Chapter One – The Return of Magic
XXX
In the town of Storybrooke, a sixteen year old girl was nosily digging through one of her fellow students' sketchbook, strangely fascinated by all the precise, beautiful drawings and wondering where he learned to draw like it. She didn't know the boy much, but he was always drawing, so she figured that it was about time she saw if it was a waste of time or if he was actually good at something.
He was brilliant at drawing, and Lola Lorie wished that she could keep one of his drawing for herself. This, of course, was out of the question. Although she didn't have any parents or guardian, she knew that thieving was wrong. One would think that taking someone's sketchbook out of their backpack and bringing it to their foster home was considered thieving, but Lola named it borrowing.
It wasn't like she wasn't going to give it back. She always promised herself that she would give the things she took back – unless it was food, which she would gladly eat if it was good, or if the thing broke, because if it was easily broken than the person shouldn't miss it in the first place.
Lola closed the sketchbook and placed it on her bedside table. There was no one else in the foster home except her, which made it more lonely than normal. The foster mom was never actually there, except when she cooked and cleaned for the house, but other than that the foster mom and the little girl never spoke or made eye contact. Lola was always alone, for as long as she could remember.
She had no friends, but that wasn't her fault. Everyone in Storybrooke lived by routine, but Lola was more of an adventurous sort of girl, and she wanted nothing more than to leave the town – but something always stopped her. For some reason, she knew that leaving Storybrooke wouldn't be good news for her, so she never even went close the the boundary line.
She wasn't the only one who noticed odd things happening in Storybrooke. A little ten year old boy named Henry Mills, the mayor's adoptive son. He was a loner, like her, and when he figured out that she, too, was abandoned by her real family, he had instantly took a liking to her, and followed her around everywhere. There was nothing wrong with the kid, except that he was six years younger than her, so she wasn't as close to him as she could have been.
He was weird, too, again, like her. He carried around a big block of a book – she despised reading – about fairytale stories. At first she thought it was sweet – a little kid so interested in bedtime stories – but then he started to actually believe that the characters in the book were real. She remembered awkwardly sitting next to him as he pointed out who was who.
Snow White was his kind teacher, Mary Margaret; his own adoptive mother was the Evil Queen; Jiminy Cricket was his counselor; and so on and so on.
She had faked a smile and wondered if it would be alright to call him crazy, which she decided against when the kid looked up at her with bright eyes. Lola might be tactless, but that didn't stop her from having a heart.
"So who are you?" she teased. "You're cute enough to be Pinocchio, but you're not an obsessive liar."
The wind rushed by them, flushing his cheeks as he smiled up at her.
"Oh, I'm not a fairytale character," Henry had said knowledgeably.
"Then what are you doing here?" she raised one eyebrow at the kid's seriousness.
"I'm the child of the Savior," Henry told her. "Emma, Snow White's kid. She's going to be coming here soon to break the curse."
Everything he said went right over her head except one thing. "Snow White has a daughter?" The idea was laughable as Lola remembered the little black haired Disney character locked in a glass coffin.
"Yes," Henry said. Behind the bench they were sitting on, the clock tower chimed three times, making them both jump. "I have to go home." Henry exclaimed hurriedly, getting to his feet and closing the book.
"But you haven't told me who I was yet," Lola smiled. "Or should I guess? Am I Gretel? Rapunzel? Ooh, am I Cinderella?"
Henry had smiled at her, and with all seriousness, he said, "Not even close. You're Goldilocks."
Before she could process this, he tugged his giant backpack up his shoulder and took off towards his house, where he would be tucked in and told that he was loved.
Lola still remembered that day. It was the day everything changed. Henry had been missing for a while and when he was finally found, he had brought home a woman. The woman was his real mother, Emma Swan, and somehow her appearance changed everything. Lola had never heard the clock move until Emma was there.
The blonde girl shook her head, clearing the memory. Strange things happened now that Emma was here, but that didn't mean that she was the Savior. Lola refused to believe that she was Goldilocks – the naive little girl who never got a happy ending. She had hoped that if she were a fairytale character, then she would at least have a good life in the story, but apparently none of her lives were supposed to be happy.
"Look at you," she said to herself. "Believing in what a little boy said? There's no such thing as magic or talking bears, stupid. Keep this up and you will be as naive as Goldilocks."
She hopped off her bed and padded her way across her room. She felt restless, like something was about to happen. Things have been happening, one problem piling up on top of another. Ever since Emma Swan came people were murdered, people found true love, people woke up from comas, and everything was being questioned. It wasn't Emma's fault, Lola knew, because despite the lady ditching her baby before he could even speak, she was nice.
Lola sighed, picking through her few clothing and slipping it on. She wouldn't stay in her room all day, that much she knew.
Lola brushed off her blue blouse and faded jeans before looking at her large mirror over her dresser. She wasn't stupid, she knew why Henry was so insistent that she was Goldilocks. With her curly gold hair that reached the middle of her back, large gray eyes, and round face, she looked frighteningly similar to the way the young character was usually portrayed, but they had significant differences. For one, Goldilocks looked to be about nine years old, while Lola was sixteen. Second, Goldilocks usually wore little dresses and she wore her hair in two pigtails, while Lola liked jeans, combat boots, and to leave her hair down. And third, Lola knew when to cross the line when it came to borrowing – she would never spend a night in someone else's bed without their permission.
That's another thing that unnerved her. Henry might be crazy with all the characters-are-real-people nonsense, but the characters he assigned to everyone were usually very similar. Lola knew that her and Goldilocks shared some personality traits – like being extremely picky with their things and borrowing stuff. Mary Margaret was nice enough to be Snow White, and pretty enough. Emma Swan looked like the kind of person who would be able to save them. Regina, the Evil Queen, apparently, wasn't evil as far as Lola knew, but she was brutal and ruthless. And Archie Hopper was very much like Jiminy Cricket with all his wise, moral statements.
Lola shook her head. "You are not Goldilocks."
Without a second glace at her appearance, she marched out of her room and left her lonely foster house.
XXX
The night was dark and cold, the wind blowing so hard that the poor fourteen year old girl was stumbling as she tried to stay on the dirt road. She hardly wore any clothing except a tatter blue dress, white stockings, and little black shoes. Her blonde hair was curled so much that it barely passed her shoulders, and it was whipping in her pale face and flying around her. The woods around her were disturbingly quiet, and she was losing hope in finding a place to stay. She was beginning to think that the dirt road led to no where but more suffering, which she didn't think she could handle.
Tears slipped down her face when she tripped over a rock hidden beneath all the dead leaves and dirt. Laying there on the ground with her face and clothes streaked with dirt, she felt all her hope of finding a better place leave her, so she curled in a protective ball and wept.
She only stood there for three minutes before she heard the rustle of a cloak, and the soft thud as someone walked quietly towards her. Fear gripped her heart and she lurched her head from the ground, gazing up.
The person standing above her wasn't threatening in the slightest, which instantly made the girl breathe a sigh of relief. It was just a boy – probably ten years old. He wore a thick brown coat that was probably made out of bear skin, thick black boots, a furry scarf, and large brown pants. Under his furry cap she could see his thick black hair trying to escape. She couldn't help but think that he reminded her of a bear cub, and she smiled slightly at the thought.
"Who're you?" she asked, raising herself into a sitting position and smiling kindly.
"My name is Willis," the kid said, frowning at her as though he vaguely recognized her. "Who're you?"
"I'm Goldilocks," she said.
The boy's eyes widened at that, and he gazed at her with awe. "Princess Goldilocks?" he mused. "You're the princess?"
"Not anymore," Goldilocks told him, her bottom lip quivering as she wiped the tears from her eyes sadly. "I ran away."
The boy's eyes softened and he knelt down so that they were the same height. He had little brown eyes that looked kind, and his round cheeks were flushed from the cold. He looked like such a sweet kid. "Why? Did someone hurt you?"
"No, nothing like that," she said. "I'm just tired of being stuck in the palace and not being able to explore anything around me. My mother didn't get that, so I left. I still haven't found a place I want to stay and... and I'm afraid that I might not ever."
She said that last part tearfully as the full impact of her decision hit her. She would never want to go back, but at least she had a soft bed and food there, but the future ahead of her seemed bleak and full of misery.
"Well, you found the right path to take a nap in, then," the boy smiled at her, showing two sweet dimples on each side. His teeth were large for a kid, like a animal's, but that only made him all the more different and special to Goldilocks.
"Is that so?" she said. "And why is that?"
"Because I'm gonna be your knight in shining armor," the boy said proudly, putting his fist to his chest. "You can stay in my house for as long as you like, Ex-Princess Goldilocks."
She hardly let herself believe it. "Are you serious?"
"Of course," the boy smiled. "My parents won't mind having a pretty girl like you around."
Goldilocks blushed at the compliment, but was pleased. "Well, if your parents don't mind, Willis," she allowed. "I guess I'll stay with you."
Willis grinned at her before standing to hit feet and holding out a chubby little hand for her. "I'll lead the way, it's not far from here."
With absolutely no hesitation, she grabbed his hand, ready to start her very first adventure.
As they walked, Goldilocks didn't feel alone and lost anymore, but actually excited. The boy walked calmly even when the wind bit at his face and pushed him as hard as it could, like he had faced this sort of weather all his life.
"Have you always lived in the woods?" Goldilocks asked him.
"No," the boy shrugged. "Me and my parents used to live in a little village, but then we got poor and had to leave before we starved. We take care of ourselves out here now."
The story sounded so sad, but he didn't look heartbroken in the slightest, so she assumed it was alright to press on.
"Do you ever miss it?" she asked. "The village? Being around people? The parades and the events?"
"Our village didn't have any of those things," the boy admitted. "Our king and queen ignored us and crimes happened everyday. I loved it there, but I can't stop what happened."
"The royals sound like terrible people," Goldilocks declared. "Did you ever meet them?"
"No," Willis said shortly.
"Would you ever get revenge on them for ignoring your home?"
Willis glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. "I don't know," he said. "Would you?"
Her opinion wasn't asked much, so the question took her by surprise. She thought for a moment, and instantly got her answer. "I would," she said firmly. "No one deserves to be ignored, especially by the people who are supposed to be taking care of them."
They walked in silence after that, Goldilocks too busy mulling over her own words to think up a conversation. Her mother was who she was thinking about when she said that, her own mother who was supposed to be taking care of her was too busy with her own affairs.
"We're here," Willis said, gesturing forward.
Goldilocks looked ahead of her and gasped loudly. She didn't know what she was expecting, but a cute little cottage wasn't it. It had wooden walls and a roof made of stones, trees towered over it on both sides, covering it from bad weather, and the windows were wide open as the wind rattled them and made them smack against the walls on either side.
"Shoot!" Willis exclaimed, rushing forward. "I always forget to shut the windows."
Goldilocks followed him in wonderment. The cottage was obviously homemade, but she couldn't even think about how long it must have taken the poor family to build it. She had servants and maids doing everything for her: putting on her clothes, combing out her hair, opening her doors... she never had to work hard in her life.
"It's beautiful," she said with honesty. It wasn't a castle, but somehow the knowledge of knowing that it was made by Willis and his two parents made it even better.
Willis said nothing as he slammed the windows shut and locked them together. When he turned around, he wouldn't look her in the eye. She smiled a bit at that; shyness was always something she found endearing.
"Can I get a tour?" she urged.
"Uh, sure," Willis said, gesturing towards the wooden door. "There isn't much here."
She opened the door and let a gasp escape her throat. "I've never seen anything like it before!" All around her she could see that everything was precious to the family, and that they were really close. There was a shallow round table with three chairs around it, a fireplace with three armchairs, and a shelf with three columns of books, the top having the thickest and the bottom having the thinnest.
"Yeah, we all have our own things," Willis said. "We're not good at sharing, it usually ends in a fight, so we know what belongs to who by the size."
Goldilocks walked into the house, her little black shoes tracking mud and dirt onto the clean wooden floor. It was cold in the house, and the chairs didn't look comfortable, but it was a step closer towards her happily ever after.
"It's cute," she told Willis, who nodded and shut the door, locking it. "Do you have anything to eat? I'm starving."
Willis blinked at her abrupt question. "Er – yeah, I do. I don't suppose royalty has ever tasted porridge?"
Goldilocks tilted her head to the side with curiosity. "No, I'm afraid I've never heard of it. Is it any good?"
"It's my favorite," Willis said. "Though I've never made it before. But I've watched my mama make it enough times to know how it goes."
The boy took off his large coat and hung it on the smallest hanger, he then kicked off his boots and tore off his scarf and hat. She giggled when his thick black hair stuck up in all directions, making him look scruffy. She was never allowed to look so disheveled, but she supposed she looked worse considering her little episode in the middle of the dirt road.
Willis grinned at her. "There's a bathroom upstairs if you need to clean up," he told her. "You can use my mama's clothes if you like."
"Thank you," Goldilocks smiled, before racing up the stairs without further instruction. There were four doors on the second floor. One of the doors reached the ceiling, another was a normal size, and another was a bit smaller, but tall enough that she could walk right through without bending down. The door nearest the stairs was a normal size, so she tried that one first. Sure enough, it was a bathroom.
The bathroom was small with a bucket full of yellow slop and a large silver tub she assumed they took baths in. Hesitantly, she approached the little bucket, leaned down, and sniffed. The most awful scent reached her nostrils and she jerked up, holding her nose. "Pee-yew!" she hissed, the smell making the fine hair on her pale arms stand up.
She took a step away from it and continued to look around the strange room. The only other things that were in the room was a giant window that was locked and a large wardrobe that could have fit four people inside of it.
She opened the wardrobe doors and was greeted with a large clean mirror on the far right and three smaller doors on the left. She pulled open the door farthest to the right. It was full of large, thick clothing that when she tried on hung off her body.
"Too big," she murmured to herself, putting it back.
She opened the next door and pulled out a flowery dress that flowed around her when she tried it on. "Too floral."
Finally, she opened the last door and was greeted with clothing that was the size of the boy downstairs. She tried on one of the best looking shirts in there and examined herself in the mirror. The blue cotton shirt hugged her body, but was a bit too tight around the shoulders, so she stretched out her arms, and her heart stopped when a ripping sound tore through the quiet room. Heart beating quickly, she yanked off the shirt and almost sobbed when the entire shirt was almost split in two except for a small piece of thread connecting the halves.
"Too small," she squeaked.
She jumped when someone knocked on the door.
"Hello?" the boy's voice floated through the cracks. "Is everything alright? Your porridge is done."
Goldilocks gulped and stuffed the shirt in the back of the wardrobe. "Uh – yeah, everything is fine. Why don't you go and make sure the porridge is just right?"
There was a pause, where Goldilocks stared wide-eyed at the door, hoping the boy would leave. Then - "okay. Hurry up, though. Porridge gets cold really quick."
"Sure," Goldilocks tried not to sound too relieved.
When the sound of him going down the stairs faded, Goldilocks snapped the doors shut and backed away from them. Looking at herself, she figured that her clothes were better than the family's, and all she had to do was wash off all of the dirt to make it look better. With that in mind, she felt better. Her hair was wild and her eyes were swollen red, but she still looked presentable. Her mother would be proud.
Goldilocks closed the wardrobe doors after scratching and pulling at all the dirt clumps in her hair and went down the stairs to fill her stomach.
XXX
"Where were you, kid?" Lola ruffled Henry's soft brown hair affectionately when she seen him sitting alone in the park. "People were looking for you all morning."
"I was with Emma," Henry shrugged. His brown eyes were down-cast, and he didn't look like he was in the mood to talk, but Lola sat next to him anyway.
"You really have to stop running away," she told him. "You nearly gave half the town a heart attack."
Again, Henry shrugged.
"Hey," Lola said softly, giving his shoulder a gentle bump with her own. "Why so down, Henry? Isn't Operation Cobra becoming a success?"
Operation Cobra was what he called his mission to save Storybrooke from the curse the Evil Queen cast. Cobras had nothing to do with fairy-tales, of course, but it seemed to make sense to Henry, so Lola didn't question it. Luckily, what she said was a good thing, and he finally responded with actual sentences.
"Emma was going to leave," Henry said, his cute little voice sounding so terribly sad that Lola wrapped her arms around him immediately. "She doesn't want to be the savior, but she has to, or you and everyone else will be sad forever."
"Oh, Henry," Lola said, unable to think of anything else to say. "We're not unhappy. Emma isn't responsible for how we live our lives."
"You are unhappy," Henry insisted. "You're not supposed to be an orphan, you're supposed to be a princess ruling a kingdom."
"I thought I was Goldilocks," she raised one eyebrow at him.
"You are," he said. "Goldilocks is a princess."
Lola felt a smile tug on her lips. "If I was a princess then why was I stealing from a family of bears in the middle of the woods?"
"Because you ran away," Henry said with his blunt matter-of-fact tone. "Your mom wouldn't let you go on adventures so you didn't want to rule a kingdom. You got lost and the baby bear found you."
Lola frowned at him. She loved fairy tales – she used to read them to herself every night – and she knew for a fact that Goldilocks didn't get found by Baby Bear until after she used his stuff and slept in his bed.
"I think your book has it's stories mixed up, kid," she informed him.
"No! It has everything exactly right!" Henry insisted angrily. "You don't believe me either!"
"Of course I believe you!" Lola lied.
"You're lying," Henry said. "You don't believe me or you would have done something!"
"What would I do?" she asked him.
"Help me convince Emma," Henry asked. "She listens to you."
This wasn't true. The only times Emma listened to the younger blonde was when Lola told her things about Henry – like how he loved to read, how his favorite thing to chew on was gum, how he liked cinnamon in his hot chocolate, and how he always took the long way back home because he didn't want to spend much time with the mayor. Lola also told Emma how before she came, Henry was always sad and thought no one loved him. She thinks that was the reason why Emma truly stayed in Storybrooke, because she knew that Henry needed her.
It wasn't that Emma didn't like Lola or anything, but the age difference was significant, more than the age difference between Lola and Henry. Emma couldn't be friends with a sixteen year old girl – their experiences were different, their ways of looking at life were different, and so therefore their opinions were different. Lola was much too innocent for someone as cold and distant as the sheriff.
That was one of the reasons why Lola was so lonely, too. She was never around kids her own age, except the routine-obsessed kids at her tiny high school. She was mostly around adults who looked at her like she was immature – a little girl they were fond of.
"Oh, Henry," Lola said sadly. "I can't do that."
"See?" Henry said. "You don't believe!"
Henry ran off, leaving his book behind in his sadness. Lola sighed and grabbed it. It was surprisingly light for a book so large, and the cover was rough under her fingertips. She had seen the book a hundred times before, but she had never actually looked inside. Curious, she flipped it open to a random page and gasped.
On the right page were a bunch of tiny words, but on the left was a large picture of a girl with hair so curled it barely passed her shoulders, large gray eyes, and a round face. The picture looked painted, so the features weren't detailed, but even so...
For the first time in about a year, Lola let herself listen to Henry.
He had been right about weird things happening in Storybrooke. There were no crickets or any sort of animals, the clock had never ticked before Emma, the supposed savior, came, and as hard as she tried to remember, she couldn't think of the time she first came to the town. She didn't remember ever meeting Mary Margaret, or the mayor, or her foster mom, or Ruby, or... or anyone. Her life before Emma had been as routine as her classmates, yet she had never questioned it before right then.
Gazing around the cute little town, Lola felt like it was her first time ever seeing.
You're Goldilocks.
She gaped at the picture in her arms in wonder. The girl, Goldilocks – her – was holding a bowl of what Lola assumed to be porridge. Beside her was a small boy with thick black hair and flushed cheeks, and even though it was painted she could see his brown eyes gleaming with wickedness.
XXX
"This is delicious," Goldilocks smiled at the small ten year old boy in front of her. "I can't believe mother never thought of telling the servants to cook this."
Willis nodded mutely, glancing at the grandfather clock next to the now roaring fireplace. It was six o'clock.
"Where are your parents?" the blonde princess asked the boy, swinging her feet on the big chair. She was sitting on the largest chair, which was uncomfortably hard under her bottom, but she forced herself not to complain.
"They'll be here at any moment," Willis said calmly. "They went off hunting."
"Oh," Goldilocks wished that she could have come earlier, so that she could have joined them. She'd never hunted before, but the thought of sending arrows flying excited her. "Is it easy to hunt?"
"It depends on what you're hunting," Willis said, stirring his porridge and smirking. He glanced up at her, and the look in his eyes made Goldilocks slightly uncomfortable. "But sometimes... yes, it's terribly easy."
"Oh," she said again, not sure how to respond to such a vague statement.
She was saved from thinking up another conversation when Willis suddenly got to his feet. "I'm sorry – you asked for a tour earlier. Would you still like one?"
"Of course!" Goldilocks beamed, dropping her wooden spoon in her empty bowl and hopping off her chair.
"Follow me, then," he said, holding out a hand for her.
She took his small hand in her own and he tugged her until they both went up the stairs, and she was again greeted with the four odd doors.
"This one is my dad's room," Willis went to the second door, which was the largest, and pushed it open. It groaned and squeaked at having to move, but when it stopped it looked just as tall and intimidating as before.
The room made Goldilocks feel like she walked into a baby giant's bedroom. Everything was larger than it should be – the dresser, the bed, the carpet, and even the closet door. Goldilocks was fourteen, and like any little girl, when she seen a large bed like that, she couldn't resist pouncing on it. She face-planted on the mattress, expecting to bounce high, but it only stirred a little under her before becoming still.
"Ouch," Goldilocks sat up, rubbing her sore nose. "Does that bed have rocks in it?"
Willis laughed. "Most likely, my dad doesn't like anything soft."
What an odd man, Goldilocks thought. "That's strange. My mom loves soft things. Soft clothes, soft beds, soft skin... if something isn't soft than she doesn't like it."
"My mama, too," Willis said. "I think your mama would love my mama's room, then."
Without further prompting, Goldilocks let the boy lead her to the medium sized door, and this one slid open easily. The room had floral designs everywhere, making the girl wrinkle her nose, and everything was clean and polished from the mirror to the floor. The bed was a normal size, but the blankets looked thick and the pillows plush.
"Your parents don't sleep in the same room?" Goldilocks asked, touching the soft stitching of the blankets.
"We don't like to share," Willis said simply, as though it were normal. "And besides, my mama would hate to fall asleep on Papa's rock mattress, and Papa would hate to sleep on Mama's soft mattress."
"I guess I could see their point," Goldilocks nodded. After all, what was the point of sharing a bed? "Can I see your room?"
"Follow me."
The next room was boyish and messy with shoes and clothes on the ground and the pillows that were supposed to be on the bed were on the floor. Goldilocks stepped into the room and looked around with interest.
"Are all boys' rooms messy?" she drawled, picking up a pillow and placing it on the bed.
"I don't know," Willis said back. "I haven't been in a boys' room for years because I can't visit my friends anymore."
His voice had changed. The polite, distant voice she thought he owned had turned scathing and full of hatred. The tone scared her, so she didn't turn to face him, hoping that if she ignored it than it will go away. I'm fine, she thought. He's just a sweet little boy.
"I can't do anything but sit in my room and wait for my mama and my papa to return because those royals are too selfish to think of other people for a change," Willis continued angrily. "Do you have any idea how boring it is to do the same thing over and over? To have millions of things to explore around you but you can't because you're trapped? My mama and papa won't let me leave because they're scared that leaving something unattended will make us even more poor. Can you believe it? Even when we're far from civilization we still worry about money."
"I'm sorry?" Goldilocks whispered, too amazed to say anything. "I understand. I get it. That's why I ran away – for adventure."
"But you're a princess!" Willis roared, his voice so frightening that the poor girl whipped around out of fright. He was standing at his wardrobe, his hands clutching a gun that was pointed straight at her.
"Willis!" Goldilocks choked, backing away so quickly that her head bumped into the wall behind her. "What are you doing?"
"What am I doing?" Willis' brown eyes didn't look sweet anymore, but scary. They were far too cold to belong to a ten year old boy. "I'm doing what's right! You ran away! You were supposed to stay and become a queen so that you can take care of your kingdom but you ran away because you are selfish!"
"Willis – no!" Goldilocks sobbed, tears streaming down her round face. "Please don't kill me! I don't want to die!"
"Do you have any idea what's happening around you?" the boy demanded, crying also. "Your parents are neglecting their own land! Villages are dying! Killing and stealing is the only way they can live! Me and my parents had to run away just so we could survive your parent's steep taxes! You were our last hope! We thought that once you were queen, things would change! But you left!"
"I'm sorry!" Goldilocks sobbed, her tears blurring her vision and her knees shaking underneath her. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Don't kill me!"
"We believed in you," Willis glared at her. "I checked on the village every day or so because I wanted to see if you finally stepped up, and guess what I found out instead?"
He kept the gun steady in one hand, still trained on the older girl, and dug in his pockets with his other hand. There was a crumple of paper and he took out a flier with a face of a girl on it. Goldilocks blinked away her tears and gazed at a picture of herself.
"Your mother is going to pay a lot to the person who finds you," Willis said. "Enough to get me and my family out of here, and more. The funny thing is, the flier doesn't say if it wants you dead or alive."
Goldilocks shivered, but it wasn't from the cold. "Are you going to kill me?"
Willis dropped the paper and grasped his gun. "Don't take it personal, Princess, but you really shouldn't have ran away."
Her own scream ripped through the air as she felt a pain in her chest, before she collapsed on the small bed beside her, the world going black.
XXX
"Emma! Emma!" Lola slammed her fist on the rusty old white door of Mary Margaret's house. She had been there for about ten minutes, so she waited a couple of more before taking off. She wasn't sure why, but she felt like she had to tell Emma the truth fast before something terrible happened.
She knew it was silly to believe in everything Henry was saying just because she didn't hear crickets chirp, or because the clock hadn't worked, or even because of her own bad memory, but even though the proof was small, it was still enough to make her doubt herself. Henry was just so sure about it, and it made sense if you just believed in magic. There had to be a reason why no one had left Storybrooke until Emma came, or the reason why hardly anyone came into Storybrooke until Emma came.
The uneasy feeling that took shelter in her stomach stirred again, and Lola found herself running down the street, past the clock tower. Everyone was walking normally, neutrally, like they were all in a trance, like they had no other purpose but to just live. Lola felt suddenly trapped, like she had no other choice but to live each day over and over and over again the exact same way unless a certain person decided to change things...
Lola hadn't noticed that she stopped until someone pushed her roughly aside.
"Move!" Mayor Mills snarled, running up the steps of the hospital.
"Hey!" Lola protested, steadying herself and following the black haired woman. "Have you seen Emma?"
Mayor Mills paused and turned to glare at the young girl with deep hatred. The look on her face made Lola take a step back. "No. I haven't. She said she was leaving Storybrooke."
Before Lola could ask anymore questions, the mayor rushed into the hospital. The uneasy feeling increased, and Lola followed her.
Everyone was rushing everywhere when the sixteen year old walked in, and she got shoved around a million times before she caught sight of the mayor again. When she got to the room Regina stalked into, her heart stopped.
Five people were leaning over a small boy. A doctor, three nurses, Mayor Regina, and Sheriff Swan. But it wasn't them that Lola was staring at.
"Henry!" Lola wailed, rushing forward to the pale boy on the bed. He was as white as his sheets and made no movement to indicate that he could hear her. The doctor was holding up his eyelids and flashing a light in his eye. "No, no! What happened to him?"
"Girl, you shouldn't be here!" one of the nurses grasped Lola's shoulders and started to push her out, but Lola resisted.
"What happened?" she demanded to the doctor, trying to fight against the nurse, who was older and stronger. "Do you know what happened?"
"He ate this!" Emma cried, shoving a bag that contained a pastry under the doctor's nose. "It was poisoned! Do something!"
"He isn't showing signs of being poisoned," the doctor told her helplessly. "It has to be something else. Think of any little detail! What else could have made him like this?"
Regina stared wide-eyed at the pastry. "The apple... it was meant for you!"
Emma paused in her bag-waving to stare at Regina. "You! You poisoned him!"
"He isn't showing signs of being poisoned!" the doctor repeated loudly.
The nurse almost got Lola fully out of the door, but what Regina said made a light bulb shine above her head, and a new-found strength exploded in her limbs. She shoved the nurse aside and raced up to the two heartbroken mothers.
"Emma! Operation Cobra!" she cried. "Henry was right about everything! All the story book characters are real!"
Emma looked ready to break down at that moment as she looked down at the younger blonde. "Lola, this is real life, you can't base everything off of fairy tales."
"But it's true," Lola insisted.
"What? What's real? That you're Goldilocks?" Emma looked down at her with tearful blue eyes. "Do you understand how crazy that sounds?"
Lola felt her own tears build up in her eyes. "But it's the truth! You really are the savior, just like Henry said. Look!"
Lola flipped through the pages again to find the picture of her in it. When she showed it to Emma, she covered her face in her hands and backed up a few steps. She looked seconds away from tearing her hair out in frustration.
"I understand that it all sounds insane," Lola pleaded. "But how else could Henry collapse after eating Regina's – the Evil Queen's – apple pastry, but show no signs of being poisoned. It's because it's magic, Emma! You have to believe!"
"Look, kid," Emma said, grasping both of her shoulders and looking her firmly in the eyes so that blue met gray. "I understand that you're lonely, and that you're looking for a bit of hope, but you can't just pretend that you came from a fairy tale to make it all better. You have to face you problems and change things yourself. I'm not your savior, the only one I'm responsible for is Henry, and right now he needs me."
A knot formed in Lola's throat at these words, so all she could do was nod. Emma stared at her for a bit longer, her eyes soft and sympathetic, before she let go of her shoulders and started to dig through her kid's backpack. The nurse started to push her out again, and this time she didn't fight her.
"Wait," Lola choked when the nurse was about to close the door on her. "Can you – can you give this to Henry? It's his favorite book."
The nurse glanced down at the hardcover book of fairy tales and nodded. When the door closed, cutting off all the rushing and chatter, Lola finally let a tear slide down her cheeks.
It was dark outside. The sunny day turning murky and sad. She hugged herself as she walked down the road, unable to stop Emma's words from running over and over in her head. What she had said echoed what Lola herself had told Henry, but when it was said to her by someone she looked up to... she couldn't believe that she had told Henry that.
It was no secret to her that she was Henry's only friend. He had the grown ups, but Lola was the closest to his age, and he took her opinions to heart. She wondered if it hurt as badly as she was hurt when she practically called him crazy.
She wiped another tear that ran down her cheek, trying to think of something else – anything else – that would make her happy, but she kept coming back to point one. She had no happy memories. If there was a curse, Regina did a good job at it, because there wasn't any point in Lola's life that she didn't feel alone. She supposed that she was supposed to feel like that, considering her parents had abandoned her.
She wondered if Goldilocks was an orphan, too. She really should have read the story, just so she could feel connected or understood by someone.
So lost in her own thoughts, she almost didn't notice when David Nolan walked past her.
"David?" she paused in her own depressed thoughts to notice that the handsome man was crying, too. "Are you okay?"
David quickly wiped away his tears before turning to face her fully. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine..." he trailed off when he got a good look at her puffy face that was streaked with tears. "Lola! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Lola lied, not really knowing why she did. What was wrong with her? First she pushed Henry away when he could have been a good friend, and now she was pushing someone who was going to comfort her away. It was like she wanted herself to be unhappy.
It's the curse, a voice that sounded a lot like Henry whispered in her head.
For the first time Lola pictured the mayor as an evil queen. Now that she took into consideration that the stories Henry sprouted were real, she could actually picture Regina cackled to herself as she watched everyone in the town live on miserably. Anger gripped Lola's heart at the image. There was no way she was going to let some evil queen take over her life and her decisions, and there was no way that she was going to wait around for Emma to save her from her own life.
"No, I'm not," Lola said truthfully to David, taking a step towards him. "I'm really, really not."
David closed the distance between them and she allowed him to give her a hug, something she couldn't remember ever getting before.
"Everything's wrong," Lola sobbed. "Why am I so unhappy all the time? It's like every time something is there to make me feel some joy – something else takes it away."
"I know how you feel," David admitted. "Except that something taking away my happiness is me. I keep making mistake after mistake and it's all my fault."
Lola sniffled. "Just tell Mary Margaret how you feel and keep fighting for her. If it's meant to be, you'll always find each other."
David's chest shook as he chuckled. "Yeah, that's what I thought, too. But I can't keep staying in a place where I'm unhappy. I'm moving to Boston tonight."
Lola jerked out of his arms. "What? You can't!"
David looked surprised, his arms falling to his sides. "I have nothing left for me here. Everyone hates me and Mary Margaret doesn't want me here."
"But you can't leave!" Lola insisted. "Henry was poisoned! He's in the hospital and he could die! You need to help Emma save him!"
David looked shell-shocked. "What?" he whispered in disbelief.
"You heard me," Lola growled. "Are you really going to leave when Henry needs you the most?"
David searched her tear stained face, as though he would find the answers there. "No, I won't."
XXX
She felt arms wrapped around her legs, and shoulders digging into her hips, but her torso was hanging over someone's back. The person carrying her like a sac of flour walked briskly but silently, just how she always thought a hunter would walk, so they wouldn't startle their pray. She heard birds chirping and people whispering, but everything merged together to a dull hum that made her head pound.
At first she remembered nothing, but then all the memories caught up to her at once, leaving her dizzy and lightheaded. The boy, the rooms, the gun. She could feel a bruise over her heart, where she got shot, but she knew that she wasn't dead. Death shouldn't be this uncomfortable.
She opened her eyes a bit too quickly, and groaned when bright light assaulted her vision. Her head pounded as though she had been banging it against the floor for too long.
"I hope she didn't cause you any trouble," a familiar voice simpered.
"Not at all, Your Majesty," another familiar voice said quietly.
"You can put her in there," Queen Rapunzel said. "Dear, I think you can give the Bear family their reward?"
"Of course, Rapunzel," King Phillip said.
Goldilocks was put down gently on a wooden floor, the movement causing her to wake up fully. She blinked up at the man who had been carrying her. He looked familiar – thick black hair, kind brown eyes, olive-tone skin. It only took a moment for her to realize that it must be Willis' dad.
She lifted herself onto her elbows and took in her surroundings. She was in the back of what looked like a carriage, but the back door had bars on the window, as though she were a prisoner. Outside she could see her mom, Rapunzel, her dad, Phillip, Willis, Willis' parents, and a handful of guards. Phillip was handing Willis' mom a large bag of jewels, gold, and silver.
Rapunzel and Willis' dad were standing above her.
"Sweetie," Rapunzel smiled down at her, cupping her cheek in her abnormally pale hands. "You gave me and your dad quite a scare."
Goldilocks ripped her face away from her. "No. No – Willis! Please don't let her take me! I thought we were friends!"
Willis' eyes met her's, and for a moment she dared to feel hope, but it was ripped cruelly away from her when he looked away, as though he never even heard her.
"Willis! Willis, please!"
Her cries were ignored. Rapunzel stepped back and allowed the guards to close the doors. Goldilocks scrambled to her feet and grasped the bars of the windows, trying to yank them off. Her mom gazed up at her with wide gray eyes.
"Oh, sweetie," she whispered so only she could hear. "Why did it have to come to this?"
"Why do you keep me locked away?" Goldilocks sobbed.
"Because if I don't you'll run away," Rapunzel's face crumpled. "I can't let you get away."
"But you know what this feels like," her daughter pleaded. "Please, just let me be free."
Rapunzel searched her face, her own eyes watering considerably, before glancing away as though she couldn't bear to see her daughter.
"I'm sorry," she whispered hoarsely. "But I can't."
And with that, Goldilocks' last chance at an adventure free from duty was stripped from her, leaving her bare and vulnerable.
XXX
"We would like to visit Henry Mills," David told the lady at the front desk.
"Right down the hall to the right," the lady replied, waving her hand vaguely behind her.
"Thank you," David said.
With the directions the lady gave them, they would have been lost for sure, but Lola already knew the way. When they made it to the room, she felt her heart break all over again.
Henry looked worse since the last time she'd seen him. His skin matched the blankets that were tucked around him, making his dark hair contrast heavily with the rest of him. His eyes had dark circles under them, as though he hadn't slept enough, and Lola wondered if that was a symptom from being poisoned, or if he had already had those there, but no one noticed. She didn't know which was worse.
"Oh, God," David said, sitting in the chair next to Henry. "What happened to him?"
"He ate something that was probably poisoned," Lola replied, not telling him the whole truth just in case he called her crazy like Emma had. "But the doctors are saying he isn't showing signs of being poisoned. No one knows how to help."
"Where are Emma and Regina?" David asked.
"I don't know," Lola said. "But someone should be here for him."
Lola took a seat at the foot of his bed and held his hand. It was so cold and stiff, like he was already gone. The thought made her throat close up, so she glanced around the room and thought of anything to say.
"You know he thinks you're his grandfather?" Lola blurted out randomly.
To say that David was surprised was an understatement. "What?" he smiled, as though it were a joke.
"Yeah," Lola said, glancing nervously at him. She wondered if she would trigger some old memories. "Apparently Emma is you and Mary Margaret's daughter."
"I'm not old enough to be a granddad," David pointed out.
"Well, you're Prince Charming and Mary Margaret is Snow White, and we're all under a curse that makes us live unhappy forever," she said as casually as she could. "I'm Goldilocks, in case you were wondering."
"Do you have a grandkid, too?"
"No, not that I know of," Lola smiled. "But I'm a princess, which is ten times more awesome."
David laughed.
Lola's eyes caught something underneath Henry's pillow. The big square of a brown book. The nurse must have put it there. She grabbed it carefully, not wanting to knock Henry's head around, and opened it to a random page. She could see a man with a cape kneeling to a woman in white. Again, it was a painting, but Lola could see the resemblance between David and Prince Charming, and again with Mary Margaret and Snow White.
"This is his favorite book," Lola said in wonderment. "I've seen it millions of times but I've never even read a word of it."
Lola glanced up at David. "This part is about you, you know," she said, half joking. "I think you should read about your other life."
Before he could protest, she put the book on his lap, and watched his eyes widen as he, too, noticed the resemblance.
"And yes, she was beyond hope, beyond saving. This was her end," David read aloud. "When Prince Charming saw his beloved Snow White in her glass coffin, he knew all that was left was to say goodbye. He had to give her one last kiss, and when he did, true love proved more powerful than any curse. A pulse of pure love shuddered out and engulfed the land, waking up Snow White and bringing light to the darkness."
He stopped.
"What is it?" Lola didn't even realize that she had been whispering. He looked like he was remembering something, could it be...?
"Nothing," David said, giving his head a little shake. "I just had a feeling that I've heard this before... maybe I've read the book when I was a kid."
"Do you remember being a kid?"
"No..." David looked confused. "I don't... but I don't remember anything before I was comatose."
Lola felt deflated. She had forgotten about that.
"Uh... this is a good... a good book," David said, closing it. "I can see why Henry likes it."
Lola nodded mutely, and was saved from making a reply when Mary Margaret walked in. Everyone paused when they noticed each other, and a heavy silence fell when the two grown ups met each other's gaze.
"I came to, uh, see Henry," Mary Margaret said, clearing her throat a little.
Lola patted the empty space next to her. "We did, too."
Mary Margaret hesitated, but sat down. She held Henry's limp hand for a moment, but the awkward silence was thick, and Lola needed to escape.
"I need to use the bathroom!" she said, a little too loudly. "I'll be back."
She scampered away from them, on search for the bathroom.
When she left the silence wasn't awkward, but uncomfortable. Mary Margaret pursed her lips and furrowed her brow, looking a little angry.
"I thought you were leaving," she said tightly, not looking at him.
"I was," David said. "But I heard about Henry and thought I should do something to help."
"And what is that?"
"I-I don't know," David admitted. "But I couldn't leave."
Mary Margaret nodded slowly, still not looking at him. "David, I stand by what I said earlier. You and me... it can't happen."
"I know," he swallowed the hurt he felt, but knew that he deserved it. "I just wish there was something I could do that would change that."
"There isn't," she said coolly.
David nodded. "Then I just want you to know... I love you, Mary Margaret."
She finally looked at him, her eyes showing the hurt she felt when he didn't believe her, and the hurt she was feeling at what she was about to say. "And I love you, too. But this can't happen, David. It can't."
She closed her eyes and turned away from him, refusing to let him see her tears. She didn't have to hide them for long, because he got up and left, maybe for the very last time.
Three minutes later, Lola came back.
"Where did David go?" she asked, taking his seat.
"He left," Mary Margaret closed her eyes in pain.
"Why?" Lola demanded. "I thought you two were working it out. Did he tell you that he loved you?"
"Oh, Lola, it's not that simple," the teacher said sadly.
"Why not?" Lola demanded. "Because he didn't believe you when you were accused of murdering his wife? Most of the town didn't believe you, but you forgave them!"
"It's different when it's someone you love," Mary Margaret said softly. "You wouldn't understand."
Lola snuffled the hurt and continued angrily. "You're right! It is different. Isn't love about forgiveness? Don't you see, Mary Margaret? You're letting your only chance at happiness walk away! You can't let that happen or Regina will win!"
The teacher paused, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. "Regina? What does the mayor have to do with any of this?"
"She's the Evil Queen!"
Mary Margaret stared at the sixteen year old with wide eyes. "Lola, those fairy tales aren't real."
"Yes, they are," Lola moaned. "Henry has been right all along, but no one listened to him! You really are Snow White, that man you just sent away is your Prince Charming, and Emma really is your daughter! Think about it – Henry passes out right after eating an apple pastry Regina made for Emma – the only person who can break the curse she cast – yet Henry is showing no signs of poison. It's because the technology doesn't pick up the magic."
The teacher suddenly looked very tired. "Lola, all of that isn't real," she sighed. "This is real life. There isn't always true love or happily ever afters." She looked down at Henry and grabbed his hand again. "I remember when I gave Henry that book. I gave it to him because I knew... I know life doesn't always have a happy ending..." she looked up at the younger girl, her eyes filled with tears. "But I thought-"
Beeping filled their ears, and both of them jerked from their seats, staring at the heart monitor, which was showing a straight line.
"What is that?" Lola demanded, her eyes wide. "What is that?"
"Doctor Whale!?" Mary Margaret called, staring at the monitor in horror. The doctor came barging in with a group of nurses, all of them muttering to each other but none of them making sense. "Doctor Whale – what is that?"
They ignored the two girls, pushing them aside and crowding around Henry, touching his wrists and neck but getting no reaction. Lola raised a shaky hand to her mouth, tears streaming down her face.
"No, no, no," Lola wept. "This wasn't supposed to happen. He's supposed to live."
"Get them out of here!" Doctor Whale ordered, and they both were ushered out of the room, both of them too much in shock to actually fight.
She was right, Lola thought. There are no happy endings.
Lola didn't remember much of anything else. She and Mary Margaret made their separate ways without a word to each other. Lola wasn't sure where she was going, but she knew she had to get as far away from Henry as she could, because if she took one look at that boy, she would break down.
Her feet found their destination. She was alone in her foster room with nothing but her barely used stuff to keep her company. She collapsed on her small, rickety bed and stared up at her flaky ceiling.
What had she been thinking? She wasn't a princess. She was an orphan that no one wanted. A girl people spoke to but never actually got close to. It wasn't Regina's fault that she was unloved and unhappy – it was her own. She had pushed Henry away when he offered friendship, she had pushed all her happiness away. She could have made something of herself, but instead she was a self-pitying orphan was blamed make believe Evil Queens for her own failures.
"I'm no Princess," she whispered to herself brokenly. "I'm just an orph..."
She felt felt herself be pushed a little but a gust of wind, and the blonde strands of her hair fell in her face, but she barely noticed.
"I am a princess," Lola breathed, her eyes wide. "And none of this is my fault."
She heard people screaming outside her house, everyone reuniting with their loved ones and cursing the Evil Queen for putting them all there in the first place. Lola rushed to her – or was it Goldilocks'? - window and gazed out in wonder at all the people who had remembered.
She had been right. Henry had been right. Somehow, Emma had saved them all from an eternity of misery, and now everyone was getting back together, ready to begin their happily ever after.
Goldilocks shook her head in wonderment. Two lifetimes were bombarding in her head, trying to take over. She didn't even know her own identity – was she Lola, the sweet little sad orphan girl, or was she Queen Goldilocks, the strong ruler of the seventh kingdom? She loved both her lives, even though both brought misery and sadness, but how could she chose which to be? She knew that she should choose Goldilocks, because Lola was someone made up by Regina, but not all of the orphan girls' memories were sad.
She was spared from making her decision at the moment when something came floating from above the trees. A dark purple mist leaked into the air and slithered over buildings speedily, looking dangerous.
"What is that?" she asked herself, moments before it seeped through her window and engulfed her and her room in it's dark depths.
XXX
A/N: Alright, I know that the clock doesn't work until magic comes back but I changed it. Also, since Lola/Goldilocks is there, some things are bound to change. Like how Emma came into possession with Henry's book, and how David read from the book and not Mary Margaret, but other things stay the same – like magic returning and Henry living.
I won't be going through episodes piece by piece because I want to get to season three quickly, so there will be time skips. Also, I know that there are way too many flashbacks in this chapter, but I had to show you the difference between my Goldilocks, and the one the Grimm brothers made. I promise Lola will have some action, too, but I needed to introduce her first – you know, ease her into the story like she's always been there.
Rapunzel isn't a major character, so don't worry. I just needed Goldilocks to have a mom, and Rapunzel is sort of awesome, so I chose her. Phillip is my creation and he really has no big parts in my story.
Lola isn't all about Henry and she isn't abnormally brave, so don't expect her to risk her life for him, please? She's young and has a life of her own that she wants to keep. But she is a princess who puts many before herself, so be prepared for a lot of selfless acts.
Hope you like my story and are waiting eagerly for the next update.
Everything recognizable belongs to whoever made Once Upon a Time.
