Welcome to a Nightmare

Chapter 54: Best of the Bad

"Here we are," Mary Margret says, unlocking the door. "Home sweet home."

The two new "residents" of the place take in the apartment. It was small. Extremely small to the point where you could barely navigate around the limited furniture that filled the space. An ugly floral couch sat in the middle of the living room, with a bookshelf against one wall and a tiny TV sitting on an old cardboard box. Next to that was a reading chair, that had seen better days, and a side table with stacks of papers, likely tests from her students that she had yet to mark. To their left was what was supposed to be the kitchen, with a round dining room table pressed in the corner next to the stove and a single chair. Dishes were piled high in the sink and a mop leaned against the counter having been forgotten to be put away. On their right was the bedroom, it was dark but none of them doubted that it was also small.

But what upset both kids the most was how lonely the apartment looked. Another curse had made Snow White a "spinster," lonely and without anyone to share her life with. It seemed like the greatest punishment to the princess to take away her family and leave her all alone. Perhaps it was remnants of her life as a bandit and as an orphan with the deaths of her parents leaving her to fend for herself, or maybe it was that the only way to defeat true love was to isolate those involved.

Fortunately, her seclusion during the curse has ended as she unknowingly has family members within her apartment.

"I know it's not much, but..."

"It's great," Crystal lies. "It will be fine."

"It's safe," Henry adds.

The teacher knows that they are lying and just being polite, but she then rushes to the kitchen.

"Can I make you two some hot cocoa?"

The two look at each other and share a small smile, another piece of familiarity from their real life.

"Yes, please. Can you also add some whipped cream and cinnamon too?" Henry asks. He looks at Crystal with a knowing smile.

Mary Margret looks at the boy in shock, her mouth falls open.

"What did I say?" he asks.

"That's my favourite combination too!"

"Really?" Henry says, attempting to feign ignorance.

"Yes, what an unusual coincidence," she says with a smile.

"Yeah... unusual," the teen says.

"I'll have the same," Crystal adds.

Once Mary Margret leaves the room, Henry sits on the couch, while Crystal sits on a stack of books that had not been put away on the bookshelf. She then drops the duffle bags on the ground next to her, the author doing the same with his backpack. They just stare at each other, speaking without words. While this is a bad situation, at least they're with someone they love, and they can think about their next steps.

The only sound in the kitchen is the teacher making beverages for them... no humming of any kind, something that Henry knew his grandmother loved to do while cooking or doing anything. If he can remember, he'd often hear her humming while grading papers back when he was in her class. It seemed like a tiny thing, but it showed how badly the curse had ruined people's lives. He and Crystal had to start thinking of ways to break the curse before it got any worse.

But how can they break a curse with no magic and no true love? The Black Fairy had taken one of their only resources away and they were stranded. They'd lost their base and Belle, squandering their card to play to convince Rumpelstiltskin to help them. There was a lot of doubt that the Dark One would recognize his own daughter, considering everyone else couldn't, so teaming up with him also seemed like a lost cause. Plus, there was the issue of Emma being released and going back to Boston. They had to stop that from happening too. It was a lot to think about and at 3:00 in the morning.