6Spoilers for Episode 2, Season 2!
Set just after the episode, and assuming that the refugee station is still operational. A thought popped into my head: what if someone wanted to lose their fairy tale self entirely, and had a good reason for wanting to do so? And the muse took and ran with it, thus this short little fic. I don't own OUaT, though I dearly wish I did. That way I'd know what came next!
"...Dr. Hopper?" The voice was harsh, croaking, the sound of deep sorrow.
Archie Hopper turned. "Ginger!" he exclaimed with a smile, tempered when he saw the face that went with the voice.
The woman who greeted him was haggard, her former long blonde curls dangling disheveled around her face, which no longer looked quite so youthful as it once had, aged overnight. He stepped forward quickly, taking her by the elbow and guiding her out of the way of a pair of arguing townspeople, who were oblivious of everything else. Gnomes, he thought to himself, only a bit annoyed.
The woman nodded her gratitude, sightless eyes hidden behind dark glasses, as Dr. Hopper led her to a vacant bench.
"Ginger," he said again, leaning in towards her to create a small bubble of privacy in the midst of the chaos of the refugee station. "How are you? Who are you?" It had become the standard greeting in Storybrooke. 'Hi! Who are you?' His practice was going to take a huge upswing, Archie predicted.
Ginger Sucre shook her head. "I'm not... Oh, Doctor Hopper!" she cried, burying her face in her hands. "I remember who I am! And I don't want to be her!"
"There, there," Archie said, patting her comfortingly upon her shoulder. "It's alright, I'm sure it's going to be all right. Ginger, you're the best primary school teacher I know - your kids love you. I know you love them. It can't be all bad, I'm sure of it."
She let out a wail that startled those nearby, but, blind as she was, she couldn't see it. She wouldn't care even if she did, Archie was sure; she was so distraught. "Ginger, calm down! It's going to be okay, but you have to calm down, first. Tell me what's wrong."
She took a deep, shuddering breath, but before she could speak, a scream cut her off.
"Daddy! Daddy, that's the witch!"
Archie turned to see the two Zimmer children, Ava and Nicholas, clinging to their father. Oh. So that's what happened to Gretel and Hansel, he thought. Ava was pointing directly at Ginger, screaming about a witch. And Ginger was cringing.
Oh. "Easy, kids," said Archie. "Move along now, it's okay. Mr. Tillman? Would you mind taking your kids out of here?"
The Woodcutter hugged both of his children tightly and glared at Ginger. "You tried to hurt my babies," he growled. "By all rights, I ought to kill you."
Time to intervene. "Tillman!" Archie said, firmly. "Move along! There'll be time enough later to sort all this out. Now move along. Now!" He turned back to his patient. "Ginger?"
"He's right. He should kill me. I did... awful things. I am awful..."
"You are not awful, Ginger."
But she wasn't taking any of it. "I murdered children, Archie. Killed them and ate them. You can't tell me that's alright. That that's forgivable."
He shook his head. "I've known you for years, here. And you've been nothing but sweet to the children. You've never hurt a single child here. Why is that?"
"The curse," she said. "Good people had their happy endings taken away, but bad people had their happiness, period, taken from them. Especially Regina's enemies. I loved my power... she took that from me. I hated kids... she made me a teacher. But I didn't really hate the kids... I envied them... I wanted kids of my own... So I found my happiness, despite her." She sobbed. "Now it's taken from me, again! What have I done, what have I done...?" Archie held her while she sobbed, rocking back and forth as grief wracked her body. "I don't want to be her," she wailed. "I don't want to remember what she did! Why did the curse have to be broken? Why can't things just stay the way they were?"
Archie rubbed her back, and his eye fell on the main road out of town. "Come on, Ginger," he said, compassionately. "I think I know just how to help you."
He helped her into his car, and drove her out to the line. "Ginger, the Prince is right: we are both. I am Dr. Hopper and Jiminy Cricket. You are Ginger Sucre and the Blind Witch of the forest. And both pasts make up who we are."
"But I don't want to be..." she whispered. "I can't live with these memories."
He took a deep breath. "Then... you can cross the line. If you step out of the car and walk forward a dozen paces, you will forget your old life. No one but Ginger Sucre will remain. Are you sure you want to do that?"
Ginger was out of the car before he stopped talking. "Yes. Show me the way to go."
He led her to the line. "Last chance, Ginger."
She turned her sightless eyes on him. "Archie. If you had done what I have done, you would want to forget, too. Just," she suddenly gripped him by the arm, "please. Don't tell me... don't tell me what I was. Who I am...not, anymore. I don't want to know. Ever."
He nodded. "I... I promise."
Grateful tears rolled down her cheeks as she released his arm and walked forward.
Sometimes, Archie Hopper reflected, watching her freeze, caught in the warping magic of the forgetting spell, Sometimes a happy ending is no ending at all. And who are we to decide who deserves a miracle?