"Henry!" Emma cried as her son slammed the door to the apartment, "where have you been?" Dumping his backpack on the floor, he unzipped it, digging through its contents. He pulled out his storybook, flipping through it until he almost tore the pages from its spine.
"Whoa, whoa!" Emma chastised, grabbing his arm to slow him down, "be careful with that! You love that book!" Henry ignored her, eyes scanning the pages.
"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street….?" was Mary Margaret as she appeared behind Henry, reading over his shoulder. She smelled of apple and cinnamon- most likely for a pie. Henry nodded, showing them the pictures.
"But that isn't a fairytale," Emma said, exchanging glances with Mary Margaret. The princess merely shrugged, pursing her lips.
"Neither is Dr. Whale, and he's here- Frankenstein, remember?" Henry pointed out. Emma nodded- now that that was mentioned, she felt she really should mention her visit with Archie. Or Anthony Hope, for that matter.
"Anyway," Henrey cleared his throat, "you know the new residents in town?" Emma glanced at the book, then at Henry. The page had thick Gothic lettering scrawled on it, depicts like it was dripping blood. Mary Margaret had begun humming a soft tune to herself as she wiped her hands free of sugar on her jeans.
"You mean Anthony and Mr. Todd?" Emma raised an eyebrow as Henry nodded, flipping through the chapter until he found a certain picture. Pointing, he said, "Look at this." Reluctantly, Emma peered at it, her blond hair creating a curtain in her face. Henry had flipped to a picture of a boy and a girl looking lovingly at one another, the boy holding the girl's knuckles delicately to his mouth.
Henry watched as Emma stared at it. It was the same picture he was looking at when he and met Anthony on the play castle. Hopefully she might recognize who it was as well.
"They're in love," Emma said, "so what?" Henry rolled his eyes, groaning as he jabbed at the boy with his index finger, the page crinkling slightly.
"That's Anthony!" he whined. Mary Margaret had stopped humming, listening in closely.
"You mean the boy singing at the diner?" she asked. Henry nodded. He shifted to focus on the girl in the picture.
"When I was talking to him at the playground, he said he had a fiancé," Henry said, "this has to be her." Emma shrugged, exchanging glances with Mary Margaret, who could only shrug back. Kids these days, it seemed, got married extremely young. Emma tilted her head, squinting at the features drawn on his face. They definitely looked like Anthony, from what she could remember, but somehow he seemed happier, more alive.
"What's her name?" Mary Mary Margaret's voice was in her ear as she leaned per Emma's shoulder to point at the girl in the picture. Stepping aside to make more room, emma squinted at the caption written daintily underneath the drawing.
"Anthony and Johanna make plans to run away to be married…" she trailed off, scoffing as she added, "Jesus Christ, how old is this kid?!" Her mind reeled back to when she was talking ith him in front of the store- he hd bee staring at her with such love and adoration…
"Shit."
"What is it?" Mary Margaret asked gently, leaning with her hands on the table.
"I was talking with him earlier, and he was giving me this look- you know, that look of two people in love," Emma explained, "and I think he sees Johanna in me."
"Well you have to help him then!" Henry exclaimed, flipping through the pages.
"What?! Henry, I'm not eighteen years old- I'm a mother-" Emma protested, trailing off as Henry came to one of the last few pages- the climax of the story was what it looked like. An old man was seen peeping on a young woman- Johanna- then later beating Anthony with a club. Silently, she took the book from Henry, turning the pages slowly to look at them.
There was a picture of Sweeney Todd with a haggard looking woman dancing in a pie shop. She pointed to it.
"Todd mentioned a Mrs. Lovett and Judge Turpin earlier," Emma said, "this must be her." As soon as she said this, a green tinge decorated Henry's pale face. "What's wrong?"
"I read the story already," Henry said, "and you know who he cuts hair and she makes pie?" Emma shrugged- she was fairly acquainted with the musical version of the story.
"Well instead of actually cutting hair, he kills them," Henry explained, adding at the two women's shocked faces, "as revenge! For Judge Turpin wrongly imprisoning him!"
"Henry, i don't think killing innocent people is justification for revenge," Mary Margaret shook her head.
"Well, he takes Johanna away! He puts her in an insane asylum for saying no to his proposal!" Henry complained, "that means we have to find Johanna!" Emma groaned. If she really wanted to find tho girl, she would have left by now. But the problem was that this woman and never appeared in Story Brooke before, so it was going to be next to impossible to do anything.
"Henry-"
"Anthony and Johanna belong together, Emma!" Henry's voice rose as he spoke, "it's true love- we have to help them!" He watched as his mother rubbed her temples, sighing heavily. Mary Margaret looked on curiously, gaze darting between the two as a ding sounded in the air. The apple pie was done, the smell tantalizing in the air, on their nostrils. The look on henry's face told Emma that he wasn't letting up anytime soon.
Mary Margaret slowly opened the oven to take the pie out, sucking on her finger as she accidentally burned it on the hot tin pan.
"Alright, well I'll let this cool off…" she tossed the towel on the table, quietly leaving Emma and Henry to discuss the matter at hand. Once she was sure she and left, Emma licked her lips.
"Henry, what if you're wrong?" Emma asked, immediately regretting the question. She knew that when he came to the book he was never wrong- so why was she doubting him now?
"You know I'm not, Emma," Henry said, "please. We have to help them." The look in the kid's eyes was watery, his pupils dilated to enormous lengths as he sat there with her.
Nodding, she said reluctantly, "Fine. Where do we start? Interrogation?" Henry shrugged, shutting the book carefully.
"I don't think Anthony knows what's going on right now," Henry explained, his mind flashing back to their conversation on the wooden castle, how he hd mentioned a fiancé- but it just occurred to him he never gave a name. And there was something else.
"What is it, kid?" Emma tilted her head, giving him a curious glare.
"He asked me something- Anthony," Henry said.
"Well? What was it?"
"He asked me to give you his best," Henry said, although he wasn't exactly sure what that meant exactly. He paused, biting his lip. Emma pursed her lips, a thin line on her pale face.
"Anyhting else?" she prompted.
"He said to say thanks," Henry said, "although he didn't tell me why." A look of realization flooded through Emma's face- He must be talking about the whole deal with Todd, she thought. She nodded, rubbing Henry's back. Yep; that had to be the case. Why else would Anthony say such a thing?
"Alright Henry," she said, pushing herself off her chair, "let's go find the two lovebirds and re-unite them, huh?" Henry grinned as he followed her out the door, yelling to Mary Margaret that they'd be gone for a while.
The apple pie sat on the counter, untouched and ignored, the smell of apples and cinnamon lingering in Emma and Henry's place.