✖️✖️✖️✖️
Astrid walked over to her nephew who was sitting at the table, her signature smirk back on her face. "I'm back and know who I am!" Astrid announced as Henry grinned, "Now, I'm in a hurry to go explore this town and... get to know everyone." She chuckled at the last part.
Henry frowned slightly and answered in slight confusion but mostly in amusement, "What? Astrid wouldn't say that."
"I've been held back by this family's goody-moon-dust spell so long that I haven't done any real damage at all." Astrid told her nephew with a devious grin on her face.
"Okay, then let's discuss. What kind of damage we talking about?" Snow spoke up towards her daughter as she descended down the stairs and moved over to the two of them as Astrid simply answered, "Damage."
"I will allow you just enough freedom for one fun-sized Astrid episode-" Snow negotiated as Astrid shot her down, "No. Ain't gonna cut it."
"Fine, I'll allow one medium-sized Astrid episode where I go after that, "Heavens, Astrid, do you ever learn?" Sound good?" Snow renegotiated, now getting a little afraid of her daughter's devious attitude at the moment.
"Listen, Petunia, I've been living life on Candy Cane Lane the past three months and I am a pent-up, boiling cauldron of I'm-gonna-do-somethin'-" Astrid started now in slight excitement.
Emma stepped down the stairs and spoke up towards her sister, "How about we allow just enough freedom for one-"
"Quiet! I run the show." Astrid cut her off with a smirk, "You don't allow me, I allow you. You guys want the old Astrid back? Mama gonna do a big, bad thing."
"Well, I don't believe you will." Snow started, "Because we only brought you back to exactly where we need you to be, and we was very careful not to go too far." She watched her teenager's confident smirk grow on her face as she asked, "Right?"
Astrid stood up from her spot at the table and headed over to the door but faced her mother with a nod as her amused smile changed into a frown and she answered, "Wrong."
Astrid left out of the apartment and ran down the street, her axe strapped on her back in her case along with her quiver of arrows and bow; She also had her twin swords strapped on her hips like usual and her thirteen daggers hidden on her.
She decided to check on the mayor of this town first and headed to her office, knocking on Regina's office door, and then stepped into the room as Regina glanced up from her desk. "Astrid... What can I do for you, my dear?"
Astrid clicked her tongue and stepped more into the room and lightly tapped her fingers across the hilts of her swords on her hips. "Just wanted to check up on you after you know... After all, it was practically Cora's dying wish— for the two of us to stick together."
Astrid noticed a familiar plant growing in a glass dome in the corner of her office as she finished, "You seem like you don't have anyone to talk to anymore, and I'm well me, so I'm here if you want to talk."
Before Regina could reply, they heard the floorboards creak as someone else came to the door and knocked; A familiar one-handed Captain Hook stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him. "Captain-?" Regina started.
Astrid smirked at his state of condition and remarked, "You look like you've had a rough time."
"Indeed, I have." Hook replied, stopping beside the teenager who was standing right in front of Regina's desk while Regina stood behind it. "I've come to ask you for your protection." He started towards Regina as Astrid narrowed her eyes at him.
Astrid knew Hook and knew when he was lying and was up to something. "What? From Rumplestiltskin?"Astrid spoke up for Regina, folding her arms across her chest.
"I'm surprised you'd show your face in this town once you noticed your murder didn't take." Regina added towards the pirate.
Hook glanced over at the teenager beside them and slightly narrowed his eyes at her but then glanced back over at Regina and began, "We've got bigger problems. That man, Greg Mendell- the one who hit me the night I shot Belle- well, he's in league with some woman."
Astrid lifted an eyebrow curiously and rested her hands on the handles of her swords as he continued, "She abducted me in New York and dragged me back to Mendell. And they want me to make an alliance with you and then betray you. That's why they let me go."
"Mmhm." Astrid sarcastically murmured as Regina hid a small smirk towards the teenager.
"And I say... Let's you and I make an alliance and we'll- we'll skip the unpleasant betrayal business." Hook finished while glancing over at Astrid briefly before focusing back on Regina.
"Why should I trust you?" Regina inquired, amused now.
"Yeah, why should she?" Astrid innocently repeated but still with a sarcastic smile on her face.
"AJ, the grownups are talking right now. Go sit down." Hook replied to the teenager who scowled some and then said to Regina, "Kids. Now, I took up with your mother for a reason. Perhaps the three of us could restart our alliance."
"Cora died." Astrid spoke for Regina after sharing a slight sad-sympathetic look with the woman.
Hook took a very small step back and glanced down and back at them before replying at the news, "Well, that... is sad news indeed. I'm sorry. She will be missed..."
He continued, "I will tell you this, Regina, I knew her well enough to know that what she wanted most in the world was to see you win- and to also have Astrid be a part of yours and hers family."
Astrid stepped back over to the dome where the growing beans were at and examined them in thought while still listening to their conversation.
"-Now I failed my revenge. The best tribute I could give her is to help you with yours." Hook finished.
"Well, can I..." Regina started and then sighed, "Let me show you something." She moved over to her personal patch of beans and moved on one side of Astrid as Hook moved on the girl's other side.
"Escape plan?" Hook inquired as he looked at the growing beans, "Oh, she'd have loved that. She brought that giant for the beans, so she could go back and start over with you and Astrid-- if Astrid wanted, though."
"And now I'm going to do that with Henry-" Regina replied as Astrid took a small step back in shock, "And you can do that with Astrid, you two can start over, be a family again... if you'll help me."
Hook glanced over at his favorite teenager as she looked down at the floor briefly while Regina continued, "This is how we're going to escape the total destruction of Storybrooke if I can trust you."
"Wait, wait. You can't just bloody take Henry away from the people he loves. He wouldn't want this." Astrid spoke up while glancing back and forth at the two on both sides of her, "And me? I- I can't let this go-"
"You can and you will because you won't remember it." Regina cut her off while casting a spell on the teenager to make her forget and knock her out for a time being.
Astrid fell over backwards as Hook caught her and now held her up. "Now when you say 'total destruction', you're including the crocodile, yes?" Hook asked the woman.
Regina exhaled, "Oh, yes. Rumplestiltskin will die if you help me. And you know you want to have your daughter back from that charming little family like I want my son back."
Hook carried the still unconscious teenager in his arms as he glanced down at her and back at the woman, saying, "Aye, but I know Astrid, taking her away from her family would only hurt her. And I couldn't do that to her, not again."
"She thinks of you as her family, too. It's obvious." Regina pointed out, "And you leaving her again would break her."
"Yeah." Hook murmured, "Where shall we meet after I drop her off at her home?"
"The library." Regina answered in slight amusement as she watched the pirate leave out of her office while carrying the teenager away.
Hook stopped at the pier and stepped onto the ship, moving below deck and laying the girl on her own bed. He smiled fondly a little and tucked her in before shutting the door behind him and left off of the ship and met up with Regina.
A few minutes passed and Astrid woke up slightly confused as she sat up, glancing around at her familiar bedroom on the Jolly Roger.
She figured she must've just crashed after visiting her adoptive father and left off of the ship, now heading to the park after picking up a few cans of spray paint and tools in a backpack.
She glanced around the empty park and set her bag down on the bench, emptying out the backpack; Astrid picked up a brick and glanced once more at the empty park with a small sigh.
Astrid set the brick down on the bench and glanced over at the empty brick wall a few feet from her.
***
Henry descended down the stairs and moved over to the counter where the kitchen was and Snow and David was at. "Where is she?" He spoke up in worry as his grandparents just shrugged and sighed, "It's my fault. I'm not there to stop her."
"It's not your fault, Henry. You're her nephew and best friend." Snow began to assure the eleven year old beside them, laying a hand on his shoulder while also sharing a look with her husband.
"I only wanted her to find herself— Not for her to explode." Henry muttered sadly.
"We don't know that Astrid exploded- or what she did." David spoke up just as the door opened. "You can't be with her all the time, Henry. The job of being somebody's best friend is to make sure that even when you're not with them, you're still there."
Emma stepped into the apartment with Astrid following behind her, Emma shaking her head slightly in disapproval. "Emma, what happened? Astrid?"
"Police code 145-" Emma started as David confirmed in shock, "Vandalism?"
"What?" Snow and Henry both replied also in shock as Henry started, "Astrid-"
"You. You did this." Astrid cut her nephew off while slightly glaring at him and turned to her sister and said, "Put me in jail for the rest of my life and don't allow visitors or else-- Mom and Henry will come and bring me a stupid lemon meringue pie!"
"It'd be for you and your jailbird friends." Henry innocently remarked with a grin and a nod.
Astrid sighed and repeated once more to Henry, "You did this."
"What? Astrid, I wasn't even with you-" Henry began but was cut by his aunt who said, "Yes, you were."
Astrid then frowned and added, "Want to see what I did? Follow me." With that said, she turned on her heels and left out of the loft with her family following behind her.
They arrived at the park and noticed the word 'hope' surrounded by a colorful rainbow spray-painted on the brick wall. "I had a brick in my hand." Astrid began.
"Why?" Snow inquired towards her teenage daughter, one hand lightly on her arm.
"Because somebody went after you- all of you." Astrid answered, "By threatening to harm you."
"Who, Astrid?" David also asked.
"These two girls I used to know back on Berk who found themselves coming here to Storybrooke also. I could have been them, Mom, Dad- I would have been them. But I'm not." Astrid explained, "Because they think a hammer and a brick makes you strong..."
The teenager sighed before glancing over at her nephew and continued, "And as much as I wanted to throw a brick through a window, I know that if I did that, that's what would make me weak. I'm strong... because there's something inside of me that stops me now. It knows how important you have been in my life these past three months and it'll never let me do any real damage as long as I live. That part inside me... I'm gonna call it Pluto."
Henry grinned at his aunt and said, "Call it whatever you want. I'm just glad that you didn't do anything bad." He wrapped his small arms around her waist and smiled up at her.
"Yeah." Astrid murmured, laying a hand on the top of her nephew's temple and smiled down at him.
"What happened to the girls?" David questioned curiously while glancing around the park and back at the teenager.
Astrid started before getting cut off, "Oh, well, I might have had a brick and a hammer and I might have swung them over my head a little bit and ran bloody towards 'em like I was-"
"Astrid? So, you're Astrid again?" Emma cut her off.
"Well, they seem to think so. They ran away so fast." Astrid chuckled.
"I don't want you to be like those girls-" Snow started.
"I can't. Pluto won't let me." Astrid smiled as Henry grinned even more.
"Code 145. Vandalism. That police report never existed." Emma shrugged lightly.
"Why are you giving me a break, Em?" Astrid wondered aloud.
"Because you're my sister. We stick together to the very end." Emma replied.
"To the very end." Astrid agreed and hugged her twin and stepped back as Henry took her hand in his small hand. "Come on, let's head home now."
***
"You know, when we get back, Leroy, we're going to need your help restoring the palace." David spoke up as he, Snow, and Leroy exited inside of the truck once they pulled up to the cloaked entrance of the garden patch.
Astrid hopped out from the back of the truck and ran ahead of them as Snow added, "It's in pretty bad shape."
"Cosmetic or a total teardown?" Leroy asked as Snow simply answered him, "Burn down."
The three adults stepped through the shield after Astrid, their smiles immediately dropping from their faces. The beans had been destroyed. "No, no." Astrid murmured while stepping further towards the burnt patches.
"What happened here?" Snow questioned while Astrid finished running through the patches of the beans checking for any alive as David spoke up, "The beans, they're gone."
"Nobody steals from a dwarf." Leroy said as Snow added, "Who would do this?"
Astrid shared a look with her father and then reached behind her back and removed her axe and slammed it into a burnt branch hard. "I think I know." The teenager muttered, one eyebrow lifted as fresh memories surfaced in her mind from yesterday.
✖️✖️✖️✖️