"Once Upon a Time" and any characters featured in the show belong to their proper owners, in other words, not me.
Thanks again to Kedi and all those who have read this fan fiction.
Henry burst into the sheriff's office with Pongo trotting behind.
"Hi Emma!" he greeted his birth mother and deputy of Storybrooke.
"Kid? What are you doing here?" Emma strode to Henry and put her hands on his shoulders, "You okay?"
"Yeah, fine." Henry said cheerfully. He shrugged off her hands and hastily whispered, "More importantly –"
"Henry?" the sheriff stuck his head out of his office. Stepping into the main office area with his usual swagger, Graham crossed his arms, "Shouldn't you be at your appointment with Dr. Hopper now?"
"Oh, we – uh – ended the session early." Henry said, trying not to meet Graham's eyes. "Actually, Archie needed to go to Boston today. He said something about a book. Pongo couldn't just stay at his office, so I offered to bring him here. He needs someone to watch him until he gets back."
"Boston, huh?" Emma lifted an eyebrow, recognizing the hint behind Henry's words.
"Well, today's been pretty slow. I don't see the harm of Pongo hanging around." Graham took Pongo's leash and led him to his office, "It'll be a refreshing change to have another guy to talk to." He sent Emma a teasing grin. The deputy rolled her eyes and shot an annoyed glare back at her boss.
Henry pulled on Emma's sleeve and waved a hand toward his face. Emma inclined her ear, confusion clear on her features.
"Something big has happened!" Henry whispered excitedly, "Operation Cobra: Code Green! Bigger than the mine collapsing! But I have to gather more details. Meet me at Granny's Diner in an hour."
Emma stood and looked like she was going to argue. At his determined stare she raised her hands in defeat. "Alright. Granny's in an hour." She grabbed the back of Henry's ever-present, gray backpack before he could dart off, "First, promise you're not going to be running around getting trapped in mineshafts or worse."
"I promise." Henry nodded. When Emma didn't immediately let go he reasoned, "I have my walkie-talkie. I'll call you if I get into trouble." After searching for any falsehood on the boy's face, Emma released him. He smiled brightly and bolted from the office. "See you in an hour!" he called back to Emma as he ran out the door.
"You better!" Emma shouted back, "If you aren't there, I'm going to start looking for you in the mines!"
The deputy put her hands on her hips and turned away from the door. Graham stood leaning against his desk and smirked.
"What?" Emma challenged him.
Graham raised his hands in mock defense. "Oh, just admiring your parenting skills."
"Shut up." Emma growled half-heartedly and returned to her work.
Outside the sheriff's office, Henry knelt down next to a potted fern. The boy glanced around taking extra precaution to keep his back toward the office before holding out his hand. "All clear. Sheriff Graham will look after Pongo for now. Emma said she'll be at Granny's in an hour."
Archie ducked out from behind a leaf-covered branch and kicked the dirt off his feet before stepping onto the boy's palm. First hiding in Henry's hood then a decorative plant, two things he never thought he would have to do – besides learning how to operate backwards legs and wings, of course.
"I'm going to need a drink after all this," the cricket mumbled to himself.
"What?" Henry asked, not quite hearing him.
"Oh! Um," Archie shook his head and straightened his vest, "Just feeling a bit parched is all," his whisper of a voice made the fib believable enough, "I'll be fine." Dr. Hopper hated to lie to the boy, but under the circumstances…
Henry stood with a shrug, lifted his therapist-turned-cricket, and placed him on his shoulder. With another cautious glance around, Henry left the station and turned toward the Library.
"Now," Henry started in his let's-get-down-to-business voice, "We have to retrace your steps last night. What were you doing before you made your wish?"
Dr. Hopper's antennae twitched in thought. "I was home. I was," he chuckled and looked up at Henry, "I was thinking about what you said to me in the elevator down in the mines." Everything you've ever told me about the curse was true…
"Okay," Henry picked up his speed; "We can start looking around your house first. What did you do next?"
"I walked with Pongo to my office. It was my usual route." Archie added, glancing at the Storybrooke clock tower. Henry mentioned in one of his recent sessions that Emma made the clock move again; he claimed it was a sign the curse was weakening. It was so strange to think of curses and magic and fairytale characters as truth. Well, Dr. Hopper supposed, no stranger than anything else today.
"In that case, we'll take your route back then make our way to Granny's to meet Emma." Henry stated with a grin. The boy had a knack for making plans. "Even if we don't find anything right away, you're still a cricket. That's got to be proof enough."
After a long silence in thought, Archie spoke up, "Henry, I know I'm a – a cricket and this seems so silly to ask now. Do you really think I could be Jiminy Cricket? What I mean to say is – how… how could I forget being someone else?"
Henry slowed and looked over at Archie. "I know you're Jiminy Cricket. It's just this curse," he insisted as they passed a hardware store, "It keeps you from remembering who you are. Who you really are – Someone's coming out of the shop!" Henry turned suddenly to shield Archie from sight, "Hide! You can come back out when we're closer to your house."
Dr. Hopper did as he was told, jumping into Henry's blue hood. He didn't want to imagine what would happen if someone saw him on Henry's shoulder. Jiminy Cricket or not, he doubted he could stand up against a rolled-up newspaper now.
Sinking down into the fabric, Archie chuckled at his predicament, "Being a cricket must have been easier before the curse."
Two days had passed and on the morning of the third, Jiminy found himself in front of the little house where he had last seen the boy. He stood far from the door, afraid to confront the child. He'd taken Geppetto's family from him. Intentional or not, how could the boy ever forgive him for what he'd done?
Did that matter? Forgiven or no, Jiminy had an obligation to care for the child. Nervousness could not get in the way of it.
Taking to the air, Jiminy flew to the window and looked inside. No… it couldn't be.
The house was dark. No fire burned in the hearth. It was as empty as he and his parents had left it – more so. The child and the puppet remains of his parents were gone.
Gone.
"No," Jiminy muttered, "Oh no, where could he go?" He fluttered to another window; still nothing. "He's only a child. Where…" Then he remembered. Yes, there was a little town nearby; his parents had performed there. The boy could have gone nowhere else; it was the only town for miles. It wasn't far down the road, Jiminy could just smell the smoke and various cooked foods of the marketplace.
There had to be someone there who knew where the boy went.
Flying as fast as his wings would carry him, he sped through the trees until he spotted the edge of the market. Men, women, and children were awake and walking through the streets, already buying and selling wares. Jiminy flew to the closest stall. A portly woman was busy sweeping bits of dust and hay from beneath her assortment of freshly picked gourds.
"Pardon me, Ma'am." Jiminy landed on a large pumpkin and waved to get the elder woman's attention, "I am looking for a young boy who lives not far from here and –,"
"Ugh! A cricket." The old woman frowned, brushing her thick hands on her dust-covered apron, "Shoo, you blasted thing. I'll have no bugs in my produce."
"Y-yes, ma'am." Jiminy held up his hands in apology, "I am a cricket, but I mean no harm to your business. I just need to know if you've seen a boy named Geppetto."
The woman turned and grabbed her broom, "I said off with you!" With a swift sweeping motion, she knocked Jiminy off of the stall and sent him to the ground.
"Oof!" Jiminy landed roughly on his back. Picking himself back up again, his shook the dust off of his wings and brushed the dirt from his shoulders. The nerve of that woman, he grumbled to himself. Hadn't she heard him? He urgently needed to find Geppetto. Who knows where the boy could have gone in four days' time?
Giving up on the old stall woman, he flew to a nearby blacksmith's bench. Landing on the grinding stone, he called over to the burly smith.
"Sir!"
The smith straightened up and turned about, not quite looking at Jiminy.
"Sir!" Jiminy repeated louder and was glad to get the smith's attention. "I'm looking for a boy. He lived not far from here. Recently orphaned? A young lad." Jiminy tried to explain.
"Another cricket," the smith seemed to mutter to himself, "too many this harvesting season." He turned with a grunt and continued hammering a lump of glowing iron.
Antennae twitching in frustration, Jiminy flew in front of the man, hovering at his eye level.
"Didn't you hear me?" Jiminy pleaded, "I must find the child!"
"Shoo!" The smith swatted at him with his hammer, nearly pummeling the poor cricket.
Still in the air, Jiminy turned to the nearest person, a woman with a basket of carrots. "Miss, I'm looking for a little boy." She ducked and scampered away from him with a squeak of surprise. Turning again to a young man in a shabby vest, "I need to find a boy named Geppetto. Can you understand me?" The man walked away, saying nothing. Jiminy flew to a nearby table full of villagers eating and talking. Landing in the middle, he shouted, "Can any of you understand me?" Jumping in unison, the villagers swatted and swiped at Jiminy until a chunk of bread connected with his chest and he fell to the ground.
"Why aren't they listening?" Jiminy asked in dismay, as he untangled himself from the pile of hay in which he had landed.
"They can't hear you," came a soft reply from behind him.
Jiminy twisted around, finding himself dwarfed by a kneeling woman. She offered a slender hand on which he gratefully hopped.
"People in these parts do not hear magical creatures. Gifted animals are far more common in the north where the Forest is more dense and dark." She grunted as she stood with difficulty, putting her other hand on her bulging belly. "You are not a gifted animal, though, I can tell that much. What could you have done to be cursed like this?"
"I was not cursed," Jiminy corrected her, relieved at being understood, "I chose this. I … I have a debt to repay."
"Ah," she nodded thoughtfully as she walked towards a small shop front on the edge of the market. "So, you have done something."
"Yes," he admitted sadly, flying off of her hand and to a windowsill, "I cursed a child's parents with a poison meant for my own. I have to find him. The Blue Fairy –"
"The Blue Fairy? I thought the Reul Ghorm was a myth," the pregnant woman sat on a small bench beside the window.
"As did I, but she is very real and very kind." Jiminy picked at his jacket as he continued, "She … could not undo the damage I had done, but she gave me a chance to care for the boy. By giving me another form, I could escape my parents and find him."
"She did more than that, it seems," the woman gave Jiminy a pitying look before turning her gaze to her swollen abdomen. "What is your name?"
"Jiminy," the cricket fluttered down to stand beside the woman, "and yours?"
"Clarisse, after my grandmother." She turned and, seeing Jiminy's gaze, she laughed softly, "I'm expected any time now. My mother-in-law says I am having twins."
"Oh! Congratulations. Sorry, I didn't mean to pry." Jiminy looked back towards the market, suddenly reminded of his predicament.
"The boy…" Clarisse asked, getting the cricket's attention, "he was from here?"
"Yes," Jiminy said, hope rising in his chest, "he was a young boy. He and his parents lived in a small house not too far into the woods. His name is –,"
"Geppetto?"
"You know him?" Jiminy took to the air excitedly, hovering in front of the woman's face.
"I know of him." She corrected. "After the disappearance of his parents, the cobbler's wife brought him here. He claimed his parents were transformed into puppets… you did that." Jiminy visibly deflated, nodding. "Most folks assumed his parents abandoned him. You could imagine the shock. Those who knew them say they were good folk, albeit private. He has family in the north and was taken by the tradesmen two days ago."
"Two days?" Jiminy asked in despair and dropped back to the bench. The tradesmen traveled by ox driven carts and horseback. He had heard throughout his childhood that the land a tradesman could traverse in a day was easily double that of a walking man. Who knows how far they'd gone? How could he possibly catch up as a cricket? "Do you know where the boy's family lives?"
"I do not. As I said, I only knew of him. The only one who would know is the cobbler's wife, but she went with him to ensure his safety." Seeing the life fly from the cricket's black eyes, she lightly brushed his back with her thumb. "Don't lose hope, Jiminy. I may still be able to help you. You see, once my children are born and strong enough for travel, my husband and I will go to my childhood home. It is a village in the far north. If you wish, you can travel with us until you find the tradesmen. I'm sure they will remember where the boy left them."
"You would do that for me?" Jiminy asked, overcome by her offer.
"Yes." Clarisse nodded and looked back to the marketplace, "You are not the first cursed being I've met. Kindness is a rare treasure for them."
"I was not cursed." Jiminy insisted quietly. Clarisse only nodded and rubbed circles on her stomach.
Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think.
And just a thought: I've noticed a boom in Archie related stories. I have to say it pleases me greatly.