Hello everyone, it has been a long time since I have stepped foot into this fandom. A long, long time. But this was also my first fandom and, after beginning a rewatch, I thought I'd try my hand at this again.
And so, here I am, rewriting one of the first stories I've ever written. So I would like to welcome all of you to the new and improved Hope.
A few notes before we start: I have made many changes to this story to fit with storylines that I had in mind back when I was writing the original Faith, the sequel to Hope, but that I never got to write. One of these changes includes Hope now having Madison Pettis as her face claim and aging her up to 14 in season 1. So Hope's appearance is that of a dark skinned girl with blonde hair, and yes I am saying dark skinned instead of African American on purpose, not to be racist. In our world, Hope is African American, but in the world of fairy tales, she is not. But I do hope that this change adds some much needed diversity to this cast.
Another change I made is the beginning of this story entirely: Hope is not dead nor from our world any more. Looking back, I hate that I used that as the basis for the story. I am much happier now that Hope is cursed, now known as Zoe Brian (her last name is a nod to the original fic).
Finally, this story has a lot of additional characters that I introduced in Faith, plus others that I have decided to add, and has given them cursed identities. These characters will also have POVs alongside Zoe/Hope. Each name has a hint of who the character is, as well as their personality and description. It's a game! Guess who is who before I reveal it, if you want!
Now, one last thing before we begin: despite the fact that this story is not done and will not focus on romance, I want to make this clear for everyone: this series will end with Emma/Neal as one of its main pairings. Hook and Captain Swan will NOT be involved at all, beyond season 2 and Wish!Hook. This will not change and if you do not agree with this, I understand and wish you a good day.
And with all of THAT out of the way, I want to welcome you all back to Hope, now Hope Redux. I hope you all enjoy.
Chapter 1: The Beginning
In a kingdom that was known for its beauty in winter, all was silent. It was the middle of the night, so of course, everyone was asleep.
Everyone, that is, except for the queen. She stood on the balcony outside her room, staring up at the moon in silence. Despite the fact that the cold of winter had yet to set in, the queen's hands were wrapped around her arms, as if to trap heat within her body.
All was silent...until she broke it.
"Is she safe?" She whispered.
"Yes, my love. And she is right where she belongs." The voice of a man said behind her.
The queen released a sigh of relief as she turned, facing a man who was more spirit than human at this point in time. But he, like her, understood just how painful loneliness could be.
"And we will see her again?" The queen asked.
"In time, yes." The man confirmed.
"And the two of us?" The queen stepped towards the man, hesitantly reaching out a hand towards his astral form. He wasn't really here, he never was, not physically. And yet, she knew him better than anyone else and vice versa. She loved him for his mind and heart, as he did her.
But that did not stop her from wishing, with all her heart, to be able to touch his skin in the way she touched his soul.
"Someday, my love. I swear it." The man whispered, taking her raised hand within his own and kissing the knuckles of her hand. And yet, she couldn't feel even the breath that escaped his lips, his true self too far beyond her reach.
"Then I will wait for you and her. For as long as it takes." The queen swore, a bittersweet smile on her face.
The man smiled back at her, the same promise and affection for the queen reflected within his own eyes before his astral form faded away, back to where his physical form rested.
Meanwhile, miles and miles away, a young girl stepped into her new life, into the destiny laid out for her.
Zoe sighed as she finally left Granny's Diner, inching her backpack higher on her shoulder. She knew Mother Superior was going to kill her for being out so late, but it wasn't her fault, honestly.
She just...needed to get away from the covenant, where it was too loud with the other orphans or too quiet with the sanctity of the covenant's halls.
Besides, she needed to get this work done and if that meant she was coming back late? Oh well. Ruby and Granny would vouch for her, heck, even Mahina would, they'd spent the whole time together, with Mahina tutoring Zoe.
But Mother Superior didn't like Mahina, so Granny's it was.
"Zoe? What are you doing out so late?"
Stifling a yawn, the dark skinned girl turned only to see Archie walking up to her, Pongo at his side.
"Just finished some homework at Granny's. Ended up staying too late." Zoe shrugged, bending down to scratch Pongo behind the ears.
"I see. Would you like me to walk you back to the covenant?" Archie offered and Zoe smiled gratefully.
"Yeah, thanks. I could use the company." She nodded.
After all, it wasn't like Storybrooke was dangerous at night. Just...a bit lonely, is all.
"Well then, shall we?" Archie smiled and Pongo barked happily as he began to trot alongside the two humans.
The two walked along mostly in silence, sometimes talking about the latest gossip going around town or Zoe's schooling, until they reached the clock tower.
"Hey, isn't that…?" Zoe trailed off as her eyes caught sight of two people standing near a yellow Volkswagen Bug. One was a stranger, and wasn't that something you didn't see every day in Storybrooke, while the other was-
"Henry!" Archie called and, sure enough, the boy turned in response. "What are you doing here? Is everything alright?"
"I'm fine, Archie." Henry reassured before petting Pongo, the dalmatian looking quite happy with all the attention he was getting that night.
"You say that, and yet we found you out here in the middle of the night." Zoe sighed, shaking her head fondly.
"You're out here too, Zoe." Henry contradicted, raising an eyebrow at her.
"Yes, but I was at Granny's until now, doing homework. What's your excuse?" Zoe raised an eyebrow right back, a teasing smile playing on her lips. Henry didn't answer, just shook his head at her and hugged her, which she returned easily.
"And who's this?" Archie asked, turning the conversation from Henry to the stranger with him. Instantly, Zoe's eyes darted up to the blonde woman, feeling as if something was sparking under her skin.
No strangers ever came to Storybrooke.
"Just someone trying to give him a ride home." The woman stated.
"She's my mom, Archie." Henry answered as he pulled away from Zoe.
"Oh…" Archie trailed off in surprise. "I see."
"Henry...you actually did it…" Zoe gasped in disbelief.
"You knew he was gonna do this?" The woman asked, her eyes narrowed at Zoe in suspicion.
"N-no! Just...I'm an orphan too, so Henry and I talk about where we came from a lot…" Zoe admitted, turning away to hide her eyes. Talking about her situation was...weird. Everyone in Storybrooke knew who she was, so she'd never had to tell anyone where she came from. Honestly, it made her uncomfortable.
"I see." The woman nodded, seemingly as awkward and off balance as Zoe herself felt, before she turned back to Archie. "You know where he lives?"
"Uh, yeah, sure, just right up on Mifflin Street. The mayor's house is the biggest one on the block." Archie answered, recovering remarkably quickly from the bombshell Henry dropped on them.
And now even Henry looked uncomfortable.
"You're the mayor's kid?" The woman asked, looking down at Henry, who ducked his head.
"Um, maybe." Henry mumbled.
"Hey, where were you today, Henry, cause you missed your session?" The psychiatrist asked kindly, like Zoe always imagined a father would.
"Oh, I, uh, forgot to tell you. I went on a field trip." Henry flat out lied. He wasn't very good at it and Zoe almost shook her head in disappointment as Archie knelt down closer to Henry's height.
"Henry, what'd I tell you about lying?" Archie lightly scolded the boy. "Giving into one's dark side never accomplishes anything."
"Ooooookay. Well, I really should be getting him home." The woman cut in, obviously finding Archie's behavior the slightest bit weird.
"Yeah, well, sure. Listen, have a good night, and, uh, you be good." Archie smiled as he stood up and placed a hand on Zoe's shoulder. "Come on, Zoe, let's get you home."
"Right. Bye, Henry, I'll see you tomorrow." Zoe smiled before she slightly bowed her head to the woman. "It was nice to meet you too, ma'am. I hope I can see you again."
"Right." The woman said, sounding as if that was the last thing she wanted. That was fine, Zoe was used to people not in her friend circle finding her weird.
She reached out and squeezed Henry's shoulder as she passed him before following Archie into the darkness of the night, heading back to the covenant. The night was probably a fluke, and everything would be back to normal tomorrow, as if Henry's birth mother had never stepped foot over the town line.
It was too bad, Zoe knew Jeremiah would enjoy juicy gossip such as this, his sources were starting to run dry apparently.
And as for Zoe herself? Well...she could admit that this sleepy little town could probably use some excitement for once.
"I say we fight!" Charming cried as he hit his fist on the war council's table. Hope didn't even flinch, having long grown used to such loud outbursts.
"Fighting is a bad idea. Giving into one's dark side never accomplishes anything." Jiminy Cricket shot down instantly.
"And how many wars has a clear conscience won?" Charming asked. "We need to take the queen out before she can inflict her curse."
"Can we even trust Rumplestilskin?" Doc questioned.
"I sent my men into the forest. The animals are abuzz with the queen's plan." Charming explained. "This is going to happen unless we do something."
"There's no point. The future is written." Snow shook her head in protest.
"No, I refuse to believe that." Charming countered. "Good can't just lose."
"Maybe it can." Snow sighed, the picture of defeat.
"No, no, not as long as we have each other." Charming said, his voice soft as he sat down and held Snow's hand. "If you believe him about the curse, then you must believe him about our child. She will be the savior."
"He's right." Hope spoke up, reaching out to take Snow's free hand in her own. "I can feel the magic surrounding her. It's like...a warm summer day, ready to greet us at any moment. So please, Snow, don't give up. Not yet. There has to be a way around this curse."
Suddenly, the doors to the war council burst open as a group of knights entered, bringing with them a tree, led by the Blue Fairy.
"What the hell is this?" Charming demanded as he stood back up.
"Our only hope of saving that child." The Blue Fairy answered.
"A tree? Our fate rests on a tree?" Grumpy asked in utter disbelief. "Let's get back to the fighting thing."
"Hang on, Grumpy. This tree feels...different." Hope said, springing up from her seat and laying her hands on the bark. It cut into her palms, and yet, it felt...like a cradle.
"The tree is enchanted." The Blue Fairy confirmed. "If fashioned into a vessel, it can ward off any curse." The Blue Fairy then turned. "Geppetto, can you build such a thing?"
"Me and my boy, we can do it." Geppetto confirmed, reaching down to pet Pinocchio's head.
"This will work. We all must have faith." The Blue Fairy declared, bringing a smile to Snow's lips for the first time in forever as she clutched Charming's hand. Hope grinned as she ran back to the table, standing at Red and Granny's side. "There is, however, a catch. The enchantment is indeed powerful, but all power has its limits. And this tree can protect only one."
The silence that rang out at those words made it feel as if the whole room had been emptied in a single second.
Predictably, as soon as Zoe returned to the covenant, Mother Superior chewed her out in front of everyone, including Archie. Honestly, she wasn't a little kid anymore, she could stay out at Granny's on her own, thank you very much. It wasn't like anything ever happened in Storybrooke anyway…
With a groan, Zoe threw herself onto her bed, ignoring Aislin's questions about if she was alright. Instead, she reached under her pillow and pulled out the sketchbook she kept hidden under it.
Opening it revealed dozens and dozens of nature pictures, all of them with one single thing in common: a majestic tree that looked as if frost was clinging to it.
As the days counted down to the completion of the wardrobe, and with it the casting of the curse, Hope found herself spending more time in the village then in the castle, warning her friends of what was to come.
They didn't announce it to all the realm, that would have caused a mass panic.
But Hope's friends? She trusted them, and they trusted her too, so she told them. She told Joshua, Rhyme, Beat, Shiki, Neku and Eri. She told Emma, Jamie and their guardian, Emma's mother. She told her knights, Ventus, Terra and Aqua, as well as their master, Eraqus.
She told them and trusted them to know what to do when the time came.
And when she was alone? Well, that was when Hope made her way into the forest, laid her hands gently on a tree and watched as frost clung to it. And she whispered apologies, because she couldn't say goodbye in person. Because she couldn't warn them, not in time.
Because she didn't know when, if ever, she'd see them again.
And as Hope wiped her tears away, she could hear the bell ringing from the castle wall.
The curse had come.
With one final whispered farewell, Hope vanished in a plume of pale gold smoke and reappeared in the castle, running to her room and stepping out onto the balcony, so she could watch as the curse enveloped everything in sight.
If this was the last she would remember of her home, then she would face it head on.
Zoe hated mornings sometimes, and this one she hated for a reason she couldn't quite pin down.
"Watch out, Brian!"
A second later, a balled up piece of paper hit her in the head.
Maybe that was why.
With a growl, Zoe picked up the paper and turned to glare at none other than Kris, the absolute bane of her existence.
"Seriously, Kris? Why the hell are you throwing paper at me when I'm trying to get to my teacher cadet job on time?" Zoe demanded as she slammed her locker door shut.
"You looked so moody, I couldn't help it." Kris grinned, winking at her. "Besides, I think you could use some relaxation."
Frowning, Zoe looked down at the crumpled up paper in her hands, unfolding it only to reveal a flyer for Miss. Halia's Aromatherapy, guaranteed to bring you back to the good old days.
Growling, Zoe crumpled the flyer back up and tossed it back at Kris, who easily caught it.
"You jackass. Next time you need help in English, talk to Kai, maybe he'll knock some sense into you!" She snarled. Kai, after all, was notorious for refusing to help anyone (outside of Winter and Aislin, of course, nobody could say no to them) with their homework and would then cuss them out to hell before not so happily going to his after school job at the convenience store.
"But you're better than he is!" Kris whined overly dramatically, like he always did to get a rise out of someone. It made him an effective class clown and he wore it with pride.
"I'm two years younger than you! I don't even know what you're learning yet!" Zoe growled before dragging a hand through her blonde hair. "Whatever, I gotta go. Goodbye."
She ignored whatever Kris said in response, instead taking her phone out and flipping it open to see a new text waiting for her.
Einri: I tried to stop him.
Zoe: You did no such thing! Next time, I'm selling you out to Liliana's gang, see how you like it!
Einri: Hey! That's a cruel and unusual punishment! And I never did anything to you!
Zoe: Lies, I don't even know why I tolerate you.
Einri: Who else could get you out of that covenant for anything other than school?
Zoe: Only cause your dad happens to be the town's sweetheart for some reason.
Einri: Don't ask me, he's just a glass worker.
Rolling her eyes at her best friend's texts, Zoe stuffed her phone away as she made her way to the elementary school.
Luckily, she made it just in time to build birdhouses with the children, standing in the back as Mary Margaret explained the activity.
"As we build our birdhouses, remember, what you're making is a home, not a cage." Mary Margaret said. "The bird is free and will do what it will. This is for them, not us. They're loyal creatures. If you love them and they love you, they will always find you."
As the teacher spoke, allowing the bird she gently held to fly to her completed birdhouse outside, Zoe felt a shiver run down her spine.
She shook it off, however, when the bell rang. Quickly, she helped some of the children step over their bags, worried they'd trip, as Mary Margaret called out to them not to run. Not that most of the children listened, of course.
Suddenly, however, the mayor herself walked into the classroom and Zoe froze, half hidden behind Mary Margaret.
"Ms. Mills, what are you doing here?" Mary Margaret asked.
"Where's my son?" The mayor demanded.
"Henry? I assumed he was home sick with you?" Mary Margaret replied, now sounding as confused as Zoe felt.
Didn't Henry return home last night? Unless…
"Do you think I'd be here if he was?" The mayor asked, sarcastically. "Did you give him your credit card so he could find her?"
Confused, Zoe followed the mayor's gaze, only to see the woman from the previous night, Henry's birth mother, standing in the classroom.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Mary Margaret questioned.
"I'm his...I'm his…" The woman stuttered.
"The woman who gave him up for adoption." The mayor bluntly cut in. Mary Margaret stared in silence for a moment before she took her purse off her shoulder and began to search through it.
"You don't know anything about this, do you?" The woman asked.
"No, unfortunately, not." Mary Margaret answered, opening her wallet to reveal her missing credit card. "Clever boy. I should never have given him that book."
"What in the hell is this book I keep hearing about?" The mayor demanded, causing Zoe to jump, her hands grasping Mary Margaret's cardigan as if she were a child again.
"Just some old stories I gave him. As you well know, Henry is a special boy, so smart, so creative. And as you might be aware, lonely." Mary Margaret said and Zoe could feel the often hidden nerves of steel the teacher had peeking through. "He needed it."
"What he needs is a dose of reality." The mayor smiled, sickly sweet. "This is a waste of time." She turned away then, knocking over some books as she passed a student's desk.
"Oh shit." Zoe whispered as she knelt down to start picking them up, Mary Margaret and the woman joining her soon after.
"Sorry to bother you." The woman apologized.
"No, no...it's okay, I hear this is partially my fault." Mary Margaret apologized.
"No, Henry's just too damn clever for any of us to notice." Zoe shook her head, glancing at the teacher before turning to the woman. She was watching Mary Margaret before her eyes darted over to Zoe.
The woman...something about her was...was…
"How's the book supposed to help?" The woman asked, changing the subject and knocking Zoe out of her thoughts.
"What do you think stories are for?" Mary Margaret smiled as she stood up with her books, Zoe following a second after, as did the woman, handing the books to the teacher. "These stories, they're classics. There's a reason we all know them. They're a way for us to deal with our world, a world that doesn't always make sense." As they spoke, the two women and teenager exited the classroom. "See, Henry hasn't had the easiest life."
"Yeah, she's kind of a hard ass." The woman stated bluntly, causing Zoe to choke on her own spit.
"No, it's more than her. He's like any adopted child. He wrestles with that most basic question they all inevitably face: why would anyone give me away?" Mary Margaret said before she realized who she was talking to, no doubt. "I am so sorry. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean in any way to judge you."
"It's okay." The woman muttered.
"Look, I gave him the book because I wanted Henry to have the most important thing anyone can have." Mary Margaret said. "Hope. Believing in even the possibility of a happy ending is a very powerful thing."
"You know where he is, don't you?" The woman asked rhetorically.
"You might want to check his castle." Mary Margaret smiled.
"It's on the beach. And I'm sure he'll only let you come." Zoe added, smiling slightly as the woman turned to her. She shrugged. "His imagination is incredible, I'd listen to him all day if it made him happy."
"You would, huh?" The woman asked.
"Sure. I mean, he's a kid and...I dunno, I feel like he's a friend." Zoe shrugged. It was weird, but she got Henry and she liked him. So...yeah. They were friends.
Go figure.
Hope didn't leave the balcony once as the curse came. She just had to trust that all would work out as it should.
He had seen the future, after all, and promised her that she would be alright. That she would see both of them again someday. She had to believe that.
She had to believe that there would be a day when she could be honest with everyone she had come to love here...and reunite with everyone she had left behind.
As the curse was almost upon her, Hope closed her eyes. And as soon as she did, she felt the cold embrace of winter wash over her, as if the season itself were trying to protect her.
"I'll see you someday...I promise…" Hope whispered.
Then she knew nothing.
Zoe didn't know what compelled her to move, in all honesty. She was perfectly happy to lay in her bed, drawing another nature scene (this time a pond, with that same tree with the frost in the corner where it belonged), but...something told her to go to her window.
So she did.
"What are you doing?" Aislin asked curiously as she entered their room, tilting her head so her choppy blonde hair fell to her shoulders.
"Come look." Zoe urged.
Aislin was obviously still confused, but she did as asked, and the two of them stared out the single window in their room together.
And they were watching...the moment the clock ticked forward, from 8:15 to 8:16.
It's very different from the original, I know. But I'm satisfied with how this chapter turned out.
So far, I have written five chapters, including this one. Some are short, some are long, it all depends on the episode. Updates will continue when I finish the next chapter, which could be anywhere between a few days to a month or so. But this story will be rewritten and complete, I have too many plans and ideas and ambitions to give up again.
I hope you all enjoy, please let me know what you think and I'll see you again!