Ava POV
We went to the house that night. I hoped that being in a more familiar and comfortable setting would ease my nightmare. But, I had been very wrong. I tried to sleep only once more at the house. I traveled back to that room of fire. Rumple must have sensed my discomfort and woke me. Needless to say, I lay awake in bed the rest of the night with Rumple's arms wrapped around me. I should feel safe in his embrace, but I cannot risk going back to that place. Rumple tried to stay awake with me, but he slipped into a deep sleep. Jealousy bubbled up a little, but maybe it is just because I am tired.
I watched the window as the sun came up, and eventually I feel my love's breathing becomes less even behind me. He pulls me closer as he begins to wake. I feel his breath on the back of my neck. Then his lips meet the same skin. The tension in my muscles disappears as I let out a breath.
"Did you get any sleep, my love?" He whispers the question.
"I'm afraid not." I answer truthfully. He sighs before kissing the back of my head.
"I wish I could help you." He says. I remain quiet. "Perhaps once we leave this town the nightmares will fade.
"I hope so." I reply, my voice cracking. He loosens his grip just to gently turn me to face him.
"Look me in the eyes, Ava." I do as he says. "We will find a way to fix this. I promise." He kisses my forehead as my phone starts to ring. I take a deep breath as I sit up in bed. I grab the phone from my nightstand and answer it before looking at the caller ID.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Ava." I hear Red's voice. "I could really use some help here." I scrunch my face up.
"Where is 'here'?" I ask.
"We're down at Town Hall." She starts. "Everyone's putting up posters of loved ones that they can't find." I just sit there thinking about that for a few seconds. I know at least two people who could be searching for someone. "And so many people had their homes destroyed by the Wraith."
"What is it you need help with?" I ask as I get out of bed and change into some new clothes for the day, same color scheme and style as the day before.
"Blue needs some help handing out supplies, and you're great at helping people. Maybe you could help find someone's family member." She spouts off. I can hear her heavy breathing. She must be running around trying to do the things she just suggested to me.
"Okay, I will be there soon. I think I have some leftover baked goods from yesterday. I'll grab those and head over." I tell her as I grab my light jacket and head downstairs.
"That actually sounds great. Thanks." She says.
"Okay, see you soon." I say as I hang up. I turn to look back up the stairs. "Rumple?" I call to him. He makes his way to the top of the stairs.
"Yes?"
"I am going to help out at Town Hall for a while."
"Would you like me to drive you?" He asks. I think about it for a moment as I put on the light jacket before shaking my head.
"I think I'll be fine walking. I think some fresh air will do me some good." I flash a smile to him before realizing Belle was still in her room. "And keep her safe." He nods.
"Of course." With that, I head out the door and walk towards the bakery. The cool morning air calms me down. I turn onto Main Street and am surprised by the destruction. Overturned cars litter the torn up street. I see a sign in front of the Diner announcing that they were closed. I rush to the bakery and breathe a sigh of relief that there is little to no damage to the shop. I rush in to get what was left over from the other day. I pack up the sweets and head over to Town Hall.
As I get closer to my destination, I see more and more people. The first table I reach has a canopy propped above it to create shade. I see Blue walk towards me and grab on of the boxes of baked goods from me.
"Oh, thank you, Ava." She says with complete gratitude. "This will help out a lot." I follow her to the table with the canopy and set down the boxes. I look around at the craziness.
"Where do you need me the most, Blue?" I ask.
"Um, well, we need help with everything." She thinks a second before thinking of something. "I need to help with the medical tent, could you stay here and man the main table?"
"Sure, no problem. What do you want me to do?"
"I've been making a list of people that are still missing." She says, gesturing to the paper with a list of names and descriptions. Many pads of unused lined paper sits next to the one being used. I feeling lucky that I know where my family and loved ones are. I nod my head as she walks towards the medical tent. I sigh and sit at the table. I go through the names already listed. Many of the names I do not recognize, until I come across one. Pinocchio. The name reminds me that I have not seen August in a couple days. Even I do not know where he would be.
A woman comes up to the table and breaks my train of thought. I write down the name of the person she is looking for and what they look like. After that, it seems like the line in front of my table is unending. The sweets go quickly. As people start thinning out, going to the school to grab a cot or into the Town Hall to wait for something to happen, I start putting the list of names in alphabetical order on a seperate sheet of paper.
"Hey, Ava." An out of breath nervous voice says from in front of me. I look up at Archie.
"Pinocchio's already on the list, Jiminy." I tell him.
"Oh, I know. Um...And please, just keep calling me Archie." He says. I squint my eyes at him before nodding. "I actually came over to see if I can match up any names from my sign up sheet to the missing people."
"Sure, I actually just finished putting the names in alphabetical order."
"Amazing." He says. I hand him the list as I begin to sit back in the chair. It takes a couple minutes for him to look through all the names. I rest my eyes and take deep breaths. I am so tired. "Are you alright, Ava?" Archie asks me. I open my eyes before answering.
"I am fine Archie." I answer him. He does not question it. He just nods and walks back over to the bulletin board with layers of missing posters tacked to the surface. I look around and notice Henry sitting on a blue medical supply box with the storybook on his lap. Soon, he reacts to someone running up to him. I notice that it is Charming. Once people spot the prince, they swarm him with questions. As he walks through everyone he keeps answering that he does not know the answer right now. He then starts talking to Blue, but they are close enough that I can hear the conversation.
"Blue!" He calls out. "Could there be a tree on this side, the way we sent Emma through as a baby? Maybe I could go after 'em that way." What is he talking about?
"It's possible, but without fairy dust to guide us here," She thinks about it before continuing. "No, it's hopeless."
"You'll find another way." Henry pipes up. "In the book, things always look worse right before there's good news."
"TERRIBLE NEWS!" We hear someone yell. We all look towards the yelling and see the dwarves all running towards the group of people gathered in front of Town Hall. "TERRIBLE NEWS!" I see that it is Grumpy yelling at the front of the group of dwarves. "We were out at the town limits." He turns to Sneezey and grabs his arm as I stand up from the table. "Tell him who you think you are, Sneezey!" He orders the man.
"Oh, will you stop calling me that?" Sneezey says. "You know who I am. Tom Clark. I own the Dark Star Pharmacy." He answers. But, he remembered who he was yesterday. What happened? More people gather around the prince and dwarves. What's goin' on here?" he asks.
"If you cross the border," Grumpy starts. "You lose your memory all over again."
"And coming back doesn't fix it?" Archie asks. That is a stupid question.
"If I did, would I have come running in yelling terrible news?!" Everyone starts to mumble their concerns. "If we leave, our cursed selves become our only selves." As people start asking Charming more questions I sneak away from the distracted crowd. I rush to the Pawn Shop, hoping Rumple has decided to come into town. I enter the shop and the bell rings as I open and close the door.
"Rumple! Are you here?" I call out. My love exits the back room with a concerned expression.
"I'm here, what's wrong?" He asks, as I walk towards him. He brings me into the back room and sits me on his chair to calm my breathing.
"I was helping out at the Town Hall." He nods, pausing for me to continue. "The dwarves had been at the town line a-and..." This information is going to ruin the whole plan. I go to finish my words when the door bells sound. I look to the doorway of the backroom then back at Rumple. He pauses a moment before walking into the main shop room. I follow right behind him. As we enter the room I see it's Regina. I glare at her on reflex. How dare she come here? And it looks as if she's trying to find something.
"The library's beneath the clock tower." Rumple speaks letting Regina know we're here. She stops what she's doing and looks to us. "You closed it, remember? When you still had power." Rumple grabs an item off the counter and starts walking over to where it belonged. I stay put, keeping myself between the two of them.
"I need the book." She says. "I need to get my son back." She seems frantic, and I know the feeling. At least she doesn't believe him to be dead. I wouldn't wish that on anyone including her.
"Which book?" Rumple asks, pretending he didn't know what she was talking about. "Oh." He chuckles. "So it's come down to that, eh?" I keep my eyes on her as she walks across the shop to get closer to Rumple. They're only separated by the counter. "You need your mummy's help." I walk closer to them and then hop on the counter behind the display counter.
"Give me the book," Regina demands. "And tell your little birdie to stop glaring at me." She shoots a glare my way as she finishes.
"I'm sorry, but I can't control her actions." Rumple replies with a smirk. "You're just going to have to deal with her glaring a hole through your head." That comment caused me to let out a light chuckle. "Perhaps you're just jealous that she can easily use her magic here, and you seem to need the smell of the written word to get your magic flowing again." That seemed to surprise her. She looks at me again and I know I have the biggest smile plastered on my face.
"Maybe if you were a bit more relaxed, it would come easier." I tell her.
"I don't have time." She replies. "It worked once. I know I can do it. I just- I just need a shortcut back."
"Yeah, well, I don't have time either." Rumple tells her. "Leave." He pauses a second. "Please."
"Well...How about that?" She asks. "Your 'pleases' have lost their punch." I hop off the counter and stand next to My Love.
"Well, the fact remains jump-starting your magic is not in my best interests." Rumple tells her.
"You know what else isn't in your best interest?" Regina asks him. "Having everyone know the Enchanted Forest still exists. Knowing that you, your little birdie, and I are keeping that little secret. You're up to something." She looks at the luggage case on the display counter. "And it doesn't involve going back home." She pops the lock to see what's inside, but Rumple slaps his hand down on the lid to keep it closed. He looks to me for a brief second before conjuring the book Regina wanted in the palm of his hand.
"Careful, dearie." He says. "These are straight-up spells. Rough on the system." She grabs the book from his hand.
"I don't care if they turn me green." She seethes. "I'm getting my son back." Then she turns and heads towards the door.
"Oh, my." Rumple comments, causing Regina to turn back to look at us.
"What?" She asks angrily.
"It's just holding that-I told you once you didn't look like her, but now..." I can tell by her expression that the words are getting under her skin. "Now I can see it." She takes a small gasp of a breath before turning to the door and finally leaving. "I should probably finish packing." He looks at me and I smile. How am I supposed to tell him what happened earlier? He was looking forward to this, and I was too. I watch as he packs maps of New England states including Massachusetts and New York. As he sets them all out on the table, making sure he had all the ones he would need, I finally decide to voice the information I had learned about the town limits.
"I have to tell you something, My Love." I begin, but before I could say anything more the bells over the shop door rang out. I look over to the door, annoyed.
"It appears when I bought that 'closed' sign, I was just throwing my money away." Rumple speaks as he turns around and sees what I see, Charming standing at the door.
"Looks like it." Charming replies. He walks up to the counter, and my expression turns to one of guilt. Sure, I didn't let loose the wraith on the town causing Snow and Emma to be sent to another world. But I didn't stop Rumple when I probably should have.
"I'm so sorry to hear about what happened to Snow and Emma." I tell him. He sends a small nod and a soft look my way before looking to Rumple.
"If you're looking for a retrieval, I'm afraid portal-jumping is just outside my purview." Rumple tells him.
"Of course it is." There is a long silence after Charming's words and I hear someone getting out of a car outside and a conversation happening as well.
"So, what's the commotion outside?" Rumple asks.
"A little stir at the border. A problem crossing the line." Charming's words break me as I look down to the floor. I wish I had been the one to tell him this.
"Do tell." Rumple is confused by his words, but is trying to hide it.
"Actually, I'm here to buy something," he says. "A way to find someone."
"What, like a map?" Rumple asks.
"Something with a bit more kick, like the ring you gave me to find Snow."
"Ah, yeah. Magic." Charming nods with a smile on his face. "Whom are you following?"
"Not telling." I understand the Prince, but we would need something of theirs anyway.
"Maybe you have something of theirs, the person you wish to find?" I ask him.
"Yes, of course." I nod at his answer.
"May I see it?" Rumple asks.
"No." Charming replies. I roll my eyes at this macho man stand off. I look to Rumple and try to communicate that he should just give him what he wants. He sees this and turns to his briefcase. He opens it and pulls out a glass container of a blue-green liquid. He turns back to the prince and holds the container out to him.
"Pour this on the object and then follow it." He instructs. "So simple, even David Nolan could do it." I roll my eyes. Charming goes to grab the container, but Rumple takes it out of his reach.
"What do you want?"
"Peace." Rumple answers. "Leave me and Ava alone." Charming chuckles a bit.
"What do you care what David Nolan does?"
"No. No. It's- It's Charming I worry about." Rumple clarifies. "I'd like a little...non-interference guarantee."
"Fine. If you give me the same." Charming agrees. "You and I- We stay out of each other's way."
"Thank you for your business." Charming takes the container and goes to leave. Now I can finally tell Rumple the bad news about the town line. Before I can voice the information Rumple calls out to Charming. "So, uh, what happens when you try and cross the border?" Charming turns back to look at us before answering.
"You lose your memory of everything of our old lives." Charming answers. I let out a breath and look down at the ground. "Looks like we're stuck here." With that, Charming leaves. There is a silence between Rumple and I in the shop. Suddenly, he lifts up his cane and smashes some of the glass display cases in anger. I flinch at the sound. He looks to me before dropping the cane and leaning on the frame of the display case that is still standing. His frustration is clear. I knew his reaction would not be good. That is why I hoped I would be the one to tell him.
I feel tears prick at my eyes as the gravity of the situation finally sets in. We were so close to our goal. To finding Bae. But it seems like we keep hitting roadblocks. I feel a hand on each of my shoulders and I look up at Rumple. His features show his new determination to get past this, hopefully final, challenge.
"I will not stop until we have all of our family together, My Love." He tells me. He takes a hand from my shoulder and caresses my cheek. His thumb wipes away one of the many stray tears making their way down my face. "I will find a way." Then he leans forward and places a kiss to my forehead. As he pulls away I nod and wipe the tears from my face. I take a few deep breaths to calm myself down.
"I will go bake something." I tell him in a hushed tone. He takes a breath as well and steps away to give me a pathway to the door. "Any requests, My Love?"
"You know I'll eat anything you bring me." I nod at his answer before placing a chaste kiss on his cheek and leaving to head over to the bakery. I need to do something familiar. Something calming. Something mindless. Something to distract me from everything else going on. I enter my bakery and head straight for the oven, turning it on to warm up. I then put my apron on and get to work. I make doughs for cookies and bagels. I prepare batter for cupcakes and pastries. Anything I could think of, I made. I lose track of time until I hear someone walk in. I look over to see Marco, or Geppetto, taking his hat off.
"Ava dear." He speaks as he smiles sadly.
"Geppetto." I reply. He looks around at all the things I've baked and chuckles.
"Somehow I knew you would be baking at a time like this." He says, causing me to smile.
"What can I say?" I chuckle. "I am a stress baker." He joins me in a chuckle before a slight moment of silence comes between us. The timer dings and I put on my oven mitts to take out the tray of sugar cookies. I set them on a cooling rack before turning back to Marco. "I have not seen Pinocchio, if that is what you are here for." The entire time I was making that tray of sugar cookies I was thinking about places he could be. I feel awful. I've been distracted and he has just sort of been pushed to the back of my mind.
"It was, but I also wanted to be around a more familiar face." He says. "Now that I know who you actually are." I smile at him and turn off the oven. We sit down and talk as the cookies cool. We talk about the old days. Everything we could remember about our lives in the Enchanted Forest. Then we talked through our second lives here in Storybrooke. It was almost therapeutic. When the door sounded again we both looked to see Ruby.
"I knew I smelled your baking." She smiles. "Granny decided to open up the diner."
"Well, I do have some baked goods she can sell." I say as I stand up. "I've been stress baking for half the day." She chuckles and I join in as I begin to box up my usual delivery order for the diner. Marco joins us in bringing it over. Once everything is sorted out with payment Marco and I sit at one of the smaller tables in the diner. Ruby goes back to work and brings us some coffee and tea.
As we drink our warm beverages in silence I see Henry and Charming walk in. Henry looks almost excited as he comes over to our table. Remarkably, he tells us where he believes Pinocchio should be. We look at each other before standing up and heading straight for the room Henry spoke of. When we get there, the door is ajar. My heart skips a beat. This can not be good. Marco pushes the door open and we enter. I hope to see August, but all I see is a room empty of any person. We look around and realize that his belongings, including the small hat he used to wear as a child, are all still here. We share a sad look before deflating emotionally.
Where could he have gone? Maybe he is looking for us. But, he knows where I would be. He knows how to find Geppetto. Is he running? If he is, why? I feel tears prick at my eyes once again. I hope this does not start happening on a regular basis. I do not think my tear ducts can handle it. Geppetto pulls me into him and rubs my back to try and console me. Something does not feel right. Pinocchio must be in trouble. But why not come to one of us if he is in trouble? I would try and find him, but the liquid rumple gave Charming will not be able to spread that thin. I do not know what to do.
A/N: Well, well, well, it sure has been a long time. I'm really sorry for the long wait. I hope you guys liked this chapter. I would love to know what you all think.