Finding You Always

Stars Aligned

Finding You Always

Chapter 3: Stars Aligned

Greg pulled off the road and parked his car, before getting out. He looked around and recalled the familiarity of the area from ten years earlier. Little Owen happily camping with his father in these woods. Then the rumbling and the dark smoke had come. He would never forget the feeling, the way it made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. It had knocked out their radio and his dad's truck went dead. He remembered his father's worry, as there wasn't a town around for miles. Then like magic, there was a town just a mile from their campsite. He remembered his father's perplexed look, as they walked into town. He had liked it at first. The people were really nice and reminded him of something he couldn't quite put his finger on. But then they had met Regina, Mayor of Storybrooke. She was really nice at first too...until they had wanted to leave. She was a witch and used magic to try and prevent them from leaving. He could still hear his father screaming at him to run.

"RUN OWEN...RUN!" he had screamed. He obeyed and that was the last time he had seen his father. No one believed him. As far as they were concerned, he was just a traumatized kid, trying to rationalize why his father had abandoned him in the forests of Maine.

But a few did believe him and he was fortunate enough to be taken in by them. He learned that he was right. Magic did exist and it was evil. He learned there were many people that knew and believed this. And better yet, they worked, unbeknown to common people, to destroy all magic in this world. He had been raised in their cause and trained to carry out their mission. Bringing them little Emma Swan had been his first assignment and he had failed. He pounded his fists on the hood of his car. He was so sure he had been ahead of her and the prince. He knew he was probably looking right at the town line, but he couldn't see it. Protected by magic, he was sure. But Emma could see the town and she had led her father right in.

The home office said it was too early for Emma to be here. He didn't know exactly why. He didn't ask questions. He knew that was rather foolish, but he believed in his cause and they told him he would have answers about his father if he followed orders. And now he had to report his failure. Plans would have to be altered...

~*~

August tossed his bag onto the old worn couch in his even older and worn down apartment. It wasn't easy being on your own at seventeen, but he had managed to dodge the system since he had come to this world. Even though he never found Emma when he had come through, they had ended up in the same group home that night. Abandoning her just a few weeks later had been the wrong choice, but he couldn't go back after that.

August knew magic when he felt it in the air though, maybe because he was made from magic, but he had following the feeling this morning and saw an opportunity for a little redemption. In an extraordinary series of events, like the stars had aligned for her, Emma found her father and awakened him. How the prince had ended up outside of Storybrooke, he had no idea, but the savior was already a believer.

He knew what kind of dangers existed outside Storybrooke for people like them though. He had followed them to the bus station and stepped in to put them on the right path. Part of him had wanted to go with them. With Emma in Storybrooke, the curse would weaken and soon break, but he didn't want to face his past. He had shirked his duties to Emma. Snow White and the prince would be angry with his father for lying to them about the wardrobe. They would forgive him in time though. It's just who they were. But he had done so many selfish things and given in to so many temptations of this world. He just couldn't face him. It was better for everyone.

"But mostly himself," a voice inside him said. And unfortunately, he always listened to that selfish little voice

~*~