Hello. It has been a long time! Between life crazieness, lack of motivation, and me honestly just completely giving up on this show in disgust, I had absolutely no inspiration to write for Not So Evil. But, I've since had several lovely chats with a friend about things we liked about this show, and things we thought the show writers really dropped the ball on (I was much more critical then her, if anyone was wondering). So after some of those chats, inspiration began to form. I also went through all the previous chapters and did some editing. Nothing really major, just tightening up some points where I definitely got too wordy, finding some grammar and spelling errors that I had previously missed, ect., so no plot differences! Just hopefully slightly better writing in general.
So a quick summary of what you can expect from my story:
I'm going to tag it as anti-Regina, even though it's really just, to my mind, giving up on the shitty redemption arcs that the writers did not execute well and letting characters face consequences of their actions.
This is going to get very AU, mostly because I stopped watching the show in Season 4 (in disgust and outrage, because it really felt to me like the writers were trying to make it so there was no free will and I. Was. Done.), and while I've heard and read some spoilers, most of them I didn't like anyways, so expect things to go very off the rails (and honestly that will happen as soon as Season 1 & 2, because even then I had started frowning at the tv screen).
I'm adding in more fairytale stories/characters. I feel like the show lost some opportunities to add in cool stories that I liked (12 Dancing Princesses, anyone?), and I'm honestly kind of iffy about adding Mulan and Robin Hood now because there is evidence they might have been real actual people, but I do love the characters a lot, so we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. We will not be adding mythology.
There are other plans I have, but those three are big ones that I think will determine if people want to read or not, so fair warning, and I'll be updating chapter one to include this warning as well.
February 19, 2012
Henry looked at Regina, sitting next to him in her office. He eyed the box with a bow that now sits in his lap, wondering what it was, what it was for, and why she was giving him a gift. He wondered if it was a bribe. Sarah Monday had left town, and Ada had said her friend the lawyer had called her and Emma to let them know he was working on filing the petition for child custody. Henry wasn't sure how much of that Regina would be aware of, though she definitely knew Ms. Monday left town.
"Oh, go on," Regina encouraged with a smile, "Open it."
"What's the occasion?" Henry asked.
"The occasion is I love you. Go on."
Henry opened the box and found a video game, and Regina continued, "Now, I know you miss your book, but with this, you can do the heroics. You can save the princesses, you can be the hero. Henry, you have to believe me. When I tore down the playground, I did it for your safety. Please, don't be upset with me," she begged.
"It's not just the book," Henry tried to explain.
"Okay, then what is it?"
"It's Emma – I want to see her," he tells her. He watches her mouth compress into a thin line. "Why can't I just spend time with both of you?" Henry asks. He knows his mom is the Evil Queen, and he gets that but, maybe if she just could learn to, she could be good?
"Excuse me, Madame Mayor," Regina's secretary knocks, poking her head through the door, "Your four o'clock is here."
August looked across the diner to see Emma sitting and chatting with that redhead- Ada Ward. When he first got into town, he'd thought he'd get in touch with Emma, slowly help her learn about the curse, her parents, her destiny. Instead, Ada Ward had chatted him up and then walked off, clearly having brought the information she gained on him to Emma. They must've decided he wasn't worth further investigation, since neither had approached him since.
Granny put down a slice of pie with a stern look over her glasses at him. He gave a small smile as thanks and watched her walk back to the counter, scolding Red when she gets there.
August hated this town. He remembered Granny and Red, dimly, from his childhood. Granny had knit him hats and mittens, and Red had always snuck treats to him with a wink and a smile. The memories were dim, but cherished. He didn't remember them fighting like he'd witnessed since coming to Storybrooke. It had taken August ages to find the town once he realized it was Emma's 28th Birthday, and therefore time for Emma to break the curse- he had tried tracking down Emma, but she had so few connections in the world, it made it difficult every time he tried to check on her.
He didn't check on her nearly often enough.
Henry came bouncing into the diner and made a beeline to his mother's table, sliding in next to Emma with a smile.
Another reminder that August did not check on Emma nearly enough.
Would she have been a teen mother? Would she have given her child up for adoption? If he had done what his Papa had asked him to- if he had been the older brother he should've been for Emma, what would have changed? August looked once more at Ada Ward, sitting across from Emma like she belonged there. If he had been selfless, brave, and true, would he be sitting there instead of her? Next to her?
Red dropped off his check at his table without a glance. August tried to not let it hurt. He had seen the Prince yesterday, walking down the street, and he had felt such overwhelming guilt it'd nearly brought him to his knees. The Prince used to play games with him. The Princess used to tell him stories. He wasn't sure how accurate his memory was, but he swears once he had sat next to her in a garden, her belly large with Emma, and she laughed as she let him feel the future Princess kick.
August's memories would kill him.
All these adults who had always been so kind to him, and he had failed them all. Pinocchio had been the only child among the inner circle of Snow White and Prince James, and was doted on in every memory he could recall. Perhaps that's why he failed so badly- to go from a much-beloved child, surrounded by adults ready to help him, to a child alone, with only a baby Princess to keep him company, responsibility and his only link to home in equal measure.
Perhaps he was just inherently flawed. Maybe a child who hadn't been made from wood would have done better.
August hadn't seen his father yet. He'd heard where Geppetto was living now, under the name Marco- it was one of the first things he sought to learn upon arriving in town. But he was not brave- he couldn't face his father. Not even with the knowledge Geppetto's memories were missing- August felt one look would surely been enough to tell the man how badly his son had failed. And the alternative- that Geppetto would look at him and not know him, was something August's mind shied away from examining.
He walked up to the register and paid his bill, barely attempting conversation with Red, who snapped her gum and gazed out the window even as she handed him his change.
August gave a smile to Henry as he walked by, catching both Emma and Ada's eyes. Blonde and redhead eyed him suspiciously, even as they turned their heads back towards Henry.
Stepping outside Granny's, August stood on the sidewalk and watched the town go by. He was so young when he had come to this world- physically about seven years old, but he'd only been alive about three years. He'd been so confused when the adults of this world had insisted he was wrong about his age. Eventually they told him he was seven or eight years old, and when he insisted he hadn't had his fourth birthday yet, they stopped talking to him about it. Not to mention how confused he was when they refused to accept his name was Pinocchio.
He missed Thailand. He'd been living there since Emma was sent to jail- running from his failures again, taking the money Baelfire gave him to send to Emma and wasting it all. But Thailand was good to him- he'd found a small pocket of magic there, or thought he'd had. The Dragon was dead, no longer available to give August a small taste of home. It seemed like he was always looking for something to remind him of home.
Of course, he ran from Emma, his strongest link to home, and his greatest shame.
August didn't really have much of a plan to help Emma. Or any plan at all. Would he have to go to the Blue Fairy and explain how he'd left Emma behind? She didn't have her memories, no one did. He'd have no allies in this.
Emma watched August Booth leave Granny's and exchanged a look with Ada.
"And I was thinking," Henry told them, almost breathless with excitement, "Maybe Aderyn is Princess Minna!"
"Who?" Emma questioned.
"The goose girl," Henry whispers, as if he hadn't shouted the girl's name already.
Emma shook her head, "Who's Aderyn?"
"Oh, my mom's secretary," Henry told them, "She's always sort of sad and a little scared. And today when I was looking at her, I noticed she had her hair braided and it made me think about it- I really think she's the goose girl."
"OK, give us the rundown on the story," Ada smiled, handing Henry the book from her bag. She had faithfully promised to never let it out of her sight, and while it was a little strange to be bringing a fairytale book into the bathroom with her, she couldn't say Henry's fears were unfounded.
Henry grinned, pleased to be the expert, "Princess Minna had to travel for a couple days to go marry Prince Aldric. Her mother had to stay behind to take care of their kingdom, since Princess Minna's father died when she was just a baby. But her mother sent a servant with Princess Minna- Blair. Everything was fine the first day, but that night, while Blair was gathering wood, she bumped into the Evil Queen. At first she was afraid, but then the Queen offered her a deal- she'd make Blair look just like Princess Minna, so Blair could take her place, if when she was Queen of King Adhelm's kingdom, she'd do whatever the Evil Queen asked. Blair agreed, and the Evil Queen cast a spell that made her look like Princess Minna. Blair went back to the real princess, and she was frightened when she saw how she'd transformed." Henry showed them an illustration of two women, identical except for their expressions, one full of shock and fear, the other of menace, "Blair made Princess Minna switch places, saying if the Princess didn't, Blair would kill her and no one would ever know. She had a tough time because Princess Minna's horse didn't want to let Blair ride him. To keep him calm, Princess Minna had to walk beside his head and talk to him the whole time while Blair rode. When they got to King Adhelm's kingdom no one could tell they had switched places. Blair told them to give Minna a dirty, useful job, and they sent her to tend geese. The boy who already tended the geese, Erwin, noticed though that whenever Minna walked by the stables, her horse would call for her, and he noticed the pins she put her hair up with were real gold. So he confronted her and she told him the truth. Erwin liked Minna, and he thought it was unfair, so he started trying to think of a way to prove that Blair was lying. And the wedding was only a few days away. So Erwin and Minna go to the Fairies one night, and the Fairies say since Minna and her horse love each other so much, with some of Minna's hair, they can do a spell to make Minna's horse speak, so he can tell the truth. The fairies made a braid with Minna's hair and put it around the horse's neck, and cast the spell on Minna's horse, and he could talk!" Henry showed them a picture of a green fairy, holding a length of braided hair, clearly snipped from the girl standing before her, holding the hand of a young boy. "The next day Erwin makes a big stink about how he doesn't want to work with Minna because weird things keep happening- she makes horses talk. The King thought this was very strange and watched as Minna walked by the stable, and sure enough, her horse started calling for her. The King went into the stable and talked to the horse. Then he called Erwin and Minna to him and asked them for the truth.
"That night, the King was eating dinner with his son and Blair, and told them he had found someone impersonating a royal. He asked them what they thought the punishment should be. Blair said they ought to be publicly disgraced and hung. Then the real Princess Minna walked in, and the King asked her what she thought the punishment should be, and the Princess said they ought to be assigned a job where someone can keep an eye on them, but where they can't make any more trouble with their lies. So Blair was sent to work in the stables, because the horse could always tell them apart, and Minna and Prince Aldric were married, and Erwin lived with them in the castle."
"So how do we know if Aderyn is Minna or Blair?" Ada asked, "Did they get the spell off Blair?"
Henry shrugged, "It doesn't really say. I don't think so."
"Wonder if her horse is cursed," Ada mused.
Henry perked up noticeably, "There is a stables in town! There's a bunch of horses there. Princess Minna's was really pretty- it looked blue!"
"A blue horse?" Emma questioned.
"Not blue-blue," Henry corrected, "But you know, a horsey blue," he filled the page to show a picture of a girl standing by a horse, hand stroking its neck. The horse was distinctly blue-tinted.
"That doesn't make much more sense to me," Emma told him.
"OK," Ada sighed, "So we've got two goals- one, figure out if Aderyn is actually Minna or if she's Blair, two, figure out what Aderyn's happy ending is and make that happen."
Henry's mouth twisted "I don't think she and Prince Adric are True Love. The storybook didn't mention that."
"We'll keep thinking," Emma promised, "In the meantime, aren't you supposed to be heading home?"
Henry nodded, passing the book back to Ada before hugging Emma quickly and darting away. Emma looked a little stunned.
"We're going to have to get used to physical affection, I think," Ada mused as she tucked the book back into her messenger bag. "He seems to want it, just not be used to it."
"Any word from Bill?"
Ada nodded, "File is in, Regina will probably be served today or tomorrow, and she has 20 days to respond from then."
Emma nodded, clearly both nervous and impatient. Ada reached across and grabbed her hand for a brief squeeze, but didn't say anything more.
August looked deep into the well and sighed.
He had not a clue what to do. Nearly three decades he'd had to prepare for this, and he simply hadn't. It was hard to get close to Emma, she was always with someone or she was looking at him suspiciously.
A slight crack of a step over forested path was his only warning before things went dark.
Ada was startled when someone grabbed her by the arm and dragged her into an alleyway. This was Storybrooke, not New York. Not to mention it was broad daylight. Still, Emma had always insisted they both keep up on self-defense classes, so when she pivoted to face her attacker, she already had her hand moving to break his nose with her palm.
But he caught it.
Well, shit.
She was raising her foot to kick him, when suddenly he shushed her and, with startlingly blue eyes, whispered "I know what you carry," with a significant look to her messenger bag.
Her bag with Henry's book.
Then she got a load of what he was wearing.
Ada stood there, her left palm still held half-way to this man's face by his hand, her right arm still gripped in his other hand, and she took note of his dark clothes- a waistcoat, a cravat, a double breasted coat. Had she ever seen someone wear a cravat before?
"Who are you?"
He shook his head, and whispered, "There are ears everywhere. Come with me."
It wasn't a request, but Ada thought it over. Emma would kill her. Ada didn't know who this man was.
But he knew she carried Henry's book. And he knew it was significant.
When she straightened up out of her stance, he clearly took it as agreement, and began to walk off, still gripping her arm.
Ada watched as he seemed to check every street, and took backways she wasn't familiar with, and then they found themselves in the woods. Jefferson nodded to a car, clearly wanting Ada to get in.
She paused.
Oh, Emma really would kill her.
Ada turned to look at her new companion and eyed him carefully. "I don't think so," she said, "Not without some information. How do I know I can trust you? What's your name."
"Jefferson," he told her, "Please," he gestured to the car, "I don't want her to know we're speaking."
Ada narrowed her eyes, "What's your real name? And her? Do you mean Regina?"
"My real name is Jefferson. And yes, the Queen- we mustn't let her know we've met."
Ada's eyes widened, "You remember?"
Jefferson nodded, "Please."
Ada got in the car. "I still don't know if I should trust you," she mused aloud as Jefferson sat in the driver's seat. "I don't think you're in the book. And why would you remember?"
Jefferson started the car and turned to look her in the eyes, "Because that's my curse."
Ada looked at the mansion before her. It was massive, sprawling almost. She turned to the man who stood at the foot of the steps, waiting for her to enter.
"You live alone here, don't you?" she asked, thinking of how the curse worked.
"Yes."
Ada started climbing the steps.
"Just so you know, I do have pepper spray in my bag," she told him, looking at him as sternly as she could, "And you have got to work on your people skills."
Jefferson looked bewildered, opening the door for her. "Um, yes?" he gestured her in, "Perhaps I should mention, I do have a guest."
Ada raised one eyebrow, waiting.
"The stranger. August Booth. You want to know why he's here, yes?"
"Well we can hardly talk about a curse in front of some guy who could very well be exactly what he says he is," Ada scolded.
"He's not," Jefferson told her, "I've been watching- and he's been watching too. Mostly the Savior. Sometimes you. He was at the wishing well today." Jefferson led her to a room with a telescope, watching over the town. Ada's face showed her surprise before she wiped it clean of expression.
"Well. You'll just be a wealth of information, won't you?"
August came to slowly and painfully. The back of his head was throbbing, and he found himself tied to a chair and gagged.
He felt it was safe to assume he hadn't passed out from low blood sugar.
August cracked his eyes open slowly and examined the room he was in. It was dark, small enough to only contain a few chairs, a bureau, and a desk. Soft light came from behind him. Either a lamp or a window. To his left was what he assumed was a window, as it was completely obscured by curtains. A door was before him, mostly shut. He could hear voices outside, but they were too far away to hear what they were really saying. He pulled on his bonds.
Someone knew what they were doing.
Ada looked around the room Jefferson had brought her to, the telescope to one side, and it was then she noticed the hats.
"Oh." she said, turning to look at the man fiddling nervously with scissors across from her. "The book's illustration really doesn't look a thing like you," she told him.
"For the last twenty-eight years, I've been stuck in this house. Day after day, always the same. Until one night, you and your sister, in your little yellow bug, roll into town, and the clock ticks, and things start to change. You see… I know what you really brought to Storybrooke: Emma. She's special. And with her comes something precious to Storybrooke – magic."
"Explain," Ada said, keeping an eye on his hands. Suddenly she wished she'd thought to text Emma where she was. Or at least send a message in the car letting her know what was going on.
She had been stupid, and Emma was going to kill her.
"How does magic work in the real world?" Ada questioned, "Regina doesn't seem to have any, or she'd have blasted us out of town before we could have caused so much trouble."
"The real world?" Jefferson sneered, "A real world. How arrogant are you to think yours is the only one? There are infinite more. You have to open your mind. They touch one another, pressing up in a long line of lands. Each just as real as the last. All have their own rules. Some have magic, some don't. And some need magic. Like this one. And that's where Emma comes in. The Savior is just one aspect of her- she's a child of True Love, and that's rare."
"Is it?" Ada asked, "Seems like town is full of True Love couples separated."
Jefferson shook his head, "That's because Regina picked who came here, who was cursed. And she hates True Love," he shrugged, "I don't know why. Perhaps it reminders her too much of Snow White, who she hates more than anything. Back home, you'd be lucky to meet maybe...ten True Love couples in your entire life. Of course, you can't know who does and doesn't have True Love until it's tested- usually by one person being cursed. That doesn't normally happen to the average peasant or," he gestured to himself, "hatter. So it's the big movers- the power players- the top brass who find themselves making enemies who might curse them, and then comes the test: who truly loves them?"
"So maybe your local village is filled with true love, and no one will ever know for sure, because who's going to curse the local butcher with a sleeping curse?" Ada mused.
Jefferson shrugged, "But then there's children. And magic."
"And Emma is magic, because her parents are True Love?"
"Not just that- she's a prophesied child, and the Savior. Add it all up together? There's a lot of magic around her. And magic? Magic goes where it feels welcome."
Ada examines Jefferson more closely, "What about you? What about your magic? You used to travel between realms with a hat." She looked at the hats around her, all lined up on their shelves, "Which clearly isn't working any more."
"I don't have much magic," Jefferson shrugged, "Here, it seems to have deserted me. I could only make my hats travel between realms with magic."
"Were your parents True Love then?"
Jefferson smiled, "Well, as neither of them were cursed we'll never really know. But perhaps. Or perhaps a fairy smiled at my mother while she was pregnant. Or perhaps I was conceived under a Lightening Moon," he shrugged, "There are many legends on why a child may be born with magic. I had no siblings who lived, so we'll never know."
Ada eyed the hats, "So you're trying to get back home, but you don't have enough magic or the right kind of magic to make your hats."
"But Emma, Emma has magic."
"How do you know it's the right kind of magic?"
"I don't, but she will have to try. If it's not, I'm never going home. I'll be cursed to live in this house forever."
Ada reached out and grasped his arm, "No. If the hat doesn't work, then Emma will break the curse. We're working on it," she promised him, "We've been weakening it every day. You said you've been watching? Well, what do you think?"
"I've been watching, but," he gazed towards his telescope. Ada let go of him and stepped up to it. Bending slightly, she looked through it.
There was a little girl, sitting at a dinner table with what looked to be a happy family.
"Her name is Grace. Here, it's Paige," Jefferson explained, "But it's Grace. My Grace. Do you have any idea what it's like to watch her day in and day out, happy, with a new family? With a new father?"
Ada pulled her eyes from the telescope and looked at Jefferson, unable to stop herself from tearing up.
"Twenty eight years," she murmured.
"Emma has to try and make my hat," he begged. "I know. I remember. She has no idea who I am. Our life together, where we come from. I do. That's my curse.
"What good is this house, these things, if I can't share them with her? I can't speak to her, can't tell her who I am, not without destroying her reality. I'm trapped by knowledge. How cruel can a father be? A true father, a true parent, would never inflict that awareness on his daughter. It's hard enough to live in a land where you don't belong. But knowing it, holding conflicting realities in your head…will drive you mad."
Suddenly, there was a thump from down the hall. Ada turned to look out the door.
"You said you had August here as well?" she questioned.
"Yeah, about that," Ada turned to see Jefferson holding a gun, "I didn't exactly ask him."
Ada's eyes widened as Jefferson walked past her, gun never pointing at her, but held in front of him casually. She followed him down the hall, almost hypnotized, and watched him enter a room and flick on a light switch. Before them was August Booth, tied and gagged to a chair that had fallen to the side. Ada's jaw dropped and she turned to look at Jefferson.
"Seriously?"
Jefferson shrugged.
Ada couldn't help but put her hand to her forehead, massaging away a headache that hadn't yet fully formed, but was threatening to be a big one. "Help me get him up, at least."
Jefferson carefully placed the gun on a table, out of August's reach but within his, as he stepped up to help Ada right the chair and August Booth with it.
"I'm taking his gag off," Ada told Jefferson, glaring slightly. She struggled a bit with the knot of what appeared to be another of Jefferson's cravats before freeing August's mouth.
"What the hell?" he shouted as soon as his mouth was free. "Who the fuck are you and why did you kidnap me?"
Jefferson casually leaned against the table, grabbing his gun to again direct at August.
"You're a stranger in Storybrooke, and you've been spending an awful lot of time watching the Savior."
August, who had been struggling slightly with the bonds, went noticeably still at that.
"What did you say?" he breathed, voice hushed.
Ada couldn't help her eyes darting up to Jefferson, who didn't seem to expect August's reaction either. She took a step into August's eyeline, catching his attention.
"Who are you?" she asked.
August stared, "You- you know about the curse?"
"Answer her question," Jefferson demanded, gun still in hand.
Ada watched carefully as the stranger looked her in the eye and confessed, "Pinocchio. My name is Pinocchio."
Anyone else hoping I get the curse broken before the custody thing comes to a head? Cuz I am. My google searches are getting very specific and because every state is different things are confusing. So hopefully I'll be able to kick that problem down the road. In other news: the other thing is I'm going to try and make the rules of magic consistent cuz...they should be and it bothers me when they aren't. So far my current working rules for magic in the Land Without Magic are: no magic in Storybrooke at all, except for some very small things related to the curse, with special notice to Emma's entrance & time starting to move then and only then (so hearts are still missing, but they are covered under the curse); any magic in the Land Without Magic must be BROUGHT there (so Ingrid's powers, and Emma's powers, and Pinocchio still being human and not wood) but in a sort of weakened state, same with Regina's powers; and no strangers can enter Storybrooke without being BROUGHT there by a resident (so Regina BRINGS Henry there), until Emma does (so, no Ingrid cannot just MOVE into town during the curse- for one thing, Regina would immediately notice someone new moving into town and opening a freaking store). I'm really struggling with the whole August turning to wood thing because...that's magic. And why would Emma choosing to stay in Storybrooke start his transformation back to wood? There's no indication that anyone else's powers/magic is affected, only the curse itself weakening. And why would the magic of August (done by the Blue Fairy) have any sort of affect from the curse weakening or strengthening when he was not brought to this world by the curse and does not live in Storybrooke? IT MAKES NO SENSE. Also, a lot of August's story in the Land Without Magic doesn't make a whole lot of sense. So we're working on August's situation from a different angle in this story because damnit there are RULES. Also still not sure how August figured out Neal was Baelfire because...how? Basically, Pinocchio is my biggest headache and I was not expecting that. But then I added in Jefferson and suddenly it all started working for the Storybrooke plot at least. So Hat Trick is being kind of combined with the August bits of What Happened to Frederick?.
