Chapter 7.
The moon shone fat and full over the Enchanted Forest. But even in the darkness of the night, there were still signs of activity. Sounds of nature could be heard: crickets chirped, a breeze rustled through the trees, and wolves howled in the distance. Only one sound was out of place, and that was the sound of a little girl quietly crying.
Anastasia sat on a fallen log with her back to the sleeping forms of the others, and tried to muffle the sounds of her heart wrenching weeping.
"Anastasia? Honey, are you okay?"
The little redhead quickly rubbed the tears from her face, but it did nothing to lessen the puffy redness of her eyes and nose. When Anastasia looked up, she saw Snow coming towards her, concern and worry were deeply etched within the furrows of her brow.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up," the little princess said with sniffle. She couldn't do anything right, not even cry quietly.
"No, you didn't wake me up; I couldn't sleep." And it was true, her years of being on the run had made her a light sleeper, and even the slightest disturbance was enough to wake her. Snow took the seat next to the young redhead and gathered her into her arms. "It's okay to be sad, Anastasia. It's okay to cry, no one will think any less of you."
"But it's all my fault," the little girl said. Fresh tears fell down her face, Snow quickly pulled the child closer so that her voice was muffled by Snow's shoulder. "If I had been stronger, I could have protected everyone."
"Oh honey, that's not your job."
"Yes, it is! I'm the first knight of the realm. It's my job to protect my family and people, and I failed."
"But you're also a child. And the Evil Queen is very powerful, even I'm not always able to protect my love ones from her."
This did nothing assuage the redhead's guilt and anger at her own helplessness. She buried her face further into Snow's shoulder, and allowed the older woman to hold her, and whisper comforting words in to ear.
"Does the pain ever go away?" Anastasia said after a long moment. "It feels like my heart is being ripped in half. I feel like I'm all alone."
"Oh no, no, you're not alone," the raven-haired princess said. "You have me and Charming, and Nikolai, and Red and Granny. You're not alone, I promise, and you never will be."
########
Storybrooke may notbe the smallest town in the world, but news could still travel at lightning speeds. As soon as she confirmed Anastasia's identity, Granny immediately got on the phone to Mary Margret, who told her husband, who told Emma and the dwarfs, and from there it would spread to the rest of the town.
Natasha had seen the glint of recognition in Ruby's eyes, and then in Granny's, so it came as absolutely no surprise to her that ten minutes after receiving her dinner, the bell over the diner's door jingled.
It came as absolutely no surprise that when she looked up she saw Mary Margret and David standing not five feet from the entrance frozen to the spot, and staring at her like she was a ghost.
"Anastasia?" Mary Margret asked, her voice thick with emotion. "Is that really you?"
The redhead gave one last look at the remainder of her dinner, gathered her courage, and slid out of the booth. She pointedly ignored the confused looks she received from Melinda and Phil, and made her way hesitantly towards the couple. (She was going to have a lot of explaining to do once things settled.)
"I go by Natasha Romanoff now. But yeah, it's me." There was a uncharacteristic sheepishness about the way she carried herself. Her throat felt dry, and she had to swallow several times. She could feel her stomach twist into knots, her palms felt sweaty, and there was a little voice in the back of her head that screamed for her to run away, that she was unworthy of being here, of having these people's love.
But she didn't, and before long she was being surrounded by both sides in an embrace that should have been suffocating, but wasn't.
"Where have you been?" Charming asked pulling away slightly, his arms were wrapped around the redhead and his wife forming a small, tight circle. His eyes gleamed with unshed tears, and he couldn't help but stare at Natasha in shock and wonder. "How long have you been here? Why didn't you come sooner? And where is Nikolai?"
"David!" Mary Margret admonished lightheartedly. There was a stray tear that had made its way down her cheek, and she sniffed a time a time or two, but there was no hiding the joy in her face at seeing the little princess. "Let her get a word in edgewise."
"That's okay. I've been around . . . keeping busy," Natasha said. Her tone was hesitant, evasive. She was torn between wanting to tell them everything and nothing. "I haven't been in town for very long, and as for Nikolai, he doesn't want to see you."
"He still blames us for everything, doesn't he?" Mary Margret asked. And she couldn't help but stare at Natasha. It was so surreal to go from seeing her as a little girl with skinned knees and elbows to seeing her as a graceful, powerful woman.
"Yes, and he has a very long memory when it comes to things like that. You know how stubborn and prideful he can be. There's still a part of him that believes if you hadn't sought refuge in Rossiya, my parents would have been alive today."
David sighed, and gave a rueful shake of his head. He didn't know how much time had passed since they had last seen each other, but he had hoped that Nikolai's anger would have dissipated by now.
"And what about you?" David asked.
"Me? I think there was a time I was angry at you as well. This world . . .this world hasn't always been kind to me," Natasha said with a small tremor, because that was pretty much the understatement of the century.
"But after a while I realized regardless of whether you had come or not, Regina and Rumpelstiltskin would have attacked. They would have destroyed my kingdom, because there was no way that my parents would have given them even an once of pure vibranium, never mind a pound. They knew they would have used it for some evil purpose, and they would have had no regrets about sacrificing their lives to protect all the realms."
"Your parents would be very proud of you, if they knew you were following in their footsteps," Mary Margret said. "You're a superhero!"
She pulled the redhead in a hug, and Natasha returned it full force, and with interest. She was still nervous about how they would react to her past sins if they were to find out, but for now she would soak in the warmth of this moment, and deal with the rest latter.
And while Natasha enjoyed her reunion, Coulson and May shared a look of open confusion. They both knew that there were large sections of Natasha's past that were beyond top secret to everyone but Fury, that her files were filled with pages of redacted information, but this was something else entirely.
They watched quietly as she spoke to the Charmings in hushed tones about things that made absolutely no sense to the SHIELD agents. They watched as they hugged, and wiped away stray tears, their expressions seemingly contradicting itself because they were both smiling and crying. And then they watched as Granny and Ruby joined the reunion. There were even more tears, and hugs, and watery smiles, especially on Natasha's part.
There was something that was both alien and off putting about seeing the redhead so open with her emotions. They knew she had them obviously, she wasn't a robot, but aside from a few small slips here and there, she always played them close to her chest.
But the way she was reacting to these people, it was as if they hadn't seen each other in decades.
And that wasn't possible, Coulson thought with a frown. Right?
Natasha was 30-years-old, Russian born and bred. As far as he knew, she had no prior ties to anything American until she met Clint nearly 10 years ago.
But then again, could you really call a city that didn't exist American?
"Curiouser and curiouser," Melinda said quietly as she watched the scene. "Isn't that suppose to be Snow White and Prince Charming?"
"It is. And they called her Anastasia."
"What the hell is going on here, Phil? I feel like I'm in the twilight zone."
Phil didn't respond, but his mind was reeling. What was going on here? How, and why did Natasha know these people?
There was a mystery going on here, and he was determined to figure it out.