Choices

By: Jecir

Chapter Five: Life Has Killed the Dream

The night was loud. Evangeline wondered how Henry could sleep through all the noise. Crickets, wolves, and leaves rustling in the wind—no wonder humans stayed indoors at night. From her vantage point far above in the heavens, Evangeline knew only the peaceful silence of the night broken by the songs of her brothers and sisters. They would sing a lullaby to the worlds; one that inspired dreams and drove away nightmares. Tonight, however, she sat amongst the cacophony and gazed longingly into the sky. "What am I going to do, Raymond?" she wondered.

Beside her, Henry stirred. Evangeline brushed back his hair and let her magic flow through her fingertips. A brief silver glow touched Henry's forehead. He relaxed back into his needed rest. He had been through so much in such a short time; Evangeline wanted him to be at peace if only for a moment. In the morning, they would have to face an uncertain future, but for now, she let him sleep.

High above, a blue star twinkled. Evangeline smiled. "Thank you."

Henry woke up, or, at least, he assumed he was awake. His body was stiff and ached—a certain sign of being awake—but his mind was cloudy. It was hard for him to think. He groaned and covered his eyes. He wondered if he could go back to sleep.

"Good morning, Henry." Evangeline's greeting was followed by a firm shaking. Henry tried to swat at her hand, but she released his shoulder before he could get his hands to obey. "You need to get up," the Wishing Star said. "We need to move."

Henry grumbled incoherently but obeyed. He sat up, blinked his bleary eyes, and groped about for his shoes. His fingers gripped an unfamiliar pair of boots. Henry eyed the footwear uncertainly. "What are these?"

"Boots," Evangeline said.

Henry rolled his eyes. "Where did you get them?" he asked tersely.

"I didn't," Evangeline said.

She stood up then, and Henry's clouded mind cleared enough for him to see that she looked normal. She was dressed in a commoner's travel dress complete with a cloak and bag. Henry looked down at himself and the last of his fogginess cleared. "What happened to my clothes?"

"Gone," Evangeline said. She was being uncharacteristically short. She shouldered her bag and headed into the woods.

Henry scrambled to his feet with a protest. The Wishing Star did not stop walking, though, and Henry was forced to chase after her after putting on his new, unfamiliar boots.

"Hey!" he called. "Wait!" When he caught up with her, he asked, "What's going on?"

"A lot, Henry," she said. "Far too much. Come on; we need to move quickly if we are going to fix your wish."

Henry fell in step behind Evangeline. He mulled over the last twenty-four hours—specifically what had recently occurred. "Evangeline," he whispered after some time.

"Yes?" Evangeline glanced back at him.

Henry hesitated. He was not really sure how to ask or if he really wanted to know. Part of him—a part that he had never really indulged until lately—was warring with his familial impulse to jump without looking. He had always wanted to be a hero, and heroes never hesitated. Today, he felt like a coward because today he wanted to know what would happen the next time he jumped. "Did my, um..."

"Teenage outburst of pure angst?" Evangeline offered. There was a mischievous twinkle in her eyes that made Henry smile despite himself.

"Yeah, that," he confirmed. "Did it ruin everything?"

Evangeline pondered his question for a few long moments. "Yes and no," she concluded. "Your little tantrum—and don't scowl at me, that is exactly what it was."

Henry failed in diverting his scowl.

"Empowered the Wild Magic," Evangeline continued. "What began as a simple task of helping you remember your wish has turned into a race against time."

Henry stopped short. "A race toward what, exactly?" he asked.

"To saving your family," Evangeline said. She turned and faced him. For the first time since the beginning of their little quest, Henry saw a darker emotion in her eyes. "The Wild Magic is unravelling time. It was already happening after you made your first wish, but it was slow and nearly harmless because there was so much to unwrite. "I wish none of this had ever happened"? The Wild Magic had a broad spectrum from which to draw—none of this? None of what, exactly? We had an advantage until you specifically named things you wished never happened. Now, the magic has a focal point, and it is racing toward that moment with increasing speed."

Evangeline turned back to the trail and pushed forward. "It tried to grant your three wishes, remember?"

"Yes," Henry said as he tried to keep up with her pace. "I saw my parents die."

"What you saw were worlds that could have been but never were; worlds discarded because of the choices humans made. A vast majority of your false wish was wrapped up in those what if's. After you made your new wishes, the Wild Magic gave you the option of three potential choices for your new life. All three were not what you wanted."

"No," Henry confirmed. "I don't want anyone in my family to die."

"Everyone dies, Henry.""

"Not like that!" Henry shot back.

"And it was that very passion you have for your family that caused you to reject the options and discard those worlds. This time, however, there is no getting them back. The world's you saw can never come back—"

"Because the Wild Magic ate them," Henry finished for her. His forehead was wrinkled in thought and his eyes narrowed. He stared unseeing through Evangeline as he mulled over everything she had said. "Any what if it takes is gone because it is unraveling time itself."

"Exactly," Evangeline said. "It is like those timelines never existed, and now—"

"Princess Emma?"

"Get down!" Evangeline grabbed Henry and pulled him into the brush right before a young man riding a blood bay appeared on the trail ahead of them. He was dressed in royal ropes of gold and white. He pulled off his plumed hat and ran a hand through his short, dirty-blond hair. "Where is she?" he muttered.

A melodic laugh caught his attention. "You needn't be so agitated, Christopher," chided a young maiden on a white mare. She was dressed in a royal blue riding gown trimmed with a yellow that matched her long, blond hair.

Christopher turned his mount to face the lady. "These woods are wrought with brigands who would take advantage of the princess, Alexandra," he said. "The King and Queen—"

"The King and Queen know full well that their daughter can care for herself. Besides, if these brigands were to descend, would it not be the High Princess coming to the aid of Midas' heir instead of the other way around?"

Her voice was light with teasing, but Prince Christopher still flushed. "That was one instance, my lady, and I would you not refer to a childish incidence."

"Childish, maybe," Alexandra said with a bright smile. "But amusing none the less. Come, let us ride west. The Princess is fond of the Crystal Lake. Perhaps she has ensconced there." She kicked her mount and led her companion away.

Evangeline waited until the sound of hoof beats had vanished before she allowed Henry up from their hiding place. "That was close," she said.

"They shouldn't have been able to see us," Henry said. He wiped the mud and bits of brush from his jacket. "I mean, no one saw me in the other worlds."

"That was different, Henry," Evangeline said. She looked around. "The Wild Magic showed you different worlds by opening windows to them. You were still in the prime timeline. Now—" A rustle to their right caused Evangeline to pull Henry back into the brush.

They waited in silence for a few moments. When nothing happened, Henry turned to the Wishing Star and demanded, "Now what?"

Evangeline took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "We are not in the prime timeline anymore." She locked eyes with the Truest Believer. "I had to pull you out. It was the only way. Had the Wild Magic kept you there, you would have disappeared along with your lifetime."

Henry stared at her in confusion. "Are you saying my timeline is gone?"

There was a second rustle followed by the sound of approaching horses.

"Evangeline," Henry whispered. Evangeline hushed him and motioned for him to get down. He crouched low but could not help asking, "Where are we?"

Evangeline pressed her back against the fallen tree behind which they hid and looked at him with a sudden sorrow. "We are in the what if's before the curse was cast, if it ever was. Here, we can see and be seen and intervene. Now hush!" She glanced over the tree. "We have company."

A second pair of horses appeared on the trail. Henry gasped when he saw the riders. Though much younger, he would never mistake them for anyone else. "Mom," he whispered. "Dad?"

"Are you certain we are safe?" his father asked.

Emma smiled a familiar, self-assured smile. She was young, just barely out of her adolescence, and dressed in a way that the mother he knew would never be dressed. She was wearing an artic blue riding dress trimmed in silver. Her hair was falling freely around her shoulders; tamed only by the gold circlet on her head. Princess Emma sat with all the regal bearing of her station and spoke with an elegance Emma Swan did not have. "I am most certain. Alexandra will lead Christopher astray for hours before he realizes. Poor Alexandra," she continued as she spurred her mount forward. "I do hope dear Christopher notices my friend's intentions soon least she begin to wilt of a broken heart."

"Men can often be blind to such things," Neal—or Bealfire, Henry thought—said with a lazy smile. He was dressed, like the peasant that he was, in simple browns and a touch of green on his coat.

"Christopher is not so much blind as he is determined to ignore his heart," Princess Emma said. "He works under the false assumption that he is in debt to my father for freeing his father from a curse and seeks to repay that debt by uniting our kingdoms."

Bealfire glanced at the Princess; there was a touch of reservation in his eyes. "A union between the Kingdom of Midas and your family's would be a powerful alliance."

"Indeed," Emma said. She dropped her gaze to her riding gloves. She was gripping the reigns rather tightly. She made a conscious effort to loosen her hold. "My father has said as much."

"But?" Bealfire asked.

Emma halted her steed and faced Bealfire. Her mother's determination shown through her eyes as she said, "But my mother will have none of it. I am the daughter of true love, and it is only true love that will bind me."

Bealfire's grin betrayed his relief. "Well said, Princess."

Emma met his grin with her own radiant smile. "Come," she said and swung her mount around. "Alexandra will have her query in the west; we shall ride east." With a loud cry, she ordered her horse into a gallop. Bealfire laughed and gave chase. Soon, they were out of sight and earshot.

Evangeline sank to the musty forest floor. "A truer love could never be then the one that died too quickly."

Henry remained on his knees looking out over the trail where his parents had disappeared. "They're together. Even here, they found one another."

"True love will always find a way even if briefly," Evangeline said. "It is truly a tragedy that the prime timeline saw them eternally separated."

"Yeah," Henry mumbled. It was a bitter memory for him and one he did not want to revisit just yet, thus, he forced himself to be optimistic—a stance he had been finding difficult for himself as of late. "But mom has Killian now, so that's good, right?"

"If you say so," Evangeline said.

"You don't like Killian?" Henry asked. His mother's love life was a shockingly easier topic to discuss then what they had been discussing before his parents arrived. Henry needed something lighter in the midst of all this dark confusion.

"No," Evangeline drawled. She stood up and shouldered her bag. "I do not like who he has become. A man who seeks to do good merely to secure the love of a woman is no man at all. Killian and your mother have made a dangerous choice, and I worry for them. Well, worried, as that timeline no longer exists." With that said, Evangeline reentered the trail.

"Killian makes her happy," Henry pointed out as soon as he caught up with her. "How is that a bad thing?"

"Happiness does not equal true love," Evangeline said. "Indeed, happiness and the pursuit of it as an end goal is, in itself, a danger. The addict is temporarily happy whilst in the midst of his addiction but is being addicted a good thing?"

"No," Henry agreed. "But Killian and my mom are not drug addicts."

"In a way, they are," Evangeline countered. "I have watched humans for millennia, and I have concluded that, no matter how strong a love is, if it is based on need, it is a danger. Killian needs your mother as a reason to do good; Emma needs Killian because he is the only man who has never abandoned her. It is not a healthy connection no matter how happy they are, well, were. Love, true love, is unselfish, sacrificial, and based firmly on the foundation of this single truth: you do not need the one you love but you want them. Needing something from the one you choose will eventually drain them because, no matter what anyone thinks, humans cannot fulfill the deepest needs of other humans." Evangeline smiled to herself. "And I have rambled. Have I lost you, Henry?"

"A little," Henry confessed. "But I think I understand. So, based on what you said, then not only is Killian and my mom in trouble but so is Mr. Gold and Belle."

Evangeline's smile faltered. "Sadly, yes. Rumplestiltskin keeps Belle close because she reminds him to be good, but if he does not choose to be good and do good for his own sake, the darkness will resurface and it will consume him because it is what he wants. Yes, the Dark One may need Belle, but he wants darkness. Thankfully, Belle wants him free. Her determination will always be what battles Rumplestiltskin's want for power."

Henry's shoulders sagged as he thought about what she was saying. "So no love is really pure."

"No!" Evangeline exclaimed. She slung her arm around his shoulder and hugged him. "Your grandparents had it right. Snow White and her prince charming did not fight to be together because they needed each other. They were both strong and self-assured of who they were without needing the other. They simply chose to be together because they wanted each other. There was no unequal drawing or need to fulfill anything. They simply enjoyed being together."

"And my parents?" Henry asked. "What about them?"

"Your parents never made it that far," Evangeline said. "I believe your father's love for your mother was true. Bealfire always knew who he was and what he was doing. Your mother was not someone he needed, but, oh, did he fight to keep her for as long as he could have her. Emma, however, never got the chance to become the woman who could return his love in its fullest. She was lost and still is in some respects. She had only just begun the journey of becoming herself after your father died."

"But now she's stuck in an unhealthy love with Killian," Henry concluded.

Evangeline winced. "Is that what I said?"

"It is what you implied."

"Then let me amend my conclusion. Had your mother and father been given a chance, their love would have been true. You can see that in the what if's. No matter what timeline became the prime, Bealfire and Princess Emma always inevitably find one another. In the same way, Killian Jones finds Milah, his true love. The true tragedy is that the prime timeline was one where both Killian and Emma found true love and lost it. Whatever love follows is shallow in comparison, but that does not mean it is not love nor does it mean it is doomed to failure. Much like your mother and Robin."

"But Robin went back to Marion," Henry pointed out with a touch of bitterness. He had not forgiven the thief for that.

"Yes," Evangeline said slowly. "But that is because Marion was his true love. It will always win out; however, much of this is here say now that the prime timeline has been unraveled. I will say this, though; I have seen every timeline that Killian and your mother could have lived; some proved my point; others proved me wrong. Each one has led me to this belief: when love is true, is lasts. Plain and simple."

They walked in silence; Evangeline happy with herself for an argument well made, and Henry deep in thought. "You said the prime timeline has unraveled," he said after some time. "You said we were in the what if's before the curse was cast."

"Yes," Evangeline admitted. "I did say that."

"So," Henry stopped walking and looked up at her. "My world, my life, it's gone?"

"Yes," Evangeline said again. "But, it is not over." She crouched down and placed her hands on his shoulders. "We can still fix this. All we need to do is find the prime timeline and make your true wish before the Wild Magics finish unraveling it. Simply, really; just a race."

"Yeah, but, if my timeline is gone, how am I still here?"

AN: Why indeed? You will find out in the next chapter.

Thank you to all my readers. I hope you are all enjoying the story. Please review! Let me know you are out there. It will help me to write knowing people are waiting to find out what happens next. Ta!