AN ARROW LODGED itself onto an improvised target on a tree, joining the other arrows in a similar position with a thud.

Brooklyn sat a few feet away and sighed as she launched another arrow without difficulty. The arrow split the first one she shot at dead center. It was the same bow her father had first made for her and one of the few things she took with her when she ran away.

The brunette stood up from where she sat and proceeded to pull her arrows out of the tree, throwing the split one away.

It was more than two weeks since Henry received his book of fairy tales, and he's been bringing it with him everywhere. He had been trying to convince Brooklyn that everyone is a character in the stories and his mom- who he said was the Evil Queen- casted the Dark Curse that brought everyone here with no memory of their past lives.

Brooklyn simply found it very imaginative of him, but the boy came to her that morning with new found determination to prove his ideas true.

Brooklyn was working her usual shift in Granny's with Ruby and the diner's bell rang yet again. The teenager looked up from her current task to see Henry come in with the book in his arms. He sat down at the booth nearest the door, and Brooklyn glanced at the clock hanging above the counter in confusion.

"Henry, aren't you supposed to be in school?" She asked to boy, walking up to him.

"Yeah, but school doesn't start in like twenty minutes," He told her, earning him a doubtful look from Brooklyn. "I just have to show you something!"

Brooklyn simply nodded as he opened the book at the page where he had a bookmark inserted. The page had an image of a man carrying an infant in a blanket that had Emma embroidered on it.

"You remember Prince Charming, right?" Henry asked her.

Brooklyn raised a brow in agreement. "Yeah. Snow White's Prince Charming?"

Henry nodded and corrected her, "Mary-Margaret's Prince Charming,"

The teenager mouthed a prolonged "okay" in response and he continued, "This is their daughter, Emma, who also turns out to be my birth mother,"

Brooklyn felt her eyebrows scrunch up at his sudden conclusion. "And how do you know that?" She asked him doubtfully.

"Just trust me, I know," Henry reassured her, but it wasn't exactly working. "That's why we have to go look for her,"

"Look for her, Henry?" Brooklyn repeated. "Kiddo, where would she be?"

"I'll tell you after school, but the book says she's the savior who's going to break the curse," Henry said. He suddenly looked up and Brooklyn followed his gaze to the clock. "I gotta go. See you later, Brooke!"

Brooklyn reached for his arm as he stood up. "Henry...,"

"I'll explain later, I promise," He said. He saw Ruby walking behind Brooklyn and he said. "Bye, Red!"

Brooklyn let go of his arm and let him leave the diner, looking back at Ruby with a confused look.

"What was that all about?" Ruby asked.

Brooklyn sighed and said,"If I knew, I would tell you,"

A knife was thrown a few feet away and it let out a thud as it hit the target's center.

Brooklyn groaned in frustration. She couldn't take the whole morning conversation out of her head and she couldn't tell whether Henry was being serious about his whole plan. The fact that she wasn't picking him up from school that day frustrated her even more.

The teenager stood up and pulled the knife out of the tree, placing it back in its leather case before heading out of the woods and to her apartment.

Her "apartment" was more of a small unit a floor beneath Mary-Margaret's. The aforementioned woman had shown it to her once they had enough for rent. "It's like a room..., with a bit more privacy," was how she described it, having sensed Brooklyn's sense of independence since they met. Brooklyn had appreciated it since, but she still enjoyed crashing Mary-Margaret's every now and then.

Brooklyn kept her bow and arrows at the back of the closet and kicked her shoes off her feet, when her phone suddenly rang.

"Hello?"

"Brooklyn," Regina said over the line. "I was wondering if you could you pick Henry up after his therapy session? I have a meeting that I'm afraid I can't miss,"

"Of course," Brooklyn replied.

"Thank you. He takes around thirty minutes so you can pick him up anytime there. Curfew is at eight,"

"Got it," Brooklyn nodded though Regina obviously couldn't see her.

"Thank you,"

Brooklyn ended the call and proceeded to head to Dr. Hopper's office, thinking it was better to come early.

Henry's therapy sessions started since Regina sensed her son's loneliness, although Henry had already been going to Brooklyn for comfort and company. When he got the book, it broke her when he told her it confirmed his thoughts on his mom being evil.

Brooklyn waited outside Dr. Hopper's door after she knocked. A few moments later, Archie opened the door with his signature grin. "Hey Brooklyn! I'm kind of busy with a patient right now, but I can get back to you later,"

Henry heard Brooklyn's name and peeked out from the back, waving at her, "Hey Brooke!"

The teenager waved back at him before facing Archie again. "Oh no, it's fine. I'm just here for Henry. Is it okay if I stay during the session?"

Archie smiled at her, knowing her and Henry were inseparable. Henry only started opening up to him when Brooklyn was around, so he trusted to her to stay even during confidential sessions. "Sure, of course. That'll be great!"

Archie opened the door wider and motioned for the teenager to come in. Pongo immediately jumped for her as she took as seat next to Henry. Archie sat back down across the two as he continued where he left off.

"So, um... Henry... About the book, why do you think it connects directly with our town?"

Henry shrugged and said, "I don't know, Archie, it just does. I mean, most people that I've seen here match the book, along with what they do here,"

"Can you give an example?" Archie asked.

"You," Henry blurted his answer out right away, that Archie leaned back in surprise. Brooklyn tried to suppress a laugh at the doctor's reaction and ended up coming out as a weird cough.

"Okay...," Archie slowly nodded. "How am I in the story?"

"Well, for starters, you're Jiminy Cricket," Henry answered. "And everyone knows that Jiminy Cricket is a conscience. You're a therapist. You give people advice when they feel troubled."

Archie nodded, following his train of thought, and said, "How about Brooklyn? Do you think she's like someone in the book too?"

Brooklyn looked at Henry expectantly as he thought of an answer. "Um... I think I saw one here," He took out his storybook fro his bag and flipped through the pages, eyes lighting up when he found what he was looking for.

The page showed an image of an archer. A hood hung over her head and a mask covered her features. "Here. This is Brooklyn,"

"Who do you think she is?" Archie asked him, and Henry simply stated, "Brooklyn,"

"Henry," The teenager spoke up. "I think what Archie meant was who you think I imitate,"

"Exactly." Henry said, looking at her. "You imitate Brooklyn Jones," He emphasized the last word and Archie caught on.

"Alright, so how is Brooklyn related to the character in the story?"

"They're exactly the same person, because you," Henry looked at his friend. "Came from the real world, so your memories were only changed from your time in the Enchanted Forest down until you last step foot in this world."

Archie nodded while Brooklyn processed his words, zoning out.

" 'Until I last stepped foot in this world till my time in the Enchanted Forest.' He thinks I traveled to another realm." She thinks.

Suddenly, Brooklyn was sucked into a vision of some sort.

Brooklyn was running deeper into the forest and she heard shouts behind her. The teenager figured she was running away from a group of men. Gunshots were suddenly heard and she felt her other self ignore them. The whole vision stopped when Brooklyn felt her other self gasp.

"Okay, that's it for today Henry," Brooklyn snapped out of her thoughts when Archie closed his file folder.

Henry stood up and gathered his things, Brooklyn following him as Archie led them to the door. "See you both tomorrow,"

The two smiled and thank him, and once they were both out of the office, Brooklyn spoke, "So..., interesting comparisons to the book. Was that connected to this morning, calling Ruby 'Red' earlier?"

Henry pretended to think for a moment and hummed, "Kind of, yeah,"

Brooklyn grinned and ruffled his hair, asking, "Mind explaining this morning over dinner at Granny's?"

The boy immediately perked up. "Definitely. I've got all the details in my backpack.

At that moment, all Brooklyn could do was brace herself on how to handle this situation as best as she can for him.

"A-are you... Wh-what do yo-..." Brooklyn fumbled for the proper words until it clicked. "Are you serious?! Say you got the name and contact information right, but Boston's a four-hour drive from here. You'd be lucky not to get caught,"

Henry had just explained to her his fully-laid-out plan on finding Emma. Using a website that was able to track down his birth mother, he found some information that convinced him that this Emma was the same Emma from his fairy tale book.

"We can do this, Brooklyn," He prompted. "I know you won't let me do this alone, so you can come with me to look for Emma, and somehow I can bring her back here with us,"

The teenager could only sigh. The situation felt impossible: Henry was a child who wanted to see his real mother and take this shot at finding his family. Brooklyn practically saw the hope in his eyes.

Brooklyn sipped her coffee in front of her as she weighed every aspect of it, and she couldn't even believe herself when she came to her decision.

"I'll do it," Henry's eyes nearly bulged out. She was letting him do this? "But your mom's going to kill me when she finds out you skipped school,"

Henry laughed and shot his arms up. "YES! Yes, thank you, thank you!" He jumped out of his seat and hugged Brooklyn tightly on the other side of the table.

Brooklyn laughed as she hugged in back. "Alright, calm down, kiddo. We have an hour and a half left, so we gotta finish planning,"

Henry grinned. "Thanks, Brooke,"

As the two walk home to the mayor's house, the 10-year-old looked up at his babysitter and said, "We should name our mission, you know. It'll be fun,"

"What name do you want?" The brunette asked him.

"Operation Python,"

"Then Operation Python it is!" Brooklyn smiled at him and Henry grinned back at her.