It all happened so fast. The second the pomegranate tart passed my mother's lips, the Vanishing Curse was enacted. One minute she was laughing and chatting animatedly to me, then suddenly, her eyes glazed over and a look of unawareness replaced her lovely smile.
"Who are you?" She'd questioned. "How did you get into my home?"I didn't reply, I just grimaced as my heart fell into my stomach. I don't know how, but somehow I knew; knew that something terrible had just happened, and all of the sudden, I was all alone.
"Come now, dear." A dark, sultry voice that I knew all too well had entered the room. Her cold hand rested on my shoulder and guided me from the large oak table.
"Mother, who is she – who is this child?"Her voice was thick with confusion and frustration. I could feel the tears falling freely from my eyes as I clenched my fists and stared at the ground.
"She's no one, Darling. One of the local Millers' children, I'll have her escorted off the grounds immediately." As the dining room doors had shut behind us, Cora's guidance turned into a more forceful shove as she took me into one of the sewing rooms. The door was slammed shut and Cora dropped to her knees, grabbing my chin and forcing my eyes to lock with hers.
"Listen, Sweetheart. You want the best for your Mama, don't you?" I nodded, fat tears rolling down my cheeks with the sudden movement. "Good girl. Now, if you leave the kingdom and don't come back, do you know what your mama will become?" My head shook. "A queen, Harlow, your mummy will be a queen." She paused. "Will you let me take you away, to a new mummy and daddy so she will be happy?" I know I should have said yes, but at five years old it's in our genetic makeup to be selfish, to be attached; to be an obnoxious child who wants to hold onto our parents and never let go. So I did what any other five year old would do, and shook my head. Cora's demeanour immediately changed from a sickly sweet to an unconcealed hatred. Her painted lips pursed and her hairline pulled tight as she squeezed my shoulders rigidly. "Alright then. Just remember, you made this decision, not me."
-Once Upon a Time-
The green 'Entering Storybrooke' sign flew past my window, sending my stomach into a flurry of butterflies. After over ten years of investigating tales and alleged accounts of magic, it had been one story from a little boy that I'd found on the internet which had led me here. The boy's name was Owen Flynn and he had started an internet blog in 2001 entitled 'Storybrooke, Maine'. I first found the Journal in 2002 when I was eleven years old (by this realm's years), and followed it all the way through to 2009 when it suddenly became inactive.
I knew that he had been talking about my mother the minute I read the description of her, well that, and the fact that she had used her real name. Can't say I was surprised though, from the whispers I had heard about the Evil Queen circulating through the Worlds, my mother had become a nasty piece of work.
I arrived in this realm in 1996 as a mentally mature five year old. My entrance was through a portal that opened up in London, England. I vividly remember being found wondering the streets by a young lady who took me back to her apartment and contacted the authorities. After the courts were unable to find any biological parent, living or deceased, I was slowly given an identity and put into foster care. Luckily for me, the first family I was situated with loved me so much that they decided to adopt me.
Elizabeth and Robert Fields were a lovely old couple. It took me a few months to open up to them, but when I did; it was like I had always been there. When evening fell, we would sit in front of the fire and I would tell them stories of home; of the kings and queens, the magic and the creatures and they would tell me stories of their own. The story of how they met was one that I would never forget. Robert had been a soldier in something they called 'The Malayan Emergency', and Elizabeth was a nurse. She'd met him when he was admitted into her infirmary after he'd covered his comrade from a stray grenade. I remember asking him why he didn't have it healed with magic, explaining to them that my grandmother knew a powerful dark sorcerer named Rumpelstiltskin who could cure the worst of ailments with just the wave of his hand. I never knew whether they'd actually believed my tales or not, but I didn't care; for that sliver of time in my life, I'd been truly happy.
Sadly, in late 2009 Robert and Elizabeth Fields both passed away, within a week of each other. They'd remained side by side right until the very end. I was sure that what I'd been able to be a part of, even if just for the smallest amount of time, had been True Love and I would miss them forever.
I let out a long sigh at the memories but smiled nonetheless as the wooden 'Welcome to Storybrooke' sign came into view. It was only another two minute drive before I was in the middle of the small town. I slowed down and pulled my rusting truck into an empty car space near the front of 'Granny's diner'. Grabbing my wallet, phone and keys, I locked the car door and went inside. Immediately upon entering a tall, skinny brunette girl rushed towards me.
"Hi there," she exclaimed, "I'm Ruby. Haven't seen you before, are you new in town?" I could see the old lady behind the counter stealing weary glances whilst trying to converse with a customer.
"Just passing through, thought I'd stop in for some coffee, and maybe a snack." I could almost see the relief she felt at my statement.
She smiled and led me to a booth down the back of the busy diner; I had to ignore the stares I was receiving from the other patrons. "I'll start you off with a coffee; just give us a yell when you decide what you feel like ordering." I smiled thankfully and took my seat.
As I added the cream and sugar to my coffee I listened to the idle chatter filling the room. One conversation interested me more than the others. It was being held between the elderly lady behind the counter and an abnormally short gentleman that had entered as I was seated.
"How's David coping without Mary Margaret?" The women asked quietly, no doubt worried about wandering ears, I could almost feel her looking in my direction. I continued to stir the steaming coffee innocently.
"Better than we would have expected, to be honest, I'm more worried about the kid. He really misses Emma."
"Well, we have our own situation here." She paused which I assumed was accompanied by a gesture towards me. "I hope for her sake she leaves before Regina finds out she's here."
"Hi." I almost jumped out of my skin when a voice sounded from opposite me in the booth.
"Jesus, kid! You almost gave me a heart attack." I exclaimed grabbing my chest. "What are you, some kind of ninja? I didn't even hear you sit down." A large brown book entitled 'Once Upon a Time' was dumped on the table in front of me.
"I know, that's because you were eavesdropping on Granny and Grumpy over there." He pointed to the couple at the bench. I had to admit, I was impressed with this kid.
"I can assure you that I don't know what you're talking about." I replied, barely containing a grin.
"Right." He retorted taking a sip of his hot cocoa, with cinnamon? "I'm Henry Mills, who're you?"
I smiled. "Nice to meet you Henry Mills, I'm Will Fields." That sentence was almost cringe-worthy to say aloud.
"No, I mean who're you in the book?" I shot him a confused look, to which he let out a noise of frustration. "Look, everyone in Storybrooke is a character in this book right here." He lifted the book and gave it an odd shake. "So if you're here in Storybrooke that must mean you're in the book. People don't just come Storybrooke, and people don't leave." Henry had good intuition.
"I can tell you now, kid, that you won't find any trace of me in there." His head tilted slightly to the side as he shot me a look of confusion.
"C'mon, kiddo. We need to get back down to the mines before it starts to get too late." He looked towards me as if only suddenly realising that I was there.
"Sorry, where are my manners? I'm David." He said, giving a charming smile and offering his hand.
"Hi David, I'm Will." I replied taking his hand and giving it a slight shake. "Is Henry your son?" The signs of uncomfortableness crossed both of their faces and I realised awkwardly that I had probably stumbled into some sort of messy family situation. I quickly shook it off and side-stepped into safe conversational territory. "He surely does have an awesome imagination!" I turned to Henry who was looking mildly annoyed. "Who knows, you might write your own book one day."
Quickly grabbing a ten dollar note out of my wallet, I sat it underneath the now empty coffee cup in the middle of the table and stood up.
"It was fantastic meeting you both, but I really need to get going, have to be on the freeway in about an hour. Henry, make sure you take care of that book, it sure is a beauty." I gave a quick passing wave and 'thank you' to Ruby and walked out the door, the small chime of the bell seeing me off.
I briskly walked a few metres down the street until I reached my car. The passenger seat door gave me it's usual grief getting it open but finally complied with a load groan and opened all the way. I leaned into the car, sitting before me on the ripped leather seat was a big round box. I quickly manoeuvred the lid off and lifted out one of my most prized possessions: Robert's 1950's grey Homburg hat. My brow tightened into a frown, my fingers could now be seen through the large tear along the small brim. The diner door bell chimed once again and I turned to see David and Henry taking off down the road.
"Wait!" I yelled. "David!" He stopped walking and turned towards me. "I was hoping you might know someone who could help me fix this." He looked slightly confused. "It's my late father's hat, I've been looking everywhere for someone to help me fix it. I thought since I was here, it might not hurt to ask." He looked at me, then to the hat and finally back to me again.
"You mean like a hatter?" I could see Henry smiling from behind him.
Hi guys! I've recently gotten re-obsessed with OUaT and couldn't contain my need to write. I wanted to clear up any confusion: Harlow is Willa's 'Enchanted name' and Willa Fields is the name the she was given when she arrived in London, which she now goes by. Just to reiterate, this is set mid-season 2 – Mary Margaret and Emma are still in the Enchanted Forest, but they will be back soon. I have basically until season 3 mapped out in my head, where Willa may or may not return to Neverland. I would also like to apologise for if Will sounds like a Mary-Sue at all so far, you really need to hear more of her story to realise that there is so much more to her character – and yes, I have seen some absolute horror 'Regina's daughter' stories, but I am hoping to break that mould with this one. Also, for another apology, I am really terrible at updating. Hopefully I shouldn't be too bad with this story, but there is just so much OUaT in my head and not enough words to get it all down on paper. So if you decide to stick with my story, I give you a thousand thanks! Please leave a favourite and Review if you have the time/can be bothered; if not, that's okay, just have fun reading! Oh, and Will's face claim is Eleanor Tomlinson!