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Chapter 1: The Truth Comes Out

It was true. Everything Henry had been telling her—about Storybrooke being full of fairy tale characters, about their adopted mother being the Evil Queen—all of it was true. She had somewhat believed him—even she had noticed that people didn't age here and that everyone had seemed stuck reliving the same day over and over minus her and a few others—but she hadn't wanted to believe him about their mother.

Regina had been nothing but nice to her and Jeremy from the moment she adopted them. Yes, she could be a bit overbearing at times, but Elena was just glad she actually cared about them. She would help them with homework, and listen to their rants about school, and…she was just there for them. Even after adopting Henry a few years after she had taken the two siblings in, she still made sure she had time for all three of them.

Elena walked around in a daze as everyone began searching desperately for their loved ones, their true selves having been awoken by Emma Swan breaking the curse. She hardly paid them any attention, too wrapped up in her own thoughts.

The last words she had heard her mother—for she had come to see Regina as that over the years—say before running out of Henry's hospital room right after the curse broke rang through her head. "Henry, Elena, no matter what anyone says, I've always loved you and Jeremy."

The young woman longed to know that no matter what the other citizens of Storybrooke said, she would always stand behind her mother. But the fact remained that she didn't know who the older woman was anymore.

All the stories she'd heard about the Evil Queen as a child came rushing to her mind—specifically from Snow White, one of her favorite fairy tales as a kid. The Queen in that one was very jealous and vindictive; none of which matched Regina. At least, the one Elena had grown up knowing.

The brunette's temples began to throb from trying to grasp everything, and she knew it would only get worse as the day went on. Halting, she paused to bury her face into her hands. Against hope, she prayed this was just a dream, that she would wake up back in her room in the mansion.

No such luck. Lowering her hands, Elena began scanning the crowd for Jeremy, knowing he had to learn everything Henry had been saying for months was true.

*Six months earlier*

Elena walked downstairs and saw Henry sitting at the kitchen table, a book spread out in front of him. Their mother had already left by the looks of it. Curious, the brunette glanced at it as she poured some cereal into a bowl.

The book was thin and very old looking. In fact, it reminded her if the book of fairytales she had stashed up in her room somewhere.

"New book?" She asked, taking the seat opposite her adopted brother.

The boy nodded absentmindedly, still intently reading.

"Must be good," she continued, more to herself.

"Have you ever noticed anything odd about this town?" Henry asked suddenly after the two had sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Not really," the young woman replied. Sure, everyone still looked the same as they did when her and Jeremy first arrived, but she chalked that up to aging extremely well. Almost too well, a voice that she had grown to ignore whispered faintly. "Why?"

"This is going to sound crazy, but I think everyone in here is a character in this book," the dark haired boy said, holding up the book so she could see for emphasize. 'Once Upon A Time' the title read.

Elena choked on the bit of cereal she had been in the process of swallowing at that. "What makes you think that?" She asked once the coughing had subsided.

"I've been reading this a lot lately, and it fits. The fact that no one here seems to age, the way everyone goes about doing the same thing every single day…how can it be anything but magic?" Henry answered.

"Henry," the young woman began carefully, "there's no such thing as magic. Believe me, if there was someone would've found out by now."

"There is!" He protested. "Look, doesn't Snow White look almost exactly like Mary Margaret?"

The brunette looked at the picture he pointed to. The two did look similar, but she still doubted it was because everyone was under some kind of curse. "Alright, they do, but that could still be a coincidence."

Her younger brother opened his mouth to further protest but Elena was saved by the alarm on her phone going off, signaling she needed to leave for work. "I'll see you later," she told Henry as she hurriedly placed her bowl in the sink and rushed out the door.

As she did, she heard him call after her, "You just don't believe. But that's ok—I'll prove it."

If there was one thing Elena was certain of right now besides the fact her entire world had just been shattered and haphazardly thrown back to together, it was that Henry would do whatever he promised to.

"Elena!" Jeremy's voice broke through her thoughts, and her head snapped up to see him running towards her. "What's going on? Everyone's behaving very oddly."

"Henry was right," was all she could reply.

"Huh?" Her brother replied, not quite comprehending.

"What he said about this town, about mom…it's all true."

Her brother's eyebrows furled. "You mean that everyone is some sort of fairytale character? But that's—"

The brunette shook her head vigorously. "It's not. I…just trust me on this," she said, her still-scrambled brain preventing her from continuing. She knew exactly what was going through Jeremy's head and couldn't help the sympathy that rose up. Out of the two of them, she had always been the one slightly more open to Henry's theory; and if she was having a tough time fully comprehending what had just occurred, she knew it was even worse for him.

Then an idea hit her—one that could help both of them. "Come on," she said, grabbing Jeremy's hand and practically running in the direction she had just come. "We're going to find Henry."

VD-OUAT

The two siblings found their younger brother standing with a group of people. Elena easily recognized the faces of people she knew: Mary Margaret, Ruby, Granny, David Nolan, Emma Swan…most, with the exception of David and Emma, she had known ever since she was six.

And now, with the curse being broken (and actually existing), they may as well be complete strangers. She knew the fairy tales by heart, but the young woman had no idea how much of the tales translated into real life.

"Elena! Jeremy!" Henry called, breaking away from the group and running towards them. "I told you it was real!" He said triumphantly when he reached them, more to Jeremy than anyone else.

Jeremy, for his part, was observing the scene in front of them with a look of disbelief. "Everything you said…it's really true?"

Both Elena and Henry nodded.

The look on Jeremy's face mirrored what Elena imagined hers had been—and probably still was to some extent. Dazed, uncomprehending.

"I…I've got to go," her brother said quickly, turning and all but running. Elena knew he was probably going to what she'd dubbed as 'his' spot in the forest—where when they had been growing up, he would escape to think things over—as his way of coping with how much his world had been changed in a matter of seconds.

Elena and Henry stood there, watching as their brother's silhouette become smaller and smaller in the distance. As selfish as it may sound, Elena secretly hoped Jeremy would manage to come to terms with everything soon—she needed him, as he was the only person in this town now who understood her.

Henry turned to face the brunette. "Do you want to meet them?" He asked, and Elena knew he was talking about the group of people behind them—the ones she no longer knew anything about.

"I don't think—" the woman began hesitantly, but the dark haired boy cut her off.

"They won't mind. They've known you ever since you were little, remember?" He told her. "They don't think you're evil, if that's what you're wondering," he added.

Without giving Elena time to protest, he grabbed her hand and, using strength she didn't know someone his size could possess, dragged her still slightly-shocked form over to the group of people.

As expected, she could feel their eyes on her as Henry dragged her over to them. Thankfully, they didn't seem to be hostile gazes—though she knew that didn't necessarily mean anything.

Swallowing the fear she could feel threatening to spill over, she managed to get something out.

"I'm sorry if I'm intruding on anything. I can just leave if you guys want," she said hurriedly when the silence began to grow awkward, ignoring the look Henry shot her.

"No, it's fine," Mary Margaret—no, she corrected herself, Snow White—replied quickly.

The brunette glanced at the faces of the rest of the group, and found they at least held no outward dislike or judgement. Elena felt relief starting to override the fear—maybe they wouldn't see her as just Regina's adopted daughter after all. And then she realized, to her horror, that for the first time she'd indirectly referred to her mother as the Evil Queen.

I guess a part of you believed it all along, a voice in the back of her mind whispered as she felt shame wash over her. Who, exactly, went around with some part of them believing the woman who'd saved them from a terrible life in the system—who they'd even come to see as a mother—was the Evil Queen?

Then she realized it must have been the way she'd seen Regina treat Emma Swan, with open hostility even if Elena could tell the blonde woman had no intention of trying to take Henry back. That was one thing that had never sat right with the young woman, regardless of how much she loved her mother.

And there was the time she made what you thought was a normal apple turnover to give to Emma, which almost killed Henry when he ate it instead…the same voice continued to whisper traitorously.

"Elena," a voice called her name brought the brunette out of her thoughts. She identified the voice as belonging to Granny (who really had become like a grandmother to Elena over the years).

"Sorry," she apologized immediately. "I was just—"

"It's fine. It's a lot to take in." For the first time since she'd arrived at the group, David Nolan—Charming, she corrected—spoke.

She gave him what she hoped as a smile of gratitude in return, and like that the awkwardness that had descended upon the group shattered. For the first time since the curse had broken, Elena began to feel something resembling peace as the group welcomed her in their midst, despite her being an outsider and the adopted daughter of the person who'd put them here in the first place.

VD-OUAT

Hopefully this is a little longer than the previous chapter. Yes, things aren't very interesting right now, but I want to establish Elena's relationship with the other citizens of Storybrooke and how her and Jeremy deal with curse and revelation that Regina is the Evil Queen. Hook won't come up for a good while yet, sadly—but I do know how he will enter the story and in turn meet Elena.

Below is just a note about my other stories—which ones I'm working on (or trying to), etc.

I am slowly working on my other stories—mainly Blood, Love, and Gold and possibly Soulmates once I remember where I wanted to take the chapter I'm working on, along with maybe some others. I've decided one of my New Year's Resolutions is to finish some of my stories and not start so many new ones while I'm not that far into others.

But don't be surprised if either some Harry Potter/Hobbit oneshots involving Luna/Fili get posted or a drabble/oneshot series about them—those are just to help get my creativity flowing again. I'm holding off on writing any new multi-chapter stories until I finish some of the ones I have going.