Once Upon A Time

r u b y l u c a s

takes place season 2
summary: after the curse is broken, a young boy stumbles into granny's diner looking for a certain family member.

"ruby i need you to take care of the diner, i have to run some errands."

"okay granny!" ruby exclaimed, putting henry's third cup of hot cocoa in front of him. "you should slow down, i don't want one of your moms blaming me for an overdose." she said in a playful tone.

"i won't tell if you won't." said the boy, burying his nose into his book of fairy tales, reading her story. ruby leaned over the counter to ruffle his hair, then left to deal with leroy, who was finding some way to complain about his water.

while ruby left the counter to get leroy a different beverage, a young boy stumbled through the doorway of the diner, bruised and dirtied. henry turned from his spot at the counter to see who came in, and was a little shocked to see a total stranger in the small town diner.

"h-hello? are you okay?" he asked, (i know y'all remember his constant stuttering in the early seasons) hopping down from his seat to get closer to the boy near his age. ignoring his question, the strange boy walked closer to the counter, then stopped when he eyed henry's book. he tentatively reached towards the open pages, and brushed over the illustration. "red" he murmured so quietly that henry couldn't hear him.

"what's your name? do you know ruby?" henry asked, noticing that he was transfixed on one of the red riding hood pages. the boy's head shot up and looked at henry with wide eyes. "w-woodland" the boy whispered. "what did you say?" henry asked, stepping closer. "my name, you asked for it, it's woodland."

by now the few patrons of the diner had turned their attention to the interaction of the two boys. "hey ruby, you better come on out here." leroy yelled out, not taking his eye off of the strange kid. "leroy if that's a threat i'm spilling this on you" the she-wolf yelled, coming out with a coffee.

upon hearing ruby's voice, woodland turned away from henry to look at the person he's been looking for. leroy noticed the boy redirect his attention, and motioned for ruby to look.

"i think this kid's look-" but before the dwarf could get his sentence out, ruby had already dropped the mug and ran around the counter to embrace the boy. "-ing for you" leroy finished, giving henry a puzzled look, to which the young boy returned.

"woodland! oh thank goodness you're okay! i wasn't sure if you'd be here or not" the red-clad woman said, holding the boy tight. once she pulled away, she noticed the bruises and dirt stains covering the boy. "what happened to you?" she asked as she carefully reached to touch a bruise on his left cheek. woodland looked up at her and began his story.

"i don't know how, but i was trapped in my wolf form and chained up in a small cabin in the woods. i only was able to escape the chains and change back into human form a few days ago, where i started looking for you." he said softly, maintaining eye contact.

"i'm sorry to break up this beautiful reunion, but who the hell is this kid?" leroy spoke up, eyeing the boy suspiciously. "oh right sorry. this is woodland, he's like me and we traveled together a while back." ruby said, pulling the boy into another hug.

"how did you two meet? i mean no offense ruby but he's way younger than you" leroy spoke up. ruby pulled away from woodland to take a seat in a booth so she could see both henry and leroy.

"while snow and i were on the run from the queen, we traveled through the forest most of the time. snow was the one who actually found him, he was curled up underneath a tree freezing half to death. naturally we took him under our wing, and he kind of stayed with us for a while. it wasn't until wolfs-time that i could tell that he was like me. he saved snow from a couple of the queens soldiers."

"but you were separated, how did that happen?" henry asked, leaning forward.

red sighed, then leaned closer towards the two. "well..."

comment if you want a part two