CHAPTER TWELVE
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i. missing cubs !

storybrooke maine .

— A TIDE OF IRIDESCENT MAGIC PULSATED ACROSS THE TOWN AS EMMA SWAN PRESSED A KISS TO HER SON'S FOREHEAD, reigniting his spirit as he awoke with a gasp. The power of this kiss spread to the very outskirts of Storybrooke, infecting person after person as it went.

Those that had been just outside Henry's hospital room were the first to be gently knocked back by this wave of pure love, blinking rapidly and coming to terms with this new familiar feeling of understanding and reconnecting.

Christopher barely registered his returning memories, more preoccupied with Henry as the boy breathed deeply and grinned at his birth mother. The boy pushed past Dr Whale and into the room, followed closely by Regina and Winnie.

"You did it." Regina whispered towards Emma, a tearful smile on her face as she watched Christopher rush to Henry's side and pull the boy into a hug.

"Sorry if I scared you, Christopher." Henry giggled, returning the hug just as tightly.

Christopher shook his head against the boy's bare shoulder, "Just don't ever do it again."

Emma's attention pulled to the door of Henry's room as a few nurses entered to marvel at the blonde woman, and her gaze drifted across Mother Superior, Dr Whale, and Winnifred- and noticed their unusual expressions of clarity.

"Henry, what's going on?" Emma asked, expecting him to know more than her about what she'd just done, considering he'd believed in all those fairytale stories of magic and wonder since the very beginning.

Regina began to back away, noticing the change in everyone's demeanour too, "No."

"The curse," Henry's eyebrows furrowed, "I think you broke it."

Mother Superior stepped forward, "That was true love's kiss." She confirmed, the statement implying that said kiss was imbued with powerful magic.

Regina's voice wavered with fear, "No!"

"If I were you, Your Majesty, I'd find some place to hide." Mother Superior warned of the onslaught of angry people about the town that would want Regina's head for what she'd done.

"Henry, no matter what you think, no matter what anyone tells you, I do love you." Regina assured, a shiny glare of sadness in her eyes as she pulled away from the boy and locked eyes with Winnie.

Winnie seemed more angry and upset with the woman than Regina had ever seen. Her arms were crossed over her dungarees and the cold, steady rage that burned behind her eyes was not very well meant to be hidden as she locked eyes with the Queen.

Not a single word escaped Winnie's mouth as Regina struggled not to break down in fear ridden guilt that she had just lost the only friend she'd ever known and her son in one fell swoop.

Winnie simply watched as the woman she thought she could trust wholeheartedly was practically exiled, and the anger slowly melted away as she rushed out the door.

It's then that Winnie and Christopher seem to come to their senses, remembering things about themselves that had been forgotten for so long.

"Mama." Christopher sighed, walking into the warm embrace of his mother, who held him closer and closer still.

"Christopher." Winnie returned, running her hands lovingly through the boy's hair and along his back.

Emma still stayed at Henry's side, watching mother and son embrace as their lives returned to them, "Henry, what's going on here? If the curse is broken, why didn't they go back?"

Even Henry was unsure of the answer, despite having been obsessed with the curse for so long, he had no idea what was meant to happen after, "I don't know..."

A clang interrupted both mothers and sons as a nurse dropped a metal tray with medical instruments all along the ground, startling those in the room.

Emma and Henry rushed off the hospital bed to see what had happened, "You okay?" Emma asked, getting nothing in response as the nurse continued to stare out the window.

Winnie had an arm around her sons's shoulders as they carefully approached the window too.

"What is that?" Emma asked.

The 'that' she was referring to was a cloud of billowing purple smoke, looking like a menacing, centralized storm that someone had thrown coloured food dye in.

"Something bad." Henry muttered.

Winnie continued to observe, still holding her son close as she felt the surge of power the town seemed to be facing.

"It's magic." Winnie mumbled, as the dark cloud engulfed the hospital.

storybrooke maine .

— THE THREATENING PLUME OF MAGIC WAS FAR LESS THREATENING THAN ORIGINALLY THOUGHT, as Winnie, Emma, Christopher, and Henry walked through the slowly thinning cloud. Their only reasonable threat was sight, which they remedied by holding each other's hands as they wandered towards Granny's Diner.

The fog began to evaporate and reveal figures among the mist that were reuniting along with their old memories. Lovers, friends, family.

Winnie first recognized Mary Margaret amidst the small gathering- now recalling her true name, "Snow!"

The woman turned, not yet seeing her own daughter as Emma and Henry had broken off from Winnie and Christopher as they approached.

"Winnie! Christopher!" Snow exclaimed, bringing the mother and son into a hug.

Then David joined the mix, and Winnie grinned at the familiar face, accepting a tight squeeze from the man whom she'd known for quite a number of years.

Winnie went on to embrace Ruby and Widow Lucas, while Christopher shook hands with plenty of the dwarves- although avoiding the one that sneezed and wiped at his nose at a rate that couldn't have been healthy.

Once everyone had been reacquainted, Winnie stood at David's side with Christopher hugging her waist.

"The curse... it's broken?"

"It would appear so," David smiled, shaking Leroy- or Grumpy's hand.

"So what do we do now?" Ruby asked, glancing at Winnie for some form of guidance.

"Now," Snow breathed, "Now I find my daughter." She muttered, unaware that her daughter was standing only a few paces behind her.

Emma caught Winnie's eye, looking at her uncertainly. Winnie simply smiled an encouraging grin, rubbing her son's shoulder.

"So it's true." Emma spoke.

Snow and David turned as quickly as one could blink and set their eyes upon their daughter, grown slightly older than them by now but still harbouring deep love for her all the same.

They embraced her carefully, as if they would lose her again just as soon as they had before, sobbing against Emma's shoulders.

Though the bittersweet moment was broken by Henry as he approached from behind, looking up at David.

"Grandpa?" He asked.

A chuckle passed Winnie's lips as David stepped away from the hug to address the young boy, "Yeah, kid. I suppose so." He laughed, pulling Henry close.

"Thank you, Emma." Winnie finally spoke, smiling at the woman she had the blessing to call a friend.

"I- um- for what?"

"You saved us." Christopher spoke up.

"You saved all of us." Snow agreed.

Grumpy, ever ready to be the bearer of bad news, spoke up, "Then why are we still here?"

Questions began to rise up among the dwarves, mostly centred around what the purple smoke had meant for them and why it was there.

An answer arose to meet those questions, "Magic. It's here, I can feel it."

Mother Superior seemed to have found the group, to which she was greeted warmly by Snow.

"Magic? In Storybrooke?" Henry asked, "You're the Blue Fairy, do something magical."

"It's not quite that simple, Henry." She responded, a carefully masked look of disappointment bleeding into her features. "No wand. No fairy dust. Matters are complicated now."

A loud and frightening thought infected Winnie's mind, and she squeezed her son's shoulder tight as Emma began plotting to find Mr Gold to ask about the appearance of magic in town.

"Darling, we have to go home." Winnifred muttered to her son, who looked up at her in confusion before having the same petrifying thought occur to him as it had to her.

"Okay, mama." He agreed, grabbing her hand and pinching at his sweater with his other hand.

They both carefully pushed through the group until they were out of the centre, though their quick movement had caught Snow's eye.

"Where are you going?" She asked, somewhat selfishly not wanting Winnie's friendly face to disappear when they'd only just reconnected.

"We're going home." Winnie stated, clearly having her mind in another place as her tone wouldn't have been so unexpectedly dismissive.

"Why?" Emma asked.

Winnie's brought her gaze to meet Emma's as Emma stepped to meet her, standing in front of her and reaching to hold the woman's unoccupied hand.

Her voice was uncharacteristically worried as she grasped the blonde's hand, "I'm missing three of my cubs." She whispered.

Emma almost pulled away in surprise, although she recalled reading parts of Winnie's story in Henry's book of fairytales. The mother bear.

To Emma's brief knowledge, in the fairytale Winnie had adopted a boy and three bears- and as Winnie said this statement, Emma realized that story to be true.

"If you can't find them, find me." Emma muttered, not wanting to let the woman go as she had been the only presence Emma truly felt comfortable with at the moment.

"We will, darling." Winnie assured, bringing her hand away from Emma's to brush the hair away from the blonde woman's face.

Emma sighed. Even as Winnie was fighting tears and fearing for her children's life, she chose to comfort Emma. To give her something to hold on to in this whirlwind of confusion.

Emma admired her for it, and greatly appreciated as Winnie used her free arm to wrap around Emma's shoulders in a semi hug, able to find even more consolation in the essence of honey, and peaches, and lavender while Emma smelled of cinnamon and chocolate.

Together they were pure warmth, and the embrace was very much a needed comfort for the pair. They were reluctant to pull apart for whatever lie ahead, though eventually- they undoubtedly had to.

Emma had a mission: to find the Dark One and figure out why he'd brought magic to Storybrooke- and try and keep people in check while she was at it.

Winnie, on the other hand, had some Cubs to find and an Evil Queen to interrogate.

author's note

yall now that the curse is broken I don't know what to call everyone ahhhh

apologies if this chapter is a lil messy, you know me, I'm writing this when
I really should be sleeping ahaha
7:30 am who? 😭

in any case I have just one thing I would totally love to see some opinions on if y'all don't mind: if you have any songs to suggest for the playlist of every little thing- just anything that reminds you of Winnie or the book itself, please feel free to drop said suggestions in the comments as I will eventually put an official one together and may use some of those suggestions

literally I just love to see your opinions on things ahh 😭💕

aNYWAY I hope you liked this chapter,  I promise I will respond to comments and things as soon as I wake up in a few hours ily 💕