Welcome to a Nightmare

Chapter 18: Reunited

Chapter 18: Reunited

"Do you mind if I have some hot chocolate?" Henry asks timidly. He figured the soothing drink with whipped cream and cinnamon on top would help him process everything, help cheer himself up, and give him some form of familiar comfort. After what Granny had told him, his plans to find people to help break the curse and free everyone from this hellish nightmare are going by the wayside and becoming seemingly impossible to accomplish. He, himself, is close to giving in.

"Do whatever you want," Granny grunts, turning away from the counter and walks towards the stairs, up to the bedrooms of her inn.

"I don't have any money to..."

"As if I care about money, I'll just put it on your mother's tab... it's not like she'll ever pay it. Maybe if she did, maybe I could afford to stay open."

"Where are you going?" the teenager asks.

"To take a nap, it's not like anyone is sleeping up here anyways. Not with the fancy hotels all over the place with casinos on the main floor," she mutters in fake excitement. Her tired footsteps fade as she disappears upstairs.

Henry scrambles behind the counter, going directly to the hot chocolate machine. He could make this beverage with his eyes shut. How many times would he kneel on a stool when he was young and watch Ruby mix the drink. The excitement and anticipation he'd feel as his mom treated him to this drink. And then later anyone in his family would treat him to the warm beverage and the smile he'd get when the warm, perfectly mixed chocolate touched his lips. He also enjoyed the smiles people gave him when he'd develop the whipped cream and cinnamon mustache from his first few sips. It was familiar to him and gave him the smallest form of comfort in all this confusion.

He hears the familiar bell over the door ring, indicating someone has entered the restaurant. This seems weird to Henry because if what Granny said was true and hardly anyone ever came in here except to either rob her, steal something, or to get free alcohol from her, why would be someone coming in at all? He wonders if that since Granny's was always the hub of activity, someone still has the unconscious desire to visit the tiny diner for food, just like him.

The teen turns to see another familiar face. He gasps and blinks a few times at a person he hasn't seen in almost a month.

"H-Henry?!" Crystal gasps. Her heart drops into her stomach and she can feel tears forming in her eyes again. Her surrogate little brother is here! She tries to smile at him, happy to see someone she loves so much, but she becomes weary of his presence because whatever the curse has done has practically wiped her from existence. She's so scared and confused by everything that has happened that she's now prepared to believe that he would not recognize her.

However, that quickly changes with one simple word that escapes from the author's mouth.

"Crystal?" the young author asks.

In an instant, this confirms her greatest hopes. Tears stream down her face as Crystal runs to him and practically knocks him over as she wraps her arms around him. He drops his hot chocolate on the floor, causing the mug to shatter and the hot liquid to splatter all over their feet and the floor. But, neither notices as Crystal clings to him tightly, so happy and relieved that someone has finally remembered her.

"You... you remember me?"

"Of course, I remember you..." he begins, but he never gets to finish his sentence as she begins sobbing loudly in his arms. How could he forget the aunt he didn't know he had for such a long? He remembers when she first came to Storybrooke, sticking out like a sore thumb as the "stranger from the city" and how he'd welcomed her to town, talking over one of Granny's bacon cheeseburgers and how she guessed his correct favourite flavour of a milkshake. Then she offered to babysit his uncle and the two bonded over her disastrous dating history. And absolutely no one could forget the first time she encountered her father and used her powers to throw a car at him. The two had become close, developing a more brother-sister relationship, a connection that both of them treasured and hoped to rekindle after she moved to Storybrooke permanently.

"Oh God Henry!" she whispers through her tears. "Finally."

"What do you mean finally?" he asks as the two break apart. The two take in each other's appearances. Both of them can see in each other's eyes the stress and traumatic feelings that they have endured at the hands of this curse.

"Finally, someone who remembers me!"

"What do you mean who remembers you?"

"I ran into August, Aurora, Ashley and even Leroy and Archie and not one of them knows who I am anymore."

"It's because of the curse..." Henry says, trying to explain everything, assuming that Crystal had just come back from New York and was unaware of what had happened.

"I know I saw it, from the outside, Belle tried to warn me and I'm glad she did... to a point anyway, otherwise, I would have ended up like everyone else in this dirty city. This curse has basically wiped everyone's memories of me. All except you."

Henry gazes into Crystal's blue eyes and he can see the pain she's feeling. The thought that no one remembered who he was is heartbreaking. He's experienced some of this too, but obviously not at the full extent that she clearly has. It was like in the alternate universe that Isaac had created with his Heroes and Villains book. No one knew who he was, with exception of Emma, and quite a few of his family members had tried to kill him on more than one occasion. Even here, one of his mothers is a complete stranger to him too. It hurts so much.

"I'm the only one who can remember everything," Henry explains. "It's just like the first curse, where no one believes me."

Crystal can see the hurt on his face, knowing the trauma that he'd likely endured when everyone thought he was crazy.

"I believe you," she says, trying to give him comfort. The two of them are now allowed the cry, finally having someone who understands their pain and what this curse has done to them. "You and I found each other. There must be a reason that we were spared. I'll tell you everything that I know, and you tell me everything that you know, and we'll go from there. I'd also like a little hot chocolate too."

Henry gives a small smile and the two then clean up the mess that was made and then sit down in the heart of Storybrooke to discuss their next move in order to break the curse.

A/N: They're finally together, this has been a long time coming and now they have to try and adapt to everything and break the curse. Please review.