Donkeyskin

Chapter Four

One night, in front of the Mayor's House, Storybrooke…

"Thank you for driving me back home, Brad." Elise said while opening the passenger's door.
"Your welcome, El'." The brown haired boy replied with a smile. He leaned closed. "So, can I get it?"
"What?"
"A kiss. A goodbye kiss." He smiled.
The teenage girl huffed.
"Brad, Chloe's party was nice and all but I thought we agreed to go as friends."
"Calm down, I was just… kidding."
She stared at him for a few seconds before reaching for her purse. She took a piece of paper which had a number on it. She gave it to him.
"Here."
"Whose number is that?" He asked, inspecting the paper.
"Amanda Turner. Don't play dumb Brad, I know you like her and she likes you. So you better text her tonight and asks her on a date." She said seriously.
Brad turned his head with a small grin.
"Goodnight El'."
"Goodnight Brad."
The car rushed on the road and Elise walked toward the front door and tried to open it discreetly, not wanting to wake up Henry or Madame Mayor. She closed the door and took off her high heels.
"He's a nice and cute boy." A voice said from the shadows.
Elise let a small scream, startled and put her hand on her heart to calm down when she realised it was only Regina Mills, the mother of the boy she was babysitting presently and living with.
"Yeah, he's nice but not my type." The girl whispered. "Are you not supposed to be in bed?"
"I'm an adult, I do what I want and I see you respected your curfew, unlike last time. Henry is sleeping but he still is acting weird." The older woman sighed.
They both sat on a sofa.
"He doesn't want to hug me anymore, he doesn't want me near him… I don't know what happen! One day, he's fine, smiling, we're talking together and the next, he avoids me as if I was the plague."
"I'm sorry Regina. I don't seem to have a problem with Henry but I will try to talk to him if you want."
The mayor smiled softly at her. Since the day the two met thanks to Graham, they immediately took a liking toward each other. Regina saw her as her daughter while Elise saw her as a mother figure. The teenage girl was also a great help around the house, she could keep Henry every time Regina was working late or going somewhere. The girl yawned and Regina chuckled seeing her tired face.
"You should go to bed." She sweetly murmured. "Have a nice rest. Tomorrow, I have my annual meeting with Mister Gold. He wanted me to bring you along but I told him that I will never force you to do what you don't want to." The mayor added.
"I don't know what he wants with me." The teenager grumbled. "He's always behind my back, watching my every move. It's creepy."
Regina agreed by nodding her head.

The morning after, Elise woke up by hearing her phone vibrating on her nightstand. She took it and sighed angrily when she saw that Yves texted her again. She ignored and erased the text and looked at the hour. Nine o'clock. The teenage girl stood up from her bed and put on her slippers. She went toward Henry's bedroom, to wake him up since the two had a busy day, which included playing video games, eating pancakes, doing their homework and playing video games again. She frowned when she saw that the door was open and no sound was coming from it. She entered the neat bedroom and so that Henry wasn't here. She rolled her eyes.
"It's too early to play, Henry." She declared. "You can come out now... And if you don't, I will tell your mom about your secret reserve of sweets."
No sound, no sounds of foot running the corridors. It was weird, very weird, strange and troubling. The teenage girl started to search around the house but she found so sign of the little boy. She rummaged around, looking everywhere, even in the cupboards! At some point, she took her phone and called Regina.
"Elise? Is there a problem?"
"Oh my god, Regina, Henry's not here! He's gone!" She said hysterically.
"What?!" The woman exclaimed, worry in her voice.
"I searched everywhere, I can't find him!" The teenage girl added quickly.
"Call Graham now! I'm coming."

The two women were pacing, under Graham stare. They were both very worried and he could see the guilt in Elise's eyes. The girl blamed herself for Henry's
"After what I recorded, he must had run away." He stated. "He took money, Elise's credit card, some clothes…"
"Why would he do that?" Regina asked the sheriff.
The latter shrugged.
"I don't know. The two of you didn't notice a strange behaviour?"
Elise glanced at the mayor who didn't know if she had to tell the truth or just tell a lie to the officer.
"Well… I don't think so…" She stared, uneasy, arms crossed.
"I'm so sorry Regina…" Elise said, tears in her eyes. "I should have get up early, I should…"
"Elise, it is not your fault." The older woman replied to her and hugged the teenage girl. "Henry will come back home, I'm sure of it. For you, he will."
On cue, the three of them heard voices from outside of the house, a young and feminine one and a young boyish voice who seemed to argue with each other. Elise ran toward the door and opened it quickly. Despite the darkness, she recognised Henry next to a blond woman, dressed with a red leather jacket. The mayor appeared next to her and started to run toward the young boy.
"Henry! Are you okay?" Regina exclaimed, as she rushed to him, Elise on her heels.
"Where have you been?" Elise asked, relieved to see him safe and sound. "We were so worried about you!"
"I found my real mom." He said spitefully, staring at Regina before rushing in the house.
Elise turned to the young blond haired woman, shocked of what Henry just revealed. She knew Henry was adopted by the mayor but still, she didn't think he would go to search for her birth mother. Regina stepped toward her.
"You… You are Henry's birth mother?"
"Hi." The stranger greeted, a bit uneasy about the awkward situation.
Graham coughed lightly.
"I'll just go and check on the lad, make sure he's all right."
Elise stared at the stranger and crossed her arms. The two women talked a bit more before Regina invited the woman to come over, to drink. Sheriff Graham excited the house and told the teenage girl that Henry wanted to talk to her. She thanked him and went inside, climbed the stairs and went toward Henry's room, a bit angry.

The boy was sitting on his bed, reading a comic book. He clearly didn't care about the fact that she and his adoptive mother were truly concerned about him and his sudden disappearance.
"Henry! Are you serious?!" She nearly shouted.
He looked at her as she had no right to be angry at him. She closed the door and put her hands on her hips.
"I'm sorry for your credit card. I used it." He said.
"I don't care about that! Do you realize how me and your mother were worried about your disappearance? And where did you go? Where did you find your birth mother?"
She stopped for a moment before asking another question:
"How did you find her?"
"Come on Elise! I already told you why!" The boy told her a bit exasperated.
"Henry, you should stop reading this book your teacher gave you! Fairy-tales don't exist, as well as their characters." She replied, irritated by the boy's behaviour. "And you should grow up."
The young boy pouted but took her hand and made her sit next to him.
"Listen to me, Elise. You are Donkeyskin! A princess who runs away from her kingdom and swears to get it back from your evil step father!" Henry smiled at her, trying to convince her. "You have to believe me, you always do normally. But I understand that you don't, you can't remember what happened. But don't worry! My mom is here to save us, she's the Saviour!"
"Very funny, Henry." Elise said to him in a serious tone. "I'm going to sleep. I'm tired. I was worried about someone really close to me, if you see what I mean." She glared at the boy and exited the room.

Elise was doing her homework when her phone started vibrating. She answered it without looking who was calling her.
"Hello?"
"Good evening, Elise." A strong and collected voice said.
She stopped breathing and put her pencil on the copybook. She checked who it was to be sure.
"Yves. Why are you calling me? I have a restraining order against you, if you try anything, I will call sheriff Graham and he will put you in jail." She growled.
"Calm down, princess. I just wanted some news. So, how are you doing?"
"Wait, are you freaking serious?! You threatened me to enslave me! You…!"
"You know, I was wondering why you answer me… If you hated me so much, like you attested it to our dear sheriff, then why you are speaking to me, at this moment?" Yves asked.
The teenage girl closed her eyes and took a big breath. He was playing with her and her mind.
"Stop calling me." She declared.
"No."
"Then I'll call Graham."
"If you think you can get me to prison, you are very wrong, ma chère." Yves seemed very satisfied. "I have one of the best lawyers in all Storybrooke. Not even mister Gold is safe. Not even your new mother the mayor…"
"What do you want from me, Yves?" Elise asked, giving in.
"Dinner. You and me, at our house. Come alone." He instructed.
"I can't. I have school tomorrow and I have to watch Henry."
"No you don't." The man angrily spit. "Come back home, girlie. I need you."
"I won't, I fucking won't. I'm calling Graham on you."
She hung up swiftly and sighed. Yves was trying to get inside her head, playing tricks. She wasn't really scared of him… Well, she was afraid enough of him to call Graham. The man understood quickly what happened and told her he will try his best to do something, but that won't be easy because of Yves's lawyer. Elise let herself fall on her bed and dropped her phone somewhere.

Her day at high school wasn't that bad. Brad and Amanda were the newest couple and everybody were either talking about the mysterious blonde woman or Chloe's party. The teenage girl said goodbye to her group of friends before starting to walk to her home. A car slowed down next to her and she huffed and she decided to ignore it. The window rolled down and Yves was there, driving with sunglasses.
"Hello Elise. Need a ride?"
"I thought the sheriff told you to stay away from me." She said, walking faster. "Creepy old bastard…" She cursed, whispering.
The car stopped abruptly and Yves went out. The teenage started to run to escape from him, she didn't want him to be near her, she didn't want to see him. He jogged to her and grabbed her by her forearm. Elise trashed around and tried to hit him but it was no use: he was physically stronger than her.
"You are coming with me!" He snarled, pulling the young girl toward the yellow car.
"No! Let me go!" She shouted.
She wanted to scream for help, she wanted someone to help her and fortunately, someone had seen her.
"I will advise you to do what the young one told you, mister Valois-Baillet." A stern voice said from behind Yves. "Or do you want me to call the police?"
They both turned around and Elise was relieved to see Mister Gold, standing there in the middle of the pavement, both hands on his walking stick. Yves let the teenage girl go and she quickly went next to the older man who was glaring at Yves. The latter went back to his car and pointed a finger toward the girl.
"It's not over, Elise."
And he drove off. The teenage girl shook her hand and looked at Mister Gold.
"Thank you so much." She thanked. "I… I thought he was going to take me back home."
"No worries, Elise. Let me walk you to the mayor's house. I need to drop some documents for her."
Normally she wouldn't agreed but she didn't really feel secure being alone, she feared that Yves might come back to try to kidnap her once again.
"Sure."
They both started to walk.
"So, did you met her?" He asked.
"Who?"
"Miss Emma Swan, the birth mother of Henry." He developed with a cocky grin.
"Oh her. Yeah, I met her. Henry… I don't know what's up with him." She replied.
"What do you think of this new inhabitant?"
The teenage girl grimaced.
"Is she going to stay here?" She frowned.
"By the look of it, I believe so." He said to her.
"Ugh… Those two will bicker about who's Henry's real mom and I will have to separate them if they want to fight, great." She groaned.
Mister Gold laughed. They were near the mayor's house.
"You are not happy that she is among us." The older man noted.
"I don't know what to think about her. She just arrived one night to bring us Henry and…"
"Sorry dearie, but I need to get back to my shop." He interrupted her while checking his watch. "Would you be a nice girl and give those papers to Madame Mayor?" He asked her, handing her the aforementioned papers.
"Oh sure." She smiled to him, taking them. "Don't worry, I won't see what those papers are about. I'm more than that."
"I know you are, Elise." He grinned to her before turning and walking away.
Elise opened the door and went right away inside Regina's office, where she put the papers on the desk with a note saying that Mister Gold gave it to her.
"What are you doing here?"
She span around, seeing the mayor arms crossed and looking a little annoyed. Elise pointed to the papers.
"Uh… Mister Gold gave me those." She said. "Yves tried to kidnap me today." She added, lowering her head, a bit ashamed.
"What?" Regina asked in disbelief. "Are you okay?" She asked then, worry in her voice.
"Yeah, I was so scarred Regina… But Mister Gold helped to get out of this situation."
"We have to do something. This man is getting dangerous and he's going to hurt you if we let him do whatever he wants."
"Regina, we can't do anything. He got power around." Elise said, sitting down on Regina's chair.
"But I do too. And I'm sure Mister Gold will be okay to help us. I think he likes you, as a daughter I mean." She said. "I don't know where come from this affection toward you but he seems to appreciate you. Anyway, Henry ran off again. I don't know what happened, but he wants to be with his birth mother, the one who abandoned him." She sighed. "Looks like this goddamn book is altering his sense of reality. He thinks I'm the Evil Queen from Snow White."
"Yeah, he told me I was Donkeyskin." She chuckled. "Who gave him the book?"
"Blanchard."
"His teacher?"
"Yes. This woman is also getting on my nerves. I will deal with her later."
Elise acquiesced before standing up.
"I need to do my French homework. If you need me, call me, I'll be in my room." She said, leaving the office.

Some minutes later, she heard someone walking in the corridor, toward her bedroom. The door opened, revealing Henry, who collapsed on her bed. Elise rolled her eyes.
"Where did you go? Your castle?"
"Yes."
"Your mom was worried. You should talk to her. She isn't evil you know. It's just stories." She tried to tell him.
"How many times should I say it to you? She is the Evil Queen! And she casted a spell upon all the characters of the fairy-tales world so that they won't remember who they are and changed their personalities and histories!" Henry exclaimed, turning on his belly to take a book from her nightstand.
The boy noticed some fingers marks on her forearm and frowned.
"Did you fight with someone?" He asked.
Elise turned back to work and was silent.
"Was it Yves again?"
"Henry, it's none of your business!" She suddenly cried.
The little boy seemed to be afraid of her sudden change of behaviour and stood up.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" Elise whispered.
"It's okay, I understand. I will talk about it to Emma, if you want. She can help you."
The teenage girl laughed and stepped toward the little boy. She playfully ruffled his hair, which made him giggle.
"Thanks Henry, but I don't know if it will help. Sheriff Graham and your mother as well as Mister Gold are trying to find legal solutions to put Yves in jail." She explained.
"You know, Donkeyskin always had a strange relationship with Rumpelstiltskin." Henry started. "In the book, you and him were nearly father-daughter if you see what I mean but seems he would send you doing some of his dirty works, well I don't think it can apply…"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, boy. Now, go do your own homework or I won't play with you."
The boy pouted but obeyed nonetheless. He knew she didn't believe her but he was sure she will, just like all the others.

At night, Elise laid in bed, texting her friend Heather about the big party at Ryan's house, one of their mutual friends. She still needed Regina's authorisation but she was sure she could get it easily. She ignored and erased every message Yves was sending her, as well as his calls. She put her phone away and sighed, closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Author note: I feel like I rushed a bit when I wrote this chapter but I wanted to set the dynamic between Henry and Elise, Gold/Rumpelstiltskin and Elise and Regina with Elise. As you can see, Elise seems to not like Emma but I will develop that later. I hope you liked this one and I also hope I didn't make any mistakes ^^". Also, I accept criticism so don't be afraid to let a review! Have a nice day/afternoon/morning/night.