AN: Hello everyone! So this is my first crack at a OUAT fanfic. I wrote this right after the finale but I hadn't gotten around to posting it until now.

Disclaimer: Alas, I do not own these fine specimens of Once Upon A Time.


The purple cloud billowed and swirled throughout the town of Storybrooke before it reached its final destination; the clock tower that rested above the abandoned library. As the second hand ticked one last time, the clock froze at 8:15 before the purple cloud dissipated into the air, leaving as quickly as it had arrived.

James hesitated for a few minutes before he pulled away from Snow and captured her face in his hands. "Are you alright?"

Snow nodded as she locked eyes with her husband. "Yes, yes, are you?"

"I'm okay," James answered before he lowered his hands. One of his fingers gently twisted around an errant black curl. "Snow, your hair; it's long again."

Snow looked down to where his finger tangled in her hair and giggled. "So it is."

James flashed a smile at her before he took in their surroundings. To his dismay, he realized they were still stuck in Storybrooke, Maine. People on the surrounding streets milled about as they appeared to be in the same haphazard state that they were in.

"That cloud…I think it might have been magic," James murmured.

"Well considering my hair's new growth, I would have to agree," Snow quipped.

James chuckled. "Point well taken, my love."

"Magic in this world cannot be a good thing. It doesn't exist in this realm which means there could be consequences," Snow explained before she furrowed her eyebrows. "Something doesn't feel right."

James flashed concerned eyes at her. "What do you mean by that?"

Snow opened her mouth to answer but the sudden boom of the clock tower gave her pause. She, along with everybody else who was walking nearby, looked up at the town clock in confusion.

"James, wasn't it after eight o'clock when the purple cloud appeared?" Snow questioned in confusion.

"I believe it was, yes," James answered.

Snow cocked her head as the chimes continued to ring out. "Then explain to me why the time once again reads eight o'clock?"

Charming peered up at the clock face and witnessed the long hand pointed at the twelve as the final bell rang out.

"Strange," James murmured before he saw his wife out of the corner of his eye suddenly hunch over and clutch at her abdomen.

James immediately reached out to steady her. "Snow! What's wrong? What is it?"

A groan escaped her throat as pain spread through her, but it only lasted a minute. When the clock ticked to 7:59, the ebony-haired princess straightened up as if nothing had even happened.

"I'm okay," Snow breathed out as she took in James' concerned look.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine Charming, honestly. The pain went as fast as it came. I just wish I knew what caused it…it felt so familiar," Snow pondered as she glanced up at the clock once more. "Well, that answers that; time is definitely going backwards."

"Snow White!" A voice bellowed out from across the street.

Snow and James both turned to find Granny and Red coming towards them. A smile reached both of their faces as they ran to meet them halfway.

"Red!" Snow cried as she enveloped her friend in a tight hug. "I've missed you my friend!"

"It's so good to be ourselves once more, although I must admit that I am perplexed that we hadn't returned home once the curse was broken," Red confessed as she pulled away from Snow. "I wonder why we're still trapped here in this dreary world."

"I honestly don't know…wait," Snow paused as she realized something. "Magic might have been restored to us which means…your cape, Red. Where is your cape?"

Red and Granny shared a questioning look before they turned to face the royal couple.

"Rest assured Your Highness, we'll find it," Granny explained before she rested a hand on Red's shoulder. "Besides, how sure are we that magic has fully been restored to us?"

Snow was about to bring up her hair when a sudden buzzing noise whirled around them before it hovered next to Snow and landed on her shoulder. It was none other than Jiminy Cricket.

"Trust me, magic is back," Jiminy chirped out.

"Jiminy, you've returned to your old self again," James said, stating the obvious.

Jiminy pointed his umbrella behind them. "I'm not the only one, Prince James; Look."

Everyone turned to where his tiny umbrella pointed and gasped. Colorful dots swirled in the sky as fairies fluttered out of various buildings. A few dozen fairies surrounded a huge whale with the help of fairy dust out of what appeared to be the hospital building. A familiar white rabbit in a tailored vest ran down the road with a pocket watch in his hand while a bear family stopped to let him pass before they crossed the street to embrace a golden-haired girl. A black unicorn trotted out of the shoe store a few blocks away with a high heel in its mouth as a bunch of little elves ran after him. Magical beings were everywhere and it gave the royal couple hope that they might indeed return to their land.

James and Snow smiled at one another briefly before Snow's eyes suddenly widened. She reached out for her husband's hand and started tugging.

"We have to get to the hospital, now!" Snow demanded.

"What? Why must we go there?"

Snow paused and turned to her husband with a beaming smile. "Emma."

Charming's eyes lit up at the mention of their daughter's name. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Oh, I must be going too! I need to find Geppetto and Pinocchio," Jiminy countered before he flew off Snow's shoulder and left.

"Red, Granny, we'll catch up later! Good luck finding your cape!" Snow exclaimed as James pulled at her hand in earnest.

Red and Granny watched in delight as the couple ran down the street together, both oozing with excitement at the thought of finally being reunited with their daughter.

"I'm afraid getting your cape back will come at a price," Granny stated as the smile left her face.

Red sighed sadly. "Rumplestiltskin has it, doesn't he?"

Granny patted her granddaughter's hand and nodded. "I'm afraid so, my dear."


When the purple cloud filtered into the hospital, Emma had grabbed Henry and held him tightly against her body, just as her father had done with her mother a few blocks down the road. She felt the thickness of the fog enter her lungs as she breathed it in and she silently hoped it wasn't a poisonous cloud that would've made her presence in the town be all for nothing. A sudden gust whirled around her and she felt her skin tingle with static. She tried to tighten her grip on Henry but her arms suddenly felt very empty. She forced her eyes opened but all she could see was blackness until the cloud disappeared and daylight returned. She blinked a couple times until her eyes adjusted and she looked down in horror; Henry was gone.

"Henry?" she cried out as she straightened up and looked around. She noticed all of the staff had also disappeared. "Henry, where are you?"

"He's gone Your Highness," a small voice answered behind her.

She turned to see who spoke and found herself face to face with a fairy; the blue fairy that she immediately recognized. "You're a fairy?"

"Yes, as were most of the hospital staff and nuns," the blue fairy explained as she hovered before Emma.

"Where's Henry? And what the hell was that purple cloud?" Emma demanded.

"Henry is no more and as for the purple cloud, well that was magic being restored."

Emma eyed the fairy. "So that's how you became a fairy again?"

"Yes. With the return of magic, some of us have returned to the magical beings we were before being cursed," the fairy explained.

"Please, where…" Emma started but the unexpected chimes of the town clock made her stop in confusion. She remembered it was eight o'clock when she had awoken Henry with a kiss. There was no way it had been an hour since then. "Where is Henry? He can't just disap..ahhh!"

Emma dropped to the floor as her entire body was in sudden, agonizing pain. She screamed in anguish as she curled herself up into a tight ball and tried to breathe through the tortured ache that seemed to run deep down and right to her very bones.

"Do not fret, Your Highness. It's almost over," the blue fairy murmured as she hovered near Emma.

Just when the savior thought she couldn't take it anymore, the pain vanished. She released the breath that she had been holding and looked around in confusion before slowly getting to her feet.

"Stop calling me Your Highness," Emma snapped as she stretched her limbs. "What the hell just happened to me? What's going on?!"

"I'm afraid that won't be the last time you experience that Your…Princess Emma. The curse has been broken and with the return of magic, time is being restored," The blue fairy explained.

Emma was about to snap on being called princess but she figured the fairy would find some other word to represent her royalty so she let it slide.

"Restored? That doesn't make any sense. Time was frozen when the curse was enacted," Emma countered.

"Not for everyone, Princess Emma. If you recall, you and Pinocchio have aged over the past twenty eight years."

"Henry aged too," Emma added solemnly.

"Yes, but Henry was the product of two worlds that should've never crossed paths. He wasn't supposed to be."

Emma narrowed her eyes. "So you're telling me that my son was forbidden?"

The blue fairy nodded. "In a way, yes. He has a father that isn't a part of our world which would've made him unable to return to the Enchanted Forest, regardless of who his mother is."

"That means Henry really is gone…forever," Emma realized.

"Not necessarily. Henry played a very important role as your conscience to help you discover your true identity; your very own Jiminy Cricket so to speak. Once the curse was broken and magic was restored, young Henry had to be released for he is not one of magic himself. Fear not though Princess Emma, for when we return to our land, Henry may still have a chance to exist, but under different circumstances," the blue fairy consoled.

"What like he returns as a magical wizard or as my kid brother or something?"

"Or something," the blue fairy muttered before she flew closer. "I understand Henry was your son and you're mourning his loss, but you need to focus on yourself right now. The next 27 hours are going to be very trying on you and Pinocchio…"

"Oh my God, August! I mean Pinocchio, whatever," Emma started. "He turned to wood the last time I saw him. Is he…will he be fixed now that the curse is broken?"

"Oh my, that's unexpected," The blue fairy mumbled before she forced a smile. "I will go check on him, Princess. Where did you last see him?"

"Granny's inn," Emma responded.

The blue fairy nodded before she flitted away.

Emma, now all alone, walked to the bed that Henry had occupied just minutes ago and collapsed onto it. The tears flowed freely as she curled onto her side and fisted the sheets tightly to her face. Her son was gone and she felt truly lost, surrounded by the unknown and strangers from a foreign land.

Henry belongs to this world more than I do. She thought to herself as she cried harder than she had ever allowed herself to cry before.