CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
°⋆∴☽°:۵≼

i. wicked poser, wooden boy !

storybrooke maine .

— THE FOREST REMAINED A DEATHLY SORT OF SILENT, save for the small huffing noises that followed behind Winnie as she walked over felled trees and overgrown roots, crossbow in hand. Pooh had been reluctant to leave the woman's side, and practically insisted he come with her to investigate the woods for his two brothers of the same creature.

So far, after an hour or so of searching, they hadn't found anything- nor had they heard whispers of Kenai or Koda's whereabouts.

By the time lunch came around, they had been exploring for quite a few hours and debated heading back into town to stop by Granny's and the local goods store for some dog friendly treats- though this was when they came upon something peculiar.

A certain trailer home, overgrown with vines and moss and bits of nature all about. It looked entirely abandoned, but when Winnie moved closer, she saw the grass that had been stomped down after many exits and entries of said trailer.

If that wasn't evidence enough, the trailer rattled and rumbled slightly when Pooh barked- a clear sign that someone inside had been startled by the sound.

The trailer door opened, and revealed a man with an odd face. He looked familiar, Winnie thought. Though he looked familiar in a way that he didn't quite- for she'd have remembered seeing someone with polished wood for skin.

The man had clearly not expected to see Winnie there, clad in her space buns, golden glasses, stripped shirt and blue dungarees. He quickly cowered behind the door frame when he saw her.

"Winnie?" The man asked cautiously, peeking around the corner at the woman.

Winnie heard the man's voice and was struck with recognition, "August!" She smiled, stepping forth a little more to see him properly, though he stayed rooted in his spot.

"Do you... remember me?" August asked, revealing only a tiny bit more of his face, and his wide deep blue plastic eyes.

"Of course I do! You came by the bakery once, and I-..." Winnie cut herself off, pausing in front of the man and tilting her head slightly.

She faintly recalled a boy she once knew many years ago. A boy with a similar soul to this man's, and a similar curse upon it.

Winnie assessed the man with slight confusion before the creases in her forehead fell away and a warm light of realization burst in her eyes, lighting up her features.

"Dear boy, I do believe your father has been looking for you." She looked up at the man, who looked as if he was about to cry from joy, though being made out of wood made that task a little difficult.

August leap from the trailer door as if he'd been pushed towards the woman while she welcomed him with open arms.

"I can't go back yet." He whispered, tightening his squeeze for a second before pulling away entirely. "I'm not ready to face Papa, or anyone- for that matter."

Winnie sighed, looking up at the man with a bit of disproval.

"You won't tell anyone, right?" August worried.

As much as Winnie wanted to go back and tell Geppetto that his son was alive and well and hiding away from the world, she could tell that August was fighting a battle against his own mind- and was hardly fit to be around people when he was feeling so guilty of himself.

"You tell him soon." She insisted firmly. "He misses you, Pinocchio."

August nodded diligently, as if being scolded by a mother- which, to be fair, Winnie was.

"You're welcome 'round anytime, dear." Winnie assured, a polite and kind smile pulling at her lips. "Tea is on around four."

August grinned in return, thanking the woman quietly.

"And though I don't wish to bother you any, I'm afraid I have to ask one quick question." Winnie sighed as she prepared herself to be on her way again.

The man glanced down at Pooh before returning his gaze to Winnie, "Anything."

"Have you happened to have come across two bear cubs out here in the woods?"

storybrooke maine .

— AUGUST WAS VERY ADAMANT THAT HE HADN'T HAD ANY ENCOUNTERS WITH BEARS OR BEAR-LIKE CREATURES, and so Winnie and Pooh decided to finally call it a day and make their way back into town.

They had briefly seen David at Granny's while Winnie waited for her take out lunch. The prince had let the woman know what was going on with their situation, and Winnie agreed to let David focus on bringing Emma, Mary-Margaret, and Christopher home- while Winnie focused on her missing Cubs.

She trusted the man wholeheartedly to bring her son and close friend back home to her, and bid him good luck as she left the diner as he bid her the same.

The walk back home was hardly a strenuous one, though both woman and pup were already exhausted from wandering the woods from the early hours of the morning to now as they came upon their driveway.

It was safe to say, Winnie and Pooh were hardly expecting visitors.

Yet there a man sat on the front porch, nervously tapping his shoes together and cooing at the bundle of blankets in his arms.

He hardly heard the residents of the home as they approached, but Winnie was careful not to startle him too poorly.

"Hello there, Petey." She uttered, smiling down at the man as she met him at the stairs.

"H-hello, Winnifred." The man stumbled as he stood, the tip of his red nose twitching slightly.

"Would you like to come inside?" Winnie offered, pointing towards the house.

Peter nodded and ducked his head slightly as he waited for Winnie to unlock the front door.

Now that the curse had broken, and their old memories had been returned to them- Winnie wasn't sure where it was that her relationship with her Storybrooke family lie. Sure, they weren't really her family- but after twenty-eight years together, believing that they were, she expected it them to at least talk about it.

And now here Petey was, gathering a cup of warm tea in his hands as Winnie sat on the couch next to him, glancing down at the piglet in his lap as the little creature snorted and settled quietly down for a nap.

It stayed rather silent between the two. Neither really minded. The silence wasn't one born from awkwardness, but of comfort. They needn't say words to feel content and happy in each other's company. It had been that way for the entirety of their time together.

Finally, as he watched and listened to Pooh crunching away on some dry dog food, Petey spoke softly.

"They used to call me piglet." The man smiled, ducking his head nervously- always one to shy away from anything and everything that wasn't the little piglet in his lap.

Winnie listened on in interest, knowing that he was talking of his time in the Enchanted Forest.

"I was the son of a pig farmer and a butcher. My father always- he always expected me to- to... take over the business, as it were, but I loved the little creatures too much to hurt them." He confessed, looking at the bundle of blankets and the small pink pig that lay there.

Winnie simply offered an ear to listen, sitting next to him as close as he allowed, which was close enough for comfort, but not close enough to touch.

"They had me labelled a coward." He laughed slightly, as if it didn't bother him- though it clearly did. "I very much prefer Peter- Pete, Petey- I liked it more than anything I'd ever been called before."

Winnie smiled, "Then that's what I shall call you, dear Peter."

Peter grinned, meeting Winnie's eyes for only a split second- and in that split second Winnie saw the gratitude and adoration protruding from his features.

"The curse may have been a bad thing for many people, but I think it was the best thing to happen to me." Petey confessed, returning to looking anywhere but Winnie, instead fixating on the wooden beams of her ceiling.

Winnie tilted her head, "Why would that be?"

"Well- my family had never been very- they had never been very accepting of me- and then the curse came 'round and I was given you." He chewed at his lip and didn't pull his eyes away from the beams. "I've been very proud to call you my sister, Winnifred."

Winnie smiled, "You don't have to stop now."

Peter looked at her, but stared mostly at her shoulder as surprise and confusion took over his face.

"We've been together for twenty-eight years, Petey, and I've been honoured to have you for a brother." She grinned, a look of love and joy that Peter only returned.

It instilled a warmth in Winnifred, one that she was oddly familiar with, though she couldn't recall ever having felt that way.

This was one of many relationships they had to reforge within Storybrooke- but for now, both Peter and Winnifred were happy simply to be in each other's presence- knowing that if anything positive were to be considered from the curse- it was that they had each gained a very lovely sibling.

the enchanted forest . now .

— AFTER THE OGRE HAD BEEN DEALT WITH AND EVERYONE REGROUPED, the journey became an almost simple task. It wasn't very long before they found themselves wandering the ruins of the old castle that had been their planned destination.

It had hardly taken them a day.

Christopher recognized the hallways of the castle as being the ones himself and his family had walked through a few times before- and having seen them a couple times from Henry's book.

They were the same as he remembered, though now they were shrouded in darkness and very little light as the moonlight flooded through windows and cracks in the walls.

Mulan and Aurora parted from the three as they stopped outside two large doors within the castle, a room laying undisturbed on the other side.

"We'll stand watch at the gate." Mulan stated, ushering Aurora away.

"Don't be scared if some birds join you." Christopher called out after them.

Mulan nodded obediently, a somewhat funny sight to see, as it wasn't often someone took a child's words so seriously. Though it had seemed that Christopher had earned a certain amount of respect from the woman, therefore she heeded his every small request with the poise and grace of a skilled warrior.

Christopher turned back as Snow and Emma entered the room ahead of them, and simply observed while Snow reminisced aloud about all the things she never got to do in this room.

Or- the things herself and Emma never got to do, for it was meant to be Emma's nursery before the curse took hold and tragedy struck.

Christopher joined the women, standing between them as they looked at the intricate wardrobe that had sent Emma between worlds when she was just a newborn.

The idea was this; if they could manage to magic this wardrobe again- there was a chance they would be able to send themselves back to Storybrooke the same way Emma had been sent through a near twenty-eight years ago.

"Where's the on switch?" Emma asked as they peered into the wardrobe.

"It's more complicated than that." Snow sighed, "We'll have to get it back to the island. Hopefully someone there has access to enough magic to make it work again."

Emma looked down at Christopher in disbelief, "How are we gonna carry this thing?" She barely hid a laugh.

"With the help of an old friend."

Christopher spun around quicker than a rocket, his slingshot raised and ready to fire on whoever spoke.

Lancelot.

Christopher didn't lower his weapon, and simply pulled the string back tighter.

"Lancelot! What are you doing here?" Snow asked politely

"We heard about the ogre attack, and I had to make sure you were all right." Lancelot explained, stepping forward a few more paces.

"Oh. Where are Mulan and Aurora?" Snow pressed.

Christopher's chest puffed out a little, realizing with pride that he had been right- something was wrong with Lancelot- and Snow had noticed it too. Though he didn't allow himself to be too proud.

Lancelot was still three feet in front of them, after all.

"I sent them to find food." Lancelot dismissed. "Tonight, we'll make camp and in the morning, we'll head back."

Sadly, that seemed to be enough for Snow, but Christopher still wasn't convinced.

The man turned his attention on the wardrobe, almost too quick to be simply curious, "So, this is it? The portal you were after?"

"The same one Emma went through." Snow sighed heavily, looking down on the carved tree. "It's how she escaped the curse."

"Remarkable." Lancelot muttered.

Christopher had still not put down his weapon, though he moved behind the trio so as not to let Lancelot know he was on to him.

"Geppetto carved it from an enchanted tree, but there's no magic left."

Lancelot scoffed, "A portal this powerful, there must be another way to recharge it."

"Why are you so interested in the wardrobe?" Snow teased, and Christopher realized that she was still onto the man, thankfully.

Lancelot seemed to bring himself out of his thought, tearing his eyes away from the wardrobe, "Well, I just want you to get home to your husband. And son, Henry." Lancelot addressed Emma as well. "They must miss you."

Without warning, Snow unsheathed her sword and held the tip of the blade to Lancelot's face, only inches away from slicing his nose.

"Stay away from him. He's not who he says he is." Snow warned, noticing Christopher with his slingshot at the ready and nodding slightly to let the boy know his suspicions were true.

"What are you talking about? Who the hell is he?" Emma asked, still not understanding the threat.

"There's only one person you told Henry's name." Snow muttered lowly.

Emma looked at Lancelot in realization.

"Cora."

author's note

I very much didn't re read this- I apologize for any mistakes omg ahh

I really wanted to update so y'all could see the new book cover,
I hope you like it 😭😭💕

Also killian should be showing up like next chapter I believe and I'm veRy much excited I'm low key rushing through trying to get to the scenes I have planned because I can't wait to share them with all of you

aNyway, let me know your thoughts on the story so far, thoughts on the new cover- whatever you'd like really, I love feedback 😭😭

As aLways, thank you all so much for your support- I promise to read comments as soon as I wake up!! (Yes it's 7am again I'm sorry 😭)
I love you all 💕💕