The Life I'd Hoped For (Once Upon A Time)

Chapter 29: One Step Ahead

Reginas pov

Still sitting at Gold's cabin, he and Mal had gone somewhere leaving me with August and Cruella. None of us had seen Ursula in a few days. Which was suspicious. "Puppy for your thoughts," Cruella said breaking the silence that surrounded the three of us. "Keep your puppies." She just rolled your eyes. "Can you do something for me?" I asked. "Now what plausible reason would I have in doing something for you?" she said matter-o-factly. "I just want to see Roland, make sure he's ok," I said staring at the floor. "I can assure you, Darling, he's perfectly fine." Taking a deep breath I continued. "I know something I wasn't sharing, about the author. Let's say you let me see him, I'll spill the beans. Deal?" I said. After a moment of consideration she agreed.

"Where is he?" I asked. "Mind moving the dirt and wood from the fireplace?" she asked. Surprised as to why she was having me do this I made it disappear. Revealing a stair case that led into the darkness. "Right this way." She said with a smirk.

Henrys pov

"Is this the first time you've noticed it doing this?" Jamie asked from across the booth at grannies. The page with the door on it sat in between us, still glowing. "Yeah, it got dimmer when I came though. She was thinking so hard I could all but see the wheels turning in her head. "What are you thinking?" I asked. Snapping out of a sort of hayze she asked, "What goes to locks?" Still had no idea where she was going with this. "Doors?" She shook her head. "Keys?" "Bingo," she said as the corners of her lips made a smile. "And if I remember correctly," she gestured for me to hand her the book. After looking for a certain page she found it and laid the book down on the table. "In this story Rumplestiltskin gave Charming a ring to find Snow White. And the closer he got to her, the brighter the glow. What if the light is the same sort of thing? Like it wants us to find the key and open the door," she explained. I sat back and shook my head in disbelief. "What?" she asked with a look of concern. "It just amazes me how in less than ten minutes you probably cracked the code I've been working at for ten weeks," I said. "Well I try," she said with a shrug and a smile. "So are we going to go now Miss always one step ahead of me?" She just laughed and said, "Henry, accept the fact that I'm always one step ahead of you." And with that we left the diner with the small light as out guide.

Mary Margarets pov

"Maybe it was a mistake telling her so soon," Charming tried to reason. He'd been at the station when I told Emma the truth about what we did. "No, it was the right thing to do," I said. I'd felt horrible when she stormed out like that. "I'll be home soon," he said haging up without so much as a goodbye. "This isn't happening," I whispered to no one as I laid down on the couch. Most of the time the loft felt warm and happy. But now it was the exact oppisite. I remembered back to when we were still under the curse. When Emma lived with me as a friend rather than a parent. I smiled at the memory and drifted into a much needed sleep.

Emmas pov

I'd gotten a room at grannies. I couldn't bring myself to go back to the loft. Or even my apartment. I didn't even know what was going on any more. I just sat on the bed, which also connected to the so called living room, which was only a small couch and TV. I felt numb. Like I'd been hit so many times it didn't hurt anymore, just a small tingly numb feeling, Pretty much how I felt for the first 28 years of my life. No, I thought to myself, this is worse. Last time I was all by myself but this time I find myself surrounded by people but still feeling lonely. I rested my head against the headboard, taking a deep breath. A knock on the door pulled me from my thoughts. Who could that be?" I thought as I walked over to the door and opened it. "Hey," Killian said quietly. "Hi," I manged to choke out. My voice sounded weak and broken. "Are you okay?" he asked with a deep and husky voice. "No," I said while shaking my head, tears blurring my vision. "Can I come in?" he asked. I just nodded, not trusting my voice, and stepped aside so he could walk in. He walked to the couch and I followed suit. "How did you know where I was?" I asked quietly. "Well, I went to the loft and your mother told me what happened. I had just been by your apartment so I knew you weren't there. So I came here," he explained with with a shrug. I just took another deep breathe. "Wanna hear a funny sad story?" I asked before I could change my mind. "Sure," he responded.

Henrys pov

"How much longer?" Jamie complained. We'd been wandering around the town for well over an hour now. "Hey, it was your idea," I accused. "Well I didn't think it would take us this long," she shot back. I couldn't help but laugh. "What's so funny," she asked in a whining voice. "Nothing," I said shaking my head and trying to stop laughing. She just scoffed and rolled her eyes. The page started to glow brighter as we kept walking. Indicating we were going the right way. "I know where it is," I said finally realizing where it was leading us. "The mansion."