CHAPTER FIVE  —
( Sometimes, you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory )

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The news that Sheriff Graham had a heart attack shook the whole of Storybrooke to its core, and Luna couldn't believe that she saw Graham only that morning after he admitted to her that he believed he remembered part of an old life he had. Soon after his death, his only employee, Emma Swan, was elected Sheriff in a town-wide vote (much to Regina Mills' dismay).

Operation Cobra was put on hold for the time being. Both Daisy and Henry were upset with the death of Graham, and they believed that part of it was because he was getting too close to the truth about the curse the town was under.

Luna began to spend most of her time at work after Emma was voted Sheriff. More people seemed to stop by and buy clothes, and with Emma's new fund, the woman had stopped by a couple of times to extend her closet. She now owned more than three shirts, and Henry was incredibly pleased with that.

While Daisy was at school, she was sorting through her cash register when the doorbell chimed. Luna looked up, expecting one of her usual customers. Instead, she came face-to-face with Mr. Gold. Luna stared at him momentarily before snapping out of her gaze as the man walked up to her. Luna pulled a stack of cash from the register and walked around the counter to meet the man halfway.

"Ms Edwards, how have you been?" Gold asked a slight smile on his face.

"Yeah, I've been alright," Luna responded, then shook her head. "Heard what you did about the fire to try to make Emma win the election."

"I succeeded, though, didn't I?" He asked

Luna frowned. "She called you out on it and told the whole town."

"But that was my plan," he replied.

Luna frowned at him and then shook her head. "You're sneaky," she said as she held the money to him. Gold just shrugged as he took the money. "Well, I hope you have a good day." Luna turned around and began to walk back towards the counter.

"Do you know me?"

Luna turned around and frowned. "Pardon?"

"Do you know who I am?" Gold repeated.

Luna gazed at the man before her, recalling how he had haunted her dreams for at least a month. He was the man her mother had sold her to, who had taught her incredible power and provided her with a home and much more that she had yet to remember. As Luna scrutinised the man and met his gaze, she shook her head and said, "You're Mr. Gold. You own a pawnshop and basically this whole town."

Gold nodded slowly and began to walk out of the store. "Very well, I'll see you in a month, Ms. Edwards." Something slipped from his hands and clattered onto the ground.

Luna rushed toward the object and Mr. Gold, but he quickly slipped out the front door. Luna shook her head and bent down to pick up the small object. It was silver and had three dragon heads, each with a different coloured jewel for its eyes: red in the front and green and gold on the dragons on either side. Luna frowned at the object; something about it seemed familiar. Although it looked similar to her family's crest, there was something else about it. It was evident that Mr. Gold had "accidentally" dropped this object in her store. Luna frowned as she stared at the pin in her hand. She couldn't help but wonder, "Had he remembered everything about his past life as well?"

-ˋˏ ༻♥༺ ˎˊ-

Luna sat at Granny's with both Daisy and Aella later that afternoon. The three girls had mugs of hot chocolate in front of them, laughing and talking happily. Luna constantly looked down toward her hands as she held the silver dragon brooch Mr. Gold left for her.

"But saving cats from trees isn't all I do, young one," Aella playfully said, pointing at Daisy with a spoon.

"Oh yeah?" Daisy chuckled lightly. "What else, then? Blowing up old mines to save my best friend?"

Aella hummed. "Yes. But I also protect people during emergencies, put out fires and prevent them, save cheeky kids like you from getting in trouble," she grinned and then tapped Daisy's nose, coating it with cream.

"Ew," Daisy laughed as she rubbed the cream off with her finger. "I never get into trouble."

"Oh yeah?" Luna questioned with a small smile. Someone walked into the diner then, and Luna looked at the person. "Speaking of trouble."

Henry ran over towards the girls with a sheet of paper in his hands and a pen. "Daisy, it's at emergency."

Daisy frowned. "Henry? What's wrong?"

"Someone took the book," he explained quickly. "I need your help naming everyone that we've figured out before I've forgotten, can you help me?"

She looked at Luna and Aella and then back at Henry. "Umm...Yeah, sure." Daisy turned to Luna. "Can I go with Henry, please?"

"Why don't you two sit here?" Luna asked, and then shrugged at Aella. "Maybe we could help you out?"

Daisy looked at Henry and he nodded and slid into the booth. "Okay, well I have the basic people," Henry told the girls, placing the paper onto the table. "What's that?" He asked Luna, looking at the pin in her hands.

"Oh, um, it's a dragon pin that I bought from Mr. Gold's pawnshop," she told him, holding it out so he could have a look at it. "I bought it because it reminded me of our family."

"The dragon girls," Aella playfully grinned.

"You wear that in the book," Henry told her. "It's like your crown. Everyone knows who you are when they see it."

"Really?" Luna asked him with a slight frown.

"Yeah." He then showed the girls the piece of paper he had, and the paper was covered in stick figures of people with names beside each of them. Henry began pointing them out. "Regina is the Evil Queen, Mary Margaret is Snow White, David is Prince Charming."

"Archie is Jiminy Cricket, and Marco is Geppetto," Daisy continued, and Henry quickly wrote the names down. "Graham was the Huntsman, Ruby is Red Riding Hood."

"Those two kids I met the other week were Hansel and Gretel," he continued. "And your mom is the Queen of Dragons, Cordelia." Luna shared a look with Aella. "Have you guys figured anyone out?"

"Well, what about Mr. Gold? Have you figured out who he is yet?" Luna asked them.

Henry sighed. "No. I haven't found him. He might be like Archie and is just a fairytale creature instead, like maybe one of Cinderella's mice."

Aella hummed. "Perhaps." She straightened up. "Okay, who am I?"

"We haven't figured out who we are yet," Daisy replied. "You'd think I'd be able to recognise myself."

Aella chuckled. "Yeah, you'd think."

Henry picked up the paper and began to slide out of the booth. "It's that guy again. I have to talk to him," he told the group. Then, he went to the counter to talk to a man.

"Now, are you sure you haven't figured out who I am yet?" Aella asked Daisy. "Maybe we're in the same story, the three of us."

Luna looked up. "What, like Daisy's my mother, Maleficent?" The girls laughed. "You might not be in mine, but I think you two are definitely the mice from Cinderella."

Aella raised her eyebrows. "Did you just call me a rodent?" She turned to Daisy. "I think your mother just called us rodents."

Luna playfully narrowed her eyes. "So what if I did? What're you going to do about it?"

"I think she deserves to not sit in on movie night next Friday," Aella said. "Daisy?"

"I agree," she said. "It's just going to be Ella, me and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone."

Aella smirked. "Sounds good to me."

Luna shook her head at the pair. "That's cold. Stone cold."

Daisy chose to stay at Granny's with Aella and Henry to figure out the identities of additional people and finish their mugs of hot chocolate. Luna, accustomed to the warmth of the liquid and a fan of hot drinks, had already finished hers, but she was also tired after her long day. As she left the diner and put her purse back into her bag, she accidentally bumped into someone.

Luna looked up to see who it was while she mumbled a few apologies. It was Ruby. The young girl smiled, her lips coated with bright red lipstick. "Sorry about that, Luna," she smiled. "I was just on my way back into the diner for the rest of my shift."

When Luna stared into the girl's eyes, she found her mind thinking of something else.

Cordelia was walking through the woods to meet up with Snow White and her friends to save Prince Charming from his father's castle. She was wearing one of her many dark, scaly dresses with a large flowing cape trailing behind her. At her breast pocket, she had a shiny silver dragon brooch attached. Her platinum blonde hair was braided in its usual updo, with several braids running down her back.

Cordelia was just a few meters away from reaching the spot Snow had told her to meet at when she accidentally bumped into someone wearing a bright red cloak. The two women stumbled back, and the small dragon on Cordelia's shoulder let out a small roar at the woman, causing her to jump back a little more.

Cordelia quickly extended her hands. "Don't worry. Kayda here is just learning how to be nice to everyone. She doesn't know things properly like her siblings do." She reached up to the little dragon with her finger and stroked its nose. "Isn't that right?"

"So it's true? You can talk to them?" The brunette woman asked, her dark eyes wide and doe-like.

Cordelia smiled assuredly. "They're my children. Of course, I can." She held her hand out. "I'm Cordelia."

The girl smiled and shook her hand. "And I'm Red."

Cordelia gestured towards the crimson cloak the woman was wearing. "I gathered that from the cape."

Red laughed. "I guess it's a giveaway."

"And I've heard about the wolf curse," Cordelia smiled lightly at the woman. "I'm sorry you have to live with that."

Red shrugged. "It's okay. I've lived with it for some time now."

"Cordelia!" Snow White called out excitedly, her heart warming at the sight of her long-lost friend. She hurried over to Cordelia and enveloped her in a tight, affectionate hug. "It's so good to see you! And Kayda, you've grown so big now!" Kayda nodded graciously. Then, she turned to Red and offered a soft, friendly smile. "Hey, Red.

"Hi, Snow," she smiled back and then turned to Cordelia. "Well, we should get to the dwarves and start planning."

"We should get to that. It was nice meeting you, Red."

"And you too, Cordelia and Kayda, of course." The small dragon dipped its head towards Red, and then the three women walked towards Snow White's tent. "You know," Red began, "you're not as scary as people say you are."

Cordelia smirked. "Well, you certainly shouldn't listen to everything everyone says."

"Are you alright, Luna?" Ruby asked as Luna blinked to wake herself back up.

"Y-yeah. Yeah. Sorry, I just...spaced out a bit," she mumbled. "Sorry for bumping into you, Ruby."

Ruby smiled lightly and began to walk past her. "Oh, Mary Margaret, Ashley Boyd and I are going out tonight for Valentine's Day at the bar. Do you want to join us?"

"Ah...Yeah. Maybe for a little bit," Luna nodded and began to walk away. "I'll meet up with Mary Margaret before we head out."

Ruby grinned. "Great! See you then," and then she headed into the diner. Luna shook her head and began to walk down the path when a figure from the other side of the road caught her attention. Her gaze locked with Mr. Gold, who smirked lightly at the woman and continued down the road.

AUTHORS NOTE
Rewatching ouat and I'm finally watching season 3 and it's honestly making me feel sick watching Hook flirt and fall for Emma. Like I keep mentally putting myself in Emma's place and it's now given me so many butterflies and my heart is pounding like crazy cause I've just fallen in love with Killian all over again 🫠

This is why I'll forever be single because my heart is already owned by heaps of fictional characters and my expectations have been set way too high lol
Pheebs/-rosepetal