... Storybrooke ...
"For someone who seemed ungrateful for that little video game thing, you seem to be using it a lot," Evelyn said as she came up to Henry who was sitting on a bench by the new playground. She expected him to be on the equipment, since he was so upset with the other one being torn down. Henry looked up at her and giggled. "What's so funny?"
"You're kind of like a unicorn now," he said pointing the fading purple bruise in the middle of her forehead. "Just without the horn."
Evelyn had refused to go to school on the first day it appeared, and Henry had apologized profusely after he laughed and she started crying. Regina cursed her lack of magic and tried to hide it with concealer. The make up helped, but Evelyn still cried after school because she was embarrassed even though no one seemed to notice.
"Very funny," she said rolling her eyes. No one was at the park besides for the two of them, and she thought it was odd because there were quite a bit of kids there on the opening day.
Henry set the video game down next to him on the bench and looked up at her expectantly. "Does this playground remind you of anything?"
"It's the castle from your book. Mom even said she based the design off of it,"
"You lived in that castle when you were younger," Henry pointed out with a sly smile. He hoped that a little push would help her remember.
"Maybe once upon a time," Evelyn said and chuckled, looking around the playground. It wasn't any castle that she would ever want to live in. Henry seemed more irritated than amused, and Evelyn sighed.
"I thought if you would come over here again when all the kids aren't here, you would remember something. You used to spend your time riding horses and sneaking out of the castle. You used to go into rooms that hadn't been used in years to practice magic by yourself after Blue stopped teaching you. Please just at least try to remember!" Henry nearly shouted. His green eyes pleaded with her to remember anything, and his heart sank when she looked away.
Evelyn didn't want to fight with him about the fairy tale stuff anymore because it only got them into trouble with their mom. She kicked a few woodchips before responding, "Henry, you know I can't."
"But you can! Remember when you passed out by mom's apple tree? You told me later that night that you remembered picking apples with Mom, but you imagined the tree wasn't by Town Hall. It was in a bricked pavilion right? The same one from my book!" Henry said and stood up from the bench. He didn't believe that it was his sister's imagination at all.
Evelyn had been contemplating what Henry had said in the tunnels. She read the book, and while Sky Blue wasn't mentioned all that much, she didn't have the most picturesque life as a princess. She would have the most to lose. "Henry, what if I don't want to remember?"
"Why wouldn't you? You were a hero," Henry looked up at her genuinely curious. "You gave people hope in the darkest times. You were kind and generous to everyone; Evie, you were everything that a Queen should be."
Evelyn smiled. Even though Henry wasn't actually complimenting her, she would take it. However, that didn't reassure her in the slightest. "You had to rip pages out because you thought I couldn't handle knowing the information. You let me read whatever Sky Blue already knew and the events between Snow White and the Evil Queen that could only help me understand the situation between them. By not allowing me to read those pages, it means that Sky Blue didn't know about whatever you are hiding."
"I shouldn't have said anything about it. It's not bad, well not really. In a way it's really good, but you might be upset at first. There are a lot of people who will support you and don't care anyway," Henry shrugged. He ran to the playground and started climbing up one of the ladders just to avoid any more questions on the topic. Evelyn waited for a moment, and then decided to go up after him. The metal ladder rungs chilled her hands as she climbed.
When she finally made it up to the top, Henry had disappeared under a tunnel as she pulled herself up. Instead of following him, she decided to take in the view of the forest behind the park. Evelyn rested her arms on the railing's edge as she took in the beautiful scenery. Robins circled through the trees singing a happy tune, and the trees were starting to change color as fall was setting in.
As Evelyn followed one of the robins with her eyes, it seemed to be flying toward her. She didn't realize how close it was until it landed on the railing right next to her. It had a blue ribbon in its mouth, and she wondered how she didn't notice it before. Thinking it would just fly away she reached out to grab the ribbon, hoping it wasn't lodged in the poor creatures throat or something awful like that. However, much to her surprise she took it from its mouth and examined it in her palm.
When she looked up she jumped. The playground had disappeared from under her and she was left on a dirt road in the middle of the forest. There were people in a line staring at her from the opposite end of the road.
"Henry?" She called as she was beginning to get scared. The people were slowly walking towards her, and she had no idea what was going on. She couldn't have been in one place and gotten to a different one in less than a second.
Evelyn tried to take a step back as the people came closer towards her, but her legs wouldn't move. She became frantic as she remained rooted in the same spot even though she was trying to run away. "Henry!"
She screamed and cried out for her brother as the people were only a few feet away from her. They all dangled blue ribbons in their hands and wore similar old-fashioned clothes with ratty cloaks.
A little girl waved a light blue flag with a square symbol and a crown on it. Her tangled brown hair flew in the wind as she happily offered it out to her. The child looked familiar, but she couldn't place where she had seen her before.
She noticed that there were other children amongst the adults, but she was frozen in terror. The little girl seemingly vanished, and in her hand was the flag that she had never reached out to take. She could hear her name being shouted as the people surrounded her and waved the ribbons in her face.
"Evelyn!" She heard Henry scream. Then everything faded to darkness.
...
Regina held her daughter's hand as she sat on the side of the hospital bed and prayed that Evelyn would wake up soon. Henry had said she had fallen off of the side of the castle, but he didn't actually see her fall. Dr. Whale said that she was lucky to only have a mild concussion and a few bruises. He reassured her that she would most likely be fine, but Regina was a nervous wreck.
"I was hoping she would be up by now," Henry said coming into the room. He had been previously waiting outside the door talking to Emma and Mary Margaret. They thought it would be better for Henry to go in alone until Evelyn woke up.
Mary Margaret had been volunteering when she heard what happened and rushed to comfort the boy while Regina frantically yelled at the doctors. She suggested that maybe calling the Sheriff would be helpful, with a knowing smile. Henry dialed Emma's number anyway even though he didn't think she was actually needed. Emma drove to the hospital straight away.
"Me too," Regina responded as Henry came up to the side of the bed, thankful that Emma was allowing her privacy. She tried to pull him into a hug, but he winced and stepped closer to Evelyn's head. Regina's heart fell.
"I know you love her," Henry said quietly and tucked a piece of his sister's hair behind her ear. The Evil Queen may not be capable of loving anyone else, but she did love her daughter. "I think you should tell her the truth about her father before the curse breaks."
"Henry, how many times do I have to tell you that I'm not some Evil Queen? I have always loved you both equally, and it hurts me that you think otherwise." She said and willed herself not to cry.
Henry sighed, knowing that she purposely ignored his last statement. "I meant that you should tell her about Daniel because it's been like thirty years that Snow has been keeping that secret. You know she isn't good at keeping them."
"I don't know what you are talking about, Henry. Evelyn's father is dead, and that's all there is to it." Regina said. Her face remained blank, but internally she didn't know what to do. She didn't remember any pages in his stupid book that disclosed that information when she had rifled through it.
Yes, she had told Snow the truth about Sky after showing her Daniel's grave the day that wretched girl took a bite out of her poisoned apple. The look on Snow's face had been priceless until she had started begging for forgiveness. Regina hadn't expected Snow to look at her with anything other than contempt and betrayal. Of course Regina never expected her to wake up from the sleeping curse. She never expected that they would steal Sky away from her, but she knew Snow would never tell. Perhaps, simply out of love or the fear that her newly won kingdom would crumble at last.
Henry and Rumple were bigger problems to worry about than Snow.
Regina was broken out of her thoughts by a groan. She smiled as Evelyn blinked away confusion as she took in her surroundings. However, within a matter of seconds Evelyn shot up to a sitting position and tried to struggle off the covers.
"Evelyn, shh it's alright," Regina said trying to stop her from flailing her body. "You hit your head, and you have to stop, dear."
"Mom?" Evelyn whispered as she finally got ahold of her surroundings. Her mother was hovering over her and Henry was standing next to her bedside. "What happened to the people with the ribbons?"
"Evelyn, it's just been Henry and I in the room since Doctor Whale saw you," Regina frowned wondering what she was talking about. Her frown turned to a scowl as Emma and Mary Margaret barged into the room.
Mary Margaret had the cheery look of optimism as she beamed at Evelyn. Regina loathed it, but she wanted to curse Emma into oblivion for even thinking that she was welcome in the room.
Emma seemed to notice the tension between her and Regina so she tried to clear the air, "I'm the Sheriff, and I thought it would be a good idea to get all the facts just in case."
"What happened?" Henry asked curiously. When he noticed his sister wasn't following him, he went back to look for her. She was sprawled on the ground, but the railings on the play ground were much too high for her to slip and fall over them. Evelyn was never particularly clumsy anyway.
"The playground is gone," Evelyn said with her eyes wide. Everyone stared at her in confusion. "Where did it go?"
"It's still there, dear," Regina said. "When you were at the playground with Henry he found you on the ground. You hit your head, and you have a concussion."
"No, I didn't fall," Evelyn said confused at the situation. How did Henry find her after he and the playground disappeared?
"Did someone push you?" Emma asked. The girl clearly had fallen one way or another.
"No, there was a bird, and when I grabbed a ribbon out of it's mouth, everything disappeared. I was still in the forest, but I was standing on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. There were people surrounding me waving blue ribbons, and I couldn't move. I thought that they were going to suffocate me, but Henry saved me I think," Evelyn sighed. Henry grinned and the rest of the adults looked at her in disbelief and pity.
"You were dreaming," Emma said. Regina rolled her eyes knowing that it was obvious that Evelyn couldn't remember what happened.
When Doctor Whale came in the room Regina was about to yell at whoever it was who thought they could barge into Evelyn's room. However, the threat stayed in her mouth.
"Well, look who's up," the Doctor said and smiled. Evelyn weakly smiled back and Regina got off the bed. "Regina, I'll have you fill out some paperwork for her release."
"Don't you two have something better to do?" Regina said to Emma and Mary Margaret. She rolled her eyes as she left the room, following Dr. Whale. Emma and Mary Margaret shifted awkwardly, knowing that it was their cue to leave.
Mary Margaret went to Evelyn's side and kissed her on top of the head. Evelyn's eyes widened in surprise as they weren't as close as she was with Henry, but it seemed right. It was almost as if Mary Margaret had always done that to comfort her. "I hope you feel better," Mary Margaret whispered sweetly and lightly squeezed her shoulder with affection.
"Yeah, see ya later kids," Emma said as Mary Margaret waited for her at the door. Emma wasn't great with the whole comforting thing, and she assumed Evelyn was probably still mad at her for disrupting her perfect life.
When both of them left, Evelyn quickly turned to Henry, "Find me a piece of paper, a light blue crayon, and a black one. Quickly before Mom comes back."
Luckily Henry had a box of crayons and paper in his backpack, so he hastily grabbed them and gave it to her. Evelyn began to draw, and he was excited to know if she remembered anything.
"Have you seen this before?" Evelyn said holding up the drawing. It was the same flag that the little girl in her 'dream' was waving.
"Yes, but it's the wrong colors. The Evil Queen's flags had a white square design on a field of black, and the silver crown was flames. That one is sky blue with a black design," Henry said as he took the picture from her hands. He was wondering if he missed something in his book.
"Maybe, my mind was just playing tricks on me then. I must have been thinking about the one in the book subconsciously, and it just turned out different," Evelyn said and sighed. "It seemed so vivid though."
"No, it was a memory. Maybe you had your own sigil," he said excitedly. When the curse broke she could tell him about why she had her own flag. He was quite eager to hear what happened in her life that the book didn't mention.
When Regina came back into the room Henry shoved the piece of paper into his backpack. Regina didn't seem to notice that he was acting suspiciously.
"Are you both ready to come home?" Regina asked. Both children nodded.
Henry was more than ready to leave. After all, he had much to do before the next day.
Author's Note: I'm kind of at a road block for the Storybrooke chapters. I have a few more chapters outlined, but is there anything you would like to see Evelyn and Henry do? Anything specific at the end of S1? It kind of stinks that I can't delve into S2 stuff until a bunch of flashback chapters are written. You will find out why Blue stopped teaching her magic also.