Alice's plan to overthrow the Queen of Hearts is thwarted by a dashing pirate with a hook. Years later, after the curse is broken, they reunite once again.
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We make our way to Rumpelstiltskin's pawn shop, since apparently that's where his girlfriend will be. If anyone knows anything about his apparent resurrection, it'll be her. The bell to the door chimes as we enter. It's exactly like any other pawn shop I've been to. The shop feels like a thousand forgotten memories shoved into dusty corners—broken clocks, tarnished jewelry, and the occasional oddity that probably shouldn't exist in any reality. I follow Emma to the back area of the store, which seemingly just has more stuff stored back here, in addition to the brunette woman sitting at a desk. She lifts her head with a pleasant smile, but her expression shifts once she spots me. Her face breaks out into a large grin as she suddenly stands.
"Alice!" The woman exclaims.
"Oh!" Before I can even respond, she throws her arms around me in a tight embrace. My eyes widen as I awkwardly wrap my arms around her. "Okay, now we're hugging." She pulls back and shakes her head, almost as though she can't believe what she's seeing.
"When we went back to the enchanted forest and you weren't with us...I was scared I'd never see you again. With Rumple and you gone, I had no one." She tells me, and I feel a painful stinging feeling in my chest and a bit breathless. In all my memories, which are apparently fake, I've never had a friend who cared about me so openly. That was partly my own fault, mind you. But still, this feeling is still foreign to me. "I..." I say, a bit speechless.
"Belle, she doesn't remember you." Emma chimes in with a small wince. Belle takes a step back, blinking rapidly.
"What? How?" She asks, looking over to Emma with furrowed brows.
"Apparently, when the curse was cast I lost all my memories and had them replaced with new ones." I answer with a sympathetic half-smile. She takes a moment, processing what I'm saying.
"Well, I'm sure there's some way to get your memories back." She says, perking up slightly at the thought. "I'll help."
"That's not necessary, I already have a way to recover my memories. I'm just...waiting until I'm ready." I say, rubbing the back of my neck nervously. She looks down for a moment before nodding her head.
"I think I understand." She says, much to my surprise.
"You do?"
"You have a whole life in your head, a life that felt real to you. Coming here must be hard to reconcile." She says, and I can't help but smile a little at her understanding. She must know me well to be able to read my thoughts so accurately. "But...getting your memories back doesn't have to mean giving up on one life. You can have both, be both." I pause at her explanation, feeling stupid for never having considered that before. Could I? Of course, taking that potion would mean I would have to give up some aspects of my old life, like teaching and my apartment. But that doesn't mean I can't ever go back.
"She's right." David chimes in with a reassuring smile. "When everyone was sent here originally, we lost our memories as well. When the curse was broken, we felt like there were two different people living inside us, and we had to give up one to have the other."
