A/N: I took Sophia to the Enchanted forest! And, because no one really seems to have the same name in the real world, Sophia's real name is revealed in this chapter. With the Enchanted Forest, you're going to see Sophia and Mr. Gold's relationship before her bitterness started to grow, so keep watching for their interactions. I have big plans for them, ones I'm really excited about. Please read and review in the meantime!
In remembering the Enchanted Forest, a few things stick out, the biggest being the fear people often held when dealing with my father. I really never feared him, not after Bay disappeared. After he was gone, my father started treating me a lot differently. I went from being a girl he only kind of listened to, but adored greatly, to someone he did everything to keep around. I think he was always afraid of losing me the way he lost Bay, which was why he held onto me tighter, and treated me like a princess in my own right. I was only six when Bay disappeared, but I could still remember that day clearly, however I wasn't about to think about that. Rather, I was thinking about the Evil Queen, and how she never seemed to fear the curse.
One of my last memories of the Evil Queen was from the day when she came trying to understand why one of my father's curses hadn't worked. He had been in prison at the time, and while I didn't see him often, I did see him on occasion. My father may have been cruel and terrible and a menace to the Prince and Princess, but he had still been my father, and that meant I got to see him. I never went in the cell with him, but I would play outside the cell, and the day she came, I remember.
I had been playing with my doll, one I'm sure one of the fairies had given me. My father had been sitting against the bars of his cell, listening as I talked about my doll and the forest when he suddenly told me to hide. In the small area, there weren't many places to hide, but I'd managed to press myself against a nearby wall, finding a hiding place in the shadows. I don't think I would of needed the shadows anyway, she seemed too focused on her goal of getting answers to think about the fact that I was there, my doll close to the hem of her dress as she demanded answers from my father.
I can't remember their conversation exactly, my young mind unaware of how pivotal this moment would be. I sometimes try to expand my memory, try to recall the words, but I can't. Instead, what I remember were my father's words about the curse needing what she loved the most. At that age, I couldn't understand, and when she left, I came out of the shadows to talk to him.
"What does she love most?" I asked, picking up my doll again, knowing that at my age, the doll was what I loved most. I couldn't understand the idea of loving someone at that age.
"I don't know Say," Short for my real name of Satayana, a name changed to Sophia when I entered the curse. "Everyone loves something different," I brushed my dolls hair back with my hand.
"What do you love most, Daddy?" I asked, looking to him, his frame looking oddly thin to me as the bars cast shadows on his skin.
"You pumpkin, always you," I smiled, looking back at my doll. Looking back on it later, I sometimes wonder if that was true. He had loved someone after all, people besides me. Now that I was older, I sometimes wondered if what he loved was himself, or if what he loved was the memory of the woman he claimed was his one true love, a little brunette that used to clean our house. I didn't think he ever loved my mother, I never heard him speak of her after all. I know he loved the brunette though.
"Daddy, what's a curse?" I asked, only understanding the basics of magic at my age. The fairies said I had power, and that I would be good for curses, but I had no idea what a curse was.
"It's dark magic, magic that shouldn't be messed with, it has a lot of consequences." My father said as the guard appeared with my fairy guardian in tow.
"Time's up," I stood up and gave my father a smile as I clutched my doll tightly against me.
"Bye Daddy," I said, starting to follow the guard and my fairy.
"Pumpkin wait," I turned at the sound of my nickname. "Always remember to say please," I looked to my fairy guardian, who gave my father a nod of assurance before continuing to escort me out. Even in this world I didn't understand why he said that, only that he still insisted I say please to everyone, no matter how much I didn't like them.