I wrote a post-season five fanfic for a prompt response. I might have cheated slightly and combined the prompt with another idea I had but it still filled the prompt. Anyway, @woodelf68 left a wonderful review and I just started writing out my character headcanon and it got so long I thought I better stop and make it another post.
The fanfic was just a oneshot, pure family fluff, set five years into the future. A lot happened in those five years. Within the fic I dropped in odd explanations, to give a brief summary of my headcanon for how I hope the aftermath will turn out but I didn’t really go into detail.
I have considered writing a post season-five fic and if I do, then it will be compliant with this oneshot. This oneshot will be like a future snapshot of how my post season-five fic would ultimately work out.
Anyway, onto the headcanon.
Basically so I don’t confuse anyone when explaining my headcanon. Here’s a summary of the important fic points:
– Rumple wakes Belle, they return to Storybrooke and have a daughter called Nadia which means hope.
– Zelena’s swap to the good side lasts all of five minutes. She’s imprisoned again and Regina has custody of Robin’s daughter, who she renames Eleanor (Ellie) and obviously has the last name of Locksley. Given the nature of the kids conception I could never quite stomach calling her Robyn and Locksley still honors her dad, and Eleanor is a regal sort of name from Robin’s era so I like it, it works.
– Snow and Charming eventually have more kids. A little girl called Johanna, to keep with their trend about honoring dead people and an unknown bump at the time of writing.
Anyway, in those five years there would have definitely been a lot of apologies flying around. They are all related through Henry, I sort of imagined at first Belle and Rumple would be biting their tongues because they were so bitter about how they’d been treated. However, they keep having to spend time together, and then with Nadia and Ellie being of a similar age, they would be friends and yes I did imagine Regina apologizing one day.
I didn’t think it had to be any great dramatic event, just one day Regina looks at her life and part of her redemption (because it does take time) is her owning all her bad deeds and realizing the consequences of those actions. Perhaps she was at Rumple’s house because I do think Henry would be trying to build fences, and insisting on family dinner and she just apologizes.
Belle would say it was ok, Regina would say it wasn’t and it never would be because some things can’t be undone. She doesn’t expect forgiveness because some things are unforgivable, she knows she can never atone but she just wanted to acknowledge what she did and say she was sorry. Belle would acknowledge the truth in that, maybe make some wry observation about the nature of light and dark and how Rumple had eventually made her see that the world isn’t so black and white and then they would move on. They are family now and it won’t be forgotten but it’s in the past.
After that a lot of the tension would be gone. I don’t imagine that the Charmings would ever apologize because I don’t think that they would ever realize that they did anything wrong. They never babysit for Nadia because Rumple doesn’t trust them. They do what they think is right and assume that they are never wrong. The villain of the week could come to town, and they would dash off to do their heroic duty, and leave Hook watching the kids. They would think that was fine but there is no way Rumple would want his daughter anywhere near the pirate without him there.
However, they do family dinner sometimes on Henry’s insistence and they have no problem with Belle or Regina looking after Neal or Johanna. It’s the unintentional slights that always hurt the most because I could picture them saying “just don’t leave them with Rumple” or “so long as Rumple isn’t there” even though it should be obvious to a blind man that Rumple would never hurt kids. If it wasn’t for Henry then the Gold’s wouldn’t have anything to do with the Charmings, but they do have Henry in common so they learn how to get along with each other.
My headcanon is Snow is the more prejudiced of the pair. Though if you confronted her about it, she would be really hurt because she doesn’t think that about herself. I think on his own David and Rumple would maybe (in my headcanon) develop an understanding like they had in season 2. That’s why I had David as a mediator at the family dinner because I think he has the potential to see both points of view.
I kept Emma and Hook together even though I don’t support it. I was trying to keep this fic within canon and at the moment I don’t have a theory as to how their relationship could end. I would love Emma to wake up, realize she’s made some pretty horrific mistakes, take responsibility and become more like the season one/two Emma that I remember and loved. Emma just feels so flat these days, like there’s no spark. I don’t entirely blame it on Hook because season five wasn’t good to any character. So basically I just ignored the whole deal, I didn’t know what to do with it so I just left it as it is.
So yeah that’s my headcanon and how I see the characters. Unfortunately how I think of them, and how they’ve been on screen lately are not compatible but I’m keeping my headcanon.
I am looking forward to reading it!
Thanks! I hope it won’t disappoint.
I need to write my RCIJ fic first because even though that deadline is a couple of months out, I am very paranoid about meeting deadlines. I will probably also write at least half of the fic before I start posting it. I absolutely loathe making promises I can’t keep and I like regular update schedules.
I don’t know entirely when I will start posting because that depends on how fast I get things written. No promises at the moment.
Thank you for your kind comments 🙂