Break the vicious circle.

Part 16 : And after ?

The wave of magic crossed the town, touching all the inhabitants, even the ghosts, and they breathed more easily, understanding what happened.

Archie started when all his memories, his real memories came back into his head, and he felt bad. Really, really bad, and he understood many things. He clenched his fist, and he became pale.

He had been wrong, so, so wrong !

He knew then that everything he did before had just been a mistake, and that he was one of the responsible of this disaster.

He never felt as miserable as during this day.

And he wasn't the only one.

Ruby was working when her perception of the things suddenly changed, and surprise and shock made her let the objects she had fall. She began to tremble when she realized that what she believed as true wasn't.

And Snow ?

She wasn't there, not any more, separated from Emma, just as the Black Fairy wanted.

And she was dead.

Just as Snow was...

She remembered then what Henry told her, about his family, who was dead, and she fell on the ground, crying.

I am sorry Snow.

At that moment, Snow White really regretted that she was a ghost...

This day, one of the strongest regrets of the inhabitants of the town was that they all abandoned Henry Mills to his fate, and that they never believed him, and never listened to him when he called for help.

The awakening was brutal for some of them, seeming as a bucked of water on the head. They all had the impression to wake up after a party, and having a great hangover.

Except that the party itself was more a nightmare than something else.

The day wasn't easy for everyone.

Blue woke up with a start, when she had again her memories back, and she stayed on the ground, stupefied. She trembled too, and she had a grimace of disgust by looking at herself. Her body wasn't really in a good state, after what Fiona did to her.

Her clothes were also in shreds, just as her spirit, in fact, and she needed many time before she was herself again.

She stayed there, shocked, immobile, conditioned by years of suffering and submission to this monster that the mayor was. If there was something she would have wanted to forget, it was these memories, there. She wanted to vomit, but she was also hungry, and exhausted.

She had to go out.

A wave of remorse crossed her when she understood that a part of this madness was her fault, that she was the one who made the bad choices in the past. She looked at herself again, and could just say to herself that maybe she deserved it.

I want to go.

Could she ? Had she the right to do it ?

What she lived there, she remembered it, and knew that she would never talk about it.

What the Black Fairy did to her...

She never so much wanted to forget something.

§§§§

Ruby was still crying, comforted by her girlfriend.

Snow was looking at it, without being able to do anything, powerless. She was crying too. With joy. Relief. And sadness. She missed her friend, and she felt a selfish joy because of the idea that Red remembered and suffered as she did.