Hey! So to recap, Regina is upset because of Marian's presence in Storybrooke, and she remembers that her assistant is down in the basement.
Then, in the fairytale world, Regina finds an unconscious Azalea on the road in front of her carriage.
I don't own OUAT, but I do own Azalea Lockes!
Ch. 2
David Nolan
David cooed softly at his son. The fight with Zelena had honestly scared the bejeezus out of him. He didn't want to lose his one and only second chance at this. Being a dad, raising his own child. Emma would always be his daughter, his precious girl. But she didn't need him every hour of every day anymore. He wanted the chance to know what that felt like.
He stared down at Mary Margaret. She smiled back, and their life was in perfect harmony. His son was sleeping in his wife's arms, his wife was honestly happy, his daughter was exploring her own newfound sense of home, and Regina was yelling furiously at her.
He jerked his head up at the sound.
"You never think about the consequences!"
David looked back down, his son now waking up, Snow focused on their daughter. The peace was over. His life was back to normal-hectic as all hell.
After she left, David whispered to his wife that he'd take care of it. She smiled, kissed him, and told him she was going home.
David walked up to Emma, who was sitting at the bar. Hook had retreated for the night, realizing she needed space and that him smothering her would just make things worse. David sat down next to his daughter, and laid a comforting hand on her back. He wasn't sure what had happened, but whatever it was had Emma feeling very guilty.
Before he could ask what was wrong, she pointed towards a booth in the corner. David looked and saw Robin talking seriously with a woman he remembered from a long time ago. A woman that Princess Leia and Prince Charles had decided to save.
Oh.
"Robin's wife I take it?"
Emma only nodded before gulping down the last of her drink. Ruby sidled up and refilled the glass. David ordered his own.
"It's my fault. I should have listened to him."
"Who?"
"Hook."
David nodded. For once, Hook was the voice of reason. He silently applauded the man.
"You saw someone who needed saving, and you saved them. How can that be bad?"
Emma shook her head. "Time is like, the most dangerous thing to mess with. Every movie I've ever seen that involved it had the protagonist fixing everything so it happened the same way. I did that too. I let those trolls die, I let those guards get hurt when we tried to evade them, but I couldn't let some stupid girl die."
David knew this was hard for her. She'd ruined Henry's other mother's life. This would have repercussions, if only because it was Regina.
"The trolls were trying to kill your parents, and the guards were trying to stop you from getting us together. They were in the way of you fixing things. That girl is now back with her family. You did the right thing. Regina will figure her own emotions out, she can't blame you for helping her."
David knew that Regina could, and would, do exactly that. But Emma didn't need to know that.
Of course, Emma already did. "Don't bullshit me. She'll get back at me, I know it."
David just sighed. After ten more minutes of talking, he left her there. Kissed her on the top of her head, said once more that she'd done the right thing, and walked out of the diner.
It was the times when he couldn't help those he loved that he felt like the shepherd. That sense of lowliness. Happiness, yes, because he had a family. He had a life he enjoyed. But he wasn't quite where he wanted to be. He thought about the day he first went to the castle. Ushered in as the funeral for a brother he'd never meet had ended.
A voice in his head was speaking to him. He tried to pinpoint it, but had some trouble. He continued walking toward the loft, a look of concentration planted on his face.
"Impossible."
He remembered. And it almost hurt to see that girl's pain. He didn't want to disappoint anyone like that, to fool anyone into thinking that he was his brother. He wanted to be the prince, yes, but he didn't want to make the same mistakes as the first prince.
David blinked rapidly before finding his way up the stairs and into the door of his home.
The carriage rolled up to the front of the largest castle-and the only castle-the shepherd had ever seen. His eyes trained on the towers jutting vertically from the top, and the stone that seemed to go on for miles. His heartbeat quickened in fear and amazement. He was actually at the king's castle. All those years of seeing it from a distance were at an end. He smiled, but only halfway.
His brother was still dead.
He never met him, but he was his brother. All past deeds aside, that mattered. No one deserves death.
The shepherd quickly followed the king's men into the vestibule of the castle.
"Wait here." They all left, and the shepherd stood awkwardly near the entrance. He looked at the curving steps straight across from him. They were carpeted in a bright red. He turned his head to the side, looking at the stairs.
A girl came rushing in from opposite where the guards had gone. She had with her a bag, seemingly for travel. The shepherd assumed it was a sister.
She was being escorted by two of the king's men. She sniffled before trudging along with them, glancing up at the shepherd.
She stopped, and so did the guards. Her eyes locked onto his, and she turned to him. One of the guards laid a hand on her shoulder, which she brushed off.
"Impossible." The word slipped into the silence and confused the shepherd. "You're not real. You're just…" She reached for him, her fingers innocently touching his sleeve, before the guards forcibly pulled her away.
She kept looking at him, the tears welling in her eyes blurring her vision. He looked on after her, and kept the image of her retreating figure in his mind.
Impossible, she had said.
She was right of course. The whole situation was impossible. The shepherd turned as the king came up to him, and said, "Well, he'll need a haircut and some fresh clothes. Get grooming."
Impossible, yes, but very real.
