Part 16 : And after ?

The wave of magic crossed the town, touching all the inhabitants, even the ghosts, and they breathed more easily, understanding what happened.

Archie started when all his memories, his real memories came back into his head, and he felt bad. Really, really bad, and he understood many things. He clenched his fist, and he became pale.

He had been wrong, so, so wrong !

He knew then that everything he did before had just been a mistake, and that he was one of the responsible of this disaster.

He never felt as miserable as during this day.

And he wasn't the only one.

Ruby was working when her perception of the things suddenly changed, and surprise and shock made her let the objects she had fall. She began to tremble when she realized that what she believed as true wasn't.

And Snow ?

She wasn't there, not any more, separated from Emma, just as the Black Fairy wanted.

And she was dead.

Just as Snow was…

She remembered then what Henry told her, about his family, who was dead, and she fell on the ground, crying.

I am sorry Snow.

At that moment, Snow White really regretted that she was a ghost…

This day, one of the strongest regrets of the inhabitants of the town was that they all abandoned Henry Mills to his fate, and that they never believed him, and never listened to him when he called for help.

The awakening was brutal for some of them, seeming as a bucked of water on the head. They all had the impression to wake up after a party, and having a great hangover.

Except that the party itself was more a nightmare than something else.

The day wasn't easy for everyone.

Blue woke up with a start, when she had again her memories back, and she stayed on the ground, stupefied. She trembled too, and she had a grimace of disgust by looking at herself. Her body wasn't really in a good state, after what Fiona did to her.

Her clothes were also in shreds, just as her spirit, in fact, and she needed many time before she was herself again.

She stayed there, shocked, immobile, conditioned by years of suffering and submission to this monster that the mayor was. If there was something she would have wanted to forget, it was these memories, there. She wanted to vomit, but she was also hungry, and exhausted.

She had to go out.

A wave of remorse crossed her when she understood that a part of this madness was her fault, that she was the one who made the bad choices in the past. She looked at herself again, and could just say to herself that maybe she deserved it.

I want to go.

Could she ? Had she the right to do it ?

What she lived there, she remembered it, and knew that she would never talk about it.

What the Black Fairy did to her…

She never so much wanted to forget something.

§§§§

Ruby was still crying, comforted by her girlfriend.

Snow was looking at it, without being able to do anything, powerless. She was crying too. With joy. Relief. And sadness. She missed her friend, and she felt a selfish joy because of the idea that Red remembered and suffered as she did.

But she was also sad for her.

They won, after all this time, it's true.

But the taste of victory never seemed to be so bitter.

§§§§

Belle also was hit as the other, and things weren't good. She was thinking about what Neal could have the intention to do, and saw herself as being idiot for accepting to let him alone. Something wrong would happen, she had the intuition of that.

Some time, she thought about going to the shop, so she would understand this story, what was happening, and also that Neal talks to her, that he trusts her. And maybe that she wanted to reason him.

She ignored that she was one of the people in town in who he trusted more.

"Mom… are you okay ?

Belle turned in the direction of her son, and smiled. Gideon really was one of her greatest joy, and she could just smile every time she saw him. He was an adorable child, and she really didn't want to see him grow up.

- Yes, darling, I am okay."

She had books in her hands, that she was putting away, as she had nothing else to do. Some seconds after, she let them fall on the ground, as her son was calling her, worried, not understanding what was happening.

Oh.

She remembered.

She remembered, and it wasn't pleasant.

Really not.

Belle's body began also to tremble, and horror submerged her.

Oh no…

There were things she was sure of before.

Magic doesn't exist, her world is normal, and nothing will ever change.

All of that just disappeared.

As she put one of her hands on her cheek, she realized that she was trying. She didn't really remember the things before the curse, just that her husband defeated the Black Fairy, and gave back Gideon' heart and…

She froze. Her husband lied to her. But he tried to protect Henry from Fiona, so maybe, just maybe that he didn't entirely fall.

And she remembered something else, something terrible.

Emma was dead.

In all the things that could be true in the curse, she would have sincerely wanted that it wasn't this.

§§§§

"MOM !"

She started, and turned in Gideon' direction. She threw herself on him, and embraced him in her arms. As he was ten years in this version of the story, and that Fiona' spell didn't disappear, he remembered nothing, and in a way, it was better.

He was afraid too, terribly afraid. His mother seemed to be terrified, with no apparent reason, and he didn't understand.

"What is happening ?

- I don't know, Gideon, she lied, I don't know."

The first thing that came at her mind was there was a curse. The second, it had been broken. The third, Emma and the other died.

And the last, Neal is alive.

Then, she froze again, remembering what happened at the shop.

And he knows.

She had to talk to him.

As he saw the ravaged face's of Belle, he almost wanted that she remembered nothing.

And Belle read on his face the answers of her questions.

He broke the curse.

And the other, Emma' family…

"They are dead, right ?"

Neal nodded, and Belle came into his arms, and she began to cry again.

"I am sorry, he whispered, I am sorry, I am sorry.

- You know what ? She answered after a while. Despite all of it, Neal, I am happy to see you again."

And there, he remembered that, from her point of view, he was dead since a long time. He smiled.

"I am happy to see you too again Belle.

Behind her, the pirate was smiling, and Neal smiled too, in return.

And after ?