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CHAPTER THREE
SNOW FALLS
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WHILE BOTH SOPHIE AND HENRY HAD BEEN RAISED IN something that looked like a castle on the exterior and had been one at some point in time, Caspian's castle was very different than theirs.

For starters, it was actually well kept and, more distinctly, had been well kept up with over the time it had been occupied. Their castle in Golden Reef had been abandoned for a long time and while a lot of work had went into repairing it and getting it back in working order before both Henry and Sophie had been born, once it was safe, not full of cobwebs, dust and debris, they had mostly left it as it was. Caspian's castle was notably brighter than theirs.

Sophie didn't mind, though. It was actually kind of nice.

When she woke up on their first morning in Narnia, a maid came into the room, offering to help her bathe and dress. She'd also brought her some type of outfit with a skirt, but that was the only thing she'd said no to. Sophie wasn't opposed to being a little pampered every once and a while. It wasn't something you got a lot of when you lived on a ship or an island full of pirates.

After she was dressed (in her normal pants and shirt), the maid escorted her to the hall where they'd be dining. It was large and grand, with a beautiful window on one side which let in loads of light. There was a long table in the middle of the room, a chair more ornate than the rest at the head of the table and more scattered around it, intermittently occupied.

At the head of the table sat Caspian and Sophie's breath caught in her throat all over again seeing him. When he caught sight of her, a bright smile lit up his face and he stood, almost everyone else at the table hastily following suit.

"Sophie, I've saved a seat for you," he called to her, gesturing to the empty seat to his right.

"How generous of you," she said, unable to contain her own smile.

Sophie sat down in the seat, noting finally that Henry was next to her. Across from her was an unfamiliar face so she turned her attention to the food scattered about the table and reached for some, piling up her plate and beginning to eat. She looked down the table and caught sight of a few of her crew, which made her smile. They seemed to be settling in comfortably and that was always good to see.

"How did you sleep?" Caspian asked her.

"Not terribly," she admitted. "It will take some adjustment, the lack of a ship rocking below me. It always does, so don't think it's your beds, they're quite comfortable."

"That's good to hear."

"Your maid was nice as well," Sophie said. "Although she did try to get me to wear a skirt. Not really my style."

"Yes, that is quite clear. I'll be sure the staff know not to offer something so ridiculous in the future."

A blush spread on Sophie's cheeks for what felt like no reason at all and she looked away from Caspian and down to her plate even as a smile pulled at her lips. What was going on with her? She never acted like this around men.

"So, have you figured out what adventure you're taking me on today?"

"I'm taking you on an adventure?"

"Well, yes, of course," Sophie said. "You said you'd show me the best places in your land when we first met."

"Yes, I suppose I did," Caspian agreed with a smile, turning to the man across from Sophie who she didn't know. "Why don't you clear my schedule for the day so I can take Sophie on an adventure?"

"Sire-"

"We wouldn't want you to neglect your duties," Henry immediately spoke up. "Sophie can surely wait till you have time."

"No, one day of fun is needed every once and a while," Caspian said, brushing off Henry's concerns.

"Sire, I really think-"

"And your brother and crew are welcome to join us, of course," Caspian told Sophie.

"Perhaps another time, I was hoping it could be just the two of us," Sophie said.

Caspian smiled. "That sounds like a wonderful idea."

━━━★━━━

HELEN HAD ALWAYS TRIED HER BEST TO KEEP HER ANGER under control when it came to her uncle. He hadn't dealt well with losing his family in the accident. And while he had managed to pull his way through raising Sophie until she was old enough to take care of herself, she had always seen his struggle. He found comfort in the bottle, maybe too much of it. Helen had been forced to bring him home drunk from the bar or bail him out of jail after Graham picked him up too many times to count.

But sometimes it just got to be too much.

Her uncle, Edward Falconer, hadn't worked for a long time. He couldn't keep a job with how much he drank. And Helen, hardly ever getting a full night's rest with the dreams which plagued her and the other issues she'd ended up with because of the accident, couldn't work either. Even if she was getting enough sleep she could make it through the day easily now, there had been a time when it wasn't possible and people had known. They knew she was seeing Dr Hopper but they just didn't trust she was better now.

They didn't have unlimited funds. They had the money to make rent and mostly get groceries every week with a little bit leftover which Helen tried to save up for important things like bail or in case one of them got sick. But they would be screwed if her uncle kept blowing all their money on booze to drink his life away.

"God, for once in your life, could you stop drinking!" she shouted at him.

Edward had just opened a bottle of beer from the brand new case he'd come home with. More important money down the drain and Helen just couldn't stand it anymore.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me! Put the fucking bottle down and stop wasting all of our money on useless alcohol so that you can drink yourself to an early death!"

"You don't get to talk to me like that."

"I'll talk to you however I damn well please when I'm not even twenty years old and I have to be the parent here!" she screamed. "You are a grown-ass man and you need to pull your head out of your ass!"

"Watch your language!"

"You're not the only one that misses them! They were my parents and big brother, Uncle, okay? I was the one that was home alone when they came to tell me the news! I was the one that was alone for a whole day with no one but fucking strangers until you got there! I'm the one that's been alone ever since that day because you turned to the bloody bottle instead of being there for your niece! I'm the one in therapy for the dreams that won't go away! You aren't the only one in the fucking world who has lost their family!"

Edward stared at her, surprised by her outburst and clearly angry she was screaming at him. Helen simply scoffed and grabbed her jacket, storming out of the apartment and slamming the door shut behind her before practically running down the stairs, tears already slipping down her cheeks.

When she reached the first floor, she sat down on the third step, pulling her knees up and wrapping her arms around them and putting her head down so her nose rested on her arms. She sat there for a while, silently crying as she leaned against the wall next to her and tried her best to let go of the anger which had dug it's claws into her and refused to let go.

"Helen?" a soft voice asked.

The girl looked up to see Mary Margaret standing there, a sombre expression hidden under the worry she had from looking at Helen crying. She was dressed up as if she'd been on a date or something.

"Hey, Mary Margaret..." Helen said, managing half a smile.

"Are you alright? What's the matter?" the older woman asked, sitting down next to the girl on the stairs.

"Had a fight with my uncle," she explained. "Well, I yelled at him and he just kept drinking..."

"Is that what it was about? His drinking?"

"Got it in one," Helen agreed flatly.

Mary Margaret wrapped an arm around Helen and pulled her into an embrace. She easily let herself be comforted by Mary Margaret, resting her head on her shoulder, another tear falling down her cheek.

"I'm so sorry you have to go through this, sweetie," Mary Margaret told her. "Do you want to come up to my apartment and have a hot cocoa? You could stay the night if you wanted to."

"Thanks, Mary Margaret. That'd be nice..."

━━━★━━━

LAUGHTER FOLLOWED THE TWO HORSES AS THEY RACED through the trees in the forests of Narnia, their two riders teasing each other as they tried to beat the other to wherever it was they were going, since Caspian hadn't exactly told Sophie when they set out. That was, of course, because when they set out it hadn't been a race.

Just before Sophie was going to turn and tease Caspian once more about how she was beating him, she came into a clearing and immediately pulled the reins of her horse to bring him to a stop, trotting around the edge as they slowed until Caspian came in behind her, a smile lighting up his face as he saw her awestruck expression. He maneuvered his horse around so he was next to her and smiled at her.

"It's beautiful, no?" he prompted.

"Caspian, this place is amazing!" she answered, getting down off her horse and moving further into the center of the clearing.

"It's one of my favourite spots," he explained.

"I can see why..."

As Sophie turned her face up to the sun which seemed to be coming down directly in the middle, soaking up the warmth while Caspian tied the horses up in the shade of the trees before coming up to join her.

"How did you find this place?" she asked, looking up at him.

"It was an accident, I was hunting with some of my men and we got separated. That's when I came to this clearing."

The grass was soft and interspersed with little white flowers. The sunlight seemed to come down directly into the clearing in beautiful golden light that almost seemed to sparkle. It felt almost magical, like something was lighting up the clearing that no one could see.

"How often do you come here?" Sophie asked.

"Whenever I need to think or need a moment to myself. It's very relaxing," he explained.

"I'm definitely going to have to come to visit you more often just to come back here," she joked.

"Come back? And here I was, hoping you'd never leave."

"You're going to have to step up your game if you want me to abandon adventuring and sailing the seas to stay here forever."

"Challenge accepted."

━━━★━━━

THE NEXT MORNING, HELEN LEFT HER APARTMENT A BIT before it was usually time for Henry to start school. He had asked her to meet him at his castle the previous afternoon. Headphones, backpack, notebook, skateboard and coffee in hand, Helen closed the door behind her and jogged down the steps, heading for the beach where the playground Henry was referring to was.

She didn't know why he was asking to see her someplace specific, but given that Operation Cobra was back on at full speed after he made up with Emma, it probably had something to do with that. She couldn't figure out why he was so insistent she be a part of it when Emma was the one who was supposed to be able to break the curse. But she didn't mind, always enjoying spending more time with him.

When she reached the beach, Henry was already sitting on the play structure. Helen kicked up her skateboard and grabbed it as she moved from the pavement to the grass, heading for where Henry was sitting.

"Reporting in, bright and early, Captain Mills!" she called out to him.

"Ready and waiting, Lieutenant Falconer!" he called back, smiling brightly.

Helen took the steps a few at a time till she was on the first level, walking behind where Henry was sitting on the railing between two of the towers. She set her skateboard down behind her before she sat down on one of the railings of the tower which was just a little higher than the main level, her legs hanging over the edge.

"What's the mission for today?" she asked him.

"We're just waiting for Emma," Henry told her.

As if on cue, Emma's yellow bug appeared and she parked before stepping out of it in her red leather jacket. She waved to them awkwardly as she walked over and Helen snickered. And though she tried to stomp it down, a little bit of bitterness and anger flared up at the sight of the blonde woman. Henry and Emma may have hashed out their issues and were getting along, but Helen wasn't about to let go of it that easily. When Emma finally reached them, she sat down next to Henry but facing the other way.

"Morning," she greeted them.

"Morning," Helen replied.

"Alright, what do you got for me today?" Emma asked Henry.

The young boy pulled out his storybook and put it in his lap, flipping through the pages until he found the story he was looking for. Helen recognized it by the illustration on the page, it was Snow White and Prince Charming's story.

"I found your father, Prince Charming," Henry told Emma, showing the illustration to her.

"Henry..." Emma said.

"He's in the hospital in a coma. See this scar?" he said, pointing to the one in the illustration. "He has one, too."

"So? Lots of people have scars," Emma pointed out.

"In the same place?" Henry questioned. "Don't you see what this means? The curse is keeping them apart with the coma. Now they're stuck without each other. We have to tell Miss Blanchard we found her Prince Charming."

"Okay, kid," Emma said. "Telling someone their soulmate is in a coma is probably not helpful. Not having a happy ending is painful enough, but giving someone unrealistic hope is far worse."

"She makes a good point, Henry," Helen agreed reluctantly. "If he's in a coma, what will that even do besides make Mary Margaret sad?"

"But what if I'm right?" he asked. "We know who they are, now they have to know."

"And how do you intend to make that happen?" Emma asked.

"By reminding him. We have to get her to read their story to John Doe. Then maybe he'll remember who he is."

Emma leaned forward like she was going to argue with Henry but then paused.

"Okay."

"Okay?" Henry and Helen asked, confused it had been that easy.

"Yeah," Emma confirmed. "We'll do it, but we'll do it my way. Let me ask her."

━━━★━━━

THAT EVENING, AFTER DINNER AND JUST BEFORE SOPHIE was going to settle into bed, she was sitting on her bed with her brother, just talking about their days. They hadn't had too much time to themselves since leaving on their voyage given the close quarters of the ship and how many people there were in Caspian's castle. Henry was still her best friend, even if he was her brother.

"Oh, Henry, it was the most beautiful meadow I'd ever seen," she was telling him, flopping down onto her back to stare up at the high ceiling. "It was almost as beautiful as our cove back home."

"Caspian seems to be putting on quite the show for you," Henry said, smirking at her.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she questioned him, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

"What do you think? Have you not seen the way he looks at you?"

"He does not look at me in any kind of way!"

"Do you think I haven't seen the way you look at him?"

"And I'm not looking at him in any kind of way!"

"Oh, please! You're as obvious as Mum and Dad!"

"I am not and even if I was, that's a compliment!"

"Not when I'm calling you dense."

"You didn't say dense, you said obvious."

"Well in this example they mean the same thing."

"They absolutely do not mean the same thing."

Henry rolled his eyes and shoved her shoulder, causing her to laugh and shove him back. It devolved from there into a fight between the two siblings that was full of them laughing and teasing each other until they were both out of breath. For a few moments, they laid there in silence, smiles on their faces as they panted.

Finally, Henry looked over at her and nudged her gently with his elbow, causing her to look over at him.

"I'm serious," he said. "I see the way you both look at each other. And it's okay."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Henry rolled his eyes and hit her again, causing her to laugh through her groans.

━━━★━━━

WHEN HELEN WOKE UP IN THE MORNING TO THE CHIMING of the clocktower, she rolled over onto her back and stared up at her ceiling, the last images of her dream still flashing before her eyes. With a sigh, she sat up, grabbed her journal and went to the window as she did every morning to write out the content of her dream so that she'd be able to recall it later to Dr Hopper.

After fully recording her dream, she got up, closed her window and dressed for the day. She gathered her things from her room and brought them to the living room/kitchen area and clenched her jaw when she saw her uncle once more passed out on the couch, beer bottles on the table in front of him.

The anger at their fight the other day was still knotted tightly in her stomach and she turned away to make her breakfast. She didn't make extra for her uncle as she usually did and she ate it in silence. And, also unlike she normally would, she didn't clear the empty bottles from the coffee table in front of him.

Instead, she simply left the apartment with her things.

Down on the sidewalk, Helen put her headphones and music on, then dropped her skateboard down and started heading in the direction of Granny's diner. She was meeting up with Henry, Emma and Mary Margaret there to discuss the whole plan about waking up John Doe.

Emma had gotten Mary Margaret to do it. Helen didn't know how, she didn't ask. But that's what she had been doing last night. They were to meet at Granny's and Mary Margaret was going to report in on what had happened. Hopefully, Henry wouldn't be too disappointed.

Arriving at Granny's, Helen kicked up her skateboard and pulled her headphones out as she headed for the door. She got in just in time to see Emma disappearing towards the bathroom with a blue shirt in her hands. Confused, Helen slid into the booth across from Henry.

"Hey, kiddo," she greeted. "Where's Emma going?"

"I gave her one of my mom's shirts."

"Why?"

"She needed a shirt."

"Right," Helen said and flagged Ruby down to order a coffee. "How you doing?"

"Fine," Henry answered, brow furrowing. "Why?"

"No reason... You just seem to have forgiven Emma and I want to be sure you really have. She really hurt you and I need to know you're okay before I forgive her."

Henry watched her with a curious expression for a moment but before he could say anything, Ruby returned with Helen's coffee.

"Hey, hey, Ruby," Helen called, getting the girl to come back. "Put this coffee on Emma's bill, yeah?"

"Sure, Helen," Ruby said, walking away.

"Why can't you forgive Emma?" Henry asked.

"Because it is the number one rule of friendship," she explained, sipping her coffee. "If someone hurts your friend, you don't forgive them. If you're okay, I can consider it."

"I'm okay," Henry said.

"Then I will consider it."

Henry smiled at her and she couldn't help but smile back. She cared about Henry a lot and she wanted him to know that. He deserved to know, with everything else in his life, there was one person who he could always count on to care.

"Thanks for the shirt," Emma said as she reappeared, sliding into the booth next to Helen. "Hey, is this your mother's?"

"Where else would he get a woman's shirt, Emma?" Helen questioned.

"She'll never notice," Henry assured Emma.

"Where does she think you are, anyway?" Emma asked.

"Playing Whack-A-Mole," he answered.

"And she bought that?"

"She wants to believe it. So she does."

"Oh, imagine that," Emma said.

"Common theme around here," Helen said, leaning back with her coffee.

Before anyone could say anything else, the bell above the door into the diner rang and they turned to look, seeing Mary-Margaret entering. Henry immediately perked up.

"She's here!"

"Hey, don't get your hopes up," Emma said, leaning towards Henry and lowering her voice. "We're just getting started, okay?"

Mary Margaret sat down next to Henry with an expression that told Helen something had happened. Emma watched her friend with an expectant look and Helen couldn't help but feel like they were waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"He woke up."

"What?"

"Who did what now?"

"I knew it."

"I mean, he didn't wake up-wake up," Mary Margaret amended. "But he grabbed my hand."

"The coma patient?" Helen questioned.

"He's remembering," Henry said.

"What did the doctor say?" Emma asked.

"That I imagined it. But I'm not crazy, I know it happened," Mary Margaret insisted.

"We have to go back," Henry said. "You have to read to him again."

Mary Margaret looked at Henry for a moment like she was considering it, then she nodded.

"Let's go."

"Wait. Wait... what?" Emma questioned.

She slid out of the booth after the two of them with Helen right behind her. They caught up to Mary Margaret right at the door.

"Hate to say it, but I'm with Emma here. What?" Helen said.

"Hate to say it?" Emma echoed.

"Oh yeah, you are so not in the clear in my books. I require more than the apology you gave the ten-year-old boy."

Emma's brow furrowed. "We'll get back to that... Mary Margaret-"

"If I got through to him, if we made a connection..."

"You don't believe-"

"That he's Prince Charming? Of course not. Somehow, someway, I touched him."

Without saying another word or waiting for an answer or even more questions, Mary Margaret hurried out the door after Henry and disappeared. Emma looked at Helen and they shared an exasperated look and an understanding passed between them that they needed to put aside Helen's own grievances for the moment to figure out what was going on.

━━━★━━━

SOPHIE SPENT TWO DAYS WITH JUST HER CREW TO keep her company as Caspian attended to kingly business with his advisors for the times between meals. She didn't mind this as part of the whole point of adventuring was to be able to have fun and adventures with her crew.

They spent those days on the beach, swimming in the crystal clear waters of Narnia and lounging in the sun. At the end of the day, they were all laughing at Gustav, who had fallen asleep on the beach and ended up getting burnt. Henry and Annika had taken him to get something for the burns so he wouldn't be in as much pain as the days went on.

Gustav didn't join them for their second day on the beach, instead hiding inside where he could avoid the sun for longer as he healed.

The crew of the Black Ace enjoyed their time relaxing. Before reaching Narnia, they'd been on the open seas for a long time. And while all of them loved sailing and loved being pirates, it wasn't exactly the most relaxing of jobs and they needed the breaks every once in a while. Narnia was providing them just that. And it made Sophie feel better about not wanting to leave quite yet so she wouldn't have to say goodbye to Caspian.

After dinner that evening and the socializing they did when they'd all finished eating, Caspian requested if he could walk Sophie back to her room. She agreed and the two of them began walking back to the room she was staying in.

"I'm enjoying having you and your crew here," Caspian confessed. "It's been a welcome change of pace."

"We're glad to be here," Sophie said. "Narnia is one of the most relaxing places I've visited. We needed this break."

"Then I am glad I could provide that for you."

They walked for a moment in comfortable silence before turning down the hallway Sophie's bedroom was in.

"I have a request of you before you retire for the evening," Caspian said.

"Ask away."

"Would you go on another adventure with me tomorrow?"

Sophie smiled. "I would love to. But it better be quite the spectacular adventure. You did say you were going to take that challenge, if you recall."

"I do recall," Caspian said, a smile growing on his face.

"Then I will see you tomorrow."

Caspian caught her arm before she could disappear into her room.

"What do I get if I win your challenge?"

"You'll just have to win and find out."

━━━★━━━

WHEN THEY GOT TO THE HOSPITAL, MARY MARGARET LED THE WAY UP to the right floor and as soon as the elevator doors opened, Henry seemed to recognize where to go and was off at a run. They hurried after him, doing their best to keep him in sight, even as nurses and orderlies gave Helen dirty looks for carrying her skateboard with her. They all seemed to think she'd start riding it at any moment when that was just ridiculous. She had no idea where to go.

"You're right!" Henry called. "He's waking up."

Ahead of them in the wing of the hospital was a bunch of nurses and orderlies and Helen even spotted Dr Whale in the distance. But in front of all of them was none other than Sheriff Graham, who looked alarmed when he heard Henry's voice and turned, spotting the boy.

"Henry, you should stay back," Graham warned.

"What's going on?" Mary Margaret asked. "Is it John Doe? Is he okay?"

Graham sighed. "He's missing."

"Missing?" Helen questioned. "How does a coma patient go missing?"

"Miss Falconer-"

"If he was kidnapped, you can say that, you don't have to avoid the word just because of Henry, you should see some of those stories in his book, much worse than kidnapping."

"Miss Falconer-"

"But you didn't say kidnapped, even though you could have. You said missing."

"Helen," Graham said more forcefully.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

From behind Graham, Regina appeared. Helen was struck suddenly with the question she had asked. What was Regina doing here? But she knew better than to voice it as Regina stormed towards them with an angry expression.

"And you," Regina said, leaning down and taking Henry's arm. "I thought you were at the arcade. Now you're lying to me?"

"What happened to John Doe?" Mary Margaret asked. "Did someone take him?"

"We don't know yet," Graham said with a pointed look at Helen. "His IVs were ripped out, but there's no sign for sure there was a struggle."

"What did you do?" Henry asked Regina.

"You think I had something to do with this?"

"It is curious that the Mayor is here," Emma pointed out.

"I'm here because I'm his emergency contact," Regina said.

"You know him?" Mary Margaret asked.

"I found him on the side of the road years ago with no ID," Regina explained. "I brought him here."

"Mayor Mills saved his life," Dr Whale said.

"Will he be okay?" Mary Margaret asked.

"Okay? The man's been on feeding tubes for years, under constant supervision. He needs to get back here right away or, quite honestly, 'okay' might be a pipe dream."

"Well then let's quit yappin' and start looking," Emma said.

"Did you really just say yapping?" Helen questioned as Emma turned to walk away.

"That's what we're doing," Regina said. "Just stay out of this, dear. And since I clearly can't keep you away from my son... I guess I'm just going to have to keep my son away from you."

Regina took Henry's hand and started leading him towards the exit. She stopped once only to tell Emma, not in those exact words, that she was well aware the blonde was wearing her shirt and instruct the Sheriff to find John Doe (which was his job, so Helen found it to be a bit redundant) before she left with Henry in tow.

Helen followed after Emma, Mary Margaret and Sheriff Graham as they went to the security room where all the footage from the security cameras was kept. She'd never considered herself to be the most empathetic person, she'd never cared too much about people other than herself until Henry came along. While her time with Dr Hopper hadn't cured her of this, it had taught her this was likely due to being orphaned. She'd lost her family, even the uncle who took care of her, and she didn't want to let anyone else in for fear of losing them, too.

So she couldn't say that the reason she went along with everyone was that she cared a lot about what had happened to the stranger, John Doe. Sure, she understood time was of the essence and after all this time being in a coma, John Doe couldn't be in the best shape and really did need to be found. But more than any of those, her reason for going along was that she was invested in the mystery.

"You two were the only employees on the floor last night. And you saw nothing?" Graham said.

They were in the security office with the janitor, a grumpy man named Leroy and the night security guard, a sleepy man named Walter.

"Not a thing," Walter said.

"Did anyone walk by?" Emma asked.

"I didn't see nothing," Leroy said.

"So what did you see?" Helen asked.

"I told you, nothing."

"No, you said you did not see nothing. Which implies that you did see something."

"What?"

"Helen, please," Graham said. "Miss Blanchard, was there anything unusual you saw during your trip with your class?"

"I don't think so," Mary Margaret said.

Emma walked up to the desk. "We're looking at the wrong tape. This is the ward where Henry's class put up decorations. If this was really the tape from last night we'd see the banners the kids hung."

"You fell asleep again," Leroy accused Walter.

"You selling me out?"

"I ain't getting fired for this."

"Least I don't drink on the job!"

"Gentlemen, enough!" Graham said. "Where's the real tape?"

Walter switched the tapes and they saw the ward appear, with the banners and decorations Henry's class had hung up. They watched as a slightly limping John Doe walked into frame, paused, looked at the door which led out of the ward, and walked right out of it.

"He walked out alone," Mary Margaret said, sighing in relief. "He's okay."

"Four hours ago," Emma pointed out, looking at the time stamp on the video. "Where does this door lead?"

"The woods," Leroy said.

━━━★━━━

THE NEXT MORNING, CASPIAN WOKE SOPHIE BRIGHT AND EARLY FOR THEIR adventure. He had a breakfast prepared for them already which they could take with them on their journey. They got on their horses down in the stables and set off from the castle as the sun rose in the sky.

They ate what Caspian had prepared for them as they rode and by the time the sun was fully up and the sky was bright, they had reached the coast. After briefly stopping to get their bearings and for Caspian to consult a map to be sure of exactly where they were, they took off along the shore towards their destination.

Before long, Caspian pointed out a large cliff and Sophie followed his line of sight until she saw the castle ruins he was pointing to. Her eyes widened and she smiled over at Caspian as they pushed their horses harder to get there faster.

When they finally made their way up there, they tied their horses up with room to graze in some shade before they went into the ruins to explore some more.

Sophie was in awe of the ruins. She had seen many ruins, they had their fair share of them back home in Golden Cove. One of her favourite parts of adventuring was getting to see the ruins of the places she'd visit. These ruins felt particularly special to Sophie. They weren't just the ruins of any old castle.

"What did these ruins use to be?" she asked, touching a hand to the stone.

"A castle called Cair Paravel," Caspian answered. "That friend I told you about, this castle belonged to them and their siblings."

"These ruins look ancient, how could you know the inhabitants?"

"That's a long story, perhaps for another time."

"Mm, teasing me are you?"

"My goal is to get you to stay, isn't it?"

Sophie laughed and quickly tested the strength of the wall that she was standing in front of. When she was confident that it would hold strong, she jumped up onto the lower part of the wall so that she could walk along the top of it.

Upon seeing her hoist herself up, Caspian gasped. When she looked down from where she was standing, she saw he was standing at the base of the wall, his arms up like he thought she was going to fall and need him to catch her.

"Be careful, Sophie."

"Oh, now you sound like my brother," she said, rolling her eyes.

"These walls might not be sturdy."

"They're the last ones standing, they're the strongest of all of them."

"They might not be balanced."

"I spend most of my days on a ship, that's not terribly balanced either. At least this wall isn't always swaying."

"The ground could give way."

"Now you're just thinking of excuses. At this point are you even trying? I mean really, Caspian, have you ever convinced anyone of anything that way?"

"I have honestly never had to try very hard."

"Yes, that's quite clear. I'm a pirate, remember? We live dangerously for a living."

"I must confess, I've not met any true pirates."

"I could have told you that the moment we met, Your Majesty," she teased. "Everyone who has met a true pirate takes one look at my clothes and my sword and knows who I am. There's a reason I'm so good with my sword."

━━━★━━━

IT STARTED TO GET DARK SOON ENOUGH AS THEY traversed through the woods, following John Doe's trail. He had a four-hour head start on them, which didn't help anything. Emma, Mary Margaret and Helen simply followed after Graham, who took the lead in following the trail. He seemed to know better than anyone else what to do and where to go.

After reaching the bottom of the hill, Graham stopped and kneeled down, placing his hand in the dirt.

"What is it?" Mary Margaret asked.

"The trail runs out here," Graham said.

"You sure? 'Cause I thought tracking was one of your skills?" Emma asked.

"Just give me a second. This is my world. I got it," Graham said.

"Right. Sorry," Emma said as Graham wandered away from them.

"What does he mean 'his world'? Isn't finding people your thing, too?" Mary Margaret asked Emma.

"Sure," Emma said. "Just, people I find usually run to places like Vegas. Not a lot hit the woods."

There was a moment's pause as they looked around the darkening woods a former coma patient was supposedly lost in. Yeah, just something you did every day, right?

"It's an interesting job, finding people," Mary Margaret said. "How'd you fall into it?"

"Looking for people's just what I've done... for as long as I can remember," Emma answered, though Helen suspected there was more to the story.

"What made you start?" Mary Margaret said, looking like she was trying to make eye contact with Emma, who was definitely avoiding it. "Your parents?"

Emma looked over quite suddenly, clearly alarmed by this.

"Henry told me that you're... that you were from a similar situation to his own," Mary Margaret explained. "Did you ever find them?"

"Depends who you ask..."

While Mary Margaret was left to ponder what that was supposed to mean, Emma turned towards Helen, clearly wanting desperately to change the subject away from herself. She didn't seem to be the best at talking about herself.

"Helen, you're the only person in town Henry hasn't talked about having a second identity," Emma said, sounding like she'd wanted to ask for a while. "Who does he think you are? Do you know?"

"Oh, I'm not in the book," she admitted.

"You aren't in the book?" Mary Margaret asked. Helen shook her head. "How can you not be in the book?"

"I don't know. I've read every story in that book to him at some point or another and he always tells me when he figures out who's who. He thought I might have been connected to Captain Hook at one point since I dream about pirates so often but there's no mention of anyone that could be me in his stories, so he abandoned the idea," Helen explained. "He can't seem to find my uncle, either. Thought he was Captain Hook, but they don't look that much alike and my uncle is older."

"Is that why he hangs around you so much?" Emma asked.

"Maybe. He could just be trying to figure me out but I don't mind. I lost my family a long time ago and Henry... he makes me feel like I've gotten some of it back."

"That's really sweet, Helen," Mary Margaret said.

"Just the truth. And I think he needs someone who isn't a parental figure in his life."

"You mean someone his mother doesn't approve of," Emma said.

"Well, see, that was me. Until you came along. She seems to hate me a lot less since Henry brought you to town," Helen said.

"Great..."

The three of them whirled around at the sound of twigs snapping around them. Turning towards the source of the sound, instead of some kind of large predator, they simply saw Henry with a flashlight in his hand, running down the hill towards him.

"Henry!" Mary Margaret chastised.

"Did you find him yet?" the boy asked.

"No, not yet," Emma admitted. "You shouldn't be here."

"I can help. I know where he's going," Henry insisted.

"And where's that?" Mary Margaret asked.

"He's looking for you," Henry told her.

━━━★━━━

SOPHIE FELT TRIUMPHANT WHEN SHE REACHED THE HIGHEST POINT of the wall she was on. It wasn't that high up, she wasn't even higher than Caspian was tall. But that didn't stop the worried look in his eyes as he watched her. She smiled as he panicked needlessly when she switched to balancing on one foot and then onto her toes.

"You know, this is nothing compared to being up in the crow's nest of my ship," she told him. "Or walking the rigging while on open water."

"Believe it or not, you aren't making me feel any better."

"I know what will make you feel better."

"You getting down?"

"No, don't be ridiculous. You should come up here, see that it isn't so dangerous."

"I don't think that's a good idea..."

"You know," she said, kneeling down into a perched position and placing her chin in her hand. "When we were talking the other night after dinner, you said you'd been in battles before. That you'd been in dangerous situations. Are you telling me that the brave King Caspian X is afraid of a little wall?"

"You're an instigator."

"I'm a pirate."

Caspian sighed, narrowing his eyes at her. She simply smiled back, leaning her head to one side as she waited for him to make up his mind. Finally, with another sigh, Caspian walked around to where Sophie had climbed up and she cheered, victorious, as she moved to get closer and help him.

She extended a hand to him to help him up, giving him instructions on how to get up carefully the same way she had. When he was finally up on the wall, she walked carefully backwards so there'd be room for them both on the top of the wall.

"See? Not so bad, is it?"

"I still think you're going to fall."

"I'm not going to fall."

"We'll see about that."

Sophie smiled and stepped closer so she was looking directly up at him. Though he looked like he was fighting it, a small smile did appear on Caspian's face as he looked down at Sophie. As they stared at each other, looking into each other's eyes, Sophie felt some pull, something drawing her closer to Caspian. She started to lean forward, relieved when Caspian started to do the same.

A gust of wind blew off the water and up the cliff, going right between Sophie and Caspian. While Sophie maintained her footing, used to the wind when climbing the rigging of her ship, Caspian lost his balance and started to fall.

Quick as lightning, when Caspian started to tip off the wall, Sophie locked her hand around his forearm and leaned the opposite way, crouching down to keep herself more sturdy on the wall. As they stopped moving, Sophie grabbed Caspian's forearm with her other hand to get a stronger grip.

"Are you alright?"

"I thought I was gonna fall for sure."

"You did. I just caught you."

"I thought I was going to be the one catching you."

"You practice doing this on the rigging of a ship while in the middle of the ocean and you're either going to fall onto the ship or into the water and we'll see about that."

"Are we just going to hang here or are you going to help me down?" Caspian asked.

Sophie laughed. "Alright, Your Majesty, hold your horses. Walk down carefully, I'll keep you balanced until you can touch the ground."

━━━★━━━

GRAHAM FOUND THEM AGAIN AND TOLD THEM HE had found the trail again for them to follow. As they followed after him to get back to the trail and then continue along with it, Henry continued insisting that John Doe was looking for Mary Margaret.

"You're the one who woke him up. You're the last one he saw," Henry explained, stopping and forcing them to stop, too. "He wants to find you."

"Henry, it's not about me," Mary Margaret said, sounding exasperated. "I just... I think he's lost and confused. He's been in a coma a long time."

"But he loves you! You need to stop chasing him and let him find you."

"Kid, you need to go home," Emma snapped. "Where's your mom? She's gonna kill me. And then you. And then me again."

"She dropped me at the house, then went right out."

"Well, we need to get you back immediately."

"No!"

"Guys?" Graham called from ahead of them.

They hurried towards the sound of his voice and found him a little ways ahead of them on the path, knelt down and shining his flashlight on something he'd found.

And there, lying neatly across a frond, was part of John Doe's medical bracelet with his name on it. On it, beneath some pine needles and dirt, was blood.

"Is that..." Mary Margaret started.

"Blood," Emma said.

"Oh, this just got so much better..." Helen said.

From there, the trail was easy to follow. They'd find small bits of blood and soon enough they came to the river and the old toll bridge. Despite the situation, Helen couldn't help but quirk a momentary smirk at the sight of the spray-painted on R between the T and O on the toll bridge sign. She'd felt such pride at that act small of rebellion, even if no one knew she'd done it.

They hurried down to where the trail led to the stones that lined the river and all paused, shining their flashlights around.

"Where is he? Can you see him?" Henry asked.

"The trail dies at the waterline," Graham said.

They continued shining their flashlights around, hoping for some sign of John Doe. Helen stepped up next to Henry and wrapped an arm around him. She didn't know if she was trying to comfort him or she needed comfort. At this point, she supposed it didn't really matter which it truly was.

"Oh, my god!" Mary Margaret suddenly exclaimed. "Oh, my god! Oh, my god!"

Looking over, they saw her running towards something and when her flashlight shone down, Helen was able to see it was an unconscious body laying in the water and wearing a medical gown.

Dread settled in the pit of Helen's stomach and she froze. Henry kept a tight grip on her hand and pulled her forwards as he ran closer while staying up on the shore.

"I need an ambulance at the old toll bridge as soon as possible," Graham spoke into his walkie-talkie.

Instinctually wanting to curl in on herself, Helen wrapped her arms around Henry as they watched the three adults pick John Doe up out of the water and carry him towards dry land.

"No, no, no no, no," Mary Margaret protested. "I found you! It's gonna be okay"

"Help is coming," Graham said.

"Is he okay?" Henry asked, sounding as panicked as Helen felt. "Is he gonna be okay?"

Emma, seeming to remember her son now that the panic of getting John Doe out of the water as quickly as possible had passed, ran over to where he stood in Helen's arms.

"Henry, don't look, okay? Don't look," she said.

She must have seen the panicked look on Helen's face as she held tightly to Henry, as instead of just grabbing Henry, Emma wrapped her arms around them both, turning them away. One hand landed on Henry's head, holding him gently, while the other landed on where Helen's neck and shoulder met, urging the younger girl to lay her head on her shoulder.

Helen pressed her eyes closed tightly, listening to the sounds of Mary Margaret starting CPR and counting out the chest compressions. She tried blocking it out, she didn't want to listen if they were going to be unsuccessful, she didn't want to be listening if someone wasn't going to come back to life. She'd had enough death in her life already.

When she heard a gasp from behind her, some of the tension eased away and she slowly lifted her head, reassured by how easily Emma let her do it. Behind them, on the shore, Mary Margaret was cradling John Doe's head. And his eyes were open. He was alive. They'd saved him. Mary Margaret had actually brought him back to life.

"She did it," Henry said. "She did it. She woke him up."

"Yeah, kid, she did," Emma said, sounding amazed.

Helen watched as Mary Margaret and John Doe spoke quietly to each other, not even caring about what they were saying at the moment. She was just happy no one had died.

Sirens sounded in the distance, signalling the ambulance was close. Helen felt thankful all over again Mary Margaret had been successful, feeling that by the time the ambulance got there and they got to the hospital again, it would have been too late for John Doe.

━━━★━━━

THEY FOLLOWED BEHIND THE AMBULANCE AS CLOSELY as they could on the way back to the hospital. Dr Whale was there to receive John Doe from the paramedics and they followed after the stretcher all the way up to one of the wards until one of the nurses closed the door and they were cut off.

From the other side of the glass, they watched as the doctors and nurses worked on John Doe. Still not feeling totally better herself, Helen kept one arm around Henry, comforted by having the boy close.

"David?"

A voice called out from behind them and they turned to see a blonde woman rushing up to the doors and suddenly pushing through them.

"David, is that you?"

"Excuse me, ma'am," Dr Whale said.

"Oh, my god."

"Ma'am you can't be in here..."

Dr Whale's voice was cut off but they watched as he grabbed the woman and pulled her back so they had room to work on John Doe.

"Who is that?" Mary Margaret asked.

"His wife."

They turned to see Regina standing behind them. Helen couldn't identify the look on her face. It was some mix of smug and disapproving.

"His name is David Nolan," Regina explained. "And that's his wife, Kathryn. And the joy on her face? Well, it's put me in quite the forgiving mood."

There was a pointed look aimed at Emma with that last comment before the mayor's gaze turned towards Henry where he was sitting in Helen's lap.

"We'll talk about your insubordination later." Regina paused. "Do you know what insubordination means?"

Henry shook his head.

"It means you're grounded."

The door opened behind them and Kathryn came out, looking at Mary Margaret.

"Thank you," she said. "Thank you for finding my David."

"Um, I don't understand. You didn't... you didn't know that he was here in a coma?"

"A few years ago, David and I were... not getting along. It was my fault, I know that now. I was difficult and unsupportive. I told him if he didn't like things, he could leave. And he did. And I didn't stop him. It was the worst mistake I ever made."

"You didn't go look for him?" Emma asked.

"I assumed he left town all this time," Kathryn admitted. "Now I know why I never heard from him. Now I get to do what I've wanted to do forever. Say I'm sorry. Now we get a second chance."

"That's wonderful," Mary Margaret said, though there was a look in her eyes like she didn't totally mean it.

Whale came out of the room and they all turned towards him to see what he would tell them.

"Well, it's something of a miracle," the doctor said.

"He's okay?" Kathryn asked.

"Physically, he's on the mend. His memory is another issue. It may take time, if at all."

"What brought him back?" Mary Margaret asked.

"That's the thing, there's no explanation. Something just clicked in him."

"He just got up and decided to go for a stroll?" Emma questioned.

"He woke up and he was delirious," Whale amended. "And his first instinct was to go find something, I guess."

"Someone," Henry corrected and Helen nudged him, fighting a smirk.

"Can I see him?" Kathryn asked.

"Yeah, of course," Whale said.

He let her back into the room and went in behind her. There was a moment of quiet as the door closed and no one moved. And then Regina shifted her gaze to Henry.

"Henry, let's go."

The boy stood from Helen's lap and before he could walk too far away, she pulled him back into a hug, holding him for a moment before letting him go and looking him in the eyes.

"Thank you for helping me tonight."

"I didn't do anything," Henry said, brow furrowing.

"You were there when I was... shutting down," she explained, tears gathering in her eyes. "And you let me keep an arm around you and hug you and... hold you. And it helped. So thank you."

Henry smiled. "You're welcome."

He turned and went to follow after his mom as Helen sat back in her chair and wiped her eyes with her sweater sleeves. Henry stopped after a few steps.

"Wait, my backpack."

The boy turned back and grabbed his backpack, stopping next to Mary Margaret and dropping his voice to a whisper.

"Don't believe them. You're the one he was looking for."

"Henry..."

"He was going to the Troll Bridge. It's like the end of the story."

"Henry, he was going there because it's the last thing I read to him."

"No, it's because you belong together."

"Henry," Regina said impatiently.

Casting one last glance up at Mary Margaret, Henry hurried after his mother and Helen simply let her head fall back against the glass. It had been a long day. And all she wanted to do was to go home and fall into her bed and drift off to sleep until morning.

One night without the dreams is all she needed after everything that happened that day.

━━━★━━━

WHEN CASPIAN FINALLY GOT FAR ENOUGH DOWN THE WALL HE could touch the ground and Sophie could let go of his arm, she was left still perched atop the wall. Caspian looked relieved to not be hanging in the air anymore and after a moment of getting his bearings on land again, he looked up at Sophie expectantly.

"Aren't you going to come down?"

"Maybe I don't feel like it yet."

"We can't very well explore more of the castle ruins with you still up there."

"Now you're learning how to argue," she said proudly.

"Only if it's working."

Sophie stood up straighter and smiled down at him.

"You said you wanted to be the one to catch me, right?"

"I said I thought I'd be the one catching you."

"Do you want to or not?"

"Yes."

That made Sophie smile as she turned on one foot, closed her eyes and let herself fall backwards, the wind rushing past her and her hair flying up into her face. Then she jolted as she landed in Caspian's arms and looked up at him.

"That was very graceful for a pirate."

"I'm a princess, too, you know."

"A pirate princess?"

"One of a kind."

Caspian smiled as he set her down on her feet and she ran a hand through her hair to get the last of it out of her face.

"Yes, yes you are, Sophie Swann."

━━━★━━━

THE DOOR TO THE APARTMENT HELEN SHARED WITH HER UNCLE slammed shut, the loud sound echoing down the hallway as Helen strode away from it, anger burning through her after yet another fight with her uncle about his drinking.

She just didn't get it, why this problem was getting on her nerves so much more than it ever used to, why she wanted to scream every single time she heard him crack open another beer. He was her uncle and she loved him, of course she did, but she felt as though every day that passed she was getting one step closer to not being able to watch him destroy himself and just leaving.

Having reached the first floor of the apartment building, Helen stopped and sat down on the steps as she had after her last fight with her uncle. She leaned her head against the wall and fought off the tears as best she could.

But it seemed her best just wasn't enough and after a few moments, the tears which had been welling up in her eyes fell down her cheeks and she looked down, biting her lip to stop herself from making any sound.

"Helen?"

The girl looked up, startled, and found Emma standing in front of her with a confused expression on her face. Helen relaxed a little at seeing that it was Emma.

"Are you... okay?"

"Oh yeah," she said. "All the kids who are totally fine sit in the stairwell and cry."

"Can't even get rid of the sarcasm when you're upset, can you?" Emma asked, sitting down next to her.

"Nope. I think it gets worse, actually."

"Oh, of course it does."

There was a beat of silence between them as Emma clearly didn't know what to say next and Helen just sniffled, wiping her eyes with her sleeves.

"Do you wanna... talk about it?" Emma asked.

"It's my uncle," Helen admitted. "He's a drunk. After our family died he coped by drinking. He hasn't stopped since. Sometimes I just... can't stand it. So I yell at him. And he keeps drinking. Then I storm out and sit here and cry."

"Oh."

"Usually Mary Margaret is the one who finds me and makes me a hot cocoa."

"She's good like that."

"Yeah..."

"I suppose offering to drive you over to see Henry isn't the best suggestion, huh?" Emma offered. Helen looked over at her in confusion. "I saw you two at the hospital. He's really like a brother to you, isn't he?"

"Yeah, he is. And no, it's not the best suggestion, though I appreciate the thought. Regina may hate you more than me but she still won't let me in the house, especially looking like this."

"That woman is way too overprotective of that kid..."

"She's not the only one," Helen reminded her. "Henry is... Letting him befriend me is probably the best decision I made since I started going to see Hopper."

"Really?"

Helen nodded, sniffling again. "If you break his heart again, I will kick your ass."

"Normally I wouldn't be threatened by a kid in what seems like the middle of a breakdown, but... I believe you. And believe me, I don't intend on doing that again."

"Good. Then we have an accord."

Emma laughed, but shook the hand Helen offered out to her. After a moment of the two of them just sitting there together in silence, the blonde stood up and brushed herself off before she turned to look at the younger girl.

"How about you come up to Mary Margaret's with me and we'll get you a hot cocoa? I might even spike it for you when she's not looking."

Helen smiled.

━━━★━━━

an. at this point I think me taking months between chapters is just part of my brand for this story. But hey, it takes a long time to crank out nearly 10k chapters as awesome as mine. Well, anyway, tell me what you think of the chapter!