Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time or it's Characters, they belong to their respective owners. I do, however, own Storm and her alter ego as well as Striker and his alter ego and their story line. This has come from the haunted, depraved, tortured darkness that is my mind.

Ok lovelies, so I'm back on this site now, I've been through a bit of RL shit recently and now I'm slowly getting better, I did plan on coming back a little while ago but RL got in the way, I have all my stories posted over on AO3 (Archive of our own), I'll be posting there first and updating here within a few days, right now I'm just going through and updating all my stories to the points that they're at on that site.

New Recruit

=Ms. Star's P.O.V=

I woke with a jerk and sat up right before flopping back down on my bed, I was tired, drained, like something or someone had bled me dry over the night. I slowly swung my legs over the edge of the bed and started towards the bathroom.

I turned on the shower waiting for it to warm up and looked towards the mirror and cringed, there were two dark shadows beginning to form under my eyes, I started at myself for a moment longer before turning away and stripping off ready to step into the shower.

I groaned lowly as the heated spray hit my shoulders and ran down over my chest, I leant against the wall and braced myself on my hands letting the water run down over my spine, I hummed softly as I stretched and felt the vertebrae of my spine shift and move back into place, the occasional one giving a dull pop or crack as they stretched out.

I glanced through the foggy glass of the shower wall towards the star pendant hanging on the edge of the mirror; I watched it for a moment and shook my head lightly. They're all jut stories, just goddamn fairy tales, they never happened. I ran my hands through my hair and sighed heavily before having a small mental debate over whether or not I should take the day off or not.

I rubbed shampoo through my hair letting it sit as I hummed along to a tune I could never remember the name of before finally beginning to sing along with it.

"What does the free fall feel like?
Asks the boy with a spark in his eye
Know why the nightingale sings?
Is the answer to everything"

I closed my eyes rinsing the shampoo from my hair before beginning to scrub idly at my skin, I ran my fingers over the top of the scar across my chest and wet my lips wondering just how the hell I was ever going to explain it to anyone if they ever asked about it.

"Taking a step to a world unbound
Spinning my fantasies all around
Freed from the gravital leash
I swear the heaven's in my reach"

I traced the top of the surgical scar under my ribs and felt the muscles clench slightly before relaxing, I was beginning to struggle with everything, I was beginning to struggle with the memories I kept seeing. There was no way it could possibly be possible for Henry's stories to be true, they were just that, stories, they were nothing more than a bunch of old fairy tales. I felt my chest tighten slightly, the lingering feeling of something missing niggling in the back of mind.

"Dancing with the spirit of the air
In this ocean so open and fair
Making love to the gods above
On my maiden voyage so bold"

But if they were just stories then what other explanation did I possibly have for these flashes, these fragments of memories, reality was beginning to make less and less sense each day and these stories only seemed to gain more and more sense, well in my mind at least.

"Landing safely to the blue lagoon
Don't know if this is the earth or the moon
Joy of living is no more a mask
The Eden I found will forever last"

I groaned shutting off the water and wrung the water out of my hair before pushing it back, I stepped out of the shower and grabbed my towel wrapping it around my tightly before wiping the fog from the mirror, I stood staring at my face for a moment and reached out tracing the reflection of my jaw line, my fingers lingered on the mirror.

"Migrating with the geese
My soul has finally found peace
Doesn't matter that man has no wings
As long as I hear the nightingale sing"

I glanced towards the star hanging on the edge of the mirror before reaching out to stroke it, I sighed softly drying off and replacing the star around my neck before quickly changing.

I stood at the counter and sighed softly yawning before stretching and continuing to read my magazine as I flipped over to another page. I glanced up and gave a tired smile towards Henry. "Morning Henry"

"Good Morning Ms. Star"

"What can I do for you today?" I stretched slightly and rubbed at my eyes.

"You don't look too good Ms. Star, what's wrong?"

"Just a rough night kid," I straightened up and rolled my shoulders. "Just a really rough night"

He paused for a moment before stepping closer to the counter. "Have I told you about operation Cobra?"

"Operation Cobra?" I queried looking towards him. "Not that I can remember"

He glanced back at the door before drawing his book out of his bag. "It's about these, about helping everyone remember their lives"

I glanced towards the book as he slid it onto the counter and reached over opening it to the first page. "Why do you believe that we're all in this book?"

Henry looked up and shrugged lightly. "Because there's got to be more than this, I mean there are so many things that don't add up in this town, people can't leave and no one ever comes here"

I nodded and ran a finger over the picture printed onto the page. "You know this is a lot for anyone to swallow right?" I queried barely looking up from the page, I was almost transfixed by the man printed onto the page. "It's getting harder and harder to ignore all the things you see Henry but some people need facts instead of blind faith" I began to idly play with the star around my neck and itched slightly at the skin underneath it.

"Did you get a new tattoo?"

I glanced up at Henry and shook my head before looking down at my chest at the thin pale golden coloured streaks across my skin. Well that's new. I let the star fall back against my chest. "I'll be back in a minute" I turned and started towards the small bathroom before shifting my necklace out of the way to look at my skin in the mirror.

I slowly ran a finger over the lines; they ran in crooked lines, like a spider web fracture on glass, branching from the spot where the star rested against my skin, a pale gold in colour, very faint and very thin to the point that they almost looked like old discoloured scars.

I switched the light off and started back into the store front. "Just a rash, I'll stop by the pharmacy and pick some stuff up later, surprised you didn't ask about the giant scar"

Henry looked up from his book. "Why would I? The thief's always had a scar like that, ever since she came back from the outlands," He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I want you to join operation Cobra, no one else believes me like you do"

"That's because I've been going through some pretty freaky shit recently," I winced and bit my tongue. "Let's not mention my language to either or your mother huh?"

He nodded smiling brightly and looked to the clock behind the counter. "I'll see you tomorrow Ms. Star"

"Alright kid, have a good day"

"Bye" He rushed out the door with his book tucked under his arm. I couldn't help but glance back at the streaks etched into my skin and made my way back to the bathroom to look at them properly through the mirror, whatever they were they were new, as in I hadn't had them this morning new. Whatever this is, I've got a feeling it's to do with all those fragments, with any luck it'll all start to make sense soon.

The Song mentioned above is Know Why the Nightingale Sings by Nightwish, it's also the song King George mentioned a while back in the third or fourth chap.