Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or Once Upon a Time.


Chapter 3: Chance Encounters

In a faraway land…

The young man continued walking, trudging wearily through the dark forest. Only the moon, still floating in the sky overhead and gleaming silver, illuminated his surroundings.

As he walked, leaning on the staff to support himself, the young man continued to think, trying as hard as he could to find something, any memory that could tell him who he was. So far, he had found nothing; his past was still a complete blank. He had discovered, however, that his affliction appeared to be quite specific. He could still remember background information; he knew how to speak, how to walk, and everything of that sort. He knew what different things were called, and lots of other information about animals, the seasons, and so on.

The only things he couldn't remember, in fact, were those directly related to his own past. He couldn't remember his name, where he was from, or anything else about himself. He had no idea how he'd ended up at the bottom of that pond, or if he had a family who would be looking for him.

So he kept walking, knowing that eventually, he would have to run across someone who could help him. Besides, there was really nothing else to do.

After what felt like an eternity, but was probably only a couple of hours, something finally presented itself to him: a faint orange light, filtering through the trees from somewhere far ahead. It could only originate from a small fire, which meant that there was someone up ahead.

Gripping the staff tightly, the young man started towards the light. Hopefully, whoever was at that fire would be friendly.

It took a few minutes for him to reach the source of the light, but he finally made it. Slipping into the shadows behind a tree, he glanced out in an attempt to identify the person responsible for the fire.

He had been right, as it turned out; the light was emanating from a decent-sized campfire. Seated beside the fire was a young woman with shoulder-length, dark curly hair. Her face was turned away from him, as she gazed into the crackling flames.

The young man shifted position slightly, attempting to see her face. In the process, he accidentally stepped on a small branch lying at his feet.

The crack of the branch breaking echoed through the surrounding trees.

Instantly, the young woman seated by the fire scrambled to her feet and whirled, drawing a long knife from a sheath at her waist. "Who's there?" she demanded. "Show yourself!"

The young man froze, not moving a muscle to avoid giving away his position. After a long moment, however, he made his decision. He was exhausted, and badly needed food, water, and warmth. Besides, this woman didn't seem particularly dangerous. Tightening his hold on his staff, he slowly stepped out from behind the tree.

The woman's eyes locked on him the instant he showed himself. She took a step back, raising her knife, but he raised a hand to stop her.

"Please, don't. I'm not going to hurt you." He coughed, leaning on his staff. "I just… I've lost my way, and I am in dire need of warmth and food. I saw your fire, and I was hoping you could help me."

Her expression didn't waver. "And why should I believe anything you say?" she said coolly. "You could easily be here to kill me."

The young man actually chuckled at that, the sound harsh and grating. "If I wanted to harm you, I wouldn't have shown myself when you asked. And I would have brought a better weapon than a stick." He hefted his staff as if to show it off, grinning weakly, but immediately staggered and had to lean on the staff again to regain his balance.

She raised an eyebrow. "Fair point. What happened to you?"

"I…" he paused, coughing again. "I fell through the ice of a frozen pond," he continued after he regained his breath, deciding to bend the truth a little so he didn't sound insane. "I managed to get out, but I became completely lost. I've been wandering around out here for hours, and I finally saw a fire – yours – and went towards it." He held out his free hand, speaking as earnestly as possible. "I mean you no harm, I swear it. I only ask for some food, to sit by your fire and warm myself, and directions to the nearest town. Then I will leave you in peace."

The woman considered that for a moment, and then sighed. "All right; you may sit by the fire. But I'll be watching you."

"Thank you," the young man said, smiling as he walked over to the girl and sat down as close to the fire as possible, craving the warmth. Even though, somehow, he still didn't really feel the cold, the heat of the flames was irresistible.

"What's your name?" the young woman asked, as she sat down on the other side of the fire, glancing at him warily.

The young man cast back into his memories once again, but, as ever, he found nothing. He sighed, staring into the fire. "To be perfectly honest with you… I don't know."

She scoffed. "As if I would believe that. How could you not know your name?"

Looking up at her, the young man chuckled briefly. "That's the least of it. I can't remember anything about myself. My name, my age, where I come from, whether I have a family… it's all gone. It's as if all of my memories – everything I am – have been erased." He leaned closer to the fire, brushing a thin coating of frost off of the brown leather jacket he wore. "Everything is gone. I woke up in the forest just a few hours ago, with no idea who or where I was. I started searching for someone who could tell me, and that search eventually led me to your fire."

The woman had remained silent during his account; however, her frown had softened, and much of her hostility had dissolved from behind her eyes.

"There's a village about half a day's journey from here," she said after a long pause. "I can take you there in the morning. If you do have a family who are looking for you, that's where they must live."

The young man's eyes widened in surprise. "You would do that for me?" he asked.

She smiled. "It's the decent thing to do. No one should have to lose their family."

Turning, she walked over to where a canopy had been set up between two smaller trees at the edge of the little clearing. Removing a large sack from the shelter, she carried it back to the fire and, setting it down, removed two loaves of bread from within the sack. Tossing one to the young man, she bit into the second.

"Eat up," she advised, swallowing her first bite of the loaf. "We will have a journey ahead of us in the morning, and you're going to need your strength."

Nodding, the young man tore off a piece of his own loaf with his fingers, placing it in his mouth, and started chewing.

"Out of curiosity," he inquired, "what's your name?"

She paused for a moment, her back straightening, and looked down at the ground, refusing to meet his eyes. After a long silence, she appeared to come to a decision, and faced him again. "Call me Snow."


Storybrooke, Maine

Jackson woke up to the sounds of birds chirping outside. He smiled, stretching his arms and rolling over in bed. Through the glass sliding doors, he could see sunlight shining through the clouds, illuminating the forest just behind the inn.

The storm that had hammered Storybrooke for the past few days was finally over.

Jackson, since he didn't know anyone in this town, had spent his time holed up in his room at Granny's, waiting out the storm. The only place he had gone was a quick dash through the rain to the diner next door for meals; other than that, he had simply laid back, reading a book or simply relaxing, as he listened to the constant rattling of the rain against the roof of the inn.

Sighing, Jackson crawled out of bed and stood up, looking around. The rain had stopped completely, but everything outside was still soaking wet, gleaming in the early morning sun.

Dressing quickly in a dark gray T-shirt, blue jeans and his usual black leather jacket, Jackson strolled out of his room and down the stairs to the front desk. Granny and Ruby were nowhere to be seen; obviously, they must be at the diner, dealing with the breakfast rush.

Donning his sunglasses, Jackson walked out the door into the crisp, clear morning. Walking across the parking lot to the diner while avoiding puddles of water, he opened the front door and ducked inside.

As he'd expected, Ruby was hurrying around the room, serving coffee and other drinks, while Granny stood behind the counter, taking customers' orders. Grinning, Jackson selected a booth in the corner, sitting down and waiting.

Ruby, of course, saw him; she arrived at his table a couple of minutes later. "Morning," she said. "What can I get you?"

"Scrambled eggs, with a side of ham and hash browns," Jackson said, reciting what was rapidly becoming his "usual" breakfast order with a smile. "And an apple juice."

"Coming right up," Ruby replied with a smile, scrawling down his order on the notepad in her hand and replacing it in her pocket as she walked away.

Nodding in satisfaction, Jackson reached into his jacket pocket and took out a book he'd been reading; The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes stories had always fascinated him, and, as a werewolf, he found it amusing to be reading a murder mystery about a monstrous dog.

"Cool book," a high-pitched voice said.

Jackson looked up in surprise, his eyes falling on a young boy standing next to the booth. The kid looked like he was about ten years old, but there was a glint of intelligence in his eyes that belied his young age.

"Have you read it?" Jackson asked, tapping the book with his right index finger.

The boy nodded. "Yeah, my class read it in school once. It's a good story; I love mysteries."

Jackson chuckled. "Agreed."

The kid hesitated for a moment, and then took a step forward, frowning. "I haven't seen you around before."

"Well, that'd be because I just got here a couple of days ago," Jackson replied casually. "I stopped in right before the storm hit, and I've been hiding out over in the inn for the past few days."

The boy's eyes widened. "You mean… you're not from Storybrooke?"

Jackson grinned. "No, just passing through."

It was obvious that the boy was very bothered by Jackson's revelation that he was from out of town; he stared intently at Jackson for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "I should probably go; school starts pretty soon." He started to leave, then stopped and asked, "What's your name?"

Jackson raised an eyebrow. "My name's Jackson. What's yours?"

"I'm Henry." With that, the kid turned and hurried out of the diner.

"What did he want?" Ruby inquired curiously as she returned to the booth with Jackson's order.

"Who, the kid?" Jackson asked. He shrugged. "Well, he complimented the book I'm reading, then started acting weird when I told him I was from out of town. So, really, I have no idea what he wanted. Nice kid, though."

"Yeah, he is," Ruby agreed. "He's the Mayor's kid, actually."

"Huh." Jackson considered that for a moment. "You know, I haven't actually met the mayor yet."

"For your sake, I hope you don't," Ruby replied with a smirk. "Just between us," she stated as she bent down, lowering her voice, "she's a cold-hearted bitch. But she runs the town, basically, and most people are terrified of her."

"Sounds nice," Jackson commented sarcastically. "You said most people?"

"Yeah. Sheriff Swan, for one, isn't afraid of Regina – that's the mayor's name – in the least. Hates her guts, yeah, but she's not scared of her."

"Sheriff Swan?" Jackson mulled that over for a moment; something about that name seemed familiar. "She wouldn't happen to be a tall blonde woman, would she?"

"Yeah, she is," Ruby confirmed.

"Okay, I thought so; she was in the diner when I first got here, before the storm hit." Jackson grinned faintly. "You're not wrong about her; that one's got nerves of steel, from the look of her."

Ruby chuckled. "No kidding." She brushed back a lock of brown hair, her smirk returning. "Anything else you'd like?"

Was that a come-on? Jackson thought to himself. He laughed inwardly. You're getting out of practice, Jackson. Obviously, that was a come-on. Now, how to respond…

"Ah... I think I'm good on food for now," he replied casually, before looking up at her with a faint smirk. "Wouldn't mind getting your phone number, though."

Ruby's eyes widened fractionally, and she grinned, a mischievous sparkle flickering in her eyes. "Now, why would I need to do that?" she inquired teasingly. "You and I live on the same block; I see you in here every day anyway."

"True... but this way I'd be able to get in touch with you whenever I might need to," Jackson replied with a wink. He'd already observed that Ruby liked to flirt, which was why he felt comfortable being this forward.

Ruby blushed faintly, despite herself. "All right, then," she replied, removing a pen and her notepad from the pocket of her apron. She set the notepad on the table, scrawled down a phone number on it in red ink, and then tore off the slip with the number on it, handing it to Jackson. "Call me." She winked and strolled back over to the counter.

Jackson watched her walk back into the kitchen. Shaking his head, he grinned, folding the napkin with Ruby's phone number on it and putting it in his pocket.

"This town's starting to grow on me," he murmured to himself.

Jackson inhaled deeply, closing his eyes and leaning back in the booth as he stretched; his back had felt a bit stiff. Sighing, he settled back into the seat and returned his attention to his food.

Then he stopped, his eyes widening in momentary confusion. His irises flickered bright blue.

When he'd sucked in a deep breath of air, his acute sense of smell had picked up something… odd. It was all around him, hanging in the air like perfume, but it was so faint that he hadn't been able to pick it up until now. It almost smelled like…

Jackson frowned. A werewolf? No, not quite… but it does feel similar. But that's impossible… isn't it?

He considered for a moment. Then again, considering how far out in the wilderness this town is, maybe it's not so impossible.

His eyes flicked around, scanning the room, but no one seemed to fit the type, and there didn't seem to be a particular source for the scent; it was very faint, but there seemed to be traces of it everywhere.

After a long moment, Jackson decided not to worry about it. If there was another werewolf in here, he would have been able to tell within seconds.

Shrugging, he returned his attention to the food Ruby had brought him. But, as he ate, he couldn't quite rid himself of the unease in the back of his mind.

For the first time since arriving in Storybrooke, Jackson got a strong sense that things here weren't as ordinary as they appeared.


A/N: And here we are again. Hope you guys all enjoyed this chapter!

Shoutout to Tala White 14 for reviewing, I appreciate the feedback!

Next time, we learn more about the young man in the Enchanted Forest, and Jackson encounters several of Storybrooke's other inhabitants… stay tuned!

See you all next time!

Review Q&A:

Q: Ooh! I did so not see that coming! My word, this is getting better and better! Very intriguing (don't have a clue how to spell that) plot unfolding. I'm so excited to see what happens next. Please update soon!

A: Thanks! Yeah, I'm going to be making some significant deviations from canon as a result of Jackson's arrival in Storybrooke. The first such deviation was the introduction of the young man in the Enchanted Forest last chapter; I will continue to elaborate on his story as we go on. And his identity will be revealed eventually, but not yet.