Meulin Paws: Hello! Glad you like the story :) Thanks for leaving a review, and yes, soon you'll all se Victoria/Merida interacting with other characters.

Chapter 2

I sighed as I heard Granny bickering with Ruby, again. Honestly, one would think they got tired of always arguing about the same things. But no. Everyday was the same.

I crossed the street, saying good morning to the same people I had greeted every morning for the 28 years I had been here. I walked quietly toward the Mills house. Henry had wanted to see me, he had said he had found something incredible weeks ago, and I hadn't had time to see what it was, so now I was on my way to his house. To talk to him, and hopefully, my boredom would go away.

I knocked on on the door, and Regina Mills opened the door.

"Good Morning, Madam Major" I said, like always.

"Good Morning, Victoria" she responded smiling slightly, "Come on in"

She moved to let me enter, to then close the door behind us.

"Henry's in his room" she told me.

I nodded. "Thanks"

I slowly went upstairs, and knocked on his door.

"What?" he asked without opening the door. He probably though it was Regina.

"I'm here" I said.

Immediately, the door flew open and the smiley face of Henry Mills greeted me. I smiled back.

"Hey, kiddo" I ruffled his hair, for his annoyance.

"Hey, Victoria" he said, and let me enter his room.

I opened my mouth, but he beat me. "I have to show you something"

He sounded so excited that I had to smile. It had been a while since I had seen him so excited and happy about something. Whatever it is that he found, it truly seemed to be awesome.

He moved around his room, and pulled a big brown book from under his bed.

I raised an eyebrow. A book? He was so happy and excited because of a book?

"This...is not just a book" Henry said, like if he had been reading my mind.

"Then what is it?" I asked.

...

Henry truly was the most awesome little kid I have ever met. He had discovered about the curse. The book talked about the curse and all of StoryBrook characters. I loved Henry so much when he said his real mother was the saviour.

That meant she would have to came here sooner or later. And knowing Henry, it would be soon. Very, very soon. He was a special kid. He believed in those stories. And that was good. He said he was searching for his mom. His birth mother, mind you. And if he could bring her here...she would break the curse, and I would go home.

And I could help my mother and brothers.

He was a bit sad, because nobody believed him, and Regina, whom was The Evil Queen, by the way, told Dr. Archie Hopper, whom was Jimminy Cricket, about it, and now his therapy sessions were longer and more tedious.

"Do you believe me?" he asked me when he finished talking.

I was grinning madly. "Of course I believe you! I remember"

His face lit up. "You do?"

"Yes!" I grinned and laughed, "Oh, I'm so glad you believe. Its really frustratin' having to be someone you're not"

It was hard. Because I was Merida, but I also was Victoria. I had curse memories about a past that didn't exist. I had Victoria's characteristics, but I was partly still me, still Merida. I don't know how I haven't been drive mad because of it...No. Correction. I was nearly mad.

"The Curse is real! Is real then!" he said happily, "I'm not crazy! It's true!"

I smiled at him, he was so eager about it. The poor kid. Having the Evil Queen as his adoptive mother must be so hard. "Yeah" I said.

"How do you remember?" he asked curious, "You're not supposed to"

I shrugged. "I don't know, I'm not even from the Enchanted Forest, maybe that has something to do with it."

"Where are you from?" he then shook his head, like he had another better question. "Who are you?"

"My name's Merida" I said, "I'm from a another kingdom, not really far from there, but not part of it"

He opened his book and flipped some pages.

"I'm not in the book" I said, "I mean, I can't be. I'm not from there"

He nodded, and dropped the book. He was looking at me with so much interest I nearly blushed. I didn't liked to have attention centred in me.

"Tell me about yourself" he begged.

I smiled, but it dropped a bit. I didn't really wanted to. If I told Henry about what I did...he probably wouldn't understand. And I didn't wanted to disappoint him. As lame as it would sound, he's my only friend here.

"I'm...I'm a princess" I told him, "I have three younger brothers—"

The Evil Queen. No, Regina Mills, opened the door of Henry's room, interrupting me.

"Henry, sweetie, dinner's ready" she said.

Henry jumped out of bed and walked toward the kitchen.

Regina turned to me, and smiled at me. "Are you joining us today, Victoria?"

"I don't want to be a burden" I said quickly, smiling awkwardly.

"You won't be" she assured me, "I made lasagna" her tone was tempting me.

It was hard to believe that the woman that was smiling at me in a motherly way was an Evil Queen. Don't get me wrong. I don't have anything against her, I mean, I hadn't even met her when she was the Evil Queen. But still...I smiled back, her lasagna was the best lasagna in the whole world.

"Okay, then" I said.

Regina smiled again, and we both walked down the stairs. Henry was already sitting at the table, waiting patiently for us to get there.

That night, I had dinner with the Evil Queen and Henry Mills, his adoptive son, and the real son of the saviour.

...

Later that night, I dropped my backpack at the table, and let myself sink into the bed. Tonight was one of those nights were my head felt like exploding. Even after 28 years, everything still felt so surreal sometimes. I considered myself an independent, brave and strong woman, but sometimes...The reality of everything hit me, and I found myself crying my heart out because of everything. My mom. My brothers. My life here...

Everything just exploded.

The only thing that kept me sane was the thought of going back to my family. To save my mother and brothers. Only that hope was able to kept me alive and sane in moments like this, when my mind played tricks on me and made me remember about my old life, but not quite like it happened. My mind messed with me, and my memories changed. It wasn't Merida who was there, instead silly old sweetheart Victoria was there, and she'd accepted one of the suitors without even thinking about it.

Some night it wasn't just those nightmares, but real memories. Memories so vivid about my mother and Mor'Du...

I often thought about them. All day, actually. It had been 28 years. My poor father was devastated, all his family crumbled to dust. Three of his sons were turned into beast, his wife was too, and her daughter was the one to blame. I didn't know how was him now, 28 years after all of that. But what worried me most was my mother and brothers. They were monsters, what if they have been...haunted? What if they...what if...—

I forced myself to block those thoughts. They would only hurt me more.

I got up of my bed and moved to the 'kitchen', where I opened one of the cupboards and took out a bottle of sleeping pills. I swallowed two without water, and sighed. I moved and let myself fall to the bed again.

This time, I actually slept all night. No nightmares, no memories, no nothing. Just blackness.

...

Next morning, I went to school. Did I mention how much I hated to go to school? Well, I do. I mean, okay, physically I was sixteen, but twenty eight years have passed, I should be...oh, god, I would be 44.

I shuddered just to think about it. If I had been on my world, I would be already married (hopefully not with one of the idiots suitors that my mother wanted me to marry) and with a couple of kids. I would probably would have been made Queen, too. But no. I wasn't on my world. And things wouldn't have been that way, at least not in the universe where I transformed half my family into beasts.

Back to the point, school sucked. It was everything the same. And boys were doofuses. I didn't really had friends. Henry Mills and Ruby Lucas where the only ones. Henry was younger than me, so we didn't had classes together. Ruby was older, she'd already left school.

Anyway, after school I walked all the way to Granny's. I had a room there, and obviously, I ate there everyday. My life as Victoria Williams was a bit hard. I was an orphan, and they had put me in foster homes a lot, and it was so tedious...At least I managed to convince them over the years that I was okay being alone. Granny was taking care of me, and Ruby was like a big sister sometimes, so I guess I was okay.

"Victoria" I heard a british accent say, and I turned around.

"Oh, Hi" I said. It was Graham, the sheriff here on StoryBrook. I wasn't sure about who he was at the Enchanted Forest.

He nodded at me, but I noticed how worried he looked.

"Something's wrong?" I asked quickly.

"Henry's missing" he told me, "Have you seen him?"

I shook my head, worriedly. "No, I haven't seen him"

Graham sighed. "I don't know where else to search. I searched everywhere"

I grimaced a bit, "How's Regina?" She must be really, really worried.

He grimaced even more, "She's worried"

I sighed. "Do you need help? Searching for Henry, I mean"

Graham looked at me, "That would be great, yeah"

I nodded. "Just let me change and I'll start searching for him"

"If you see him or know anything, call me" He said.

I nodded.

I ran to Granny's and entered my room. I quickly changed clothes, putting a blue sleeveless shirt and black jeans. I took my skateboard and got out.

I knew Henry probably was at Boston, like he had told me he would. But still...what if he wasn't? What if he was really lost?

...

I searched for him in various streets, but he wasn't nowhere to be seen.

It was night already, and I was skating in a street I had never been, so I was a bit lost. And it was dark, and I was freezing, so I kinda wanted to get back to my apartment. But alas, I didn't know where I was. Meaning, I didn't know how to get back.

I skipped to a stop, and sighed, looking around me. There were some houses, but only one had the lights on. I sighed before walking toward there and when I was on the stairs of the porch I stopped. What if the owner was a creepy old man or something like that?. Not only good Enchanted Forest people where here. I had heard bad people where here too. I'm not someone to get scared easily. I mean, I didn't got scared when Mor'Du tried to kill me, but...Victoria Williams wasn't as brave as Merida was. And right now...I was feeling like Victoria. Not Merida.

Nevertheless, I knocked on the door. I didn't receive an answer for a couple of minutes, and I sighed, moving back to continue and try to find my way back to somewhere I knew. But before I could, the door swing open, and I turned around again.

A man stood there, looking at me with curiosity. He was handsome, I guess. His hair was dark brown and his eyes were blue. He was slender and tall, with dark clothes and a purple scarf around his neck. He was older than me. Maybe 20-ish, 30-ish. In his hands was a hat, still in progress, his other hand had a scissor.

A hat maker? Seriously?

"Yes? Can I help you with something?" he asked.

"Yeah...uh, I hope so." I said slowly, my teeth chattering agains each other. It was really cold. "I'm kinda lost"

He looked at me, but at the end nodded. "Come on in, you must be freezing" Damn right I was.

"Thank you" I sighed.

He let me inside of his house. It was truly a mansion. One of the bigger houses there where here on StoryBrook. Looking at his back I mentally questioned myself who was him.

"I have some maps that could help you" he told me, turning back to me "Or if you prefer I could just give you directions"

"Directions" I said, "I suck reading maps"

He sort of smiled, but it didn't reached his eyes. I sighed a bit, it was warmer here inside the house, but I still felt half frozen.

"Want some tea?" he asked me, noticing that I was still really cold.

I didn't liked to be a burden, but he looked sort of kind, so I nodded.

"Please"

He told me to sit, and I did it while he went to where I presume his kitchen is. I sighed and half smiled at the warmness the fireplace was giving me.

He returned some minutes later, with a tray with two cups of tea. The hat and the scissors forgotten in his kitchen.

"Thanks" I said when he gave me mine.

I sipped it, while he sat in front of me.

"Where do you live?" he asked me, before taking a sip of his own cup.

"Granny's" I said.

"That's a bit far from here. What were you doing all alone in the night in a neighbourhood you don't know?" he was serious, but his eyes were kind.

I blushed a bit. "I was searching for a lost kid"

His demeanour changed, the kindness in his eyes evaporated, and instead I see amusement, but something more too. Something like sadness.

"A lost kid?" he raised his eyebrows, a bit sarcastic.

Yeah, I guess it kinda sounded lame.

"Henry, the major's son's missing." I added.

"He's missing?" asked the man slowly.

I nodded, hoping he was okay...And in Boston, searching for his real mother.

We were silent for a couple of minutes, in where I drank my tea and waited for him to say something. He was immerse in his own toughs, so he didn't said anything.

He suddenly shook his head. There was endless sadness in his blue eyes that reminded me of my own sadness over my family. I really wanted to know who he was. It was almost as he knew the truth. So much hidden sadness...

I looked around. The house was very beautiful. The sofas where white with pink pillows, the table was crystal and there was a piano in a wall close to the fireplace. I saw a little bunny above the piano, making me tilt my head. Did he had a daughter? It didn't seem like so. The house, being as beautiful as it was, felt sort of lonely.

I sighed and raised my cup to my lips.

Suddenly a thought hit me.

The rabbit. The tea. The hat.

"You're the Mad Hatter!" I said. I've never met him in our past lives, or even heard of him, but Victoria Williams remembers reading about him in 'Alice in Wonderland' for a school project.

He nearly chocked on his tea. And my eyes widened. Oh, I was so stupid! It usually happens to me. I talk without thinking. Now he would think I'm crazy! Great.

Instead, he surprised me by looking at me shocked.

"What?" he managed to say.

I blushed even harder. "Nothing"

"No, no, seriously. You just called me Mad Hatter?" he asked, sitting straight in his seat and looking at me wide eyed.

"Uh...yeah" I said slowly.

He continued to look at me wide eyed, but suddenly, a true smile tugged his lips. "You remember?"

My heard did a double take. Was it possible that someone besides Regina remembers?

"You mean about our lives before The Curse?" I asked excitedly. There do was someone else that remembers!

He nodded. And I grinned. "Yeah! Do you?"

He nodded eagerly, and I grinned even wider.

"I'm Merida, or Victoria, whatever you want to call me" I said offering him my hand.

We shook hands.

"I'm Jefferson" he said.

I just stood there, sitting on his sofa, looking at him open mouthed and wide eyed. He was the first person I know that remembers. Well, apart from Regina, but she doesn't count, she's the one that cast the curse.

"Wow" I managed to say.

He smiled, a true smile. "Yeah"

For the next minutes we just stared at each other. I was so happy to found someone that remembers. I never thought I found someone else that does.

I suddenly frowned. "Do you...—" I stopped myself. What I was going to ask was personal and maybe a bit rude. But I wanted to know is I was crazy or if it happened to everybody that remembers.

"What?" he asked me, giving me an encouraging smile.

"Do you...have...nightmares?" I asked slowly. "Because I do. And-And sometimes I felt like I'm going nuts. S-Sometimes I can't tell the difference between me and Victoria...it's...it's...horrible"

His smiled dropped, and he looked so sad it broke my heart.

"Yeah. I do" he whispered.

I looked to the floor.

"It's more horrible than the real curse" I said, "To remember...it is...—"

"Maddening" said Jefferson, voice hard and serious, but his eyes continued to look sad.

I sighed nodding.

We were in silence again, but this time we both looked at each other. I inspected him. He inspected me too, and I kinda blushed, because like I had said, I hated to have attention centred on me.

He cleared his throat.

"So, what's...what's your story?" he asked me, "I've never heard of a 'Merida'"

I bit my lips, trying to decide if I should tell him. I mean...I trusted him, partly because he let me in his house and helped me warm up, and because he remembered too. But it was a bit personal.

Nevertheless, I found myself telling him my story. He was a good listener, and never judged me, he just nodded or raised his eyebrows or rolled his eyes, but didn't interrupted me. When I finished I noticed how good it felt to have talked about that with someone else than myself. Also I noticed a few tears have escaped my eyes, I quickly clean them as discrete as I could.

"So, w-what's your story?" I asked slowly. I hardly doubted Alice in Wonderland tale of him was the real, or even close. Maybe Alice and him had a thing, or maybe Alice isn't real. Or whatever. I was just curious.

He went stiff, and I quickly talked. "Sorry, if-if you don't want to talk about it it's okay"

"No, no, its okay" he said softly, "You told me your story, now it's my turn to tell you mine."

I looked at him, waiting.

He suddenly stood up and motioned for me to follow him. I did, a bit confused. He lead me to where the rooms where, and I froze for a second. Why was he leading me there? He looked a bit serious and sad, but still kind. He couldn't...he wouldn't...right?

"I want to show you something" he said, like he sensed my discomfort.

"O-Okay" I said, following him.

He opened one of the doors. He turned the lights, and my eyes widened slightly at the sight of the room. It was fancy and nice, like the rest of his house, but what caught my attention was all those hats. It was full of hats, they were everywhere. They were, like, billions. I'm not exaggerating, they were billions and billions of them.

"J-Jefferson?" I asked confused. "Why...why so many hats?"

I nearly kicked myself after I asked that. He was the Mad Hatter! He obviously was mad about hats...I guess.

He didn't said anything, he just closed the door again and opened another one. I followed him.

This time the room only had a couple of hats, they were on a crystal showcase. The room also had a table and chairs and materials to create hats. I caught a glimpse of a telescope at one of the windows.

Seeing all those hats and how broken he looked and his notorious desperation and obsession of hats made me curious, not scared like someone else would be. I mean, he was The Mad Hatter, right? He had a thing for hats, but...I still imagined his affliction to hats had a hidden meaning. He couldn't just...be that mad, could he?

I mean, everybody is obsessed with something. But hats were, like, a weird obsession.

He told me to sit down. I did, and he moved to the telescope, sighing as he looked onto it.

He spied on people?

"I was a Portal Jumper" he told me, "That's why there are so many hats"

My eyes widened slightly. Portal Jumpers are people who can travel between realms and worlds. They usually had magical objects that worked as portals. I guess Jefferson's were hats.

"You're...trying to go back?" I asked.

He turned and looked at me. "For her"

I slowly walked toward him, and he motioned for me to take a look at the telescope. I did, and I blinked for a second, then I really saw what he had been looking at. A blonde girl was having a tea party with some stuffed animals and her parents. I recognised her. That was Paige, one of Henry's 'friend'.

"Her name's Grace" he said slowly, "Here's Paige, but it's Grace." he paused for a second. "My Grace"

"That's...is that...?" I moved and looked at him. "Jefferson, Is that your daughter?"

"It hurts so much to see her...Happy with a new family" he said answering my question. His eyes glued to the window. "A new father"

I touched his arm shyly, that sounded so sad and horrible.

"She has no idea who I am" he continued, "She doesn't remember"

"Why-Why don't you talk to her?" I asked. If my family was here, I would talk to them. Be with them, not caring if they don't remember me.

He looked at me. "And destroy her reality?" he asked, looking at me incredulously. I shook my head. I didn't meant it like that. "You know what our curse is about" he said, "These two realities in our head..."

"Will drive someone mad" I said, and my voice broke a little. I felt like I was going mad sometimes. Not that I like to admit it. "But I didn't meant it like that. Why don't you talk to her? Not like her father, but as a friend, or a neighbour?"

He just sighed and shook his head. "I-I can't"

"Why?" I asked softly, still caressing his arm.

He didn't answer me. Instead, he looked glumly to the floor.

"Jefferson" I started, "Why don't you talk to her?"

He didn't met my eyes. "Jefferson?" I asked slowly.

He surprised me when he put his hands in my shoulder and gave me a little squeeze. Nothing to harmful or hard. Just a squeeze like of he was holding himself on me. And I guess he was. I had never seen him on town before, and we all knew each other on town, so I was guessing he didn't go out much. I wouldn't be surprised if I was the first one to talk to him here.

"I left her, Merida" he said. I blinked a bit, it was kind of weird hearing my real name got out of someone else's lips, after all these time. And because of what he said. He seemed to love her. Why would he left her?

Then he told me his story.

His real story.

He was a Portal Jumper who fell in love with a beautiful woman from another realm, they got married and had a daughter on the Enchanted Forest—Grace/Paige—, where they lived for a long time, and they lived happily ever after...Not quite true. Jefferson lose his wife because of his job as a Portal Jumper and master thief. He didn't tell me how, but he said he lost her, so I assumed she was dead. Later on, he told me he changed for Grace, because he didn't wanted her to lose his father too. So he stopped using his hat, got a job selling mushrooms and they were okay for some years. But Jefferson wanted Grace to have everything she wanted or needed. And there entered the Evil Queen. She tricked him into 'helping her one last time' and he fell for it when she offered to gave him and Grace everything they needed. He was a good father, he wanted the best for her daughter, so he said yes. Making the story shorter: The Evil Queen tricked him and let him there on Wonderland, all alone and unable to came back to Grace like he promised. That's why he said he left her.

I tried to convince him it wasn't his fault. Because it wasn't. The Evil Queen tricked him, but he still blamed himself. Anyway. He went a little crazy trying to make a hat that had magic, so he could came back to the Enchanted Forest, back to her Grace.

He didn't exactly told me that he went a little crazy trying. He didn't need to. I had saw all those hats, so I knew. And I pitied him...No. Not really. I didn't just pitied him. I understood him. I could relate to him. I felt like going crazy with regret over what I did.

...

After a while, we came back to his living room.

I sighed and wrapped my arms around myself.

"I have to go" I told him when I read the hour on my phone.

Startled, I realised I didn't wanted to go. Jefferson was the first person besides Regina that knew the truth. Meaning that he was the only person I could talk to without trying to continue acting as Victoria. And that felt good. Really good.

I had a lot of missed calls from Graham and Granny. Granny probably was just worried because I wasn't 'home' yet. Graham probably called me about Henry.

"Let me walk you" he said softly, "It's late, and it's pretty far"

I nodded and took my skateboard from his living room.

He closed the door behind us and nodded to me to start walking.

We both walked in silence, I didn't minded the silence. And I imagined he didn't either, because he didn't talked.

In the middle of our trip, I got cold again, and he put his long coat over me. I smiled in thanks, and we continued walking.

Suddenly, a question invaded my mind.

"Jefferson?" I asked.

"Hmm?" he muttered, glancing down at me.

"Is there someone else that remembers?" I asked.

He frowned for a second, shaking his head 'no'.

"Only Regina, Rumplestiltskin and us" he said.

I froze in my tracks, making him stop too.

"What's wrong?" he asked, frowning a bit.

"Rumplestiltskin is here?" I asked.

"Yeah" he said like it should be obvious.

He was here! Maybe he could see a way to go back, or at least a way for me to help my family! Oh, god, he was here!

Jefferson suddenly tilted his head. "You didn't know?"

I shook my head no, trying not to seem too much excited "Who's him?"

"Mr. Gold" he said.

My eyes widened. Mr. Gold was the Dark One? He was Rumplestitskin?

"Mr. Gold as in...Mr. Gold?" I asked, dumbly.

His eyes looked amused at my words, and he nodded. "Yeah, Mr. Gold as in Mr. Gold"

I blushed. Still shocked about what I had heard. Never, in a million years, I would have guessed Mr. Gold was Rumple. But whatever, that wasn't what I cared about. What I really cared about was that he was here. He had to help me go back. He had to. I needed to go back. I didn't cared if that meant I'd have to make a deal with him. I only wanted to go home.

...

We crossed in front of the old clock of town, and I stopped when I saw Henry with Dr. Hopper and a blonde woman. My heart did a double take. That must be her real mother. That was Emma.

"It's her" I said, amazed.

"What?" asked Jefferson following my eyes.

"That's the saviour" I said.

He didn't had time to react, because Henry locked eyes with me and grinned widely, motioning me to go to him. I looked at Jefferson, and he broke eye contact with the blonde woman to look at me.

"I'll see you later" he told me, moving back to where we had come from. Not without glancing back at Emma and at myself.

"Wait!" I took off his coat and handed it to him, "Thank you for everything"

He nodded and offered me a small smile, before continuing walking.

I followed his back till he was out of my view, and then I turned to Henry, who was now talking with the blonde woman. Dr. Hopper and Pongo weren't there anymore.

"Hey, kiddo" I grinned while walking toward them.

The blonde woman snapped his head toward me. I gave her a polite smile before ruffling Henry's hair. He groaned and moved out of my reach, and combed his hair.

"Hi, Victoria" he said, "Who was that man?"

I looked back, but he obviously wasn't there anymore. "The Mad Hatter"

The blonde woman sort of sighed/groaned, and I imagined Henry had already tried to tell her about the Curse. I gave her a wink, and she seemed to relax a little bit. I preferred her to think I was joking, than make her think Henry's crazy or silly. At least for now, I couldn't wait for her to break the curse already.

Today was getting better and better. First of, I met another person who remembers. Secondly, I discover Rumplestiltskin is here. And thirdly, the saviour is here.

Henry looked at us both. "Victoria, this is Emma, my birth mother. Emma, this is Victoria, my nanny"

I smiled and shook her hand. "Pleasure"

"Likewise" she said, to then look back at Henry, "Come on, I need to take you to your mother"

He sighed, but entered the car. "See you, Victoria"

"Bye Henry" I said smiling.

I watched them go, but as I made my way back to my apartment in Granny's, I could only thing one thing: the saviour has arrived.

Hopefully, soon enough the curse would be broken.