A super short update! I just wanted to explain the whole 'why is Sam here' and the next episode Think LovelyThoughts is going to have a lot of my manipulation to change it to a version where Peter Pan isn't actually some creepy old man. General Disclaimer applies to the entire story: I own absolutely nothing. First part is kinda filler-y, but second part has major plot points.
Last Time on Fighting Destiny:"It just doesn't make sense." Sam mumbles, "Snow White's been dead for a hundred years
Eugene and Ada had lived their entire lives in a mundane blur. He worked at the village mill and she helped care for the neighborhood children, watching over them and teaching them the little she knew. For a woman who was so invested in caring for the youth, the townsfolk tended to spread rumors as to why the couple had not had a child of their own after twenty years of marriage. Eugene did not mind the whispers about his fidelity, rather he was clueless to the lies that circulated through his neighbors, he was content with the life he had created with his beloved wife. Ada was no stranger to what her so-called 'friends' thought about her lack of children and every year that passed without success in conceiving made her more bitter. Ada wanted children with her entire being and Eugene wanted kids in order to sate his lovely wife. They had tried their very hardest to have a baby, but nothing came from it for twenty long years. Ada had taken to staring out window of their house, gazing at the wall that kept them from seeing their neighbor's house. The cursed witch's wall was the only rumor that had been around longer than the one about the couple. Ada Stared at it everyday until Eugene would come home, imagining what would lay beyond the impregnable walls. The wall's foreboding brick started to posses every single thought that would reside in Ada's mind, becoming her own personal metaphor for her barren womb.
One day the window broke and Eugene had put up a tarp until he could get enough money to replace the expensive glass pane, urging Ada to visit their long estranged next-door-neighbors. She chatted with the mother and sent longing glances towards the babe on her old friend's breast, anxiety clawing through Ada throat as she laughs with the exhausted mother. Out of habit, Ada drifted towards the windows and when she looked through her neighbor's kitchen window, she faltered. Ada wandered up to the glass pane and placed a palm against the smudged surface. These people could also see her wall from their window, but they got a glimpse into what was beyond the wall. The base of the wall held a miniscule arched opening, made to prevent flooding from the rain. It was barred, but Ada was memorized by that glimpse into the walled area. She saw turned soil and recognized it as a garden. Ada strained her eyes and saw some rapunzel lettuce. A strong longing coursed through her and Ada experienced an epiphany. She needed the rapunzel. It was the only thing she desired in that moment, and she fled from the friends house to rush home to Eugene.
Eugene was late coming home that day, and when he walked through the door he was pulled into a passionate hug. Ada released him from her vice grip and looked up at him from under her lashes. "My lovely husband. Welcome home." She purred as a smile slowly took over her face, exposing dimples Eugene hadn't seen since the last miscarriage.
"Ada!" He wrapped her in a hug of his own, excited to see even a glimpse of the woman he married. He spun her around the house. "Did you have a good time with Karoline?"
They halted the spinning, but Ada kept hold of his hand. "I did. She was as dull as I remember." Eugene brow furrowed with confusion. "I figured out why we haven't had a babe!" His face fell but she continued on. "The witch."
"No. Ada," He put his other hand on top their entwined fingers. "the witch is just a rumor."
She pulled away from him. "Karoline's window has a view into the her garden." Eugene shook his head in disbelief. "Believe me Eugene! The garden had rapunzel lettuce! I need that lettuce."
He pulled away from her and sat down in a dining room chair. "I'll head to the market in the morning."
"No, no, no, NO!" Ada screamed at him. "It must be from that garden! It must!"
Eugene was not a violent man so when Ada had yelled at him, he remained level-headed. "I can get the same lettuce in the market, wife. There isn't a single reason to scale the wall so you can have some salad."
"EUGENE!" Ada started choking on sobs, "I will die without that specific rapunzel!" She tugged at her hair, pulling until the soft blonde strands were ripped from her scalp and into her fists. "I will never give birth without that rapunzel, I need it!" She sank to her knees.
Eugene abandoned his chair and scurried next to his wife, enveloping her in his arms. "Oh Ada. My Ada. Don't worry about the children again. Your love for children is so grand. My Ada, you are destined to be a mother. You wouldn't have such an affinity with them unless to prepare for our own." He rocked her in his lap.
Ada's fists curled around his shirt, wearing the material down. She mumbled into his shirt incoherently, sobs racked her frame. "It's going to kill me. I'm going to die without that lettuce." Eugene had let his wife cry until she had fallen asleep from exhaustion. She never brought it up again and Eugene was happy to continue on with their life. But then she got sick. While she was bedridden with fever, she wouldn't not stop talking about the rapunzel. Soon the whole town was talking about how Ada had lost her mind.
One day, Eugene snapped himself. Done with his wife's constant ramblings and the village's insistent murmings. He climbed the wall. He fashioned a rope and scaled the thing that had broken his wife's spirit. He touched down on the ground with a thump. Eugene picked at the lettuce gathering enough for a salad without looking like anything had been taken. As he was leaving, he saw a flash of gold out of the corner of his eye. Eugene turned and saw a beautiful golden flower hidden under the shade of a tree. It looked like someone had dipped a stargazer lily in gold. It shone and sparkled, drawing him in. Eugene looked around at the overall disarray of garden and the decaying house, deciding that the house was abandoned. He plucked the flower for Ada and scaled the wall again.
He set the special salad out for Ada. Eugene brought it to her on a tray, the flower in one of her favorite vases. "Ada. The rapunzel from the other side of your wall." He smiled at his wife. "I brought my flower a flower."
Her face lit up and and when she tried to voice her happiness, she broke down in a rather violent fit of coughs. Eugene rushed to her and helped her through the episode. When he gave her the salad, her gaze locked on the flower. She stared at it, memorized, before she reached out and took it in her hand. She looked at Eugene before shoving it into her mouth. Eugene let out a garbled noise in surprise. She smiled and spoke for the first time in five months. "I told you so." Eugene sank to his knees in shock. "More. I need more."
And from that, Eugene adopted a routine he never would have thought. Every day he would scale the wall and pluck the golden flowers from the abandoned garden. Since that first time, the garden had broken out in a plethora of flowers. They sprouted in odd places within the walls. He would go every day, increasing to twice a day when Ada's stomach started to swell. They were so happy when Ada started showing, both utterly convinced that the flowers are the reason for the sudden fertility. Eugene shouldered the sack of flowers, preparing to climb over the wall when a gravely voice makes him jump. "Intruder!" He whipped around to face a woman in a maroon dress with a very impressive scowl on her face. "Trespasser!" she hissed. "You'll hang for this."
Eugene dropped the bag and started to back up. "I thought it was abandoned. Honest!" His back hit the wall.
She stalked up to the bag and picked it up. "A thief?" She looked into the bag and hissed. Eugene felt the air rush from his lung as the witch started to choke him. "HOW. DARE. YOU." She started walking towards him. "To have the audacity to steal my Corona! You must have a death wish."
The witch released him, letting him make an attempt at explaining. "Please," he choked out. "My wife was sick."
She approached him and pulled a knife from a hidden spot in her dress. "She was? Past tense. Die." She whispered the last word.
"NO!" He cried, "My wife needs this. She's finally with child. Please…"
She halts advancing abruptly. "Child?" She let out a chuckle that morphed into a cackle. "Poor simpleton, you only wanted to aid your wife?" he nodded rapidly. Her smile was malicious. "Then I will spare you. Leave now." She cast open the gates with a flick of her wrist. Eugene ran away as fast as his aging legs allowed.
Eugene didn't go back after that. He listened to Ada complain about the lack of flowers, but he kept quiet about meeting the witch. The rest of her pregnancy went by in this manner. They had a beautiful daughter, and while Rapunzel was a healthy and gentle child, Eugene couldn't shake a feeling of unease.
One day Eugene and Ada slept in. Ada woke up in panic, Rapunzel's crying had always woken them up at the crack of dawn each day. She rushed to Rapunzel's crib to find it overturned and the blankets strewn. "Eugene! She's gone!" She screeched before breaking down in hysterical sobs. Eugene rushed into the room, looked at the crib, looked at Ada, and then rushed away. He left his wife behind and sprinted to the witch's house. He burst through the rotting doors to find all the golden flowers wilted and dead. The witch, and Rapunzel, were gone.
Sam sat on the ground her knees pulled up to hold her chin. She twiddles with her braid, untying the string and combing her hair with her hands before starting the process of braiding her hair all over again. David and Mary Margaret stood together, holding onto each other's hand. Emma stands across from Sam and stares down the girl, trying to gauge the truth behind the claim Sam's making. Neal crosses his arms and stands near Tinkerbelle, the coconut tucked under his armpit. Hook paces in front of Sam with his arms locked behind him. "Walk us through it one more time."
Sam doesn't meet anyone's eyes. "Snow White died a hundred years ago."
Everyone starts chattering and their voices start meld together. "It's possible." Tinkerbelle stops all the side conversations.
Neal scoffs. "Come on Tink, you've got more sense than that."
"She's right Neal, stranger things have happened." Mary Margaret adds.
David let's out a sigh, "There's a thousand a reasons why it can't work." He sighs again. "I'm not going to be the one who says that Sam is from the- the future."
Emma shifts around uncomfortably. "She can't be. I mean, for her to be from the Enchanted Forest in the future, the forest couldn't have been destroyed. And Regina cast the curse, so, she's not from the future." Emma finishes and looks at the group.
Sam looks up from her braid, reality dawning on her face. "Wow." She says and causes everyone's attention to snap to her. "Why didn't I put it together… Regina is that Evil Queen." Sam threw air quotes around 'Evil Queen'.
"That 'Evil Queen'?" Neal asked, making the same air quotes.
Sam nodded her head. "Ever since the complete and utter failure of the Evil Queen, dark magic has basically vanished." Sam ponders her word choice for a second. "No one really has magic anymore."
Mary Margaret sits down next to Sam. "If you know what happened to Regina, do you know about me and David as well?"
Sam nodded, her loose hair moving everywhere. "You became the fairy-tale; beat the witch, have a bajillion kids, and live happily ever after."
Mary Margaret got a far off look, "A bajillion kids?"
"It was more like eight, but that's still a lot." Sam looks down at her hands. "After Emma was queen, her son became king and that angered some of your kids."
Mary Margaret got sad at the prospect of her 'future' children being malicious to her grandchildren. "Wait? I was queen? Am queen- will be- would be… I would have been queen?" Emma ran through the possibilities.
"Come on Emma!" Neal huffs out. "You can't fall into this bullcrap too. There's no way that Rapunzel knows- knew" he annoyingly huffs, "Will know, the history. She's been in a tower all her life."
Sam gets off the ground, leaving Mary Margaret behind, and meets Neal's eyes. "Sometimes I would ask Anthony to tell me stories. He usually just recited from a history book he read when he was little. Eventually I just asked for the book." She finished with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Anthony?" Emma asks.
The guilt that shows through Sam's eyes has a sobering effect on Neal's anger. "The boy. No, the man who was going to save me from the tower. I asked for a book and he gave me a small history book."
Tink grows skeptical, "That's very convenient. Only one book?"
Sam helps Mary Margaret get up before turning to Tinkerbelle. "I only know what I've read. It wasn't a big book."
Hook stops his pacing. "So, Darling. It would seem you are from a future that will never happen." He breaks out into laughter. "And here I thought you were a companion. It seems as though you're just another pawn in Pan's game."
"Hey." Sam says sharply, eyebrows creasing and frown forming on her face. "I'm not a pawn in anything."
Hook gets in her face, "You're full of shit. The future. The Future!" She grows anxious, hands going to her necklace out of habit. Hook catches the motion and his eyes flash. "This vial. It's reminds me of one that Pan held his Pixie dust in." Sam snarls and Hook's hand flies out to rip the necklace from her throat. His index finger grazes the vial and he is thrown back five feet with a flash of gold.
Don't be mean to Jarvis, he tries his best...
You're namesake comes from my first stowaway's family.….
Take this as thank you. It can help you out of a sticky situation…..
His darling family? Or his family Darling?...
I'm the Pirate Girl!...
Sam screams and rushes to his side, Emma close behind. "Hook, Hook!" Sam shakes his shoulders.
Emma hits his shoulder, trying to rouse him. "Killian!" she yells.
Hooks's lids crack open. He sits up and looks at Sam. "I believe you."
Wowza! And that is why people were only having visions of Rapunzel. She was supposed to escape to Neverland, but somehow Gothel stopped her. Which will be revealed in the epilogue. While I'm on that topic there will be at least five more chapters left in this story, and there is a possibility for a sequel. THE SEQUEL would be about Rapunzel's future time on the island kind of like Felix's visions, but not in italics. But let's finish the story first.
MateriaGirl16: Grammar is a weak point of mine and I really try to make sure it's right before I publish. So Thank You soo much for your comment, I loved it!
StandStillTime: Really? Favorite Rapunzel based fanfiction? Little ol' me? I'm tearing up I'm so happy. Please continue to read the story and hopefully enjoy.
lially: Thank God you thought it was suspenseful... You rock!
MusicalLover17: This was a longer break than most my updates so don't worry. I'm usually a weekly updater. Can't decide between Sundays and Wednesdays though, ideas?
The Gryffindor Demigod: Uhhhm, YES! It was the first real reaction between Pan and Sam (I only now realize that their names are close rhyme) and it's pretty fun.
So this is the most comments between updates for me, I don't know if it's because of the longer time period before updating or you guys just are really nice and loving. Comments are appreciated and loved.
Next Time: I'm going to twist a quote from Tangled into the dialogue. Go to my profile to vote for which one to use. And if you think you have a good one I didn't cover but you REALLY think it will be amazing in my story, comment or PM.