CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
°⋆∴☽°:۵≼

i. flowers of red and gold !

the enchanted forest . now .

— CHRISTOPHER AWOKE TO THE LIGHTHEARTED CHIRPS OF BIRDS, and a rising sun that cast iridescent beams of light on his warming red cheeks. Sitting up slightly, he let the leather jacket around his body pool at his waist, reminding him of the pirate he'd spoken to just hours before.

Rubbing the sleepiness from his eyes, Christopher listened in on the singing of thrushes around the clearing, determining whether or not it was just chatter- though too many birds were twittering and humming at once, so this pursuit came up dry.

Christopher opened his eyes, and observed those that were also awake. Aurora sat by the remains of last night's fire, snacking on berries. Mulan paced the border, looking into the trees with a peering, determined gaze. Emma and Snow were nearby to Aurora, speaking quietly to each other.

Turning and realizing Killian was still sitting in the same place he'd been last night, awake as ever and watching over Christopher as he took in the warm morning- he realized he was the last to wake.

Sighing, Christopher stood up and sat next to Killian on the sturdy log, handing the jacket back.

"Thank you for letting me borrow this." He uttered as Killian gently took it into his lap.

The ends of Killian's lips curved into a smile, "Couldn't let you freeze, now, could I?"

Christopher smiled too, shrugging and titling his head as if to say 'yeah, alright'. He then looked up into the trees again, seeing all the little dots of feathers and beak.

"The birds stayed." Christopher stated happily.

Killian looked at all the small creatures and shook his head, "I've never seen birds do anything like this. Seems like they're an omen of some kind."

Christopher giggled, "Not omens, Mr Hook, they're friends."

"Of yours?" Killian asked, both amusing the boy, and mocking him all at once.

Though he was pleasantly shocked when Christopher nodded proudly, and whistled a long, loud whistle, causing the birds to chitter back.

Christopher then chirped a 'thank you' to the birds that remained watching over them, to which he got a few twittering responses he could hardly make out apart from a promise of 'we'll see you home, Christopher'.

"You speak their language?" Killian asked, eyes wide as he briefly glanced at the boy, mostly focused on Christopher's 'friends'.

"A little." Christopher smiled at the look on Killian's face. "Only what my mama taught me."

"Your mother can do this too?"

"Mhmm. She can speak to plenty of animals- I don't think I've ever met one she couldn't communicate with." Christopher nodded.

"I see..." Killian was still very much confused, but decided not to bother worrying himself further. He'd seen far stranger things in his lifetime- in fact, this could be considered almost normal compared to his experience.

Christopher looked around the makeshift camp again, his gaze falling on Aurora and seeing how tired, sad, and utterly traumatized she looked.

"Did Aurora not sleep well?" He asked worryingly.

Killian shrugged, "Tossed and turned all night, as far as I'm aware."

"Must've been a bad dream..." Christopher muttered, furrowing his eyebrows in thought.

It was silent in the clearing, before Christopher hooted and whistled a quick little tune.

A thrush suddenly took flight from one of the many trees, shooting off into the air and surveying the area, tweeting and chirping a response.

With this singing reply, Christopher pushed himself up from the log and began walking towards the bird, which was guiding him towards the forest.

Killian stood in shock, watching Christopher as he wandered off, closer to the edge of the trees, birds fluttering between branches and guiding him in one direction.

Not knowing what else to do, Killian called out to the group, "Uhm, ladies?"

Emma disregarded his worry, but still asked what he wanted.

"I assume the boy isn't supposed to go off on his own." Killian turned and gave a sarcastic little smile, pointing at Christopher as he neared the tree line.

Killian began following after the boy, putting his jacket back in it's rightful place over his arms, hearing footsteps follow after him and Emma's, "What the hell is he doing?"

Killian quickly caught up with the boy, staying a few paces behind him, listening to the growing hum of chirps as the birds continued to create a path, watching over Christopher from either side as he continued to venture further.

The group confusedly followed after him as the trees thickened, and they traversed for a good hour or so, Christopher ignoring their questions all the way.

Killian groaned lightly as he stepped over a particularly large tree root.

"Why are we following this twelve-year-old?" Emma sighed, blowing a fallen leaf out of her hair.

"I'm thirteen, Emma, I'm just short." Christopher spoke his first sentence since they'd started walking.

The pirate nearly laughed, watching the boy ahead of them as he wandered without a care. Though, his amusement was quickly quenched when he remembered they were almost two or three hours in the wrong direction.

If they had any hope in beating Cora to the enchanted object she seeks, this little detour of theirs would have to end soon.

His thoughts were then interrupted by the birds, who began whistling a cheery, whimsical tune; and Killian realized- they were singing.

As was Christopher.

"Deep in the Hundred Acre Wood," the boy hummed, climbing over a particularly wide tree root, and glancing at a nearby stream where a small wooden bridge hugged the bank on either side. "where Christopher Robin plays,"

Killian noticed Christopher change his course slightly after having seen the bridge. It was a landmark, for the boy. He knew exactly where they were.

"You'll find the enchanted neighbourhood," Christopher continued, the thrushes fluttering and chirping along, "of Christopher's childhood days."

"A neighbourhood?" Killian asked, his eyes surveying the land. "There's no neighbourhood here, mate."

Christopher giggled slightly, finally coming upon his destination, "There is if you know where to look."

There, he looked up at the leaves hanging far above the world, at a tree that looked particularly enchanting.

As if it was imbued with more than just life.

Killian noticed, as they came upon it, finally ending the group's tiresome journey- that the tree did, indeed, have a sort of magic, that dripped like honey from the aged wood and emerald leaves.

A sparkling, golden glow from deep within the bark.

This magic curled around the grass and flowers that lay between the roots of the great tree, revitalizing each blade and petal, lifting them towards the sky.

The group followed Christopher as he rounded the tree, coming upon a large door-sized split in the side, from which the magic was escaping.

They were then, even further surprised, when Christopher disappeared into the tree.

Emma sighed, "What the hell are we doing?" She asked, throwing up her arms in frustration.

Mary-Margaret shrugged, "If we really are in the Hundred Acre Wood now, this is Christopher's terrain... He knows this place better than we ever will."

"That's enough for me." Mulan stated, pushing between the group to duck into the split of wood and continue following after Christopher.

Aurora, committed to shadowing Mulan, entered next- surprising the remaining members of the group with how wide and empty the centre of the tree must be to accommodate for them.

Killian turned back to Emma, a sarcastic smirk pulling at his lips, "Now, I'd assume you'd like me to go first so you can 'keep an eye' on me." He mocked Emma's distrust, entering the tree for himself, instead of showing any distant semblance of polite mannerisms.

As he slid into the tree, folding his tall frame as much as he could to squeeze through, he realized it was much larger on the inside. An entire meadow, with fluttering butterflies resting on the many colourful flowers, and the greenest grass he'd ever seen.

As if the vastness didn't shock him enough, his eyesight fled to the large tree up ahead, in the centre of it all- with billions of small lights floating between the leaves.

A tree inside a tree...

How utterly strange. Though, still not the strangest thing Killian had seen before.

"Watch where you step." Christopher warned. "Keep to the stones, and avoid the flowers."

Killian looked under his boot, at the round, flat stones that lay out a path between them and the tree, and decided he'd gone this far with listening to the boy- he wouldn't stop now.

So, carefully, he stepped to another stone to avoid the beautiful, honey-coloured flowers that seemed to change into an array of different hues as he moved- as if beneath the gold, there was a rainbow trying to greet them.

Emma entered behind him, and Killian uttered the warning Christopher had left him- to stay on the stones.

The blonde turned back and restated the same to her mother.

Soon, they were deep in the meadow, drawing nearer to the great tree.

"Hello?" Christopher called out.

As if a switch had been flipped, the meadow went dark as night- the lights that had been previously hovering in the branches had all flickered out as if they were snuffed like a candle.

Then, from out of the darkness, a single wisp of light bloomed and began sinking slowly towards them from its place far up in the branches of the looming tree.

storybrooke maine .

— WHEN WIDOW LUCAS STEPPED INTO THE DINER THE MORNING AFTER THE FULL MOON, she immediately knew something was wrong. Winnie and Ruby were nowhere in sight as she glanced around the diner front. She'd expected to see them sitting together and drinking tea after Ruby had changed back.

Not a trace of either woman appeared.

"Winnie?" She called. "Ruby?"

No response- only deafening silence.

In an instant, she was rushing to the back room, fear gripping tightly at her mind as she caught a glimpse of the torn metal door laying on the floor, and a diner chair that was knocked over on its side, laying in the doorway.

"Ruby?" She tried again, stepping over the obstacle in her way and glancing fully around the room. "Winnifred?"

Her eyes darted every which way, from the long, jagged tears in the solid metal door, to the few specks of blood along the tiled ground.

Blood.

There were only small droplets, bright red and browning at the edges, drying in the sun that was beaming through the window.

Granny followed the trail with her studying gaze, noticing how the droplets became larger the more she followed them, around to the back exit door, which had also been thrown off its hinges and torn right through.

Though, she didn't register the destruction quite yet; what she did acknowledge was the limp, outstretched hand laying against the pavement outside the exit door, the walls and doorway obscuring the rest of the person's figure.

A crossbow lay just out of their reach, bolts littering the floor.

Winnie.

author's note

ahhh hello lovelies, I feel like we all need some ELT in these trying times so I'm trying to write as consistently as I can 😭 thank you all for sticking with my ridiculous updates, I know I keep saying it, but seriously you guys are the beST

You all know the drill, I haven't really re read this so there may be some mistakes, my apologiesss

I feel like I should also apologize for leaving the chapter like this 👀 oops

ANYWAY I'm in class right now so responses to comments may be a little late but I can't wait to chat with you guys thank you so much for reading ilysm