Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or Once Upon a Time.
Note: Hi, all! I really can't believe it's been three full years since the last time I updated this story, but I've started getting back into writing more this year, and I decided that I really wanted to finish this story as I've loved writing it so far. There's only a few more chapters to go, and I plan on doing my best to bring this story to a satisfying conclusion.
So, with that in mind, let's get back into this!
Chapter 13: The Guardian
In the Enchanted Forest, many years ago…
Frost was breathing hard as he made his way up the winding mountain path. They had been walking for hours, and he was leaning much more heavily on his staff than he normally would be. Sighing heavily, he wiped some of the sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his jacket, glancing back over his shoulder to check on his companions. Snow and Red were both tiring too, but they were both keeping pace with him without much trouble. One benefit of all their time on the road was that they had all gotten used to walking long distances.
"Are you all right?" the Blue Fairy questioned as she floated down towards them. The soft blue glow radiating from her body shone brighter in the fading light, as the sun sank lower on the horizon.
"Yes, thank you," Frost reassured her, managing a weary smile as he nodded. "Although I'll be happy when we finally get to this place and we can get some rest."
"No kidding," Red chuckled as she stopped next to him, leaning against the rock face to their left as she tried to catch her breath. "At times like this, I almost miss having four legs instead of two, because that might help my feet ache less."
Blue let out a soft laugh, nodding sympathetically. "Fair enough," she agreed. "In any case, luckily the three of you will not need to walk for much longer. Toothiana's castle is at the top of this mountain, and we are almost there."
"Fabulous!" Snow panted as she caught up to the others. "Let's get a move on, then! We don't want it to get dark while we're still hiking up this path, considering how far down we might fall if we took a wrong step." She nodded towards the impressive drop to their right, where the edge of the path fell away into the steep, snow-patched slope of the mountain, leading all the way back down to the forest far below where they'd begun the climb this morning.
Frost winced as he glanced in that direction, doing his best not to picture what might happen if they fell from this height. "An excellent point," he agreed. "Let's keep moving."
Luckily, it didn't take too much longer: another twenty minutes of climbing brought them up onto the top of the mountain. Curiously, instead of rising to a jagged peak like the other mountains around them, the top of this one seemed almost like its entire peak had been sheared clean off, leaving a large, flat plateau. In the middle of that plateau was a tall, finely-crafted tower, made from blocks of stone that had been painted a pale blue-gray in color, which helped to disguise it against the sky. When the setting sun shone on the tower, however, they could see that the stone blocks were also studded with countless gems, in all sorts of different colors, so that the tower itself seemed to glow and sparkle with every color of the rainbow. All three of the travelers' eyes widened in amazement, although Frost felt a brief flicker of pain run through his mind when he saw the shining tower.
"The Rainbow Tower," Blue explained with a smile. "Lady Toothiana's sanctuary, from which she sends forth her servants to all corners of this land and to many other realms beyond to carry out her errands."
"Wow…" Snow breathed, gazing up at the tower with wonder in her eyes.
"You can say that again," Frost agreed quietly, before something that Blue had said struck him as odd and he turned to face her. "Hang on… what 'errands'?"
"Mainly, collecting memories." Blue smiled. "Toothiana's duty is to keep a record of all mortal beings' memories, so that they will always be able to access those memories if they need them. So her servants collect memories from all across the realm, and bring them here to be safely stored in her vaults. Luckily, her defenses against intruders are quite formidable, so no one can approach this tower or those vaults without her permission."
"Right." Frost nodded slowly, a rather unpleasant thought occurring to him. "And… do we have her permission to be here?"
Blue blinked, as if this had just occurred to her. "Well, I certainly do, as she's always welcoming to other fairies. I'll just pop in and let her know that we're here; she's no friend of Pitch Black's, so she should be happy to help with your problem."
"Uh, guys?" Red spoke up, sounding a little nervous as she pointed up towards the top of the tower. "I think she already knows we're here." Snow nodded in agreement, her eyes widening in alarm as she reached for her bow.
Frost and Blue both turned and looked up, following the girls' gaze to the upper levels of the tower. Sure enough, a cloud of small airborne figures were pouring out of the windows and into the sky, like a swarm of bees emerging from a disturbed hive. He couldn't make out too much detail at this distance, but he could tell that they were humanoid in shape and vaguely similar to Blue in appearance, although they seemed to have traits of both birds and insects: rapidly-beating gossamer wings similar to a butterfly's, multicolored feathers covering their bodies, and what appeared to be birdlike claws on their hands and feet.
And the swarm was already descending, swirling down towards their position, hundreds of fairies closing in on them in a brilliant, multicolored cloud.
This, Frost thought to himself as he suddenly felt another stabbing flash of pain behind his eyes, could be a problem.
In Storybrooke…
Jackson froze. His eyes were wide but unseeing; his entire being was focused on the words that had just echoed through the phone.
"It's Allison. She's dead."
That… that couldn't be possible. It couldn't. Allison Argent was one of the strongest people he knew. She was a teenage werewolf hunter, for god's sake; she had to be tougher than any normal person, just to do her family's job. She couldn't just be gone.
But, as much as Jackson hated to admit it… there was no way that Danny would lie to him, especially not about something this important. Danny was typically honest and dependable to a fault, especially when it came to his close friends; he would never tell Jackson something like this unless it was true.
"How?" he breathed, his voice wavering. "How did…"
"She and a few others got attacked by some of the same assholes who killed my boyfriend's brother," Danny answered heavily. "She and her friends fought them off, but one of them stabbed Allison in the stomach, and… she bled out before they could get her to the hospital."
Jackson's own stomach lurched and twisted, and he sank down onto the bed as his knees buckled. "Oh, god," he whispered, his voice faint. His free hand was trembling, and he had to consciously rein in his enhanced strength to avoid accidentally crushing his phone.
"Yeah." Danny was silent for a long moment, taking a couple of deep breaths, before he continued. "Anyway… the service for everyone who died is on Monday. I dunno if you can make it back to California that quickly, but –"
"I'll be there," Jackson cut him off, his voice firm. "I'm in Maine right now, but I can catch a flight from Boston. Whatever it takes, I'll be back in Beacon Hills by Monday. I promise." He considered for a moment. "Although… I may need to crash at your place, if that's okay. My parents rented out our house in Beacon Hills after they moved me to London, and I imagine whoever's living there now wouldn't be comfortable with me staying there."
"Oh, yeah, of course." Danny managed a soft chuckle at that, before his voice became a bit more puzzled. "Wait… you're in Maine? I thought you were still in London."
"Not at the moment," Jackson replied with a sigh. "I've been, ah… taking a bit of a sabbatical from school for the past few weeks. Flew back to the U.S., landed in Boston, and I've been roaming around small-town New England ever since. Right now I'm in this little town called Storybrooke. Nice place, for the most part." His eyes briefly flicked over to the now-closed fairy-tale book, which he'd set down on the bedside table when his phone had gone off, and he winced as a small flicker of the pain in his head resurfaced. Shaking his head, he focused back on the call. "Anyway… yeah, I'll get myself a ticket on the next available flight out of Boston, so I'll be there in a day or two."
"Sounds good. Keep me posted, will you?" Danny chuckled again. "Obviously I wish it were under better circumstances, but… it's good to hear from you, man."
Jackson managed a faint smile. "Yeah, I know what you mean," he murmured. "Same to you."
"Okay, then. Let me know once you've got your flight set up. In the meantime, you sound like you could use some rest, so I'll let you go. Night."
"Yeah, that sounds good," Jackson replied. "Night, Danny." Hanging up the call, he set down the phone on his bedside table, next to Henry's book. For quite some time after that, he didn't move or speak: he just sat there, rooted to the spot, his eyes seemingly glazed over as he stared at the phone and the storybook. A rapid-fire surge of images played inside his head, swirling through his mind over and over: Ruby – Danny – Allison – August – the red flash of Deucalion's eyes – the white-haired boy in the storybook…
"Shit!" Jackson gritted his teeth and hissed in pain as another bolt of agony lanced through his head. Rubbing his temples, he allowed himself to fall back onto the bed and glared up at the ceiling, his eyes flashing blue for a moment. What the hell is wrong with me?!
In the Enchanted Forest, many years ago…
Frost hissed in pain, clutching at his head as another bolt of pain shot through his mind. What the hell is wrong with me?! Fighting it off, he tightened his grip on his staff, readying himself for the impending onslaught. Snow and Red did likewise, the former notching an arrow to her bow while the latter prepared to throw off her cloak so she could transform.
"Wait!" Blue called out urgently, zipping forward to float protectively in front of them. "It's all right, I promise! They know me; I just need to explain things, and they'll let us pass."
"Then you might want to hurry, Blue!" Snow warned, readying her bow even though it clearly wouldn't do her much good. At most, she might take out one of the hundreds of fairies that were now swirling above them, and considering how fast they were moving she might not even get that lucky.
Nodding, Blue turned to face the circling fairies. "I come to seek an audience with Lady Toothiana!" she called out. "This young man has been cursed by Pitch Black, and I believe that only Lady Toothiana's magic can help him! Please, inform her that –" Her plea was abruptly cut off as all the fairies froze in place for a moment, hovering in the air, before a dozen or so of them suddenly shot downwards, arrowing straight for Frost. They broke off just before reaching him, circling around him and examining him from head to toe, murmuring to each other in soft, high-pitched tones.
To his surprise, Frost realized that he could understand what they were saying. They were repeating something, over and over again: a name.
"Jack? Jack? Jack? Jack?"
"Jack?" he murmured. Pitch called me that too. Is… is that my real name? Much to his annoyance, he couldn't tell; whenever he tried to access any memories prior to his waking up in that pond, all he got was a headache.
Then, suddenly, another voice echoed across the plateau, one much louder and stronger than the piping little voices of the fairies. "Jack?!"
A figure emerged from one of the tower's upper windows, floating out into the open air. Even among all of the other fairies, this one stood out. For one thing, she was much larger: the size of a human woman, far larger than Blue or any of the birdlike fairies that were buzzing around them. Her speed was greater than theirs, too: she moved so fast that it was almost impossible to track her. In an instant, she went from the top of the tower to hovering right in front of them, so fast that all Frost and the others could see was a multicolored blur.
All of the other fairies immediately backed off, still hovering around them and murmuring excitedly to each other. Blue stayed where she was, still hovering in midair, but she bowed deeply and inclined her head in respect. "Lady Toothiana," she murmured.
Frost's eyes widened. "Whoa…" he breathed.
Up close, Lady Toothiana was strikingly beautiful. She had the same delicate gossamer wings as Blue and the other fairies, although hers were much larger, while her body was covered in soft, downy feathers that shone with every color of the rainbow. Her fingernails were elongated, almost like claws, and her feet had a bird's talons instead of human toes, but her face appeared to be much more human than the birdlike faces of her servants, although she did have a sharply-pointed nose that might give the impression of a beak. Her eyes were just as dazzling as her wings and feathers: their irises were brilliantly-multicolored, like looking into a kaleidoscope, constantly shifting through a myriad of different hues. At present, those eyes were wide and startled, staring fixedly at Frost as she hovered lightly in front of him.
"Jack?" she whispered, slowly reaching out with one hand until her fingertips lightly touched Frost's cheek. "Is that really you?"
"Um…" Frost felt another shock of pain and winced slightly as he met her eyes, but beyond the pain, he felt a trace of recognition. "I… I know you, don't I?" While he couldn't remember where they'd met before, or how… he knew he had met this fairy before.
Toothiana's eyes widened even further. "Of course you know me, Jack!" she exclaimed, abruptly surging forward and hugging him tightly. "I've been looking for you for months, all over this realm! I was beginning to lose hope; I thought I'd never find you!"
Red scowled a bit at the fairy's sudden embrace of Frost, while Snow was still wary due to the swarm of smaller fairies around them, but the situation had been effectively defused and everyone was calming down. Frost, for his part, was feeling more than a little confused, but he hugged Toothiana back regardless.
"So… what happened to you, Jack?" Toothiana questioned as she finally released Frost and drifted back a few feet to give him a little space. "Where have you been?"
"He's been cursed, my lady," Blue explained as she floated up to Frost and hovered over one of his shoulders. "His memories have been suppressed, sealed behind a mental block that was put in place by Pitch Black. I brought him here because I believed that you could help him."
Toothiana's jaw dropped for a moment, before her eyes suddenly flashed with a burst of pure rage and she scowled. "That monster!" she hissed, a chorus of angry chirps and trills echoing from her servants as they reacted to her outburst. "How dare he do something like that to you?!" She rubbed her temples, sighing heavily. "Of course, though, that explains everything! As soon as that business in Arendelle was taken care of, we figured you'd come back, but when you didn't…"
"Hang on," Snow spoke up, taking a step forward. She'd finally lowered her bow and replaced the arrow into the quiver on her back, but she still seemed a little cautious. "So, I'm a little confused. How do you know Frost, exactly?"
"Frost?" Toothiana frowned, looking Frost up and down before she chuckled softly and gave a small, amused smile. "Well… that name does suit you pretty well, I suppose." Shrugging, she turned back to Snow and Red. "But to answer your question: he and I are old friends. We've known each other for a very long time, and we've been fighting against Pitch and other monsters like him for almost as long." She smiled at Frost. "And your real name is Jack, by the way. In case you were wondering why I called you that."
"Yeah, I kinda figured that much," Frost chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "Pitch called me that too, when we had a run-in with him a couple of days ago. Luckily, Blue showed up and saved us right before he could sic a bunch of his monster pets on us." He indicated the smaller fairy with a nod. "Speaking of which… she told me that you might be able to help me get my memories back?"
"Of course!" Toothiana nodded, smiling brightly. "It'll probably take a little time, but I'm sure we can do it. In the meantime, all of you, please, come inside! Make yourselves at home!" She rose slightly into the air and sped off in the direction of the tower, heading for its ground-level entrance. The smaller fairies rushed after her, leaving the quartet of Frost, Snow, Red, and Blue to follow in their wake.
"I really hope this is a good idea," Red murmured quietly to Frost as they walked across the flattened mountaintop.
"If Blue trusts her, and she can really help Frost, that's good enough for me," Snow declared, smiling as she slung her bow back over her shoulder.
"She's right," Frost assured Red. "Everything's gonna be fine."
I hope, he added silently, feeling a little nervous despite himself as he followed Toothiana and her servants into the tower.
In Storybrooke…
Jackson was feeling more than a little out-of-place as he sat across from Henry in a booth at Granny's. He'd returned to the sheriff's station that morning and replaced Henry's fairy-tale book in its usual storage drawer, before waiting for Emma to come into work so he could explain his impending absence. As it turned out, Henry had come in first, explaining that he wanted to retrieve his book so he could double-check something in it. But almost as soon as Henry had taken the book out and started leafing through it, he'd been shocked by something in its contents and had asked Jackson to take him to Granny's immediately, before producing a walkie-talkie from his backpack and calling Emma to report something about "an Operation Cobra emergency."
Although Jackson had no idea what that phrase was supposed to mean (although he assumed it had something to do with Henry's curse theory), he'd gone along with it, and so here they were.
"Morning, Jackson," Ruby greeted him with a smile as she passed on her way to another table. "Morning, Henry."
"Morning, Ruby," Henry replied with a cheerful smile. Jackson also returned her grin, but inwardly his heart sank. Telling Emma and Henry would probably be hard enough, but how the hell was he going to tell Ruby that he was leaving town? He wasn't entirely sure just how serious their relationship was at this point, but he knew that he cared about her, so he didn't want to leave for any longer than he had to.
"Hey! What's the emergency?" Emma's voice snapped Jackson out of his thoughts, and he turned to see her walking over to their table. She frowned questioningly when she saw the two of them sitting together. "Jackson? Everything okay?"
"Oh, yeah," Jackson confirmed with a shrug and a nod over to Henry. "This was your kid's idea; he just talked me into driving him over here after he showed up at the station."
"Right…" Emma raised an eyebrow, but shrugged it off and sank into the booth next to Henry. "So what's up, Henry?"
"Shhh!" Henry whispered, putting a finger over his lips. "This is sensitive!"
Emma chuckled softly. "If it's sensitive, why are we at Granny's, out in the open?"
Henry shrugged. "I'm hungry." He glanced from Emma to Jackson and back again. "Besides the three of us, who else knows that we've been keeping my book hidden in that drawer at the sheriff's station?"
Emma and Jackson exchanged a glance, and Jackson held his hands up defensively. "I haven't told anyone about that," he replied. "Not even Ruby knows about it, as far as I know."
"Same here. Aside from the three of us, nobody else knows about it." Emma frowned and turned back to Henry. "Why do you ask?"
"Because somebody changed it." Henry leaned in slightly, lowering his voice a little more. "When I looked at it this morning, there was a new story in it, one I've never seen in that book before. It's not just in the table of contents at the beginning, either. Somebody wrote a whole new story and then pasted those pages into the book, between two of the other chapters."
Jackson frowned. If somebody really had done that, that was definitely an odd choice. Maybe August had done it? He did have that book yesterday, since he gave it to me last night… maybe he did it before that? "Okay, yeah, that's weird, but why would somebody do that?" he questioned.
Emma nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I don't get it either. Why would someone add a new story into your book?"
Henry considered for a moment, before his eyes sparked with a flash of excitement. "There's only one reason I can think of," he answered. "Someone's trying to tell us something that we need to know about the curse."
Jackson resisted the urge to roll his eyes at that suggestion, before August's ranting about the curse the night before occurred to him. He considered speaking up about that, but decided against it for the moment; if he told them about August, then Emma would probably end up going after the guy for encouraging Henry's fairy-tale fantasies or something like that, and that might not end well if he really was crazy. It would probably be best to figure that situation out on his own first, and then he could decide how much he should tell Emma and Henry about it.
Or is it just that you're not sure if he actually is crazy? a little voice in his head suggested, but he quickly stamped it out. This was not the time to delve back into the concerns that were developing in his mind regarding that book.
"And what would that 'something' be?" Emma's voice snapped him back to the present, and he focused back on them.
Henry shrugged again. "I don't know. The story isn't finished yet: it seems like it's missing the last few pages."
Emma frowned as she leaned back in her seat. "That doesn't make sense. Why would someone go to the trouble of secretly borrowing that book and adding a new story if they weren't going to bother finishing it?"
"Right!" Henry agreed. "It doesn't make any sense. Plus, the other weird thing is, this story's about Pinocchio. That's not an obscure fairy tale: pretty much everyone knows how that story ends. So why leave it out?"
Emma considered for a moment, then shrugged. "Well… I dunno. Maybe the fact that everybody already knows the ending of that story is the reason why it was left out?"
"Could be, I guess." Henry shook his head. "But I think there's gotta be more to it than that."
"Well, we can talk about this later." Emma smiled, her eyes flicking over to the clock above the diner's counter. "But right now, you're gonna be late for school if we don't get you over there soon. C'mon, let's go; I'll drive you." She turned her smile to Jackson as she slid out of the booth and stood up. "Thanks for driving him over here, by the way. I owe you one for that."
"No problem, boss," Jackson quipped as he also rose out of the booth. "Although… actually, I know a way you can pay me back right now."
Emma raised an eyebrow and nodded, a little skeptically. "Okay… I'll bite. What's up?"
"Well…" Jackson sighed. "I got a call from a friend of mine back in California last night. Apparently one of our mutual friends… passed away recently, and he wanted to invite me to the funeral." A spike of pain twisted in his gut at the thought of Allison, but he forced it down. "Anyway, it's in a couple of days, so I wanted to ask… would it be all right if I take a few days off from helping out at the station? I need to be on the next available flight out of Boston if I'm gonna make it to California in time for the service."
Emma's eyes widened in shock and sympathy. "Oh! Yeah, of course!" she assured him. "Of course, that's completely fine. Take as much time as you need. I'm so sorry about that."
Jackson exhaled in relief. "Thanks," he replied softly.
Henry's eyes were wide and startled too as he stared up at Jackson. "You… you're leaving?" he asked, a bit of confusion in his voice. "But… I mean, can you leave? Usually nobody's able to leave Storybrooke; bad things happen if you try and leave town. I'm the only person who's ever been able to leave here before, when I went to Boston to find my mom."
"Well, maybe that's true for people from Storybrooke, kid," Jackson replied with a quiet, rueful chuckle, "but I'm not from Storybrooke. And yeah, unfortunately I do have to go, but I'll be back as soon as I can." He ruffled Henry's hair briefly, before turning back to Emma with a small, genuine smile (which wasn't usually a common sight, coming from him). "Thanks again, Emma. I really appreciate it."
"No problem whatsoever." Emma nodded firmly. "Just be careful, keep me posted, and drive safe on your way to Boston; the roads out here aren't always the best." Placing one hand on his shoulder and giving him a reassuring squeeze, she ducked past him and headed for the door, calling "C'mon, kid, we're burning daylight!" over her shoulder. Henry scampered after her, glancing back at Jackson once with a deeply-concerned expression before following his mother out the door.
Jackson sighed and sank back into his seat, leaning back and rubbing his eyes. Well, at least that's taken care of, he thought to himself. Now I just have to break the news to Ruby.
Somehow, he had the distinct feeling that the conversation he'd just had was going to be the easy part.
In the Enchanted Forest, many years ago…
Frost, Snow, and Red all gazed about in amazement as they entered the Rainbow Tower. The interior of the cylindrical tower consisted of a hollow central shaft that ran all the way up through it, surrounded by a series of circular platforms that had been built along the walls. Toothiana was now hovering in the center of the shaft, issuing instructions to her servants. Most of the smaller fairies had already flown back down the shaft, which seemed to continue down underground, and out of sight; however, several dozen of them were still buzzing about on whatever tasks their mistress had set them to complete.
"We have plenty of guest quarters available, so I'll have some of my attendants set up rooms for the three of you," Toothiana addressed the trio with a cheerful smile as she floated back down to their level. She never really seemed to walk, always hovering a few inches off the floor thanks to her rapidly-beating wings, although that made sense since her flight was much faster than walking would be.
"That sounds great!" Snow spoke up, returning her smile. "Thank you so much for being so welcoming."
"Oh, it's no trouble at all!" Toothiana beamed, waving a hand idly. "Any friend of Jack's is a friend of mine." She smiled warmly at Frost. "If our positions were reversed, I can assure you that you would do the same for me. Any Guardian would."
Red blinked. "Uh… I'm sorry," she spoke up, "but… what's a Guardian?"
"Oh, right!" Toothiana considered for a moment. "Well, to be honest, it might be easier to show you than to tell you. Here, come this way." She turned and drifted towards the nearest set of stairs, beckoning for them to follow her.
It took a couple of minutes for them to climb up several floors to the center of the tower, but once they arrived, the reason for the climb became obvious: this was clearly Toothiana's equivalent of a throne room. Five elaborately-carved chairs were arrayed along the wall, each with a different symbol emblazoned on them: a sleigh, a rabbit, a funnel-shaped cloud, a fairy (most likely Toothiana's seat), and a snowflake. The last one held Frost's gaze the longest; he stared fixedly at it, feeling a rush of adrenaline flowing through him. Somewhere deep in his heart, he knew that it was meant for him.
Looming above the five chairs, however, was something even more spectacular: a giant, shimmering map, suspended in midair by gleaming golden cables that lashed it to the next level up to hold it in place. Frost didn't recognize the lands in the map, but Snow and Red clearly did, judging by their startled gasps.
"That… that's the Enchanted Forest!" Snow breathed. "And there's the sea, and the lands beyond it…" Her eyes were wide and awestruck. Red, standing beside her, was the same way.
"That's right," Toothiana confirmed, smiling as she flitted up to hover beside the map. "This is a magical map of this realm, this world, this plane of reality. But there are other realms beyond this one, many others: aligned but separate, like the pages of a book." The map changed several times as she indicated it: first it shifted to show a large, jungle-covered island surrounded by a seemingly-endless sea; then a strange land which seemed oddly jumbled and mixed-up, with strange forests and numerous oddly-designed castles; and finally a shimmering globe adorned by seven continents. For that last one, the map expanded and folded itself into a spherical shape, before it stretched back out into a rectangular shape and melted back into the map of the Enchanted Forest again.
"All of those realms," Toothiana explained, "are under our protection." She indicated the five chairs behind her. "We are the Guardians, the Watchers, the Protectors. Our purpose is to protect the souls of the innocent, and to defend all the realms against the forces of darkness and destruction." Her smile grew as she nodded to Frost. "And before Pitch cut off your memories, you were one of us."
Frost's eyes were wide and astonished. "Wow…" he breathed, turning and looking around the room again, before focusing back on Toothiana. "So, I assume there are five of us in total, yeah?" He indicated the five thrones. "Are the other three here, or...?"
"They're all in other realms at the moment, I'm afraid," Toothiana explained. "Each of our sanctums is in a different realm, to make it harder for our enemies to track us down; since all five of us are capable of traveling between realms, it's easy enough for us to visit each other's sanctums when we need to. I'm the only Guardian who has a sanctum in this realm." She smiled. "In your case, Jack, you didn't really have a sanctum of your own yet: you haven't been a Guardian long enough to have built something like this tower yet, as you preferred to wander about and explore various different realms. But since you were originally from this realm, you spent most of your free time here already, even before you disappeared. North, Aster, and Sand, on the other hand, each have their own sanctums elsewhere, so they're not here as often." She indicated the five thrones and the map with a sweep of her arm. "We have this same setup at each of our sanctums, though, so we'll always feel at home whenever we're visiting each other."
"Fascinating," Snow murmured, before shaking her head as another thought occurred to her. "So, just out of curiosity: how do you plan to get Frost's memories back?"
Toothiana smiled brightly. "That's quite simple, actually! You see, each of us Guardians have developed quite a number of hobbies over time. North runs a huge workshop and spends most of his free time building toys and gifts for all the children of his realm; Aster has a huge underground farm that produces thousands of eggs every year; Sand spends most of his time meditating and listening to all the countless dreams that he can pick up from those sleeping within his domain." She tapped one fingertip lightly against her own temple. "I, meanwhile, am a collector. A long time ago, I learned how to perform a spell that would allow me to watch the memories of others, see their stories playing out right before my eyes. It's always been fascinating to me, and once I became a Guardian I was finally able to make full use of that ability, both to help others and to entertain myself."
Gliding over to the edge of the platform, Toothiana nodded over the edge of the platform and down to the ground floor. From above, they could see that the circular shaft that ran down the middle of the tower just kept going after it reached ground level, boring down through the ground until it eventually opened out into a much larger cavern far below them.
"Down there," Toothiana explained, "is my vault. Using its contents, I have access to the stored memories of just about every person living in the Enchanted Forest." She smiled and shot a playful glance over her shoulder, her eyes meeting Frost's with a mischievous gleam in them. "Including the memories of Jack, the person that you were before Pitch suppressed your memories. Which means that all we have to do is find your particular set of memories, and I'll be able to perform a ritual that will destroy Pitch's mental block and restore your memories."
"That's amazing!" Frost grinned, unable to help feeling nervous but forcing himself to ignore his nerves. "Do you have any idea how long that might take?"
"Unfortunately, no, I'm not sure." Toothiana sighed ruefully. "My collection is very large: the entire mountain underneath us is filled with caves and chambers that my attendants and I carved out for use as storage space. And I have no idea where exactly your memories are being stored among all of that, so it will take us a little time to find them." She laughed softly. "Luckily, as you've undoubtedly noticed, I do have quite a large number of attendants. So with all of us working, it shouldn't take too long to find your memories, and as soon as we do I'll be able to begin the ritual to remove Pitch's mental block." Darting forward to hover in front of Frost, she patted him reassuringly on the head. "Don't worry, you'll have your memories back in no time."
With no further hesitation, Toothiana shot back up into the air above them. "I'll help my attendants with the search!" she called down, as three of her smaller attendants appeared before them in her place. "In the meantime, these three will lead you to your rooms so you can all get settled in. I'll have a meal set up for us at sunset; in the meantime, please relax and get some rest. After hiking up here all by yourselves, I'm sure you probably need it." With that, she was gone, zipping off and vanishing from sight in an instant.
In Storybrooke…
Jackson finished loading up his backpack and pulled the zipper closed with a bit of effort. He'd left most of his things here in his room at the inn, as he had every intention of coming back as soon as his business back home was taken care of, so he'd only packed what he would absolutely need: just a few days' worth of clothes and some other essentials.
Just as he finished packing, a knock echoed through the door. Jackson winced at the sound, already knowing what was coming, but he forced any hesitation down and straightened up, turning and walking over to the door. He'd known this moment was coming, especially since he'd spoken to Granny a few minutes earlier to let her know that he was going to be out of town for a couple of days, but that didn't mean he felt any more prepared for this conversation.
Sure enough, Ruby was waiting when the door opened, her eyes wide and her expression wavering back and forth between alarm and anger. "You're leaving?" she demanded, looking over his shoulder and seeing the backpack resting on his bed. "Were you even going to say goodbye?!"
"Of course I was!" Jackson protested, taking a step back. "I just…" He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with two fingers. "I didn't want to tell you until I was sure I was going, because I don't want to be away from you any longer than I absolutely have to be." He looked back up at her. "You know I'm coming back, right? I'll only be gone for a few days at most, depending on when my return flight to Boston ends up being scheduled."
Ruby was silent for a moment, clearly torn on how to respond, before she sighed heavily and nodded. "Yeah, I know," she admitted, looking down at the floor. "Granny told me as much. I just…" She looked back up at him, and the expression on her face was the most open and vulnerable look that he'd ever seen from her. "I don't want to lose you," she confessed. "I've never really had a serious relationship before, but… I really like you, Jackson, and… I don't want you to leave."
Jackson felt a wrenching sensation in his gut at the sight of that expression, and he didn't even have to think about his response: he immediately stepped forward and folded Ruby into his arms. She embraced him back, hugging him as tightly as she could, and he did the same, burying his face in her hair. "I don't want to leave either," he whispered, feeling his voice getting choked-up. "And I'll be back soon, I promise."
After a couple more seconds, Jackson reluctantly let Ruby go, taking one of her hands in his and leading the way over to the bed so they could both sit down on the edge. "I'm sorry," he murmured, staring at their joined hands. "It's just… this is something I have to do. My friends back home… they need me right now. Some really bad stuff happened there recently, and a couple of people I know got hurt. One of them even…" He felt silent for a long moment, squeezing his eyes tightly shut as an image of Allison flickered behind them. "One of them… passed away. I need to be there for them."
Ruby was silent through all of this, listening to him and holding his hand tightly in hers. "You're right," she finally admitted, her voice soft and low. "If I were in that position, I'd do the same thing. If your friends need you, you should go." She smiled weakly, meeting his eyes as he looked back up at her. "I'll be okay here. I guess… I guess I just felt a little mad that you were leaving and you hadn't said anything to me about it yet."
Jackson nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I wanted to tell you sooner, I just… didn't know how." An idea occurred to him, and he raised an eyebrow curiously. "I mean… maybe you could come with me?"
"Really?" Ruby's eyes widened, a flash of excitement appearing in them, before that flare quickly faded and she shook her head slowly. "No… Granny's gonna need my help here, and since this is gonna be a personal thing for you and your friends, I'd just get in the way." She smiled faintly and shook her head more firmly. "No, it's okay. I'll stay here and keep things under control while you're gone."
Jackson chuckled. "Sounds good to me." Another thought came to mind, and he leaned back a little on the bed. "Actually, thinking about it: if Emma needs any help with anything while I'm gone, could you try and help her out? She might be backing herself into a bit of a corner with this whole Regina thing, and she could use all the help and friends she can get if she's really gonna try and take that bitch on again."
"No kidding," Ruby agreed, scowling at just the mention of the ice-cold Mayor. "Sure thing: if there's anything I can do to help Emma while you're gone, I'd be happy to." She glanced over at the backpack, her frown becoming more wistful and sad again. "So… you're on your way out now, then?"
"Yeah, unfortunately," Jackson confirmed, his own expression becoming more downcast as he nodded in agreement. "I've gotta catch the next flight out of Boston if I'm gonna make it to California in time for the funeral, so I need to hit the road." Another brief flash of inspiration hit him, and he grinned as he stood up and pulled off his black leather jacket. "Actually, I think I have an idea."
Ruby arched an eyebrow when he stood up and started taking off his jacket, sliding a little further back on the bed. "Oh? Taking off clothes now, huh?" she commented, her voice becoming a little playful. "I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to a little going-away…"
"Oh, trust me, neither would I," Jackson replied with a smirk, trying his hardest to resist the urge to take her up on that as he shrugged off his jacket and held it out to her. "I know you like wearing jackets like this, so… here. You can borrow mine until I get back." His smile grew a little warmer. "Just something for you to remember me by."
Ruby blushed, but she laughed a moment later as she took the jacket. "That's so freaking cliché," she quipped as she pulled it on, before hopping to her feet and spinning on her heel to turn in a full circle. "Well? How's it look?"
Jackson's smirk widened, and he leaned in as one of his arms slid around her. "Fan-fucking-tastic," he murmured, before kissing her softly on the lips. Ruby smiled against his lips and kissed him back, sliding her own arms around his neck to hold him closer.
After their lips parted, they hugged each other close one more time, neither wanting to let go. Finally, however, they separated, Jackson picking his backpack up and sliding his arms through the straps while Ruby zipped up her borrowed jacket.
"Drive safe, call me, and come back soon," Ruby murmured, smiling as her eyes remained locked with Jackson's. "Got it?"
"Yes, ma'am." Jackson grinned, leaning in and kissing Ruby lightly on the forehead. "See you in a few days." With that, he stepped away and headed for the door, but he could still feel Ruby's eyes on his back as he walked down the hallway, until he finally turned the corner and was gone.
In the Enchanted Forest, many years ago…
Frost stood on one of the upper balconies of Toothiana's tower, gazing out over the mountains. The cool evening air whistled past him, ruffling his hair, but he barely felt it. He felt less and less cold these days, ever since he'd first discovered – or rediscovered? – his powers and had begun using them on a more regular basis. As he gazed off into the darkness, the pitch-black mountains and forest illuminated only by the light of the moon overhead, he held out one hand and released a burst of glowing blue-white magic, which coalesced into a flurry of snowflakes that were whisked off into the night by the wind.
"Who am I?" he whispered to himself.
"Frost?" Red's voice echoed over the breeze as she stepped out onto the balcony behind him. "Or… Jack, I guess?" A faint, embarrassed blush tinged her cheeks. "Do you… I mean, do you have a preference, or…?"
Frost felt a flicker of warmth in his heart. "Frost is fine," he replied, chuckling softly and leaning against the balcony railing as he turned to face her. "Jack might be who I really am, or who I used to be, or… whatever… but I don't really feel right calling myself that right now. Maybe once I've got the rest of my memories back, I'll feel differently." He shrugged. "Who knows?"
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Red smiled and walked over to join him at the railing. "What's on your mind? Nervous about getting your memories back?"
"I…" Frost sighed, turning around and resting his elbows on the railing as his amusement faded away. "…yeah. Yeah, I think I am." He shrugged. "I just… I feel like I don't know who I am. Like there are two sides of me, two different selves, and I don't know which one's right. Am I Frost, an ordinary traveler with some magic powers and two wonderful companions… or am I really Jack, a mystical Guardian like Toothiana who's apparently famous across all of the realms?" A heavier sigh escaped from his lips. "I feel like I'm being torn between two different lives, and I don't even know what one of those lives really is because I can't remember it yet!"
For a long moment, they were both silent, just listening to the wind and the distant chatter of Toothiana's fairy servants as they bustled around inside the tower. Finally, Red let out a soft chuckle, drawing Frost's gaze over to her. "Sorry," she murmured, smiling back at him. "I just… I realized that I kinda know how you feel." She looked up at the moon for a moment, then back at him, as she let a soft yellow glow flicker in her eyes for a moment. "I'm the same way, I guess. Until I met my mother's pack and learned how to control what I am, I was like that too. One way on the outside, but with something completely different buried within me, another side of myself that I didn't know anything about."
Resting her hands on the railing and gazing out over the mountains, she continued. "But… once I did learn about it, and I let that side of me actually become part of me, it changed how I saw things. I'm not just Red, or just the Wolf. I'm both. Part-human, part-wolf… but now that I can control my transformations, both of those forms are still me. I'm the same person no matter what form I'm in." She smiled kindly as she turned back to Frost. "So maybe you should look at it the same way. You're not just Jack, or just Frost: you're both. They're both parts of you. And once Toothiana helps to break that mental block and you can get all of your memories back, you can figure out what that means for you, just like I did."
Red's expression softened, and she rested one hand on Frost's shoulder. "And, for what it's worth… you were there for me when my mother's pack wasn't. You and Snow. You're the only ones who have ever truly accepted me in both of my forms, as both aspects of me. And I promise, I'll do the same for you. Whatever things may change once you get those memories back, that won't be one of them. I will always be here for you, no matter what. You have my word on that." Her smile brightened when she said that, and her eyes briefly flashed yellow again, a testament to the strength of the emotion behind those words.
Frost stared back at her for a long moment, his eyes searching hers, as his lips slowly curved in a smile. "Thank you, Red," he replied softly. "And I promise, I'll do the same. Whatever challenges we face from now on, we'll face them together. No matter what."
Red's grin widened. "All right, then. It's a deal." She held out a hand, her eyes shining in the light that was filtering out from inside the tower.
Frost returned her smile and took her hand, shaking it once to secure the bargain. In that moment, however, he found himself reluctant to let go, enjoying the feeling of her hand in his… and it seemed like Red felt the same way. Finally, both of their cheeks flushed pink and they let go simultaneously, each letting out a nervous chuckle as they looked back out over the mountains.
For a seemingly-endless moment after that, neither of them spoke. It seemed like there was nothing else to say: just the peace and quiet of the night, and the rush of warmth and companionship that each of them felt, inspired by the other person's presence beside them.
Then, suddenly, Red straightened up and turned around to face the doorway that led back into the tower. "Someone's coming," she murmured, tensing up a bit. "Running fast, too. I think it's Snow."
Frost's eyes widened, and he tensed as well, but Snow burst out onto the balcony before either of them could move. Her eyes were wide and fearful, and her hands were restlessly clenching and unclenching at her sides, as if she wanted to draw a weapon but knew that it would be pointless. "Guys!" she panted. "Come with me, right now. Toothiana says there's trouble."
Frost and Red exchanged a nervous glance, before they hurried into the tower after Snow.
When they reached Toothiana's throne room, the place was in chaos. The smaller, birdlike fairy servants were fluttering every which way and trilling in alarm, having apparently been driven into a panic by some sort of unseen danger. Toothiana and Blue hovered in the center of the room, both staring at Toothiana's glowing map of the Enchanted Forest, which was currently zoomed in to display the mountain range that housed the tower.
"Lady Toothiana?" Frost called as he jogged down the stairs, with Snow and Red right behind him. "What's going on? Snow said we've got trouble?"
"Jack!" Toothiana whipped around to face him and nodded quickly, her usually-cheery expression now unnaturally grim. "Yes, we do. Big trouble, as a matter of fact." She spun back around and pointed to one particular area of the map, some distance to the east of the tower. On closer inspection, it was easy enough to see that something was moving in the highlighted area: a shifting, shapeless black mass, cruising smoothly across the map's terrain towards their current position.
"What is that?!" Snow breathed, her eyes wide in horror.
"That," Toothiana intoned solemnly, "is Pitch Black. He seems to have assembled quite a large swarm of his Nightmares, and he's on his way here." Her frown deepened. "My guess is that he's trying to pick all of the Guardians off one-by-one, and with Jack temporarily out of the way he's coming here to try and kill me. Even if he can't manage that, his Nightmares could easily destroy or pollute my entire collection if they got down into the vaults, and that would be a disaster."
Red frowned. "The entire collection? I mean, sure, those Nightmare things damaged a village pretty badly, but if your vaults fill this whole mountain, they'd have to be a hundred times bigger than that village was, at least! Even if Pitch has way more of those monsters this time, surely they wouldn't be able to trash your whole collection before we could stop them, right?"
"Unfortunately, it wouldn't be that simple," Toothiana replied with a heavy sigh. "The items in my collection are just the vessels for their original holders' memories, a way to store and channel those memories. Since the Nightmares feed – and, worse, reproduce – by consuming dreams and converting them into more Nightmares, the collective memories of all those people would be a feast for them. And that's nothing compared to the amount of damage Pitch could do if he managed to access all of that power directly and started absorbing or channeling it himself. With that much magic to draw on, he could level this whole mountain range."
Red had visibly paled. "By the gods…" Snow whispered shakily under her breath, looking just as stunned. Frost was just as horrified, but for some reason he didn't feel nearly as surprised to learn all of that information… although that did make sense, in a way, since he'd likely already known that back before he'd lost his memories.
"This is not going to be an easy fight," Toothiana warned. "I've already sent out a magical distress call to the other Guardians, but they're all in other realms at the moment and it'll take some time before they can get here. Which means that until they do, we'll have to hold Pitch off by ourselves." She turned to face them. "Are you all willing to do that? I would never ask anyone to fight in my battles unless they were willing to do so."
For a moment, the others were all silent, but then Frost stepped forward. "Pitch isn't going to stop coming after me," he replied. "That's obvious. Plus, I'm a Guardian too, apparently… and if you and I were friends before that bastard took my memories, then whether I still have those memories or not, I'll do whatever it takes to stop him." He smiled and struck the bottom end of his staff against the floor with a rush of cold air. "I'm in."
Red and Snow both stepped up next to him, nodding in agreement. "I'm in too," Snow declared. "Man or monster, nobody gets to hurt my friends."
"Same here," Red agreed firmly, her eyes flashing gold. "I'm not going anywhere." She took one of Frost's hands in hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze. He returned her smile and laced his fingers through hers, drawing strength from the contact.
"You already know my answer, my lady," Blue replied with a soft laugh. "Fairies should always stand together. And Pitch Black must be stopped, no matter the cost."
"Agreed." Toothiana nodded, a bit of relief visible on her face, and smiled. "Very well, then! Let's get ready; we don't have much time. Girls, keep looking for those teeth! The sooner we get Jack's memories back to him, the better."
Frost nodded in agreement, his eyes drawn back to the glowing map and the slowly-approaching mass of darkness. "No kidding," he muttered under his breath.
In Storybrooke…
Jackson stepped on the brakes and exhaled slowly as his car rolled to a halt at the town line. Glancing out the open window, he turned in his seat and looked back over his shoulder, even though Storybrooke was completely hidden by the forest at this point.
He still wasn't entirely sure of whether he should be leaving right now, considering the threat posed by Deucalion, everything that was going on with Regina, and whatever weird shit August was up to… but the fact was, his friends back in Beacon Hills needed him, and that took precedence. Besides, he might be able to get the others' help in dealing with Deucalion while he was there, or at least their advice on what he should do about the situation… and that could potentially make a crucial difference.
"Okay, then," he muttered under his breath, fixing his eyes on the road ahead. "Time to go home."
Without any further hesitation, Jackson stepped on the gas and his car sped across the town line, leaving Storybrooke behind and heading south towards Boston, where his flight back to California would be waiting.
Ruby walked up to the front door of Granny's Diner, rubbing her eyes and trying to retain her composure as she adjusted the jacket that Jackson had loaned her. It's gonna be fine, she insisted inwardly. Just remember that. He's coming back; he promised. She wasn't entirely sure why she was so certain of that, but it felt like it was just a fact of life. Jackson keeps his promises.
In the meantime, though, you've gotta keep things going around here, she reminded herself. So get back to work, and he'll be back before you know it.
Smiling a bit as the thought of that reassured her, Ruby squared her shoulders, zipped up her jacket, and stepped into the diner. As soon as she entered the kitchen, however, she was suddenly brought up short as Granny rushed over to her. "Ruby! Girl, where have you been?" she demanded. "Come on, get out there on the double!" She beamed. "You won't believe it, but we've got another new customer! This place is really drawing in out-of-towners lately!"
Ruby frowned. Another out-of-towner? That didn't make sense; Emma, Jackson and August were the only new arrivals in Storybrooke that she'd ever even heard of. Could there really be another one so soon? Granny clearly wasn't in the mood to answer questions, though, so she just nodded and pulled on her apron as quickly as she could. She kept Jackson's jacket on, however, wanting to keep at least that part of him close.
Feeling a little uneasy for some reason, Ruby retrieved her clipboard and stepped out into the main room of the diner, scanning the room for any signs of the new customer that Granny had mentioned. Sure enough, sitting in a booth across from the counter was a tall, unfamiliar man, with tousled brown hair and a lean, handsome face. He wore a long, dark coat and sunglasses, and seemed totally at ease despite the uncomfortable glances that he was receiving from a couple of the other customers.
The strangest thing about this man, however, was the fact that as Granny had claimed, he didn't appear to be from Storybrooke. In fact, Ruby had never seen this guy before in her life.
Ruby was thoroughly nonplussed for a moment. Seriously? First Emma, then that August guy, then Jackson, and now a fourth stranger from out of town? What're the odds of that happening? After a couple of seconds, though, she shook off the surprise and walked over to the booth, forcing her legs into motion despite her nerves.
"Ah… hi there," she greeted the stranger with her practiced customer-service smile. "My name's Ruby, and I'll be your waitress for today. Can I get you started with anything to drink?"
"Water will do nicely, thank you," the stranger replied. His voice was a surprise too: it was accented, the kind of voice that she'd only really heard before in British TV shows. He flicked off his sunglasses and tucked them into his jacket pocket, uncovering a pair of startlingly-intense blue eyes as he looked up at her. His lips twitched in a faint, vaguely-amused smile, and Ruby felt an involuntary chill run through her as his eyes locked with hers. His expression was calm and open, his voice polite and friendly, but something about him still sent a shiver coursing down her spine.
The stranger's nostrils flared briefly as he took a deep breath, and an odd expression flickered across his face. "If I may say, that's quite a lovely jacket," he remarked. "Might I ask where you purchased it?"
"Oh, um…" Ruby blinked. "I, uh, I actually didn't buy this; it was a… present… from my boyfriend."
"Ah, I see." The stranger nodded understandingly, his smile growing wider. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, miss. My name is Deucalion." He indicated the menu on the table in front of him, tapping it lightly with one hand. "So, as I haven't had the pleasure of dining here before… what would you recommend?"
Notes: And there we go! Sorry again that it took so long for me to come back to this story, but luckily I've got the rest of it all planned out. We've only got a few more chapters to go before the end, and I'm gonna do my best to make them as fun as possible for you guys!
Shoutouts to RHatch89, willdawg992003, Lennox13, Guest (1), Guest (2), guest, Angst-BuriTTo, FF14, Guest (3), kidray98624, and BethWils04 for reviewing; you guys are awesome! :)
Next time, Jackson heads home to Beacon Hills and reunites with some old friends; back in Storybrooke, August and Deucalion put their own respective plans into motion; and in a flashback, Snow, Jack, and their allies launch an attack on King George's castle to rescue Prince Charming.
Stay tuned!
Review Q&A
Q: I know you were trying to ship Jackson and Ruby at first but since we know in the show they both came out as gay will you change that and make them really good friends or keep it the same?
A: I figured that this would probably come up at some point! While yes, I know that both Jackson and Ruby ended up with partners of the same sex as their endgame ships in their canon shows, they were also shown to be fully capable of being romantically and sexually attracted to people of other sexes/genders as well (Jackson with Lydia, Ruby with Peter, etc.). So my headcanon for Ruby and Jackson is that they are both bisexual or pansexual (I personally headcanon Jackson as pan, as I feel like that fits pretty well for him given his "I'm everyone's type" line in canon). Therefore, each of them is capable of falling for either a guy or a girl, which means them being a couple here doesn't make any of their canon pairings invalid. :)
Q: Also despite being defeated is the Nogitsune (looking like Stiles) going to appear in this fanfic because that would be awesome.
A: I don't have any plans for the Nogitsune to appear in this story, no, since we're already past the ending of TW Season 3B at this point in the timeline so the Nogitsune has already been sealed away for good. We will be seeing a number of Teen Wolf characters starting next chapter, though!
Q: It would be awesome if you feel like updating at some point but know it's not always possible. I still love this though!
A: Awww, thanks! Yeah, I'm really sorry that it took me so long to finally get back to this story, but we've only got a few more chapters left until the end of this one and I'll be doing my best to get those chapters written and posted as soon as possible.
