*the timeline is different from the actual show*

"You're not from around here are you?"
The voice came from behind, startling him slightly, but he quickly composed himself.
"No, my Land is very different from here." He replied. He got up off the bench he was sitting on to face the mysterious voice. To his surprise, a beautiful woman stood before him. He had never had time for women in his Land, but he might make an exception for this one.
She walked closer to him and held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Ruby."
He took her hand and shook it. "And I'm Victor."
"So if you're not from the Enchanted Forest, what exactly are you doing here?" She asked.
"I was supposed to be making a deal with the King, but I wasn't interested. I stayed a while longer because this Land is intriguing to me."
"Really? You like it here?" The disappointment in her voice was obvious
He looked confused. "You don't?"
She sighed. "It's not that I don't, but I've spent my whole life here, Victor. And I've spent a lot of that time hiding who I really am. I just want to get out and see other Lands."
"You definitely wouldn't enjoy my Land, if that's what you're thinking. It's a Land Without Colour. Literally. Everything is black and white. That's why this Land intrigues me so much; all these colours I've never seen before." He absentmindedly stroked the sleeve of her coat as she blushed. "Like this coat. What colour do you call this?"
She giggled. "It's red and it's my favourite colour."
"Yes, I can see why." He replied. "It looks very good on you." This caused her cheeks to redden yet again.
Victor was enjoying this conversation with Rub; he had no one back home who he could talk to. The closest thing he had to a friend was his brother and he was almost certain that he could not be saved. He didn't want to go back to his Land as there was nothing for him to go back for. But he also could not stay here in the Enchanted Forest. No one knew him; he didn't belong here.
He sighed loudly. "Ruby, I should go and find Jefferson."
"Leaving so soon?" She questioned, sounding genuinely quite sad.
"Do you want me to?"
"No." She answered honestly. "I like talking to you. And come on, you've hardly seen any of my Land! Surely you can stay a little while longer?"
"Well, I suppose it's not hurting anyone if I do!"
Ruby grinned at him and he couldn't help but smile back.
"Come on then!" She said, taking him by the wrist and dragging him off to show him her favourite spots.
She showed him all around the Enchanted Forest. The places where she liked to eat, places she liked to think, places she liked to hide away from her grandmother and occasionally pointed out the colours, making sure that Victor knew them. She spent the day showing him around and for the whole time, Victor was conscious of how close they were to each other. They seemed at ease in conversation together and even on the rare occasion when there was a silence, it didn't feel awkward at all. He would miss this when he left; it felt nice to have someone to talk to after all his time alone. He wondered if Ruby didn't have any friends either, but figured she must do. He didn't quite understand why she was wasting her time with him.
She stopped abruptly, almost making him slam into her. She looked up at him and smiled.
"This is a place I don't show to many, Victor, it's my favourite place to come to." She lifted back the branches of the trees and headed through. She took his hand to guide him in.
"Wow." He said in awe. "It's beautiful." There behind the trees was a magnificent lake surrounded by flowers.
"I know, I like to just come here and look." She sighed happily. This was the only part of the Enchanted Forest she would miss if she ever got to leave.
At the same time, both of them looked down at their hands and realised they were still holding them together. They both blushed, but neither of them let go.
"Victor, I don't want you to leave." Ruby admitted. "I've had such a happy day today."
"As have I, Ruby. It's been lovely to have someone to talk to again. But I don't belong here."
"But you could. You could stay with me. I'd introduce you to everyone, then you'd belong."
"I don't think your grandmother would like that."
"Maybe not at first, but she'd get used to it."
"Ruby." Victor sighed. He felt like he was disappointing her and he didn't want that. "Back in my Land, I'm known as a monster, you shouldn't want to be friends with someone like me."
"But isn't that the point? You're known as a monster there, then you could have a new start here."
"Ruby..." He started.
"No, Victor, I'm a werewolf for crying out loud!" She stopped herself. Victor raised his eyebrows in slight surprise, but that revelation actually explained a lot. Ruby looked and saw that he wasn't even remotely horrified, so carried on talking. "Yes, I'm a monster here. That's why I want you to stay. Not many people understand me. Heck, a lot of people just want to kill me."
"I wish I could. Today was the best day I've had in such a long time because of you."
"But?" She asked.
"But I can't stay here." He stated simply.
"We could ask Count Von Stilskin!" She exclaimed. "His castle isn't too far from here." She started to walk off. He ran in front of her, put his hands on her shoulders to stop her and looked her straight in the eye.
"Ruby, I can't stay here." He repeated his earlier statement.
"Then I'll never see you again."
"Of course you will! I'll come and visit whenever I can. I'll make arrangements with Jefferson."
She was shaking her head as he spoke. "No, Victor, you don't understand." He looked confused. "There's an Evil Queen in this Land, she goes by the name Regina. She's bringing a curse upon here and soon this Land will be gone and we'll be transported somewhere horrible. If you go back to your Land, you'll never be able to return here and the curse might not hit you. Then I'll have no one to talk to like we did today." She seemed genuinely upset. Despite only having known each other a day, the way that they had spoke made it feel as though they had been friends for years.
He looked at her sympathetically and she carried on the story. "My best friend, my only friend really, Snow White, she's pregnant. The baby will be the key to breaking the curse eventually. The baby is due in two weeks and that's when we think the curse will hit. Couldn't you stay here? Just for two weeks?" She asked, giving him the puppy dog eyes.
It weakened him. "Fine." Victor finally agreed. "Let's go to Count Von Stilskin then."
Ruby grinned happily at him and took hand, leading the way to Count Von Stilskin's grand castle.