A/N: Hello fellow oncers, here with a new story. I recently caught up on the end of season 6, and decided to try my take on a shamefully more than likely AU season 7 speculation. I was made aware, thanks to headlines of some primary cast leaving the show before season 7. This fic will disregard that somewhat, but will not feature everyone off the bat as they will be part of the unfolding mystery. As usual, I don't own Once Upon a Time, belongs to Adam Horowitz, Edward Kitsis ABC and Disney, just my plot lines.
Chapter One: Impossible
Henry Mills stared at the young girl who had knocked on his apartment door. The first thing that ran through his mind was probably not the first thing that should have run through his head at this moment. How did a little girl find her way here? Why here of all places?
"Aren't you coming?" The little girl, Lucy, stared up at him as she reached for his hand. "Come on, come on! Your family needs you."She probably wasn't much older than he'd been when he'd searched out his birth mother all those years ago. His gaze flicked toward the book under her arm. It couldn't be….but it was.
"Wait...just a second there speedy." He shook his head. "Why don't you come in? You look like you've come a long way." He gave a partial smile. He still wasn't quite sure about this, but one thing that he was sure about was that he wasn't leaving the little girl in the hallway alone.
"My name's Lucy." She sighed, but followed him in.
Lucy frowned letting her legs dangle off the edge of the tall chair as she planted her elbows atop the kitchen island. "We've gotta go."
"Okay, first of all," Henry pulled his head out of the fridge carrying a carton of milk and two glasses. "I'm not exactly ready for a trip. Second of all, I have a few questions."
"You don't believe me?"
"That you're my daughter?" Henry bit his tongue as he studied her. "Well I guess there's a resemblance, logic aside."
Lucy smiled, but then it fell as she saw his face hadn't changed from the skeptical expression he'd worn when he answered the door. "You're joking aren't you?"
"That depends." He sat across from her opening the milk carton as he poured a glass and pushed it her way. "What exactly do you know about me?"
Lucy grabbed the book and placed it on the table between them as she opened it to a page. The page showed what looked like a younger him laying in a hospital bed as a blonde woman leaned over him, kissing him on his forehead. "Your mom was the Savior, she broke the Curse on Storybrooke and then won the Final Battle." She turned to another page. It was a large group of people sitting at a cafe. "See? That's you." She pointed to a teenager with dark brown hair. It did look a lot like him. The illustrator had done well, whomever they were.
"I don't know how you got this…"
"Lucy." Lucy sighed. "You still don't believe me? But you're the Truest Believer, and you're the Author. You have to remember!"
Henry sighed running a hand through his hair. "Look, Lucy, I don't know who you talked to or how you got this book, but my mom isn't any kind of Savior, not in the magical fairytale sense. She's or...she was...a cop...I guess that's kind of the same thing to a kid. That's why I wrote this when I was younger… after my dad died. It's just a kid's story."
"But…"
"Okay, clearly you're a long way from home. Do you know your phone number? An address?" Henry had grabbed his cell phone.
"I live in Storybrooke."
Henry froze dropping his phone on the table.
"I live in Storybrooke Maine."
A/N: Next chapter will feature Storybrooke, and we will meet some of the old as well as new residents as they search for Lucy, as Henry attempts to get more information from Lucy as he brings her back. Let me know your thoughts.
