Chapter 9:

The next few days went by quietly.

Bella had gone on a couple more dates with Will but though they had fun, she knew that it was going nowhere. The one kiss they had exchanged felt weird, like when you try kissing one of your friend that's almost like a brother to you and you realize that you felt nothing but awkward. They were still friends, or friendly, but they wouldn't date anymore. It wouldn't lead anywhere and Bella wanted a relationship that would lead to something serious.

There was still no news on Belle but they were planning on collecting the data the bug on Regina's car had collected the next day. For now, Emma was going to buy some ice cream for Henry, Bella and her. Henry was waiting for them at the park and Bella was supposed to meet Emma at the Ice cream parlor so they could join Henry together. This way, if Regina was spying on them, it would look like they got it for themselves, to share during a friendly walk.

When she arrived, Bella saw Emma wavering and being caught by a blond woman in an apron, obviously the sales' lady.

"What happened Emma, are you okay?" Bella asked her immediately.

"I'm fine Bells, I just felt light headed for a moment. I feel much better now." Emma smiled, accepting the spoon of Rocky Road that the sales' woman whose name tag read Sarah handed her.

"Are you sure you're okay? Feeling light headed isn't usual for you." Bella insisted.

"She probably just didn't eat enough earlier. She's fine now." The sales woman replied before Emma could say anything.

Bella was about to say something else but the woman, Sarah, cut her off and gave them the ice cream they had come to get.

"She's weird, I think she'd hiding something." Bella commented once they left.

"Who isn't hiding anything in this town?" Emma replied, shrugging it off.

Even though Emma didn't feel it, Bella could tell that there was something different with this woman. She wasn't just an innocent ice cream sales' lady, she might not even be innocent. Bella wanted to check her out, to dig a little bit in the woman's past but it wasn't the priority now. She had helped Emma believe, now she had to help her keep faith and find a way to break the curse, Bella would check that woman out later, once the curse was broken.

.

Sarah Fisher, as people knew her in Storybrook, wasn't a happy woman. Not only did Emma push her away and treat her like a crazy woman, just like she had done all these years ago, but Bella, her new enemy, arrived and stole her thunder once more. Emma was supposed to be her sister, not Bella's. She was Ingrid, the Snow Queen and she wasn't about to let a simple woman take away everything she had worked so hard for for the past 28 years.

As soon as she had her magic back, she'd get rid of Bella, kill her and make sure everyone would forget her existence. Maybe even sooner if the opportunity arrived. She just needed to find a way to get rid of her while staying in the shadows and not being caught.

.The sorcerer's thoughts.

Ingrid was bad news, I knew it but I didn't have a choice at the time but to give her what she wanted in order to get my hat back. I have to believe that Bella and Emma will be able to handle her, to let her see the truth.

It wouldn't be easy of course but they are close to finding Belle and with the Dark One on their side, they'll find a way to resolve this, I just hope that Ingrid holds herself back and doesn't try to hurt my baby before they have what they need to help her. Maybe Rumpelstiltskin will even give them the urn that holds Elsa. If he doesn't, I'll have to remember to free her once I'm out of here.

.

After their little moment in the park with Henry, Bella and Emma walked back home only to cross a biker.

"I thought Henry said that nobody new ever came in town, except for us because we're special?" Bella asked Emma.

"Maybe he was always in town." Emma suggested.

"I'm pretty sure I would have noticed him if he was." Bella replied with a small blush, reminding Emma that she had always liked bikers.

"Maybe he's special, like us."

"Maybe we should talk to him and try to find more about him." Bella insisted and Emma nodded.

"I have to go meet Graham for dinner." Emma replied, looking at her watch.

"You go then. This newcomer is probably going to stay at Granny's. I'll try to talk to him and I'll tell you what I found later." Bella offered.

"Don't you have a date with Will?" Emma asked her curiously.

"No, I canceled. I've been on 3 dates with him and I know that it's not going to go anywhere, so why waste our time?" Bella replied, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry. I hope you'll find the right one."

"Don't worry, I'm sure I will at some point." Bella replied with a small smile.

"I hope so, I feel bad having found someone to love while you're still looking." Emma confessed.

"I know you do but you shouldn't. I'm fine and I'm happy for you, you deserve love, especially since I know that Graham won't leave you anytime soon." Bella replied.

"I really like him. It's weird to know that he was already an adult when I was born but I try not to think about it too much. He makes me happy." Emma told her.

"It's all that matters. Speaking of making you happy, how are things with your parents?" Bella asked her.

"Well, David now lives with us and he does his best to get to know me. In a way I feel closer to him than I do to Mary-Margaret."

"Well, it happens. You're a daddy's girl." Bella joked.

"He's just… more like me, I guess. He thinks like I do and we have a lot in common. It makes me wish I had grown up with them." Emma explained.

"If you had, you'd probably be wearing a princess' dress right now." Bella chuckled.

"Maybe it's a good thing that they put me in the wardrobe then." Emma replied, chuckling as well.

.

While Emma was on her date with Graham, Bella went back to Granny's and noticed the motorcycle parked in front of the Bed and Breakfast. Walking into the dinner, Bella didn't see anybody new so she decided to go and use the fact that Granny liked her to try and get her information.

"How is it going tonight?" Bella asked her.

"Same as usual. Can I get you anything?" The old woman asked, always taking time to speak with Bella when she could.

"A tea would be nice." Bella nodded.

"If you'd rather have something stronger, Ruby went to the White Rabbit again. I'm sure she'd love your company."

"Maybe later. Speaking of Ruby, I saw the motorcycle in front of the Bed and Breakfast. Is it hers?" Bella asked.

Of course she knew that it wasn't hers but she had to find a way to get the elder woman to confess what she knew without seeming to be prying for info.

"No, thank God. I don't know what I'd do if she ever came home on one of those. No, it belongs to our newcomer. He's in the room in front of yours. Quite handsome young man. I think he's just a few years older than you. Very charming though… Oh, if only I were a few years younger…" Granny declared and Bella smiled, amused by the old lady's mimics.

Bella took the time to drink her tea and then, when she was done, she went up to her bedroom and, taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door in front of hers.

"Hi! Sorry to bother you. I've heard that someone was staying in the room in front of mine and I wanted to say hello." Bella told the man who answered the door.

"Hello. I'm August. I was under the impression that I was the only one staying here." He replied, shaking Bella's hand.

"Yes, the town doesn't get many newcomers. I came here a couple of weeks ago to join my best friend Emma. She's staying with a good friend of hers and I decided to stay here. I'm a writer and it helps my inspiration. My name is Bella by the way, Bella Swan." She replied with a smile, dropping the hint about Emma to see if he knew anything.

"Bella Swan, the writer? I've read your books, yes. Love them." He told her with a smile.

"I'm glad you love them. I'm writing the next one right now. It keeps my busy when I'm not helping Emma…" Bella said and stopped before she told him more, wanting to see if he'd try to find out more about Emma.

"Helping her how?" He asked her.

"Oh, you know, this town is special and Emma has something important to do here. I'm helping her putting the pieces together, maybe even getting her son back."

"When assembling the pieces becomes too hard, it's sometimes enough to believe in magic for it to happen." He declared, a hint of something in his eyes that told Bella what she needed to know.

"You know. I don't know who you are here but you know." She told him with a smile on her face.

"So do you." He nodded.

"Maybe we should move this conversation somewhere else. My room? I have something you might want to see there." She offered, thinking of Henry's storybook that was now staying with her whenever they didn't need it. This way, Regina had little chances of getting her hands on it.

August nodded and followed her. Once she closed the door, they sat down on the armchairs that were in the corner of her room and she showed him the storybook.

"So, who are you, really. August might be the name you're using but it's not your real name." She guessed.

"Can you see this?" he asked her, lifting the bottom of his pants to reveal his right leg.

"It's wooden… You're Pinocchio? Seriously?" Bella asked him with a smile.

"I am." He nodded.

"I have to say, I don't know much about you. Your father appears in the book from time to time but there isn't much here about your story… Why aren't you with him? Why were you outside of town?"

"Before I tell you my story, if I was to show my leg to Emma, what would she see?" He asked her.

"The same thing as I do."

"So she believes then?"

"Yes, so does Graham, the Huntsman I mean, and her parents." Bella replied.

Then, August started telling Bella his story. He started with the part she knew, the one that was shown in the Disney movie of this world but he continued with his own story, the real one. For once, he was honest and he told her the complete truth, leaving only the part about him asking Neal to leave Emma alone and who Neal really was. When he was done, a couple of hours had gone by.

"So you're turning into wood because you didn't help Emma like you were supposed to do?" Bella asked him.

"Yes. As it turns out, I'm not very good at resisting the temptations of this world. Every time I tried to help her, I ended up doing more harm than good." He replied, shaking his head.

"How often was that exactly? You just spoke of the time you left her at the foster home to run away with the other kids." Bella frowned.

"There's one other time that I'd rather not speak of just now…" He replied.

"You just told me your story and confessed leaving Emma when you were supposed to stay with her and taking the spot in the tree that was supposed to be her mother's. Obviously you're still turning into wood, which means that you need to say more or do more." Bella guessed.

"I was truthful, now I need to be brave and unselfish." He nodded.

"Well, you can join me tomorrow, I'm going to help Emma and Graham find Belle so that Rumpelstiltskin can be on our side. Maybe helping us will do the trick." She suggested.

"That'd be nice. Thank you." He nodded.

"Why don't you join me for breakfast around 9 and after that we'll go to the station. I'll call Emma and tell her everything tonight, warn her." Bella informed him.

"Good, I'll leave you to your rest and your writing now. I need to get some rest myself. Turning into wood is quite tiring." He smiled and Bella wished him goodnight.

As soon as he was out of her room, Bella called Emma to tell her everything she had learned about the newcomer.

.

While Bella was calling Emma and telling her what had just happened, August was in his room, thinking about everything. The fact that Emma believed was a good thing, but he didn't get her to believe.

He knew that confessing to Emma everything he knew about Neal, Henry's father, would be for the best but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He wanted Emma to be his friend and he knew that she'd be angry at him if she ever learned that he was the one who convinced Neal to abandoned her to go to jail when he wanted to get her and leave with her.

How would he go back to being of flesh and bone without telling her the complete truth? He'd have to be extra brave but would that be enough? Would he ever be able to make up to her what he had done? Without his intervention, Emma would have kept Henry, she would have raised him with Neal and they probably would have been happy together. But Emma was happy now, Bella had told him that she was dating the Huntsman, so maybe she'd be less angry…

Suddenly, August interrupted this train of thoughts to think about his father. What would he think of him once he learned that he was changing back into wood? Could he even go and meet him now, knowing that he wouldn't remember him?

Blue had been very clear, if he wasn't brave, truthful and unselfish, he'd turn back into wood, maybe even for good…

What would he do?

.The sorcerer's thoughts.

Pinocchio is one of the people I like the most. He's weak, in a very human way, but he's also capable of great things. I believe that my daughter can help him do the right thing. He probably won't admit to what he did concerning Emma and Neal before a while but I believe that he'll try to make it up to her. He'll do his best to help her break the curse and I hope he'll find a way to stop his own curse.

Of course I could free him from the curse, so could the Dark One and Bella will probably be able to do it too once the curse is broken and Rumpelstiltskin brings back magic. Emma probably could too, all she'd have to do is to take his hands and wish it. We'll have to see if August earns it or not.

Once I'm reunited with my daughter, I'll help him but until then, he'll have to try and do it on his own.

I'm not sure I agree with what he did to get Neal away from Emma but I know that she's happier now with Graham that she would have been with Neal. Things happen the way they do and there's nothing we can do to change that.

Once again, Blue did something that I don't approve of. Who is SHE to demand of someone to be brave, truthful and unselfish when she was the opposite of these things? I couldn't wait for the moment I'd be able to put her back in her place for good. She had lots of things she needed to answer for, starting with Pinocchio and including Nova, Tinkerbell and even Rumpelstiltskin and Baelfire.

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Lorelei Candice Black