Far Longer Than Forever

05

THE ENCHANTED FOREST - PAST

A crowd had gathered to watch a puppet show.

Princess Puppet said, "I wish, I wish, but nothing changes. I wish I was better at wishing! Alas, will no one slay this fearsome dragon and win my hand in marriage?" A young boy weaved through the crowd, pick-pocketing.

"Aha!" Prince Puppet exclaimed. "I will slay the fearsome dragon, milady, or die trying!"

"Goodbye, dear prince. It was nice knowing you!" The princess puppet was removed, and a dragon puppet was brought in in its place.

"Who dares disturb my sleep?" the Dragon puppet demanded.

"Uh, he went that way!" the Prince Puppet replied.

"Then I will go that way!"

"Very good idea. You go that way and I'll..." The dialogue faded away.

WOODS

After the puppet show, the puppeteers, Myrna and Martin and their son Jiminy, were examining their earnings.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Martin cried. "Careful, careful."

"Don't let those coins roll away," Myrna said.

"No, they might disappear." He performed a sleight of hand trick, making the coin disappear and "reappear" behind Myrna's ear. "Whoop, whoop, ha! Look at that."

Jiminy pulled a cricket in a cage out of a bag and said, "Oh, a cricket! I love crickets."

"Crickets are trouble," Myrna told him. "Noisy bugs."

"But they get to do whatever they want, hopping from place to place. They're free."

"You're free."

"To do what we want," Martin added.

"To be who you are."

"And you are who you are."

"Well maybe I want to be something else," Jiminy told them. "Maybe I don't wanna steal. Maybe I wanna be good."

"All that from a cricket."

"Told ya," Myrna said. "Trouble."

""Good" is another word for "weak"."

"Let us do the thinking for you."

"That's what parents are for."

"To help you."

"You are who you are, and there's no changing it Jiminy. Right?"

"Right," Jiminy answered.

"Right," Martin agreed. "Problem solved."

STORYBROOKE - PRESENT DAY - DR. HOPPER'S OFFICE

Henry was in Archie's office for his session.

"You weren't always a cricket," Henry said.

"I wasn't always-" Archie caught himself. "Oh, right. Because, um... Because you think I'm Jiminy Cricket. Why... Why do you... Why do you think that, Henry?"

"It's because of who you are."

"And what am I?"

"You're a conscious. You help people see right from wrong."

"So, all the crickets in Storybrooke -- they were once people, too?"

Henry shook his head. "There aren't any crickets here. Listen."