(A/N): So... yeah guys, I don't know. This just happened. Some people were asking me about writing a story where Hermione was actually Rumple's daughter and this happened. Which means it's really all their fault, right?

Sigh. I really don't know what to say other than the fact that any recognizable dialogue comes from OUAT S1 E9 "True North". However, the timeline doesn't match with the show, so dialogue is from E9 but the story itself starts around E5 or 6. This story is also going to be less... flowing(?) than my other OUAT story is a.k.a. I'm not going going through the story in an uninterrupted narrative. This is going to be more drabble-like in that I go from one scene to another in each chapter. But not as short as an actual drabble, of course.

This chapter is unbetaed and I almost hesitated to upload it but I'm pretty sure that this is as good as it's going to get.

Thanks for reading! Enjoy!

"Please! Please don't take her!"

"Get rid of it."

"NO. Nonononono please! Please don't do this!"

"I'm so sorry."

"PLEASE!"

Hermione startled awake.

Staring out into the dark room, she tried to force herself to relax.

In for one, two, three, four… hold for one, two… out one, two, three, four.

Carefully shifting out from under the arm wrapped around her waist, Hermione padded out of the room and down the stairs. The back of her shirt was soaked through with sweat and she shifted uncomfortably at the way it stuck to her skin. She knew a shower was in order, but she just couldn't bring herself to take one right then.

When she stepped into the kitchen, she was surprised to find Lily slumped over at the dining room table. "Rough night?" she asked, wincing at the soft rasp in her voice and the way her throat burned as she spoke.

Lily shifted to look at her, eyes slowly drifting over the brunette. "Yeah, but probably not as rough as yours seems to be going."

Hermione shrugged, walking over to the sink and pulling a glass out of the dishwasher to fill with water. After taking a few sips, she said, "Would you like to talk about it?"

The younger woman sighed. "It's nothing." Hermione shot her a look and Lily insisted, "Really, it's nothing. Just… nervous, I guess."

Shuffling over to the table, Hermione sat down across from Lily. "Nervous about what?"

Hunching her shoulders, Lily muttered, "Everything."

Sitting back, Hermione calmly studied the other woman. "It's suddenly become very real, hasn't it? It was all abstract before: magic, your mother, the curse, all of it. But now that it's time to go, it's finally clicked that this is all real."

Lily shuddered. "I don't know if I can do this," she admitted softly.

Hermione's eyes hardened. "And yet, you can, and you will." Lily looked unconvinced and she forced herself to keep any annoyance off her face. "What we're dealing with is the curse to end all curses. It's going to take everything we've got and then some to break it. And it's not going to be easy, but vengeance never is, sweetie. So you have to ask yourself one simple question: just how far are you willing to go to get what you want?"

"As far as it takes," Lily responded automatically, having been asked variations of that question for years now, and Hermione grinned.

"Then please, stop wasting all our time so we can get to it. You know what you want, so let's go get it."

Shoulder's falling and spine straightening, Lily nodded resolutely. "I can do this. We can do this."

"Not can, Lily. Will. We will do this." As she watched Lily stand up and move to place her mug in the sink, Hermione murmured, "Great power requires great sacrifice and you, Lily, have the potential to be incredibly powerful. In order to get it though, you may have to give up a few things along the way. You need to figure out what your lines are before you come upon a situation that makes you question them."

Lily looked back at her. "Don't worry, I already know mine. They're the same as they were when we met."

"Good," Hermione hummed. "That's good."

Hesitating in the doorway, Lily rocked back on her heels. "We're going to find them," she stated firmly. "We're going to save them."

Giving her a soft smile, Hermione agreed, "I have no doubts." Lily smiled at her before leaving, and she could hear the stairs creaking as her companion headed up them.

And that was the truth. Hermione had no doubts about their ability to achieve their goals. She just doubted that things were going to work out the way they wanted them to. After all, breaking the curse wouldn't change the fact that Happily Ever After's didn't belong in this world.

"Hey."

She started, looking up with wide eyes.

August smiled down at her, reaching out to brush a curl back behind her ear before cupping the side of her face. "What are you doing up?"

Hermione hadn't even heard him coming down the stairs. "I couldn't sleep," she told him quietly, automatically nuzzling into his hand.

He frowned, kneeling down beside her chair. "Is it the nightmare again?"

Sighing, she nodded. "It always is." Reluctantly pulling away, Hermione glanced down at his feet. "Are you alright? Did your leg wake you up?"

Shaking his head, August admitted, "I guess I'm too used to sleeping beside you; I woke up and you weren't there. Couldn't get back to sleep, so I came to see what you were doing."

"Lily was still up. She's nervous about tomorrow."

"Not surprising. I'm not looking forward to it myself." August shifted to perch on the seat next to hers. "It's going to be uncomfortable seeing so many familiar faces."

"At least yours won't be familiar to them," Hermione offered, reaching out and taking one of August's hands in her own. "And you won't be facing them alone."

August's eyes gained a familiar glint of awe as he stared at her. "Neither will you. I promise. Though I know a promise from me is worth very little."

Hermione's chest ached. "It's worth quite a bit to me."

Just as she expected, August looked like he didn't fully believe her, and Hermione hated the Blue Fairy a little more.

Standing up, she moved to sit in August's lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her forehead against his. "Nothing has changed, August. You're still mine, just as I am yours."

His lips pulled up into a sad, strained little grin. "Always?" he tried to tease.

"Always," Hermione promised solemnly.

The tension abruptly left his frame. "I love you."

"I love you," she returned, leaning in to brush a kiss against his lips before pulling back and resting her head on his shoulder.

They sat like that for several minutes, drawing comfort in their closeness, before August shifted in his seat. "We should try to get some more sleep."

Hermione sighed. "I know. I should shower and change first."

August pulled back to give her that roguish grin that she'd fallen in love with all those years ago. "Want some company?"

She hummed, pretending to give it some thought. "I suppose that would be acceptable."

"Just acceptable?"

Standing up, Hermione began walking out of the room. "It all depends on what kind of company you're going to be, doesn't it?"

Right before she reached the stairs, August came up behind her and pulled her back against his chest. "Haven't I proven myself to be very enjoyable company?" he murmured in her ear.

Tilting her head back to look up at him, Hermione smirked. "Perhaps you have as of late, but I'm just not sure you've done enough to counter how atrocious you were when we first met."

He laughed. "Well then, I'm happy to continue making it up to you."

The trio settled into a booth in a little diner just outside of Storybrooke where a long time ago, twenty-eight years and two months to be exact, a little boy in strange clothing appeared with a newborn wrapped loosely in a white knitted blanket in his arms and no reasonable explanation of where they had come from.

"This is not a diner," Lily grumbled, flipping over the menu for Chantey's Lobster House.

"A diner is a small restaurant," August murmured, staring out the window. "This is a small restaurant. Just because people now associate a diner with breakfast food does not change what the true meaning of the word actually is."

Lily groaned, turning to Hermione. "Seriously, how have you not killed him?"

Watching out of the corner of her eye as August started to take a sip of water, Hermione waited for the perfect moment to casually respond, "Because then I'd no longer have access to enchanted wood."

He choked on his water.

Turning to look at him with wide, innocent eyes, Hermione asked, "Are you alright?"

Burying her face in her arms, Lily's shoulders shook with laughter. "Magic wood," she snorted.

"Well, yes, August was carved out of enchanted wood. Why? What did you think I meant?"

Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, August pulled Hermione into his side. "You are a fucking menace," he muttered into her hair, and she could feel him smiling. "Just a terrible, terrible person."

Hermione laughed. "Of course I am. We all are. That's why we're here."

A blond waitress bustled over and began unloading a tray of plates onto their table. "Sorry about the wait, folks," she said, giving a tired smile. "We're a little short today. Sarah- the girl waiting on your earlier- had to step away."

"Don't worry about it," Lily hastened to reassure her. "Waitressing is a rough gig even on a good day." Glancing out the window at the rain-soaked street, she grimaced and continued, "And this definitely isn't one."

Smile turning a bit more genuine, the blond tucked the tray under her arm. "It's just that time of the year. Are you guys here on business? Or vacation?"

"A little both, I suppose," Hermione answered, smiling brightly. "We've been traveling for a bit now and just… found our way up here."

"Yeah, that seems to be how we get most of our visitors." Glancing over her shoulder, she stepped away from the table. "Let me know if you all need anything else."

"Will do," August told her. "Thanks," he glanced at her nametag, "Bri."

Once Bri was out of earshot, Lily leaned forward. "Anyone else's spidey-sense start tingling?"

August shrugged. "There is a fishing village nearby," he cautioned, though he sounded unconvinced.

Hermione snorted. "This isn't the kind of area one just happens to wander to. My guess is that any strangers who find themselves here are either running from something or are looking for something. Possibly the same thing that we are. Although, I'm not sure how they would know about the town's existence. The only reason you," she nudged August, "know is because you came with Emma and know about the curse."

"Yeah, but which kind of people do we need to possibly be worried about?" Lily questioned. "Our kind," she gestured between herself and August, "or your kind?"

Narrowing her eyes, Hermione barely refrained from snapping. "First, we are all the same 'kind'. Second, if MACUSA was keeping an eye on the area for any reason, we would know about it by now. The signs would be incredibly hard to miss."

Rubbing his hand up and down her arm, August murmured, "You know she didn't mean it like that."

Looking contrite, the other woman sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm just nervous."

Forcing herself to untense, Hermione waved away Lily's apology. "I know. And you're not the only one who's nervous. We all are. But it's going to be alright. We have a plan."

And it was a fine plan, if Hermione did say so herself. Better than some of her others.

She and August were going to ride ahead on his motorcycle to test and see whether or not someone who wasn't brought over via magic tree or through a curse could cross Storybrooke's borders. If they were able to get through with no issues, then Lily would follow after them. If, however, Hermione was unable to make it across, she'd regroup with Lily and wait outside the town's borders while August found a way to convince the Savior to come out and try and help them.

At this point, August and Lily were far more worried than she was. Hermione had cast so many charms on herself and on the motorcycle that it was impossible for the thing to crash and, should she be thrown from it, she'd likely walk away without even a scratch.

"We need to do this," Hermione murmured, relaxing into August and closing her eyes. "We can't do anything until we're actually in the town. We can't find our parents if we're trapped out here."

I can't save August without access to their magic.

Lily sighed. "He said this would work. He said we'd be able to make it in. Guess we just need to have faith or something."

Hermione grimaced. "Faith, trust, and pixie dust?" she mocked.

"Oh, god, I hope Peter Pan isn't real."

"No comment," August joked and the tension between the trio finally eased. Hermione smiled.

This moment- these people- were why she was doing this. Why she got herself involved in the nightmare of alternate worlds and bedtime stories coming to life.

Long before the Evil Queen had cast a curse to bring a kingdom to this world, Hermione and Lily had already made their home here. The daughter of a queen and the daughter of the Dark One. Regina, Snow White- they were nothing compared to them. Lily and Hermione had been born to rule, and it was time for them to do so. And August may not have the same motivation as them, but he was loyal and fierce and theirs.

August lifted his glass of water off the table. "Should we make a toast?"

"Is that what they did in your world before heading off to battle?" Lily asked, picking up her glass.

Hermione followed suit. "To Emma. May she break the curse as soon as possible so we can get on with our plans."

"And to Regina and Snow White and Prince Charming," Lily tacked on, a wicked little grin playing across her lips. "Their incompetence is what made this all possible."

The girls glanced at August, wondering if he was going to object. He cocked an eyebrow. "Here's to killing every preconceived notion that's ever been had about any of us."

"Cheers to that," Hermione laughed, and there was a soft clinking noise as their glasses tapped against each other.

Hermione and August left Lily waiting with the car a mile away from the town's border as they raced down the two-lane road to Storybrooke, Maine.

"You ready for this?" August shouted, glancing over his shoulder.

She nodded, tucking her face between his shoulder blades to protect her eyes from the sting of the wind. "Let's do this!"

The closer they got to the border of Storybrooke, the stronger the magic protecting the town seemed to become to Hermione. It almost felt more like a living organism than a barrier, rising up and preparing to attack as they got nearer.

August suddenly stiffened. "Brace yourself!"

If Hermione had been the praying kind, she would have started then. But since she wasn't, she simply loosened the grip she had on her magic so that it could automatically react to protect them if it became necessary.

Hermione could tell the moment they crossed into Storybrooke, feeling the Queen's curse washing over her and down her spine as though she'd had a bucket of ice water dumped onto her head. That was it though. The barrier hadn't tried to stop them from entering the town- physically or otherwise. It hadn't even caused the motorcycle's engine to stutter.

August slowly brought the bike to a stop on the side of the road and Hermione loosened her grip on his waist, leaning back so that he could turn to meet her eyes. "Looks like the old man was right."

She beamed up at him and let out a peal of laughter. "We did it!"

He ducked down to press a hard kiss against her lips. "Seems like it," he breathed, sitting back. "You want to tell Lily, or should I?"

"I'll text her," Hermione said, pulling out her phone. "We need to head into town and find somewhere to stay for the night."

August made a noise of agreement and grumbled about how much he hated places where the sun set before five in the fall and winter. Once Lily had responded to Hermione's message with a thumbs up, she put her phone away and August started up his bike again.

It was another ten minutes or so before they arrived in the center of Storybrooke, which seemed to be no larger than a four-block radius. They circled around for a bit before August suddenly pulled over without warning. Hermione lifted her head and glanced around, wondering why he'd stopped, when she spotted a trio across the street from them. There was a small boy no older than eleven, a woman with long blond hair, and a dark-haired man.

"Is that…" she started, staring at the man.

"Yeah," August breathed.

They silently got off the bike and took off their helmets before heading across the street.

"Hello," Hermione greeted when August stayed silent, doing her best to seem open and friendly.

"Evening," the man greeted in a lilting Irish accent, the sound of which almost sent Hermione reeling because-

"I'm so sorry."

"We're so sorry to bother you, but is this Storybrooke?" she asked, pushing her emotions down and away.

"It is. I'm Sheriff Graham Humbert and this is my deputy, Emma."

The blond woman nodded in greeting at them while the boy by her side just stared at them with wide eyes.

"I'm Hermione and this is August." She held her hand out to Graham. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

He took it with an easy-going grin. "You as well. What brings you to Storybrooke?"

"Just visiting," August finally spoke, resting a hand on Hermione's lower back. "You know of any place we could get a couple of rooms around here?"

"You guys are planning on staying?" the boy asked, obviously surprised.

"That's the plan," Hermione answered, studying the child. He looked strangely familiar…

"We're planning on staying for a while along with a friend of ours," August added.

When Emma spoke, her tone was firm and even. "Granny's Bed & Breakfast is just up the road- another two blocks."

August's hand was tense against her back. "Thanks," Hermione told the blond with a smile. "I'm sure we would have been able to find it eventually, but I appreciate you saving us a bit of time."

"Yeah," Emma huffed with an answering grin. "This place really isn't that big."

"So it seems. But the drive up was beautiful."

"There are some lovely hiking trails around here," Graham told them conversationally. "Should still be nice the next few weeks until winter really hits, if that's something that interests you."

"Thanks for the suggestion. We'll be sure to check them out." Hermione stepped back and grabbed August's hand when it fell from her back. "And thank you again for your help."

"No problem," Emma said. "See you around."

With one last smile, Hermione turned away and she and August got back on his bike. Her boyfriend remained silent as they rode to the inn and through a very uncomfortable check-in with the proprietor, the infamous Granny herself. Once they were in their room though August sank down onto the edge of the bed and buried his face in Hermione's stomach.

"They're… she hasn't changed. Granny. And Emma…"

Hermione ran her fingers through his hair. "I know, love," she murmured. "It's alright. It's okay for you to feel overwhelmed. Just relax. Everything is going to be alright. I promise."

He shuddered. "I know. I just…"

She hummed in understanding. "I know," Hermione repeated.

After a moment, August looked up at her. "You okay?"

Hermione gave him a half-smile. "I'm fine. I just wasn't expecting to run into him so quickly."

"Me neither. I can't believe the Evil Queen made him the sheriff."

"Really? I can. It would make sense to arrange things so that they Mayor would easily have town law enforcement firmly under her thumb."

August made a noise of agreement, eyes falling closed as he leaned into Hermione again. "I love you," he told her out of the blue. "You know that, right?"

Pulling away, Hermione sank down to kneel in front of the older man and smiled. "Always."

Hermione leaned back against August's bike, waiting for Lily to arrive. She was checking her watch for the fifth time when a dark sedan pulled in next to her.

"Hey," Lily called, climbing out of the car. "I got held up."

She almost asked what had kept her, but then Lily stepped closer to Hermione and she was able to see the wan expression on the other woman's face. "It's a lot to take in, isn't it? The magic covering this town is unlike anything I've ever felt before."

Lily let out a rush of air. "Yeah, it's intense."

"Just breathe," Hermione coached, walking over and placing her hands on Lily's arms.

Closing her eyes, Lily did as Hermione suggested, focusing on breathing in and out until her shoulders relaxed. When she opened her eyes again, they were a little lighter. "Thanks. I'm good now."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." Lily's eyes flicked up at the only lit window coming from the inn. "How's August?"

Hermione sighed. "Overwhelmed. And still in pain."

"He's not worse though, right?"

"He's not worse," she confirmed. "But who knows if that might change now that we're here."

Lily shrugged. "Guess that means we'll have to work fast."

"Well, I guess it's not the first time we've rushed a job," Hermione agreed. Pulling a key out of her jacket pocket, she tossed it to Lily. "Come on. Let's get you settled into your room and then we can talk about who we should pay a visit to first."

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