***There's important information regarding the continuity of this story in the author's comments at the bottom. If you care enough, Read It!***
Okay I got my first critic. A Guest said: I think they all should remember their dreams, with her in them. When does she come in in real life? Well the reason that Rumple remembers is because he's a extremely powerful magical being. Felix remembers because he has been in Neverland for a really really long time. Hook misses out on the memories...for now! As for the second part, right now!
On the edge of Storybrooke sits an old and omniscient house. Before the curse had been broken people would pass the house without a second thought, caught up in their own problems and continuing on with their own life. And life after the curse, well, even as people passed by the house they wouldn't notice the overgrown grass and boarded windows. They would walk past it, eyes clouded over due to the magic that shrouds the house from their view. Had anyone ever enter the house, the rundown interior would have them leaving very soon. Every room mirrored the previous. Wallpaper, peeled back and faded; dust layering the floor, windows, and the furniture. It was the stereotypical abandoned house, save for one thing. On every open surface was empty containers. Jars, bowls, bottles, and vials were strewn all about. They too, had a layer of grime, and if one got close enough they could see a liquid with a slight golden tint* swirling around at the bottom of the bottles. The fullest of the bottles is maybe a fourth filled, and the least amount being a small sip left to sit at the no one ever came inside to see the house. No one suspected the witch who lived there. And while that made her happy, she couldn't help but be bitter over the broken curse. It meant unnecessary banging and noises would sound throughout her attic. She would spend most days thinking of new ways that she would make the Dark One suffer when she got her chance, he was the one to blame for her headaches these days. Whenever she would feel a migraine coming, she would lift herself from her chair and roam over to one of the many bottles, sipping on the strange liquid.
Sam sits up in her bed, stretching her arms as she dispels sleep from her joints. Then she starts her nightly routine. As she's getting out of bed, screams of bloody murder rip through her throat. She makes her bed, keeping it nice and tidy as her voice cracks, signaling it's time for her to move on from screaming. She pounds on the door, clawing deeper into the gouges her nails have made in the solid oak door over time. She screeches again, starting to kick the little she has in her room about. She grabs the rope she has tied to her desk chair, righting it before her leg shoots out and knocks it to the floor again, making a satisfying thunk each time. She hears her mother's footsteps approaching and her heart stops for a second, this is the first time her mother has visited her since that first day she remembered. "Samantha." Even her voice sounds eviler than Sam recalls. "How have you been faring, my precious child?"
Sam slams her body against the door with all her might, hoping she has scared the witch. "Don't you dare call me that." She seethes. "I was never your daughter."
The witch laughs. "For twenty-eight years I was your favorite person, and now dear Samantha is too good for me. Don't make me laugh, you sniveling child." Her voice may be different from Sam's memories, but her words still manage to make Sam feel so small.
But then her mind registers what the witch had said, and she bangs her palm against the door, completely livid. "Sniveling? Is that what you want then? Do you want me to cry for you mother? Is that it? You're running low and need your next fix?!" Halfway through, Sam starts throwing her body against the door in rhythm to her words.
The witch speaks as soon as she falls silent."If you were never my daughter, why are you calling out for me? Am I not your mother Samantha?"
Sam hits her head with her palm, how could she had made such a stupid mistake."Don't. Don't call me Samantha."
"Oh, have you taken on another ridiculous alter ego? What is it this time Darling?" The witch hisses as soon as the last words leave her lips, realizing her slip.
Sam whispers to herself "Darling?" She has no clue as to what the witch is rambling on about now. She rams into the door again. "GO AWAY!" She reverts back to screaming at the top of her lungs until she hears her mother's retreating footsteps. Sam sits there on the floor, pulling on the rope absentmindedly to insure that her mother can't rest easy with all the noise being created. She looks down at her broken nails, contemplating whether to wash the blood out of them or not. She stares out the single window in her room, looking at the towns lights sparkling in the night. As Sam stares, a flash of red catches her eye briefly. She has been here too long and knows that the red was foreign. Sam stands up, approaching the window cautiously and jumping when she sees what it is. A shadow floats outside her window, its eyes glowing an eerie crimson. Sam doesn't understand what's going on, but the strange shadow might have answers. She pulls on the rope, bringing her desk chair to her. The girl hoists the chair up and throws it at the window, shattering the brittle glass. The witch most definitely heard the noise and moves with as much speed as she can to get to the girl. Sam knows that she has very little time and rushes to meet the shadow, recoiling as enchanted vines grow up at an alarming pace, blocking the girl's freedom. She rushes over to her bed, throwing the mattress aside to reach a hidden flask. Sam rips the cork out with her mouth and throws all of the glowing liquid at the vines. The vines start to steam and hiss as they wither away from the the window. The shadow holds out a hand and Sam reaches out and grabs it without hesitation. They race off into night, the girl holding the shadows hand and smiling down at the pretty town lights passing by them.
Mr. Gold watches the two boys collapse from his spell from his spot in the bushes. He goes to them and retrives a spear from their crumpled forms. From behind him he hears something stomping through the jungle, panting and scuffling about. When a person jumps out the bushes he pulls the spear back, ready to launch it at a Lost Boy. When Neal sees the spear he stops short, putting one hand out and doing a double take when he sees his father standing there with three marks down his right eye. "Bae?" Mr. Gold speaks softly. He shifts his grip on the spear, growing skeptical. "You're not real." He rationalizes. "You're dead."
"What? Course I'm real." His arms drop to his side in disbelief. Neal then starts shouting, "What the hell's going on?!"
Mr. Gold continues to point the spear at his son. "You're a vision, just like Belle."
Neal's hand raises again."No" His tone is almost pleading, "No way. Listen to me, I was shot... Okay, but I survived." He starts patting himself as proof he's not an illusion. "See? I'm alive."
Just Neal stops patting at himself, Gold's face twists, "My son is dead." He hisses as he strides forward. He grabs Neal's neck and holds the spear up his neck threateningly. "You're just here to remind me of my failure."
Neal manages to choke out, "That's not why I'm here."
Mr. Gold tightens his hold on the spear. "My weakness."
"Put the spear down." It's getting harder for Neal to talk.
"You're here to question my resolve. But you won't succeed. I will sacrifice my life for Henry." Gold continues with a renewed vigor, "And nothing will stand in my way."
Neal has been slowly losing oxygen and is only able to whisper out, "Thanks papa."
Gold's face crumples in recognition. He had just choked his son. "Bae that really you?" He asks, completely vulnerable.
"Yeah," When Gold hears that, he casts aside the spear and uses his now free hand to touch Neal's face.
"I thought I lost you forever." They stay like that for a couple seconds before Gold realizes they're still against a tree. He releases Neal and walks away from him, turning around to ask, "How is it possible that you're here?"
Neal grabs the discarded spear, "It's kinda a long story." He pauses, "Let's just say the debt Robin Hood owes you has been paid."
"You were back in our land?" Gold asks, half question-half statement.
"Yeah, but I made it here and the only thing that matters now is that I help Emma save Henry." Neal looks around, as if expecting her to pop out of the bushes. "Where is she?"
"I left her and the rest of them aboard Hook's ship." Gold explains, "As noble as their intentions may be, they don't have the stomach to do what needs to be done."
"Like what you did to these boys." Neal moves past Gold and circles around the unconscious Lost Boy. "They're not, uh..."
Neal trails off and Gold swivels to face him. "No they're just sleeping. For now."
"Let's leave it that way, ok?" Neal bends down and grabs the bow and arrows off the Lost Boy who still had a weapon.
"You don't have the stomach?*"
"I'll do what needs to be done. But killing Lost Boys," Neal looks his father in the eye. "We don't have to do that."
"We shall see." Is all Gold says.
"So I take you have a plan?" Neal says, changing the subject. "I thought sacrifice your life thing was just you being dramatic."
"It's the only definite way. Pan is too powerful. You can only beat him if you're willing to die. Which I am"
"You said 'definite way' this time. I knew it!" Neal looks at Gold accusingly. "I knew you had something else up your sleeve! Well tell me. What is it that can defeat Pan and save yourself."
Gold hesitates, then decides to just tell Neal. "It involves a girl from Storybrooke."
"Who is she?" Neal asks, wondering what his father could possibly be planning."
"That's why it's plan B." Gold starts. "I don't know who she is. She may not even be real."
Neal scoffs, "So your only alternative to sacrificing your life is to find a girl who isn't real, a world away? Well what if I told you I have another way?"
Mary Margaret's neck is starting to hurt from staring at the coconut lights for so long. It just looks like random dots of to her. "How can you be so sure it's a map?" She keeps her eyes on the lights as she asks Hook her question.
Hook stops looking at the ceiling, bringing his eyes down to face those who were entranced by the coded lights. "There was a short time in Neverland when Baelfire was aboard my ship." He spares a glance in Emma's direction. "I told him to navigate using the stars. What we're looking at is the fruits of my labor."
Regina looks towards Hook halfway through his explanation. "Then you can read it." She says expectantly.
"Sadly, No." Emma jerks her sight from the cave ceiling to the sympathetic Hook.
David interjects, his attention now turned to Hook also. "I thought you just said you taught him."
"Yes but I also taught Neal something else." Mary Margaret found it strange that Hook was using Neal's name, instead of calling him Baelfire. "The key to being a pirate, secrecy. Most captains conceal their maps in code." His tone is somber as he says information that will surely discourage the group. "He was an apt pupil."
"So you're saying the only person who can read this map is Neal." Mary Margaret finally tears her gaze away from the lights, but instead of looking at Hook, her attention focuses on Emma.
And when Emma speaks for the first time since looking up, Mary Margaret's heart breaks for her daughter. "Which means the only person who can read this, is dead." Emma turns and walks out of the cave waiting until she reaches the mouth to start running.
Mary Margaret and David follow hot on her heel. David calling out for her, "Emma wait!"
Emma keeps moving, not even turning completely around to shout out, "Now is not the time." Mary Margaret positions herself in front of Emma while she is talking to David, cornering her in and forcing her to talk to the both of them.
Mary Margaret tries desperately to comfort her daughter. "I can't even imagine the sadness you must be feeling," She begins, only to be cut off by Emma.
"I'm not sad I'm pissed. Yes Neal just died but I lost him years ago," Her voice breaks then, giving away her true emotion. "All that time thinking that he didn't love me, only to find out that he did and it was too late." She continues on, completely baring her soul to her parents. "I can't even tell him how angry that makes me, or how much it hurt when he left, or how terrified I was when he came back. I knew the moment I saw him I never- " Emma fumbles over her words, not quite willing to say them. "I never stopped loving him." With her confession out in the open, she rushes off, pushing past David with tears in her eyes.
David gets closer to his wife, sensing the anguish she's experiencing. "She'll be okay."
Mary Margaret isn't comforted by David's words and asks "Really?"
David starts to say, "We've done everything we can-" When suddenly he is cut off by a loud shrieking ringing through the jungle. Mary Margaret and David get close together, and the tree canopies above them rustle in a strange way. The Lost Boys in tree tops? They worry over what's going to happen when suddenly a girl drops from a tree, legs and arms flailing around as she screams. The falling girl lands on her butt, groaning and doubling over as she gets up.
David draws his sword and Mary Margaret knocks her bow, both aiming at the unexpected impostor. The girl hears the noise they make readying themselves and looks up, jumping back a step when she sees the couple pointing rather deadly objects towards her. "Who are you?" David calls, taking charge of the situation. "How did you get here?"
The girl's hands go up in surrender. "I mean no harm, honest. I'm Sam. And to why I'm here. Well, there was this shadow, and it kind of… just dropped me." She takes in the sight of the sword and the bow, her eyes lighting up. "Oh, am I back in the Enchanted Forest?" Regina and Hook run out the the cave, investigating the strange screams that the girl had made while falling. They are shocked at the scene they find, a teenager being held at sword-point by Prince Charming and Snow White.
"What on Earth is happening?" Regina exclaims, causing the girl to turn her head and look at the newcomers, surprise very present on her face.
Mary Margaret keeps the bow facing the girl, but she already knows that this girl has nothing to do with Neverland. She's standing there in pajama pants and doesn't have shoes on, she definitely wasn't expecting to end up here. While Mary Margaret is ready to trust the stranger, David still has his suspicions. "The Enchanted Forest? Who are you then?"
Her attention back to the couple, she answers straightforward. "I told you I'm Sam. My mother called me Samantha, but I don't want her to have control over any part of me, much less my name."
"Who were you in the Enchanted Forest, Sam?" Regina spits, getting ready to take out the girl if she poses a threat.
Sam cocks her head to the side, deciding whether to look at Regina and Hook, or David and Mary Margaret. She chooses to address the people openly threatening her with weapons. She grabs at her necklace, clutching it to reassure herself. "In the Enchanted Forest," Sam stares down David and Mary Margaret before continuing, "I was called Rapunzel."
* If you started reading this before this chapter was posted I edited Hook's chapter. The vial Sam gave Hook was tinted gold also. I just forgot to include it the first time around.
Well here you go! Sam is Rapunzel. While I tried to draw her story line and powers (which could be revealed later), I also drew from Tangled, because let's face it, Rapunzel's personality in that movie was adorable.
All of you who guessed was 100% right, which means I'm either good at foreshadowing or bad a not being glaringly obvious. If you guys want the story to continue let me know, because now that Punz is out there the story can really progress. ***Two comments saying you want me to continue is all it takes. :)***
polly and her cracker: This is the chapter you've been waiting for, I hope it measures up!
ElektraMackenzie: That reaction to Felix was unexpected, but amazing all the same =P
Expect the next chapter on the eighth!