Work Text:
1983
The day was unseasonably warm for the end of April. Still, Astrid had her order's cape in her backpack, because it was Maine after all. Even though the day might be getting close to 70 now, the temperature would drop like a stone as soon as the sun went down.
None of that was going to interrupt her enjoyment of what was really the first day of spring. In this part of the world, March 21 was just as likely to be a snow day, but by April 30th, the world was changing. Over the last two week, the ice had thawed, the rivers had surged, and the mud had dried. When today had dawned, it was like nature had flipped a switch and every tree was pushing out leaves all at once. It really was like magic had taken over the world.
Astrid stopped to move some fallen branches off the trail and to tie a piece of neon orange ribbon to a tree. The trail marker painted on the bark would need to be spruced up before the sisters brought the Storybrooke Junior Girl Scouts on their spring campout.
As she brushed off her hands, Astrid smiled and went still, closed her eyes and took in the deep breath of warm air filled with the new life of the forest. It was moments like these that made her feel that everything was in balance with the world.
So often in town and even at the convent with the rest of the nuns, Astrid felt out of kilter. It was as if she was torn in two directions - the desire to serve and the daydreams of adventure and travel. Whenever that feeling swept through her, Astrid did something clumsy. Just last week she had dropped a cup of fruit punch on the unfortunate man who had come to the soup kitchen. Just remembering that, she could feel the color and the heat rising to her face, embarrassed even though she was alone in the woods. She pushed the feeling aside, because today, Astrid felt that she was where she belonged.
The trail split in front of her, but she knew both branches joined about half a mile further on. The path to the west was well worn and gentle, while the eastern one was rocky and irregular with many ups and downs. The unexpected thing was that a rather large tree had fallen across the western trail. The sisters would have to find volunteers with chainsaws to come cut it out.
While she could climb over the tree and finish her task of checking the main hiking route, Astrid was suddenly struck with curiosity. She'd been down the eastern trail - or at least she thought she must have been, but she couldn't quite remember it. Astrid felt a smile steal to her face as she glanced to the east. It was a fine spring day and maybe she didn't just need to stretch her legs but to stretch her imagination. Without a second thought, she stepped onto the trail less taken.
*
It was an hour later that she was regretting her choice. After trail had gone down a while, dead ended at a clump of trees and prickly shrubs that pulled at her clothes as she tried to press on. On the other side of the clump, there seemed to be three or four possible paths forward. Astrid was about to do eeny-meanie-miny-moe when she heard a noise and her feet moved her toward it.
Long before the mist formed, she had the abiding sense that she was going the wrong way. Turning back was much harder now, with the mist and the fact that the trail wasn't very clear. Astrid was trying to fight down the panic, when she heard a grunt, and the sound of two rocks banging together hard. It was more of the sounds she had been following.
The noise was coming from ahead of her. Biting her lip, Astrid moved through the mist toward the sounds. As she carefully moved down the hill, the haze thinned and then abruptly stopped, like there was an altitude limitation on it.
In front of her was a young boy, sitting on a wide flat stone, tossing rocks over at other rocks in a stream. Even from where she was standing, she could see that he was upset. Astrid was very much hoping that he wasn't lost too. Either way, maybe they could help each other.
"Hello," Astrid said tentatively.
The boy spun around and stared at her. For a moment she thought that he might get up and run, so she added. "I'm kind of lost; I was hoping that you'd help me."
He pointed further down the hill. "Haven's that way. If you follow the trail it'll take you to the parking lot at Hadley's Cove."
Astrid walked further down the hill and stopped a step or two from the boy. "A haven's ahead - do you mean a safe haven?"
The boy's face remained largely impassive with maybe a question in his eyes - a very Maine-like expression. "I mean Haven, the town. Aren't you from Haven too?"
"No, I'm Sister Astrid, and I'm from Storybrooke. What's your name?"
"Nathan, Nathan Wuornos. Never heard of Storybrooke."
"I'm not sure that I remember hearing about Haven, but our towns must be next door neighbors, because I just walked from there."
"I don't think so," Nathan said. "My dad's a police officer and there's a big map in the police station. Don't remember a Storybrooke."
"Well, then I must have walked further than I thought, Nathan. Maybe you could help me get to town and your dad might be able to help me," Astrid said, a smile coming easily to her face.
Nathan shifted on his stone, in a way that almost made him look like he was rooted to it. "Can't do that - I'm running away."
"Oh," Astrid bit her tongue and hid a smile. He couldn't be more than eight or ten – just the right age for running away. That was when she noticed a gash on his pants and blood coming out.
"Oh! Nathan you're bleeding. It must hurt!" Taking off her pack, Astrid sat down and started digging for the small first aid kit in the bottom.
"Doesn't hurt, nothing hurts," Nathan said and then proceeded to check the wrong leg first and then the right. When he found the cut, his eyes opened wide, but his mouth set itself in a grim line.
"You don't - you don't feel that? Can I help you, Nathan? I've got some bandages."
Nodding sharply, Nathan started rolling up his pant leg. "I don't feel anything anymore. My dad says it's my trouble."
While she wiped the wound with a wet wipe, Astrid nodded. "That's quite a trouble. Has your dad taken you to the doctor about it?"
"Yeah, it's called idiopathic neuro-something. They found it when I crashed my sled into a tree and broke my arm. Didn't know it until Lisa Buck started screaming that she could see my bones. The cast just came off a few weeks ago." He rolled up his sleeve and showed Astrid his scars. "The bone came through there."
Astrid had never heard of this condition, but if the boy was describing it with any accuracy, this trouble of his probably was connected to him running away from home. "You must have had a lot of stitches."
"Seventeen," Nathan said holding up his head and looking proud about it.
Glancing at the leg, Astrid said, "Well, it looks like you'll be luckier this time. The cut isn't deep; it's just bleeding a lot. I'll have you patched up in no time. I'm just going to clean it with an alcohol wipe. It'll probably sting a bit."
"No, it won't."
Astrid pulled in a sudden breath, getting ready to disagree, but then stopped. She cleaned the wound and Nathan didn't even flinch. While Astrid was bandaging the wound, she realized that Nathan's calf was cold. She was feeling cold too - the sun was low enough in the western sky that things were becoming gray.
"You're skin feels pretty cold, Nathan. Do you feel that?"
Nathan shook his head.
Astrid packed up the kit and the wrappers. "But you must feel pretty bad inside about something - otherwise you wouldn't be running away, huh?" She only glanced at him, trying not to startle or upset him. Trying to give him some space, she pulled on her blue cloak - it was getting cold out.
"I'm not upset!" he snapped, in complete contradiction to the words he was saying. "My teacher and my dad keep telling me over and over that I have to check for cuts and things. I can play baseball, but they won't let me play football because there's too much chance I'll get hurt. Not that the kids in my class are so concerned with that. They keep punching me and stuff to see if I feel it."
Astrid sat down. "That's terrible! But it can't be all the kids."
"No, maybe not. Duke Crocker sits right behind me, and he stuck tacks in my back the other day."
Astrid had seen plenty of teasing and bullying working with both the girl scouts and boy scouts. When she saw it, she would stop it, but it was much harder with kids like Nathan. He obviously had a strong attitude that he should take care of things himself. "You know, I bet your teachers could help explain to the other kids why that's wrong."
The look on Nathan's face told her that he was having none of that. "Well, they can. Was he always a mean boy?"
"He was my best friend. Sorta."
In all of this, Astrid could read the politics of eight year old friendships. It was a thing that would pass, but it didn't mean it wasn't torture now. "Well, you're away from that now. Did you bring a coat or a blanket with you?"
Nathan reached behind him, pulling out a backpack. "I couldn't carry a tent, but I've got my sleeping bag with me. Thought I'd live under the stars like a mountain man. "
"I see." Astrid said. "I'm sure most mountain men don't have equipment that's so stylish. That's Star Wars on your sleeping bag, right?"
Nathan nodded and slipped inside, having taken off his shoes.
From below them, the sound of drumming reached Astrid's ear. "What's that?"
"Dad said it was someone's Beltane trouble. It's been going on for a couple of days – all night once the sun goes down. Dad's been out, trying to stop it. He keeps yelling at me to stay in the house, but I saw from my window. People were taking off their clothes and stuff in the streets."
Astrid had no idea what to make of that but Nathan seemed very sure of himself. Really, it couldn't be what he was describing, so she was wondering how she might leverage it into a way to get him home. "It sounds like a street fair. I wonder if they have hot dogs and funnel cake. I'm getting hungry."
"Dad said there was nothing for kids out there, before he left to work the night shift. I was all alone at home."
"It's just you and your dad?" Astrid asked.
Nathan's face remained impassive, but he looked up in to the trees. "Mom died."
"I'm sorry to hear that." It was becoming clear that Nathan's inability to feel was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to his problems at home. Astrid wasn't here to solve all that, but maybe she could convince him to head back into town.
Standing up, Astrid took a step down the hill. "So you said that I could follow this trail to get into town? I really am hungry. You know, I have some extra money and I could get you something too."
"Other side of this brook is Haven – I made it out of town," Nathan said proud of himself. "Trail might be hard to follow in the dark. I've got some cookies and Little Debbies if you're hungry."
"Well, that's a kind offer, Nathan, but I think that I might head on down, before it gets too dark." Astrid was hoping that if she started down the trail that he might get spooked enough about being alone in the woods that he'd follow. The brook was only a few inches deep, but too wide to just step across. There were three flattish rocks that Nathan must have used as a bridge to cross.
When Astrid put her foot on the first stone, the drums became much louder. She couldn't see any of the town through the trees, but the noise was loud enough that it felt like it was a few feet away.
"Dad said it was going to get much worse tonight, because this was Beltane night," Nathan said, a little nervously. "The drums haven't been this loud before."
The sound was disconcerting and the more Astrid stood there with a foot in the stream, the more she was filled with a sense of foreboding. She stepped back to the Storybrooke side of the water and sat down next to Nathan with her back against a tree. "Well, it is getting dark. I could follow the trail down in the morning."
Nathan scooted closer, so he was sitting right next to her. "I think that's a good idea. I'll sit here in case you're scared. Do you want a Swiss Roll?"
With a smile, Astrid took a little cake from him. "Thank you, kind sir." She wrapped an arm around his shoulders and Nathan leaned his head back against her.
*
When Astrid opened her eyes in the morning, there was the faint sound of voices coming through the trees. Nathan was cuddled against her side. That part of her was warm, while the rest of her was practically frozen solid. She didn't want to think about how she was going to ache.
The voices were getting closer, and Astrid finally made out that the calls were Nathan.
"Hey, Nathan, time to get up. I think that your dad is looking for you."
There was a little moan into her cloak and then he blinked up at her with sleepy blue eyes. "We should go to your town."
"I'm pretty sure that's not the best idea. I'm lost, remember." Astrid hoped the searchers would find them soon.
"I bet I could find it." Nathan began to squirm, and before she knew it, he was out of his sleeping bag and back into his shoes.
"Nathan, honey, my town's a good long walk from here. It would probably be better to head into Haven. I could buy you breakfast."
Nathan's sleeping bag was rolled and neatly attached to his pack. "I'll just check to see how close they are."
"Nathan!" Astrid called, but it was too late. He had skipped across the stones to the other side and a few feet down the trail. Not at all sure what to do, she scrambled to her feet. Really, she wasn't good at saying no to anyone. Making up her mind, Astrid ducked behind a bush. It was really terrible cover, but maybe Nathan wasn't good at hide and seek.
The calls of Nathan were getting much closer, which was something that she could see in Nathan's face as he ran closer to the water. He was searching for her from the other side of the stream, calling quietly, "Sister Astrid."
It killed her not to answer, but she couldn't very well help him run away to Storybrooke. It was actually kind of funny because somewhere there was a memory of trying to run away when she was young.
"Hey! Nathan Wuornos, is that you? Two men and a woman came through the trees. Poor Nathan's shoulders slumped in defeat.
"You can go on back to Haven. I'm going to Storybrooke with Sister Astrid."
"Who's Sister Astrid?" the man with glasses asked.
"Where's Sister Astrid and where's Storybrooke for that matter?" the taller man asked.
Nathan looked across the creek, but Astrid remained still. It was breaking her heart to see the betrayal on his face.
"She was right there a few minutes ago. I met her here in the woods and we made camp together here last night. She was going to take me to Storybrooke."
"Well, that's quite a fairy tale. Did you find her in a tower?"
"That's not funny!" Nathan yelled at him.
"Hey Vince, Dave, give Nathan a break. There was a lot of fantastic stuff last night," the woman said. She pointedly frowned at them. "Weird looking stuff too. Why don't you go ahead and call off the search, I'll walk down with Nathan."
The men chuckled nervously and blushed. Without further word, they headed back down the trail, one of them saying, '...making up fairy princesses.'
"I don't want to go back!" Nathan screamed at the woman. "Who are you anyway?"
"I'm a friend of Vince and Dave's - my name's Lucy," the woman said. "I hear where you're coming from, Nathan. I've got a bit of the wanderer in me too. The thing is that your dad is worried sick. I'm not sure he could take it if he was all on his own."
"He's mad at me – don't make stuff up!"
"Well, he is a bit mad, but only because he loves you, and he's worried. I bet Sister Astrid knew that."
"What, you don't think I was making her up too?"
Astrid had to fight with every fiber of her being not to run out and comfort him.
"Nathan," Lucy bent down and said with the biggest smile. From Astrid's point of view, when Lucy briefly touched Nathan's cheek, he seemed to react to it, like he felt it.
"Haven's a special little town, and last night, well last night was quite the night. I don't doubt that you found a kindred soul to ride it out. It sounds like Sister Astrid was nice to you."
"Yeah, she patched my leg up." Nathan looked at the ground and kicked the dirt. "But now she's gone."
"Well, she was with you while the stars and moon were out and then disappeared in the morning when there were people to come buy you breakfast. Sounds like a fairy godmother to me."
Even if she wanted to, Astrid couldn't stop the smile from coming to her face. She didn't know why, but she liked that, like that a lot.
Nathan was looking up at Lucy critically and finally said, "Maybe. Can we have breakfast now?"
"You bet. Got all your camping gear?"
"Yup!" Nathan turned toward the trail, and Astrid watched as he walked away.
Lucy smiled at Astrid – right at Astrid and waved. As Nathan moved out of sight, Astrid quietly stood up and waved back. With a nod, Lucy turned toward the trail. "Hey, Nathan, what are you going to have? I'm personally a fan of scrambled eggs and bacon."
"Pancakes! " Nathan's voice called.
Astrid debated for a moment. She'd have to wait if she wanted to go down the trail to ask for help. The last thing she wanted to do was upset Nathan – her fairy godchild. Suddenly she was smiling wide and spinning in a little circle.
No, the thing to do was leave Haven alone and find her own way home.