two-
"What are you afraid of?"
"Tiny fucking padded rooms filled with silence!Tiny cells, it's all the same!" Ellisidy growls as she shifts her weight against the cold metal roof of her mini bus. The answer had come before she'd even thought it through. She knows the fire has begun to flare due to her anger and tries to choke it back.
Minutes pass in silence as the fire slowly calms, Charming spinning around trying to locate the source of the magic, Jefferson pacing the length of the green vehicle. The static noise of the radio ceasing suddenly.
"You were declared competent this morning." Charming states as if it mattered. "I just want to talk."
Jefferson silently pulls himself up the Volkswagon's rear ladder suddenly face to face with a young brunette woman, her chaotic polychromatic eyes looking at him with curiosity. Rainbows on oil slicks, thats what her eyes reminded him of as he puts a single finger to his mouth, allowing her to continue her banter.
"You...You have magic, right?" Charming's voice broke slightly as he asked.
Ellisidy sat up to face the man now staring at her with a wide grin,green eyes flashing with something dark as he looks her over from head to toe. Her voice quiet and calm, asking one man as much as the other."What do you want?"
"Help..." Charming finally said as he turned to face the green relic of the hippy era, noticing Jefferson hovering on the back ladder. He cocks an eyebrow before adding, "I just really need help...anything...to get them back..."
"Fine...if thats how it is.." She slides closer to Jefferson kicking her legs over the side of the bus and shooting a half smile at Charming, her eyes shadowed under a mop of shoulder length straight brown hair. Her petite frame slides down the side of the vehicle, landing softly on her feet she takes a few steps towards the fire. "Why should I want to help you then?"
Charming blinks as his face goes from hopeful to baffled, a stream of thoughts he couldn't put into words ran through his mind. Anger flashes suddenly inside him, " Then what will you do?" he growls under his breath, desperation and worry tinged his voice. "Will you become another villain this town doesn't need?"
Ellisidy stops, looking up at the sky, letting her hair fall back. Her eyes clouding over as she focuses on the bright full moon, the fire dying down to mere cinders. "I hadn't thought about it really, I never really thought they'd let me out, I mean before I did...but once they found out who I was, never...just like before..."She falls silent for a moment. "Is it true that if you leave town, you forget?"
"It is." Jefferson says as he steps down from the ladder again, his eyes fixed on the woman before them, dressed in a long flowing green sundress with no shoes. Had they not been, he would have missed the wet drop slide down her cheek, shimmering as the fire light catches it just right.
Charming paces before the dying green fire, she'd given an honest sounding answer, what more could he really ask. "You know I can't really have you staying out here in the woods like this...Not with Regina on the war path...she's bound to start trouble tomorrow."
"I understand that..." She spins with a shrug, still looking at the moon. "But Regina had my home sold...all of my things...except the van...The home she'd given me in the first place, now that I think about it...so who am I to complain."
"I have some space..." Jefferson chimes in, a sheepish look on his face as uncontrolled thoughts race through his head.
Charming shoots him a dirty look,but doesn't say anything as he can't think of a better option. The thought of two crazies under one roof made him cringe just a little as he turns and begins to walk away. "Figure it out...I'll be back tomorrow to make sure the vans been moved...if the council decides to make trouble for you..I can't stop them...and after Regina is done tomorrow..."
She stifles a laugh, looking back to Jefferson as the moon falls behind some clouds and the fire dies out. The radio clicks on in the dark, humming to life with soft piano music.
#~~~~~~
"What do you mean Maleficent had a child?" Mr. Gold asks Regina in front of the gathered group from his seat in the front row. "And they let her loose in our town? How could you have not told someone?"
"This is me telling you." Regina states taking her seat again.
The rest of the room remains silent, afraid of comparing the frightening man before them to the monster they were listening to him and Regina argue about, aloud at least. The whole meeting had come to a grinding halt when she'd, moments before, burst in and announced the addition of another resident, claiming of course to have the best interests of the town at heart.
Jefferson slides in the back door trying to remain at the back to listen, after all he'd let the girl in his home, he did have the right to listen. Though as far as he could tell she'd spent the entire night on the roof, having climbed out from a unlocked bedroom window only moments after he'd left her alone. Even when he'd checked this morning the bed was still made and untouched, a small knapsack in the corner and a open window the only signs he even had a guest. He'd seen the flyers at Granny's Diner the night before, but only decided to attend the town meeting after he and Sheriff Charming had met the girl.
"I've been given her file and other than who gave birth to her I don't see the issue..." Dr. Archie Hopper chimes in, a serious look on his face as he flips through a off yellow file. "She's not violent as far as anyone could tell while she was in treatment...but why is there no name or photo in there? Why is so much blacked out?"
"Do we really need another witch?" Leroy shouts, gaining the agreement of the other dwarves. "We have enough problems in our lives as it is...even if she isn't violent...How can we trust that?"
The voices die off slowly as Charming steps forward to the podium, a slight frown on his face. "Come on people...We can't react this way every time something happens. We'll end up in chaos."
"Did anyone know her before?" Dr. Whale asks from the middle aisle. "From back home or here? Can anyone remember anything about her?"
The room falls silent again, not a one could remember Maleficent having a child or ever running across anyone claiming that heritage.
"A name, Regina." Gold demands. "What is the girls name?"
"Ellisidy." Charming answers first, frustration clear on his face. "Her name is Ellisidy."
The crowd began to mumble, each person trying to search their memories for the name. Not just the easier to comb through memories of this land but through the painful and sometimes buried memories of their home land. Regina sits, clearly worried, holding Henry's hand tightly and trying to not add more fuel to the fire, yet.
A young woman stands, pushing her way around Mr. Gold. Few recognize the quiet librarian as anything more than Mr. Gold's rumored lover, though they are all compelled to wonder what kind of girl she might be. " Ellisidy? The minstrel?"
Mr. Gold's eyes narrow and fall on the girl. Disbelief on his face.
"You mean the bard?" Archie stands suddenly as well. "The wandering singer who traveled with the caravans in winter?"
Charming can only blink in response, he really knows nothing of this person in question outside of what he'd seen last night and even after Regina explained he couldn't tell them the answers they wanted. "I'm not sure..."
"Small framed brunette girl?" Ruby asks from the front of the town hall chamber. "Bit strange, but a wonderful voice. Really odd eyes."
Both Belle and Archie nod agreement, a person they'd all know in some form or fashion so very long ago. Though not a one could believe the person in their memories could be the child of that evil witch. To them she was something entirely different.
" Well where is she then? Do we at least know that?" Mr. Gold demands.
"She's somewhere safe." Charming responds, hoping it to be true.
#~~~~~~~~~~~
The meeting had ended rather abruptly with no one deciding if the girl was actually a threat or not. On his long walk home Jefferson had decided he didn't care what the town thought. Even after listening to them go on for an hour without resolution he felt himself better off making his own decisions. Mad or not, the town meeting had just impressed upon him how hard it was to be 'normal'.
As he opens his front door he lets loose a sigh, nothing had changed while he'd been gone. Not a light had been turned on and the tea sat untouched. The girl hadn't come down stairs at all. Perhaps even was still of the roof, though he couldn't fathom why.
Walking up the stairs he can hear the hum of water, the guest bathroom shower is running. She had come down from the roof after all.
The door to the guest room was wide open and as he got closer he could hear her singing softly through the half open bathroom door. The window was closed now and the bed had a small curled up impression at its center. He steps over her discarded sun dress as the scent of fruity sweet body wash invades his nostrils.
Leaning against the door frame he listens to her for a while, entranced, not noticing the water turn off. Her voice is enchanting, she sings a lullaby like tune he recognizes from back home, one he'd often sung to his daughter. Listening with his eyes closed, he can almost picture it, the place she describes almost seeming real.
A sudden gasp causes him to open his eyes, his control melting away in a flash.