As Lucy woke, her first thought was how sore she was. Confused, she searched her surroundings and suddenly realized where she was…and why she was there.
Her father's face flashed before her eyes. She had never seen him so frightened or sad, except perhaps when they had left her mother behind. But as always, there was still that hope shining in the eyes of Henry Mills. He had told her to run, and she had, down the escape hatch in their hiding place to what he had called the "panic room".
All she had heard was destruction above her and one yell that sounded like her dad. Fear held her in place as she considered leaving her hiding space, what would she find? She gripped the all-important story book and gathered her courage, pushing on the hatch. There appeared to be something in the way, but whatever it was, it was no match for Lucy Mills.
Finally with one great shove, the debris that hid her little hole gave way and she got her first glimpse at the devastation around her. Their wonderful tree trunk home that had been their hideout for the past few weeks was obliterated. Debris was everywhere, chunks of wood along with pieces of their lives strewn on the forest floor.
Lucy bent to pick up a long, still slightly smoking, object that caught her eye. Her stomach dropped as she recognized the hilt. It was her father's sword, the one she had seen scabbarded at his waist when he told her to run. Her eyes began to water, and it wasn't the smoke.
Suddenly, a woman's voice was telling her that her father wouldn't want to be sad. Lucy looked up and saw her fairy godmother, Tiger Lily, in front of her.
Tiger promised her that while her father had been taken away, she would see him again. But nothing more, and that, Lucy thought, was one of the more frustrating things about fairies. Always promising great outcomes but never looking further than a happy ending. If there was one thing her father's childhood had taught her, it was that life goes on and there are always more adventures to be had.
But Lucy perked up when Tiger Lily said she would see her mother.
Lucy hadn't seen her mom in months, not since her father's heart was poisoned by a mushroom from Wonderland. It prevented Henry from being with her mom, but for some reason Lucy had been immune to the poison's effects. It had been Ella's evil stepsister, Drizella, who had done the poisoning. She wanted to perform the Dark Curse that Grandma Regina had cast all those years ago, but tried to ensure that Henry wouldn't be able to break it with true love's kiss. She wanted revenge on all the people that had ignored her while her own mother had made her life hell, blaming her for the death of her younger sister, Anastasia. She was the darkest person Lucy had ever seen, caring little for the pain she inflicted on others.
Lucy shuddered at the thought of facing Drizella again, but she was excited to see her mother again, "Which realm is she in?" she asked Tiger Lily, remembering her last conversation with Ella.
Her mother's expression was full of so much sadness as she looked Henry in the eye, keeping her distance from him. Any contact would be physically painful for both of them, but this separation was already proving to be too much.
"I'm the one she wants," Ella said slowly, "you have to take Lucy to your realm, where her magic won't reach you. Your mother, she'll protect you."
Henry kept shaking his head, "No," he protested, "I'm not going to leave you to whatever fate that monster has come up with for you. She doesn't get to win."
"She's already won, Henry," Ella said, her voice breaking, "I can't even kiss you goodbye."
Lucy felt hot tears fall down her own face, she couldn't understand why this was happening. Up until that awful day when Drizella literally appeared in their home in the Enchanted Forest, Lucy's ten years of life had been wonderful. Now their home had been destroyed, literally with that unnatural fire that had consumed every possession with the exception of her father's sword, the one that had previously been wielded by Prince Charming himself. And, of course, the story book.
"How could this happen?" Henry asked, his body tense as he fought the urge to run to his true love and comfort her in this time when that was all she wanted.
The dam in Ella's eyes burst as the tears flowed unchecked, "I don't know, but what I do know is this… I will see you again, Henry Mills. I will find a way to be with you again. And when I find the cure, I will make my way to Storybrooke, and I will find you. I will always find you."
Hearing her say his grandparent's famous affirmation made Henry smile, "And I will find you."
All Ella could do was nod, "Lucy," she turned her head to her little girl, her baby. Lucy ran into those arms that her entire life had made her feel so safe and loved. Her mom's hug lifted her from the floor as she delivered multiple kisses on her forehead.
"I love you, my Lucy. Be good for your father, I will see you again, baby."
Lucy began to sob, clinging to her, "I love you, I don't want to say goodbye."
Ella pulled her daughter away just enough to look her in the eye, "This isn't goodbye," she insisted, "I will see you soon, once this darkness is defeated. But you have to be strong for your daddy, he will need you in all this. You will need each other."
And with one last kiss on her forehead, Ella pushed Lucy over to Henry, who took his daughter in his arms. He looked at his wife one last time as he took up his satchel, "Where will you go?" he asked quietly.
She took up her own bag, "I'm not sure, but I have a hunch of who I should ask."
Lucy didn't know who she meant, but it looked as if her father did, "Just be careful around him, I don't know how much he's back to his old ways."
"I can handle him," Ella insisted.
Despite everything, Henry smiled, "I know, my love, you can handle anything."
And as they walked separate paths, Lucy looked back only once and watched her mother walk away.
The plan had been to leave the Enchanted Forest and go back to Henry's hometown of Storybrooke. He told Lucy that his other mother, her biological grandmother, Emma, was the Savior there. She would be able to protect them. But after a scuffle in the port with some mercenaries sent to apprehend the pair, it was apparent that finding a route home would be much more difficult. Regina and the "other" Killian both went looking for a bean for them all to use to get back to the Land Without Magic, but that had been months ago, and the father-daughter team had heard nothing from their companions.
Lucy had been wondering what happened to them, now after the previous night she felt as if they probably shared the same fate as Henry. Alive, but only Drizella knew where.
"Where is my mother?" she repeated to Tiger Lily.
"Not far," was the response. Great, another super specific fairy reply. With a poof, Lucy was in front of a small shack in an unfamiliar wood.
"Mom?" she called out.
Seconds later the small door burst open and standing before her was her very surprised looking mother. Ella looked thin and as if she hadn't been sleeping well.
"Lucy? Is that really you?" she cried out, running and enveloping her daughter in a great embrace.
"Mommy! It's really me!" Lucy replied, laughing. Despite all she'd been through in the past day, seeing her mother again made her feel safe again.
"Wait, what happened?" Ella took her close and looked around, seeing Tiger Lily.
"Tiger… where is Henry?" she asked. When Tiger said nothing, just looked at her with sadness, she took her daughter's shoulders in her hands. "Luce, where's your dad? What happened?"
Lucy couldn't look her mom in the eye, "We were being followed, and we thought we found a good hiding spot. But they found us last night and Daddy told me to hide. So I did, but when I woke up, he was gone. All I found was this…"
She handed Ella the charred sword, which her mother carefully examined, "His grandfather's sword…" Ella said quietly, "he went down fighting."
Ella put the sword down and took her daughter closer to her. Lucy was all she had of Henry. She looked to Tiger Lily, fearing the answer to the question at the tip of her tongue, "Henry… is he…?"
"Oh for crying out loud, he's still alive," a drawling, bored voice exclaimed from behind a tree. Ella recognized the voice and pulled her own sword, pushing her daughter behind her.
Drizella, acting as if she didn't notice Ella's reaction, continued her speech, "I mean, come on, what fun would it be to just kill him? If I wanted to do that, I could have done that years ago. But I wanted to draw out your suffering."
"You stay away from them," Tiger Lily said threateningly as she lunged wand first at Drizella. But the conniving stepsister was too quick and shot a quick dart at the fairy, who froze in midair and fell in the same position.
"Man oh man that squid ink does wonders," Drizella remarked, "You should have seen how easy it was to get Regina."
"What did you do?" Ella asked darkly.
"Eh, don't worry, she's in the same place as her precious Henry. They just…you know…don't know that they're in the same area," Drizella said, eyes rolling. "I mean, I would tell you about it, but it's where we are all going anyways!"
Ella's eyes widened as she felt Lucy's grip tighten on her waist, "We aren't going anywhere with you."
Drizella laughed, which sounded to Lucy so joyless and hollow, "I love that you think you have a choice."
With a wave of the stolen wand, Lucy suddenly felt as if she fell asleep.
As Lucy woke up, she could smell something delicious, pancakes possibly? And her mom calling out to her, "Lucy, baby, get up it's time for school. Sabine has to drive you today, I got to get to the restaurant early!"
It was another day in Hyperion Heights, WA, but she had a secret. She had found out where her favorite author lived. Henry Mills, the writer of Once Upon a Time. And all the dots began to connect, she had a special connection to this Henry, and after school she was going to go to his apartment and tell him the truth. All the stories he wrote about, all the characters that the Washingtonian had called "original yet familiar", was based on memories.
Something she couldn't explain welled up in her, an excitement she couldn't place. She just knew that she had to see Henry. And defeat whatever had pulled apart all the happy endings this time.
Thank you so much for reading! I love the relationship Henry and Lucy have, and I'm definitely starting to love the development between Henry and Ella/Jacinda. I hope you enjoyed this head-canon. If you liked this, you might like my longer endeavor, I'll Never Stop Fighting (For Us). Thanks again for reading!