Long Lost | Once Upon a Time (REWRITING)

Chapter Thirty-Three: Bleeding Through

Storybrooke
Present

It was a cold day in Storybrooke, the only comforting objects being the thick wool sweaters and the warmth of friends and family members. The entire town was in distress after the untimely death of Baelfire, along with the disappearance of several others. The circumstances left people feeling restless as they hoped for the Wicked Witch to be captured and stopped before she would cause anymore damage. Unfortunately for them, she was only getting started.

In hopes of finding something else on the witch, Robin Hood, as well as his son, Roland, took to searching the farmhouse Emma and Hook had found the day previous. So far, they weren't having much luck, but it wouldn't be long before one of them dug something up on the woman. Just as the two were beginning to lose hope, Roland's hand brushed against something jutting out of a small cabinet. He stopped and turned back to gaze at the object, only to frown when his eyes landed on a rolled up sheet of paper. Without hesitating, he knelt down before carefully removing the parchment and unrolling it.

The boy's eyes scanned over the page for a moment before he realized what it was: it was a picture. More specifically, an illustration from what appeared to be a book. The ink words written on the back of the thick page proved that, though it only brought more confusion to the boy. What was this page from? And more importantly, why was it so important that Zelena kept it? Roland's eyes soon widened after glancing over the words before quickly turning back towards the illustration. The image suddenly seemed to make sense and it was then that he recognized the people in the drawing.

"Did you find something?" Robin's voice suddenly rang out as he inspected his son's crouched figure. Roland turned back to face him before making a wordless gesture for him to join him on the wooden floor. This caused the father to frown before quickly kneeling down alongside him to inspect what it was he held so firmly in his grasp. "What is it?" He quickly asked, all the while scanning the parchment much like Roland had just moments before.

"I think it's a page out of that boy's storybook." He quickly answered, causing his father to take a closer look. What he saw was a woman with green skin, along with bright red hair and a black dress to match.

"Is that Zelena?" Robin found himself asking as he continued to glance over the severely wrinkled page.

Roland couldn't blame his father for doing so, as the image was a lot to take in. "I think so..." he trailed off when he saw his father's eyes widen. He suspected the man had seen what he had just moments before and so he quickly followed his line of sight. Standing beside Zelena in the picture was a young girl with dark brown hair and pale white skin, donning a pair of ice blue eyes that were hard to miss. It didn't take an idiot to know who it was in the picture and it definitely didn't take an idiot to read who it was in the text, "...with what looks to be Grace."

The sudden reveal caused Robin to squint down at the image as he took it all in. There was no mistaking it; it was them, together, in what looked to be a less than friendly action on a bright yellow brick road. Robin only shook his head before lightly taking the page from Roland's grasp. "I didn't know the two had history with one another." He let out, shock overtaking him once more.

His son only shook his head and gave a similar answer. "I didn't, either."

~<>~

The morning started off slow for everyone. The sad day the people of Storybrooke had to look forward to wasn't exactly something that made them want to jump out of bed and get ready. In fact, it made most want to stay in bed instead of bringing themselves to the dreaded funeral of the dearly departed Neal Cassidy. In the Blanchard Apartment, most everyone was awake and ready to go, albeit reluctantly, to the Storybrooke cemetery to watch the man's casket finally be lowered into his final resting place. Afterwards, they would all meet back at Granny's for the wake to listen to everyone's speeches and to just be comforted by the arms of both friends and family members alike. After all, they would surely need it.