The war within the Realm had waged one for years. It all started when Cora's daughter, Regina, stood up to her mother and refused to play her games. With the help of others in the Realm, Cora was banished to Wonderland. They thought that would be the last they would ever see her again and thus the Realm lived on in peace.
Regina found her true love, Robin Hood, and together they had a daughter who they named Anya. Anya lived happily and grew to love someone unexpected by all and bore the power of the True Love's Kiss. With this Kiss, Anya was able to break the Curse placed upon him when he was young. If only this could have lasted longer.
Once the Curse was broken, Cora – now the Queen of Hearts – appeared before them and ripped out his heart, crushing it before Anya's eyes as she said, "If I could not have Regina, then I shall have you."
It was soon discovered that Cora had teamed up with the Black Fairy and waged war on the Realm together – them both having their own desires for revenge. Anya teamed up with her family and dearest friend, Gideon, in the fight against the Queen of Hearts and the Black Fairy, but alas…they did not succeed.
The Black Fairy managed to cast a Curse upon the Realm to drain all Light Magic. Gideon knew it was only a matter of time before his magic was lost and had to do something before it was too late. Both he and Anya had lost too many people they loved – he couldn't let Anya be another casualty of this war.
Gideon and Anya ran to the courtyard of Snow White and Charming's castle, evading the advances of the Queen and Black Fairy. Anya pulled one of her enchanted arrows from her quiver, already feeling their magic lessening. "If you have a plan, Gideon, now's the time to share it."
Gideon answered her by using the last of his magic to conjure up a Portal but there was only enough magic to send one person through.
Anya gasped at the sight of this. "What are you doing?"
"Saving your life," Gideon replied, taking her hands in his. "I am sending you somewhere the Queen will never find you. She will never blacken your heart. I would rather die than let that happen."
Anya felt tears in her eyes as she looked into his. "You're not coming with me, are you?" When he shook his head, she exclaimed, "Then dying is exactly what you're going to do!"
Gideon pulled Anya close and kissed her goodbye. "It would be worth it to know you're safe." Without another word, he pushed Anya into the Portal watching it close moments before the Queen of Hearts and Black Fairy entered the courtyard.
"Where is she?" The Queen demanded to know.
"Somewhere you'll never find her," Gideon replied then pulled a vial from his cloak and drank it, putting himself under a Sleeping Curse, even though he knew that there would never be a way to awaken him. It was worth it for him…Anya was safe.
Or was she?
The Portal that used the last of the magic her Gideon had opened within the town lines of Storybrooke. Anya fell out of it with a bit of a tumble but quickly got to her feet. She notched her bow with an enchanted arrow and felt it at full power. 'So there's magic here,' she thought to herself, debating whether or not that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Anya looked around with her bow and arrow raised, ready to shoot at anything that might come near her. She lowered the weapon slightly as her eyes came upon a green metal sign with the words 'Welcome to Storybrooke' printed upon it. Anya lowered her weapon completely and walked over to the sign to tap it. "Where did you send me, Gideon?"
She turned away from the sign and tried to walk away from it, but hit a boundary spell instead, instantly recognizing the magic. "Mother's…" she whispered to herself and touched the boundary line again, just to feel a bit of magic that her mother had used before. Once sentimentality had passed, she brought herself to her logical senses – going over what she had learned so far. This land had magic, apparently the village was named Storybrooke, and someone who used the same magic as her mother was there. At least the same spell.
Anya's brow furrowed in thought as she wrapped her bow around her, adjusted her long black cloak over her blue peasant's dress, and started walking towards the town of Storybrooke. She knew she wasn't going to get any answer just standing there in the middle of an odd looking road with a yellow line running through the center of it, so she followed this yellow lined road.
"Reminds of me Oz," she said to herself, remembering a visit there to see her aunt Zelena, the Good Witch of the West, before the war started in her Realm. Staying on the yellow lines, Anya followed them all the way into the town.
To say that Anya had never seen a place such as Storybrooke before would be an understatement. She had traveled to many lands before in her Realm, but never anything such as the likes of this. The chariots were metals and had no horses attached. The buildings were nothing like she had ever seen before, and everyone was dressed so…different. If Anya wasn't going to draw any attention to herself then she was going to have to find a way to blend in.
Her wish was granted, so to speak, when she passed a little shop with clothing in the window. Anya stepped inside and was greeted by a nice blonde woman who asked if she was one of the refugees. Anya didn't answer because she did not like to lie and allowed the woman to come to her own conclusions.
The blonde woman smiled saying, "You've must have been wandering around the forest for awhile if you're just now coming into town. Let me get you something to wear, free of charge of course for the first time, and if you go to Granny's they'll find you a place to stay."
Anya still didn't answer and followed the woman towards the racks of clothes. "You are talented seamstress," she commented, looking at them all.
"Oh, I don't make any of these. I just work here part-time. The clothes actually come from…" She looked as if she was about to elaborate but decided against it and pulled some things off the shelf. She handed Anya a pair of black pants, a black long sleeved shirt, and a dark blue jacket. "These look like they should fit you. There are shoes over there, feel free to try them on and take a pair that fits."
"Thank you," Anya replied with a bow of thanks and went off to change into the new attire.
As she changed into them in the small chamber, she caught a look at herself in the mirror. Her long, wavy brown hair was in disarray, her eyes were tired, and even though she was young you could tell she had seen very much in her life. This was true, Anya had seen more death in her lifetime than anyone ever should. Thinking back upon the first death she witnessed at Cora's hand, she gripped onto the wooden bird pendant hanging from around her neck and closed her eyes. Not a day passed without her thinking about him and missing him dearly.
Anya knew she was told the new attire was free of charge, that didn't stop her from leaving a gold coin on the counter before leaving the shop. She left her clothes from her Realm in the little changing chamber and didn't think about them again. She had much to explore and just as much to learn.
First, lodgings. The woman from the shop told her to go to a place called Granny's so, Anya started looking for such a place. After walking for a short time, she stopped with a gasp at the sight of the Dwarves crossing the street. "Grumpy?" Anya closed her eyes and opened them again, just to see if she was seeing things but she wasn't. Grumpy and all the other Dwarves were crossing the street together to go no other place than Granny's.
Anya couldn't believe her eyes – there was no possible way Grumpy could be there. He and the others had been killed protecting the Royal Family. But…there they stood…looking as young as ever. "Where did you send me?" Anya asked aloud and jumped about fifty feet, thanks to her guard being down for a moment, when a young voice said from behind her,
"Talking about Hyde? You don't have to worry about him anymore," he smiled and held out his hand in greeting. "I'm Henry. Welcome to Storybrooke. Looks like you already met Ashley at the shop. Have you found a place to stay yet?"
Anya thought she was going to burst into tears at that very moment. Henry Charming was standing right in front of her…alive. "How?" she asked in a breaking voice, needing to know how they were all alive.
"How, what?" Henry asked curiously and when he looked at her more closely he felt like he'd seen her before. "What's your name? I'll see if you're in the book so you can finish your story."
"Anya," she answered, wishing that Henry would recognize her, know her, but it was sinking in that this wasn't her Realm and these were not her people…despite how much they must look like that. Anya realized that Henry must be waiting for her last name so she added on, "Hood. My name is Anya Hood."
Henry looked surprised to hear that. "Any relation to Robin Hood?"
Anya caught her breath when he asked her that. "Yes, yes! Is he here?" Forgetting for a moment that this wasn't her friend, Henry, she grabbed his hands frantically asking, "Where is he?"
Henry was starting to get the feeling that there was more to this girl than possibly being from the Land of Untold Stories, so he said, "I think we should go to Granny's and talk…"
And talk they did, Anya told her a bit about her Realm and those there, and Henry surmised that her Realm - while similar to the Enchanted Forest, etc - was a completely different dimension.
At the end of some exchanges and comparisons, Henry regrettably explained to Anya that Robin Hood had been killed by Hades. After this, neither one of them went into more detail about the happenings in their respective realms.
Anya knew that the Robin Hood from this realm wouldn't be her father, not really, but hearing that she wouldn't even see him in any way again broke her already fractured heart even further.
Henry saw this on her face and said, "I'm really sorry, Anya."
"You didn't kill him," Anya answered in a matter-of-fact way. "So you have nothing to apologize for."
Henry hoped that he would be able to help her another way so he asked, "Hey, who's your mother? Maybe she's…"
Anya cut him off by standing up from the table at Granny's. "I do not want to know. Thank you for the warm beverage, Henry, and for explaining some things about this new world to me. I owe you one, and I always pay my debts." Without another word, Anya bowed her head in thanks, picked up her bow and quiver and left the diner – still not having found a place to stay for the night that would be approaching sooner than she wished. Anya knew lodgings would have to be found soon but there was so much happening so fast that Anya was doing everything that she could to keep up.
Anya explored the town for awhile but seeing all the faces of long dead friends became far too much for her to handle. She darted down a little alley beside Mr Gold's shop and dropped to the ground in tears. "Why here?" Anya cried out. "Why did you send me here?!" she screamed out, even though she knew her Gideon couldn't hear her. There was only so much her heart could take and she was on her way to the breaking point – just what the Queen of Hearts wanted.
Anya hit her head back against the wall and cried, but soon jumped up to her feet when she movement at the entrance of the alley. Seeing who was standing there almost made her break down. "Belle," she cried and ran to her, despite knowing this wasn't the Belle from her Realm.
Belle had no idea who this girl was but she was hurting and her heart went out to her. "It's alright. You're going to be alright." She pulled back and smiled comfortingly at the girl. "Why don't you come with me and have a cup of tea?"
Anya laughed at the invitation because different realms or not, this stayed the same. "Yes, please."
Belle led Anya into the shop and once they entered, Anya saw another face she knew all too well. "Rumplestiltskin."
Rumple stopped when he heard his name spoken and asked Belle, "Who is this?"
"I don't know," Belle answered, "but she seems to know us."
"A version of you at least," Anya answered, walking closer to Rumple. "You're both so young…Gideon must not be born yet, or a baby if he is."
"You know our son?" Belle gasped, "How?"
"From my Realm," Anya answered then explained with what she knew, "Henry believes I am from an alternate dimension of your Enchanted Forest. Time must be different there because everyone here is so…so young."
"Or perhaps the Dark Curse was never cast," Rumple suspected and given the look on her face, he knew he was right. "What is your name, child? And how exactly do you know our son?"
"My name is Anya and Gideon is…well…I loved him," it was true, he was such a dear friend and she loved him very much. Anya would have never survived the death of her True Love without him. It took Anya a moment but she realized something in his tone as he spoke, "What is the matter with Gideon?"
"What makes you think something is the matter?" Rumple asked curiously, trying to determine whether or not this young woman was playing a game with them or not.
"Because I grew up with your son," Anya answered. "At least the Gideon in my Realm. I've known you for almost all my life. I can tell when there's something wrong. Did something happen to your Gideon?"
Belle answered before Rumple could get another word in. "The Black Fairy took him when he was a baby and now…now he's grown and wants to kill the Savior."
Anya gasped upon hearing this. "The Black Fairy is here? No…no." Fear and worry waved through her body. "What about the Queen of Hearts?"
This intrigued Rumplestiltskin. "Now, my dear, why would you ask about her?"
"Because in my Realm the Queen of Hearts and the Black Fairy waged war that killed everyone I loved. Gideon. They placed a Curse on my realm that drained the essence of all Light Magic and with the last of his magic, Gideon sent me through a Portal to save my life. But now I wonder if I am here to save his."
Rumplestiltskin, bringing himself to his own conclusion about who exactly this girl was to Gideon in her Realm, was starting to think that perhaps she was just who they needed to get save his son.
End Episode 1