Monkey: I just realized that there's already a James in the show. Well, there's already another Peter! I think we can survive with two of each. Now to the review replies!
skylark: Thanks! And of course I'm going to be writing more. What kind of a writer would I be if I didn't?
AlexandreaLily107: When you say a lot of thought went into this, do you mean a bunch of ideas I got in the middle of class that I strung together into a somewhat cohenrent story? If so, then you are spot on!
Dreamer-Girl96: There, there *hands tissue* it'll be okay.
Monkey: Of course, I don't own OUAT. So don't forget to REVIEW!
A lot can happen in just one year. Like, having to leave your home village because your father spent all his time and money at the tavern to get wasted and gamble. Then come home just to yell at your brother, but not actually do anything.
This was the life James lived after the death of his mother. His father, Malcolm, spent all of their money drinking and gambling at the tavern to try and forget the pain. He'd constantly yell at him and Rumple that it was their fault that their mother had died, even though all they did was merely exist. But he'd never hit them. He'd raise a hand every now and then, but he'd never do anything. Sometimes, James wished that Malcolm would hit him. Just once. At least then, he'd know that he wasn't a coward. But, he never did.
It was hard on James too. Every night, he'd have nightmares of reaching out to his mother, only to have her slip away. Part of him wanted to blame Rumplestiltskin for being born or even his deadbeat father for not taking care of her. But he didn't. Because that's what his father would do. Because that's what he did.
Instead, he took care of Rumple, like how his mother wanted him to. There were some nice ladies in the village who taught him how to take care of a baby. It was difficult, and at times he wanted to give up. But seeing Rumple's bright smile and innocent eyes kept him going.
One night, Malcolm came home, but not in the expected manner. Someone had started banging on the door, so James ran down to open it before Rumplestiltskin woke up.
He opened the door and said, "Yes? Can I help you?"
Two men were holding Malcolm by the arms, practically dragging him. His head lolled around, but he seemed conscious, which only meant that he was drunk. The men looked to James. One of them looked like the tavern owner.
"Is this your father, boy?" he asked.
"Did he do something?" James replied.
"He conned all of my customers out of their money. He needs to pay them back."
All James could do was stare at his father, half-conscious and still being held by the two men. He looked at James and tried to say something, but it just came out as half-spurted jibberish. James looked back to the men and moved aside, allowing the two of them to go in. He ran into Malcolm's room where the money was kept and grabbed all the bags hidden in different spots. It took him a couple trips, but he got every last coin.
Once the two men got all their money back, they tossed Malcolm down and apologized for disturbing the evening. When they left, James just glared at his father.
"Why?" he asked. It was calm, but cold at the same time. "Why did you waste all our money? We need that to get food and take care of Rumple."
He didn't answer. So James grabbed Malcolm by the hair and pulled his head up and said, "Why?! Don't you have an answer?!"
He still didn't reply, so James let go. He too didn't say anything and just went upstairs to his room. The next day, they had to pack their things and leave. It was obvious no one would offer Malcolm a job, so they couldn't earn money to pay for food and necessities. So, they left. The road was harsh, but there were some people who took pity on them and would pick them up with wagons until they finally arrived in a new town.
It was much bigger and noisier than their old village, but the people were fairly kind and amicable. It took a while to earn enough money to buy a house, but it was worth it in the end. It was small, so he and Rumple had to share a room. That was probably best since he could just walk a few steps to calm him down at night instead of running up the stairs and down the hall to get to him. And Malcolm slept on the other side of the house, so at least James didn't have to see the mess he had to call his father. Often, at least.
But they still needed money. His father got a job at the local tavern as an entertainer. So now he could gamble, drink, and con people out of their money all at once. Whatever Malcolm brought back was rarely enough to afford just one loaf of bread, the rest was most likely spent on drinking. They needed help. They needed their mother.
But they didn't have her. So, James decided to try to get a job himself. He told that to the nice lady next door, Mrs. Douglas, about his plans to get a job. She just gave him a sad smile.
"I'm not sure if you can, James," she said. "Most places won't hire a child with little to no experience."
"I'll convince them! We need the money really, really badly," James retorted.
"Well . . . I do have a friend who runs a nearby restaurant. Perhaps he could give you a job. I'll talk to him for you."
James brightened, "Really?!"
She nodded and he hugged her legs, exclaiming "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much!" Mrs. Douglas chuckled at the boy's enthusiasm. She found him quite adorable and she had to admire his determination.
Later that day, Mrs. Douglas paid a visit to the restaurant. Her friend was kind enough to hear the tale and agree to hire James as a bus boy. It didn't pay a lot, but James was overjoyed at the news. She agreed to look after Rumpelstiltskin while James was at work.
The next day, he went in for his first day at work. He yawned as he walked. It was quite early and he had gotten very little sleep from Rumple's crying. Somehow, he managed to get there in one piece. Inside, it was pretty empty except for one man, bringing down the chairs from the tables, leaving the stools around the tables outside.
"Hello," he said when he finally saw the boy. "You must be James."
He nodded, "That's me. What do you want me to do?"
"For now, help me take down the stools? I can handle the chairs."
"Yes, sir!"
The man chuckled, "No need for formalities. Just call me Emile."
Throughout the morning, James and Emile pulled the chairs and stools down. It wasn't much, but he was grateful to be able to do something. Eventually, it was time to open up the restaurant. Emile told James to just get the dirty plates from empty tables. The day went by pretty quickly until something happened during the dinner rush.
While James was taking some dishes to the kitchen, he saw a boy rummaging through the boxes of fruit. He was fairly tall and looked about a year older than James. He had dirty blonde hair. Literally, it had soot and dirt in it. His clothes were ratty and had holes in them. His arms were full of loaves of bread and fruits of all sorts and his eyes were wild, almost like an animal's.
For a moment, neither of the boys moved. They just looked at each other until James finally said, "Why are you stealing food?"
The boy scrunched his face into a sneer, "None of your business!"
"Hey, it was just a question." He put the dishes down at a nearby sink and looked back to the boy. "What's your name?"
"Felix."
"Nice to meet you, Felix. Why don't we play a game?"
"A game? Why?"
"Well . . ." He plucked an apple out of a box and tossed it around in his hands. "I want to make a deal. If I win, then you have to explain why you're stealing from the restaurant. Depend on the answer, I may or may not report you. But if you win, I'll pretend I never saw you. Okay?"
Felix thought about this for a minute and replied, "Fine. What's the game?"
James smirked and said, "It's a finding game. It's rather simple. I'm going to hide this apple somewhere in the kitchen. You have twenty minutes to find it."
"That's it?"
"That's it. I did say it was simple."
"Okay, then."
"Great! Just close your eyes and turn around and I'll hide the apple."
"How do I know you won't just leave and report me?"
James sighed and went to the door and locked it with the nearby key. Then he grabbed a nearby stool and used it to climb up to the hook at the very top of the door and hung the key from there, some place unreachable unless he had help. Then he climbed back down, put the stool back where it was, and looked to Felix again.
"Good?" he asked. Felix nodded, satisfied. "Then turn around and cover your eyes."
A bit reluctantly, Felix did so. Then he asked, "How long will you have to hide the apple?"
"Five minutes," he replied. "Starting now."
He walked around the entire kitchen, even though he already knew the spot to put the apple. When the five minutes ran up, he went back to Felix and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around to face James.
"It's hidden. You have twenty minutes," James instructed.
Without another word, Felix started to look around. James sat down at the stool and watched him wander aimlessly, searching for the apple. He even patted James down, only to find nothing. Eventually, twenty minutes passed and Felix came back and sighed.
"I lost, didn't I?" he asked.
"Unfortunately, yeah," James replied.
"Where was the apple anyway?"
James went to the box filled with apples and pointed inside, "In here."
"Wow . . . clever."
"Thanks. So, why were you stealing from the kitchen anyway?" He plucked two apples from the box and tossed one to Felix. Then he started munching on his own apple.
Felix took a big bite out of the apple. After he swallowed, he replied, "I have five little brothers. Our parents died a few years ago. I don't steal money or anything valuable, just food. Enough to feed us for a couple days until we can get to the next town."
"Where are you trying to go?"
"Anywhere that'll take us. I'm just trying to help them survive."
"And I'm going to call that a lie. You were just stealing for yourself, weren't you?"
"Okay, yeah. But my parents really did die and I do live on the streets."
"Well, that sucks."
"Indeed."
The two boys sat there, eating their apples in silence for a long while. Neither of them said anything, but the silence was enough. "So," Felix eventually said. "Are you still going to report me?"
"No. I don't really see a reason to," James replied. He picked up some of the food Felix had gotten and handed them back to him. "Just don't steal from here again."
"Or you'll report me?"
"Or someone else may catch you and you may not be so lucky."
"Okay, got it." He went to the window and climbed up to it. "Maybe I'll see you some other time."
"Maybe," James replied.
"See you." Without waiting for a reply, he jumped out of the window.
Over the next few months, James worked at the restaurant and nearly every day, Felix came by to visit. He couldn't let him have all the food, but he did give Felix an apple or bread. Whenever he was on break, the two would play games and tell stories. Felix always told the story of a place called Neverland. A place where children could go in their sleep to escape reality. Where anything could happen, even being able to fly. The more he heard about it, the more James wanted to go.
He never expected it to be real.
Monkey: Does that count as a cliffhanger? I don't think so. But I hope the chapters will be long and I'm hoping to post them up quickly. Not sure if I can do it daily, though. I'll do my best! So click on the little review box down there to leave me your thoughts on the chapter! Hope you liked the chapter, bai!