CHAPTER FOURTEEN
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i. chaos control and a hatter's hat !

storybrooke maine .

— THE AIR IN WINNIE'S LUNGS WAS STOLEN AS SHE LEANED AGAINST THE WALL FOR SUPPORT, walking towards David and the tattered-looking hat. She carefully slid the fence barrier open, the flames having been extinguished by some force of magic.

"Christopher?" She whispered, watching as David desperately rubbed at the tile floor, mindlessly trying to figure out the situation.

She looked around the room for a small boy in a yellow sweater, but the search came up dry.

He was gone.

Winnie tried to stifle the sob the pushed past her lips as she practically collapsed on the floor next to David, pulling her glasses from her nose so as not to get tears all over the lenses.

David, on the other hand, decided to lay blame on Regina, who was just standing in shock a few feet away.

"Where are they?" David couldn't keep the anger and fear out of his tone as he stood to face the Queen.

"I have no idea." Regina admitted.

"Are they dead?" David pressed.

Regina spared a look at Winnie, and her heart broke just a bit at the utter grief and sadness bleeding into the woman's features.

"The curse, it destroyed all the lands-"

"Are they dead?" David shouted, desperate for a straight answer.

"I don't know." Regina stated, clearly not liking this interrogation of sorts.

David's eyes grew shiny with misery and anger. "I should've killed you myself." He grabbed Regina's arm threateningly.

"Well, then, what's stopping you?" Regina spat, pushing David away and forcing him against the wall with a surge of magic, trapping him against the wallpaper and effectively suffocating him. That wasn't enough for Regina, she reached for his heart- intending to rip it out and crush it before his eyes with her newly returned abilities.

Winnie, however, was faster.

"Step away from him, Regina." Winnie stated, shakily standing from the tiles and putting her glasses on, crossbow at the ready as she faced the Queen.

Regina pulled away from David like a kicked puppy, subconsciously loosening his bonds a bit so he could at least breathe, "Winnie, I-"

The mother bear shook her head, a small, sad and humourless smile pulling at her lips, "Don't riddle me with excuses, Gina, give me answers." She demanded.

Regina raised her chin, trying to keep her composure, "I don't know where they went."

Winnie carefully inhaled, trying to hide her terror at the prospect of having lost another one of her children.

"And my cubs, where are they?" She demanded, brandishing her crossbow for emphasis while Pooh whimpered and slid out from under his hiding place beneath the table, instead choosing to stand bravely at his mother's side.

"I don't-" Regina started, clearly going to claim she had no clue before being cut off by Winnie again.

"Yes you do, Regina, you did this to all of us, you sent them away- I know you did!" Winnie insisted, her voice becoming a little shaky as she thought about her missing children. "Regina, tell me where my children are."

Regina was quiet for several moments, as if weighing the consequences of every answer she could choose. Finally, she decided on the truth, "They lost their memories too." She admitted.

"What does that mean?" Winnie asked, her voice wavering as she thought about what could have possibly happened to them.

"It means for twenty-eight years, they've been living in the woods with nothing but natural bear instincts. Now that the curse is broken, they'll have remembered everything from our land." Regina tried to assure Winnie that her cubs were alive and ready to come home.

Winnie breathed a sigh of relief at this brief sliver of hope, but still wasn't fully over being upset with Regina, "The woods goes on for miles, it'll take days to find them... How could you?" She brokenly whispered after a few heartbeats of utter silence.

"I didn't have much of a choice, it was this or-..."

"Or what?"

"Or killing them." David answered for Regina, realizing the situation at hand. "You were gonna kill them."

Regina became defensive, "But I came up with a compromise, that has to count for something."

"A compromise?" Winnie asked in exaggerated disbelief, "A compromise for whom?"

"Rumplestiltskin."

David struggled against his bonds again, trying to fight his way to Winnie's side again. "You were gonna kill your best friend's children for some stupid deal?"

Regina turned to David, rage alight in her gaze, "I did my best to-"

"You did no such thing." David retorted, only to be squeezed yet again by the bonds that kept him locked against the wallpaper, cutting off his oxygen yet again.

Before Winnie could react, Henry and Ruby entering the hall stopped Regina in her tracks.

"Mom?"

"Henry, what are you doing here?" Regina was quick to change her voice from furious to innocent.

"What are you doing?" Henry retaliated, looking back at David's struggling figure and Winnie's clearly distressed features.

"It's okay." Regina insisted, "You're safe now." She finally allowed David to be free from his confines, letting him fall to the floor in a coughing, wheezing heap while Ruby and Winnie rushed to help him up.

"Where's Christopher? Where's my mom? Where's.." Henry had surveyed the room, noticing that people were missing from the group as he grew worried.

"They're gone." Regina stated. "They fell through a portal, they're... Henry, I'm sorry."

"No, you're not. You really are the Evil Queen." Henry pulled away from Regina, "I don't wanna see you again."

"No, don't say that." Regina's eyes glossed over with tears, "I love you."

"Then, prove it. Get them back, and until then, leave me, leave everyone alone."

"Well, where will you go?"

David had regained his breath, silently thanking Ruby and Winnie for supporting his weight as he did so before he stepped forward, "With me."

Regina couldn't object. She couldn't say a single word as David laid a hand on Henry's shoulder and ushered him away. She couldn't say a word as Ruby followed him, Pooh nestled comfortably in her arms. She couldn't say a word as Winnie kept an arm around Ruby's shoulder, her crossbow hung low in her other hand as she left with loss fresh in her heart.

She couldn't say a word.

storybrooke maine .

— CARS AND POWER LINES HAD BEEN OVERTURNED IN THE WRAITH'S PRESENCE. The dark and powerful storm it had brought had torn up trees and laid waste to the streets. People were in a panic and a crisis centre was being set up just outside the town hall.

Winnie had made herself useful while waiting for David to show up, using her comprehension of medicine to work at the medical assistance tent alongside Dr Whale, tending to people who had unfortunately gotten injured during the wraith's attack.

Pooh, on the other hand, was sitting with Henry on the grass next to the tent, entertaining some other children while Henry read his book.

Winnie was just finishing up the bandaging of a head wound when a loud, gruff voice shouted throughout the area.

"Terrible news! Terrible news!"

There were several gasps and Winnie allowed herself a glance towards the noise, noticing that David had finally made an appearance and was being bombarded by a crowd of people- while the cause of the shouting had been Grumpy, followed by the other six dwarves.

Winnie quickly and expertly finished her treatment of her current patient's wound and sent them off to a nurse who could take over talking about care and pain medication- then, she moved towards the crowd with Pooh following close at her side.

"If you cross the border, you lose your memory all over again." Winnie managed to catch Grumpy explaining his reason for shouting as she carefully pushed through to David's side, having picked up Pooh so he wouldn't be underfoot.

"And coming back doesn't fix it?" Dr Hopper asked.

"If it did, would I have come running in yelling 'terrible news'?" Grumpy responded angrily. "If we leave, our cursed selves become our only selves."

Everyone's voices picked up at once, creating an irritating hum of unintelligible noise.

David spoke out over the buzz, "Everyone meet back here in two hours, I'll tell you my plan to fix everything." He promised.

Ruby and Winnie went after the man, "What's the plan?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know, but I've got two hours do figure it out." David sighed, pausing to make sure Winnie was keeping up. It had been agreed that they would work together to bring their family home- being the ones who knew most what the stakes were.

storybrooke maine .

— DAVID, HENRY, POOH, AND WINNIE WENT BACK TO SNOW AND EMMA'S LOFT APARTMENT TO PREPARE FOR DAVID'S 'PLAN TO FIX EVERYTHING'. It wasn't going as well as any of them had hoped. David struggled with words more than anyone, it seemed, and sighed frustratingly as he scrapped yet another attempt at a heroic and inspirational speech.

Instead of trying again, David walked away from the mirror and instead pulled a tattered hat from backpack. A very familiar tattered hat.

Winnie exhaled heavily as her gaze landed on it, "I feel right awful for Jefferson." She admitted sadly.

"Who?" David asked, clearly not as familiar with the hat as Winnie had been.

Winnie was preoccupied with fixing her hair, the buns having come loose earlier, "It's Jefferson's hat." She explained, "Regina must have taken it some time ago."

Henry perked up, "The Mad Hatter, right? That's who Jefferson is?"

"He may be a bit eccentric but calling him mad is a tad rude, dear." Winnie smiled at the boy.

Henry nodded and offered her a similar, understanding smile, "Jefferson's hat acted as a portal between worlds."

"I need to get it to work again." David insisted.

"Well, to do that, we'll have to find him." Winnie reminded, standing to take the hat in her hands and run her fingers along the material. "I haven't seen him around since the curse broke."

"Maybe he'll check in at the crisis centre. You could check after the thing."

"What thing?"

"The meeting? Where you tell us all your plan? Remember, the speech you were doing?" Henry tried.

David came to his senses, grabbing his jacket and urging Winnie to put the hat back in his backpack so he could take it with him, "Right, I'll be back for that."

Winnie followed him out as Henry shouted after them, "Gramps, you gotta use me, come on! The curse was broken 'cause of me, let me help!"

Winnie turned to the boy, "You can keep looking through your book to find another way to get Emma, Christopher, and Mary-Margaret back home." She offered.

Henry grinned, nodding, "Can I keep Pooh with me too?"

"I was going to ask if you could watch him for me." Winnie agreed, a kind glint behind her eyes as she pushed up her glasses. "He doesn't have the same endurance or lung capacity as he used to, I think he's done his walking for the day." Winnie joked.

Henry turned to see Pooh snoozing on the carpet, and laughed, "See ya later, Winnie."

"Goodbye, Henry."

storybrooke maine .

— DAVID AND WINNIE HAD GONE TO MR GOLD'S SHOP, intending to get a bit of magic's help in finding Jefferson. David insisted Winnie stay outside while he made the transaction, not trusting Rumplestiltskin in the slightest. So Winnie sent him in with the request that he ask Rumple if he knew anything about her Cubs, while she stood outside and tried to reach Jefferson on the phone for the twelfth time.

David was only inside for a few minutes, coming back out with a somewhat content look and a small blue bottle.

Winnie stood at his side as he poured- what could only be a potion- on Jefferson's torn hat.

"Did he say anything about them?" Winnie asked, nudging David's side as she inquired about her cubs.

"Only that he doesn't know exactly where they are." David confirmed, watching the hat carefully and waiting for it to do something. "And that he doesn't have as terrible a grudge against them anymore."

Winnie blinked away her surprise, "Did he say why?"

"No, but let's just be happy that he did." David smiled down at her as his phone rang.

Before he could even check the caller ID, Winnie was nudging him again, "The hat, David." She warned, keeping an eye on it as the hat tossed itself from David's truck.

Winnie grabbed a tight hold on David's arm, not allowing herself to be left behind as they chased after the hat.

The more they chased, the more worried she got for her dear friend. The streets were in ruins, and cars had been overturned everywhere.

Her worry only increased when the hat landed on one of those overturned cars and muffled yells were coming from inside.

Winnie let go of David and almost surprised the man as she impressively pulled a large, heavy metal barrel from the wreckage blocking the car door while David busied himself with tossing away a wooden slat.

Soon, David was ripping the door open and revealing a disheveled figure within.

"Thank you." The man sighed. "No one heard me, and I couldn't reach my phone."

"That explains it then." Winnie's head popped up over David's shoulder.

"Winnie!"

"Hello, dear." Winnie grinned and moved David aside so she could pull Jefferson to safety. "We need your help."

Jefferson grinned as Winnie fixed his scarf and pulled some rubble from his hair, "Of course, bear." He was in a decent mood considering he'd been trapped under a crushed car for several hours. "What can I do for you?"

They went over to Granny's diner, telling Jefferson about the situation on the way- to which he showed plenty of concern for Christopher's safety, having seen the boy every week for twenty-eight years. They sat down at one of the outdoor tables, david pulling out the Hatter's hat.

"Can you get me through?" David asked.

"No." Jefferson shook his head, wiping some dirt off his face with a handkerchief.

"Can you get them back?"

Jefferson glanced at Winnie, but didn't answer.

"Can you get it to work?"

"If I could, I would have by now." Jefferson snapped, not liking that David was acting as if Jefferson didn't care for Christopher and didn't want to get him back to his mother as soon as possible.

"Okay. You had a little girl's tea set in your car, and a stuffed rabbit toy. So, I'm thinking you have a daughter you love. Well I do too. And a wife. And they're out there somewhere in the Enchanted Forest or a void-"

"David, you don't have to guilt trip him." Winnie scolded. "He cares for Christopher, and he cares for me. If he could have helped us by now, he would have. He's a friend, not a criminal."

"She's smart." Jefferson pointed out to David to emphasize that Winnie was exact with her statement. "They're in the Enchanted Forest, that's for sure. I just can't get there."

"It still exists?"

"It exists. I don't know if that matters, since we can't go there." Jefferson sighed, standing from the table. "I'm a portal jumper, and you destroyed my portal. I can't do anything more, I'm sorry."

Winnie stood as well, laying a hand on the man's arm, "It's alright, Jefferson."

David clearly wasn't happy with letting Jefferson off easy, but he trusted Winnie's judgement enough to know when to let her take control of a situation.

Just then, a loud bark interrupted the moment, and Pooh appeared at Winnie's feet- just as Ruby came around the fence.

"Where's Henry?" Winnie asked immediately.

"Regina, she has him. She's threatening everyone." Ruby rushed, grabbing David's arm and pulling him up from his chair.

"She has Henry?" David grew concerned.

Jefferson began to back away, not wanting to be caught up in the Queen's business and certainly feeling too many emotions with all the talk about his daughter- and Christopher being gone. Winnie took notice, and leaned down to pick up Pooh.

"David, I'm gonna walk Jefferson home." Winnie looked up at Jefferson to make sure he was okay with it, to which he smiled slightly, tucking his handkerchief in his pocket. "I trust you with everything, but give me a call if you need me, and I'll come right away."

David agreed, rushing off with Ruby before he could give a more genuine response.

Jefferson offered to carry Pooh, which Winnie graciously accepted as they began to walk along the sidewalk side by side.

the enchanted forest . now .

— THE AIR WAS THICK WITH TRAGEDY AND MYSTERY IN THE MARBLE RUINS OF THE IMPRESSIVE PALACE. Two women walked along the pillars, searching for the cause of a sound they had heard only moments ago.

They came upon a pile of rubble, and one woman drew her sword as she approached.

"Something's in there." She warned the other. "Stay back."

"What did it bring?" The more delicate voiced woman asked. "What is it, what do you see?"

The woman with her sword drawn cleared some of the rubble out of the way, revealing what was beneath.

"Mulan, what is that?"

"That. That is what brought the wraith here." Mulan answered. "That's what killed our prince."

And so there lay the unconscious figures of a dark haired woman, and a blonde with her hand intertwined with that of a small boy in a yellow sweater.

author's note

okay extra long chapter literally 2950 or something because I'm trying to fit as much as I can in here so I can move on to the more important plot stuff

sO this chapter could be really badly dragged out im not entirely sure 😭 i havent really re read it as it's 7 am and I know y'all will yell at me if I'm still awake 😬

I hope y'all are liking the more frequent updates though, ive just been really excited to write for Winnie lately tbh- but if y'all would prefer slower updates so you can keep up lemme know- you know I'm all about feedback (:

also was it painfully obvious that I don't know what to call people now that the curse has been broken? I couldn't decide between grumpy or leroy for a hOt minute omg

also I forgot to ask how obvious
pooh/loaf was in the last chapter- did we like that? Id been waiting for that reveal for sO long

okok I'll stop talking I low key just wanna ask y'all a million questions to see what you guys think about things but the word count is already past 3000 so I'm gonna stop— aS always I will read and respond to comments when I wake up ☺️💕 ily tysm for reading