Once Upon a Second Chance

(34) - Unconditional Love

Uma sighed. Her eyes were closed as she absentmindedly listened to the sound of the water pouring from the faucet. She was leaning her hands on the sides of the sink, and trying to clear her head of the day's events. She needed to unwind from not only the events of the day, but of since she arrived in Storybrooke. She couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that something bad was going to happen. Not to her—but her home. She fears something dreadful will happen to the Isle in her absence. It was her home. If she wasn't there to protect it, nobody else would step up to the task.

She turned to look at the bathroom door to make sure it was locked despite the fact that she was staying in a room by herself. She was grateful that her alternate mother had offered to let Uma have her own room at the Bed & Breakfast. Though the teenager had an instinct that she could trust the woman, she still felt a lot more comfortable not sleeping in the same room with a person she only knew for barely a week.

She undid her hair, and ran a hair through her black-to-teal waves. She then took a long look at her reflection in the mirror. She sighs and turns off the sink and looks down at her reflection in the water. She tilts her head and runs a hand through the liquid. She purses her lips.

She closes her eyes and begins to make soft upward movements with her hand. She opens her eyes and gives a small chuckle to see some of the water floating around above the sink. She never tired of experimenting with her magic. And her six months outside of the Isle had truly done wonders for her powers. After all, with no one to talk to and nothing to do besides search for a hole in the barrier, she was left with what felt like endless time to explore and learn to control her abilities. Not that she was complaining; she loved her magic. It was probably the only thing that kept her sane all those months by herself, well, that and the water.

Oh, the water.

It was practically her second home, the sanctuary she could run to where she could escape reality and be in a state of pure peace.

She leaned against the wall of the bathroom, resting her hands behind her back, eyes still closed. She thought about how much she would kill for a swim right now, even if it was midnight—wait, what was she saying, especially if it was midnight. The water was almost the most beautiful under the illuminated night sky. She hadn't had a good dip in the water in almost weeks.

She could almost imagine it—the deep blue infinity, the way the shallow waves ripple along the surface at night, the way it's cool yet warm presence envelopes you into a state of endlessness, where time would stop and the world was silenced.

The cecaelia was jolted from her thoughts as she felt as though the ground was pulled out from under her, and she was attacked with water.

Uma gasped as she realized that she was no longer in the bathroom of her inn room, but rather... submerged in water?

She rose to the surface that was a few feet above and used her arms to keep herself afloat as she was still in human form. She frantically looked around, trying to figure out where she is. She felt her head flood with confusion as she tried to determine what the hell had happened. She was in the Bed & Breakfast one moment, and in the water the next. However, she was more concerned with where exactly in the water she was. She could be in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean for all she knows!

It was extremely dark where she was so she had to squint to look around and see if there were coastlines or any landforms nearby. She sighed in relief when she saw an outline of a vaguely familiar dock in the distance, along with various vessels and buildings—she was a couple hundred yards away from the Storybrooke Harbor. It wouldn't be that long of a swim.

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SIXTY YEARS AGO