Here we are again! I cannot believe I am actually going through with all of this! Exciting! Let's hope I can keep it up. Remember I would love for any comments about my OC or the way the character act, I am rewatching the episodes and trying to do them justice. If my writing isn't well please say so! I could really use an extra pair of eyes! Hope you all are enjoying yourselves!-FFW


Sebastian hadn't meant to analyze and determine exactly who Emma Swan was by the posture and way she held herself. Paranoia crept in. He was always concerned about Henry's protection. Because he was always in tune to his behavior, though, he watched as Henry happily moved beside Emma. Yet, he still moved to walk on the other side of Henry as the trio made their way to the school.

"So what's the deal with you and your mom?" She sent a slight questioning gaze to him as well. She probably thought it was a mundane issue. Don't ever try dark magic kids, you turn into Regina. He was so going to use that one when Emma was more on board with the curse.

"It's not about us. It's about her curse." Sebastian watched her facial expression. Disbelief, maybe? He was usually good at reading people and if he remembered Henry say correctly, she was good at telling when someone lied. Her eyes caught his, with another guarded interrogating look. "We have to break it. Luckily, I have a plan, well we." Henry motioned to him. "Step One-"

"Step One B, Step One A was retrieving the Swan." Sebastian couldn't help but interject, it wasn't discussed but it was enough said to let her realize he was in on finding her.

"Right! Step One B-Identification. I call it Operation Cobra." He gently ruffled Henry's head affectionately.

"Ingenious."

"Hey!" Henry smoothed down whatever pieces that had stuck up.

"Cobra? That has nothing to do with fairy tales." Still stuck. Not that he expected her to magically know and believe everything.

"Exactly. It's a code name to throw the queen off the trail." Henry answered quickly. Emma sent an incredulous look towards Sebastian, he kept himself neutral and nodded to what Henry had said before speaking.

"Besides, most commonly the cobra is known to graceful and swift, much like how we have to execute a plan to break the curse so Regina doesn't completely know." They paused for a moment as Emma spoke.

"So everyone here is a fairy tale character, they just don't know it?" Simplistic view, but she was correct. The curse was still a lot more complicated.

"That's the curse," Henry confirmed.

"Wait, then how does Sebastian know?" She narrowed her eyes at the two.

"I was working on a way to make sure Snow, and David remembered after the curse was cast, I got there too late, which led the effects to work on me instead." The fixed look she gave him made him anxious. He thought that over before he added quickly, "Though I would have believed it if I had been cursed."

"Time's been frozen. Until you got here." Her eyes searched them both to try to detect any false words, he assumed. The apple that Emma had been carrying was brought to both their attentions when she tried to take a bite and Henry nearly leaped to get rid of it. "Where'd you get that?"

"Your Mom?" Regina's old tricks once again.

"Don't eat that." He tossed it behind them without thinking.

"O-Okay."

"You could have thrown it away you know." Sebastian rolled his eyes, "Regina may be Regina, but she wouldn't poison her that quickly."

"I don't know." Emma went grim, "She kind of seems like the type." He contemplated that, well he already knew she was. He was hoping she hadn't done so.

"All right, what about their pasts?" Her eyes flickered to his form, the one he had turned abruptly while he was thinking of said past. He caught the undertone, though, she wanted to know if he was as bad as Regina was or used to be.

"They don't know. It's a haze to them. Ask anyone anything and you'll see." Henry glanced up at Sebastian, "Except Sebastian, he remembers everything." His body stiffened, and the mood turned agonized around him.

"I think remembering is the real curse." The mother and son both snapped back to him in surprise. Dark, dejected emotions came off in waves and his gaze was regretful. Emma decided to change the subject before it went too sour.

"So for decades, people have been walking around in a haze, not aging, with screwed up memories, stuck in a cursed town that kept them oblivious?" She seemed to only understand the words, not really believing them. Henry, on the other hand, seemed ecstatic.

"I knew you'd get it. That's why we need you. You're the only one who can stop her curse." The matter-of-fact tone must have bugged her because she turned suddenly to face Henry. Immediately he was on guard too. He knew she was a good person, but his reflexes had kicked in.

"Because I'm the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming-"

"Yes, and right now we have the advantage. My mom doesn't know that. Only, Seb does." She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment before gazing at Henry once more "I took out the end, the part with you in it." He handed her the book pages carefully. "See? Your mom is Snow White." Sebastian braced for her to knock all the hope away, he could tell by the look in her eyes, she didn't believe a word he said.

"Oh, kid." She looked overwhelmed by the fact he tried making up the fact her parents gave her up. It wasn't their choice.

"I know the hero never believes at first. If they did it wouldn't be a very good story." Henry shared a look with Sebastian, he knew his story well, and Sebastian had told him about how he couldn't completely blame Regina for how she acts as well. Her mother was never a good person. Emma was struggling with what to say, the anxiousness of her movements declared it so. He didn't blame her. "If you need proof, take them, read them, but whatever you do, don't let her see these pages. They're dangerous. If she finds out who you are...It would be bad." The overtaking concern and surprise throughout this entire conversation had been abundant. The silence took over as they reached the school.

"I gotta go, but I'll find you later and we can get started." He sped up after giving Sebastian a brief hug and shouted to Emma, "I knew you'd believe me!"

"I never said I did!" Was her response. She looked amused as she tossed Sebastian a lazy look.

"Why else would you be here?" He darted to the school, waving quickly to Sebastian before completely disappearing from view. Though the two adults stood a few feet apart, it was still too close for Sebastian's comfort, and it didn't help when Ms. Blanchard made her way over with a disbelieving grin, that was happening a lot lately. The smiles and disbelief.

"It's good to see his smile back." He couldn't help but smile too, he was happier. Henry did act like that around him, but he guessed he didn't at school and with Regina. The ache again to grant him happiness crept back in. Why did he care so much? Wasn't he taught not to? Had he not learned the lesson. Emotions are weakness. That memory was all too real.

"No one's been brave enough to run against her, well, except once Sebastian, but she manipulated that." He snapped back to reality and into the conversation beside him.

"Which is why I have my own place instead of with Regina and Henry like I used too." He tried to pretend he didn't care, but the pang of sadness was heard when he mentioned Henry. Regina's children were his downfall. Ms. Blanchard's eyes widened.

"I-I hadn't meant-" She shook her head as she stuttered.

"It's fine," he waved his hand dismissively. "She is exactly like that don't worry I know. Controlling and manipulative." He shrugged his shoulders.

"How did you not get the votes?" Emma scowled.

"That's how she wants things to run in this town, with fear." Ms. Blanchard nodded to that.

"I'm afraid I only made that worse by giving Henry that book. Now he thinks she's the Evil Queen." That sparked interest across Emma's face, oh boy.

"Who does he think you are?" Sebastian wasn't entirely sure she was prepared for that answer. Mrs. Blanchard chuckled and looked down.

"Oh. It's silly." Emma raised her eyebrow, replying,

"I just got five minutes of silly. Lay it on me." He moved closer to offer whatever amount of comfort he could. He knew this would make her see just a tad differently. Ms. Blanchard shook her head again before answering,

"Snow White." The pregnant pause afterward while Emma froze and gazed at the woman before her. "Who does he think you are?" The curiousness sprouting from the far off look in her eyes.

"I'm not in the book." Was all Emma could breathe as she watched her supposed mother. "Can I ask you a favor?" She asked when she came to her senses. "Regina mentioned the kid's in therapy. Do you know where I can find the doctor?" Mrs. Blanchard nodded, but before she could speak, Sebastian cut in.

"I know Dr. Hopper, that's part of the reason I didn't get the votes. Apparently, dealing with trauma means you're a nutcase." Ms. Blanchard looked apologetic,

"If it makes you feel better, I thought you had great ideas! So you had my vote." He grinned at his cursed step-niece. He missed her. After forcing himself to stay away because it wasn't her he had been depressed. Sweet misery.


Ms. Blanchard had bid them farewell before the two were officially left alone and Sebastian offered to show Emma around after the meeting. He instantly cautioned himself then. He couldn't spend too much time with her, she was the exact person he'd find himself fawning over. He was definitely not supposed to like his best friends stepdaughter's daughter. Not weird or complicated at all. Just as long as he didn't pay attention to her passion when it came to something she was confident and knew very much about, or the intelligence that he was sure Henry inherited. He was to not remember the sarcasm or witty counter remarks. None could be remembered. He opened his heart up too easily, let people in. It was probably why he was a shattered shell of who he was before. It was the question Emma asked next that he was not prepared for.

"Before when we mentioned the past you went all dark on us." She bit her lip and seemed to recall herself into her head to find a way to word it properly. "You also see a therapist. What exactly happened to you that makes you different even when you're friends with Regina?" He did think it over in his head for a moment.

"If you believe that Henry and I are telling the truth, then I could tell you everything." Sebastian paused to recollect himself. "Since you don't and Henry certainly won't say anything because he doesn't know the full story. A child cannot hear what I've been through." He sighed and caught her eyes. He didn't break contact while he spoke, "I've been used enough to understand, sympathize if you will, what exactly this world does to another. Whether mine or yours" Her soft eyes burned his mind, soothingly making him wish to open more, but that would end in wicked chaos like before. "I protected people from my father's wrath, his output anger and hate was taken out on me. His ideals of the perfect soldier too." He turned and the swept across the street to Dr. Hopper's building.

"Wait, you can't just end abruptly." The annoyed tone made him spin around to face her bodies inches from the other. Something if he was in the right state of mind, would never have done.

"I don't open up to people anymore, Emma. I haven't even told someone who has always been there. You understand that, though. Henry's father burned you." He paused slightly, it was easy to see the reluctance when they were at Ganny's the day before when she thought Graham ordered the hot chocolate. He knew it because it was the look he had in the mirror before a date, which would then be canceled due to a 'family emergency'. The night would then be spent with Henry, quietly discussing the world and allowing Henry to look at his drawings of the Enchanted Forest, Snow's Castle, and the small home he had lived in once he had finally been freed from his father's hold. The way she was wary at times from the looks that Henry acquired was also there. "We have much more in common than what you originally thought." He stepped away and felt his face heat up a bit. "Dr. Hopper is just in there, I'll wait." Emma opened her mouth like she wanted to reply, but thought otherwise and walked straight into the building.

Once Emma had returned to where the clad in black, dark haired and eyed Sebastian Elder stood. He met her eyes and dropped down to see her clutching a file from Dr. Hopper's office. The minute they met she demanded,

"What are you not telling me?" He nearly stepped back in shock, nearly.

"Which topic are we discussing?" She clenched her teeth.

"How come I'm getting warnings to stay away from you? First, it was Regina, then Graham, and now Henry's therapist?" Her eyes flared in anger, something she could not beat him in.

"Regina loves manipulation." She scoffed in response. Dr. Hopper was certainly helping Regina, he couldn't give patient files away to anyone. It was unethical in his degree of psychology.

"Not from what I hear. You're helping Henry with all of this, maybe it is his way of communicating but to agree and put ideas in his head to warp him? That's sick." She spat out the words venomously. He laughed lowly. He could feel the rage tear into him.

"Do not tell me I am harming my adopted son." Sebastian managed to contain his vulgar language, and rein in his anger by clenching his fists while taking a deep breath. "You don't know it but Regina loves to toy with people, technically you have a document that you are not allowed to have. It is unethical of a man of psychology to give a patient's privacy away." He sighed deeply and raked a hand through his hair.

"He gave it to me!" She defended as she glared.

"You're being played. Use your head for a moment not your heart. When you need bail, you know who not to call." He stepped away from her and made his way to his apartment. This was Regina's biography. She always loved pitting people against one another.


He spent the rest of the day wondering if maybe this was really fantasy. Ridiculous. He had scars and memories from the book, he was not crazy and neither was Henry. He had managed to get an hour of sleep before he was called by Dr. Whale to confirm he wanted to go through with the catheter ablation. Sebastian canceled it. He needed to able to move quickly and recovery took a few months. Besides, he would miss punching out his rage whenever it sparked. It certainly did today, which made him reorder another. He should probably try a different brand. His phone went off and he quickly answered the contact without thinking.

"Wonderful friend of mine, how are you?" The words didn't match his grumpy tone.

"Now, grumpy people don't get dinner." She was strangely happy.

"You love ruining my friendships don't you, Regina?" Sebastian rubbed his forehead in frustration.

"Of course, now dinner or will it just be me and Henry?" He hadn't had dinner with them in a few weeks.

"Coming."


He tagged along to Henry's session with the excuse of ice cream, when he noticed that Henry was upset so he asked him what was up. Emma Swan either had to apologize or he would find a way to terrorize her until she left she would pay the price. So when Henry was in his session, of course, Emma Swan was walking down the hall.

"Sebastian." He tilted his head at her when he stepped in front of her and the hallway.

"Emma. Explain." The stressed look made him want to avoid this conversation and let her be, yet this was for Henry.

"I didn't believe any of it fully, and Regina." He stepped away allowing her to go through. He fought with himself about whether following after her or not.

"Henry, there is one simple reason I stayed here, you. I wanted to get to know you." She desperately stated.

"You think I'm crazy." He replied indifferently.

"No, I think the curse is crazy. And it is." She sighed deeply and started again. "But that doesn't mean that it isn't true. It is a lot to ask anyone to believe in, but there are a lot of crazy things in this world. So what do I know? maybe it is true." Sebastian couldn't stop the wide smile reaching across his face, even if Emma looked desperate and Henry was denying it at the moment, she was being honest.

"But you told my mom-" He protested.

"What she needed to hear." A slight pause chilled the room before she spoke again. "What I do know...Is that if the curse is real, the only way to break it is by tricking the Evil Queen..." She elongated the last few words to get his attention. "Into thinking that we are nonbelievers, 'cause that way, she's not on to us." The hopeful expression warmed his heart. The motherly love he rarely saw in Regina was there plainly on Emma's face. "Isn't that what Operation Cobra was all about?" She looked up at the two men standing above her, surprisingly seeing Sebastian watching her kindly. "Throwing her off the trail?" When Henry sat up happily he could imagine the sparkling hopeful eyes, just like when they found the website to find Emma.

"Brilliant." He noticed she was kind of not as into it as Henry was, but she was doing it for him and that was more than anyone could ask for.

"I read the pages, and, Henry, you're right they are dangerous. There is only one way to make sure that she never sees them." Emma bent down over the fire to let the pages settle and burn. Once she was satisfied she stood and finished everything with a flourish. "Now we have the advantage." Henry got up to hug her. Both Dr. Hopper and he left the two to hug while they stepped a bit away for some more space.

"Wonderful, isn't it?" Dr. Hopper asked cheerfully.

"Until Regina finds out." He frowned at that. While Sebastian thought it over.

"Pessimism doesn't get you far, Sebastian." The look he was given by the therapist made him nod to end the conversation before the Doctor got into his issues and Henry's session became his.

"So, ice cream?" Emma and Dr. Hopper along with Sebastian smiled when Henry grinned and yelled while diving toward him.

"Chocolate!" He gripped his nephew and threw his head back laughing.

"Strawberry tops that." Henry's eyes widened.

"What? you are not my friend!" That was obviously sarcasm as he made a way for the door when the trio decided to go after asking Dr. Hopper, who respectfully declined. Maybe sweet dreams were made of this.


I hope this was decent and that you enjoy, please comment about anything regarding my story, just please do not leave any hateful comments. Love all of you strange people!-FFW