Lais stumbles out onto the streets of Storybrooke on a mission. Nothing was going to stop him, not even the damned bright sun he hadn't seen in years. Though it burns like hell, he marches forward, dressed in his drab green hospital clothes. Skin dingy, hair matted, feet clad in standard issue flip flops. He has so many questions running through his head as he crosses the street heading away from the hospital he'd been imprisoned in for countless years. He hopes to not see this place again soon, the cramped walls, the night time wailing.

Why had he been locked away? Who had done it?

How long had it been? How long had he not been home?

Where the hell was he? What strange world was this?

So many damn questions. But the questions that burn deeper than any other questions, all relate to his only weakness. A girl who shares his magics, who shares his soul. All because he took pity on her, all because she belonged to him. All of her,her heart, her body and her soul. She was the only human he'd ever gave a damn about, perhaps even loved, if monsters like him could feel such a thing. Why wasn't she here with him? Where had she gone? He had to find her soon before he went mad.

As he approaches the edge of the woods,the familiar scent of earth and trees beckoning him, he looks back at the strange new place he's come to. The strange buildings all packed close to one another, the people wandering about that seemed dazed, the black stone walkways and metal horseless carriages, the strangeness of it all. Everything seems so different, the thought makes him pause. Even himself, he was different. Different skin, different hands. Different.

What if she's different as well? What if she couldn't remember?

He shakes the thought away, it doesn't matter if she is different or not, he'll still have her. He wasn't whole without her. He absent-mindedly grabs for a phantom necklace, startled that it's not there. That's right. He'd given it to her, the silver branch from his home,though for some reason he couldn't remember why.

He sighs, resting against a tree trunk. Deciding a direction to go he trudges through the fallen leaves, with only his dull senses to guide him. She had liked the woods, he knew she had to be close to them, it's how they'd met after all. He just had to follow the aching in his chest, he was sure to find her.

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She'd been in the demon's tower for a two days now. Each night alone in a large single room with an attached wash room behind thick black drapes. There were no windows for her to see where she was, just two large doors at either end of the cavernous room. Doors she dare not open, she was unsure of her agreements boundaries anyways.

In the center of the room a four post bed bigger than any she'd ever seen. A long wooden trunk inlaid with pearls sat at the foot of the massive bed. No other furniture was in the room though, the wash room was much the same. A silver tub in the center of the room stood on legs of silver branches, a single large limb jutting out of the silver green walls with a black robe draped over it.

Night time was lonely and boring, she tried her best to stay awake though. Each day he returns, near dawn, and makes her lie with him. Curling around her, not letting her go, as he rests from his nights travel. She sleeps well enough but when she's awake she worries about the fate of her family. Had the mystery been solved? Had the way back been destroyed? Was she free of her sisters at last?

She also worries about her lack of basic comforts, like clean clothes. She had only the dress she'd worn and it was beginning to smell a bit funny. There seemed to be no hygiene supplies, aside from soap, no hair brush, no mirror. Things that existed in excess back beyond that magic tapestry.

She nibbles at the food left atop the trunk on a silver tray,dry bread and cured venison, deciding to bathe if nothing else.

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He pushes the door open as quietly as he can, hoping to not give away his presence, wiping dried blood from around his lips. He's killed a human this night, a stupid man, rash and wanting to be a hero. He can feel the weight of the mans heart in his belly as he shuffles towards the washroom.

The splashing water behind the curtain makes him pause. Glancing around the room, he noticed she isn't present, his new found companion. A grin forms on his face at his chance to glimpse her wares.

His thin gray fingers slowly pull the curtain back allowing him to see inside. He catches himself before a gasp escapes his lips, the hypnotic scene before him almost making him loose it. A wild, primal, urge stirring deep within him.

Water pools around her pale skin. Her black hair, floating, spilling over the surface. She hums softly as she scrubs herself, bubbles tracing over curves. Curves he is now well aware of. Her gown is hung, wet, across the silver branch with his own robe.

Her back is towards him. His imagination running amuck. He steps through the curtain taking a slow deep breath, trying his best to remain in control, his fingers twitching at his sides. He'll leave after a better look, he decides.

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He's been walking for hours, stumbling through the woods as the sun went down. North. His direction was his only certainty. He feels drawn this way, feels his search might soon end. That he might soon be complete again.

Lais sees a light in the distance, then another, and another. Homes with their backs to the woods. That yellow false light he'd seen so many times before outside that dark, windowless, padded room. A shiver ran down him as he thought of that place, of the strange thoughts that made him doubt what he now knew as truth. He'd never imagined it, it was this world that was a lie not the other.

He spots a light further away fro the others, a soft white light, muted by thin curtains. That was where he was going. That was where he would find her. His heart.

And he would have her again no matter what.