Disclaimer : I do not own Once Upon A Time.

Chapter 1: Do not ignore the signs

T sighed from her place on her bed. She stared at the blank white ceiling above, willing her eyes to create anything of interest. Nothing. And for what seemed to be the one hundredth time this week, Tiana Mills was bored. Painstakingly bored. Life in Storybrooke wasn't particularly exciting or wonderful. In fact, every morning was the same old thing. They get up, have breakfast, go to school, come home, do their homework, eat dinner in an awkward silence and then it was off to bed. Rinse, wash, repeat.

There wasn't even any of that small town drama that you see on TV. For all her intelligence, T was a huge "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" fanatic. She was there for that shallow drama and crazy family dynamic anytime. Don't even get her started on "RuPaul's Drag Race". Those beings were art personified. The Real Housewives of insert whichever state was her guilty pleasure. Those women were insane. It was like watching aliens exist in how unrelatable these shows were.

The closest thing to that level of insanity was perhaps the relationship between her mother and her younger brother. Henry Mills was a… shall we say peculiar boy. You see her little brother believed that everyone in their town including their own mother was a fairy tale character and get this, their mother Regina Mills was The Evil Queen. You know? The one from Snow White and the seven munchkins. How utterly ridiculous! As if their mother was remotely that cool or interesting. Speaking of which…

Tiana quickly rolled unto her side, pulling her covers with her, before shutting her eyes and slowing her breathing. On cue, her bedroom door cracked upon as the Mayor peered in to check on her eldest. Seeing the girl seemingly fast asleep, the former queen gently closed back the door before moving on to her son's.

Waiting for the telltale signs that her mother had indeed moved on and returned to her room, Tiana rolled her eyes before staring out of her open window. The town clock was in her line of vision and its hands were firmly set at 8:15 not once moving forward.

T felt a lot like that clock, the feeling growing more and more lately. Don't tell anyone but T was afraid. Afraid that if she stayed here, she would end up like Storybrooke and all her inhabitants, frozen in time, never moving forward. She would wind up like her adoptive mother, angry and bitter before it drove her insane like it did Henry. The sound of her mother's bedroom door closing brought Tiana out of her reverie.

She quietly rose from her bed to her window. The crisp autumn breeze tickled her bare stomach and legs and she suddenly regretted her decision to wear boy shorts and a sports bra to bed. Nevertheless, she sat on her windowsill letting the cold air embrace her. Slowly, she brought her knees up to her chest and encircled her legs with her arms. She propped her chin upon her knees and rested her head on corner of the frame.

She felt the hairs on the back her neck stand up as the cold seeped through. What she'd give to have long thick hair in this moment, instead of her big bushy Afro. Regina had had a hard time trying to tame the girl's unruly tough hair growing up. It certainly didn't help that T would often get into fights at school because the children would tease her. "Just rolled out of bed, huh Tiana?" "Seriously you couldn't even try to comb it?" "Do you even water that bush?" Time and time again, she would ask Tiana if they could just straighten it but the girl had always refused stating "This is what makes me, me and I like it. I won't change myself to please them." The Mayor had seen the determination in her daughters deep brown eyes and smiled.

Tiana had always loved her mother's smiles. The genuine ones that reached her eyes. The ones that made her eyes sparkle and glimmer and made her laugh lines more pronounced. Lately however, those smiles were fewer and more and more in between and T felt it was just as much her fault as it was Henry's. The Mills children had started to pull away from their mother, both for very different reasons. Henry because of the whole fairy tale garbage and Tiana for the mere fact that she was getting older and she realized that she didn't want to spend her entire life here in Storybrooke. As a matter of fact, she had applied to the University of New Orleans and just last week she had gotten a reply. She got accepted into their Biological Sciences program with a full scholarship. This was a huge opportunity that she couldn't - wouldn't turn down.

A chance to meet real people with actual personalities. No more small town stereotypes. No more flirty waitresses, pregnant teen moms or creepy store owners and certainly no more of her being the token black girl in her class. A chance to go to a real beach, feel that warm white sand under her feet and float in deep blue water. A chance to go to a zoo or a museum, visit Time Square or see a show on Broadway. Eat some real southern comfort food, try sushi and couscous. T was smiling at herself now. Look at her, getting all excited for the future for the first time in months. Things were changing. T tilted her head to the side and smirked. They were changing for the better. Henry and Regina could always come visit her on campus and she'd come back for the holidays. Heck, maybe a trip out of town is just what Henry needs.

A good dose of reality.

Tiana jumped at the sound of banging on her door. She swiftly flung herself inside just as the door busted open and a frantic Regina greeted her. Maybe it was her panic or she simply hadn't notice her daughters state of undress but Regina rushed over and grabbed her by the shoulders, hugging her close. "You're here." The woman whispered in relief, her hands moving from her shoulders to the small of her back and the other snuck into the teen's Afro. Confused, Tiana hugged the other woman back.

"Um, yes? Where else would I be?" Regina pulled back and looked at her with tearful e

eyes and for a split second Tiana worried that the woman had found out about her acceptance letter. As far as she knew the only other person who knew was Ruby because the brunette had similar plans.

"Henry's gone." Her voice broke as she said it. The strong terrifying Mayor Mills looked absolutely distraught. Tiana could see that the woman was already blaming herself for her son's disappearance.

T was left speechless unsure what to do.

This wasn't her fort. Henry was the one that did the comforting or at least he use to. T ran on logic and gave advice accordingly. A part of her, the logical part of her knew that they should have seen this coming. The boy never hid his distaste for their mother regarding her so call "evil deeds". She knew that her mother was also to be blamed somewhat. That if she'd just stop trying to "fix" Henry and acknowledge the problem being "the curse she casted on everyone in town" which when you look at it, could be some sort of coping mechanism for Henry not having friends and finding out he's adopted. Why she didn't tell him sooner, Tiana had no idea. But as she opened her mouth to share all of which she thought, a single tear slithered down her mother's heartbroken face and T was angry. Angry at Henry for acting selfishly and running off, leaving this mess behind him. Angry at her mother for allowing her pain to be seen in light of his impromptu, or so she hoped, departure. Most of all, Tiana was angry at herself because now, seeing just how broken her family is, she was second guessing her plans.

"Call the sheriff." T managed to growl out softly. No, she couldn't afford to doubt herself right now. She needed to find Henry so they could fix their mess of a family and then she was getting hell out of dodge. Fairy tale theories and the child psych be damned.

Thoughts?