Happy Thanksgiving! This story has existed for a year now, guys! I feel like a proud mother (that's weird, nvm). I know I said I would be updating more because of NaNo, but it has been the exact opposite, but I felt morally obligated to post a chapter on the one year anniversary of the story. In other news, Killian has a canon daughter now (albeit Wish Realm Killian, but still) and Killian and Emma are going to have a child, so yay!

Disclaimer: I own Alex, Alaya (pronounced All-yah, I don't know if I ever brought that up), Cassia, and Wyn, nothing else.

(I wrote a significant chunk of this chapter, and then it didn't save so I had to rewrite it, apologies if it sounds rushed)


Present Day, Storybrooke

I sit perched atop the roof of the library, watching as Alexandra walks down the street, hand in hand with Killian Jones. I should have killed that bloody pirate when I had the chance. Behind them is the Savior, and her son. Henry was the first part of my plan. Alexandra was already growing fond of him. Knowing how vulnerable she is right now, if I give them a week or so longer together, she would be devastated when I killed him.

Sure, I would have to get through the Savior and her charming little family first, but that wasn't an issue. I've been watching people try to take them down for years now, and I have learned from previous villains mistakes. If all goes according to plan, which it will, the Charmings won't be a problem.

"Do you really all have to be here?" Alexandra asks, stopping in front of Hopper's office. She was going to see the cricket, interesting.

"Yes," Henry replies, smiling. Hook glances at him, then back at his daughter.

"No, but we want you to feel comfortable."

"If you just gave me time to adjust to being part of this," Alexandra hesitates, "Family, instead of forcing the idea down my throat, I don't think we would have a problem with that."

"You're right, and I'm sorry, but we can wait to hash this out until after your appointment."

"This is ridiculous," Alexandra protests, slapping Hook's hand away as he reaches to open the door.

"Alex,"

"I don't want to do this."

"Please, just this once. If you still think it's stupid afterwards, we won't make you do it again. But it will be helpful for you. Archie can make it easier for you to adjust to life in Storybrooke, and help you work through all of your inner demons." Killian smiles at her, then opens the door. Alexandra sighs, then heads inside.

Once the four of them are out of sight, I stand up, placing the binoculars I had been using into my bag. Gods, if they were dragging my poor niece into therapy on her second day in this town, things were worse than I thought. This would be too easy.

Just as I begin to retreat across the rooftop, my phone rings. I whip it out of my pocket, checking the caller ID, then answering.

"Mama?" Max's voice will never get old. I relax at the sound of my son's voice.

"Hi, baby. I told you not to call mommy unless it was an emergency," I say, slowly meandering towards the other side of the roof, where I had left a ladder to climb down from.

"It is," Max says, his voice shaky. I freeze on the top rung of the ladder.

"What's happening, Maxy?" I ask.

"There's a man here. He won't leave. He says he wants to talk to you."

"Maxy, baby, go in mommy's room, okay. Lock the door. I'm going to be home in just a few minutes. Do not say anything to the man. Do you understand?" I knew leaving my five year old alone wasn't a good idea, but this was only supposed to be a thirty minute errand, at most.

"Okay."

"Good. I'm coming, Max." The call ends, and I slide down the ladder, hitting the ground running. Whoever was messing with my son was going to regret it.


Present Day, Storybrooke

"So, your name is Alexandra Jones, yes?" The man in front of me most certainly doesn't seem like the kind of person I should be getting help from. But if the book is true, and it always is, then this man was a cricket in the Enchanted Forest, so maybe that explains his demeanor. On the other hand, do I really want to be getting therapy from a damn cricket? No.

"Kersey-Jones, but yes," I reply.

"Oh, God. Not this again," Papa mutters, resting his face in his hand.

"Oh, yes. This again," I reply, already feeling agitated. Dr. Hopper, which is what I had been instructed to call him, glances between my father and I before clearing his throat.

"Pardon me, Alexandra, but why do you say Kersey-Jones? Let's start with that."

"My mother's name was Alaya Kersey. And we," I gesture between Papa and myself, "Got in a fight about what my last name was to be, Jones or Kersey, years ago, and I'm fairly certain that you were drunk-"

"I was not," Papa says.

"You were. Ask Smee. Anyways, I thought it should be Kersey because my mother deserved to be honored, and he said it should be Jones. At that point, everyone had been calling me Alexandra Jones for some time, but I thought I should change it. So I did, but very few people have actually honored the change."

"Ah, I see," Dr. Hopper mutters, scribbling something down on the notepad in front of him. "So it seems like there's some tension between you and your father."

"You could say that."

"And why do you think that is?"

"The two of us have been through a lot, but haven't been very good at coping with it. Papa always went to alcohol for his troubles and I-"

"Lilly, darling, would you stop mentioning alcohol. I'm not an alcoholic." Papa sighs, reaching to his side and taking Emma's hand. I wasn't sure why she and Henry had to be in here for this, but they had insisted. I was no expert on therapy, but I'm don't believe this is how it is supposed to go.

"You were. Don't even try to deny it."

"You know what, Killian, Emma, Henry, why don't you all leave the room. I think I need to have some one on one time with Alexandra, okay?" Dr. Hopper smiles, and slowly, the others stand and file out of the room. Papa throws me a glance before he leaves, almost as if warning me.

"Now that we're alone, I think you'll feel a bit more comfortable. You can tell me whatever you want," Dr. Hopper explains. I don't speak. Nor do I want to. This was all Papa's idea, and if he's not in here, then I don't have to follow through. He won't know. I highly doubt this Hopper character is going to tell him.

"Alexandra?" Dr. Hopper asks, tilting his head.

"If you don't mind, Doctor, I don't exactly feel like spilling my life story today," I say, watching the door carefully.

"I think it would benefit you if you just tried to talk to me. It doesn't have to be anything important, or deep. It can just be talking, ranting even. I just want to get a sense of who you are."

I watch the cricket man, taking my time to decide whether or not I could trust him. Opening up was not something I did often. Even if it were just a simple little story, which seems to be all the doctor wants, I don't want to tell it. There is a reason my story isn't in the book. Finally, I cave. Being silent and stubborn wasn't going to get me here. I did not spend all those years trying to get here just to start fighting with my father again.

"Well, Dr. Hopper, I don't even know where to begin. Let's see, ah! Yes. Once, I met this boy..."


89 years ago, Enchanted Forest

"This isn't going to work!" Alexandra shouted, flailing backwards into the folds of her dress. On the opposite side of her cell, Winslow Elsey sighed.

"Why not? This is the best idea we've had yet," The boy protested.

"Rumplestiltskin would poof himself in here and have our heads on sticks before I even got out of the cell." Alexandra scribbled down some notes on the sheets of paper Wyn had brought her, detailing each other their ideas for escape.

"Well, then what do you suggest, oh wise one?" Wyn said snarkily. Alexandra glanced up to glare at him, then returned to scribbling notes.

"We need to get rid of Rumple first. No matter what we try, he'll know about it. So we eliminate him from the equation."

"Not as easy as it sounds, Alexandra," Wyn mumbled. Alexandra passed the papers back to him, and he looked each one over, frowning at each of her new suggestions.

"If you could just find someone in your village who could take care of him, or even a person who knows someone else who could-"

"No. I'm not going to do that."

"Surely you know someone who could do it though," Alexandra said, crossing her arms.

"I don't, Alexandra. My village-"

"Please, Wyn! This could be my chance to escape," Alexandra pleaded.

"It won't work," Wyn said, stealing what had become the young girl's catch phrase over the last few months.

"You promised you would help me. This is what helping me looks like."

"I can't do it, Alexandra! My village... it's gone. There's no one left," Wyn cried, stunning Alexandra into silence. She sat for a few moments, watching the boy in front of her stare off into the distance with an empty gaze.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked. The two children had grown very close over the months spent in the cave together. Wyn had started bringing her little care baskets each morning he came, consisting of freshly picked berries or pretty flowers. By the time he left each evening, the young sorceress had told him another one of her precious fairytales. Alexandra had hundreds, all from her mother. She loved sharing them with Winslow, almost as much as Wyn loved scavenging for new things to bring her every day.

Neither could think of a thing they hadn't shared with the other at this point, until this. Alexandra felt slightly offended, but her empathy for her only friend overwhelmed that feeling. She reached out through the bars of her cell and placed a hand on the boy's slumped shoulders.

"I don't really like to talk about it," Wyn said.

"I understand. If you ever want to talk to me about it, I'm here for you." Alexandra and Winslow sat there in silence for longer than they had ever not spoken.

Wyn so desperately wanted to tell the girl, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Could he trust her? She had proven that she could listen, and care, but how could he really, truly trust her? Since they had met, she had only become more mysterious, if anything, and certainly more powerful. He could keep this to himself, and wait it out until Alexandra inevitably became powerful enough to defeat the Dark One herself and escape. Or he could tell her. He knew she was right about the Dark One, and he could simply stay by her side. They had a good thing going... but was he really going to wait the many many years for her to learn enough that she could defeat the master of dark magic?

"It was just a normal day," Wyn began. He met Alexandra's pale blue eyes, and knew that he was making the right decision. "My mother and father had decided that we should head into the village, enjoy the market for the day. I rarely went into the village as it was, but in the last year, we had only gone twice. It seemed like my parents were trying to avoid the town. When we arrived that day, I finally realized why." Wyn sucks in a deep breath, shaking as he exhales.

"Go on," Alexandra encouraged.

"We were a mile out when we started to see the smoke rising over the trees. Thick and black, it wasn't just a house fire. Mamma and Pappa started to run, and we ran the entire last mile to the village. But there was no village to see. All of it was gone. Burnt to the ground, not a single building left standing. Mamma covered my eyes as we walked, but I still saw the carnage. Bodies, their flesh seared right off, lay in what used to be the only street through the town. Buckets of produce still burned in the market stalls, and a few small animals still ran around in panic. And then my mother's hand went limp over my face. She tumbled to the ground beside me. When I turned, I saw both of my parents crumpled on the ground, holes burned straight through their chests. Behind them stood Rumplestiltskin, a fireball in his hand. It's a miracle I escaped that day," Wyn finished, averting his eyes and looking out of the one opening in the cave.

"When did this happen?" Alexandra asked, her voice quiet.

"A month after we first met, that day I tried to rob you-" Alexandra interrupted by giggling, clearly remembering the moment.

"That was quite stupid of you," Alexandra muttered, then gestured for Wyn to continue.

"Anyways. I had thought for sure that the Dark One would figure out I was seeing you almost as soon as I started. But he hasn't."

"If he ever does, I will stop at nothing to keep him away from you. I promise you that, Winslow," Alexandra said. Wyn smiled weakly at her, still upset from recounting the worst day of his life.

"Thank you." A few more moments of silence passed, and then Alexandra spoke.

"Well, what now?"


Present Day, Storybrooke

"You certainly seem to have a lot to say," Dr. Hopper says, watching me carefully. I tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear, watching him back.

"I haven't even scratched the surface, mate," I mutter, checking my nails. All I want at this point is to go back to Emma's house and eat one of Henry's heavenly "pop tarts".

"If that's the case, I think that we should meet again. Would you like to set an appointment with me, or do you want your dad to sort this all out?"

"I think I'm good. Have a nice day." I stand from the couch I was on, then begin to march towards the door.

"Alexandra, wait," Dr. Hopper calls. I whirl back around, crossing my arms. "Please, think about this for a second. Don't you want to feel better?"

"I'm fine." I open the door, not looking back at the distressed therapist. Papa, the Savior, and Henry are sat on a bench across from the staircase. They stand as I shut the door.

"How did it go? Are you feeling any better?" Henry asks.

"Fabulous. Can we go, now?" I ask. Papa nods, taking my hand.

"I'm glad you agreed to do this, Alex," He says.

"Of course. We have to compromise, right?"

"Right. Care to have some lunch at Granny's?"

"Gladly. Does Granny have those magnificent pop tart things?" I ask. Papa frowns, then glances back at Henry, who was a few stairs behind us.

"You've ruined her, lad."

"I've made her see the light., Hook."

"Unbelievable," Papa mutters. He pushes open the door at the bottom of the staircase. Emma and Henry laugh, stepping out into the sunlight beside us.

The four of us cross the street, and are already at the entrance to Granny's. While this town is quite strange, I can't deny how nice it is that everything is so close. Papa leads me up the front walk, holding open the door for me. As I step inside, Henry runs ahead, sliding into the same booth Papa and I had sat in last time. I sit across from him, and the adults slide in beside their respective child. I lean my head against Papa's shoulder, then zone out. This entire situation was throwing me for a loop, and I have barely been holding myself together. Every person needs to take a little break now and then, or else the brain drives itself mad. Of course, thanks to my magnificent luck, my peace doesn't last long.

"Emma?" A voice calls. "Who's this?"

The time had come for me to meet the Charmings.


Longest chapter to date! One year anniversary! Pop tarts! Bonding! Yay! Bye!

-TheFandemonium