Pay the Price (Pan x OC)

Storybrooke

"Storybrooke, this must be the place mother was talking about"

I step across the borderline that cut off Storybrooke from the rest of the world, immediately feeling a strong sense of something powerful - dominant magic. I continue down the desolate road until it leads me to a town. The town was small but big enough to hold many storybook characters.

The town was busy with everybody trying to get to work on time. I noticed the town clock, it stood tall above the rest of the town. I make my way to what looked like a diner, avoiding the townspeople who were rushing around. I remove my hood, allowing my red hair to flow freely as I walk into the cozy diner.

"Hi, I'm looking for someone named..." I look back down at the letter in my hand. "Mr.Gold"

The older woman standing behind the counter smiles kindly at me. "There's a store just down the street that he owns, you can't miss it. There's a sign that has his name written on it just outside"

"Thanks"

I follow the directions given to me and rush into the pawnshop, finding it filled with many different antiques but empty of any human beings.

"Hello?" I call out into the empty store.

I hear footsteps echoing from a back room, accompanied with a cane hitting the floor every second step. A man with silver hair and brown eyes walks out from behind a curtain, wearing a suit and tie with a ring on one of his fingers of the hand that held the cane.

"We're closed-" he says, sounding very annoyed at my appearance, but he stops himself when his eyes focus on me.

"Mr.Gold I presume?"

"Who are you?" He questions.

"A friend sent me, she said you have something of hers. A notebook with the word 'East' engraved on the front"

"That's an odd title for a book, and I doubt that it's the only one with that name"

"It's the book that belongs to one of the witches of Oz. I thought you'd know that Rumplestiltskin"

His eyes widen, showing clear shock at my accusation. He comes out from behind the counter, preparing to attack if he thought necessary.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Seraphina, the daughter of a witch, who was lucky enough to be out of the range of the curse when it was cast. She wants her journal back"

"I don't have it" he states plainly.

"If it's not here then where is it?"

"I don't know"

"This is important, I need you to tell me-" I say, starting to get angry.

"Little girl, I told you I don't know"

"That's impossible. Someone must have taken it before the curse, hidden it... she left me a letter before going missing" I say, starting to talk to myself.

"When did she go missing?" Gold asks me.

"Only recently, she knew it was going to happen. She left instructions in the letter, told me to come here and that you'd have what I need to help her"

"I assure you, I don't have any books that would belong to your mother. I know what objects I have in stock and a book of that description is not one of them"

I sigh. "Ok, sorry for barging in. If you do happen to find anything that might help let me know, I'm staying in town for a while with one of my mother's friends"

"Who exactly?"

"Snow White"

"Mary Margaret"

I shrug. "If that's what she's called here, then yeah"

"I'll make sure to find you if I find anything" he says as I walk out the door.

"Thanks, that's very helpful"

The door shuts and I start walking in a random direction, where I thought Mary Margaret's house was. Truth was I needed the book to free my mother from whatever prison she was being held in. It might have been the Wicked Witch of the West who had taken her, that was my best guess. They had some sort of small feud back before I was born and I guess it just hadn't dissolved yet.

I stop in front of what I thought held the Blanchard loft. It was an apartment building in which I was almost entirely sure Mary Margaret lived. I knock on the door and the quiet voices that I could hear through it stopped abruptly. Someone opens the door, a woman in a red leather jacket with long blonde hair.

I smile. "Hi, I'm Seraphina"

The woman stands there looking at me accusingly, but someone else hurried to the door after hearing my name. Another woman with short black hair stood behind the blonde haired woman.

"Seraphina? Are you who I think you are?" She asks in a delicate voice, helping me figure out that she definitely was Snow White.

"I think? My mother was a witch, she's mentioned you multiple times but she mainly keeps anything about the Enchanted Forest and Oz to herself nowadays"

"Come in, there must be a reason why you came all the way to Storybrooke, where is your mom by the way?"

"I don't know, but she left a letter, like she knew she was going to go missing. She wants me to look for her journal, but I can't think of anywhere else it might be"

"Where did you look?"

"Well I heard about Mr. Gold's shop, my mom wrote that he would be able to help me so I thought that he would have her journal, but I guessed wrong. I can't imagine anywhere else it would be"

I think back to some of the conversations I had with my mom, specifically one about where she used to live and those she used to be friends with before moving. Maybe that would give me some clues.

"Where are you originally from? I know you aren't a witch from the Enchanted Forest" 10 year old me asks.

"That's right, I was only in the Enchanted Forest for... certain reasons. I'm originally from a place called Oz"

"Really? Is that where Tinker Bell is?"

"No, she's on Neverland"

"What's it like in Neverland?"

"It's not as extravagant as it may seem my dear. It sounds like this magical place but in reality he's... it's overwhelmingly loathsome, irksome, vexatious... just dreadful. Promise me you will never go there unless absolutely necessary"

"I promise"

"The journal, I know where it is" I say, looking at the small group of adults in the room.

"Where is it?" The blonde asks

"Neverland"