Hi again!

I'm finally getting somewhere with this story. I know exactly how it's going to go from here (I think), so I'm excited about that. :D

It's still dangerous for anyone to try to leave Storybrooke. Lets just keep that in mind, kay? ;)

Hope you enjoy!

Also! This chapter takes place a week after they've moved to Storybrooke. :)


We had been sucked through some sort of portal only hours before, landing effortlessly in the middle of the woods. I had never seen anything like it. Anya seemed to be used to the idea of transporting in that manner, but I'd gotten a headache from it. She had handed me a tin of water, telling me to drink as much as I needed.

As I sit, mesmerized by the flames of our fire, I realize that the memories of my childhood are quite vague. When I try to recall them, I only see flashes of women, little boys, and castles. The women look like me, but I can never recall them long enough to place names with faces.

I glanced over to the other side of the campfire, watching the mysterious Anya through the flames.

It didn't feel like I'd even had a childhood. I glanced down at myself, staring hard. Why couldn't I remember anything? It felt like I didn't even belong in this body.

If I had glanced through the flames once again, I would have noticed Anya staring at me silently.

"Princess." She spoke softly.

My head snapped up and I responded to her with a soft noise.

"I'm assuming you have questions. Considering you're mute, I'll try my best to explain everything. But I need you to answer something...can you remember anything?"

I hesitated. Should I trust this mysterious girl? She did rescue me from that beastly man...

I shook my head.

Anya's mouth formed a thin line.

"Well," She sighed, shifting into a more comfortable position. "Queen Snow warned me that you may not remember."

My puzzled expression must have told her to explain.

"Snow White, Queen of the Enchanted Kingdom. She is your guardian. Your only family."

Anya paused.

"You come from the Enchanted Kingdom. The guards found you somewhere around the gates of the castle, abandoned. The Queen decided to raise you as her own. She and King James took you in. You became Princess Felicity."

So that was my name. Felicity.

"I was appointed your knight. We don't know much about your past or even who your real parents are, but we decided that didn't matter. You were abandoned, after all."

Anya lowered her gaze. I found myself doing the same. Abandoned?

"Unfortunately, as of late, people have been after you. We managed to protect you to the best of our abilities, but you managed to slip into the garden. You've always resented the fact that you must be guarded at all times, so any chance you got, you'd run off on your own.

"It only took one time before that man snatched you up. Rumpelstiltskin, as Snow calls him. He put a temporary spell on your voice. It will wear off within the next few days. But, as your knight, it was my duty to follow him. Considering my ability to change ages, it wasn't hard to get inside."

Anya smirked.

"I hope that's cleared it all up for you. And, within a day's time, we'll be home again."

Home.

The very thought of calling that place, that kingdom, home...

It's bitter.

We had been asleep for what had seemed to have been an hour when we first heard it.

A wolf.

My eyes snapped open, the sound familiar. Unlike this Anya girl, who I've apparently known for years and can't find any familiarity in, the howl of the beast seemed to comfort me.

I tried to push the lingering thought that I belonged with Rumpelstiltskin out of my head.

Anya quickly stood, grabbing her sword. My eyes widened. Suddenly, I wish I had my voice. It's only a wolf, it doesn't deserve to die.

The knight's face softened, as if reading my mind.

"No worries, Felicity. I will not harm the wolf unless if tries to harm you. I'm only setting out to scare it away. Stay down and do not leave the campsite." She ordered.

I nodded, pulling the blankets back around me.

She left quietly, creeping off in the direction that the sounds had come from.

In the silence of the campsite, I felt at peace.

She's hiding something from me. Or, perhaps, she's only telling me what she knows. Perhaps the hesitance and uncertainty in her voice is because she doesn't believe what her beloved Queen Snow is telling her.

Why can't I remember?

"Felicity,"

I jumped lightly, burrowing myself into the covers. A hand slowly lowered itself onto my back. The touch was hesitant.

"Sister, we must hurry. There's no time to be hiding under blankets."

A boy, his voice young and childish. I uncovered my head, staring him in his eyes. His face softened as we locked our gaze.

"It's me. I'm here to rescue you."

He sounded so certain, so happy. He was just as familiar as the wolf's howl and I felt safe even staring at him.

I crawled from the blankets, standing slowly. He held out his hand, his smile wide. A woman in a red hood appeared behind him, looking past me. I held out my hand, inching it closer to his.

"Red,"

This time, it was Anya's voice.

She grabbed my shoulder's, roughly pulling me away from the boy.

"No, Princess. They're evil," Anya hissed into my ear.

"Y-" Ah. My voice. "You're hurting me! Let go!"

My shout shocked the knight, for she let me go, anger washing over her face.

"Anya." The hooded figure, Red, as Anya had called her, stepped forward. The moonlight washed over her, illuminating her with a beautiful glow. My eyes widened at the sight of beauty.

"Come back with us."

Anya's face grew strained, as if the words she was about to speak were hurting her.

"I can't. I would be betraying Queen Snow."

Red gave an emotionless laugh, though it seemed laced with something bitter.

"Can't you see she's tricking you? Did I not train you well enough?"

Red glared at Anya, her face masked with disappointment.

"I guess that question answers itself."

The knight flinched.

"Come, Prince. It is useless. If anything, at least we now know who holds the princess captive." Red grabbed the boy around the shoulders, quickly moving him forward.

"W-wait!" I shouted, holding my hand out as if it would somehow stop them. "You called me sister, little boy. Am I...really the sister you speak of?"

They didn't stop walking, but the boy began struggling against the woman's grip.

"Don't leave me!" I shouted louder, my voice echoing through the trees.

"Please..."

I glanced down, gripping my dress. The ground suddenly became blurry, the wetness burning my eyes. A wracking sob overcame my body and, instantly, I fell to my knees, crying out to anyone who would listen.

"I'm sorry."

The voice echoed through the trees, almost as if the wind was trying to console me. It was nothing but a whisper.

I heard the clutter of Anya's armor as she huddled herself back underneath the blankets.

"We'll set off in the morning. We should be back at the castle by sun down."

That was the last she said before I heard her flip over, facing away from me.

I hiccuped.

"Finny! Finny!"

Finny jumped up, gasping for breath as she held onto the person who kept calling her name. She lifted her head, staring straight into the eyes of Anya.

The knight.

Finny quickly shook her head, trying to forget the dream. Anya reached out, steadying the girl. Her hand brushed the hair from Finny's eyes, a look of worry etched onto her face.

"You alright?"

"Y-yeah."

Anya shook her head, arching her eyebrow.

"You were sobbing in your sleep, Finn. You're not alright."

"It...it must have been a nightmare." Finny gave a smile, trying to stop herself from taking deep gasps of air.

Anya nodded slowly.

"You sure?"

"I'm positive." Finny glanced around, her eyes landing on her clock.

"Three in the morning. Great. Go back to your bed, Anya. Lets get some rest."

Anya hesitantly moved off of Finny's bed, rushing back to her own.

Finny heard her friend curse under her breath at the chilly floorboards. After a few minutes, her breathing evened out and Finny relaxed.

That wasn't even close to a nightmare.

Nightmares were something that you would wake to and be assured that they were just dreams. Things that you could escape by waking up, knowing that you weren't harmed. No, this wasn't a nightmare. It was too real.

She could still feel the agonizing pain of losing something that you loved. Of being left behind and abandoned. Having to go to a new and mysterious place; a place where you had been told you had lived all your life but couldn't, for the life of you, remember.

Finny bit her lip. She had felt all of those things before; she knew them all too well. They were just something that she never wanted to experience again.

And, here she was, submerged in those feelings.

One of them, however, was completely new and totally foreign.

The feeling of familiarity. She had felt nostalgia, sure, but the feeling was never this great. And it usually didn't last that long.

Glancing over at her sleeping friend-or a complete stranger-Finny realized that she must have been sobbing pretty loud to have woken her up.

If anything, being a light sleeper is not in Anya's description.

Slowly inching off of the bed, she crept towards the door, gently shutting it behind her as she exited the room.

A few minutes later, she leaned against the railing of the porch, her head in her hand as she gazed up at the moon.

"These dreams...have to stop." She whispered to herself, closing her eyes slowly.

We awoke quickly the next morning, Anya packing all of her materials up and forcing me to stay put, sitting on a log. When we were transported to our campsite in the woods from Rumpelstiltskin's dungeon (As Anya calls it), a mounted horse had been eating some grass in front of a tree. Anya had told me something about locking the portal onto the location before sending us here, but the headache made it impossible to pay attention to anything she tried to tell me.

Anya shoved some bread and the tin of water back in my face, muttering that this may be my only chance to eat until we get back to the palace. After I was finished, I climbed upon the horse. The knight stared up at me, her face hard. She climbed up in front of me, adjusting herself.

We rode for hours in complete silence. She refused to bring up the people from the night before when I asked, so I refused to respond when she tried to make an attempt at conversing.

After a while, the gravel beneath the horse's hooves turned to a fine stone. Looking up, I realized that we were now riding on a long bridge, towards a great palace. The greatness should've made me gasp or swoon in awe, but I couldn't. In fact, it left me feeling like I had seen better. I didn't feel like this was ever my home.

My home was with those people. Who left me here.

Abandoned.

There was that word, yet again used to describe a situation pertaining to me.

We arrived at a gate shortly after hitting the bridge. With a slight wave to the guards from Anya, it was quickly lowered and we rode on. In the distance of the castle entrance, I noticed a woman standing beside the doors, a look of pure happiness etched on her face.

This woman, I presumed, was Queen Snow. Her hair was in a long, black braid and her eyes were wide and full of wonder. Is this the way I should be staring at her?

Her appearance was elegant; a simple, flowy white dress cascading around her. A simple crown adorned her head and I found it mesmerizing. As Anya commanded the horse to halt, Snow swiftly made her way to us, grabbing my hands tenderly.

"Felicity..."

Tears dotted her eyes and, for some reason, I felt myself grow sick.

Anya hopped down from the horse, standing guard. Snow looked at her, giving her a small nod of the head.

"Dame Anya, thank you for rescuing my Felicity."

Anya gave a somewhat forced smile.

"You're welcome, Queen Snow. Though, it is my job, after all. Comes with the title."

I pulled my hands from Snow's, hopping to the ground from the horse's flank. Snow immediately wrapped her arms around my body, pulling me into a tight hug.

"I missed you," She choked.

I hesitated, placing my hands awkwardly on the small of her back. Her head nuzzled the side of my cheek and she began purring.

Wait-what?

Finny's head snapped back, her whole body jolting awake as she pushed herself into a standing position. She glanced around, noticing the rising sun and the cat right beside the place her head had rested only moments before.

Had she seriously fallen asleep outside?

The cat's tail flickered and its head tilted to the side slowly.

Finny gulped, hesitantly stepping towards the cat.

It had rustic, orange, fluffy fur and a speckle of white surrounding its nose. The most peculiar thing about it, however, was its piercing jade colored eyes. The cat lowered its head, licking at its fur.

The girl stuck out her hand, placing it on the cat's head. She begun stroking gently, her hesitance melting as she heard the cat mewing and purring at her touch.

"Why, hello there, Cat." Finny muttered softly, her face breaking into a wide smile. "What should I call you?"

The cat stopped purring and moved its head to stare straight at her. Due to the piercing eyes, Finny could only think of one name.

"Jadelyn. Just Jade for short, perhaps. But I guess I shouldn't name you until I've found if you have an owner, huh?" Finny laughed lightly.

She could've sworn the cat smiled at her.

Anya glanced down at the cat in Finny's arms, her eyebrow shooting upwards slightly

"Where did you find her anyways?"

Finny glanced over, happiness glowing on her face.

"Outside, of course. And I didn't find her; she found me." Finny shot Anya a wide smile before turning her head to look at the sidewalk in front of her.

Anya groaned.

"No shit, Sherlock."

As they passed the diner, Anya excused herself, waving goodbye to Finny as she headed into her work.

"Well," Finny glanced down at Jade. "It's time to find where you belong."

She pet the cat tenderly, giving a small smile.

After walking around for hours, walking up to people and quietly asking if they knew who the cat belonged to, Finny found herself brightening up. The cat would definitely be hers.

She noticed the back of a woman's head and realized that she hadn't been asked. Finny walked up hesitantly, poking the woman on the back.

As soon as she turned around, Finny realized just how bad of an idea it was.

"Hello there," The woman smiled tenderly, twisting her whole body around to give Finny her full attention.

Finny gulped, looking down.

The woman had black hair cut short, almost like a man's. She had wide brown eyes and the kindest smile. She wore a flowy, white jacket and the loveliest necklace that Finny had ever seen.

If she believed that dreams were a reality, she would've assumed this woman to be Queen Snow.

Finny looked back up, clearing her head.

"H-hi. Uhm, I was wondering if...you or anyone you know of, owns this cat?"

Snow glanced at the cat, reaching out to pet it.

"No, I don't think so. She doesn't look familiar, though those eyes are shocking. Did you find her?"

Finny shook her head quickly, smirking.

"It was more like...she found me."

Finny noticed the quirk of the woman's brow, though she kept smiling.

"My name's Sn-" The woman hesitated before holding her hand out. "Just call me Mary Margret."

Finny slowly placed her own hand in Snow's, smiling timidly.

"I'm Finny. And she's Jade."

"It's nice to meet you! You're one of the new residents, right?"

Finny nodded, confused about the woman's puzzled expression.

"Is something...wrong?"

The older woman shook her head, making a noise of contentment.

"...no, it's nothing. You're just..."

Familiar.

–-_-_-_

"So, you met my grandma Mary Margret, right?" Henry asked, walking beside Finny as he led her to his castle.

"Yeah, I did. She was nice."

Finny watched her cat run off, climbing up the castle steps.

"This is my castle!" Henry exclaimed, climbing the wide steps. Finny followed him carefully.

"It's quite nice. Especially if you fixed it up like a...clubhouse."

"I don't really have any friends to make a clubhouse with."

They sat, adjusting themselves on the edge of the castle.

"Well, you have me. That's a start, right?"

Henry's smile widened, stretching across his whole face as he nodded. Finny smiled back before the acknowledged the sound of waves crashing against a shore. She whipped her head around, gasping at the sight of the ocean. Henry followed her eyes.

"Wait-we do live near an ocean now, don't we?" She gasped, turning to look at him.

"Well, I've lived here my entire life. So, yeah. Storybrooke has a beach, but the water never gets warm, so we only use it for seafood." He scrunched up his nose in disgust. "Where did you live before coming here?"

Finny glanced down hesitantly.

"We lived in North Carolina. I'm from Gastonia, an inland city...surrounded by other inland cities. But the orphans come from all over the state." She nodded.

His eyebrow quirked upwards.

"What moved you guys all the way from North Carolina to Maine?"

"I dunno. Alma seemed adamant on coming down here. It's all she ever talked about before I came to the orphanage, but always said she wasn't ready. Anya thinks it's funny that a year after I came to the orphanage she started making preparations for the move." Finny shrugged.

"...do you miss it?"

Finny was quiet for a while, staring off into the ocean.

Did she miss it? After all the hardships and struggle? After her friends abandoned her and left her to suffer?

No. She would never miss it. But he didn't need to know why.

"...no."

Henry dropped it, glad when Finny moved on.

"Now, I do have a problem with the ocean, though. I can't swim!" She laughed.

"You can't?!" He exclaimed, laughing with her.

"Nope. My friend, Keri..." Finny closed her eyes at the thought, smiling. "Keri had a pool and so, one summer, she tried to teach me how to swim."

"How did that work out?"

"Well, lets just say that it was almost the very last day of her life. She drug me out to the deeper end and I ended up freaking out, stepping on her and pushing her underwater because I thought I was dying."

Finny couldn't stop laughing and, suddenly, Henry found himself unable to tear his eyes away from her. He joined in, gasping a melodramatic, "You didn't!"

She nodded, gasping for breath.

"It wasn't deliberate, of course. Remember, Henry. It's a dog-eat-dog world." She smiled brightly, patting his head.

"I never think you would mean to kill someone. But this summer when the public pool opens up again, I'll teach you."

"I appreciate it, Kid, but I don't think that's a good idea. I didn't want to drown Keri and I most definitely don't want to drown you," She smiled out into the distance. "Plus, I can do the backstroke. And I'm perfectly content with just sticking to that."

He shook his head, grinning like an idiot. She eyed him, cocking her eyebrow at his grin.

"What's making you so smiley, Henry?"

"Oh, nothing. I just...I really like the idea of having a friend."

Jade crept over, rubbing her head into Henry's side affectionately.

"Have you seriously never had a friend?"

"No. Well, unless you count Emma, but she's my Ma."

"Never had any sleepovers or gone over to other kids' houses to play video games or something?"

"No. I haven't. The other kids..." He looked down. "There was once a time when my Mother wasn't the nicest lady. Though she meant well, she just wasn't used to having something permanent. And then Emma came to town...and I wasn't as permanent."

He glanced back up, waving the thought off.

"Lets just say that my Mother scared all the other kids off,"

"...well, I like video games. And Regina seems pretty kind to me."

"Yeah, she likes you. It's obvious."

A moment of silence passed through them, Jade creeping from Henry's lap to the warm lap of the orphan. A cold wind blew past them, Finny shivering instantly.

"Wait-did you say that you play video games?!" Henry exclaimed, whipping his head around to look at her.

She nodded, her nose making the tiniest of sniffles as it burned from the cold air.

"I'm a big fan of Harvest Moon, but I enjoy just about any game you put in front of me." She crinkled her nose in distaste. "Well, except for Mario Party. The rounds just take too long and I'm not really into party games in the first place."

"Well...perhaps you can be the first person to come over and play video games with me. Well, other than Emma and David." He smiled widely, looking up at her pleadingly.

"Hmm," She stood, yawning. "When you look at me like that, how am I supposed to refuse. I would love to, your majesty," She gave a fake bow, smiling at his laughter.

"If only you knew!"


Anya scrubbed at the table, cursing under her breath as she recalled Grumpy starting that argument with her. It ended up with a cup of coffee (It was cold, she promised!) being dumped on his head. As punishment, Ruby had her cleaning the entire diner. Granny was amused, though she pretended to be disappointed in the girl for doing that to Grumpy. Anya had noticed her dying in subdued laughter, quickly making her way to the back. Even Ruby couldn't help a hidden smile as the incident happened.

And now she was scrubbing the tables down to their very core as punishment.

"Yeah, 'you'll get used to him' my ass..." She muttered, placing her rag in the dish bucket before making her way back into the kitchen.

She had heard from Belle that Finny never found an owner for that cat, so she had decided to keep it herself. Alma agreed that it would probably for the best that they kept the cat, though she knew that Jack wouldn't be too happy about it. Anya responded with her usual, "I'll take care of him."

Anything for Finny.

She reached for the key necklace that adorned her neck, running her fingers across is without a single thought. She couldn't wait until her shift was over. There was something she had to do. A thought that had occurred the night before as she lay in her bed, listening to Finny's whimpering.

The jingle of the bell above the diner doors brought her from her thoughts as she walked back to the front of the diner. Upon seeing the new customers, Anya felt a wave of nostalgia rush over her. She waved the feeling away as quickly as it came, smiling to greet them.

"Hi there!" She led them to a seat quickly, needing to get back to cleaning the diner. "I'm Anya and I'll be serving you today."

The man and woman sat down, smiling just as Anya had. They ordered what Anya was beginning to call 'the usual' (Cheeseburger, fries, and a float of some kind. Though the lasagna was popular, too) and she was sent on her way, giving Alma the order and working to make the floats.

She finished the drinks and started back over to the table, setting them down gently.

"Here you go, guys. I hope you enjoy the floats. I'll be back with your food in a moment." Anya smiled politely, moving to turn away before the woman stopped her.

"Are you one of the new residents? I haven't seen you around."

Anya gave a short laugh, placing her hand on her hip.

"If you mean to ask if I'm one of the orphans, that would be an affirmative. Thanks for asking so politely though. Usually people are just so blunt about it. Like, no, I'm definitely not a resident of this town. I'm just an orphan who happens to live in that big house on Drury Lane." Anya stopped, raising an eyebrow. "Wait-wasn't that address in some sort of poem?"

The woman laughed, shaking her head lightly.

"I do believe it's the Muffin Man. I'm the one who caught him, actually. He was just as good as he looked." The man smiled, obviously telling a joke that he expected the confused waitress to get.

She was silent, staring at the both of them for a few moments until she cracked a smile and gave a small laugh. She noticed a look of realization pass through the woman's face. The woman turned towards her and Anya flinched at the wonder radiating from it.

"You...you didn't come because you remembered, did you?"

Anya's face fell. Did these strangers know something about her parents? How did they know she couldn't remember her life before the age of five?

"N-no. I...I don't have any clue about anything you're talking about. I came here with Alma because this is where she wanted to move."

"Oh." The look of wonder grew less on her face. "Well, I only assumed. They say that no one moves to this town unless they're some sort of fairytale character."

Anya breathed a sigh of relief. Only superstitions, nothing personal.

"Well, what's your fairytale persona?" Anya joked.

"I'm Snow White," The woman winked, poking her thumb out towards the man. "And this is Prince Charming."

"I prefer David." The man laughed, smiling in a...well...charming sort of way.

'Snow White' began laughing, tilting her head back in joy.

"I do believe we're creeping you out! Sorry. You can just call me Mary Margret." She smiled kindly, a wide smile that Anya had sworn reminded her of something.

"Ya know, if you grew out your hair, I seriously think you'd remind me of someone," Anya tilted her head. "But I'm not sure."

Snow's eyes widened and Anya heard her breath hitch. Charming glanced between the two slowly, a confused look crossing his face.

"Anya! Come get the food!" Ruby shouted as she grabbed her purse from behind the counter. Always, around this time of day when the business slowed, Ruby was out the door, headed towards the library. Anya never questioned her, but was always a bit curious as to why the woman seemed to interested in the literature.

"Yes, Boss!" Anya responded sarcastically, quickly removing herself from the awkward situation she had just placed herself in.

'A town full of weirdos, this one is.'


Books.

Finny smiled to herself, running her fingers down the spines. She stood by a random shelf, eyeing the selection. It held a collection of young adult books, worn and dusty. From the entire week she'd spent in the town, the library had quickly become her second favorite place. Being with Belle just seemed so familiar, though Finny would never speak of that openly. It sounded so weird just sitting in her own head, so she could never imagine it being spoken.

The bell above the doors jingled and Finny glanced at her watch. 3:30, just like every other day.

She pulled out a book, making her way to the table that Henry sat at. The large, leather bound book was sprawled out in front of him and she found herself grimacing. She had seen it many times, but she could never get over the sight of it.

"What're you reading?" He asked silently, glancing at her as she sat down.

"The Outsiders. It's an amazing book, Henry. You should read it."

The young boy crinkled his nose slightly, staring back down at the ornate pages.

"If it's not a fairytale, then I don't want to read it."

"Your loss." Finny shrugged. "If your school system is anything like mine was, you'll read it in seventh grade anyway."

He shot her a look of disdain before noticing her teasing smile.

"Read what you want, Henry. But just know you're missing out on a lot."

He sighed, returning to his book. She did the same.

Or, at least, she thought she was going to.

"Hey, Finny..."

"Yeah?"

"Did you add more to the book?"

Finny's eyes widened and she swore her heart stopped. Did she add more to the book? She shook her head.

"Oh, well...someone did. But it isn't complete."

"..." Finny managed a small glance at the book before flinching and turning back to her own.

"That's just when you create your own ending, Henry."

"Create my own ending?"

She now knew that she had his attention for she could feel his eyes on the side of her head.

"Yeah. Even if the ending may never come true, it helps a lot when you write your own. Especially when something's not finished. Because if it's not finished, anything could happen. Even what you want to happen."

"But wouldn't that be stealing some one else's characters?"

Finny gave a stiff laugh, shaking her head.

"Some people think of it that way. But, I promise, that's not how it is. As long as you're not making profit from it, every thing's good. And most writers even encourage it." She decided not to hit on the authors who discouraged it.

"Alright." He broke out into a wide smile. "Will you help me write it and illustrate it?"

How could she say no?

"Hey guys," Ruby smiled brightly, sitting down at a chair across from Finny.

"Hey, Ruby." Henry greeted. "Guess what?"

"What?" Ruby leaned in, her smile widening at his excitement.

"Finny just agreed that she'd help me finish the book!"

There was a slight drop in Ruby's demeanor, but she continued smiling.

"Really?!" Belle exclaimed, sitting herself down beside Ruby.

Like every other day, the open sign on the door was flipped over and Ruby joined Belle for a very late lunch. It was the only time of day that she could get away from the diner without Granny scolding her. But everyone needed their free time. And she just decided to spend that free time with Belle.

"I hope you realize that it's a magical book, Finny." Ruby winked, placing a plastic bag on the table, two to-go boxes showing through the almost transparent white of the bag.

Finny blushed, her bangs shielding her eyes as she pushed on the bridge of the nose.

"A-all books are magical, Ruby."

Belle clapped her hands together, agreeing excitedly.

"True." Ruby gave a half smile, handing a box to Belle.

"But what Ruby says is true, Finny. We have to work especially hard on this book. It's extremely special." Henry informed the older girl, flipping through the pages. "Do you think you can draw like the original illustrator did?"

Finny smiled.

"I'm certain I can, Henry. It's a promise."

"If you can draw like that, I'd love to see some of your work." Belle smiled politely, eating gracefully. "Oh, Ruby! What kind of food is it this time?!"

Ruby looked pleased at the enjoyment that her friend got from the food.

"It's Alfredo with chicken and broccoli. A classic, if you ask me."

Henry agreed.

"It's the only real food that Emma knows how to cook. Well, I take that back." He paused, smiling. "It's the only real food that she's good at cooking!"

"Henry!" Ruby scolded. Though it wasn't really justified through all her laughter.

Belle smiled at the small joke before turning back to Finny.

"Oh, Finny! What did you do with your cat?"

"Well, I took her home and fed her before coming here. I left her in my room."

"Aren't you afraid that she'll...ya know..." Ruby crinkled her nose.

Finny laughed, shaking her head.

"No, Jade's a smart cat. The door's open and there's a flap connected to the back door so she can get in and out. I have a feeling that she knows what to do."

"So much faith for an animal you just met."

"She's an amazing cat though, Ruby! Trust me." Henry nodded.

"Well, if you say so..." Ruby smirked. Belle gave her shoulder a light punch.

"Ruby! Stop antagonizing the kids. If you're the reason that they leave and never come back, then I'll have to give you a reason to never come back."

Ruby looked at Belle, an enchanting smile creeping its way across her face.

"Hon, no matter what you try, you can't get rid of me now. I'm never leaving you."


Finny walked up to the big house slowly, Henry talking a thousand words per minute at her side. She had decided to take him home before it got too late. He seemed like he didn't want her to leave, trying to get everything out before he hit his front door. She noticed the door knob turning and felt a wave of something- warm? - rush over her body.

Passing it off as anxiety, she crossed onto the front porch, turning to look at the boy.

"Your majesty," She bowed, sweeping her hand towards the opening door.

"M'Lady," He responded, giggling as he repeated the gesture.

Regina stood in the doorway, smiling as she watched her son and his friend interact. Henry smiled as he glanced up at her, allowing her to wrap her arm around his shoulders.

"Well, Finny, it's nice to see you once again. Thank you for returning my son. I take it you two had a nice time?"

Finny nodded, looking down as she forced herself not to mess with her bracelets or the sleeves of her jacket. Regina noticed, inwardly smiling at the orphan's timid nature.

"Yeah, we did! Finny said we could start a clubhouse with my castle and that she'd-" He stopped mid-sentence, realizing that he was about to tell her that they were going to finish the storybook.

"That she'd what, Henry?" Regina asked, cocking her eyebrow.

"That she'd love to come by and play video games with me sometime," He smiled. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't what he was going to say, either.

"Oh," This caught Regina's attention. She thought that it was Henry that was forcing himself onto the girl, but now...

Henry had a friend.

"You like video games?"

Regina twisted her head around to find Emma looking at Finny, an excited look on her face.

"Y-yeah, I do." Finny smiled brightly, a red blush spread across her cheeks.

"Grand Theft Auto?!" Emma shrieked, both her eyes and smile widening.

"Emma!" Regina scolded with a smile. "I thought we promised not to play those games."

Emma shrugged.

"You told me not to play them with Henry. There's no rule saying that I can't watch Finny shoot some people up." The blonde made banging noises with her mouth, holding her hands out and acting like she was pulling triggers.

Regina rolled her eyes and Henry gave a small laugh. Finny stared back at her with excitement, her whole face lit up.

"I used to play Grand Theft Auto with my-" Her face fell and she looked back towards the ground. She couldn't fight it any longer, her hands grasping and twisting at the elastic of the bands.

"I've played it." She looked back up smiling timidly.

"You wanna play it with me sometimes? Well, when you come over to play games with Henry. I understand if you don't." Emma grabbed at her back, speaking in a tired, creaky voice. "I am an old lady, after all."

This drug a laugh out of Finny, her face lighting up once again.

"I'd love to!"

It wasn't meant to be so enthusiastic and as soon as she heard herself say it, her hands immediately flew to her mouth, covering it in embarrassment. And that's when Regina started laughing. Finny's face suddenly resembled that of a tomato, the deep red of her cheeks glowing in the setting sun.

It was just too cute.

Emma looked at Regina in surprise, smiling softly at her love.

Finny made a soft, small sound, covering her entire face as she shook it quickly.

"I'm sorry!" She shouted from behind her hands, flustered.

"You're fine," Emma smiled, placing her hand on Regina's back as the woman bent over in laughter. "It's Regina who isn't."

Henry stared at all of them, his face breaking out into the perfect smile.

Things were playing out quite well.


Anya sat on the bench in front of Granny's, her eyes drifting down to the music box she held in one hand and the key that was pressed against the fingers of her other hand.

It was her own key, the one she had been wearing around her neck ever since she woke up in her hospital room, scared and frightened at her surroundings. She had been unable to remember anything and, hey, who's to say that she wasn't an orphan before she woke up, but she felt like...she had belonged to someone before she was brought to the hospital.

The key had been a present. She knew that for a fact. There was an empty box on her bedside table, wrapped in striped foil with a giant, red bow. The top had been taken apart from the bottom of the box and a small note had been laying inside.

'Dear Nastya,

I'm sorry, my child. I wanted to explain everything and give you this in person, but it seems that you've been knocked out for quite longer than I had expected. I have to leave now. I already feel like I've been here too long, but it aches to leave you. You must understand that this is not what your mother or I wanted for you. We only wanted a family of our own, but when you mix two species together...you only get dire consequences. Especially when danger follows us around anyhow.

But I guess you can't remember any of that.

Just know that we love you, Anya. And we always will.

That's your name, by the way. Nastya Alamana. It means (a)lone resurrection. We're sorry about how ironic that sounds.

Happy fifth birthday. Enjoy the necklace. It's quite important; please don't lose it, Sweetie.

Love, your Mum and Dad.'

She always kept the note in her pocket, just wishing and waiting for the day that they might return. And, as the days passed, she lost that hope. She stopped wishing. She stopped waiting. She moved on and realized that her parents were cowards, abandoning her like she was just something that could be thrown away.

Yet she couldn't bring herself to stop wearing the key.

And, now, as she pushed it into the lock and twisted it, the hope refilled her entire body, as if she were being awoken for the very first time.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the only thing being awoken for the very first time.

'It's just like Pandora's box, Dearie. Now, if only you had listened and taken my warning. Such a shame. Oh, well. Lets see who reaps the consequences.'

All across Storybrooke, everyone felt the effects from the opening of the box.

Ruby glanced at Belle, the beast within feeling the love that Ruby had pushed aside.

Belle looked back up at Ruby, the feeling starting to grow mutual.

Jack gasped suddenly, falling from the jungle gym.

Despite the dark wave of aura, Ashley ran forward, catching him before he hit the ground.

Lola stood by the ocean, glancing at Sarah nervously as she waded through the icy waters toward the shore.

Sarah glanced back, standing abruptly yet cautiously, brushing sand from her pants.

Ishai dropped his miner's pickaxe in surprise, rushing out of the mine as quickly as he could.

The other miners were not far behind.

Snow White glanced at Charming. Her face slowly grew angry and dark.

Charming looked back at her using the same expression as he stood quickly, grabbing his sword.

Regina stopped laughing and slowly moved her head up, staring at Finny.

Emma did the same, her expression growing from happiness to disbelief.

Henry only smiled, nodding his head knowingly.

Finny stood silently, not exactly understanding what changed the light, happy mood.

Across the town, a woman appeared from the little building in the woods. She smiled wickedly, making her way through the trees.

And, only a little farther away from that, Mr. Gold slowly drove his car over the town line, leaving Storybrooke behind.

Jade broke out into a wide smile, her tail twitching happily as she transformed back into her true form.

'It's beginning.'

Back at the bench, Anya listened to the melody of the music closely. Tears formed in her eyes as she felt the rush of nostalgia brush its way across her body. A small, tiny blue box twisted around in a circle inside of the box, as if it were dancing to the music. Stars and swirls were painted on the inside of the box, a few random planets drawn here and there.

A spaceship, she was sure of it.