Finding You Always

Battle Lines

Chapter 160: Battle Lines

Storybrooke 2018

Shortly after Henry left

The past several years since the Final Battle had been quite peaceful. Snow and David continued to raise Summer and Bobby. Regina and Robin continued to raise Roland, while helping Zelena raise Jade. By the time Jade was chronologically four years old though, it was noticeable that she was looking like she was almost twice that age.

At first, in her toddler years, they didn't worry so much about it. They had just thought she was going to be tall and a bit of a prodigy. But it became concerning when they realized there was something off about her aging.

First they turned to medicine and Paul confirmed that her developmental and mental stage was that of an eight-year-old, rather than a four-year-old. But modern medicine didn't offer any explanation as to why this was, so they turned to magic then.

Aphrodite and Regina, with the assistance of Belle, researched all the magical texts they could get their hands on, until they finally came across the spell that the Queen had used to accelerate Zelena's pregnancy and discovered it was still in Jade's blood. They scoured the texts for some kind of cure, but to no avail, for none of them had ever seen a side effect like this.

By 2021, three years later, Jade was the same age as Summer and they all grew deeply worried. They knew they had to do something quickly or they might never be able to slow it down.

That's when Snow and David offered to contact Tigerlily, thinking that she could help. The former fairy confirmed that the waters from the Immortal tribe's lagoon could dilute the anomaly in Jade's blood. With a bean, Zelena and Jade ventured to Neverland to obtain the cure for Jade and return her to a normal aging rate. There would be no getting those lost years back, but if they could cure her, they wouldn't lose her to this.

None of them yet knew the outcome, for it had been a few days after they left that Alice had arrived and embroiled them all in the war with Clayton and Tremaine...

Hyperion Heights

As they traversed the zoo, Snow noticed her son sneaking curious glances at them both and even the same from Iris a few times. They hadn't encountered Leo yet, or Luke rather, as he was known here, but she was sure he was around. When they stopped before the big cat exhibit, Snow finally took pity on him.

"Bobby...is something bothering you?" she asked. He looked back at them and started to open his mouth, when he suddenly spotted his brother in the lion den.

"Mom...there he is!" he said excitedly and began waving. Luke noticed him and followed the curious lion cubs, as they came to the fence.

"Hey...you came back," he said, recognizing the boy from the other day.

"Yeah...this is my Mom," Bobby said, gesturing to Mary.

"Bobby wanted to come say hi again and I wanted to thank you for saving him," she said. He smiled.

"No problem...I just hope those bullies don't keep bothering you," he replied. Bobby shrugged.

"They're just jerks, but I'm gonna try not to let them bother me," the boy replied, as the lion cubs pawed at Luke's feet and he finally picked a couple of them up. The lioness nearby didn't seem to mind this particular human handling her cubs.

"Wow...you really have a gift with the animals. I didn't think most lioness' would take kindly to a person handling her cubs," David mentioned, as the other man looked up at him. It was hard for David's cursed mind to get around the fact that this young man, who didn't look more than a few years younger than him, could also be his son. But the resemblance to both him and Mary was evident. Luke smiled.