Title: Shadows of the Past.
Fandom: Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.
Rating: General.
Length: 1527 words.
Content notes: Rather AU to the events of both shows, Cyrus and Alice are living with her old friend Jefferson in Storybrooke basically. Didn't really think it was a crossover type since there is only mention of Jefferson, he's not in it.
Author notes: Written for the haunted challenge in fan_flashworks.
Summary: Sometimes the guilt of the past can only be lessened by sharing it with someone you love.


There was a certain type of comfort in the tea making process. One knew each step, how long it should take and the desired results so long as nothing caused distraction. If so, it was sometimes best to start again rather than drink tea that had steeped far too long. Of course some people wouldn't care either way but he knew better. Living with Alice and Jefferson had taught him there was a fine art to making tea, and if you didn't get it right you may as well start again.

Cyrus sighed, glancing over to see Alice walk into the kitchen. They'd spoken not that long ago about a conversation they likely should've had before this point. Maybe it had come up as each was starting to view the other as a little more than a friend, or at least he was. Or it was the various points that had come up while conversing that one day, in which it became very obvious they didn't know much about each other.

Secrets had always served him well, the less people knew was normally for the better. Or at least that was how Cyrus felt, as who wanted to actually get to know a genie they'd come across? His sole purpose was to grant wishes, and then be forgotten. Or maybe remembered if the consequences of the wishes were less than favourable, but being kept in one's memories then likely wasn't out of fondness.

Yet it hadn't always been that way, and those were memories that still haunted him. He hadn't come into existence as a genie. At one time he'd been mortal, had been part of a family that he loved and loved him in return. In a distant past he could no longer recall how long ago it had been, he'd been free to make his own decisions and lead a life that wasn't dictated by others.

The same as any other being gifted with free will, not all of his actions had been wise. He never should have made sport of cheating people out of their money, and sometimes valuables, and he had been well aware one day it would catch up with him. Everything came with a price, and his antics were going to cost him one day. But that was the future, so far as he'd been concerned, why worry about what had not come to pass? He was good at talking his way out of almost any situations, and Cyrus had been assured he could talk himself out of whatever trouble would come for him later.

Except when trouble did come calling, it wasn't for him to pay the price. Cyrus closed his eyes, exhaling slowly and trying to stop the slight tremor that was coming over him at the memory. The sight of the flames engulfing his family home and knowing that his mother was inside flickered through his mind's eye. Any other thought had left him in that moment as he and his brothers ran towards their burning home, hoping against all hope that possibly she'd escaped and they would discover her outside with a stern lecture and possibly a cuff upside the head just for him.

Cyrus would've welcomed any angry words she would have directed at him, or whatever else she could come up with in way of punishment, it would have been far better than what they had found. The genie cringed slightly as the vision ran through his mind for a moment before he banished it again. That often came to him in dreams and he hated seeing it. If there was one moment in his past he would love to forget, it was the sight of his mother laying on the floor of the main room of the house, badly burned and barely alive.

At the feel of someone's hands covering his shaking ones, Cyrus startled. Opening his eyes, he turned to find himself looking into Alice's concerned blue ones. “Cyrus, this isn't Jefferson's favourite teapot or anything but I don't think breaking it will do you any favours,” she told him with a bit of a smile.

He didn't say anything in response, simply allowed her to take the teapot from his hands as she poured the hot water out and set about finishing up the tea as he went to sit at the table. Alice glanced over, smiling brightly at him as he sat down but he didn't return the smile. The past seemed to be catching up with him at the moment and he was trying his best to sort the thoughts in his mind before he had to actually relate all of them to her.

Cyrus was afraid she wouldn't see him the same afterwards, however it was she did see him now. It wasn't as a genie, that much he'd figured out. Alice appeared to think of him as anyone else, just with some restrictions and issues with certain things such as silver. But what would she think when she found out he had almost killed his own mother with his reckless behaviour and damned his entire family trying to correct the mistake?

Thinking back, when his brothers wanted to return the waters they'd been warned not to take, he should have let them without one word of protest or argument. He was the one who wanted to steal it, he didn't care about the warning or whatever price there would be to pay. Their mother was dying and it was his fault, he had to save her at all costs. It would have been better to just take their water skins and steal what he thought was needed, leaving them innocent in the entire plot.

Taj and Rafi wouldn't have gone along with it though, he was certain, if they'd not had a strong desire to save their mother as well. Taj wouldn't have, he was the level headed one. He had taken on the role as man of the house after their father had just vanished one day, and had grown up before he should have. No, if Taj had wanted to put the waters back, Cyrus knew he would have.

Rafi on the other hand...he had a tendency to go along with whatever schemes Cyrus came up with, and most of the time with a hint of excitement in his eyes. Cyrus knew he should never have included his youngest brother in half of the trouble he got into, but hated telling him no as well. Besides, so long as you could talk fast enough, you could get out of most everything. If not, he'd make sure he was the one taking the brunt of the punishment from either their mother or the people he'd angered, making sure Rafi wasn't hurt.

No, his brothers wouldn't have stolen for his sake, they'd only have done so if they'd wanted to save their mother as well.

It still didn't stop the sharp intake of breath as he remembered the orange mist that started to form around both of them, slowly enveloping each until they were gone. The sound of both Taj and Rafi's exclamations as they vanished often came to him when he was alone. But what tormented him the most was his mother's wide eyed terror as her children were taken from her, and it only grew as her remaining son was slowly being engulfed in the same orange mist.

His own fear meant nothing when he'd once more met her gaze. He'd saved her from death, and for what? To watch her children be torn from her, cursed into an existence they would never escape, to know she would most likely never find them again? Cyrus knew she would spend the rest of her life trying to find them, and that only added to his anguish over what he'd done.

It was his guilt that had damned them and left their mother to spend her remaining years alone. He only hoped if she found any of them, it had been Taj and Rafi. They didn't deserve the fate he'd sent them to.

“Cyrus? Are you okay?”

The genie opened his eyes, looking towards Alice as she sat across the table from him. He forced a smile, insisting he was fine. She had set the table for tea while he'd been lost in his memories, something he thanked her for. “I'm fine Alice. I believe we had matters to discuss.”

“We can hold off on that, if you want,” she replied, looking at him with concern.

Cyrus shook his head, the movement causing a stray curl or two of hair to fall into his eyes. He reached up to push it away, sighing. “No, it is best we talk now as I know we both have questions for each other.”

Now was best, maybe if he shared his past it would stop haunting his present. Alice may not see him the same afterwards, and decide it wise to go back to the way their relationship should be, but at least someone would finally know about his family and the one mistake he'd made that had been their ruin.