A/N: One word, magnitude of possibilities:

"Real"

In their world, Enchanted Forest or Storybrooke, Maine, it was getting hard to tell what was actually real. First she was just a young woman trying to find herself in a go nowhere town; stuck in a vicious cycle of the day to day. Now that the fog had cleared, both figuratively and literally, she had found the wolf and the part of her that could tame it; the strong young woman who was an adviser and close friend of Snow White. Then both of her selves clashed in her mind and she couldn't see which was real- or more meaningful.

'We are both,' David had once said. She wished it was that easy.

Were her days cursed as being Ruby any less or maybe even more important than her time as Red? She learned and became a different kind of strong as Ruby, but she also forgot what she promised herself she wouldn't. She was dangerous, human or wolf. Everyone that she had let in to her heart had been hurt in one way or another; especially those who were fortunate enough to steal her heart- or in the process of- would meet a horrible demise. Ruby didn't know that. She was blissfully unaware of the second curse that seemed to follow Red.

But she knew now. How could she not? It was real, a real hard fact that she had to remember or risk another person's life.

"Ruby?"

Ruby picked up her head and looked up into a pair of bright blue eyes. A small, genuine smile spread on her face, "Hey, Archie."

The red head shuffled his feet in front of her seat on a park bench. He rubbed the back of his head, "You looked distracted."

"More and more each day," she nodded to the empty spot next to her. He took the seat quickly and she noticed, "No Pongo today?"

"Henry offered to walk him for me today," Archie breathed out as if he was holding his breath, "Anything to keep his mind off of current events."

"Yeah, it's a little crazy around here, even with Emma and Mary Margaret back," Ruby nodded and rubbed her hands together in thought, "I have a question."

"Shoot," he leaned back against the bench and threw one of his arms over the back of the bench, barely missing her shoulder blade.

"Are you ever unsure?"

"Of many things," he nodded with a tilt up of one of side of his mouth, "Anything in particular?"

"Like what is real and what isn't," she turned her body to face him and pulled one of her legs into her chest with her arms while the other hung over the side of the bench, just shy of hitting his, knee to knee.

"Are you having any delusions?" he asked with a good natured chuckle.

"You'd like that wouldn't you?" she giggled back and tapped the side of her head, "To get in there and figure out what makes me tick."

"I already know you're secrets, Ruby," he reminded her with a soft smile, "You haven't scared me off yet."

"Surprising, but true," she nodded and rested her chin on the knee pulled toward her, "But seriously…"

"Hm," he hummed, looked up at the sky and took a deep breath to think it over as he usually did while she asked a particularly deep question. He seemed to love those. He let out the breath slowly and turned his eyes to rest on her, "Sometimes, when I was just Archie, I had strange dreams and woke up wondering what was real. Then the curse would slam me back into 'reality' and would forget all about my dreams of being a cricket. Something like that?"

"No, not quite," she shook her head and took a look up at some clouds hanging over city hall in a pretty arrangement, "We now have two lives in our heads. Two lives of regrets and lessons, of friendships and failures. How can we decide which one is more real?"

"Both of them are," Archie said immediately and looked at her with a small frown, "Ruby, you are no less real than you were back home. It's confusing, I know, but you know when things are real. You know when they are not. Even if someone says different. You follow your heart and you will always find the truth."

Ruby smiled at his easy answer and in her heart, she knew she believed it. She tilted her head to the side and shook it in jest, "How do you know the right thing to say at just the right time?"

"It's my superpower according to Henry," Archie smirked and laughed lightly.

"It's fitting," she nodded and clasped her hands over her knee as she thought over her next question, "Do you think that now that I have the wolf, that I am safe?"

"I feel safer with you around, I can't speak for anyone else," he shrugged.

She chuckled lightly, "If I didn't know that you can't lie worth straw, I wouldn't believe you."

"But I always tell the truth," he looked at the sky again.

"Yes, you do," she said softly and put her leg down to reach out toward him. As she did so, her hand passed through the one that was sitting on his knee. He followed her hand as it passed through him and then retreated back to her own lap.

"Then you know what I am going to say now, don't you?" he asked and looked up to her face which was now dripping tears.

"Please don't," she shook her head swiftly, making some of the tears fly from her cheeks, "Just this once. Don't tell me the truth. You don't have to lie, just don't… don't say it."

"An omission is just as bad."

"Let me… let me just have this," she tried to reach again and felt only air. She choked out a sob for a moment and covered her mouth with the hand. The man that wasn't there looked at her as if in pain for her. So much like Archie, but she knew it wasn't, "I wanted to tell you so much. The things I regret are the things that were never said."

"I am sorry, Red," he said in a gentle tone.

She squeezed her eyes shut to try and clear some tears, "So am I. I am sorry I never told you that-"

As she opened her eyes she found the park bench empty. He was never there. He was still dead, killed by an evil witch in his own office trying to help her. He was buried just yesterday under the shade of the forest trees, his umbrella over the top. He was the second man that she had ever let into her heart, and he paid the price just like Peter without knowing what he had done to earn such a fate. She put a hand where her mind had seen him sitting; cold wood answered her touch back.

Ruby questioned what was real and what wasn't because she wondered above all, despite what she has seen, if love was real. If it was the most powerful magic of them all, why it seemed to be poison to those who she chose to share it with?

She took another deep breath and folded herself over the park bench to snuggle into the imagined warmth he might have left behind. As another sob left her throat she closed her eyes and let out the last of her confession. A confession he had never heard, and never would. The last real thing that she knew for sure.

"…that I love you."

END

A/N: Was trying to make this seem like Snow and Emma had just gotten back, but in reality, it was during 'The Cricket Game'. Guess she was having delusions after all. A bit on the depressing side, but it popped into my head and here is the result. More to come, my readers!