Title: Shouting Will Get You Nowhere.
Fandom: Once Upon a Time in Wonderland/Once Upon a Time.
Rating: General.
Length: 2356 words.
Content notes: Follows the one shot written for the last challenge, I think it can stand alone though.
Author notes: Written for the fight challenge in fan_flashworks.
Summary: Anastasia really is getting sick of the fact no one can answer her questions, and Granny is going to make someone pay for the hole she found in her diner a few months back.


This was not going well, at all.

Cyrus glanced over at the Red Queen, or former Red Queen he supposed, wondering why she was being so hostile with the shorter man before them. It was as though the man had done anything to her since the White Rabbit had brought them to Storybrooke, other than being a little short with his answers.

“I’m sorry sir, my companion is a bit high strung,” Cyrus said, drawing the man’s attention away from the former queen. He could feel her angry glare on him, but chose to ignore it. “We are searching for a couple of friends who we have been told are in this town.”

The other man grunted in annoyance, obviously he didn’t want to be any help at all. Cyrus felt himself becoming slightly aggravated, but he’d dealt with people with far more difficult dispositions over his existence. He smiled warmly, and bowed slightly as a form of greeting. It was what he was accustom to, it may not be what is used in the realm they were currently in but it was all he could think of. “Pardon my manners, I did not introduce myself. My name is Cyrus.”

Anastasia watched with a bit of disbelief as the aggravating little dwarf seemed to warm to the genie. How Cyrus could diffuse a situation that was going bad was beyond her, but then she couldn’t figure out how he stayed so calm all the time either. She could hold her temper, but later when she was alone she’d have to take it out on something, or someone. She’d never heard Cyrus do more than slightly raise his voice when provoked.

“Nice meeting you Cyrus, the name’s Grumpy,” the dwarf answered, smiling a bit. “I don’t know how either of you got here, and I’d love to see you send her back” he nodded towards Anastasia at that “but we don’t get strangers here. Really long story but no one is here that wasn’t supposed to be. Dark curse, would take awhile to explain but I haven’t heard about anyone coming or going recently.”

Anastasia snarled slightly, curling her lip. She had assumed no one could be more useless than her Tweedles, but obviously she was being proven wrong. “I always heard dwarves were thick, but you are taking this to new lows,” she snapped.

Cyrus rolled his eyes and groaned. “Your majesty, these antics will not assist us in any way.”

Grumpy looked from Cyrus to the woman dressed completely in red. At the title the strange man had used, it at least explained why she acted as though she was all important. “I wouldn’t bother trying to throw your weight around here, we’ve already got an Evil Queen, we don’t need a second one in the making. Pretty sure she’d off you in a second given a good enough reason.”

At the name ‘Evil Queen’ Anastasia’s grip tightened around the genie bottle she was holding in her gloved hands. The last she’d heard Regina was wrecking havoc in the Enchanted Forest, although she recalled once hearing of the woman’s longing to steal away everyone’s happy endings. How this related to the Dark Curse the dwarf mentioned was neither here nor there to her, she only wanted to find Alice and reunite her with her genie, as well as maybe find Will and explain herself to him.

She was aware he may never forgive her for what she’d done, but she hoped he would at least hear her out. If nothing else, it would ease some of the guilt that weighed heavy upon her heart.

Cyrus could tell Grumpy had nothing else to tell them, and that he was speaking the truth. There was little point in continuing with questions, there was no more information to be had from the dwarf. “Thank you for your time, I hope we didn’t keep you from any important plans.”

Grumpy shrugged, glancing over at the woman he didn’t have a name for. He had a feeling even Cyrus didn’t know her name, although he had a sinking suspicion just by the bottle she held and the ornate cuffs on his wrists that Cyrus likely had another term he addressed her by, other than ‘your majesty’. He shook his head slightly, this town certainly attracted some very odd people.

“No, nothing going on. Was just heading to Granny’s for something to eat,” he answered, addressing Cyrus. He wasn’t going to bother with the woman, anytime she opened her mouth she made it more than obvious she wasn’t in no mood to talk, all she wanted was answers. It was hard to get answers when you asked the wrong people, but evidently she missed out on that. “I hope you both find the friends you’re looking for though, and maybe I’ll see you around Cyrus.”

Anastasia watched at the dwarf walked away, heading to his grandmother’s place. She pitied the woman, from what she knew of dwarves she was certain they ate a lot. Mind, she was also certain they didn’t come into the world the way most did, so whoever this ‘granny’ was, it must simply be someone that allowed everyone to refer to her as such.

“If you keep snapping at everyone we’ll receive no assistance from any in this town,” Cyrus suddenly said, breaking her from her thoughts.

She turned to look at him, glaring at him with a fiery look that didn’t faze him in the least. The genie certainly could be insufferable when he put his mind to it. “Would you shut up? I am in no mood to be lectured on proper etiquette and how to gather information from someone like you,” she snapped, marching away.

Cyrus frowned, why did she always have to be so difficult? He quickly caught up to her, and despite knowing it would likely be in his best interest to keep his silence, he went against his instinct to keep quiet. “Why are you so angry?” he inquired, as that was the one thing he never did figure out. That and why she wanted the laws of magic broken, but somehow he had a feeling the two related to one another.

Anastasia stopped dead in her tracks, and turned around to face Cyrus. She smirked at the shocked look on his face and the way he stumbled a touch to stop before slamming into her. “If you’d just gone back to your bottle we wouldn’t be here. If Alice had simply treated the relationship as what it was the bloody spell could have been performed without all this, before I started to actually care about what happened to you and even that annoying little girl. Before I actually began to realize my desires were hurting others.” And with that said, she turned and swept off in the direction she’d been heading in before he’d spoken.

They walked in silence for awhile, no idea what destination they were headed for but looking for anyone who may be willing to help them locate the two who had recently arrived in Storybrooke. As they made their way through town Cyrus observed the woman who was now his mistress, realization slowly dawning on him. He had noticed before being drawn back into his bottle how she’d glanced over at the traveling companion Alice had arrived with. “You wanted to change the past,” he stated, a hint of dismay in his voice.

At his words, Anastasia stopped once more. She did not turn to look at who was now her genie, she tilted her face up towards the cloud covered sky and exhaled slowly. “You cannot tell me that you have never had a desire to change something in the past, that is assuming you even have one that doesn’t involve your bottle.”

The words hit him hard; of course he had many things he’d love to change about the past, both from his time as a mortal and as a genie. Ultimately the choices he’d made that had put him in the bottle, but he knew if he could he’d also change the choices he’d made afterwards that had cost many of his earlier masters. That was why he’d told Alice wishing a genie free never ended well for either party. He knew from experience.

“Of course I do, but the laws of magic are in place for a reason. The past is what we made it, we cannot go back and change what mistakes we made. Be it we like what present those choices brought us to and the future they shall create. If you had succeeded and managed to change the past it does not mean you’d have the present you long for, or the future you dream of,” he explained, frowning. Why did no one seem to understand the reason those laws were in place?

Anastasia laughed. “What do you know of it? You know nothing of what I desired to do, so I advise you to stop talking, before I make that suggestion into something you simply exist for.” She wouldn’t say the word ‘wish’, as she knew it was no longer a word she could toss about so easily with him around and in her service.

“You want to correct a past mistake that cost you someone you love, and who at the time loved you as well. But if you had gone back and corrected those actions, a ripple effect would have happened and eventually another choice made by either one of you would have torn your love asunder. It is why that law exists, the same as I cannot bring back the dead or make anyone fall in love. To bring someone back to life means another must die in their place and it would likely be another loved one who paid that price. In making someone love another when they truly do not only robs someone else of a truer love. Or possibly just more than the person forced to believe themselves in love. All our choices affect another, but those laws exist to stop the person from making a wish from causing more harm than can be corrected through words and actions, which is the only way you will correct whatever you did in the past,” he explained, hoping against hope he was getting through to her. People could be rather stubborn when they had their hearts set on something; he’d been that way in a past almost long forgotten. Centuries in a bottle had changed him in many ways.

She listened to his words, understanding what he was telling her but hating each and every word. “There is no easy solution to anything,” she sighed, turning to look at him. “You left off you cannot kill anyone. Why is that a law of magic then?”

Cyrus shook his head, that should be fairly obvious. “No one should decide another’s fate, be it that they live or die. And I’m sure that is one wish that would be used rather carelessly, if it were allowed.”

**********

Grumpy walked into Granny’s to the sound of arguing. As if he’d not had enough from that strange woman in the red dress, now he had the pleasure of listening to even more of it.

Much to his surprise, he glanced over to the counter to see someone he figured was long gone: the Knave of Hearts. He wasn’t exceptionally popular with some in the town, as during the curse he was a thief who never seemed to learn his lesson. Grumpy himself had never been overly fond of him, granted he wasn’t a stand up citizen of society during the curse either, but at least he hadn’t tried to steal some people blind at times and he certainly hadn’t been a womanizer.

He almost wondered what the man’s non cursed self was like. The fact he had a pretty blonde sitting close at hand led him to draw the conclusion he may not have changed much, although she was someone he’d never seen before. He could remember everyone brought over with the curse, and he knew she wasn’t one of them.

“I don’t care what excuse you have, you will reimburse me for the cost of fixing that hole in the floor several months back. And the price of the spare key I had to have made because you vanished with it,” Granny stated in her no nonsense tone of voice.

Will ran a hand over his face in exasperation. Why was no one listening, the hole in the floor wasn’t his fault. And Alice was being no help, sitting there giggling. “Look, that wasn’t my bloody fault. The White Rabbit came and needed me to get Alice before she did something bloody stupid, and we went back to that Godforsaken Wonderland to rescue someone,” he explained, his tone tight.

Granny noted how the young woman’s face fell at the mention of the someone they went to rescue. Obviously it hadn’t worked out. She didn’t know the girl, who she assumed was named Alice, but her heart went out to her. “You could have been anywhere else, like your own apartment, but you were in my diner after closing and you will pay for all the repairs I had to make. And the spare key I had to replace, even if you brought the other one back finally.”

Grumpy glanced over to see Rumpelstiltskin sitting in a booth with Belle, trying to hold in his laughter. “So, has there been some magical time warp or something to Saturday?” he asked. When he’d woke up that morning he’d been certain it was Tuesday, but in Storybrooke strange things were known to happen.

Rumpel turned to look at the dwarf, quirking an eyebrow questioningly. “Not that I’m aware of, why do you ask?”

The dwarf shrugged, sitting at the table nearby. “Well, this is the second bout of arguing and fighting I’ve seen today. There was some song I heard on the radio the other day that said Saturday night is alright for fighting, so I was starting to wonder.”