Good afternoon! (It is afternoon here)
Here is the next chapter of "Drink the feelings dry" - we will keep getting deeper into the story, see something more of Morgana's past AND... meet a new character.
As always, thanks to everyone who has read / reviewed / favorited / followed - every notification makes my day, so, yeah - THANK YOU.

I hope you will enjoy the new chapter :)

-Ell

They just kept walking through the forest, as they had been doing for days now. The man walking beside her and holding her hand didn't know her true identity and for that she was glad. If there was one thing her father taught her well, it was to never reveal her true identity.

She knew that for people like her and her father, enemies were everywhere… but this time was different. It didn't take long for her to realize that this man was different, that he was a true and honest soul, but she was the daughter of the Dark One. If she told him who she really was, who her father was, would he look at her in the same way? Would he be afraid of her? Would he run from her? And what if in some way, someone would find out as well? She would be putting herself and him in danger. On the other side, what if her father heard about a man travelling with his daughter? He was quite overprotective of her, he would kill him.

No, to her companion she was simply Morgana, a noble girl who had decided to leave her comfortable life to travel the world. She wouldn't change that.

"Thinking of the comforts you have left behind?" her companion asked, his voice full of humour.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh yes, I was thinking about my pretty castle"

He held her hand tighter, bringing her closer. "You shouldn't be in this forest with a huntsman and a wolf. You should be in your pretty castle, as you call it. I can see you, you know? Wearing a beautiful dress, dancing with a handsome prince. Safe and happy"

She stopped walking and looked at him, completely serious. "I am safe and I am happy" she stated.

He sighed, looking almost exasperated. "This is no place for you"

"You didn't complain so much when we first started to travel together"

"That's because I couldn't care less about you, now I do and that means that knowing you are safe is more important than being with you, for me!"

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes again. She leaned even closer to him, looking straight in his eyes. "It also means that for me, being with you is more important than going back to my old life. I'm not going back. I'm happy with you, while before… don't misunderstand me, I wasn't unhappy. I'm not going to lie, it's not like I was miserable, but I was never completely happy. There was always something missing. I wanted more than being kept in a castle looking pretty. I found that now" she confessed. "Why are you so intent on sending me away?"

"Because I'm in love with you" he whispered, then he leaned down and kissed her.

It all happened in a second. Her heart filled with complete happiness, while her mind filled with terror. He was in love with her. She was in love with him, too, but she knew they couldn't be together. Well, they were already together, she reasoned with herself, but it was different. They had never talked about love. Caring for each other, yes, but love… love was a different matter.

She knew now.

She had to leave and that was what she would do, but first, she wouldn't deny them a short moment of illusion. "I love you too" she answered.

… and that's why I'm going to break your heart, she finished in her mind.

The morning after was, quite ironically, a rainy day. When Kaya entered Granny's at 7 a.m. sharp, there was no one as usual. Well, almost no one.

She sat at the counter and ordered her usual coffee, trying to ignore the Sheriff. They had never been that close… well, in this world, at least. There was also the small fact that after having seen him leave the Mayor's house the night before, she didn't really feel like talking to him.

As irony would have it, this morning had to be different. He turned towards her and nodded in greeting. "Good morning, Miss Fox"

"Good morning" she replied, politely, smiling gratefully at Granny when she placed the cup of coffee in front of her.

"It's… early" commented the Sheriff.

"I must be at work in an hour, so… I could say the same about you, though"

"I needed a coffee, I've been having nightmares all night… actually, now that I think about it, you were in most of my dreams. I don't know why. I must sound crazy" he said, looking down at his own cup of coffee.

Kaya looked at him more carefully. He seemed distressed, she could almost see the weight of all his thoughts on his shoulders. No matter how heartbroken she had felt the night before, she felt sad seeing him like that. "Don't worry, I've heard talking about strangers or people we don't know very well can help, sometimes. What did you dream about?" she asked, curious.

"We were in a forest. You and I. I was… I was holding your hand and we were talking. It was strange, though. We had strange clothes, for example. Medieval clothes. The next dream was still about you. There were men dressed in black, they were attacking you… you were hurt… and I remember I wanted to save you"

"Did you?" she asked in a whisper.

"I did. I told you… I told you I would always save you" he confessed, almost embarrassed.

She smiled softly to herself. He's having flashbacks. He is starting to remember his old life, he feels the thoughts of his old self. He thinks they're just dreams, though. If he tells Regina about them… she will know he's remembering. She will also know he and I used to know each other, she thought suddenly panicking. She leaned closer to him and took his hand, surprising him.

"Listen to me. Carefully. Don't tell anyone about these dreams. I cannot explain and I know you don't know me, but you have to trust me. I have to leave now" she explained, before standing up to leave. He stood up as well, he grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked, still surprised.

She looked up at him and smiled softly. "You saved me… in your dream, remember? I suppose I owe you a favour. I know it sounds strange, but don't tell anyone about your dreams. They're not just dreams, that I can tell you, but nobody must know about them or both of us will be in danger" she explained, before leaving the diner making sure no one had seen them talking.

After a long day in the hospital, she was finally going back home. Everything was pretty much the same, they had never had too many people coming in, luckily.

Dr Whale was still trying to take her out on a date, no matter how disastrous the previous ones had been.

Prince Charming though had woken up from his coma and left the hospital in the middle of the night. Considering Graham's dreams as well, this could not be a mere coincidence. She had to talk to her father. Deciding she couldn't wait anymore, not even one more minute, she took out her phone and called him.

As always, he answered right away.

"Morgana? Are you alright?"

"Yes papa, I'm fine"

"Then why are we using this stupid instrument?" he asked. She had to laugh at his hate for technology and modern things in general.

"I need to talk to you, papa… the Prince has woken up, even if he doesn't remember anything at all and the Huntsman, well, he has been having strange dreams… I think, I think they might be flashbacks from his old life"

"Of course, that was to be expected. With the Saviour coming to Storybrooke, the Curse is weakening. Especially now that Miss Swan is working as vice to the Sheriff. I can feel magic coming back to me, stronger every day. Good news, dearie, this is good news. I'm afraid I don't hear your happiness though, is there something you wish to tell me?"

"The Sheriff has confessed to me about his dreams… what if he tells Regina, as well?"

"Why would he talk to her?"

She scoffed at her father's false innocence. "… I know they are sleeping together. I saw them last night. Now, if he tells Regina…"

"If he tells the Queen, he will die"

"How can we help him?" she immediately asked.

"We can't" he replied, now sounding bored. When she remained silent, her father scoffed and she could almost picture him rolling his eyes at his daughter's good heart. "Fine, I'll see what I can do" he conceded. Not that he cared much for the Huntsman, but he knew that his daughter's gentle heart would never allow her to just wash her hands of the Huntsman's life and let him die. She would get involved and she would probably get hurt in the process. He had to avoid that. He had to protect his child.

She smiled. "Thank you, papa" she said before hanging up. She moved towards her car, when she noticed a man had parked his motorbike and now stood leaning against it. She had the impression he was waiting for her, judging by his smile.

She reached her car wanting to leave as fast as she could, but she stopped when she head the stranger laugh, obviously very entertained. She turned around, finding him standing right in front of her, too close for her taste. "Who are you?"

"You don't need to be afraid of me… Morgana"

Her eyes widened and she tried to move away, but the stranger kept her in place holding her arms. "How do you know my name?" she asked, frightened.

"Let's just say I have a special interest in fairytales" he replied, smirking.

She looked at him, uncomfortable at their closeness. "Do I know you?"

"No, we have never met back in the Enchanted Forest… I was a little boy, then. I used to live with my father. Come on, you look smart, you can guess"

"I would say Hansel, but I don't see a sister… besides I have already found those kids" she reasoned. The stranger just nodded, clearly entertained by their little game.

"… I don't know" she admitted, defeated.

The stranger just laughed. "You don't like losing, do you? Alright, you got me, I'll tell you. I'll blame your pretty face for making me give up. You can call me August, that's my name in this land. Back in the Enchanted Forest, though… I was known as Pinocchio" he explained, finally letting her go.

She took a deep breath, suddenly relieved. "I feared you would turn out to be someone evil… well, you have grown up" she commented casually, before realizing her own words. "Wait, you have grown up. How have you grown up?"

August laughed. "I was sent here before the Curse, with the Saviour, but things… well, things didn't work out"

"I see… well, why are you here now?" she asked, intrigued.

He smirked. "You want to break the Curse. So do I"

Kaya didn't go home that night. She didn't want to look at her father and lie so that he wouldn't find out about her love for the Huntsman. She didn't want to keep lying about every single thing in her life. She had never liked lying, that was one thing that made her different from her father.

So she had stopped with her car at the supermarket, bought a bottle of vodka and stopped at the edge of the woods to drink it by herself.

So far, she wasn't liking it. She had never been one for drinking, even in the Enchanted Forest and here, well, she was a doctor. She knew better than most the bad effects of drinking.

Right now though, she didn't care. She just wanted to keep crying and drinking, drinking and crying, at least until she would forget her heartbreak.

Graham was sleeping with Regina. She knew his heart had been taken away, she had heard about it, but that only meant he wasn't in love with the Evil Queen. Attraction was another matter.

"He doesn't have his heart, little fox"

She turned around in a swift movement, seeing her father limping towards her. When she opened her mouth to say something, he just hugged her and held her tight.

"Don't say anything" he just said.

"How did you know-?" she asked, sobbing against her father's coat.

"How did I know that you were here? Because I know you, you're my daughter and that means that no matter how grown up you are, I know that you want to be alone when you're sad. How did I know that you were sad? Because I am your father and I can almost see your heart broken as you stand right in front of me. How did I know that your heart is broken over the Sheriff? Honestly, little fox, you think that I've never kept an eye on you when you left the Dark Castle to explore the world?" her father explained, caressing her hair.

"All this time… you always knew…" she kept sobbing, though she was relieved she didn't have to explain everything to her father.

"I always knew where you were, with whom, what you were doing. I watched you fall in love with the Huntsman, I watched you running away from him. You looked happy with him"

"I was happy. Why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you tell me that you knew? All this time I fooled myself into thinking that I could be able to keep secrets from you… what a fool"

"You're not a fool, dearie, but keeping secrets from me is not easy… especially when you're my daughter. As you may have noticed, I'm quite overprotective of my child" he joked, wiping her eyes from the tears.

She laughed, still sobbing. "I think I may have noticed"

"Yes?"

"Just a bit, papa"

"I also know that you have met Pinocchio. So the wooden boy wants to work with you"

"Are you angry, papa?"

"Quite the contrary, little fox, quite the contrary. I think he could be useful to us, but if you want to keep things secret, you have much to learn. Now let's go home"