I don't own OUAT. I was originally just brainstorming for SQ week and then this happened oops. So this isn't SQ week, but just something I really wanted to write.
Prologue
There were only screams.
The boy pushed at them, every part of him shaking. He was crying, and clinging at them at the same time they tried to get him closer to what he was obviously terrified off. The woman with brown eyes clung just as fiercely to him for a moment, grabbing his chin and pulling him in a hug that seemed like she never wanted to let him go. The blonde woman quickly joined, crawling towards him and throwing her arms around him. She leaned her head on his , but made sure to still look at the other woman. Or rather, at where there was bright light pushing against the wound that was still bleeding profusely.
Behind them, the woman with the pixie cut and the man with his arm around her, stared on. They were both crying, although the woman managed a trembling smile through her tears while the man just shook his head and balled his hands into fists. After several tense moments, they pushed themselves towards the group hug and joined it. They clung to each other, eyes closed.
They only separated when there was weird flash of lightning- it seemed lightning. But lightning wasn't supposed to be red and it definitely wasn't supposed to behave like this. The blonde woman glanced at it, then started to stand. She had to rip the boy from the woman whose arms were still around him, and he kicked and yelled and tried to bite her as she half-carried, half-dragged him to the building behind them.
He almost escaped, but she grabbed his waist and pulled him back. He shook and pushed and yelled until you could hear his voice breaking, but she just held on tighter. She was crying as much as he was, except hers was the silent kind while his were great, heaving sobs and whines that sounded like a wounded animal. Just before they reached what he was trying to get away from, she grabbed something that had been hidden and pushed it into his arms.
He glanced at the book, distracted for just long enough that the woman had the chance to kiss his forehead and give him a mighty shove. She slammed the doors shut, and sank against it. No more than five minutes later, the odd lightning-and-smoke engulfed her.
Behind her, the wardrobe was empty.
Lucy glanced at the book again. She had read it again and again of course, so she didn't even really need to look at it. If she closed her eyes and concentrated, she could quietly whisper the words to herself so the other passengers wouldn't hear. But she liked the familiarity of the book, and how if she pressed her hand to it, she could imagine she was laying in bed and listening to her father's voice as he told the story.
So she read, feeling her eyes burn but her mouth smile at the familiar scrawl of her dad.
As The Author, I am not allowed to write my own story. But that's all right- it is not really my own story I am telling anyways. Rather, it's the story of my moms. It is the story of their hardships, and all the wrong turns they made. Like the best stories, it has things like magic. And dragons. It even has things the English teacher I had in New York might approve of, like wrong love (anti-true, I call it) and tragic betrayals.
Most of all, this story has family in it. A weird bunch of people you can hardly imagine are family but somehow, they make it work. My moms' stories – well, both their stories always had a lot to do with family you see. My mom Regina didn't have the easiest family (she didn't want to tell me too much about this, but as Author, I just know some things and can hear the story in a story). My mom Regina had an overbearing mother who forced her own ambition on my mom and never really considered what she wanted. Her father was a kind and loyal man- but also someone who never really stood up for my mom. I am named after him, and I hope I'm just as kind but better at protecting my mom from anyone who wants to darken her heart (even more). My mom Emma didn't have one family growing up, she had a lot of them. She sort of was an orphan you see, so she must have had lots of brothers and sisters and parents. But they weren't good families, you know?
Growing up, I only had one family member. But until I was nine, I didn't mind at all. Mom always told me the best stories, and made my favourite meals if I had done something she was proud of. We had our own little family rituals, like making apple turnovers on Sundays and reading Spanish tales on Saturday evening. But Emma never had any of that, so it didn't matter she had had lots of families. None of them were right. None of them made her feel like she was loved and appreciated. So that is what it is about. This story, this epic tale, is about my mom Emma finally finding the family she needed. It is about my other mom being alone and angry, and healing through family. It's about my moms' love- for each other, and me and our extremely dysfunctional family. That's what it is about.
My family sounds like the beginning of a joke: Snow White, the evil queen and Rumplestilstkin walk into a bar… but that is who they are and I absolutely love it. It's crazy and funny and really difficult, but I still feel like I am the most fortunate kid in the world. Mostly because of my moms, who are really special. I didn't always have two moms, so I guess I will start with that.
Once upon a time, there lived a boy who didn't know his sleepy little town was special. In fact, he was oblivious to a lot of things. As this little boy became a little less little, he didn't at first notice that everyone around him seemed to stay the same. He didn't think about things like how he needed new clothes each year, but the other children never outgrew them. He didn't question why the town clock was not working, or why the townspeople never could answer question like 'how long have you been doing this work'.
But then I got a book, and everything I knew about my life just collapsed.
It was awful. My mom, the person who allowed me to sleep next to her if I had nightmares and learned how to make my favourite things and would pick me up and dance around with me in her arms- that woman was the Evil Queen. She had done such terrible things that I actually threw the book after I read it the first time, and swore I would never read it again.
But I kept coming back to it, and it made me question everything. I thought I was just part of her big plan, her revenge, and that she didn't love me. I looked at all the awful things she had done, and thought it meant she couldn't love. I got so, so angry at her that there were days I thought I would die. Or worse, turn out like her ( back then, that was what I was terrified of. Now, I hope I am like her)
I started acting out. I yelled and accused and slammed the doors. I read the book a million times and stared at the pictures for so long my eyes started to hurt, but I never really succeeded in hating her. I succeeded in making her think I did though. She reacted by putting me in therapy, and pulling back more and more. She became colder, different, and I just assumed it was because I no longer believed her lies, so she no longer felt the need to pretend.
I was wrong, really wrong. Mom did love me. I was the only thing she had been able to love in a long time, even. But I didn't see that, so I ran away. I had found out I was adopted and I decided I would find my 'real' mom. Enter Emma Swan, bondsbailperson and loner.
I managed to convince Emma to bring me home, but I hadn't told her most of it. And what I did tell her, she didn't even believe. Mom has always been a sceptic, so it was hard even convincing her to stay. But she did stay, and she fought with my other mom and helped townspeople and I thought it was great. I loved it. I happily called her 'mom' and gave her all the affection that I refused my other mom.
That's probably why it happened. Well, because of a lot of things, but I was always a big reason it went really wrong. You se-
Lucy yanks her face away from the book when the bus' tires shriek. She smiles politely at the person next to her trying to look at her book, and quickly gets off her seat. She keeps the book pressed through her chest as she thanks the bus driver and exits the bus. She is just starting to wonder how she is going to get to the apartment now when there is a taxi driving by.
It doesn't take much convincing, and she happily sits in the back of the taxi and goes through her plan one more time. She has carefully planned every part of this trip so there's little that can go wrong, but she has always been someone who checks things at least three times. Dad was always happy about that, and he would smile at her teary-eyed and tell her 'al igual que la abuela'.
She smiles at the memory as she trots up the stairs, carefully looking right and left so she is safe. She only waits a moment in front of the door, her mom's voice ringing in her ears, full of good advice. She quickly knocks, counting in her head to calm down-
she smiles as soon as she sees his face, and reminds her she can't run at him. She can't jump into his arms like usually and he won't spin her around and tell her- she pushes the memory back and instead just bounces a little and says 'Hi! Are you Henry Mills?" even though she knows he is.
He sighs a bit. " Yeah. Yeah" he frowns. " Who are you?".
Just say it. " My name is Lucy. I am your daughter" it goes almost as well as the last time she practised it. His response isn't unexpected, but it is still stupid. She isn't going to give up though. Instead, she says the magic words.
"Your family needs you".
He's just like Emma. Her grandma, which she has never met, but who is strong and intuitive and really doesn't easily believe anything. Dad must've talked about her a million times, which is why she isn't that bothered by the disbelief. She just likes the idea that grandma would probably be fond because of it.
So she just chats and keeps trying to convince him. Her daddy will eventually know, and it will probably take far less time than Emma needed. He has the heart of the truest believer, after all. So she huffs a little and shakes her head. Mostly, she smiles and just enjoys seeing him again though. She missed him. A lot.
"You should be able to cross the town line".
"Should be?".
"Well, I couldn't. I already visited here, to check whether I could cross into the town you see. But you're the saviour's son and the Author, so you definitely should be able to"
"Ah. Well, we should be fine then" Lucy immediately hears the sarcasm , but decides to just ignore it.
" Yeah, and then you need to give grandma true love's kiss"
Dad throws her a look that makes her smile brightly. It's a funny expression. " That's how the first curse broke, because Emma kissed you on the forehead and it was true love. I mean, I don't know how well it works when you don't have memories, but it will probably work that way as well. And if it does not, I have other plans".
Dad just sighs, the same way he always does when she questions certain things in his stories that just do not make sense. It isn't nearly as fond, but there is definitely some sort of affection. She can notice he likes her, even if he doesn't like all the stuff she keeps saying. "All right. Where is the town line"
She points "Right there".
Her dad really looks way too apprehensive for someone who doesn't believe her, but she doesn't mention that either. She just sits there and studies him as they cross the town line. For a moment, there's almost a flash of recognition-
But just as quickly, it is gone and he is looking around curiously. " All right. Where is your home?".
"We have to go to Mifflin street" she says, happy that she doesn't have to lie. She isn't saying it is her home after all, so she doesn't have to lie. Which she both dislikes and is really bad at.
Henry shrugs. "That seems easy enough" they're both silent for a while, and she is content to study the very few people that are out at this time. It isn't that obvious that they're cursed, although they move kind of robotically and there's something off. But maybe that's just because she knows
She bounces impatiently in her seat, and almost opens her door before the car has even stopped moving. But a second after it has, her door is open and she is running to the other side. She immediately grabs dad's hand and pulls him along, practising one last time all the things she has gone over again and again in her head.
Hello abuela. Me llamo Lucy. Before she can finish the bits she has prepared, the door already opens and she hears her dad hiss quietly behind her as she accidentally squeezes his hand with too much force. But she can't help it . That's her grandma.
She has the familiar dark eyes, the lip scar and the brown hair. But she doesn't have the elaborate dresses or pantsuits. It's green- not a colour she would wear, Lucy knows- and kind of has a weird cut. Lucy is staring at it when a hand on her shoulder catches her attention.
"Are you okay?" Henry asks, and she nods.
"Uh-uh" she looks at Regina again, pulling him with her as she steps towards her grandma. " You got to kiss her, remember?".
" We do not know each other, so that is rude and uh kind of really weird- "
" On the forehead. I promise it will work, I promise " Dad might not remember right now, but promises are sacred between them. They made that deal a long time ago, the time when it was dark and she was scared and dad had to leave the next day .
" Okay" he whispers back.
She relaxes, enough to smile at Regina. "Grandma? This is your son, Henry- "
Regina exhales shakily, and Lucy immediately shuts up. She stares, noticing how Regina's hand is pressed against her stomach, where it is shaking slightly. Her eyes are glazed over, and she swallows in this odd way, like she's choking-
"You know. You remember?" Lucy questions
"Yes. Come inside, now" Regina says in a really low voice, carefully reaching for them both and letting them go inside. The only sign she is still really emotional is the hand pressed to her stomach.
As soon as they are in the foyer, she steps towards Henry. He almost steps back, and he definitely looks a little uncomfortable when she touches his chin gently and whispers " mijo". Regina shakes her head, and she is crying silently, but then she steps back-
Lucy doesn't understand anything. Except that everything is different than it should've been.
" You should not have returned, my little prince" Regina chokes.
" He only has to kiss you- on the forehead" she turns to her dad. "Please do it dad! We will have our family again, like you have always wanted".
Regina shakes her head. "That will not work. You do not remember, do you?"
"I have never met you" Henry says
Lucy has never seen a heart break before. She wonders whether you would see it, if you would rip grandma's heart out- whether it would be in tiny pieces, or it would be ash or it would just have this big ugly line.
" You have to leave" Regina pushes out.
" But abuela- " Lucy swallows when grandma looks at her. She really does have a beautiful smile, and it really does feel like the sun's rays are inside you when she smiles with so much love ( although she would rather have gotten a smile without quite so much pain in it).
" Abuela? "
" Si, abuela" she says softly. She doesn't even know how to describe her abuela's expression.
Just when Regina takes a step forward, her arms opening to probably hug Lucy tightly, the door slowly opens and a woman enters. Lucy feels like there should be thunder, lightning and foreboding music. She has never seen a colder, faker smile.
" Oh thank goodness, you are here" the woman exclaims.
Henry looks at her. " Uh and you are?"
Lucy glares, and crosses her arms. "The Blue fairy. She is the worst"
"Not this again Lucy, we talked about this".
" You talked about what?" Henry questions, automatically placing him in front of Lucy. It is a nice gesture, but Lucy knows Blue could probably easily blast Henry away from her. She takes a step closer to her dad, wanting to pull him back and tell him to stay behind Regina, when Blue speaks again.
"The poor girl is confused" she nods at Regina. " That is her aunt and – I don't know whether I should tell you this".
" No, please do tell me. I have no idea what is going on, so explanations would be nice"
Lucy wants to stop them , is already stepping towards Blue when there is a light grip around her arm and she is pulled back. When she looks behind her, Regina is shaking her head. She only fights once, then stands still as Blue whispers and Henry throws her looks that become more and more concerned.
By the time the conversation is over, she knows he believes whatever lies Blue has told them and she's lucky if they ever see Regina again. Just before Henry can take her away, she feels Regina's hand grab hers and there is something pushed into her hand. She quickly hides it, and ignores Blue as she walks away.
Not looking back is the hardest thing she has ever had to do.
So no one has forgotten anything?
No. We all remember who we were, it is not like the Dark curse
Does she know everything?
She monitors everything, so yes. However, we have managed to create a network- a sort of online forum you can access using your phone- that she has knowledge of, but cannot access. Texting is also relatively safe
Network?
The password is something that made your other grandmother and your father bond for the first day. Link: .com . Some of this town's buffoons thought of the 'creative' name.
Lucy only has to think three seconds before she figures it out. With a smile, she clicks the link and types in operationcobra. It quickly allows her access, until she is asked for another password.
There is another password
What Snow possesses most of + commission
Lucy actually chuckles this time, and quickly types in hopecommission. She is actually allowed to go further now, and absent-mindedly scrolls through some of the comments before picking up her phone again.
Where can I find you? (also, is everything in code?)
I will find you. (Yes)
It is easily decipherable- I would change the codes
She quickly checks the site again, and smiles when she sees she has gotten a message.
You are truly a Mills
Si. Are you all right?
I am perfectly fine.
So what happened to you guys?
Blue has not been as merciful as to erase certain bothersome memories, but has instead elected to have us remember everything. We just are not in control of ourselves
Not in control?
Yes. Blue has forced us into roles, not unlike the Dark Curse, and has set us tasks. We have some agency, but not much
What roles? What do you have to do?
I am her little lapdog. Officially , I am just the secretary but I have to do all her dirty work and am horribly meek and accommodating.
And abuela #2?
Emma is a social worker, but constantly forced by the loathsome little cockroach to separate siblings, place children with unsuitable households and so on.
What about the rest of our family?
Snow is a psychologist- except she is forced to give advice such as 'do not ever try communication'. David is forced to work in the mines with the fairies that are disloyal to Blue ( he is not certain what they are doing exactly). Gold is a beggar. Belle is forced to work with the loyal fairies, you could call her a guard I suppose.
What about Zelena?
She's Blue second in command
Why would she do that?
She is possibly attempting to get Zelena on her side, as well as annoying me.
We have to stop this
Agreed. However, I will not have you two endanger yourselves. We can save ourselves , please convince your father to leave town.
I couldn't even if I wanted to. He definitely thinks something odd is going on, and I think I will soon get him to remember or at least believe. We're not abandoning family
Lucy, this is no game. Blue is a very sadistic, very powerful being
I know. But our family is more powerful
Our family is helpless
So if we left, you would never be free. And dad needs everyone, he is sad without you
It is not too late to convince him to leave, and raise you somewhere relatively safe
No, abuela. We are staying. Adios
She jumps off the couch, and tugs on her dad's sleeve. He is reading something in the armchair, possibly something work-related and quickly looks up and smiles at her.
" Come on, I want to go somewhere"
"Where?".
She shrugs. " I am going to introduce you to my social worker".
He freezes, and she takes his hand and squeezes it. " It's okay"
" Lucy- because of me, your life was not good" he says, and that's just like his dad. Always empathic and wanting to help people, and then feeling guilty when he can't.
"No, because of you my life was asombroso "
" But I wasn't there".
"You were. And even if you hadn't been, I would forgive you"
He doesn't say anything, just nods and smiles at her. He squeezes her hand and allows her to lead him towards where she knows Emma probably is. She actually isn't, but they still find her relatively quickly.
She is in a small office, leaning on her desk. She doesn't look right. Her hair is in a really tight bun, and she has glasses that make her look super strict and not like the fun parent Henry described at all. She wears a blazer and a skirt, which Lucy doesn't think is like her either.
"Where is your jacket?" she blurts, because that had always been one of her favourite things. She had been planning to ask Emma if she could borrow it, and she had imagined Emma would smile, mess up her hair and say 'keep it'.
Emma slowly looks up. For a moment, everyone freezes. Then Lucy stares at the chair that's suddenly on the floor and watches as Emma sprints over to Henry and tugs him into her arms. She is smiling really brightly.
"Henry" she gasps, finally pulling back when she registers Henry isn't returning the hug. " Why are you here? How are you here?" she says.
Henry smiles, and shrugs. "Lucy brought me here. She is really persuasive"
That's when Emma looks at her. And unlike Regina, she immediately understands who Lucy is. "You got a kid? Oh gods, how old is she ? Shit, if you had a teenage pregnancy, Regina is going to rip my heart out"
" I am pretty certain I miss the autonomy to get pregnant" Henry says, rolling his eyes
" Oh gods, I have missed your sarcasm" Emma laughs, then sobers up. " Really though, what happened? ".
"I don't actually…. Know" Henry says
Emma's almost relaxed grin disappears. Henry always said she was the worst at being strict , but it doesn't seem like that right now. " Henry, if you had – if you just knocked up some poor girl and left her, I swear I will- ".
Henry holds up his hands. " I didn't leave anyone! I just didn't.. know".
Emma immediately calms down at the pained tone in Henry's voice. " Oh crap. Kid- that's – but it isn't too late. You can still be in her life" she grins, and throws an arm around Henry. " We did pretty okay, didn't we?".
" Uhm- ".
"He does not remember that either. He is suffering from amnesia".
Emma rolls her eyes. " Of course he is. Is anyone in this town ever not suffering from amnesia?"
Lucy just shrugs, which is when Emma smiles almost shyly at her. "So I guess you're my grandkid then?".
She nods. "Si- I mean yes".
"And you're bilingual. Those two will just love that, they're so smug about speaking Spanish- ".
Lucy just smiles, and loses control a little bit. She isn't that impulsive usually, but now she just can't help herself. She barges forward and wraps one arm around Emma's waist, the other around Henry's. When she glances upwards, they have the exact same expression.
Henry looks at Emma. " You're a little bit young to be a grandma, aren't you?"
Emma snorts, which prompts Henry into laughter. And she is giggling as well, just so ridiculously happy. They don't stop laughing for a while, either.
She reads her dad's journal again that night. She needs the familiarity, and the idea that dad is talking to her and telling stories. That mom is next to him, with wise words and a calming smile.
Things weren't okay, for a long time. There were accusations on both sides, there were lies and betrayals. At a certain moment, my mom Regina was framed for murder and Emma was tricked into thinking she had done it. But it was my grandma, who wanted mom weak and vulnerable so she could convince her to attack the town together.
In the end, grandma died. I never heard the entire story, but I know it was my other grandma (Snow) who was to blame. Mom's mother never had had her heart and the only time she could truly love my mom was when she had it back. And moments after, she died.
So yeah, things weren't okay at first. It was amazing, having prince Charming as a granddad and seeing Snow White shoot arrows and drinking hot chocolate with cinnamon with Emma whenever we could. I loved that. But there was a lot of history, and there were also bad moments. Moments where I honestly feared for my mom( Regina)'s life.
And then everything changed. I got kidnapped, and taken to Neverland. Suddenly, there were these old fears again. That fear that mom could never love me, and that she was just using me to keep herself alive. Neverland works like that. It knows your deepest wounds, and your greatest fears and it will keep increasing it until all the happy memories in the world aren't enough.
So I slept, and had nightmares. I tried to think of moms, and I imagined Emma abandoning me. All the while, Pan used that to talk me into joining the Lost Boys. You lose parts of yourself in Neverland. The longer you stay there, the more you forget about your family. And the Lost Boys- some of them were really bad. I think most of them were just kids who hadn't had the best luck.
But some of them were dangerous. They would have killed me if they had had half the chance. I was scared, I really was. But once again, my moms saved the day. Suddenly they were there, talking to me through a mirror. Telling me all I had wanted to hear. It was better than strawberry milkshakes and a Star Wars marathon. My family was there, my moms and my grandma and even grandpa.
It still went wrong however. If a fairy tale character ever tells you he/she/them will help you be a hero DON'T JUST HAND YOUR HEART TO THEM. Don't ever give anyone your heart. People control you with that, and you might almost die and need a conservation spell and everything will very nearly go wrong. Being a hero is an admirable goal, but please become one safely?
She can't even finish, because the Blue Fairy is there again. She can hear the footsteps, so she quickly hides the journal and tries to look as hopeless as possible. Which apparently works, because she hardly gets a glance before she is shooed of the bed and forced to follow the traitor. They're probably off to another day of work( and Blue 'subtly' trying to erase her memories ) but Lucy doesn't really care.
She has her family, and she knows they will win.
Abuela? ¿Está todo bien?
Si.
Then why weren't you answering?
Beca- ajejjwjdj
Sory- this is Emma, just wrestled phone away from Regina, she very mad
Hi Abuela!
Just call me Emma and
And?
Sorry, Regina's pissed. She threw one of her SHOES at me. It nearly impaled me.
I would be angry too if someone stole my phone, but she probably should not throw shoes
Better than the fireballs. Anyways, how are you?
How come you are even there? I thought BF separated everyone
True, but your arrival has messed things up. : ) : ) : )
Good. How can we stop her?
Wait, I gotta go hide behind Regina's trees she is still pissed says it's my fault one sec
Are you okay?
Eh fine. She would never try to hurt me as long as I am behind her beloved tree. The only Regina-proofed thing, lol. So I wanted to discuss something
Si?
Henry has a new operation, right?
Yes, operation Phoenix
Nice, I lived there once. Do you think he remembers anything?
Not really. I fell asleep in the hotel room he is been renting, and he was muttering things in his sleep. I think his memories are dreams now?
What do you think of starting an operation with your grandmas?
SI!
YES*
WAIT
Doesn't abuela #1 mind?
She does (still wants you two to leave, which I would usually agree with) but just leave her majesty to me
If you are sure
Yup , I
Abuela?
This is Regina, dear. Miss Swan cannot talk at the moment, she is rather tied up currently
Is she okay?
She is fine, the entire Charming line has rather thick heads.
Are we really going to do an operation together?
If it includes you and Henry leaving town, yes
Grandma, we can't!
I know Emma has her reasons and they are good ones but I do not want you anywhere in the vicinity of Storybrooke.
We need to help you. Things are already improving because of our arrival, right?
I will discuss it with Emma. Go to your father
Okay. Te quiero
Te quiero, principita
She shoves the phone in her pocket and marches over to Henry. "Come on, let's go do something fun" she says, grinning at him and taking his hand. He is used to it by now, so he just smiles at her and follows her. He is silent until they reach the office.
"Breaking and entering is your idea of fun?" he whispers
" She is evil, so it isn't a bad thing to do "she insists. He is still saying things, but she isn't listening. She quickly checks the room, but you probably need a spell or key. She shrugs, and finally grabs a really have pressé-papier that's on the desk and start slamming the drawer with it. Henry tries to grab her, but she dances out of his reach and starts again.
They have just repeated this for the third time when she nearly falls against the desk as the drawer is destroyed. She grins, and slowly lets go of the pressé-papier. She glances at the door again and quickly pushes her hand through the hole.
Henry calls her name. " Lucy, no! You could get splinters".
She grimaces. She can already feel a piece of wood sticking into her skin, but worse is the slightly slimy and very cold feeling. Please don't be magic. She quickly feels the objects – some sort of flash, wand, candy- and grins.
Henry catches her at the exact moment she cries out, pain suddenly shooting through her hand. "Lucy! Are you all right? " he checks her for injuries and she swallows bravely even though her hand is hurting more than she can ever remember. Even an ogre bite couldn't hurt this much, she decides.
"Why are you grinning?".
She shows him the pen. "Your pen. Now we can- RUN" she stumbles and quickly grabs his hand. A mirror that wasn't even there moments ago is suddenly showing the Blue Fairy's smile and the floor is caving in. They stumble towards the walls, but now the room is getting smaller. And the door-
"It is gone " Henry exclaims, staring.
Lucy nods rapidly. "Si. Quick, take this" she pulls his hand towards the pen, and throws him a very impatient look as he just stares at it. " Use it!".
"For what?".
"TO WRITE US OUT OF HERE" she shrieks, pushing him so that he only barely avoids being touched by whatever weird dust is coming from the ceiling now. He stares at the pen again, then finally looks back at the desk.
" What are you – NO DADDY" She nearly cries when he suddenly jumps over the hole that used to be the floor, barely manages to grab the desk and climbs on top of it. She shrieks again when the desk starts to topple, but he has stuck the pen beneath his teeth and is now quickly opening drawers and overturning papers and everything.
She insults him in Spanish. She only does that when he is doing something she really doesn't agree with. He just smiles at her and jumps back, showing her the tiny bottle of ink he is holding. He quickly dips the pen in it, and reaches for her arm.
In a messier scrawl than usually, with the walls creeping towards them and Blue talking and the desk falling and falling and falling, he writes:
Lucy and Henry Mills were safely transported to Granny's.
ALIVE. That's what she thinks. With every thump of her heart, so that her thoughts are alivealivealivealivealivealive a-live a-live alive alive until her heart has slowed down and she leans on a table. That's when she realizes her dad's shoulders are shaking. She immediately runs to him.
"Dad! Are you all right?".
When he just shakes his head, taking deep gulping breaths and doesn't answer, she rubs his back. She tries telling jokes, or stories. She calls his name a million ( maybe not a million) times. He finally turns to look at her, and hugs her fiercely.
"Lucy" he strokes her hair, and slowly stands and lifts her. " Lucy" he repeats and with a feeling not unlike an electrical shock, she realizes.
"You remember?" She can feel him nodding.
"Yes. We are in Storybrooke, with my family" he puts her down, smiles at her. "With my family"
She nods, and smiles back. " Si! Abuela and Abuela and greatgrandma and greatgrandpa and other greatgrandma and greatgrandpa and – ".
"Archie and Ruby and Granny and Zelena and Grumpy and- "
" Sleepy Sneezy-"
" Pongo "
"Everyone " she says, smiling brightly.
He shakes his head. He is still crying, so she wipes at his cheeks and ask " Alegre?".
" Si. My family" he says again.
The floor rumbles appropriately, and he lets her go she can run to the window. " Dad! There's lots of colours and teeth and things" she gasps, and he immediately runs to her. They gape at the sight together; fairies everywhere, with ogres on the ground and trolls behind and bows firing themselves and so many different things that they don't have time to take it in.
"Dad, we need to get everyone here-" she says, and he taps her shoulder. He is holding a bill, and writing in very small letters it says 'all the heroes and innocents in Storybrooke where safely inside their houses, which the Blue Fairy could not enter. The family of Henry Daniel Mills was transported to the room he was in and the room could not be accessed by Blue Fairy or any of her allies'.
As soon as she finishes reading, they're suddenly in the room. Her dad drops the pen, and runs towards Emma and Regina. Emma immediately embraces him, muttering about he is too tall now while Regina holds his head and ask him again and again '¿Está todo bien? ' which he answers differently each time.
They don't look at her, they just make room for her and she joins. She hears people laughing, and screaming, and sobbing and then there are more arms around her and she is in the middle of a wonderful, perfectly chaotic, messy groups hug.
Henry is the first to pull back, and gives both his mothers a grin. He arches his eyebrow. "Well?" he says.
They both move forward, obviously intending to kiss his brow when he laughs and shakes his head. He gently pushes their heads in each other's direction. " New curse, new true love's kiss " he says.
Emma swallows. " Henry- ". Regina stares at her, eyes impossibly soft, which Emma doesn't see because she is staring at Henry.
Henry just chuckles. " Listen, keep it PG as long as I am in the room and it will be fine"
" That is never what we were" Regina says, softly.
Henry takes her hand, squeezes it. " That is what you thought you didn't deserve " he says, very soft and he hugs her. Regina hugs him back, and they stand like that for a minute before Henry gently pulls back and smiles at his other mom.
" You sacrificed your soul for her. That's true love, isn't it?"
Emma is staring at Regina. The entire room steps back when she steps forward. Lucy watches as Emma takes another step, and another. When Regina scowls, and tries to say something, Emma shakes her head.
" You once said you were much alike"
" I am. Emma, this is not- ".
" Yeah, you kind of are. But you're also not, because you're so much better. I was the one who made really awful mistakes, and hurt my family. You have been the one to protect it for years, and I fucked up. You've worked too hard for anything to be something you don't deserve"
" Has Snow been teaching hope speeches as a subject, or – "
Emma rolls her eyes, and Regina shuts up, takes that last step forward and kisses her. Their lips have barely touched before they're all blasted with rainbow light. The entire room cheers, some people are laughing hysterically, others are wolf-whistling and Lucy just hugs her dad again.
As she closes her eyes, she can feel the warmth of the rainbow light on her cheeks , again and again. She can hear people cheer outside, and the sound of an army of darkness immediately losing as the Light gains strength again.
She opens her eyes again to look at her dad. " The Evil Queen and the Saviour. I couldn't have written a better story myself" he says.
She just nods, and she enjoys this happy beginning.
My mom's husband betrayed her. My other mom's friend betrayed her. My grandmother's friend betrayed her as well. That's what happened. Sometimes, you want things to be well so much that you ignore they aren't. Sometimes, you know people you care about are making mistakes and they won't listen to you. That's the mistakes we made, and I have had to miss two of my moms because of it.
We thought the Final Battle was over, and it only just begun. We thought we had friends, but they were enemies. We all waited too long to say something, I guess, and I realized something that night.
Hook was never my mom's happy ending or her true love or even close to what I had and my grandparents had. But mom could've been that for her- they destroyed curses, moved the moon, battled hell beasts and saved each other's live again and again. They're my moms, and they're both special. They deserve each other, and I hope they will one day.
It would be the perfect end to their story.
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