1. My initial plan was a more direct Ivy/Henry fic for this song, but it kind of went into another direction. I know it's not all that it was supposed to be, but it's been sitting in my computer half written so I decided to at least finish something.
2. I was asked by Always Reading for a continuation of this part and I stumbled upon this song that kind of fit the flow of the story. I'll do part 3 of course, I have some song ideas but I would appreciate it if you guys gave suggestions. So uploaded again, hope you enjoy.
At times, Anastasia felt like no time has passed since the fateful winter day that had started the avalanche of unfortunate events. She still acted the big sister to Drizella, even though she was not older than her now. It was strange, to say the least. Anastasia had been told she was some sort of a guardian and she had no idea what it meant. Probably that she has some great ultimate purpose. Whatever it was or would become, she would willingly fulfill it. Right now, she was content with being her sister's guardian. Because Drizella desperately needed one. There were surely some gaps Anastasia needed to fill to fully comprehend her sister's past actions. But if there was something she knew without a shadow of a doubt is that Drizella was not all bad, but she was broken and Anastasia would find a way to fix her.
While glad to have escaped the wrath of the mysterious witch hunter, Drizella has been low-spirited upon their return. Anastasia wasn't sure why, they were back home, safe and together. However, Drizella had been crying. She was hiding it well, but Anastasia knew her sister's sad face all too well. Maybe she was thinking about the cursed people she left behind. Whichever it was, Anastasia took it upon herself to investigated.
"Drizzy!" she ran into the library where her sister would spend her afternoons, "I did it!"
Her sister turned to her, somewhat concerned, "Did what?"
"Maximus got spooked by the mermaid and Tomas couldn't keep him steady and let go of the reins. It went so wild. I was so scared and-"
"What?!" she began inspecting her, "That old fool!"
"Relax. I'm fine. I panicked but I did like you taught me and I managed to control my magic."
"You could have hurt yourself." Drizella shook her head and pulled her into a tight hug, "Don't ever scare me like that again. But I am proud of you."
Anastasia shrugged in a poor attempt to conceal glee, "It's nothing."
"Of course it's not nothing, but you have to- wait. Where were you?"
"When?"
"When Maximus went wild."
Anastasia looked away. In excitement, she forgot to hold her tongue, "Around."
Drizella cupped her chin and made her look her in the eye, "I told you not to go to the lake. Mermaids gather there. Why would you disobey me when you know they are dangerous?"
"I don't know."
"That's not the answer."
"I go there because you're sad."
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, all you do is take care of me and read some book you won't let me see, but whenever I see you alone you are quiet and sad. And you look tired, like you're not sleeping." she knew Drizella wasn't sleeping, she often saw her from the window late at night.
"Geez, thanks sis. But you're mistaken. I got you back, safe and sound. That is all I wanted."
"But is it all what you need?"
"I will always need you, Anna. Don't ever doubt that."
"I don't, it's just... tell me what happened in Hyperion Heights? You never talk about He-"
"That's enough. I told you all you needed to know, so drop it."
Drizella was turning to leave when Anna shouted after her, "I want you to be happy, Drizzy. Tell me how to fix you, please."
"You will grow to learn that some things just cannot be fixed." Drizella replied without turning back. She hoped Anna would never have to experience the feeling.
Since they've returned home over two weeks ago, Drizella slept uninterruptedly twice maybe. And that was only because Anna was too afraid to sleep alone in her own bed. Drizella would wrap her arms around her sister, letting the long forgotten feeling of sisterly love lull them both into sleep. Those were the dreamless nights. Those were the nights when she wouldn't feel like she couldn't breathe under the weight of Gretel's phantom corpse. Her mother's final words echoing her nightmares as the killer's blade was flashing before her eyes. She often dreamed of Henry as well, in dreams the memories of their time together would alter in a second and he would fall in front of her, dying from her poison, with final realization of her ultimate deception clear in his eyes.
She would spend days trying to find a way to fix it, to fix the unfixable it seemed as finding the cure was next to impossible. She was trying her best and she could not succeed. If felt sometimes like being stuck in reverse.
"I want to help." Anastasia came, she was being persistent about trying to fix things as well, even though she didn't know the half of it.
Drizella looked up from the books. She couldn't even be mad, "How would you do that?"
"We should go back to Hyperion Heights."
"We shouldn't. There's no reason and it's not safe."
"They caught the killer. But the curse is still not broken."
"How do you know that?"
"I just do."
"Anna."
"The mermaids. They can jump across realms and Detective Weaver wanted to keep an eye on me, make sure I'm all right."
"Detective Weaver? Anna, he is the Dark One. He's dangerous. The fact that he probably has nothing to do with this curse is a miracle. Do you know-"
"I know we need to do the right thing." the wind was getting stronger, sign her magic was beginning to get out of control, "You told me you did bad things because you were afraid. And now you are afraid to do good things."
"Anna." she took her hands, "Calm down."
The wind was not dying down.
"It's the only way to fix you."
"There's nothing you or anyone can do to fix me." she feared the tears would come streaming down her face. It was like she lost something she could not replace. And she knew exactly what that something was. She loved, she finally felt what it was like to love someone and it went to waste. Could it be worse? She was too in love to let it go and move on.
"We'll go back, find a way to break the curse and save Henry and you'll be fine again."
Drizella hugged her, laughing at the simplified plan.
"I think you care about him more than you show." her sister murmured, "And he will forgive you."
"I'm not worth forgiving. I still cannot believe you forgave me."
Anastasia pulled away, "If you never try you'll never know if you're worth it. And I know you are."
"Why do you have such fate in me?" Anastasia's innate optimism was always incomprehensible to Drizzela.
"We're sisters, and I know you. Give me your hands. Come on." she ushered when Drizella scoffed, "Trust me."
Drizella took another calming breath, "Fine. Let's do this."
"Close your eyes, concentrate." Anastasia told her like she did many times before when they were both children, "Lights will guide you home."
Home was no longer their castle, it hasn't been for a long time. She felt magic ignite her bones. She knew what was about to appear, "I can't leave you, Anna. I will not risk losing you again."
"Good, 'cause we're going together."
The portal opened, with the streets of Hyperion Heights looming before them.
"Seriously?! Is this your thing now?" Regina huffed and took the empty beer bottles away.
Henry, his chin resting on the bar counter, looked up but said nothing.
"You re starting to act like a petulant child, Henry. I didn't rai- What I want to say things are looking up, aren't they? You just got to be patient with Lucy and Jacinda. Come on, chin up." not long now, she promised. She would find a way to remove that poison from his heart if it was the last thing she did.
Grudgingly, he sat up, "It's not... I'm waiting here for..." the rest remained unsaid, as his eyes drifted towards the entrance door.
"For?" Regina was loosing patience. She couldn't wait for all this curse troubles to be over so she could teach him a lesson about dealing with pining in such manner.
"Someone."
"Someone?"
He gained some perspective after the whole being kidnapped by the serial killer thing. He had been reviewing every moment spent in Nick's presence, thinking of the clues he might have missed. There were some. Not many, but still, he should have figured it out. Yet, another unrelated realization had struck him. That night with Rogers and Nick at the bar, the night similar to this one, as he was waiting for a girl to walk into the bar, for a brief moment, just a passing thought maybe, one person had come to mind, "Do you think Ivy might stop by?"
"Excuse me?"
"Ivy. Do you think she'll walk right in tonight?" he doubted it. She hasn't returned his calls in weeks. Funnily, it felt sometimes like only yesterday they saw each other. His heart was hoping that she would walk in and tell him all those things she regretted. Was that too much to ask?
"Henry, she's-"
"I mean, Nick's caught. He can't hurt her, right?" when Weaver told him that she was the one person who escaped the Candy Killer, he wanted to go to her right away. 'She's in protected custody. If you want to help her, take this book and find the killer.' Later, everybody was assuring him it wasn't his fault Nick did the things he did, but Henry couldn't not feel responsible.
"No, he can't." she didn't know what else to say. That girl left a much bigger mess than Regina had thought. She shouldn't have ignored the signs.
Henry shifted his weight, again watching someone moving outside. He closed his eyes. The lights were coming down the drive and he could feel them dancing on his eyelids. He could almost forget that she wasn't here. 'Do you still think of me sometimes? Do you feel this rough?' Henry wondered. He recalled her rare smiles, always with a hint of something sad, still her smiling face could lit up the Sun. Sighing, he came to realize this would be another night he would end up watching the Sun come up, feeling fucked up, "I'm calling it a night, Roni." he got up, focused of keeping himself steady, "Sorry if I bummed you out."
"Henry?" she called.
"Yeah?" there was pity in her voice. Why?
"Sometimes things seem confusing, but wait until you get all the facts. Ok?"
"All I want is for things to make sense. Is that too much to ask?"
She shook her head, something tightening around her chest. Unable to console her son, she watched him walk away.
Henry stepped onto the pavement. Cool breeze hit him and the sudden change of temperature was making him feel woozy. No, he was not drunk, not after two beers. It was some defeatism filling his soul. He watched his shadow dancing alone under the light of neon signs. What was he going to do now? Things were moving according to some grand plan, it's like he could see the finish line, happy and perfect life. He wished there was another path, with its destination unknown.
Another shadow appeared, mixing with his, motionless. He looked up, and he could swear his heart skipped a beat, "Hey."
Ivy, wringing her hands, uttered, "Can we talk?" a hint of a shy smile passed her lips.