Disney's Tinker Bell in Storybrooke
A Disney Fairies / Once Upon A Time Crossover
Season 1, between episodes 7 and 8

STORYBROOKE, MAINE

Vidia eyes opened to a brightly lit room. To the left of her was a hanging curtain acting as a screen. To the right was a small set of double doors. A closet? She looked across the room, the queen and her close friend, Tinker Bell were hovering nearby.

"She's awake," Tinker Bell's sweet voice announced.

The visage of her queen, Clarion, the woman who for some reason insisted that she was her mother, came into view.

"How are you, Valerie?" Clarion asked her.

"I'm fine. Hungry, though."

Clarion smiled. "The nurses are already serving breakfast, they will be here soon, dear."

~O~

When Vidia was moved to this room, she was afraid that the only two people she knew in this strange land of humans would never find her. The trip seemed to take forever. She was wheeled through one hallway, then another. There were more twists and turns than one of Lyria's mystery and suspense entertainments. Then she was placed into a tiny room. She thought that this was her destination, but suddenly it moved. Vidia felt herself ascending. It was a heady yet natural feeling. For a brief moment Vidia felt almost like herself again.

The men who were wheeling her about called the ascending room an "elevator" and told her they were moving to a different floor in the hospital. When the double doors parted she was introduced to a whole new hallway. Or maybe it wasn't. This looked just like the halls she had just left behind. White, sterile, wide with doors positioned every so often in the walls. The sameness was so frustrating that even she couldn't figure out where she was anymore.

"How do you remember where everything is in this place?" she asked the men wheeling her around the hospital.

"You learn quickly," one of them answered.

"Yeah, unless you want to end up like Ernie," the other said with a laugh.

"Uh huh, he got lost for weeks. When we eventually found him, he was dressed in rags and nibbling on his own foot for sustenance."

The two men shared a laugh, clueing in Vidia that they were just joshing with her. At least, she hoped it was all just a joke. Vidia didn't want to end up lost in this place, with only tatters for clothing and gnawing on her leg.

"Don't worry, were just joking with you," the second one finally said. "There are plenty of signs and maps posted so we never get lost."

Vidia's mind was put at ease. This must be what passes for humor among the humans of this strange land, she decided.

One them then asked the other if he had seen the games on Thursday night.

"Yup. Dallas shouldn't have that much trouble with the Dolphins."

"Oh please, as long Jerry Jones is running the show they'll have problems with Pop Warner football teams. The real surprise was the Ravens. Who knew they would kick the Niners' asses like that," the second replied.

"I did! Remember? I said that the Ravens were the team to beat this year."

"Oh yeah? Is that why the Niners still have a better record? Or the Packers are undefeated so far this year?"

"Hey, book it, buddy. The Ravens are Superbowl bound."

"Yeah, maybe next century!"

"What are two talking about?" Vidia asked them.

The two smiled at each other. "Must not be much of a football fan."

"Uh..., no, I guess not."

~O~

Seeing Queen Clarion and Tinker Bell in the room with her was reassuring to Vidia. They had found their way and weren't going to abandon her. Without their memories, Vidia was concerned as to just how loyal they would be towards her now that she was no longer this "Valerie" person who had been so important to them. Thankfully, here they were, fawning over her.

Despite this reassurance, their presence and this place was deeply disturbing. It meant that every bit of yesterday was real. Vidia was really here in this place, turned into a human as were Queen Clarion and Tinker Bell. They were all surrounded by humans she did not know.

Vidia was now in a place where she could not operate or understand anything. Although she had been fairly assured by others, it still was a matter of anxiety for her that her new environment was alien to her in every possible way.

For instance, a large box hung from the wall across from her. Its front covered in curved glass, which appeared dark. She was told how to operate it with a large and clunky control box that was sitting on the bed at her side. Yet she had no idea what it was or how to actually work this control box. None of the labels were helpful. Channel? Volume? Power was somewhat straight forward, but if she couldn't manage the others what good was a button marked "power?"

~O~

"Oh, here they come, Val," Tinker Bell called from the doorway.

A vegetarian breakfast was served to Vidia. It consisted of eggs, toast, oatmeal, fruit, butter, jelly, orange juice and iced tea. The food wasn't too bad, but the eggs could have used some salt. Tink then showed her a tiny packet labelled "salt."

"Oh great, now you tell me," Vidia grumbled. "Is this what humans eat all the time?"

"Well what else would we eat?" Tinker Bell asked. Vidia had to remind herself that Tink was not herself and could not remember her former life.

"We, meaning fairies, eat pancakes, honeycombs, muffins, sweet breads, desserts, mouse milk, mouse cheese and fruit."

"Wow, that's a lot of sugar," Tinker Bell said. "Are these fairies all diabetic?" she said with sarcastic sweetness.

Vidia had no idea what that word meant. "Dia.., dia..?"

"Diabe-, never mind. Here, we brought these things from home for you." Tinker Bell produced a small bag. She removed a few items. "Here is your iPod, your phone and your Gameboy."

"Where did you get that game system?" Clarion asked, sounding concerned.

"I don't know," Vidia answered. "I don't even know what any of this does."

Tinker Bell demonstrated the small white, box she had called an iPod. Tink ask her to put these small, white vines into her ears. "They're earbuds, so you can hear your music."

"Music? From where?" Vidia asked.

Tinker Bell just stopped for a moment. She had that you've got to be kidding look again on her face. "From here," she said, pointing to the white box.

"That? Music comes from that little thing? Where is the orchestra?"

Tinker Bell stifled a giggle. "There is no orchestra, Val. It just stores your music."

"How does one capture and keep sound?"

"Just put in the earbuds," Tink said with an exasperated voice. It sounded most familiar. At least that part of Tinker Bell wasn't gone, Vidia noted wryly. Vidia stuffed the small buds into her ears. Tinker Bell plugged in the other end of the strange, white vine into the white box and pressed something. A cacophony of the most horrid, awful loud noise filled her ears. She yanked the vines out of her ears.

"THAT'S NOT MUSIC!" she yelled. "It's nothing but ear splitting noise!"

"Wha-? Valerie, that's your favorite band, Cradle of Filth."

Vidia just stared at the little blonde girl with big, wide eyes.

"Cradle of Filth, remember?" Tink answered. "You keep telling us how they are the greatest dark wave metal band right now."

Vidia scratched her head. "I don't who are what they are, but I'm not listening to that..., that noise!" Vidia answered firmly.

Upon saying this she could have sworn she heard the queen utter the phrase, "Oh, thank God."

A nurse arrived to remove her breakfast tray and informed Vidia she was scheduled for another MRI.

She had no idea what that meant.

"They are going to look inside your head and check for any injuries," the nurse helpfully informed her.

"WHAT!? How are they going to do that? Are they going to cut my head open?"

"It's a non-invasive procedure, Ms. Kensington. You won't feel a thing," the nurse told her. Not that this meant anything to the fast flyer. She glanced over at her queen and her friend. Vidia had reached a point where she wasn't in a constant state of fright and anxiety. She was achieving a certain level of comfort when she received this news. Now, she was frightened for her life all over again.

"What are they going to do to me?"

"Oh don't worry, honey," Queen Clarion told her. "They are just going to put you inside a big machine that will take pictures of inside your head."

"WHAT!?" she screamed. To Vidia, the only thing she knew of taking pictures was a style of camera used in the very earliest days of the 1900's. They were large, heavy, and bulky and their lenses telescoped forward inside an accordion like device to focus the image. Dr. Griffiths used one to record images of rocks, plants and animals he encountered. His way of no longer causing harm to "specimens" as he called them in his scientific research. Using this memory as a frame of reference, Vidia could only assume that her head would have to be cut open to photograph her brain.

She started to panic, but her queen and Tinker Bell tried to calm her. "Don't worry, Sis," Tink said. "No one is going to cut you open. The machine uses magnetic fields to look inside. You won't even know it's happening to you."

"Oh great. So they're going to conk me out before tearing my skull off?"

"Oh, sweetie," Clarion said with a gentle smile. "If they cut you open like that it would kill you. Do you really think a hospital would use a machine that killed the patients it was trying to heal?"

It was an argument that made perfect sense to Vidia. Yet she could not conceive how pictures of her brain could be taken without splitting her head open. Even with the queen's sound argument, Vidia was as frightened for her life as she had been when she first woke in this strange land.

The anxiety levels she was experiencing made her nauseous. So much so in fact, that she felt her breakfast coming back up. "I'm going to throw up," she announced.

Queen Clarion rushed to help her out of bed and into the bathroom. In one of the most unusual and intimate acts of compassion she had ever experienced from her queen, the woman wrapped one arm around her torso while using the other to hold back Vidia's hair as she wretched up her food. At the conclusion, Clarion wetted several paper towels and wiped Vidia's mouth clean. She then helped the young fairy to her feet, flushed the toilet and gave her a glass with water to rinse out her mouth.

Of all the times she had been around Queen Clarion, never had she seen her become so directly involved with something so menial. Or so disgusting. The queen always avoided such things, instructing others to do the dirty work. "Why did you do that?"

"Oh, sweetheart, you're my baby," Clarion answered. "I wouldn't be a good mother if I didn't."

The look in Clarion's eyes was of unwavering dedication, compassion and love. That look was not new to Vidia, but it was so different this time. It seemed deeply personal. The last time the fast flyer could remember such a deep attachment was at the border. Tinker Bell had brought Periwinkle into the warm seasons using her snow making machine. When the ice ran out, Peri had to be raced back to the Winter Woods where both Lord Milori and Queen Clarion instructed the two sisters that they could never see each other ever again. The loss was devastating to both and the looks in their eyes, the look of sisterly love, was so different from what Vidia had ever encountered before.

Now she was seeing that same look in Queen Clarion's eyes, only this time it was directed at her. What did the humans call it? Maternal? Once Vidia was cleaned up and her mouth washed of the vomitus, Clarion put Vidia's arms around her shoulders and assisted her back to the bed. Then, with a gentle touch, like a mother's, she boosted the sickly girl back onto the thin mattress.

"Oh you've gotten so big," the queen said, while doing this.

"What does that mean?" Vidia replied.

Clarion smiled. "I remember when you were a tiny baby and I could hold you in my arms," she answered, that maternal look in her face again. "Your hands were so small they could barely clasp around my finger. It seems like only yesterday, sweetheart."

Vidia was confused by her reminiscence. She had never been an infant. All fairies were born into this world…, their world, physically as young adults like herself or teens like Tinker Bell. It all depended on how old the baby was when it laughed for the first time.

The queen then carefully tucked Vidia under the covers to protect her from the cold in the room and kissed her ever so gently on the forehead. "Rest for now," she whispered. The fast flyer felt tired after vomiting the entire contents of her stomach. Within minutes she was asleep again. A sweet sounding voice humming to her. It was Clarion, acting so much like a human mother.

~O~

She had slept for just over an hour. When her eyes opened again, she saw not two persons, but a ceiling rushing past her eyes. "Where am I? Where are you taking me?"

"To your MRI, Ms. Kensington," an orderly replied. "Don't worry, we'll have you back in your room in no time."

Vidia gulped hard, the taste of her vomitus still in her throat. She worried if she would see her queen or that cold hospital room ever again.

~O~

Inside the room the fairy turned human saw a huge device that looked like a giant bagel standing on end. A strange looking tongue stuck out of the hole that was in the center of the huge machine. She was asked to lay down on the tongue. She remembered what the queen had told her. Hospitals don't try to kill the patients they want to heal. Working entirely on that single premise, Vidia moved from her bed to the tongue. The "tongue" slid her into the giant bagel. The person who was to operate this machine told her to remain still.

There was some noise that made her flinch.

"Please remain still," the person outside of the bagel instructed again. She lay there, noises coming from the machine. She kept wondering how this thing was going to take pictures of her brain.

Then she heard, "Okay, all done."

"That's it?"

"Yes, that was it. Now that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Well how did it take pictures of my insides?" she asked.

The person who removed her from the tongue and helped back into bed tried to explain it to her, but none of what was said to her made sense. Once again, it was being explained as if she were from this time period and it was assumed she understood the words and concepts being used.

"Oh…, right, of course" she answered. Her vocal tones betrayed her words.

"Don't worry, most people who receive an MRI don't get it either," the person in the room replied. For once, Vidia felt a kinship with the people of Storybrooke. If they didn't understand this machine then at least she wasn't alone in that respect.

~O~

The orderlies who wheeled her back to the hospital room didn't say much to her. Not that Vidia cared to talk to them. The last conversation she overheard left her head spinning. Something about how birds, ravens, were able to beat up on some niners or miners or something. Silvermist would not have been pleased to know that someone or something called Dallas was having trouble with dolphins. If Sil and Fawn had been around then there would have been no difficulties. And as far who Jerry Jones was, she didn't seem to care to meet the man from the context of the conversation.

In truth, Vidia was just relieved to have had this MRI thing over and done with. No harm came to her and somehow a giant, white bagel with a giant tongue took pictures of her brain. If she ever got back to Pixie Hollow the healing talents would have a good laugh.

Her stress level was still high, but at least there was one less thing to worry about. She could go back to concentrating on how to reverse whatever magic had brought her, Queen Clarion and Tinker Bell to this place and turned them into humans. The faster she could get them all back home the better.

~O~

This all changed in an instant when, upon entering her room she was face to face with Terence and Lord Milori, both were also human and both were missing their wings. Both also had no idea who they really were. Lord Milori went by the name Hartley Winter. Terence went by the name Clarence.

If they're here, too, then who knows how many of us were brought to this land, she thought.

Suddenly her quest became so much more complicated. Before finding out who or what caused this travesty against the Never Fairies of Pixie Hollow, Vidia now had to find out how many others were brought to Storybrooke. Considering the thousands of fairies who lived on Never Land Island, it could be a daunting task.

This can't be happening, she told herself over and over again.

It seems that Vidia has a larger task ahead of her now. Wait till next chapter when she meets another old friend.

Thanks to everyone who has been reading, reviewing and following or favoriting this story. It is always appreciated.