A/N: Okay so the poll says to change the name! I have decided on sticking with a classic good one, that no way in hell will OUAT actually include in the show. *knocks on wood*

I took the time to go through and change the name from Merida to *drum roll*

Nemo!

Let me know what you think, and please enjoy!

The next morning was weird.

Usually when Lydia went downstairs to start the day, Mr. Gold would already be out, leaving a note and a cold cup of coffee for his daughter in his place. The note would be the usual, a timetable of her shift in the pawn shop and maybe a comment at the end on whether or not he would be home late that night. Then, after reading it she may or may not rip it up.

Usually it depended on how mad she was at the time.

The accident in the mines had put quite the wrench in those morning rituals, since Lydia now needed help to get down the stairs in the morning, and go outside. Meaning that the two would spend a lot more time together in the morning than per usual, since she now depended him more.

It was a curious thing, but for some reason it bothered the teenager somewhat that Mr. Gold made no complaint of the fact that she was more dependent on him now. Not one snide remark, sarcastic taunt or any kind of indication that she was going to owe him a debt later.

This was not their usual way of doing things, whenever she needed something from him before, he would have her clean the house or something afterwards. It was a good lesson, to work for things, but still it wore a little thin when it was ever single time she needed a thing from her adoptive father.

This meant that as Lydia got older, she went to him for help even less.

She didn't cry to him anymore, or at least she hadn't for a long time.

When Lydia woke the next morning after that strange emotional train wreck, all she could do was place a hand over her eyes and wonder exactly what she did to deserve this mind game that the universe was playing on her. But as the teenager also cursed the universe, she turned that annoyance on to herself, aggravated at how she had behaved.

The thought of how she had blubbered like that to him, wanted her to curl into a ball and just die of embarrassment.

Or better yet, she could just lie in bed and pretend it didn't happen.

However, her plans for the day where interrupted before they could begin with a knock on her bedroom door and Mr. Gold walking in. This flagrant disregard of the usual morning ritual had Lydia shocked for a millisecond too late to bother pretending to be asleep.

"We're going to Dr. Hopper today,"

Oh good, at least the fact that he was aggravating as all hell hasn't changed. And like every other normal day, Lydia made the effort to meet as his opposition in annoyance step for step.

"Are we finally having an intervention about your cane collection because… I have a prepared speech and-"

"You're going to talk to Dr. Hopper about yesterday, and find out exactly what caused it." Mr. Gold walked around the room, avoiding the random items scattered all over the floor as he did so, and opened the curtains. The sunlight, despite the burn it created on her sensitive retinas, was not the reason that Lydia was glaring at him.

"I am not depressed," She snapped back as she attempted to swivel herself out of her bed, careful not to knock her legs or get them tied up in the bed sheets.

"I never said anything about depression Dearie. Sometimes people just need to vent and get to the source of their problem," His sage drops of wisdom was not going to convince Lydia whatsoever, as she instead only became more aggravated.

"I don't have a problem,"

"Most people don't cry in the back of cars unexpectedly,"

"Have you ever even met a teenager?"

"I've met one that was both too prideful and stubborn to cry in front of people. Problem or not, depression or not, you're going," He said his words with the kind of finality that Lydia was use to by this point.

"…I want pancakes for this disparagement against me," Lydia finally relented against the onslaught, holding her hands up in mock surrender. Her added condition was said with all the confidence of flies in spider webs, but all the same the teenager knew that since they were going out breakfast was not going to be cooked at home. Though that usually went without saying since even when not going out that kitchen was left spotless from the travesty that was their cooking.

"Do you need help getting ready-"

"God no. Look I don't care what Dr Whale recommended, but I'd rather break my arm trying to shower and get dressed, than having another awkward moment for the both of us to wince about. Don't let the door hit you on the way out," Lydia had managed to hobble her way around her room, grabbing onto the spare crutches she had gained from previous childhood injuries before snagging some clothes off the clean pile and hobbling off again to the bathroom.

"We're leaving in an hour, don't hobble around in there for too long,"

Not two days pass after their return to the castle, Nemo was called after a feast to see the Prince in his stables.

Outside she remains the same unmoved statue of indifference, with the knowledge that looked in any way panicked would do nothing to help her, especially if the Prince had whispered anything in the ear of the King.

Still despite feeling the need to remain stoic on the outside, the young squire could still feel her hands shaking near uncontrollably as she walked across the stone floors that led towards the stables, the soft whinnying of the horses echoing through the rather quiet portion of the castle at this time of night.

The fact that the Prince had called her to his side at this time only seemed to heighten her fear in that this was in some way a trap. That already the Prince had already mentioned the weird coincidence of the disappearance of the monster that saved him and reappearance of his squire with very suspicious injuries to the King. That she was now being led aside from the other servants to be done away with silently or at least as silently as a bowman or even one of their best knights can be in a stable, she was being led to her death.

If that was the case, then since she was already figured out, she was too afraid to fight for her life.

Already the young girl knew that her true form's appearance was something frightful, having seen her family's reactions to it, along with her own. One look at her and they would run off into the distance, and when that happened, she would be off instantly in the other direction. Nemo was determined not to be taken down by the likes of King George and his contemptuous court of drunken fools.

And as for the Prince…

While Nemo had been given the past two days to think over her choices, the more she felt incapable of killing the Prince. And the more she thought about how she was incapable, the more she thought on the reasons not to kill him at all, until eventually the pros perfectly weighed out the cons.

For starters, he had been kinder to her than any other person in the castle; much less the court had ever been since she first arrived here. He had allowed her to teach him some of her ways, had apparently taken her advice to heart and listened to her, something that no one else here would do because of her gender and status. When she had first revealed her status as one of the Beorn he didn't panic or try to kill her then, and instead had managed to keep it to himself, so why did she think he would do anything different now?

Stone floors fell away to open grass and dirt as she walked across the training area for the horses and knights, her destination, the small hut that was barely meters up ahead, now coming into view.

For a moment Nemo paused and focused on her senses, knowing them to be stronger than those of mortal man. Perhaps she could manage to hear the tightening of bowstrings or the sound of a sword being drawn, something that would give her a sign of what could possibly be inside the barn.

But, all that Nemo managed to hear was the horses, but nothing more apart from that.

Still, that didn't mean there still couldn't be danger ahead, and so the young girl continued on, but as carefully as she could manage. To the mortal ear her footfalls would not have registered, and she was quick enough to be at the door of the small barn not moments later.

Nemo paused for a moment longer, before finally pulling herself together and opening the doors to the stables, ready to face whatever was on the other side.

"Hello?"

"Hello Miss Gold, why don't you take a seat and we'll get started?" Dr. Hopper smiled and gestured into the small sitting room that he no doubt often used for his appointments. Lydia walked in and sat at the couch, but couldn't help but try to worm her way out of what was planned.

"I have a better idea. Let's play scrabble or something until the paid time is up and neither of us sits here in silence like we will if you really want to shrink me," She said with a tone that suggested that she already knew this was not going to work.

"Miss Gold, I have to do my job," Dr. Hopper said, but the teenager could already gleam what it was that he was actually saying.

"Mr. Gold asked for results didn't he? I'm sorry about that. I don't know what his deal is lately, he's been getting all… concerned," Lydia said, unknowingly opening the doors for conversation that she was pointedly trying to avoid.

"Parents are often concerned about their kids," Dr. Hopper replied, and Lydia couldn't help but scoff at the thought.

"He never was before, my emotional health was the last thing on his mind and he certainly wouldn't be sending me somewhere to talk about it," The teenager shifted about on the couch, attempting to get comfortable despite how off she felt.

"Well you did just experience a rather dangerous situation not a few days ago, maybe he just wants to make sure you were okay," Dr. Hopper reminded her, and Lydia shook her head.

"Look if he asked, I didn't cry in the back of the car because of the mine shaft cave in. I've been more injured doing stupider things than that. If anything that was one of my finer moments since I wasn't responsible for the damage and I actually helped someone else at the same time. I'm fine about what happened. Can I go now?" Lydia added the question at the end as she started to only feel more and more uncomfortable with the conversation they were having.

"We're almost done Miss Gold, just one more thing I wanted to talk about. You said he was never concerned about you 'before'. Did anything else emotionally explosive happen recently?" Dr. Hopper asked, and managed to step right into a situation that Lydia realized probably was important enough to bring up.

"Well… I found my adoption papers before that. I was helping a friend of mine that got caught up in a deal with him, I broke into one of his safes and found the papers stashed away in there," Lydia avoided looking at Dr. Hopper as she explained her little breaking and entering stint, as she no doubt guessed that he was not pleased at that news. Thankfully the therapist didn't seem to notice as instead he continued to press on the other issue.

"That must have been upsetting," He said with sympathy that the teenager couldn't help but try to avoid.

"It explained a lot, but at the same time I couldn't understand why,"

"Why he kept it from you?"

"No why he bothered to adopted me at all,"

There was a poignant moment of silence in which Lydia again avoided the expression that must have been on Dr. Hopper's face. She felt bad enough for herself, she didn't need other people's sympathy at the same time on top of that. Thankfully the therapist didn't let the moment go on for too long.

"Did you ask him?" Lydia bit her lip at Dr. Hopper's question, remembering the rather emotionally charged moment outside the house.

"More like screamed it at him before running off. That's how we usually communicate. Well, how I communicate with him. He just remains silent and stone faced usually,"

Dr. Hopper nodded in understanding and paused for a moment as he thought over what to say. He finally managed to find some advice for the teenager however, not that it sounded any good.

"I'm not going to suppose that I have some kind of insight into Mr. Gold's mind, but perhaps he felt guilty. After you confronted him on his actions he may have been making attempts to fix his mistakes. And if that's true, the only question for you there is, do you want to stay for that? Or is it too late?"

"I'm sorry, I know it's late. I need your help," Prince David said after Nemo had managed to climb down from the panic she had put herself into not moments before opening the stable doors. Her paranoia over the possibility that the Prince would sell her out to the King now seemed ridiculous in afterthought. Still, the young squire could not fault herself for being careful.

"Please don't tell me there's another dragon," Nemo complained as she sat on a nearby hay bale, across from the Prince who was leaning against a random post. He smiled at her comment but remained silent for a while, leading the young woman to obviously put two and two together and recognize that this was more than just a mission for a beast's head.

"What has happened?"

"King Midas has a daughter, she was meant to marry my brother after he slayed the dragon," The Prince said, the information leading to an obvious conclusion for Nemo.

"And now she is betrothed to you. Royal agreements are weird. But I'm guessing that there's more to this than just that, otherwise you would have just refused without the need for my advice," The squire said, and she was proven right as the Prince continued.

"I don't want to marry her, it isn't right. I believe I should marry someone I truly love and I don't really even know this woman. But when I tried to say no, the King threatened to… Kill my mother," The Prince looked away again, a hand held over his mother and an unsure sadness knitted well into his brow. Nemo pondered this new angle of the man's predicament, all solutions of which only seemed to lead down bad paths.

"I don't know what to do… I…"

"This is a predicament. I don't see any way you could worm your way out of this right now, all roads of that decision lead to bad ends," Nemo said carefully, but the Prince had already seen what she was trying to say by the expression on his face.

"What are you suggesting?"

"Going along with this plan seems to be the only thing that makes sense right now. Maybe you'll think of something afterwards but for the moment compliancy is your ally, and will keep your mother safe," Nemo didn't like the advice she was giving, but it was the only good advice there was.

"Even if I find a way out, the King will never forget and will go through in his threat. I have to make him believe I'm truly accepting this proposal which means-" he didn't want to say the final point, but Nemo knew it needed saying.

"You can't see your mother again. If he finds out you went to see her after your possible escape…"

The Prince covered his head in hands and buckled downwards, obviously on the way to complete breakdown. Nemo looked at him for a moment, unsure of what to do and how to possibly comfort him. She did however; manage to come up with an idea that would possibly make him feel better. The young squire carefully placed a hand on the Prince's shoulder and spoke as soft as she could.

"Listen, that doesn't mean you can't go see her right now and tell her everything. Just tell the King you're saying goodbye and he'll let you go."

This was hard to watch, there was no telling how hard it was to be in the Prince's position. Still her words managed to stir the Prince out of his emotional breakdown, and back into action.

"Thank you Nemo. I know what to do now. You should go back to bed, before the others wonder where you are," He said, and Nemo took that as her time to leave.

"Yes your majesty, goodnight and good luck,"

Another week passed before plans were set in place for the Prince and Princess' engagement celebration. Nemo had not seen David since that stable confession, and had guessed that he had gone back to his sheep farm in order to say goodbye to his mother, perhaps for the last time. The young woman bit the side of her cheek to distract from the swelling emotion she could feel in the pit of her gut.

Her advice for the Prince was not the best option in her opinion, but it was the safest option. Going along with the King's plans for the moment meant one less dead mother and Prince, and for her meant one more day without waiting on the lords that visited the castle every other day for ale drinking and hunting purposes.

At the end of the week Nemo was finally called on by the Prince again, but this time it was not for any advice giving or dragon slaying. Instead it was to assist the Prince and new Princess on their travel to what Nemo guessed would be the castle they would live during their engagement. She waited for the both of them at the carriages, being careful to avoid the guards that surrounded the area.

Eventually they arrived to leave, the expression on the Prince's face looking less lie someone who just got engaged, and more like someone who got their hand caught in a door. Nemo did the usual shtick of standing to attention and waited for any orders the Prince would give. When he finally seemed to notice that she was there he paused before continuing on. Nemo's paranoia flared up at that, but she managed to beat it down enough to try and not think about it.

It was when the travelling group was quite a few miles away from the castle, that the Prince called the carriage to a stop.

"Is something wrong your majesty?" Nemo asked as she jumped off of the end of the carriage that hse had been sitting on as the Prince approached.

"I wanted to be sure that my armor is properly ready for when we arrive, you can never be too sure. No need to do so in front of a lady right Nemo?" He replied as he pulled a pack out of the carriage along with his armor and polishing kit, his squire quickly grabbing everything apart from the pack, which the Prince held onto with an iron grip.

Nemo awkwardly sat on a tree stump a few moments later, polishing the shoulder plate of the Prince's armor while watching him with a careful yet confused eye. He said nothing for a time as he was also polishing his armor. The pack he had brought with him was sitting on the forest floor in between them, Nemo's curiosity on what was inside it being the only reason she was polishing so slowly.

When it seemed like this was merely going to be the most awkward armor maintenance in Nemo's life, and the guards themselves were too bored to bother continuing keeping an eye on them, that the Prince took his moment to strike. The armor in his hands was dropped on the ground, and the pack was thrusted quickly into Nemo's hands.

"What-" She tried to ask, but the Prince cut her off with his explanation.

"The guards aren't looking now, I will stay here long enough that you will be well out of our sights by the time I'm finished," His words did not skim over her head, yet she was still standing there shocked that this was even happening. There was only one question left that she could ask in what she now felt was mere seconds they had to speak.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Just because I am bound to a future that I may have to learn to like, doesn't mean I'll let the same happen to you. I know you want to be free,"

"I thought I was being subtle," Nemo said as she looked at her boots.

"You had the same look as me, you longed to be out of that stuffy castle as much as I did. Take this pack, it has water and food inside it that will last for a few days. I can't do more than that-" The Prince said with the most sincere and apologetic tone that Nemo had ever heard. She held up a hand to interrupt him.

"It's more than I ever expected. Thank you. I owe you a great deal. I hope we meet again someday, I would like to repay what you've done for me."

"I hope not, but it would nice all the same. Hurry now, they're getting suspicious," David said as he turned to look at the carriage only slightly visible through the trees. He turned back again, only for the space that once occupied the young squire's form was devoid of her person. She had no doubt disappeared into the bushes long before he had finished his sentence.

He smiled wistfully and silently returned to polishing the armor he had dropped on the forest floor.

The Prince had perhaps underestimated how fast Nemo could run. By the time that he had no doubt returned to the carriage holding his new fiancée and pretending to be confused as to where she went, Nemo was in the next kingdom.

It was at that goal that Nemo slowed down and looked about her surroundings. It looked like more forest, but Nemo knew that there was a town no doubt past those few trees. A town that might be, despite being in another kingdom, loyal in some way to King George.

Nemo tugged once at her brown locks, the roll of her stomach begging to shift into her other self now that the wilderness was all about her. This would no doubt be a problem after a few days, after all she was going to be stuck following the main trade road for a few days until finding something else to cling to.

That was not going to be easy, after all King George would no doubt suspect that she had run instead of being freed by his 'son'. Nemo again tugged at her hair, musing over how she could possibly help herself to stay out of the eyes of the royals in this section of the Enchanted Forest. If only there was a way to change herself, just to stay out suspicion. The safety of a disguise was a tool she could use to her advantage in creating a new life for herself.

As the young woman walked on in her trek for a new life, a small magical being was watching from a tree branch far above her.

Please review, constructive criticism always welcome.