Set during the celebrations at Granny's in "Child of the Moon"
Henry had taken it upon himself to explain everything and everyone in grand detail, using the book as reference and a picture guide to his newfound Aunt. Sera nodded and titled her heads at all of the right moments appearing to be enthralled with his tales but it seemed her attention was elsewhere, her eyes wondered and her breathing uneven as if it all were too much to bear.
"How about some ice cream sundaes?" David interrupted. Henry trailed off about his tale of Archie and nodded enthusiastically.
Sera could feel herself sinking further into her seat. It'd been a long time since she'd sat in a booth apart of a unit, a family, and the burning sensation nipping at her core was making her squirm uncomfortably. You had a family, remember? Anna-Maria? Clyde? Your brother Evan! The voices inside of her head screamed in protest, don't, you can't get too comfortable, and they're magic. She caught David once again staring critically at her, as if the answer to his inquiry would shine upon her forehead.
"No?" he asked in disbelief. "alrighty, then but you're missing out." He pegged down the waiter, who happily took their order and offered Sera a toothy grin and a pat on the back. "I have a question," he stated suddenly. His strong hands playing with some of his left over French fries, "how did you know that Snow and I were your parents?"
"When the Mayor sent me over the town border…," She paused for a moment. The memories were still a bit hazy, "she told me my mother was Snow White and she was singing to the birds in the woods…..and when I remembered after Emma broke the curse it wasn't a hard guess to figure out who my father is, Prince Charming." Saying the words aloud made her feel sheepish and foolish.
Before her father has a chance to respond an older austere looking man lumbered over to their table standing beside her. His austere face angrily glaring over the pair, something dead and unnerving about him.
"And who's this Sheriff?" Albert Spencer asked casually for a moment forgetting the real reason why he'd come. The tension between the two seemed to be escalating by the moment, their eyes locking onto each other's with a level of such distain.
"Sera Wyatt, sir," she stood brushing off some of the crumbs from her jeans before shuffling past him. "I'll be going now….." David opens his mouth to say something but she cuts him off, "I need to go for a walk, get some fresh air."
"Take Henry with you. He knows his way around town."
Once Upon A Time
It's in the pestering way her nephew keeps asking questions despite her grunted out responses through clenched teeth that reminds her of Evan. He's just a bit older than Evan was when he was taken but nothing stops her from imaging it was her little brother walking alongside her in the streets of Ardent, Maine leaving behind their parents who'd been partaking in WWIII for as long as she could remember.
"You haven't answered my question." Henry's voice comes out loudly, breaking her flood of imaginary thoughts. "What's your favorite fairytale?"
"Well, wouldn't I have to be a bit biased? Seeing as Snow White and Prince Charming are my parents?"
"They're my grandparents but I still like Peter Pan best."
Sera could feel her stomach clench painfully, twisting and churning inside of her. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and clenched and unclenched her fists. Keep walking, Bash is waiting, keep walking, don't think, don't think, focus on the present, on the mission.
"I'm guessing you're not a fan." Henry mused smugly as if he'd discovered some sort of deep dark secret and perhaps he had. "Who's that?"
The silhouette of a shadow could be seen hunched over and shivering in the brisk Maine air. A backpack rested beside him and he seemed to be intensely gazing out towards the desolate highway. She strided forward and his head whipped around at the sound of her heavy footsteps when she crossed over the town boarder. He reached her and enveloped her in one of his warm bone gripping bear hugs and she for the first time since entering the town let out a sigh of relief as she nuzzled her head into the crook of his neck, raving in its familiarity. His lips pressed softly to her temple and lingered there. Upon hearing her nephew clear his throat, pesky little booger, Sera broke away from him.
"This is my nephew Henry. Henry this is my boyfriend Sebastian Bennett."
Bash furrowed his eyebrows together. "You have a nephew?" His voice mingled in disbelief and happiness, eyeing the boy who was sending distrusting daggers back at him.
"My sister's kid," she awkwardly and gently clasped his shoulder. The pair shared a tense handshake which lasted all of about three seconds. He'd wanted to check up on her, check up on their mission but with Henry within earshot they exchanged pleasantries, he'd ask how her parents were, she'd ask how his job at the Deli was going and in an odd way it reminded her of their first mission together.
Once Upon A Time
The pale round moon hung behind them as they lumbered towards the apartment. Henry alternated skipping and slightly jogging to keep up with her fast pace. David was waiting up for them in the apartment, sipping slowly at his hot chocolate two other lukewarm mugs rested beside him.
"I was about to send out a search party for the two of you." He stated jokingly though there's a slight seriousness sternness underlying in his tone. "where'd you go?"
"Around." Sera said as Henry chimed in with, "the town border."
David chooses to look to the ever earnest Henry for the truth. For the most part he could tell that his newly discovered daughter had been truthful but had left some things very vague, like where she'd been living since her adoptive father's incarceration nearly two years ago, course, she never said that he was in prison for two attempts of aggravated assault and one charge of drinking under the influence but she didn't need to know he'd spent the afternoon using the sheriff's computer to dig up information on her. Aside from Clyde Wyatt's arrest record, he'd found the missing persons report for Evan Wyatt which had been filed nearly five years ago and he was declared dead in absentia.
"Henry why were you at the town border?" He inquired.
"To meet Sera's bo-friend, friend," Henry amended upon receiving silent glares from his Aunt but the intention was quite clear.
Boyfriend. The word burned a hole in the pit of his stomach as he thought about both of his daughters being involved with boys, Emma had Henry in jail at the age of eighteen and now his eighteen-year-old daughter had a boyfriend who she was sneaking out to see at the town border. When Snow was pregnant, she'd always joke he'd meet Emma's suitor with a sword in hand but perhaps in this land it would be a shotgun.
"So you have a boyfriend?" there's a playful fatherly tease in his voice but it's not a joke, he needs an answer. Sera plopped herself down upon one of the stools and sipped at the whipped cream hoping it'd buy some time before she'd have to actually give an answer. "is he honorable?"
Sera snorted. "With all due respect, Prince Charming, this isn't the enchanted forest. I wouldn't say he's a chivalrous prince with a gleaming sword and a hero complex I would say he has been kind to me and helped me get through some difficult times. I'd say you could meet him but you can't cross over the border and he can't come into town."
"He knows?" David asked.
"He's trustworthy."
Once Upon A Time-5 Years Ago-Ardent, Maine
The sound of bellowing from the floor below and glass crashing was keeping thirteen-year-old Serafina up. She pulled her knees up to her chest and turned to her side facing away from the door that was only open a small slither, the mellow light from the hallway beamed inside. Her fingers threaded the quilt gripping tightly to them as the voices grew louder, praying, that they'd just stop. Wordlessly, her nine-year-old brother shuffled into the room and clamored into bed beside her, curling into her. Without turning her shoulder she laced her hand into his, squeezing it tightly trying to say it's alright, it's okay but he seemed to have his own ideas.
"The shadow is going to take me to Neverland." He whispered dreamily. "It won't take you because you're a girl."
Sera sighed, letting out an exasperated yawn. "The shadow isn't real, Ev. But you and I will make it out of here, five years buddy, five years and I'll take us both far away."
"I'm going to Neverland."
Groaning she rolled over to face him. His wide-set doe eyes bore into her underneath a mop of silvery blonde curls, a smile tugging at the ends of his lips. Keeping their hands intertwined she used her other hand to brush back some of his bangs gingerly the way their mother used to before she lost all sorts of tenderness in her being when he succumbed to his alcoholism. Eight years sober, gone, all a in a night. Speaking in a slow manner as though he was five years old once again she said, "Peter Pan is not real. Shadows aren't real. Neverland is not real."
"You're wrong." Evan muttered. "The Shadow it's real. I've spoken to it."
Giving up she gave into her exhaustion and let her heavy eyelids droop over. She's almost into a deep sleep when she feels a tiny finger poking into her shoulder, repeatedly and a soft whispering in her ear. A brisk air settled over her as she creaked one of her eyes open, catching her first glimpse of the demon silhouette, it's glowing yellow eyes the only thing that was not the epitome of darkness. Its wispy hand was interlocked into Evan's who put a finger to his mouth.
She doesn't remember clamoring out of the entanglement of sheets, dashing across her bed or jumping out of the window but she remembers the sensation of fallen, screaming as she fell into the bushes below, in agony and out of breathe she watched as her brother disappeared into the night sky towards the Second Star to the Right.