It ran through me, overloading my mind with images and emotions and…

I dropped my sword and looked around. Not wasting my time asking – it was pretty obvious that it wasn't just me. Everyone remembered.

"I think we're done for today," I said to the group of hyperactive teenagers standing around with confused expressions. And weapons.

I knew someone should explain to them what was happening and why – and if I was to start listing reasons why that someone should not be me, we would be here all day…

"Where are you going?" asked one of them.

"Where you think you're going without telling us how was your last year…?" rephrased another, grinning and putting herself between me and the door. I gave her my best devious smile and disarmed her in three seconds.

"It was… eventful," I said, turning at them before I ran out.

"You lost me a bet, you know," stopped me familiar voice before I managed to get out in the open.

"What did I tell you about making bets?" I said turning to her. Her expression was entirely lacking any guilt about that and looked… disappointed.

"What is it?"

"I was sure we met last year," sighed Grace and started walking with me.

"Of course we didn't. I was antisocial before I came here, remember?" I said, taking her by the hand. Not really sure where we were going, but needing the exercise.

With all the memories overflowing my mind I felt more than a little restless.

"So how was your year?" I asked her.

"You first. Did you have adventures…?"

"If you want to call them that…"

There was no way I was telling her. I was only working part time and still living in my sister's guest room –I could not afford to pay her the years of therapy she'll need if I did.

"And…? There's something else, isn't there?" She was studying me pretty closely and I didn't think I could lie convincingly enough.

"Will… I finally made him tell me how he lost his heart," I said quietly. And since then I wished nothing more than to forget about it – it being yet another story when I was the villain. They would never even know about Wonderland if I didn't tell Anastasia about how portals to that place worked… He would never even met her if it wasn't for me. No matter how I looked at it, I ruined his life.

"And you think it's your fault? Papa is right – you do that a lot…"

I didn't answer. What I did a lot was ending up telling the wrong thing to the wrong people and making a mess of things.

"I bet you spent your year saving lives…" she said. Trying to cheer me up, which left me with no other option that to put on a smile and pretend it worked.

"What did we say about betting…?"

Before she could say anything to that, my phone started making that unholy noise again. "Tremaine here…" I said, taking the call. Glad for the distraction just now.

"Did you find a happy ending?" she asked me after I hung up, making me almost drop the thing.

"A happy ending? Me?"

"Yes, you. Everyone knows you're not really a wicked stepsister. And that makes you…"

"The eldest of three sisters. The first one to fail," I said, stopping her before she could drown me in optimism. I didn't mean to be mean, but if there was a way to let her know that not everything ended with fireworks and happily ever after, there wasn't a better way than to tell her about my life.

"I don't think any of you will be stories about someone failing. Not in the end. You're all different stories," she explained to me. And I listened, because I better understand her delusions before I could show her how wrong they were. "Ella was rewarded for her suffering. And Anastasia,… I think she still might be able to redeem herself. And then there's you."

"Yes…?" I said, finding I was holding my breath.

"You're a fighter. You won't let some fairytale just happen to you – you'll go and take it. Kill the dragon and save the prince," she grinned.

And it was almost scary how close she got, though I was never a big fan of princes, as I pointed out immediately.

"That was just an example. Maybe you kissed a frog…"

"And maybe I didn't – but thank you for that mental image all the same," I said, having hard time suppressing a smile as we walked towards Granny's.

And got attack-hugged by a werewolf after taking just one step in.

"Red… hey… I can't breathe…"

"Sorry. I missed you."

"You saw me yesterday," I grinned, though that wasn't entirely true.

Yesterday Ruby brought me my coffee. Two months ago Red was patrolling the monster infested woods with me. Having a bit of a bromance, as they called it around here.

"So you were definitely working for the good guys," Grace said as we took our seats. Pretty determined about getting the truth out of me, which made me suspect that there was bet after all. "Anything else you want to tell me…?"

"There was a dragon," I admitted. "No prince, though…"

"Oh," she said, sounding slightly disappointed. "Anything else? How did you get those scars…? Was that the dragon?"

"Your turn," I told her. "You lived in a castle for a year. Was there a prince? A frog perhaps…?"

"How do you know I lived in a castle?" she replied, looking shocked, though it was something that was easily deduced. The woods were full of monsters and anyone who could took refuge on the castel grounds, since the royal family did their usual heroic thing and focused on protecting... everyone pretty much. Not realizing how chaotic things will get thanks to that lack of foresight.

"Saw you," I said, getting us back on track. "And yes, there is an explanation for why you didn't see me. I had my sneaky shoes on."

"Oh, I hated when you wore those," said Ruby, bringing our tea. And ignoring that the place was getting rather full and they could use her help, she sat right down by our table.

"Were they magic?"

"Whatever made you think that…?" I asked. She only pointed to the ribbon in my hair and patiently waited for something in a way of an explanation. "No. Just sneaky. My other shoes were though… or boots, rather."

"And you're calling me obsessed with footwear," said Ella, just arriving and taking up another place. I smiled at her, since that did not really require a reply.

I was starting to have the feeling that we might need a bigger table.

"Boots," said Grace. Leaving no doubt in my mind, that she knew that fairytale.

"Made by elvish shoemaker. Allowing me to travel great distances in a single step," I said. And went quiet after that, because I did not feel like telling her that I got them by way of Will Scarlet, and nothing about how that happened was exactly legal.

"So you had magical shoes. And you could visit any realm you wanted, unlike the rest of us. And you still haven't found a prince…"

"I wasn't looking for a prince," I told her, without much hope that it will stop her for long. She really wanted to get to the bottom of this, I could tell.

"What were you looking for?" said Ella, joining the interrogation. That didn't take long… "Because you were disappearing a lot. I was starting to think there might be some prince involved too."

"No prince," I repeated. Again. This was already getting pretty exhausting.

"So…? Some Baron then…? Maybe a Duke?" joined in Ruby.

"A Queen, if you need to know," I said. And saying that I didn't enjoy their shocked expressions right then would be lying. "I was helping Regina gather intelligence on her sister. Made about four trips to Oz last year. Got grazed by a dragon in the process."

"Really…?" asked Ella, clearly shocked. Which made me realize my sister still haven't fully understood how sneaky I could be when I wanted.

She was probably buying my explanations of why I was disappearing from my bedroom all those nights when we were teenagers – just to walk through the woods to clear my head. Which I did, in a way. I also managed to clear the woods a little… There were never any bandits threatening travelers around our hometown.

"A dragon," repeated Ruby.

"Don't worry. He survived the meeting," I smiled. Wickedly.

So maybe that wasn't entirely true. Now I wished I haven't treated the poor beast so badly. That dragon might have been the best thing that happened to me last year.

"Ladies," said Hatter arriving to our table. I bit down a reply, since he wasn't that late, and I wasn't about to revert to my old ways just because I had my memories back.

"She fought a dragon," announced Grace. It sounded halfway between praise and accusation.

"Don't let her tell you stories. She could barely walk after it was done with her," he informed. I rolled my eyes.

"I got myself back to the castle, didn't I?"

"Am I the only one that hasn't met you last year?" said Grace, frowning.

"I told you – I was sneaking. We only met because I needed some…"

"Serious medical help?"

"Stitches," I finished. "It wasn't that bad…"

Not really true and I was almost glad Will wasn't here to repeat the expression he used when he found me collapsed at the gate of the castle. Bloody bloodbath. That morning I put on white shirt – that evening, it was painted red, like roses in Cora's garden.

"You're welcome," said Jefferson, seeing I was dying to change the subject. I gave him a grateful smile and focused on my tea for a while.

The conversation quickly turned to others and their suddenly reclaimed memory. And I couldn't help looking at the door. Waiting, more patiently than I did before, now that I remembered how much he deserved my patience.

"He'll show up," surprised me Ella, when she registered my looks.

"Are you just guessing, so I'll tell you who I'm waiting for…?"

"I know exactly who you're waiting for. And he won't stay away forever. He probably needs some alone time – you should understand that," she said, covering my hand with hers, and giving me one of those kind, smiles she did so well.

"I do," I whispered.

And so I waited. Speaking when spoken to, but mostly staying submerged in my memories of that day when everything changed between me and the thief I deep down always blamed for stealing my sister away. Until I got almost killed by a dragon…

He found me bleeding heavily and too weak to make even that single step that could get me to safety. And he saved my life. I woke up today thinking of Will Scarlet as that one relative we always knew is going to end up behind bars. And now, with sun still up, I had him suddenly redefined into a hero who saved my miserable life even though I spend most of that missing year making snarky remarks about his drinking problem.

I remembered how he held my hand while Jefferson worked on my wounds. Keeping my mind occupied the only way he could – telling me a story he always kept to himself, no matter how I pleaded or threatened. Story about his lost heart…

"I can't watch you…"

"What?" I said, returning to the room after the trip into the past I was taking.

"Go find him. I'll keep an eye on Grace," said Ella, as Jefferson got me to stand up and put his long coat around my shoulders.

"That's not necessary," I tried to protest. "Really."

"Find who?" said Grace. "A prince…?"

"A Knave," I said before I was dragged towards the door. Having not the slightest doubt that she'll have a frog for me to kiss by the time we get back.

"You think you were your usual charming self around him since Storybrooke. You weren't," he assured me as we got onto the street. "Deep down you must have known."

"That we had a bromance going on in the enchanted forest…?" I said, finding that I couldn't turn it into a joke no matter how much I wanted to.

"We had a bromance back in the enchanted forest," he informed me, smiling. "What you and Will had was more of a… bond. You two were – are – family."

I nodded, remembering how Ella and I used to just say that the thief was our brother-in-law, so we didn't end up all tangled up in explanations of how things really were. By the end though, that's what it felt like. Like I had a brother. A depressed mess of a younger brother who needed someone to keep an eye on him and his self-destructive tendencies. And I did my best to do just that.

Not being alone in it was something I was glad to remember again…

"Have I ever thanked you…?" I said, turning to Jefferson.

"For making sure you won't bleed to death or for making sure Will won't go after the dragon that nearly made you an organ donor?" he replied.

"Both."

"Time enough to do that later. Now we have a Knave to track down."

"Like good old times, isn't it?" I grinned.

And my grin grew wider still when I saw the former evil Queen walking down the street. Accompanied by her son and…

"No way," I said looking after them.

"Was that…?"

"Locksley," I said. Saying it out loud didn't make it any more believable though. "How did she have the time to pick up a boyfriend while fighting the Wicked Witch…?"

"Multitasking?" suggested Jefferson.

"Well… good for her," I said. Before I remembered who I was talking to.

"Truth be told, I couldn't care less… Just don't say…"

"That's a progress," I said. Because I just had to. No way I could be grown up about it, today of all days. "And… I think I know where he is," I realized stopping with my eyes raised to the clock tower, still damaged since the last incident.

"You do? How…?"

"Eliminated the impossible. He's in the library, reading Lewis Carroll and getting drunk," I said, speeding up.

"I hate that book," said Jefferson.

"Tell me about it. I'm not even in it…!"

"You never were in Wonderland. Were you?" he regarded me curiously.

"Well… I wasn't. But my money were. Financing the resistance," I explained. "Oh don't look so surprised. Of course I was all for getting Cora off the throne. She was a bloody monster. And a relative. Funny how many of those I have."

And with that I opened the door of the library, finding one of my less beastly relatives sitting with his back to a bookshelf and looking more than a little heartbroken. I exchanged looks with Hatter, and without a word, we headed to him, each one sitting down on one side of him. I took the book from his unresisting hands and waited for some kind of reaction.

"You remember," he said after what felt like eternity. His voice resonated in the emptiness of the library.

"Of course I remember how much you hated this thing," I gestured towards the book.

"You know," he smiled at me, "if I had my heart back in my chest, you would be getting a hug by now."

"I know," I said. But that was all I said. The part of me that would start trying to convince him to go home and do just that was no longer there.

No need to use force on him. He would do it, in his own time. And who knew, Grace might be right, and this fairytale still might have a happy ending, I thought putting the book down and helping one of its characters back to his feet.

"Where are we going?" he finally managed to ask as we got him to the door.

"Granny's. We're that unoriginal now," said Jefferson, shaking his head, disappointed in us. Remembering the places we used to meet up, plotting against the depressed Knave, I would guess. Not that reading him got any easier with my memories back.

"That might not be the best idea, now that people remember."

"Don't worry. I'll protect you," I laughed and dragged him behind me.

As it turned out, I ended up doing just that, on more than one occasion that evening. Much like myself, he had a really busy year…