27Author's Note: I should be introducing characters from the "Sisters Grimm" books in this chapter!
Also, for the story, I will be referring to the Sisters Grimm characters by the fairy tale names-i.e, Prince Charming, Little Red Riding Hood, and Mad Hatter-but the OUAT characters by their usual names, for instance, Jefferson, Red, and David. It'll be a little easier to understand, I think.
-X-X-X-
When you're thrown into a new world
A world you've never known
What else can you do
But take a deep breath and
Learn to cope?
Gwin Gold - "A World You've Never Known" (poem)-X-X-X-
Mr. Gold landed with a bone-jarring thud on what felt like concrete. He groaned and lay there, struggling to catch his breath.
"Papa...?" A weak moan came from Gold's right side.
He rolled over to see Baelfire leaning against the side of a building, clutching a mewling Raine in his arms.
"I'm here, boy, I'm here," Gold whispered, painfully propping himself up on his elbows. He shook his head slightly to clear it of the fog, and sat up.
Upon looking around, he realized that Belle, Sheriff Emma Swan, and Henry were also sprawled out on the concrete. The Mad Hatter-more commonly known as Jefferson-and his daughter Grace were there too, but they were not sprawled out anywhere. On the contrary, both of them were standing up, bewildered but otherwise unharmed.
"What's going on here, Rumpelstiltskin?" Emma spoke his old name with derision.
"You really think I'm the one who did this?" Gold snapped. "Do you think I would cast a spell in such a way that it would send everyone falling to the ground and nearly break their backs? For you, maybe, but not Baelfire, Belle, and myself."
Emma glared at him, but before she could make a stinging retort, Belle interrupted.
"Well, standing here bickering isn't going to help us. The best thing to do is go and find out just where it is we are," she pointed out, getting to her feet and brushing off her blue-and-white dress.
"Belle's right," Henry agreed.
That ended the argument, and everyone stood up. Except for Jefferson and Grace, who were already standing.
"I don't recognize anything..." Baelfire said, cradling Raine in his arms as he studied the town around them.
Neither did Mr. Gold. The dozen or so buildings there were in town were all small-never any taller than three stories-and made of brownstone. It was rather quiet, and not many people were out and about.
In fact, except for the brownstone making of the buildings, it almost reminded him of Storybrooke.
They began to make their way through the town. Gold paid close attention to his surroundings; after all, one never knew when they would have to make a quick escape, and it helped greatly to know where you were.
Suddenly, a short man came stumbling out of what appeared to be the courthouse. He crashed right into Jefferson.
"Hey, watch it," Jefferson exclaimed, shoving back at the man. He only did that, however, because, if he stumbled and fell, he would crash into Grace, who was right behind him.
"Who are you? I've never seen you here before!" demanded the man, speaking with a prominent lisp.
"Jefferson, also known as the Mad Hatter," Jefferson replied, then stopped. It had been automatic for him; what if this person thought he was crazy?
Oh, wait, he was. Jefferson was no longer concerned.
"Preposterous!" yelped the other man.
"Why?" Jefferson asked.
"You can't be the Mad Hatter, because I'm the Mad Hatter!"
All of the Storybrookers stared at the strange man.
"What?!" Jefferson exclaimed. "That's ridiculous!"
"Ridiculous is as ridiculous does," proclaimed the man-who-claimed-to-be-the-Mad-Hatter.
"I'm sorry to ruin this ridiculous discussion, dearies," Mr. Gold cut in, his voice thick with sarcasm. "But could you tell us where we are? We've gotten ourselves slightly lost."
"You're either lost or you aren't, you can't be slightly or both," pointed out the Mad Hatter.
Gold would have rolled his eyes, if he hadn't been sophisticated enough to refrain. "All right, we're lost."
"So buy a map!" the Mad Hatter exclaimed, clapping his hands gleefully.
Gold stared at the Mad Hatter in complete astonishment. "I just asked where we are, I don't want to go and buy a map."
"Rumpel, you should know better than anyone that you can't ask madmen questions," Emma pointed out. "Let's just go find someone else."
"I am someone else!" the Mad Hatter said, a goofy grin plastered on his face.
"Beat it," Emma snapped at him. She started to walk again, and the other Storybrookers followed close behind.
"He wasn't the Mad Hatter," Henry said consolingly to Jefferson. "He was just a crazy man."
"Agreed," Jefferson muttered, still feeling put-out that someone was trying to impersonate him.
"Why don't we ask her?" Baelfire asked, pointing at a chubby old woman standing by what appeared to be the sheriff's office.
"Any particular reason you chose her, Bae?" Henry teased, poking his friend in the arm.
"Yes," Baelfire replied, nodding sagely. "She's the only other person on the street."
At a second glance, Henry (and the rest of them) found that to be true.
They carefully made their way over to the old lady, who was skimming through papers she held in her hand. When she saw them, a wide smile lit up her wrinkled face.
"Well, hello there!" she exclaimed.
"Hello," Emma said. "Look, could you tell us where we are? We're kind of lost."
"Of course, of course. You're in Ferryport Landing," the old woman replied.
"Which is where?" inquired Henry.
"It's in New York, child," the old lady said. Then she snapped her fingers. "Oh, dear, I've completely forgotten my manners. I'm Relda Grimm." She looked as though she were about to hold her hand out for shaking, but then, realizing that there were seven people, decided against it and lowered her hand.
"Pleased to meet you," Emma said. Then she quickly introduced them all. "I'm Emma Swan, this is my son Henry, that's Jefferson and his daughter Grace. He's Mr. Gold, and that's his family, Belle and Baelfire."
"And this is Raine," Henry added, petting the gray kitten's head. She was curled up in Baelfire's arms, purring and fast asleep.
"Welcome to Ferryport Landing, my friends," Mrs. Grimm said, smiling.
"Could you tell us how we got here?" asked Gold. "I mean, one minute we were safe at home, and then a storm kicks up and we all wind up here."
Mrs. Grimm's face darkened. "Oh, dear."
"What's the matter?" asked Baelfire.
"You must have been brought here by one of the time tears," Mrs. Grimm said.
"And what the heck are time tears?" Emma complained.
"Well, they're created by grave disruptions of magic," Mrs. Grimm explained. "They usually bring people in and out of different places in time, but I do think some of them can take people from the present time and deposit them somewhere else in that same time; just a different place."
The Storybrookers stared at her blankly, before Belle hesitantly spoke up. "So...we're still in the same time period, just in a different place?"
"That's right," Mrs. Grimm answered.
"Well, send us back," Mr. Gold commanded.
"Oh, I'm afraid I can't, Mr...Gold, is it?" He nodded sullenly. "The only way you can get back to where you come from is to travel there yourself. Until we fix the time tears, and retrieve the magic that is being misused, then whatever is brought here has to stay here."
"Why don't you use some of your all-powerful magic and send us back yourself, Rumpel?" mocked Emma.
"My magic isn't strong enough for that, dearie," he replied with an equally sarcastic and mocking tone.
"Don't get into another argument you two, please," Belle pleaded.
"Wait, wait, wait, darlings," Mrs. Grimm exclaimed. "Did you say 'magic'? And I thought his name was 'Gold' and not 'Rumpel'."
"Oh, I forgot to mention," Emma said, rolling her eyes. "Well, I'm the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, Henry is my son, Gold is Rumpelstiltskin, Jefferson is the Mad Hatter and Grace there is his daughter. Belle is, obviously, Belle, from that one story 'Beauty and the Beast', and Baelfire is Gold's son."
There was a short silence.
"That was a perfectly gentle way to break it to her," Mr. Gold said sarcastically, crossing his arms.
"Oh, no, it made quite enough sense," Mrs. Grimm said. "Only one thing confuses me; Snow White lives here, and she was never married to Charming, and she certainly never had a daughter. And the Mad Hatter... well, he's quite mad and is actually standing outside of the courthouse right now."
Again, the sidewalk fell so silent you could have heard a pin drop. Anyone who glanced at Jefferson would have noticed that he looked extremely exasperated.
"I'm sorry, you're wrong," Emma said. "Snow White lives in Storybrooke, where the rest of us came from. She's also known as Mary Margaret."
"She's right," Gold said. "Snow has come into my shop many a time. I'm afraid you're mistaken, Mrs. Grimm."
Mrs. Grimm stared at them for a second, and then turned around, mumbling to herself under her breath. "Well, this is a pickle...alternate realities, perhaps? Imposters...maybe not, maybe so...should do some research...time tears...somewhere to stay..."
Gold frowned, and glanced over at the others to see what their reactions were. Henry was twirling a finger at the side of his head in the universal 'looney' sign in order to make Grace giggle. Baelfire and Belle had furrowed brows, indicating that they were concentrating hard. Jefferson looked sulky, and Emma was rolling her eyes, muttering under her breath.
Mrs. Grimm spun around again, a clearly fake smile plastered on her face. "Well, until you feel rested enough to start on your way home, you'll need somewhere to stay. My home has more than enough room!"