Henry opened his eyes again, hoping that it was all just a dream. It wasn't. He knew by the stench of mildew and the moistness in the air that this was all too real. He looked down at his hands, zip-tied to a sturdy metal post. His legs were wrapped around the pole, like a frog on a branch. Henry's eyes surveyed the room, looking for his doppelganger. He didn't see anything but a faint light radiating from the bottom of a secured metal door at the other end of the room. He knew this could be his only opportunity to escape so he began chewing the zip-tie like a trapped wolf gnawing off its own paw to get free.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said the voice in the corner of the room. "They are enchanted, the harder you fight, the tighter they get."

The boy emerged from the corner again, his eyes glowing in the dim lighting.

"Let me go," Henry pleaded. "My Moms will be looking for me soon and they will find me."

"I'm counting on it," he said as he opened the door and disappeared into the bring light.

A whistle came from the corner of the room and it startled Regina. She whipped around, fists tightened, ready for a fight. There was no one there. She saw a green LED light blinking on the nightstand out of the corner of her eye.

"He left his phone, he doesn't go anywhere without this thing," Regina said out loud to herself.

She rushed to the nightstand, picked it up, and slid her finger across the screen.

"Enter password."

"Damn it Henry."

She hovered her hand over the phone and swiped the air above it, unlocking the phone.

"See. Magic does come in handy," she said, almost as though she was reassuring herself, as she opened the text. The recipient was "Swan," she was interested and continued to read the message.

"Hey Henry, I really like spending time with you, but you have to tell your mother about us. I don't want to go behind her back anymore."

Who is Swan?

She opened the pictures on Henry's phone and there, next to him, stood a blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman. They were smiling. He smiled like Regina hadn't seen him smile before. She had to be twice his age and this made Regina uncomfortable, though, she could help but admire how beautiful she was. She felt a twinge of jealousy, both for Emma and Henry. She went back to his messages, but that text was the only message in the inbox or outbox. The phone had been wiped clean and the only things remaining were the pictures and the one lone text. Holding the phone still, she replied to Swan's text.

"Hey i told her need 2 talk meet at the diner in 20 min," she typed.

It felt like an hour before she got a response, though it had only been five minutes. The phone finally whistled again.

"K."

Regina pocketed the phone, threw on her jacket, and rushed to her car.

The door opened once again, it was Alt-Henry. He glided into the room, almost as if he was hovering over the ground. The door slammed behind him.

"Who are you?" Henry screamed, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness.

"You know who I am," Alt-Henry replied.

They were face to face, it startled Henry when he could finally see in front of him.

"What do you want?" Henry begged.

"You know, I've waited a very long time for this. I have been watching you Henry, since you were born. You don't think it was an accident that you were adopted by the Evil Queen, do you?"

Henry's eyes fell to the floor, he was puzzled.

"You did, didn't you?" Alt snickered as he talked. "You're so innocent. How do you think you found out who your biological mother was? Luck?"

"What is all of this about? What's so special about me?" Henry asked, scowling.

"All in due time," Alt said. "Just wait."

Emma Swan sat at her desk, working diligently as she always did. Her pant suit was a bit too big and always got caught on the bottom of her rolling office chair when she switched positions. Swan stood up to leave, her legs felt like cement from being in the same position for 6 hours already.

"Another twelve hour shift, check. Too bad I don't get paid overtime."

She turned off her computer monitor and headed down the hallway. She got to the elevator and started to step inside when she heard a ding coming from her computer speakers, it was an email. She wrote it off and entered the elevator. As it beeped once again, the doors closed and the elevator began to descend.

It was 1 am before Swan inside her small, dingy Boston studio. The neighbors on her right side were arguing, as per usual and then she heard the crash of glass breaking against the wall. She jumped and quickly locked the door, kicked off her shoes, and headed to the kitchen. She opened her refrigerator and there were 5 packets of ketchup, an empty bottle of wine, and 3 day old Chinese food. She grabbed the to-go container from China Chow and popped the General Chicken and fried rice into the microwave for 3 minutes. Her feet dragged across the floor when she shuffled towards the bathroom. She heard a beep, it wasn't the microwave. Another email? Swan shrugged it off and continued walking towards the bathroom. It beeped again, then again, and again. It didn't stop beeping. She felt a sick feeling in her stomach as she headed towards the computer. It started beeping louder and faster, as if she was playing a game of hot and cold and she was scalding. It felt like her heart and the computer were synonymous. She sat down, grabbed the laptop, and slid her finger across the mouse-pad. The beeping stopped, so suddenly, when her email finally popped up on the screen.

"257 new emails," it read.

All of them had no subject. Emma nervously clicked on the first one, empty. The next, empty. Empty, empty, empty. She got through at least half of them when she took a deep breath, feeling a little relieved. She was about to mark them all as spam when she heard one beep and her inbox updated.

Subject: Open Now, Emma Swan

She was still nervous, but opened it anyways.

Body:

I left you something, something important. Check with 4B.

That was her neighbor's apartment, not the crazy ones, the quiet one.

Emma stood in front of 4B and knocked, nobody answered but the door creaked open.

"Nikki?" she asked, but there was no response. "Nikki, are you here?"

Nothing, so she pushed the door open all the way. On the end table, next to the ugly green couch by the door, was a small metal box that was illuminated by the eagle lamp that stood behind it. On the box there was a note with a key on top. "Open me" the letter read, taunting her. She felt excited, like how she imagined Christmas morning was supposed to feel. The key fit perfectly in the hole, and she turned it. The top folded off and revealed an envelope; Swan grabbed it and ripped it open. A picture of a little boy crying fell out. She didn't recognize him, but she felt as though she had known him forever. On the other side of the picture, a small inscription was in the corner.

"Henry Mills

123 Meadow Lane

Storybrooke, Massachusetts.

YOUR SON"

"That's impossible," she thought.

The envelope still felt hefty so she dumped it out and inside were a set of keys with a VW keychain and $5000 in cash. Outside was a beat up, pale yellow, Volkswagen Beetle. The street light reflected off the white paper of another note, sitting on the dashboard. Emma rushed out, shutting Nikki's door and locking her own.

The car was a little weathered, though it didn't matter much to her. The door was hard to open, but she got it open, sat the in the driver's seat and snatched up the second letter. It was like a treasure hunt.

"See for yourself," it read.

A green powder engulfed her face, it was burning her eyes. She looked down, clawing at her eyes, trying to get it to stop and when she looked up she was no longer in Boston.

"Welcome to Storybrooke."