At a point that must have been around 18 or 19 years from that moment when the dark cloud rushed against the barrier, hunger returned. No-one had felt it whilst they had been completely frozen in time. But now they had to begin rationing and hunting as people no longer ate out of pleasure but rather out of necessity, survival. Starvation began, and the days began to differentiate from one another.
The people of the Sanctuary had their first rainfall in almost two decades.
Mr. Gold sneezed as he crossed the town line, but was relieved to find the migraine he had had upon leaving had subsided. He looked to the right of him, at the little bundled up child at his side. He had driven all the way to a place called 'Tallahassee' to pick him up for the mayor, and was finally in his hometown again. When he had first picked the boy up he almost dropped him from the overwhelming sense of Déjà vu he experienced. Looking at the life in his arms… he couldn't help but feel he had stood this way before. But now he was here, and he picked up the baby being drowned by cloth. He slowly limped up the path to the mayoral manor.
There was being bored, and there was dying of boredom. Regina was definitely experiencing the latter. Snow White didn't even fight anymore! She just flinched, lowered her eyes and walked away. Everyone here feared her but nobody loved her and every single day was the same. But that was about to change. Today she would have a child.
She hadn't wanted to let him go, but it would be cruel for her to keep him. She dropped her head into her hands and sobbed.
She just wanted him to have his best chance…
Miss Blanchard had been a bit nervous, as she had been each year, to have a whole new class of 30 students. But this year she had been especially nervous. This year she had the mayor's son. That thought had terrified her on her first day back in the classroom after the summer. The mayor obviously hated her, though Mary-Margaret couldn't figure out why. What if her son was just as cruel? But the boy (Henry) had been so kind. And so… lonely.
So she'd given him a book.
She didn't know where it had come from (she vaguely remembered a package from 'A.B' what felt like years ago, but the book was so new…), and he was a bit confused when she first handed it over. Clearly his mother didn't shower him with books. Or gifts of any kind. But he had accepted it gratefully and now, a few months later, he would rarely be seen without it as he pored over the stories.
Leafing through the pages as fast as he could, Henry drew parallels between this fictional world and his own. Look, that woman there could totally be Belle the Beauty! But wait, Belle had scars on her face and her arms. That woman couldn't be her.
All Henry had been able to confirm so far was that his teacher was Snow White (the birdhouses gave it away, and Paige had laughed at him when he had stood up and said oh! whilst in class, after his eureka moment) and his mom was the Evil Queen. He hadn't wanted to believe it, but there was no way she wasn't with the way she was mean to everyone. It was perfectly acceptable to believe she had cursed everyone to get at Miss Blanchard. She totally hated her.
His computer blipped and Henry looked up. He gasped with excitement and surprise. Emma Swan, 28. Currently living in Boston… Now he could find his (real) mom and break the curse and Snow White could be free again! He shut his book with a snap.