Storybrooke
Quite a number of people talked at Gav her first few days in the psychiatric ward. Doctors, nurses, orderlies. They introduced themselves politely, but when they had asked for her name she'd told them to call her whatever they wanted, so Jane Doe had stuck.
Gav didn't live through half a millennium being stupid. There had been a reason that the people in the town square had believed her to be insane when she told them who she was – so she'd decided to simply observe and try to figure out what was going on.
When she had escaped after her first week, the huntsman had tracked her down nearly immediately and restrained her with strange metal cuffs. To top off her indignation, the man didn't recognize her.
Gav had been admittedly enraged at that, considering she had helped the fool out of a tight situation or two in the Enchanted Forest. But it evidently wasn't his fault. The combination of this along with what the queen had been bragging about solidified her conclusion that the queen had performed a memory spell and transported nearly the entirety of the Enchanted Forest's population into a new dimension.
But that wasn't the worst part. This dimension was one that was without magic. Gav was a fighter, this was true – but only in combat that allowed spell work. She was decent at getting away, but dealing blows to one of the orderlies had resulted in her being restrained.
It was monotonous. Enough so that Gav longed for the time every night when she could sleep and dream. In the dream world she had been a god, but now dreams were nothing more than elusive, blurred visions in which she sometimes was awarded and tormented with glimpses of her husband and her daughter.
Oh gods, she missed them so much. Every second she longed for her family to be reunited. But Regina's curse had evidently worked on everyone, and Gav knew that she had not been lied to by the queen.
Her daughter and husband wouldn't recognize her, even if Gav could find a way back to them. She only hoped that they were safe, with the false memories and identity the queen had given them. For now, the only thing Gav could do for her family was bide her time and amass as much information as she could on the non-magical realm she was now confined to, so she could eventually try to regain her magic and reverse the curse.
After all, she had all the time she needed now, in this strange place where it stood still.
25 Years Later
"My name is Henry. What's your name? My mom said not to talk to strangers, but if you tell me who you are you don't really count as one anymore, right?"
Gav found herself in a very peculiar, entertaining position.
The child had burst into the exam room she was currently in while waiting for Frankenstein to enter and deliver the results of her strep-throat test. Gav had been the perfect patient the last decade, and the nurses in the ward hadn't seen the harm in allowing 'Jane' to be escorted to the doctor and picked back up without an orderly left behind to breathe down her neck.
All Gav had to do was begin lying and telling the psychiatrists what they wanted to hear for her to be upgraded to a gold-star patient. She was given a bit of freedom and marked down from a violent flight risk to a non-violent but tragically confused woman.
Watching the curse's effect on people was entirely bizarre and perhaps would have been humorous if it didn't effect her own life to the degree it did. When she had first asked four years after landing in Maine if she could be moved to an out-patient program the doctors and nurses had all gone a bit fuzzy in the head. When they had answered with a sunny smile that she had only just begun treatment, she knew it wouldn't be worth trying again.
For now, she waited. In the last decade she'd been driven a few places around the town, and each moment outside of the ward was like a breath of air after she'd been suffocating.
But now this precocious little child was bustling about in a truly hilarious display of unintended ego. He was cute, and the first child she had interacted with in years – though he looked a few years younger than her daughter, Gav was fiercely reminded of her in his raised eyebrows and joyfully expectant expression. Gav was curious as to who he had been in the Enchanted Forest before the queen's curse.
She made a foolish decision, one she knew she might regret. Gav decided to be honest.
With a voice made hoarse from sickness, she responded to Henry and said, "My name is very long, and I never liked it much as a child, so I'm called Gav."
Instead of continuing the conversation from a distance, the boy walked up to the examination table and hopped up, quickly settling into a cross-legged position and staring at Gav with bald fascination.
"You're named after Gav? But he's one of the bad guys!"
Gav laughed at that, though the sound hurt her throat and transformed into a dry cough. Oh yes, she had seen the film incarnation of herself during movie night at the ward. A cartoon creature with a blue cloak drawn over the head, its face never revealed, though the low, manly voice was a bit insulting in its inaccuracy.
She supposed it could have been worse.
"No, I'm not named after the character. Gav is my name, though. Do you like watching Disney films? Which is your favorite?"
He took her question very seriously, evidently, and pondered it for a few minutes while muttering at himself. Finally, he seemed to settle on four different films, counting them off on fingers he held in the air.
"Mulan, Robin Hood, Beauty and the Beast, and The Little Mermaid. How about you?"
Gav smirked at his answers, thinking over those who she knew in the Enchanted Forest whose likeness was depicted. She had seen almost every Disney film in the ward, including those four. She was quite certain Regina had somehow made sure that Disney films were always shown on movie nights, the vindictive harpy.
"I personally like The Little Mermaid, even if the mermaid makes an awful deal. Really, the witch presents her with an enormous contract, doing perfectly legitimate business, and the girl signs it without even reading it! Who does that?"
Henry squinted at her, but before she could ask why he blurted out, "I thought you were going to say Sleeping Beauty, since you look like her."
Gav tried to call to mind who exactly Aurora was – she'd heard of the chit, but only vaguely remembered catching a glimpse of an infant at a christening she wasn't supposed to have attended.
"That's very sweet of you to say, kind sir. Does that mean you're a dashing prince?"
He blushed horribly at her joking gallantry and seemed to get a bit shy, so Gav thought she'd spare him the embarrassment and went on to say, "So, what brings you to the doctor, Henry? Any horrific maladies?"
The boy pouted, and in the melodramatic tone only a child can truly produce he lamented, "My mom had to come and visit someone but she says I'm not allowed, so I ran away from my babysitter. My mom is mean."
Gav paused for a moment, debating her actions, before she allowed herself to reach over and pat Henry consolingly on the knee.
"I'm sure she has a good reason. We mothers are at times a bit strict."
He immediately honed in on her phrasing and said, "You're a mom? Are you married? How many kids do you have? How old are they? What are their names?"
Gav was entirely bemused at his enthusiasm and responded to his questions in order.
"Yes, I'm a mother. I'm married and I have one daughter, who is eleven."
Memories were flooding over Gav with startling strength. Roses, jigsaw puzzles, Jefferson - oh god, Jefferson, and the first time she had laid eyes on the lost little girl in blue who would become her daughter.
To her annoyance she now felt the tightness in her chest that usually preceded tears. Dear God, she was Gav the Necromancer – a villain. If she got weepy every time she was around children there would be no chance of remaining strong enough to take down the queen.
And oh, was Gav ready to take that bitch out.
But there was a child in front of her who happened to be the first person to look at her like she wasn't mad, so she finished answering his questions.
"She goes by her middle name, Grace. But her first name is Alice."
If you hadn't yet realized, this will feature an AU background for Jefferson and Grace.