whale is obviously crabby and he looks at her with suspicion. Roni pretends ignorance and Danny plays the concerned son very well, after he gets his head cleaned up and taped with butterfly stitches. Their boxes are piled up on the ground beside Danny in his chair as Whale sets her arm in a make-shift splint, while they wait for the x-ray to come through.
"I've not seen you around town before," he says.
"We were hermits, practically," Roni says. "Ordered pizza all the time and ran out of cereal every other day."
"Hmm…" Whale eyes her again. "You look a lot like the Evil Queen."
"I'd hope so," Roni says, "I'm a relative. We're cousins, through Prince Henry. I haven't seen her since we were young and she's certainly never met Danny."
"Danny – is that his given name?" Whale is one of the few to know the specifics about Daniel and Roni is very aware of that.
"His Cursed name is Daniel North," Roni replies. "He was called Xavier in the Enchanted Forest – Xavier IV."
One of the nurses at the end of her bed makes a noise of surprise. "Really?"
Roni glances at her, not recognising her. "You know of us?"
"No, no, I- I just…" the nurse blinks, "Are you another granddaughter of Xavier III? Like Her Majesty?"
"Yes," Roni says. "Though, we prefer our Cursed personas, if you don't mind. It's a lot easier to live here, though it's strange and- and hard. I miss home."
"So do I," Danny mutters, watching them, clutching Roni's jacket on his lap. "We're never going back, though."
"You sound bitter," Whale says, looking at him. "Why do you like Storybrooke so much?"
"Uh…" Danny pauses, before pointing at the ceiling. "The lights? Electric systems?"
"Running water," Roni adds jokingly.
"My realm had running water and electricity," Whale says. "I wasn't from the Enchanted Forest, but I got swept up in this Curse anyway. I just want to go home."
"Are you sure?" Roni tilts her head up, hissing loudly as he fastens on the splint tightly. "Ow."
"Would you like some painkillers?" Whale questions.
"Ugh, anything, please," Roni groans, slumping in her seat.
"We'll get you something," Whale promises. "Any allergies we should be aware of?"
"Strawberries," Roni says, "and lactose."
"No pudding for you then," the doctor jokes, turning to the nurse and rattling off a dosage of medication. To Roni's surprise, the nurse curtsies before leaving the room, Whale rolling his eyes before walking to the door, only pausing to ask one more question of Danny. "A query: if you want to stay in Storybrooke, why carry the sword?"
It takes Danny a long moment to come up with a reply and in the end, it's not even a very good one.
"Why shouldn't I?"
It's an open-ended question of an answer, one that doesn't reveal the true reason, something that Whale notices as he leaves, brow furrowed. Roni looks to Danny, who glances at her.
"Should I have left my sword somewhere else?"
"No," Roni says quietly. "No, it's your only defence. Best keep it on hand. You're not the only one wearing one, anyway – Charming wears his sword."
"Grandpa is here?" Danny asks, visibly distressed. He clutches his sword tightly and-
Oh. I didn't realise.
"That's his, isn't it?" Roni sucks in a breath. It's recognisable, if you know what you're looking at. Of course he has it, it makes sense that he does. "I have to glamour it, or you have to hide it."
"You were exhausted earlier," Danny protests. "You can't do that again."
"It was two glamours in quick succession. I can do it, I promise," Roni swears, holding out her hand. Danny hesitates, but obviously, he doesn't want to lose the last connection he has to his grandparents and so he pulls it out of his belt, handing it to her. Taking it, Roni concentrates, drawing up what little magic she has in reserve. All I have to do is change the handle.
The sword shimmers in front of her eyes, her head pounding, but the magic changes the curved, golden guard into silver steel, changing it into an average cross-guard. Releasing a breath, Roni hands the sword back eagerly, cracking her back as the magic of Storybrooke drifts across her, being sucked in like a sponge. With so many curses and realms of magic she has visited, her sensitivity is higher than it ever was the first time the Curse was broken.
"You're really pale," Danny says, standing up and taking her shoulder. Roni gives him a small smile, shaking her head.
"I'm fine. My arm is just sore."
Just then, the nurse comes back in with a small tray, pills in a small plastic cup with a glass of water on the side. Regina gratefully takes them, swallowing the pink ovals and washing them down with a grimace.
"Your x-ray results should be back soon," the nurse says before leaving again.
"Thank-you for worrying over me," Roni says to Danny, putting her good hand on top of his. "I know this is hard for you."
"I can deal with this. Why don't you use magic to heal yourself?"
"There's not enough in this land, not yet." Roni closes her eyes, reaching out, feeling it all as it is, shaking her head. "It's not settled. I can tell you more, later, if you'd like."
"I don't know a lot about magic," Danny admits.
"I'll teach you," Roni promises.
Danny nods, before sitting down again. They wait in a comfortable silence for the x-ray results and when they come, Whale explains how he'll have to put her under for minor surgery. The bone had snapped a few inches from her elbow, splintering in places – small bits of bone too close to larger veins for Whale's liking. She'd also sprained her arm, though no surgery was needed for that. Roni is fine with it, up until Whale mentions the cost.
"We…we don't have any money," Roni admits, glancing at Danny, who stiffens.
"The hospital can work something out later with you, but this has to be done soon, for better healing," Whale says and that is that. A few hours later, Danny is set up in the waiting room with a pile of magazines and a water-bottle and Roni changes into a hospital gown.
When she goes under, her last lucid thought is about whether Danny will need a snack and when she wakes, it's to find herself once more in a patient room, Danny at her side, laid out across three chairs, asleep.
"Danny," she croaks. "Daniel."
Danny doesn't wake and she lets herself fall back asleep, too, into nightmares of being pulled through a portal of the Author's own making.
"And just write here…'and the writings of these here pages beneath, become true'." The Wish Realm Rumplestiltskin flourished his wrists with a jump, giggling.
Roni looks to the snow-globe, where Henry, Jacinda, Lucy, Rogers and Weaver are trapped. The snow has stopped, disappeared – a condition Roni asked for, when she turned herself in. Rumplestiltskin, at least for once, obliged. Now, they watch from within as King Henry writes for Rumplestiltskin, the Author pen full of squid ink.
"What did you write?" King Henry goes to flip back a page, to look at the things the Dark One has written, but Rumplestiltskin grabs his wrist, voice flat.
"That wasn't the deal, dearie. Write. Then you shall see."
"I want my revenge, but you have written something and I will know what, first," Henry argues. "What if you have imprisoned Regina, too? I will not have my revenge, if you have."
"Trust me, if I send her somewhere, you're going with her, little King," Rumplestiltskin says before letting go of the Wish Henry's wrist. Roni watches on in silence as Henry does as commanded, the writing glowing before a strange wind begins to swirl through the room, papers fluttering through the air.
"What did you do?" she demands an answer of the Dark One, who grins at her with pointed teeth.
"I'm sending you away, so I don't have to bother with you anymore. That little town of yours…Storybrooke. How do you believe it will fair with two Evil Queen's on the loose? You're going to another reality, dearie and not even the power of the Author can bring you back here – it's written, you see."
"What have you done?" King Henry stands, a book flying into his face as the wind further picks up, "What about my revenge?"
A portal begins to appear behind Roni and as she turns around, she hears Rumplestiltskin speak.
"I told you, little King – if I send her somewhere, you're going with her. Good luck in the Land Without Magic, Your Majesties!"
Then, the portal – black and a maelstrom of nothing – appears, sucking in Roni and King Henry without abandon. Roni's arm slams into a table as she's pulled back, a blinding pain shooting through her-.
Roni wakes with a start. She sucks in a breath, feeling the weight of a cast and the stiffness of her elbow. Looking down, she sees a dark blue cast, her elbow encased as well as her arm and wrist. Everything aches and a heart monitor is attached to her index finger, the sun streaming in through the tilted hanging blinds. On his make-shift bed, Danny is on her phone, playing Angry Birds.
"How did you unlock it?" Roni questions groggily. Danny glances her way, eyes wide.
"Oh, I…I guessed. There was a calendar, out in the waiting area and I had a flip through it. It wasn't so difficult to figure out my own birthday – our calendar's aren't so different. You seem like the sentimental type."
"I do, do I?" Roni raises an eyebrow. It's true, of course. She does use Henry's birthday as her password, but that doesn't make it right that he managed to steal her phone and unlock it. "Ask, next time, please. Did you happen to figure out your actual birthday is in this land?"
"Yeah," Danny says. "I turn nineteen on the twelfth of November, or thereabouts."
"Really?" Roni questions, trying to input that date into her mind. This is her son, no matter what kind of incarnation. November twelfth. November twelfth. Danny's birthday is on November twelfth.
"Yeah. The doctor came around while you were asleep, told me to give you these when you wake up," Danny leans up, sitting on his chair properly while kicking the other chairs out of the way, grabbing some papers on the side-table. "Here."
Roni takes them, wincing at the bills. "Right. It's not so bad, I think…one thousand for the surgery, meds and anaesthesia, a few hundred for the room…right. No, it's not too bad. I think I can pay this off." I just have to pay Gold a visit and ask for a loan. If I tell him the truth, maybe he'll be a little more lenient. "We should check out. Where did my clothes end up?"
"Just over here."
After getting dressed, jacket slung over her shoulders, Danny holding their two boxes, Roni leads them out the hospital – only to stop still as she sees the ambulance bring in Archie Hopper, face covered in a blanket, the only identifying feature being his red hair. But of course, Roni lived through this, even if it was so long ago.
Archie. Mother kidnaps him and leaves a fake body behind, a disguised body. She killed someone, one of my townspeople. Roni's eyes are glued to the gurney as it rolls away into the emergency room doors, only a dozen yards from the main entrance.
"Who is that?" Danny questions. A nearby townsperson Roni recognises as a cook form her palace kitchens replies.
"It's Dr Hopper – Jiminy Cricket. They found him dead in his office."
"Oh no," Danny whispers, Roni putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Come this way." Roni leads him away from the hospital, to a path by the treeline. "Henry- Danny, if I gave you directions, would you be able to take our things to the cabin?"
Danny stiffens. "I don't want you to leave my side, Your Majesty. No offence meant."
"No, I get it, but I remember this – my mother is in Storybrooke. This is before anyone knows," Roni says, "and she pretended to be me last night. Do you remember seeing me?"
"Yes…"
"That wasn't me," Roni shakes her head, "That was my mother. She has a better grasp on her magic, because she came through a portal from the Enchanted Forest. She's at full power and no-one knows she's here. The Cricket isn't dead, she kidnapped him. He's captured, hidden on Captain Hook's ship."
The tension in Danny's shoulders melts away. "He's not dead. Thanks the gods."
"No, he isn't. However, no-one but us knows that and I need to tell someone, which is why I'm sending you away," Roni takes her phone out of her pocket, which she had retrieved from him earlier.
Getting up a map of Storybrooke, surprised her phone even works, Roni only briefly pauses to check her drop-down menu, surprised at the 'Welcome to Storybrooke!' message that had popped up sometime during the early hours of the morning, connected to a free wifi sign-in link. She clicks it, surprised to find a genial, dated 'Welcome to Storybrooke' web-page, asking for new users to register.
Later, Roni thinks when she sees you have to put in an email, going back to the maps, using hotspot – a thing that she's surprised actually exists, along with the map that's somehow accessible – to find the cabin and mark it, a back-road lighting up as she asks for directions.
"Here," she offers the phone to Danny. "It's an interactive map. You're the arrow. It'll lead you to the cabin while I go see the sheriff- the town guards, I mean, about my mother."
"I think the boxes are going to make it difficult," Danny says, contrite. Roni eyes them, noting the hand-holds that haven't been punched in yet.
"Put them down, I know I have a scarf in there…"
Making up a sling mechanism, Roni – using Danny's two working hands – attaches the long scarves she'd picked up at the shop last night to the boxes, making them like very short satchels. Danny assures her it's all fine and when he's set, they start walking, splitting paths when they reach the turning Danny is supposed to follow to get to the cabin.
"Promise me you'll hide out there," Roni grasps his arm. "Please, until we can figure out if this reality it the same as the one I know."
"…I promise," Danny says after a long moment. "But if you're not back by sunrise tomorrow, I will make my way into town to find you, starting from where we arrived."
"That's fine. Thank-you for swearing," Roni says, offering him a kiss on his forehead before gently pushing him off on his way, watching him for a minute before heading along the road. The walk to the station is nerve-wracking and strange. People on the street do double-takes at the sight of her, taking steps back before frowning in confusion.
The glamour at least does something, Roni thinks to herself as she goes past Granny's, slowing to a halt as Red snits.
"I thought you would have been taken in by now. I saw you last night, going into Archie's."
"I think you have the wrong person," Roni says to the werewolf, showing off her broken arm. "I was at the hospital getting my arm fixed."
Red frowns, peering at her in confusion before sniffing deeply. Roni's heart beats double-time, watching the woman come closer, sniffing again and peering closer.
"You're Regina though, I know you. But you're not, you're dressed different and your face…"
"I'm her cousin," Roni says softly. "I'm told we look very much alike. What do you mean, taken in? I saw Dr Hopper when they brought him in. What happened?"
"Pongo got out, he led me and Emma inside," Red says, sounding distressed. "He was just lying there. He's dead. I saw Regina go into his place last night when I was tidying up."
"That is suspicious," Roni admits, even knowing the truth – that her mother was impersonating her. "I'm sorry about Dr Hopper, if you really were the one to find him."
"Me too," Red says before checking her watch, sighing. "Breaks over. Have a nice day, uh…what did you say your name was, again?"
"Roni," Roni introduces herself. "You're Red, right?"
"Yeah, that's me." Red glances back at the diner, joking, "Not very regal name there, if you're really Regina's cousin."
"Don't tell anyone, but I have a longer name," Roni murmurs, glaring at her in a friendly manner. "I'll make a pelt out of you if you tell. I'm just Roni, here."
"Now I see the resemblance," Red jokes, stepping back with a small wave as she turns to enter the diner again. Roni watches her disappear inside before continuing on, finding herself troubled by her own situation. Red was there and she did see 'me'. How am I supposed to prove to them it was Cora without evidence?
Roni remembers that it was unfair, how they actually believed a dog's testimony over hers. A dogs testimony; and no, she isn't referring to the wolf. Pongo is not a reliable source of information. If I go in there and tell them, just tell them that it's Cora, then maybe they'll believe me. Roni desperately tries to think of something else – something that could make them believe her. Emma in the future would take her word for it, no question, because she trusts her. But not here. She needs better than just words.
"No-one trusts me here," she says into the wind. Not even Danny. He's a good boy, her son, but she's a stranger to him – worse, a stranger that killed his grandparents and stole his mother away. Roni almost laughs at her own thoughts, even in her bitterness. It sounds like I stole Emma so we could have a torrid affair, or some rubbish like that. Emma though, Emma in the future – in her original reality – is with Killian Jones.
Roni stops in the middle of the sidewalk.
Killian Jones.
Archie is on his ship. Didn't- wasn't it Belle who found him there? And then- and then Killian pushed her over the town line and Greg Mendell drove across. Roni feels her chest constrict. Cora still has to be dealt with and that is another hurdle in itself, but Greg Mendell means something much worse. Peter Pan. Neverland. Henry's year in New York.
Someone bumps into her shoulder, knocking her out of her thoughts and jarring her arm. Forcing herself not to whimper, Roni starts walking again, pink velvet ankle boots clicking on the sidewalk. She walks onwards and then turns a corner, walking into the station, slowing as she hears a lack of noise. Going into the main office, all Roni sees are empty cells.
"Where are they?" Roni furrows her brow. She would have thought they'd be here, trying to think up theories-
A door opens behind her and she turns, only to see her younger self walking primly out of the interrogation rooms, Emma's hand clasped in her own. Roni's stomach drops and she stumbles forwards, barely managing to question the hand-holding in her head as she calls out.
"Regina."
Regina stops, turning her head and then turning properly to stare at Roni, just as Snow and David come streaming out. Emma's eyes widen at the sight of her.
"Woah, déjà vu. Who are you?"
"I'm Roni," Roni tugs at her jacket nervously, even though she knows it won't fall off her shoulders. "I- I just heard what happened and Red, she said that she said she saw Regina, though she thought it was me and I told her it wasn't, but-"
"There!" Regina exclaims, pointing. "I was home all last night, I told you. She looks just like me."
"Regina, calm down," Emma orders, stepping forwards, looking Roni straight in the eye. "What's your name, again? Full name."
"Roni North." Roni says, thinking back on her family tree and hoping she gets this right, especially seeing as both Regina and Snow are standing in front of her. "In the Enchanted Forest, I was called Veronique Madelina of the House of Xavier."
"Excuse me?" Regina looks taken aback, looking her up and down. "No, I've never met you before in my life-"
"For good reason," Roni interrupts, "I'm Prince Sebastian's daughter. Bastard daughter, but still, I wasn't exactly welcome in court. I'm a few years older than you, mi prima."
"Don't talk to me in that language," Regina snaps, making Roni narrow her eyes.
"¿Por qué? Are you scared of it?"
"No, just…don't." Regina crosses her arms and Roni tries to recall her stance on speaking Southern back in this time. Henry hasn't spoken a word in over a year. I stopped after he snapped at me. Roni purses her lips. "Did you kill Archie?"
"No. Did you?"
"No." Regina says, mulish. "How do we know you aren't lying?"
"I have an alibi, to be fair," Roni says, tapping her cast gently. "My son can corroborate that we were walking to the hospital and then I was there up until Archie came in on a stretcher. But I wasn't here to reunite – I was here to warn you." Something occurs to her, or rather, a memory resurfaces of when she was young, when one of her cousins called Cora the 'evil aunt'. Roni makes sure she doesn't smile. "La tía malvada is here."
Her words don't seem to register for a moment, but then Snow is gasping slightly and Regina pales. "Cora. But she didn't come through, we were the only ones to-"
"Hot tip: there's a pirate docked in the harbour, too," Roni adds, before feeling for her magic again. It's all settling now – all coming back to her, stronger and better than ever, filling her veins like an old friend, as if she's finally settled into Storybrooke's atmosphere. I can transfer away, now. I can do anything that I normally could. "I have to go. It's a long walk home."
"Wait," David puts up a hand. "How do we know you didn't kill Archie?"
"I would never kill the Cricket," Roni brushes off. "And anyway, I told you, I have an alibi. Just ask Dr Whale. I don't usually venture into town, but I had to for my arm. My son insisted."
"You have a son too?" Regina mumbles, eyebrows knitting together.
"I do," Roni confirms, "And he's waiting for me. If I'm not back by sunrise tomorrow, he'll come in swinging. He found a sword for himself."
"Sunrise?" Emma questions, "Doesn't he have a phone?"
"He has mine," Roni pauses, tilting her head. "Well. I could phone my cell, I suppose." Though, he's never picked up a phone before. He might not understand how to answer it.
"Do you mind stepping in here, so I can get an official statement?" Emma questions, motioning to the interrogation rooms. "It's just, we did get an official statement from a witness saying they saw Regina, but you do look a lot alike."
"I don't mind and I suppose I have all day and night to return." Roni licks her lips, feeling her stomach clench. When was the last time I ate? Stepping forwards, Roni enters, pausing as Emma follows her, motioning for her to go through into the room past the one-way glass. Once inside, Roni feels a certain sense of déjà vu, but sits down calmly.
"I'll just ask you some general questions," Emma says, taking a notepad out of her back-pocket, standing rather than sitting with her. "You full name?"
"Roni North."
"Is that short for anything? Any middle names?"
"Veronique. Here, it's Veronica, but…don't call me that." Roni grimaces. It's a disservice to her family name, changing it like that – Veronique was Queen Consort to King Xavier, her grandfather and she was loved by all her grandchildren very much. "Veronica Gabrielle North. Roni, for short. Veronique Madelina in the Enchanted Forest. I'd rather you not mention that to most, though. I'm just Roni."
Emma gives her a small look, eyes squinty, before she moves on. Lie detector, Roni frowns. But I wasn't lying, not technically – my full name is Regina Sofia Constanza Veronique and here, I'm Regina Madeline Mills.
"Date of birth? Social security number?"
"Age is debatable, here and I doubt our numbers would show up in the system," Roni sidesteps.
"Address?"
"None," Roni replies. Emma gives her a frown.
"You're homeless?"
Roni shrugs, looking at her nails, avoiding the Saviour's worried gaze. "I'll be sorting out something soon. Gold does loans and suchlike. I should be able to find somewhere eventually."
"Right…" Emma mutters, clicking her pen a couple of times. "Just because you said that and because you mentioned a son: any dependants?"
"Daniel is nineteen in November, so not technically, but he still does live with me." Roni pauses, thinking rapidly, "If you have any openings in the department, he might want a job with you. He did something like peacekeeping work, in the old world."
"He's welcome to come along," Emma promises. "Do you have a phone number or any way we can contact you later?"
"Yes," Roni says, giving Emma her number. Unease flows through her, however, as Emma calls it. "What are you doing?"
"Just checking to make sure it's not a dud number. To be honest, you're not giving me good vibes. I've never seen you around before and I think if there was someone who looked like Regina walking around, you would have been lynched at some point already," Emma says, putting the phone on speaker. It rings for a stressful few seconds before the line clicks open.
"Hello, is this Daniel North?" Emma questions. There's a crackling sound and a faint hello, before she speaks again. "I can't hear you. This is Sheriff Swan, is that Daniel North?"
"…yes, that's me. What do you want?" Danny answers, sounding extremely unsure.
"I've got your mom here at the station. I'm just calling to confirm your address and phone number."
"We don't have an address," Danny says, "We're camping in the woods right now. I'm sorry, but could I speak to my…my mother, please?"
"She's right here," Emma says, raising her eyebrow at Roni.
"Danny," Roni clears her throat, increasing her volume. "Danny, hang up and don't answer any calls from this number for the next few hours, please, or any other phone."
"How do I hang up on this?"
"Red button," Roni says, Emma rolling her eyes as he hangs up as told. "I don't appreciate you bringing my son into this."
"You said he was with you last night, out in the corridor," Emma huffs, "Excuse me for wanting to confirm that."
"If you want to speak to him, I want a lawyer present."
"And not one for yourself now?" Emma challenges. Roni raises her chin, looking at her coolly.
"Miss Swan, if I needed a lawyer, I would ask for one. I know my rights. You may ask me questions, anything you like and I will answer them, up to a point. However, my son is off-limits. He's unfamiliar with the legal system this world follows."
"Right," Emma taps her pen against her notepad again before sitting down across from her, finally. "Where were you between the hours of nine and one, last night?"
"I was walking with my son to the hospital to get my arm fixed," Roni says."
"What did you do to it?"
"I was flung into a table," Roni says shortly, bristling at the memory. "Hard. My son was hit in the head, he had to get stitches."
Emma pauses, "Was anyone else involved in the incident?"
"Yes," Roni says, thinking of the Wish Realm Rumplestiltskin giggling in the background as they were pulled through the portal. "We don't have a car or other mode of transportation- well, we didn't. I've got enough magic now to teleport around, I think." She flexes her hand, feeling the magic warm her bones, lip tugging at the corner. "So we had to walk. I think we got to the hospital around midnight, or maybe before that. I'm not good at judging time."
"Is anyone?" Emma asks rhetorically, noting something down. "Can anyone else, other you're your son, confirm where you were last night before you got to the hospital?"
"No," Roni answers.
Emma leans back in her chair, thinking for a few moments. "Why did you come here today?"
"To warn you about Cora," Roni says, "and Hook."
"But why? Because you heard a rumour that Regina was being questioned?" Emma raises an eyebrow. "It doesn't really match up."
Roni squirms in place, "I saw her. Cora, I mean. Walking up Main Street." Which is true, Roni just hadn't realised it was Cora. "Daniel can corroborate that, if you want him to come in, with a lawyer."
Emma grimaces, rubbing her forehead. "Do you know anything about what happened while I was away these past two weeks? That I was in the Enchanted Forest with Mary-Margaret – that we ran into her."
"Who? Cora?"
"Yeah, pain in the ass," Emma says shortly. "How did you know her?"
"She's family. We've met," Roni says, pausing, "Though I doubt she remembers the bastards, unless they got in her way. King Xavier's children upheld his belief that bastards should never be legitimised. She's cruel. My other cousins called her the Evil Aunt." Roni is silent for a moment, speaking without thought. "It wasn't a secret that she used magic on Princess Regina, far from it. She scared everyone away from her, to make her alone. Our cousins – the legitimate ones, I mean – some didn't care and paid the price. I know for a fact that she arranged the deaths of Matias and Julieta. They were kind and Julieta would have been a just queen, after Manuel passed on his title. Cora is dangerous in all the worst ways."
"…that's horrid," Emma mutters. "How old were they?"
"Julia was thirteen. Matias was eight, I think," Roni shakes her head. She can still remember hearing the news from her father, seven years old and shaking, because she'd heard her mother say that Julia and Matias wouldn't be around anymore, for her, for you, Regina, darling, so you can be Queen. She investigated later, when Leopold was away in another kingdom and Regina had that power. The assassin was one of the first people she had publicly executed, according to the laws of the White Kingdom.
"We'll have to keep Henry far, far away from her," Emma mutters and Roni looks up, because this is the first mention of her young, ten-year old son. Seeing her look, Emma expands upon her point, "Henry is Regina's son, Cora's grandson through adoption. I'm his birth-mother."
"I've heard," Roni says. "Is it all true?"
"That I'm the Saviour? Who the hell knows, but I did break the Curse with Regina," Emma says ever-so casually. Roni blinks.
"With Regina?"
"Yeah, have a problem with that?" Emma raises an eyebrow and- and this is news. Roni blinks rapidly, not understanding.
"I thought- I heard that it was Henry. Henry who managed to get you to break it."
"It's complicated," Emma winces, "but there was this cursed apple strudel that Regina made to make me sleep, because she knew that we could break the Dark Curse. We fell in love – it was a painful ride, but we do. Love each other, I mean. Henry figured out that it was poisoned and threatened to eat it, so Regina did instead. She died, in the hospital. I brought her back to life and broke the Dark Curse while I was at it and…yeah. It's complicated."
"Sounds like it," Roni murmurs, stomach rolling. Emma and Regina broke the Dark Curse. All of a sudden she's thinking of her Emma – her Emma, who married Killian and had a baby. Emma, who trusts her without question, who believes in her and we could have been so much more, she realises. She clenches her fist, before wishing she was somewhere else, alone so she can scream at the sky and Roni doesn't realise she's using magic until she's already teleported away.
"Shit," she swears under her breath as she appears in front of the cabin, the large duck pond rippling gently. Like that wasn't suspicious at all, disappearing right after Emma's story about her magical lesbian love story. They'll think I'm gathering information or homophobic. Then, they'll try to find us and realise there's no records of either of us.
"Your Majesty!" Henry's voice- Danny's voice, echoes across the pond. Roni looks and sees him fishing with a modern line and reel, rod swaying slightly in the wind. "I found the cabin!"
"I can see that!" Roni says, before walking around the pond to him, following a dirt track that kicks up dust onto her boots. But that conversation is still swirling through her mind. Emma and Regina. Together – in love. Roni knows she has to tell Danny, he'll find out later from someone who isn't her otherwise, but it's hard to even comprehend-
But it isn't. It isn't hard at all. It even makes sense. Saying 'Henry's two mothers are in a relationship' is a whole less complicated than 'Henry's two mothers are friends and one is married to a pirate who takes on the role of step-father'. What they've been through together, as well, even just in Roni's reality…
"You're brooding," Danny notices as she sits down beside him on the convenient wooden bench. Between them is her phone and she picks it up, unlocking it to find Emma's number in the call history. She saves it under Sheriff Swan, trying to keep her distance. "Who was that, who called me on your device?"
"Your other mother."
Danny stills. "Really?"
"Of a sort," Roni murmurs. "The main authority in this land is my other self, the Mayor. Then, there's Law Enforcement – though even the Mayor answers to the law. Emma Swan is the sheriff and your grandfather is her deputy. No-one else works at the station with them, currently. I mentioned you, when I was there, if you wanted to work with them. It would give you something to do, something you might be familiar with."
"I don't know what I want. Why are you upset, though?"
Roni spares him a glance. "In this world, the Dark Curse was broken differently. I consumed the sleeping curse, rather than Henry. Apparently, here, Regina and Emma are in love – enough that Emma was able to wake her up with True Love's kiss."
"Oh." There's a moment of silence. "Do you love her in your world, too?"
"No. Yes. She was my best friend. It didn't quite occur to me, back then," Roni mulls it over. "Maybe I would have been romantically involved with her, had we not been so distracted by men; not that I regret what romance I had in my life. Robin died though – so did Killian, actually, as well."
"Your life seems interesting," Danny says, "The more I hear of it, the more I want to know."
"I'll tell you some things, but not all. Mainly because I've forgotten a lot of the details," Roni admits. "We need to get our stories straight. Eventually, someone's going to ask us questions."
"We have to lie," Danny says, before picking up his rod, standing to reel it in, grinning as he brings up a fish. Roni leans back out of the way as Danny opens a blue icebox by his feet, unlatching it from the hook with ease, showing. "I knew there were fish in there."
"You can't have been doing this for long," Roni says. "How long did it take you to get here?"
"Not long, once I started jogging," Danny says, closing the box. "These shoes are comfortable beyond belief, Your Majesty."
"You don't have to call me that, you know," Roni replies.
"…I know," he says, after a moment. "Anyway, I was hungry and the fishing equipment was just inside the door. I dug up some earthworms for bait. Want to start up a fire, to cook it?"
"There should be a kitchen inside the cabin," she says, "and a fireplace, if it isn't working. No need to set the forest alight."
"I know how to set up a fire," Danny argues.
"I'm sure you do – just do it in the fireplace." Roni says, settling back into the bench as Danny puts his line out again. Clicking through her phone – taking note of how her battery is down to sixteen percent – she sets up a new email through Google under and making one for Danny while she's at it, under .
Turning off her phone and tucking it into her jacket pocket, Roni takes the time to talk to Danny about phones, emails and the postal service. Danny asks many questions – like what the internet is, how do phones work, is everything from the 'electric' she talked about and how banking works in the Land Without Magic – and Roni answers all of them. Meanwhile, he catches more and more fish, until there are six in his icebox, putting away his gear responsibly when he finishes.
"Now, kitchen safety," Roni explains how the gas cooker works and the electric lighting, getting him to go to the breaker box behind the door to turn everything on. There are cleaning supplies under the sink and she walks through wiping down the kitchen with him after hanging up her jacket – a close call happening when Danny tries to taste the citrus-scented bleach. Roni nearly has a heart attack at that and shows him the label on the back with the warnings, watching him pale at the death-by-bleach warnings.
"It's poison," he nearly drops the plastic bottle and Roni just shakes her head, using it to wash the grimy sink, letting it sit as she cleans the kitchen utensils with washing up liquid and disinfectant spray.
"Chemicals are dangerous and some can be fatal, so yes, it's poison. Unless it's marked for eating, don't eat it. If there's one thing this land is good at, it's labelling."
Danny edges clear of the sink, where the open cupboard underneath shows a bucket of different bottles cleaners. Roni doesn't roll her eyes, still shaken by the fact that her son nearly drank bleach. She finishes cleaning the kitchen soon after, making sure everything is away properly before letting Henry- Danny, at the kitchen knives, which she sharpens and passes over safely, happy that there's at least one thing he handles without fear – though she does have to watch him gut the first fish, just to make sure.
"I know what I'm doing," he says, even making use of the fish knife to take the skin off. Vaguely happy that Danny's fine, Roni inspects the rest of the cabin, thankful that the water is still running and that it's clear, rather than brown from rust or otherwise discoloured. We won't drink it yet, though, she thinks, sniffing deeply as Danny starts to cook two of the fish for their breakfast. Roni has to say – she's not looking forwards to it, not when her usual fare is an omelette, porridge or a bowl of cocoa pops.
I am never going to live that down, she thinks, knowing that her Emma would laugh herself silly, knowing Regina Mills was eating junk food every day for breakfast. Roni swears to herself never to mention it to anyone – just like her tattoo.
The cabin itself is small, despite the large living area. There's a couple of chairs, a fireplace, a desk, a dining table and a few cabinets in the front area, with an old, large, dusty carpet set over the wooden board floors. The rooms in the back – the kitchen, a bathroom, bedroom, a storage cupboard and a small corridor to the back door, respectively – make up about as much space as the front room. It's tight. Roni can't imagine living here with Danny very long before it got cramped.
Getting the fire going does a lot to warm the cabin up, however and using her magic is nice, after being cursed to be without it again.
"Breakfast!" Danny sets two plates down at the table along with cutlery, drawing back a chair for her. Roni offers him a small smile from across the room, coming over and sitting down. "Or maybe lunch, judging by the sun. I found some salt in the cupboards, so it shouldn't be too bad."
"Let's hope for the best," Roni jokes, but the fish is good and she says so, congratulating him on the simple meal. "I'm going to go out again, to visit your grandfather."
Danny pauses for a second, fork halfway between his mouth and his plate. It lowers slightly. "You mean the Dark One."
"I can get us a proper house," Roni says. "I could even get a bar – a tavern. I ran one in Hyperion Heights, when I was cursed. I enjoyed it and it's good money, if you can get enough regular customers."
"…you want to run a bar," Danny says, sceptical. "You don't want to run the town? Try for the governing position?"
"I've done that already. Running the bar was…not cathartic, but it was good." Roni says, picking a bone out of her mouth with a wince. "I was lonely, when I was cursed. I was supposed to run it with my sister, in my memories, though we had a big fight and she left…but when I woke up, I just fell in love with it all over again, but as me."
Ideas fill her. Aesop's Tables was definitely in a good location, set just off Main Street near the harbour in one of the old buildings. Regina liked going there, rather than the Rabbit Hole and generally, she always had a good time when she went out with Emma and Snow. She even went out once with Princess Avigail – Kathryn Nolan – and her secretary, Annie, who never went back to her Enchanted Forest identity. Aesop's Tables only appeared when Gideon did, though, taken over by the owner of the Rabbit Hole after he left – which leaves the building itself untaken, unrenovated and unestablished.
Roni's, she thinks, wondering if she could get a neon sign over the door, paint the inside walls black with some wacky painted designs and mirrors. Drunk people are hilarious when you put them in front of a mirror.
"You weren't a queen anymore," Danny says, almost to himself. "Like I'm no longer a king. If I work at this…station, though, with law enforcement here, I won't have time to watch you."
Roni sighs. "Watch me?"
"You still killed my grandparents," Danny says, "and I know you've explained your logic, but the fact remains that you made a mistake. This is not your realm and you shouldn't be comfortable here. You need to be on your guard."
"Oh," Roni startles, "I thought-"
"That I meant my revenge?" Danny interrupts, shaking his head. "You're the only one I know here. As much as it pains me to let it go, I will, for our sake here in this strange reality. We need to stick together."
"I agree, though maybe once you understand this world better, you'll want your own space."
"I've had my own space for too long. Loneliness is what drove me to seek out my Rumplestiltskin," Danny stubbornly shakes his head. "Excuse me if it seems strange, especially seeing as you were my enemy."
"No- no, sweetheart," Roni reaches over the table with her good hand, cupping his cheek, smiling at him. "No. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. You won't be alone again, I promise."
Danny visibly hesitates before he nods, Roni bopping his nose before getting back to the remains of her fish.
"This is really good, you know."
The former king flushes slightly. "Thank-you."
Roni raises a forkful of fish as if it were a glass, "To a new life. Together."
Danny copies her movement. "To a new life." They don't clink forks, but they do eat, finishing their meal and tidying up afterwards, Roni finding an icebox full of beers in the back. Picking out two bottles of Fosters, she brings them through, chucking one to Danny as she flips her lid off with a practiced motion.
"If you were any younger, I'd say no if you asked to have one of these, but internationally, I think eighteen is the majority for drinking, so…there you go." Roni sips her beer, smiling slightly as it slips down her throat. Danny eyes the bottle dubiously, before taking off the lid with ease, trying it out. "What do you think?"
Danny tilts his head, before having some more. "It's good."
"I don't want to try out the water yet," Roni says. "I need to find a way to test the PH levels, to make sure it's drinkable."
"I don't know what these…PH levels are," Danny replies.
"I'll teach you," Roni promises, before sitting back in one of the armchairs, fire crackling away as Danny sits opposite her.
She thinks of this world, this reality where Peter Pan hasn't gotten his hands of her son yet, where Cora has yet to die. She thinks of Henry and Elsa, of Zelena and Robyn, of Robin Hood and the Merry Men and of the future her son had, with Ella and Lucy. She thinks of Emma Swan and she thinks of Regina Mills, whom Emma Swan broke the Dark Curse with in this reality. But most importantly, she thinks of Danny, the boy in front of her who barely knows how to work a phone but can fish for a few hours and cook her brunch.
I'm going to do right by him, Roni thinks, I'm going to make up for what I did to him, with my mistakes. I swear it.