A mysterious girl, a town called Storybrooke, an uncanny friendship, a lost boy bent on power, and a hidden evil bubbling under the surface.
Lily lived for as long as she could remember in a town called Storybrooke. Strangely enough, she has no memo...
Just leave a comment on any point in this chapter for any clarifications about the story. Trust me, even I had to sit down and make sense of what I wrote at points...
*Also make sure you finish the story first then read these, lots of spoilers*
RANTS:
1. The Storybook family (Lily, Leon, Rose, etc. etc.) seems like they come into the world and mess stuff up. I mean, Leon came and broke this poor girl's heart too. What's up with that?
2. I know, I know, the main characters of OUAT don't speak a ton in this story. I really wanted to get mainly Henry and Lily's viewpoints more so to forward the story. In the show (I know this is an off branching plot), they focus on what Emma and the rest are feeling and thinking rather than Henry (who was the one kidnapped btw) was thinking and feeling. I included the section early on about memory loss on Neverland to help show how Henry strayed from his path to rescue Lily.
3. OMG reading this over again, I could see that it was heavily influenced by different myths and legends. I am kind of a Shakespearean writer too, I like to dramatize scenes and make everything seem almost *unrealistic* in terms of human strength of will. Seriously though, the Ancient Greek storytellers could sue me for copyright especially at the part with the golden shield and Lily's reflection.
4. The fight scenes sound like anime battles. I'm not going to lie, they were a bit...will induced. It's a common trope in animes for the main character to find strength within themselves to beat the villain and claim victory, and that was sort of seen here too. I tried my best to make Henry a weaker character who ends up being strong to give a sort of human doubt in himself. I personally loved the scene where he contemplates his being after hurting Regina, I think it really gives a powerful look into how beaten down Henry could be. On that side note....
5. I tortured Henry throughout the entire book. This poor guy couldn't catch a break. It was good that he was resilient in trying to rescue Lily or he would've just broken down and died (literally).
6. Lily's personality changed from prophetic, to fun and wise-cracking, and again to prophetic. I tried to make her as unnatural as possible but also tried to make her human too. Given, she wasn't human at all so this made her seem even more odd when she went from very serious and mystical, to just a fifteen year old girl.
7. Young love cliche (and wait a minute...Henry wasn't 15 at the time of the Neverland arc!). I hear you loud and clear. I wanted to make Henry slightly older so that it wouldn't be as creepy to put him into these intense scenes. I wanted to show a progression of him growing up but growing up as a teenage standpoint, not a permanently scarred eleven/twelve year old.
8. Why didn't the other ships (Captain Swan, Snowing, Swan Queen, Rumbelle) get featured? I wanted the focus of the love story on Henry and Lily more than the other ships. No other explanation really...
9. What the heck is prophetic potion? This was a plot device that I used to help convey the meaning of Identity more, as this was the book's central theme. The prophetic potion was used to help develop your destiny and thus, your identity as identity is not just a physical unchanging state, but an ever-growing personality that makes you, you. (wow, run on sentence much?)
10. What was with that explanation of the Heart of The Truest Believer? I wanted to explain a bit of my take on the special heart. What was explained was that the heart could not be removed person with the heart (as seen in the show), but only by being the heart's holder would you have power over it. Pan got around this by literally becoming the heart's holder and trading forms with Henry.
11. So, New Neverland...what happened to that plot? Okay, I didn't show it very well, but Pan is kinda a scheming little b*st*rd. He's not a nice guy. When he wants power and sees an opportunity, he takes it. He noticed that Lily was one of the Legendary stories in human form and took advantage. He had the heart of the truest believer, why not become the next king of reality for several hundred years?
12. Okay, where did Dark Lily go? At the end it didn't show her... Well, she's up there. I just didn't show her but she lives in the same dimension Lily lives in. I don't know where she is right now, but I may write more about this in the future *cough, cough, maybe a sequel, cough*. I can assure you though, she is alive and well.
13. Similar or same scenes as in the show. I didn't want to totally derail from the source material. Some scenes like the meeting with Neal are pretty much the same just to tie into the season arc better. This story, again, was like an alternate timeline.
14. Why'd Lily erase herself from their memories? She thought it'd be way too painful for Henry and everyone else to realize she's gone. She changed their memories (back to the original season plot, clever I know) so that the story could progress as normal. Leon's book was placed back into the library by means of magic and Henry now holds Lily's book.
15. Why couldn't Henry write Lily back into the story? She was the story, think of how much of a paradox that would be... The story in a story? How weird can things get (insert breaking 4th wall joke here). Oh, and if you read the epilogue, somehow a story can travel back into their story (sneaky writing hehehe).
16. The lineage of stories. So Rose is the next story up after Lily (younger sister) and will get sent into the world. Rose has capability for both good and bad as well as her siblings and every-other story. She'll receive a champion and her dark half will as well, bla bla bla... This happens every time a story begins and ends. Cool, right?
17. Pan was pretty creepy in this story... yea. That's just a fact. I am currently writing a Peter Pan Imagines book if you want the more ~romantic~ stuff , Hands of The Clock (currently on hiatus), and another special project that I know you guys'll love if you liked this story.
18. Okay, why am I such an OUAT fan? I love OUAT for the stories that it tells. Ever since I was little I read fractured fairytales and wondered what happened after Happily Ever After. I always like the more obscure ones such as Rose Red and A Necklace of Raindrops. They were fantastic to me and I've always wanted to write my own. OUAT gave me a base, a relatively free world I could tell my story in and manipulate to my liking. World building is tough, no doubt about it. OUAT is so vast and creative that I could literally travel from Neverland to Wonderland [foreshadowing] just by a magic bean. Yes, its cheesy, yes cliche that I'm writing this, but I love OUAT for the adventures that it gave me (and keeps giving me).
19. Is Robbie Kay/Peter Pan cute? Yes. Yes he is.
20. What was with that ending to the epilogue anyway? Stay tuned...
<COMMENT SECTION FOR CLARIFICATION HERE>
Alright, done ranting/clarifying for now. Maybe have some more later, but for now thanks for reading!
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