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Henry found himself standing in the forest, but not the forest of Storybooke, no he could feel the difference, and he knew he was in the Enchanted Forest of Fairytale World. The sound of voices caught his attention and he noticed a group a people taking a rest from travel in a nearby clearing.
"I'm so tired of these endless journeys " A girl whined.
"Your father the King, is a lonely man. But have faith. Someday his wandering will end." The woman with her smiled and the child reluctantly smiled back.
Then he noticed the young princess's face, it was Snow White as a kid. It was so weird, she couldn't be much older than he was, this must be what Emma feels like he thought. Henry leaned forward trying to get a better view and when he did he saw someone hiding behind the tree line at the other edge of the clearing. As soon as he saw her he knew she had seen him too, and as he realized that, a sick feeling settled at the pit of his stomach. The boy stumbled backward into the leaves with a thud.
"What was that?" One of the guards asked having heard Henry's clumsy footsteps.
"Probably just a wolf," Another of the guards answered as he scanned the area. "All the same we should probably continue on."
"Alright Princess back in the carriage." Joanna instructed the girl.
"But I thought I'd get to go on horseback for the next part of the trip." Snow frowned and crossed her arms.
"Not if there's wolves about," Snow's caretaker tried to usher her toward the carriage. "Now hurry up."
Henry peeked back over the fallen tree truck he'd been hiding behind, and watched the royal procession head out. He could no longer see the woman who had been lurking on the opposite side of the clearing. Well that was easy enough Henry thought to himself. He knew that Snow had met Regina when her horse had gone wild, so if Snow was riding in the carriage then everything should be fine. This time when his mom became the Evil Queen she wouldn't be able to blame Snow White. He stood up about to take the stone out of his pocket planning to return home when in a puff of smoke the woman he'd seen appeared.
"Who are you," The witch asked, her eyes studying him eerily.
Henry didn't bother to answer, he knew this woman must be trouble and he should get away from her as quickly as possible. Without another thought be began running aimlessly through the woods just trying to get away from the witch. He hoped those royal guards were still close enough as he called for help but none came. As he jumped over a log his backpack fell from his shoulder and as he attempted to lift it back up he tripped and tumbled to the ground with a yelp.
A puff of smoke and the woman had caught up to him, "Running from me is foolish."
Henry tried to inch away but the woman had magic, he was trapped and powerless. Just when he feared the worst would happen he could hear the sound of horse hooves approaching quickly and in an instant the witch had disappeared.
"Are you alright?" A young woman dismounted her horse and helped lift Henry to his feet.
Henry was about to say he was fine but when he looked at his rescuer's face all he could do was stare. It was his mom, but that's not what surprised him, it was that she looked so different, and not just because she was younger. It took him a minute to realize the real different was because she looked happy and in that moment he realized he'd never seen her smile without an underlying layer of sadness or malice.
"What?" Regina shook her head and chuckled amused by this boy staring at her with an unusual sense of awe. "Never seen a woman ride like that?"
"Never," He answered after realizing he hadn't actually responded to her original question.
"Regina." She introduced herself with a smile.
"I'm Henry…" he paused, he'd almost said Mills which could have made her suspicious. "Henry Swan."
This was all too surreal he thought. He'd been so sure that his mom had always been evil that seeing her like this turned his world upside down. He was a total stranger to her, but still she'd come just because she'd heard him call for help. All this time Henry had believed she must have been born bad, but perhaps evil wasn't born it was made.
"Hey I saw that fall. Are you alright?" A man who looked slightly older than Regina asked.
"Yeah I think so…" Henry mumbled still trying to come to terms with this version of his mother.
"Daniel," Regina walked over to take the hand of the man who'd joined them, "this is Henry, Henry this is my very good friend Daniel."
"Hello Henry." Daniel came over and shook the boy's hand. "Where are your parents? Is your father here?"
Henry shook his head no.
"What about your mother? Is she nearby?" Regina asked.
"Umm you could say that…" The boy responded awkwardly. Then seeing the bemused look of his company added, "it's complicated."
The three of them stood there silently for a moment. Part of Henry just wanted them to go so he could use the stone to return to Storybrooke but another part of him wanted to spend time with this Regina.
"Well would you like us to help you look for your mother? She must be worried sick." Regina was the first to break the silence.
"No!" He said too quickly to be natural. Trying to look for one of his mothers was pointless as she was standing right there and the other wouldn't be born for years but obviously he couldn't tell them that. "What I mean is she said she was going to a market and um I was supposed to wait here and she'd be coming back for me."
Regina and Daniel exchanged a look, clearly not believing his story.
"Did you run away from your home?" Daniel asked.
The boy looked back and forth between the two, "You don't know what was like with her. I'm angry all the time… she was making me crazy."
As Henry let out his feelings he watched the concern on his younger mother's face intensify. Regina knew the kind of feeling the child was talking about, she knew if it weren't for Daniel those words could very well be coming from her own mouth.
"Henry how would you like to come join me for dinner, perhaps stay in one of the guest quarters and figure out what you want to do about your mother tomorrow?" Regina offered.
"Really?" He didn't want to admit he liked that plan but couldn't hide the excitement from his voice.
What was one day anyway? As long as he had the stone he could return to his own time and besides he still had to keep his deal with Rumplestiltskin. His paternal grandfather had made it sound as if his very life depended on delivering the note and although he didn't really trust him, in this instance he didn't really want to risk it.
"Of course you can stay, but I must apologize in advance." Regina frowned. "My mother may be cross with me, I'm afraid I've made myself late for tea."
"I'm sure she'll understand, you were helping someone." Daniel tried to reassure her.
"You really don't know my mother." Regina sighed.
Regina mounted her horse gracefully and held out her hand to Henry, with a boost from Daniel the boy was seated behind his mother.
"I'll see you later?" Daniel asked Regina.
"Yes." She nodded then looked at Henry. "Hold on tight."
Henry did as he was told and in a second the two were galloping across the countryside. It didn't take long to make it back to the grounds. Henry had been impressed by his mom's skill at riding and told her so once she'd put her horse back in his stall.
"Thank you," Regina smiled brightly. Riding was something that she loved and even dared to take pride in. "I love horses. Mother doesn't really approve but riding keeps me sane."
Henry bit his lip not wanting to say the first thing that had popped into his mind. As they walked toward the house, which, to Henry's mind seemed more like a castle, an older man walked out to greet them.
"Daddy," Regina exclaimed gleefully.
Without any hesitation ran toward her father and embraced him. Henry watched in awe, this girl was nothing like he expected his mother to be.
"Darling, you know how your mother gets." The gentleman spoke to his daughter.
"I know daddy but look, we have a guest." Regina gestured to the boy. "This is Henry Swan."
"Hi," Henry waved and gave them a crooked smile.
"Nice to meet you lad, my name is Henry as well." The elder Henry introduced himself and shook the boy's hand.
"Henry's going to be joining us for dinner and I've offered him a room for the night." Regina explained as they entered the house.
"You're late for tea." Cora's voice called from the other room before Henry Sr. could respond. "If I've told you once I've told you a thousand times,"
"A lady never misses her tea time," Regina chimed in with Cora but rolled her as she turned and knelt down, trying to make Henry look as presentable as possible before her mother walked in.
"Regina, dear, this house is not a charity we can't afford to be taking orphans–" Cora stopped speaking and scowled at the boy she recognized from just having ruined the very good plan she'd orchestrated.
Regina and her father were still facing the younger Henry so they couldn't see the contemptuous glare that had flickered on Cora's face but Henry could and it made him swallow nervously.
"You know what… she's right I should go." Henry tried to back away. Cora terrified him and he feared spending one more minute with her, he couldn't imagine how his mother had lived with her for her whole life.
Of course had known Cora was bad news but he'd never actually seen her face. In the book she always wore a mask as the Queen of Hearts so he didn't realize until this moment it was Regina's mother who had been lurking in the woods stalking the young Snow White.
"No actually," Cora now had a fake smile plastered on her face, "I insist you stay. My daughter was so good to offer you a room, I wouldn't want to make her a liar."
Dinner was an awkward affair and the hours leading up to it Henry had refused to leave either Regina or Henry Sr.'s side for fear of being alone in a room with Cora. He didn't trust her and she knew it, the only thing that kept him safe was Regina's and her father's ignorance of the danger. Once their meal was finished Cora took Regina aside for a lesson and one of the servants showed the younger Henry to his room.
Alone in the guest chambers Henry pulled out the parchment Mr. Gold had made him promise to deliver. All he had to do was say the Dark One's name and he should appear.
"Mr. Gold I summon you." Henry commanded. After a moment of nothing he smacked his hand to his forehead feeling foolish. Gold wasn't his name here.
"Rumplestiltskin I summon you!" he amended.
Again nothing happened. Henry frowned, after a third attempt with no results he decided to give up and put the note back in his bag, but as he turned around a face was inches from his own.
"Why have you called me boy," The Dark One asked.
Of course he'd seen Mr. Gold in his fairytale form in his book, but on page and in person were very different things. Henry was so startled he only managed to fall backward and stutter.
"Not very intelligent are you." Rumplestiltskin eyed Henry curiously. "You're going to need to be more articulate than that of you want to make a deal with me."
"I don't want to make any deals." Henry stood finally finding his voice.
"Oh," Rumple leaned closer to the boy and whispered loudly in his ear. "Then why'd ya summon me?"
"I have message for you." He held out the paper.
"Ooo, a message for me?" Rumplestiltskin clapped his hands and began to hop around the room like a maniacal four-year-old before he snatched up the note. Once he'd grabbed it however the imp became all-serious, continually looking up from the message to study the boy.
"Well," Rumple spoke again once he'd finished reading. "This should be interesting."
Swiftly he plucked some hair from the boy's head and with an eerie giggle and a puff of smoke Rumplestiltskin disappeared.
After a moment of bewilderment Henry shook off his confusion and went in search of Regina. He didn't make it very far when he bumped into the elder Henry.
"Oh, I'm sorry sir," he apologized, "I was just trying to find Regina."
The older man chuckled, "Has the young master developed a slight infatuation with my daughter?"
"Ew no," Henry made a face.
"Still to young then for those kind of feelings," Henry Sr. smiled and patted the boy on his head. The younger Henry was about to object but then realized it wasn't like he could tell this man Regina was his future mother. Fortunately he didn't have to explain as the older Henry continued speaking. "Regina's room is just four more rooms down this hall on the right."
"Thanks," He continued down the hall.
The door to his mother's room was slightly ajar and he could see her reading by candlelight. It all reminded him of when he was younger and he'd had a nightmare. He used to sneak out of his room and he always found his mom reading.
"M… I mean Regina?" He called to get her attention.
"Henry?" she looked up from her book and smiled. "Come in."
"Was your mother very mad about tea," Henry hesitated, "and… you bringing me here?"
Fear flickered for a moment on the woman's face, "Oh, well she just wanted to know who you were. She was a little upset when I had no information to tell her, but its all right my mother loves me."
Henry knew she wasn't saying everything, he couldn't have imagined Cora would be gentle when asking her about him. He stared trying to figure Regina out. How could she be so sure that Cora loved her when she treated her like that, and what did that say about him since all he did was doubt that his mother loved him?
"Tell me about Daniel." Henry changed the subject. "Was it love at first sight?"
"How did you know?" Regina asked nervously.
"Its pretty obvious." Henry rolled his eye good-naturedly. "Don't worry I won't tell I just wanted to hear about you two."
Regina fiddled awkwardly with a loose thread on her blanket for what seemed like ages before finally speaking.
"It wasn't love at first sight." Regina recalled. "I suppose you could say the first thing I felt when I first saw Daniel was shock."
She was ten when her father brought her to the stables to meet her new pony and riding teacher. As soon as she saw the young stallion being lead out she new it was hers. She wanted to run up to the horse but knew that would only startle him so she waited still he was brought to her.
"Regina, meet Daniel." Henry introduced them.
"You're my new riding instructor?" She felt insulted to be taught by a boy not much older than she was.
"Be nice dear," Her father had told her. "Daniel here is very good with the horses and you'd do well to listen to him.
"Hello" Daniel smiled at her. "Have you ever ridden before?"
"Of course I've ridden before." Regina replied hotly and marched toward the arena.
"It was almost four years before I could even admit I liked Daniel and another year before I realized that I loved him. I mean he was the stable boy and I was well… me." She shrugged with a smile," but he never gave up, he was always there for me, still is. Sometimes I think if we could just run away everything would be ok. Mother wants me to be queen but I just want him, is that too much to ask for?"
"No, its really not." Henry frowned.
"Oh, I'm sorry I've made you uncomfortable." Regina apologized. "Mother always tells me I'm too free with my thoughts."
"Its not that..." He trailed off.
As Henry had listened to her story he realized what he had to do. He had been wrong his mother wasn't evil, she had done horrible things but he could change that. He knew now that if Regina ran away with Daniel she wouldn't become the Evil Queen. That would also mean, though that he would never be born because Snow and Prince Charming wouldn't have to send Emma through the wardrobe, but even if it meant his own life Henry had to do the right thing. He had to give his mothers' their happiness, Regina would have Daniel, and Emma would get to be raised by her parents.
"You should do it." Henry finally told her with determination. "Run away with your true love."
"Henry, I can't its not that simple."
"It is, it has to be. Leave tonight, deep down you know your mother won't change her mind about Daniel but you can run away. You can be happy, just not here."
Realizing he was right Regina smiled hopefully and kissed his forehead. "Would you like to come with us?"
"I would, really I would but I think I should find my mom." Henry told her, though really he'd just figured he'd start disappearing or something now that he'd changed the past.
Regina nodded and grabbed her cloak and her bag, "I'll never forget you Henry Swan."
Henry hugged her then ran back to his room not wanting to say goodbye. From his window he watched her sneak over to the stables. It wasn't long after she'd arrived there before Henry saw two horses galloping away.
That was it, he thought, but as he sat in the room nothing seemed to happen to him. Henry imagined he'd disappear or at least start to fade away or something. He even pinched his arm but the slight pain made him believe he was still alive. He sighed thoroughly disheartened. Perhaps letting her escape with Daniel wasn't enough, maybe she still becomes the Evil Queen after all.
So what do you think? Should I keep going?