Storybrooke

"Have you ever been to a therapist?" Henry asked me.

He had just left the latest appointment with Archie. We were sitting on the curb, waiting for his mom to pick him up. He'd asked me to come wait with him. There really wasn't a bad reason to refuse.

Even if there was I would still hang out here. It was fun.

"Couple times." I answered. Biting into a piece of candy, I started balling up the wrapper. "Get as old as me, you start having to visit."

"Why?" Henry asked.

I gave him a side eye. While his question wasn't exactly the nicest, I could understand the thought behind it. There was plenty of reason to not tell him why I had gone to therapy. I had been in the FBI, that job required therapy every now and again to be sure I was safe to be on the field. Most of my other law enforcement jobs had much the same.

Sometimes, I had been in foster care. By myself, or with Darcy. Those times were all the better to speak to a therapist. Though for the most part, it was useless. Everytime I walked in, I had to lie.

"Same reason most people visit a therapist, I'm guessing." I replied.

"I didn't know there were therapists in the Enchanted Forest." Henry mused.

"I'm a surprise to a lot of people." I mused. "And who said it was in the Enchanted Forest?"

Henry sat up. "You left the Enchanted Forest?"

"There's...ways to leave. But all of them need some kind of magic." I explained to Henry. "In the Land Without...we can't come back like that."

He sagged right back. "Right."

"But don't you worry, H-man." I assured. "We'll be fine. It'll be okay."

Henry just nodded in reply, looking down at the road.

I gave him pats on the back. The two of us waited until his mom came around to pick him up.

==BOL==

Enchanted Forest

"Morgan!" Father shouted with annoyance in his tone.

My shoulders dipped lower, hearing Father's shouts. There was no way that what was going on upstairs was good. For that tone, usually meant one thing.

I put my book down, walking out from the library. My hands were clasped delicately in front of me, as I walked down the high reaching halls of my father's manor.

Father was not as rich as a king, though as a duke to a small duchy he was as close as one could get. He had led our people for many years, with a fair hand and a sense of justice that made people respect him.

Usually this went well.

Other times...well...

Arriving to my father's study, I saw the issue quickly.

My sister was there. Not wearing a dress.

Darcy was leaning against a bookshelf, looking to the world as if she was suffering a long punishment that was cruel and unusual. Given that she was my sister, I knew she often wore that look at home.

She had dressed herself in a man's wear. Her chest was covered in a red pirate shirt, a favorite of her's as the sleeve could hide many things. She wore over it a brown vest, tied with simple thread, that made her chest size look . Her pants were a dark brown leather, along with her thick toed boots.

If I did not know she was a highborn, I would think her a peasant.

Father was glaring at my sister with a rage. I knew he would not take kindly to Darcy's...activities. He was ever so happy to have two daughters, even if one openly rebelled against her upbringing. It had been hard though, raising us since Mother passed. I want to say that it was when Darcy started acting out...but that would be a lie.

"Do you see, what she has done?" Father growled, pointing with his hand at Darcy.

"It's not such a big deal, Father." Darcy rolled her eyes.

I moved to a seat at Father's desk, watching it all with a cooled expression.

If anything, Father was more enraged. "You don't- you will not speak to me in such a tone."

"She means no ill will, Father." I assured him. Darcy made a noise, so I sent her a scolding glare.

Darcy knew myself well enough to silence herself. We did not need her to make this worse. I was better at stopping situations from escalating to a point where we could not return. Darcy was better at situations where witnesses were a misfortune. Neither of us needed to suffer the consequences of Father's anger at her display.

"No ill will? She was outside like this!" Father ranted. "People could have seen! My daughter, dressed like- like that! If people had seen the scandal it would have caused-!"

"But no has seen, have they?" I prompted. Father took a deep breath, pressing his fingers to his head. "None have come to speak of this. No one has seen this...incident. That's all it is, Father, an incident. I am sure it won't happen again."

"Indeed." Father warned. He glared at Darcy again, who was wearing her usual air of not-caring. "For if it does, than you- Dracula Spencer- will not enjoy the consequences! Become more like your sister. If not for your sake, then for the sake of this family! The reputation we have will be tarnished for your brother if you continue on this path. Now get out!" He ordered.

I stood up from my chair, bowing my head. Turning to Darcy, I jerked my head to the hall.

Darcy lowered her head. She stormed past me to get out.

After a thankful smile to Father, I joined her in the hall. She waited until the doors were closed to look truly apologetic.

"I know what I did was wrong." Darcy began.

"No shit." I chastised in a stern tone. Darcy winced. "You need to change."

"Yes." Darcy nodded.

The two of us began to walk towards her room.

"You know Father can't know about that." I chastised her, keeping my voice low in case anyone overhead. "If he catches on-"

"He won't."

"Why did he even catch you at all?" I questioned.

Darcy's face twitched. For just a second. "Don't be mad."

"Too late."

"...I walked through the front door."

"...you did what-"

"Hear me out! I had no idea he was home. This was supposed to be the day he walked out in the village to meet with the farmers for taxes." Darcy excused.

"He nevers leaves until the ninth hour!"

"I thought it was!"

"The sun is barely up for that!"

"Well if you let me keep wearing that time piece-"

"It is from another Land. Father would know that it was not from our own." I argued. "If he saw you with it, everything would be exposed. He would lock you away, lock me away, keep us from our family tradition."

"I don't see why we have to hide it at all." Darcy questioned. We had reached her room by then. Walking inside, I closed the doors and locked them for good measure. "If we told him how we started, what Mother taught us about the hat, how you use it, he'd understand."

"He just lost that wife. He doesn't want any reminders of her." I denied her request. It had been her only request, always. Even before Mother had died.

"And we're not reminders enough?" Darcy countered. "We are like her in temper and mind, if not in looks."

That much was true. We favored Father in terms of our colorings, and faces. But Mother gave us much more than that. She gave us our spirits, our free nature that could not be tamed. Mother taught us to be as wild and free as the wind, to know that our world was not limited by the borders of Father's duchy.

She gave us the hat. Her family's legacy, all tied up in a fading blue bow.

Oh, where I would be without that hat.

"He should not know. Mother always told us that." I cautioned.

"And Mother is dead. We don't have to listen to her rules anymore." Darcy stated. Mother had always told us to never tell anyone about the Hat, to tell anyone what it meant or what we could do with it. If they did, things would take a drastic turn for the worse. Or, worst of all, someone could take the Hat. Not even Father knew, Mother died without ever once telling him.

It hurt- remembering Mother's passing. She had left not too long ago, taken so cruelly and swiftly.

"By your own logic, Father is still alive, so we should listen to his." I pointed out.

Darcy huffed. She walked over to her dresser. She reached inside to find a dress more suited to this Land. "No. I'm just-" She paused. "In the other Lands, at our age, girls can live off by themselves."

"Those Lands are farther ahead than our own." I dismissed. She began taking off the more outlandish parts of her wardrobe. "Without kings or queens or other royalty things."

Darcy groaned, slipping off the vest and shirt. "I hate it when you rhyme."

"This only gives me cause to perform all the time." I winked.

Darcy glared as she threw the dress on. She struggled with the last bits.

I walked up behind her, threading on the dress.

"You like our adventures too, right?" Darcy asked.

I continued threading on the dress. "Why do you ask?"

"It's just...you're always telling me not to talk about them. Or to show that I've changed because of them." Darcy clarified. "I just...I want to know you're with me on this."

Her dress was finished at that time. I sat back on her bed, patting the space beside me. Darcy sat, petulant again.

"I miss the Land where they had zippers." I mused. Darcy snorted. "But Darcy...we're home. We have to be the way we are. If not, it goes against everything Mother taught us."

Darcy looked away.

"Tonight, we go back." I decided. Darcy tilted her head back to me. "I would like to use zippers again. Those were fun."

Darcy reached around to hug me.

Another day, successfully managed.

It didn't matter that I wanted a quiet evening to myself, reading old books from Mother's collections, seeing the world through her taste. She would leave little notes in the margins, you know.

As Mother always taught me: family peace came first. My own wants should reflect that.

And so they would.

==BOL==

Storybrooke

When I came to, I was at my desk.

Emma was holding up a uniform.

Ah. So, she was going with this. Good. Good for her. She'd earned it. She would be an awesome deputy...until Graham died to make her sheriff.

But that's a Later-Problem.

Today it's just about Emma.

And not about thinking why Darcy was in the Enchanted Forest. Nope. Nu-uh.

Or that Muerte had gone by my name, before dying. Or that she could Hat-travel.

Nope.

Not important.

...yet. That is, also, a Later-Problem.

"A tie? You know you don't have to dress a woman as a man to give her authority." Emma told him.

I clapped my hands together. "Smart, that's smart."

"So, you think you can get people to do what you want in that red coat?" Graham asked.

"I'm getting you to do what I want right now." Emma countered.

"She's got a point, my dude." I added.

Graham gave me a look that he disagreed with me. I shrugged, he knew I was right.

"Well, at least wear the badge." Graham held out a badge for Emma. She watched it with hesitance. "Go on- take it. If you really want to be a part of this community, we have to make it official."

Emma accepted the badge. She reached for her belt, locking it on.

The second it clicked, the entire building shook.

When it stopped, the phones started ringing. Graham went off to answer.

Emma looked over at me. Her hand tight on the badge.

I gave her a small nod.

No such thing as coincidences in this town.

==BOL==

We drove over to the new crater in town. I was, again, there in case any had died or needed medical attention.

It was already a disaster zone. One wouldn't call it a great look, especially as it had been caused by Emma's acceptance into the town. Many members of the town were already at the site. The tunnel had fallen apart, and it was big.

Graham walked us up to the safest distance to the tunnel. I watched the firetruck, and the ambulance. There wasn't anyone in them yet, so it was safe to assume I wasn't needed for that branch of my skills.

"Everyone! Step back, please!" Regina called out to the crowd.

"Is that a crater?" Ruby asked.

"No, there were tunnels- old mines. Something collapsed." Marco explained to her.

Regina walked up to Graham. "Sheriff, set up a police perimeter. Marco, why don't you help with the fire department?" Marco nodded, walking away. "Dr Spencer, as far as we can tell no one has died so there is no need for your services. Miss Swan, this is now official town business. You're both free to go."

"Too soon to say, Madame Mayor." I countered.

"Well, actually, I work for the town now." Emma revealed. Her thumb brushed along the badge.

Regina gave an incredulous stare to Graham.

"She's my new deputy." Graham admitted with a wince.

Regina turned to me. "I'm not the only woman at the station anymore." I cheered.

"They say the Mayor's always the last to know." Regina mused. She gave Graham a look that might've been read as a warning to people that knew her murderer tendencies.

"It's in my budget." Graham explained.

"Indeed." Regina replied. She moved her head to give Emma a cold stare. One might suspect, that she now understood what cause this mine to collapse. "Deputy, why don't you make yourself useful and help with crowd control? Doctor Spencer, please stay on the other side until you are needed."

With a proud smile, I marched off towards the squad car. Henry and Archie walked out at the point. Henry rushed to my side, looking curious and confused.

"People of Storybrooke, don't be alarmed." Regina announced to the crowd. "We've always known this area was honeycombed with old mining tunnels. But fear not. I'm going to undertake a project to make this area safe- to rehabilitate it into city use. We will bulldoze it, collapse it, pave it."

Henry walked out from the crowd. "Pave it? What if there's something down there?"

Regina's eyes widened. "Henry. What are you doing here?"

"What's down there?" Henry pressed.

"Nothing. Now step back. In fact, everyone! Please, please step back. Thank you." Regina instructed.

Henry stood back with me. Together, we watched as Regina bent down to pick up a piece of glass.

"What was that?"

"H-man-" I began, wanting to remind him not to blow covers like that.

Regina beat me to the punch. "Henry, enough. Listen. This is a safety issue. Wait in the car." She ordered.

Henry stormed off, a fierce look on his face. I joined him. He went to Regina's car, standing just outside it. He crossed his arms, leaning against the car as if being inside was agreeing to Regina's side.

"That was a good spot, H-man." I praised him. "Seeing her pick up that glass. Not a lot of people were looking her way."

He huffed. "Whatever."

"No I mean it. That was a good job." I knelt down to be at his level. "Just, maybe, in the future, don't tell the opposite side that you're watching them? Regina has all the power in this situation, all you have is that she picked up glass."

"But it's something important, I know it is!" Henry argued.

"I do too." I spoke in a calming voice, trying to keep Henry on my volume. "Which is why we gotta keep being smart."

Henry seemed to take my message a different way. He waved over Emma, who was finishing off her job of hanging police tape. "Hey, Archie! Over here." He called out to his psychiatrist.

The other two adults came to join us.

Other, because I was also an adult.

Despite what Emma's cautious look and Archie's sympathetic look and no doubt Regina's glare implied, I was very much an adult. I had done taxes.

"This requires all of Operation Cobra. All of you." Henry told us.

"I didn't realize I was in Operation Cobra." Archie replied.

"Of course you are. You know everything." Henry explained. "I mean, everything that I've told you. Mary Beth really knows everything."

I tipped an air hat to him. "Finally, someone learns."

"We can't let her do this. What if there's something down there?" Henry prompted.

"They're just some old tunnels." Emma dismissed.

"That just happen to collapse right after you came here?" Henry pointed out. "You're changing things. You're weakening the curse." Henry encouraged.

"That's not what's happening." Emma dismissed again.

"Yes, it is!" Henry argued. "Mary Beth told me the tunnels collapsed because you agreed to be part of the town."

Emma gave me a flat stare. I held up my hands. "He asked."

"We've never had a deputy before! That's a big change." Henry went on. Emma did actually look down at her new deputy badge, pinned to her belt. "The curse knows it!"

I bumped his arm. "H-man."

Henry silenced himself, looking the way I nodded my head. Regina had spotted us all together, so she came marching up.

"Henry, I told you to wait in the car. Deputy, do your job." Regina scolded. She pushed Henry off towards her car. He walked away, seemingly fighting the urge to turn back and fight. "Doctor Spencer, your presence isn't required here. You should go on your way."

Giving Regina a watchful look, I looked down at Henry. He looked ready to yell at his mother for my sake.

"As you say, Madame Mayor." I gave her a polite nod of my head. "Good luck with all of this. I dare say you'll need it."

Walking back off towards my car, I ignored the paranoid cold stare of Regina. She ignored my own nonchalance by scolding Archie about Henry's treatment.

==BOL==

Land Without Magic

"What was this called again?" I asked.

Darcy hummed. She took a bite of it, savoring the taste. "Fairy floss."

"Do not speak with your mouth full." I chided, before taking a bite myself.

Darcy laughed. She tore off another piece, stuffing it into her mouth. She was mindful to swallow it down before speaking again.

We had traveled to a far off realm. Not even I knew the names for all of them. Once we landed in one, we had used a separate device to move about in time.

"This is great. This entire place, it's amazing." Darcy praises. "I mean, the Hat is already impressive by itself. But it was you, you, the prim and proper daughter, that built the device that allowed us passage. How did you do that again?"

"Well...there was that nice man that taught me about engineering." I explained. "It was all quite fascinating. I think I read half his collection in a single night."

"No, it was all of it. I remember Wells not believing you had not only done it but that you understood it." Darcy pointed out.

I hummed, picking at another piece of candy floss. "The science was fun..."

Darcy snorted. She stopped at a booth, seeing as one where you throw balls for a prize. "How many tickets do we have left?" She asked.

I checked the small purse we had brought. Inside, I counted the small slips of paper. "Ten."

"Could I take one?"

I handed her the ticket.

She was able to win a few prizes. She handed me one, a small stuffed rabbit. She herself kept a stuffed bear.

The fair was quite fun. An achievement indeed of the science of this land, which strived despite their lack of magic.

Darcy and I ventured towards a sitting area. We sat together, people watching. It was a fun past time, for we learned much about this land and time from it. The people here spoke so often about their problems- loud enough for any passers by.

The sun was going to set soon. I reached for the hat on my head.

"Wait." Darcy spoke up, reaching out a hand to stop me.

I eyed her, curiously. "It will be dark soon. Father will notice if we don't return."

"I know...it's just." She glanced down at our table. "We could stay." Darcy suggested. I gawked at her. "Not here. I mean, stay away from home."

"You can't mean that. What about Frederick?" I asked her. "He's still a baby. We can't leave him alone with Father. He'll turn into a ponce."

"We can check up on him, sometimes. Be the fun aunts." Darcy tried instead.

"We're not his aunts. We're his sisters." I countered.

Darcy waved me off. "You're not getting it."

"Okay. Then talk to me. Make me understand." I explained to her. Darcy huffed, taking another piece of fairy floss.

She leaned back in her seat, fidgeting with her dress sleeve. "Father's only ever held us back. Even when Mother was alive, all he did was control us. What we wore, how we spent our time, the resources Mother had to educate us-"

"As was his right as our father." I explained.

"But that's not fair." Darcy waved her hand to the fair crowd. "Look at all of them. Do they go around, doing the things their parents tell them? These people live by a code of freedom. The freedom to do as they choose when they choose. Do we not get those choices?"

"This is a different Land with different set of rules. They aren't like us, Darcy." I explained. "What you're asking, it's that we abandon our home to live here. I barely understand the rules, but I know two girls of sixteen cannot live alone."

"We could, if we truly wished it." Darcy explained. "Think about it, Morgan. A world where we weren't contained. Held to a standard we can never meet. We would be free to make our own choices. You could show off your mind, prove Father wrong."

"Father is not wrong." I replied immediately. Because Father and Frederick were all we had left.

"He's been saying for ages that he wished one of us was born a boy." Darcy countered. "Or both of us. He named me after his uncle! Dracula is the name of a boy."

"In this world, so is Darcy." I pointed out, hoping for anything that could cut off her argument cold.

"You get my meaning!" Darcy argued. "Morgan is the name of a man as well! We don't matter to Father anymore, not that he has his much awaited son. All we are to him now are broodmares who have yet to be sold. That's why he cares so much about the reputation of the family, of us. He's been selling us as brides to anyone that would give him support."

"Darcy. I've never heard this from you." I told her. This wasn't a line of dialogue I wished to discuss. We shouldn't be discussing this- leaving our world, our family! The idea was so horrific I had never dared think those thoughts. That my sister had, enough to speak up about it, troubled me deeply.

Even if what she was saying was true.

Even if I knew what she was saying was true.

And I knew, of course I knew. Father had indeed never hidden his dislike of our genders, his pointed remarks to Mother or others when he thought we weren't nearby to hear. They way he spoke with us, about us, gave away to something that he clearly wanted to hide. His joy at Frederick's birth was something I shared, but for the person Frederick could one day be, not for what was between his legs.

Father's constant comments about my intelligence, that I'd do my husband proud one day, that I need not trouble my thoughts with the affairs of our home.

I don't like thinking that my father doesn't value me.

It broke my heart to know that Darcy realized it as well.

"Because nobody ever asked. You never ask, and you're the smartest woman I know." Darcy snapped. "But not when it comes to things that I care about."

"What?" I asked, on the line between horrified and scared. "That's not true."

"Like hell it isn't." Darcy pushed herself to her feet, glaring down at me. "Because you always take his side!"

"Because I care about you too much for you to take Father's ire!" I snapped. Darcy paused in her rants. "Enough of this. We need to go home."

Darcy obeyed the order...even if she was staring at me with a mistrust I had never seen from her before.

==BOL==

Storybrooke

Henry called me, not long after he was dropped off at Regina's office. After Archie had told him to stop believing in the Curse- at Regina's insistence, because who else?

Now I want to state, for the record, I told him that this was a bad idea.

Did he listen to me?

No.

He just really wanted to do this.

So I pulled up to the safest distance from the mine collapse. I turned the car off, turning to Henry. He had barely spoken on the drive over.

Which was fine.

I was fine keeping out.

Yeah, it just gave me a lot of time in my own head.

Thinking about how not only was Muerte's past self a realm traveler, a much discounted version of my own abilities, but apparently just for fun made time traveler shit.

Wow.

What a time to be alive.

So no, I don't mind that Henry was quiet.

It was giving me plenty of time to think this stuff over.

This didn't stop because Henry called, asking me to drive him off to the collapsed tunnels.

I pulled up to the safest space near the collapsed mine. Henry went to leave the car, but the doors were child-locked so he was stuck.

"Tell me what went wrong." I asked Henry. The boy refused, still looking angry. "Don't make me use my superpower, H-man, it's fierce."

Henry gave in at that. "Archie said I was crazy, too. He said that if I kept on talking about the curse that he would have to lock me away!"

I nodded. "Okay. Why would he say something like that?"

"Because the Curse-"

"Henry, I told you I will believe anything you tell me about Operation Cobra, so long as you have the facts to back it up." I cautioned him before he got into his rant.

"I do have facts!" Henry defended.

"Then how is the Curse, which wants to be broken, making Archie tell you not to believe?" I questioned. "The Curse does want to be broken, otherwise why bring your mom back? Look at this mine. It collapsed the second your mom was 'part of the town'. I was standing beside her when it happened. So. Why would Archie tell you- the best person to get Emma to believe- to stop believing?"

Henry's eyebrows had creased in the middle. His nose scrunched up as he stared at me, looking none the wiser.

"Who was the most recent person in your memory to try to get you to stop believing?"

Henry frowned. The creases on his face fell away as he put it all together. "The Evil Queen made him do it. She had to! She's trying to stop us from breaking the Curse!"

I nodded.

He was going on a rant now. Dang, those were his Rumpelstiltskin genes kicking in. "She's just trying to hide whatever's hidden in that mineshaft!"

"Well duh." I confirmed. "But we aren't doing anything about it. Okay?"

"What? But why!" Henry asked. "We need to-"

"It's not our job to break the Curse. We can shove as much proof in Emma's face as possible, but she won't believe us. Going down that mineshaft will only make her panic." I explained to him.

"But it's the only way!" Henry yelled.

"No it isn't." I argued back, keeping my voice steady and low. "Tell me what we're going to do. I'll go with whatever plan you have if it can be completed safely."

"We're going to go down into the mines. We're going to find what Regina is hiding and prove the Curse is real." Henry explained.

"How are we going down?" I prompted.

"We climb."

"And if it breaks?"

"What?"

"If we're going down, and the way down breaks, how are we getting back up?"

"It won't."

"You can prove that?"

"I don't need to!" Henry snapped. "Because you're always saying that belief like this doesn't need proof! I know what I'm saying is right. I thought you would too!"

He reached for the door again. No matter how hard he jerked and pulled, the lock stayed in place.

I understood his pain. On a level that was all too real. The memories of Muerte may not be exactly like my own, but they were so close. The parents that raised me never believed what I said about my powers, those few times I told them in the early days.

Nobody ever did.

Not my family.

Not my classmates.

No one.

Except Darcy.

And hasn't that made all the difference.

Because the memories had Darcy pegged on one thing. She was never one for hiding her belief in the shadows. She just wanted to shine.

I clicked the button.

Henry has been tugging on door handle again. He fell out of his seat, looking back at me in confusion.

"You're right. I do always say that." I told him, my voice a defeated sort of giving in. "Let's take that leap of faith, huh?"

Henry smiles- thankful.

I ignored the pit in my stomach.

==BOL==

Enchanted Forest

Mother had always done her best to counter any of Father's comments to us, showering Darcy and I with praise and love. When Darcy had asked to go by the shortened nickname, Mother had sown a sign with the name on it. When I asked for more notebooks to calculate in, Mother had delivered a dozen.

She always told us to be our very best. If Father meant something different, Mother never corrected him.

She taught me how to use the hat.

She let me grow outside of the duchy.

She always cared.

Yet I knew Father never did.

Mother had seen it in me.

That spark.

The desire to see the world- beyond the duchy. To live beyond what I saw, what existed here in this realm. To grow, to learn things that I could never from Father's library.

I had that chance now.

All thanks to her.

She always let my spark shine bright, never once allowing me to let it stand idle. It was always bursting with new ideas- new devices to create.

The idea of showing it to Father hurt deep inside. Mother had never out right said it. Her warnings were a quiet sort of whisper, implied but never direct. I heard what she meant.

I must never tell Father the truth.

If he knew- oh if he knew-

He would never let me keep the Hat.

He would want it to go to Frederick.

Mother had said that wouldn't be a good idea. The Hat usually went to the eldest child, carrying on a family legacy as was the traditional norm. Giving it to Frederick on the idea of men being superior? That would destroy the much beloved tradition.

Tradition.

Something my sister scoffed at the very suggestion.

Probably why I ended up looking after Frederick whenever the maids needed help.

I held the young Frederick in my arms, bouncing him gently. The baby reached up to my face. A tragedy, that he would never do this to Mother. He was always stuck with the second best.

He was unable to reach my face. Leaning it down, I looked into the babe's face.

He had Mother's eyes.

My eyes too.

He was family. No matter how much I wanted to leave and never come back, to go see the worlds beyond, to reach my full potential, I cannot leave Frederick behind.

I cannot.

"I don't understand it, Frederick." I spoke to him. "I just don't. Father thinks you're better than me...you might very well be! You're only a babe, there's no telling how you'll end up. Only...only Father just knows you're better...all because you were born a boy instead of a girl. How is that fair?"

The baby offered nothing in reply.

"It's not fair, Frederick. To say that one of us is better or worse because of how we were born. I have more use to Father than just being a broodmare. Yet I have more use than Darcy suggests, of only existing to benefit myself. Why can't I do both things? Why do I have to be one or the other? Have use for myself, and for my people? Am I not enough? Why am I not enough?"

Again, the baby gave me no advice for my plight.

Not that I expected him to have any. He was just too small...but it hurt less to be holding my brother.

==BOL==

Storybrooke

Coming back, I saw Henry holding a piece of glass.

Seriously? He does all the cool stuff when I'm not looking.

"Henry!" I called out, running up to him.

He turned around to me. He held up the glass shard. "See? Proof!"

"Yeah great so let's-"

The cave began to shake.

"Damn, missed." I scooped Henry up in my arms, running from where the worst of the damage would happen.

"What's happening?!" Henry asked.

"Same thing that happened last time!" I told him. Ducking and bobbing to avoid the shaking. My feet wobbled on steps, barely able to keep myself and Henry upright.

The cave shook stronger. I ducked down, lowering Henry and covering as much of his body with mine as possible.

A huge pile of rocks fell at our side.

"Henry? Henry?" Archie called out.

"Archie!" Henry and I shouted.

"Henry! Mary Beth?" Archie asked. He ran our way. "What are you-"

"You're here to help us!" Henry cheered.

"No we need to leave-" I stressed.

"Mary Beth is right!" Archie insisted. "Henry, listen. We gotta get out of here, okay?"

Henry's face hardened. "So, you're still against me?" Henry asked.

"Henry, there's no time for that." Archie brushed off. "Come on, Henry! Come on!"

"H-man, please, we gotta go." I begged Henry. The mines shook once again.

Now Henry was glaring at both of us. "You don't believe me? You'll see. You'll see!" He raced off further into the mine.

"Henry wait!" I called out.

The mine shook. Looking back, I saw the way out was a lot darker than it had been before. I cursed under my breath as Archie continued shouting for Henry.

==BOL==

Enchanted Forest

Darcy threw her shoe at the wall.

There would be worse greetings from Darcy to me. This was among the most peaceful. At least her shoe hadn't broken anything.

"You seem well." I mused.

Darcy glared at me with complete disregard.

I tilted my head, curious.

"Why did you even bother coming here?" Darcy sneered at me. She was in a mood now, so I set about to sit at her bed. "You're just going to take Father's side then force me to go along with it."

Sitting on the side, I made sure my posture was as prim and proper as it had ever been. My shoulders squared back, my hands demurely in my lap, my legs delicately crossed beneath my dress. I even held up my chin.

Darcy scoffed. "The quiet effect won't work on me. It never worked when Mother did it- it won't work for you."

'Yes it has. Many times. In fact, I give you three...two...one-'

"Your plan's not going to work." Darcy insisted. "I've always been stronger of will."

I raised my eyebrow. My head stayed the way it was, not turning to her to show her my disbelief. She would feel it regardless.

She had. "Yeah I'm weak." Darcy walked over to her bed. She sat herself down beside me, letting her head fall on my shoulder. "I'm still mad at you."

"Of course." I conceded. Wrapping my arm around Darcy's shoulders, I patted my palm against her hair. "You're a raging being of fury."

"That's right." Darcy stated.

"You strike fear in the hearts of men." I assured her.

"Yeah I do." Darcy confirmed.

"You're going to set worlds on fire." I promised.

Darcy was silent in reply.

"Darcy. We do need to talk." I reminded. Darcy sat up, refusing to look at me. "About the things we said."

"You mean you have to scold me again." Darcy replied with a frustrated frown.

"No. I said we both need to talk, and talk we both will." I told her. Darcy refused- getting off from the bed to storm off towards her closet. "You said I never listen. If you still so desire, I am here now. I will listen."

"No you won't." Darcy denied. "You'll go running off to report to Father."

"Am I truly that big a liar in your eyes?"

Darcy finally looked at me. A deadpan stare I'd given her many a time.

Having learned my lesson, I conceded that point to her.

"And if I learned the err of my ways?" I offered.

"You? The most stubborn girl in the history of any realm?" Darcy countered.

"I'm also stubborn when I learn something new. You yourself have seen how...eager I become when I am confronted with a new science." I reminded her. Standing myself upright, I smoothed out my dress. "Moreover I love it when I'm confronted with a new philosophy."

Darcy tilted her head. She was looking intrigued now, more than she had been before.

"Yet for all the newness that I take in, you know I have trouble with change." I told her. "All our world has done is change, since Mother died. I just...I wasn't ready to lose you too."

Darcy walked up to my side, taking hold of my arm. "You mean it?"

"Yes."

"I know you so well...how well do you know me?" Darcy countered.

I gave her a fond smile. "You hate it when we fight...usually because you think I'm right."

Darcy snorted.

"Yes...it's because you know I'm right." She rolled her eyes- but did not deny it. "But you don't like this realm not because of Father, or the people...that's part of it but not the whole truth. You want to travel the realms, as you said. But you refuse to go without me, and you know that I wouldn't leave."

My sister looked away from me. She walked to the window of her room, looking out at it. "Maybe I would."

"I know you would. But you'd hate it before long. You're much brighter with an audience." I complimented her. Darcy snorted at me. "You are."

"Then where's my next audience?" Darcy twirled around, grinning with a smile that was clearly not what she felt inside. "Hmm? What realm do they come from? Perhaps they're in another time."

My hand took her's. "Then I hope we find it together." I promised.

Darcy squeezed my hand back. "I'll have to stay, if we're planning another trip. It wouldn't do to leave my ride behind."

For that I had to pull her in for a hug.

==BOL==

But the matter wasn't handled.

I just didn't know it yet.

==BOL==

Storybrooke

"Mary Beth?!" Archie touched my shoulder.

I jumped back. Archie watched me with wide eyes. "I hate caves. I hate them so much! This entire place is gross! Do you know what hides in caves?! Bad stuff!"

"Then why did you bring him here!" Archie questioned angrily. "Henry!" He called out.

I huffed, side-stepping a large fallen stone. "He was bringing himself! I told him this was a bad idea. He was just- why did you tell him he was crazy! He was on a warpath, Archie! A warpath!"

Archie looked away from me, searching for Henry to ignore me. "It's better this way."

"Look at where we are and tell me that again." I challenged him. "Look me in the eyes when you do it."

Archie couldn't.

"That's what I thought." I marched past him. "Henry! Henry, bud, where'd you go?"

"There he is!" Archie pointed towards a small caved in cavern. Sure enough, Henry was crouching himself inside. "Henry, Henry! You got to slow down."

"There's something shiny down there." Henry excused.

"Oh yeah sure then let's stay down here in a murder tunnel." I snarked. "There's a shiny thing."

"Henry, this is seriously dangerous. We gotta get out of here." Archie insisted.

"It could be something." Henry argued.

"Henry, look at me!" Archie yelled. "Look at me! I'm frightened for you, Henry."

Henry narrowed his eyes. "Because you think I'm crazy?"

"No! No, because we are trapped underground in an abandoned mine, Henry. And there is no way out." Archie explained.

Henry's anger fell. He crawled out from the corridor he was in, coming out to us. "Mary Beth?" He asked me.

I knelt down to him. "It's not a good look, H-man. We're gonna have to go through the mine to get out."

Henry made a nervous face. I reached over, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Can you follow us?" I asked, bringing Archie into the circle of trust. "Trust us for a little while, at least until we get out?"

Henry nodded.

"Good. Now let's get out of the scary dark cave." I clapped Henry on the shoulder before continuing down the cavern.

==BOL==

Ten minutes of walking, we finally started hearing Pongo barking. I silently praised the Author.

"I hear it!" I cheered, clapping my hands I threw them in the air. "Boys can you?"

Archie perked up. "Yes! Henry, do you hear that?"

"It's Pongo!" Henry realized.

"Onward- thatta way!" I led them down another cavern. The direction of Pongo's barking.

Pongo's barking were quieting as we got close to the elevator. They had moved him away from the elevator shaft above ground. The elevator itself was covered with a large metal sheet.

"It's loudest over here." Archie noted.

"Help me with this." I tapped the front of it. Archie came to my side, gripping the sheet. We pried it away from the elevator itself.

"What's... What's this?" Henry asked.

"Looks like...an old elevator." Archie replied. "It's to get the mine workers in and out. It goes all the way to the top. That's why we could hear Pongo."

"This thing is as sturdy as it's gonna get." I informed them. "Any repairs I can do would take time we don't have."

"Is this going to hold?" Archie asked, eyeing the structure of the elevator.

"Only one way to find out." I told him. Archie hesitated before

"Can you make it work?" Henry asked me.

I shook my head. "Not with the time limit we have. This thing will fall, and soon."

"Then why use it at all?" Archie prompted.

"You got a better idea?" I countered. Archie shook his head. "Then we try it."

Archie glanced at Henry. The boy was already climbing onto the elevator with me. Archie seemed to accept the mad train ride we were all on. "Let's give it a shot."

I patted him on the arm.

Together, he and I began turning the crank wheel. It moved us up- loudly. The elevator shaft echoed with a disturbed foreboding as we went up.

Then a loud bang went off over ahead.

"Hold on!" I warned, clutching the side of the rusted wheel.

Archie grabbed the other side. Henry grabbed my waist. I let one arm go of the wheel to hold Henry closer. The elevator shook as it fell down. Ten, maybe twenty feet? All of us fell to the floor as it came to a stop.

==BOL==

Once we settled from the crash, I started accessing their states. Archie seemed mostly fine, maybe in shock and a cut on his head, but mostly fine. Henry was shaken up. No big cuts or the like anywhere on him.

Myself? Oh I just had some cuts on the rusted wheel. Nothing major.

I pulled out medical supplies from my Bag. Crawling carefully towards Archie, I motioned to his head. "Carefully it'll sting." Reaching up I put an alcohol swab on his head.

Archie flinched back- too slow to actually stop me.

"You're going to need this." I advised him, stern now in the face of danger. "Nobody wants that cut getting infected."

Archie conceded to that. As I finished cleaning the wound, Henry shined his light into the ceiling.

Henry sighed. "I'm really...really, really sorry."

"I know." I replied, sticking on the bandaid.

Archie sighed in relief when I did so. With Archie handled I got to checking my own wounds. "It's alright."

"I just wanted to find proof." Henry pleaded.

"I know." I replied. Looking towards Henry, I gave him a reassuring smile. Holding up my arm, the small boy crawled towards me for a side hug. Wrapping my arm around him, I kept him close. He needed the comfort, and I was well used to comforting little brothers. "I understand. Believe me, I get that sometimes you have to chase a lead. But something you have to remember, Henry, is that it's not just you."

"It's really alright, Henry." Archie assured. "And um, um, I'm sorry, too. Look, I... I don't think you're crazy. I-I just...I just think you got a very strong mother, who's got a clear idea of a path that she wants you to be on and when you step off that she... She gets scared. And, you know, it's natural. But it's also natural for you to be able to be free to think the things that you want to think. So, anyway. I...I didn't mean those things I said and I never should have said them."

"Then, why did you?" Henry asked.

"I guess I'm just not a very good person. I'm not the man I want to be." Archie answered, after a long thoughtful moment.

I don't have it in me to encourage two people.

So just deal with it.

Looking at Muerte's past, she wasn't much better.

"I think you can be him. I think you can be a good person. I mean, you're Jiminy Cricket." Henry explained.

That set Archie off with the discomfort. He shifted in his spot on the elevator floor, leaning forward. My arm held tighter to Henry. "Henry. Henry, Jiminy Cricket was a... He was a cricket, okay?" He pressed. "And he was a conscious. And... And I hardly think that's me."

"I don't." Was my counter. "A lot of other people in town would say the same. Sometimes I think it's not about knowing the right thing, it's about knowing when to stop doing the wrong thing. Figuring out that different counts, it just takes a while for some people to learn that difference."

"That kind of sounds like me." Archie admitted.

"It sounds like everyone." I countered. "Finding your conscience is something you have to work for, to figure out where that voice is coming from. Doing what it says? That takes...I guess that depends on the person you want to be."

Archie looked down, thoughtful.

His thoughts were broken when the elevator shuddered. It fell down another few feets. My arms held tighter to Henry. He jumped at the sound.

Could they hurry it along up there?!

==BOL==

"Hey, can I ask you again?" Archie wondered. "I've been meaning to ask you too, Mary Beth."

"Ask what?" Henry asked.

"Why do you think it's so important that your...your fairy tale theory is true?" Archie asked.

Henry shifted at my side. I braced myself, sitting up against the elevator. "I don't know." Henry replied.

"Give it a shot." Archie asked. He glanced up at me. "Mary Beth?"

Dammit

Now I gotta be a role model

That's not fair.

"There are friends I have here-"

"No, no. Not why your friends believe it. I want to know why you believe it."

Because I've seen the facts.

I've seen the parallels that are too exact to be a coincidence.

Because I've seen how this ends.

It's all true.

"Because it all makes sense. Because of everything I've seen in this town, I can't dismiss it." I replied carefully. "I just can't."

Archie seemed to take the answer under consideration. The two of us looked to Henry. The boy was uncomfortable sharing his own threory with a man that had dismissed it once before.

"I just-" I started talking again. "End of the day? I believe because he does. I think...I think people don't give him the credit he deserves for figuring all of this out just because he's a kid. And...and I remember what that was like."

Archie nodded. "Okay. That's okay." He assured me. He glanced to Henry before giving me a nod. "That's fine."

Henry shifted at my side. "...I believe it 'cause this can't be all there is." He explained.

"I understand." Archie assured him.

"I thought if I found proof... But I didn't find anything." Henry looked down at his lap. My hand squeezed his shoulder.

"Well, that's not true. I was lost and you found me, right?" Archie prompted.

Henry sat up. "You mean, you remember?"

"No, Henry. I... I don't remember." Archie answered. Henry slumped. "But I-I do remember the kind of person I want to be." He looked up from Henry to me. "I just got to listen harder."

I gave him an encouraging grin.

My hand was slipping into my Bag, grabbing the supply I would need.

From above, pieces of gravel started hitting us. Blocking Henry's head with my arm I glared up at the sky.

"Emma! Would you slow down?!" I called up.

"Sorry!" Emma called back.

"Wh-what's?" Henry ducked from around my arm to look up. He spotted his blonde mother coming down from a metal pipe.

"I think that's the rescue." Archie cheered.

And we were good.

All three of us were okay.

==BOL==

Above ground, I brushed the dirt off my clothes. As I searched around the crowd of people I spotted Gold in the distance. Once I got my bearings I'd go talk to him.

The crowd around cheered for the safe return. Once Henry hit the dirt, I gave him one final hug. Regina split it up to sweep Henry off. She was relieved in a way I had yet to see in person on the Evil Queen. When Emma tried to check on Henry just as well, Regina rebuffed her efforts.

I walked up to Gold. He watched the proceedings from my car. He made no move to come hug me, or comfort me, or anything that would equal care to someone who just survived a harrowing situation. It was comforting in a paradoxical sort of way.

Pulling out my car keys, I tossed them in my hands.

"Did you know she'd bring the coffin?" I asked casually. "Cause I didn't know she'd bring the coffin."

Gold hummed. "Are you surprised?"

"...nah. You taught her to keep trophies." I remarked. Gold didn't seem amused. "Is someone upset I missed lunch?"

He walked towards the passenger side. "If you're so eager to bring it up." Gold commented. "I was confused when I called searching for you, only to hear of an incident with the mines."

"Oh dear." I replied, turning on the car. "That sounds serious." Across the mine lot, I spotted Archie talking to Regina.

Gold followed my line of sight. "Just how is our least favorite cricket?"

"You totally love him. You just hate you weren't the one to turn him into a bug." I snarked. Gold rolled his eyes as I set the car to drive. "I think he's got his conscience back, actually."

Gold hummed.

As we drove back into town, I decided to head straight into normalcy the only way I knew how. Deep debates how the facts of a universe, to help prepare me for entering it.

"Did you know in the Pinocchio movie there's actually a lot of profit in children-turned-donkeys labor?" I prompted my captive audience.

Gold looked to regret climbing into my car.

"There's a lot of math behind it. See first you have to know how much donkeys would cost in the early 1900's..."

==BOL==

Enchanted Forest

The next day I went over to Darcy's room. Our brother was in the care of his nursemaids, so Darcy and I could work on regular day-to-day chores in running the house.

I had promised we would go somewhere today. So after our work was finished, we were off.

That was the Plan.

It changed when I walked into her room.

Her room was cleaned out. Though not of her most treasured things, as I assumed she would do. Rather it was cleaned as if she'd never lived in it at all. There wasn't any sign that she had been there at all.

I should know.

I checked.

It was still emptier than empty.

Where was she?

Where had she gone?

How could she leave me-

"Good evening, Morgan." Father greeted me.

I turned around, a sharp inhale of breath to show I was startled. "Father! Good evening. What's happened to Darcy's things?"

Father stood there so straight, I could have balanced books on his head. "I had servants take them away. They were crowding up the space for when I turn this place into a study for your brother."

"...might I ask why this change occurred, as lady of the house?" Concern was beginning to form in my heart.

"She was to leave." Father explained dismissively. "It was time for her to complete her obligation to her family."

My heart began to feel cold. My hands began to shake as I thought about what my father was saying. "Where is she, Father?"

"A nunnery." Father answered, unwittingly gutting me senseless. "Dracula needed the instruction."

No.

No.

She can't go there.

They'll break her down.

Dracula was never made to be contained like that.

She's too wild even for that to instruct.

And Father knows that too...

"Father-" I began, beginning to panic at the ideas coming to my head.

The man held up a hand, silencing me. I was so stunned by what had happened I obeyed. "The matter is settled. You will not speak of her to another being outside of our family. She has shamed our house, and until she redeems herself she is to be unmentioned. You will take up her duties around the house. Am I understood?"

No. No I-

I can't.

He didn't.

I don't want to.

I can't do it without her.

"Morgan. Answer your father." He ordered.

"...yes, Father. I understand." I answered, my voice stunned as a chill shot down my spine.

Father nodded. He left Darcy's room without turning back once.

He sent Dracula away.

But not for reformation.

He sent her away like a lamb to slaughter.

I can never forgive this...

I WILL never forgive this!

==BOL==

Storybrooke

The phone was ringing.

I was nervously tapping my foot over and over again.

The phone kept on ringing.

It was easy to feel unnerved by the lack of answer.

It was when I was about to throw the phone in frustration that she answered.

"Seriously? You've been gone a minute." Darcy snarked.

I let out a long breath.

"I know that sigh. How depressed are you right now?" My sister asked.

"Oh so very. You good for a chat?" I asked, running my hand down my face. "And maybe a trip here next time?"

A sigh fell over the phone. But it was okay. It was okay because I was hearing her voice. I could picture my sister in my mind, sitting in another reality back Home watching my TV.

But she was okay.

And she wasn't a freaking nun.

==BOL==

AN: Okay, I'm trying to be more active on my tumblr blog (authora97writingupdates) and the instagram (authora97) account. I ask questions and post pictures on both,

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