The days after Emma's arrest dragged on like heavy chains Nathan couldn't shake. Without her, the world seemed too quiet, too sharp, and far too large. He had thought he'd grown used to loneliness in his first life and the growing distance between him and Emma but this time it was different. This time he knew what it felt like to belong, even if only briefly. Emma's warmth, her laughter, the simple fact that she'd cared enough to celebrate his birthday it had all left an imprint on his heart. Now that it was gone, the emptiness was unbearable.
Although he's mentally 19 years old, emotions are hard to control since he was only 9, a child by any measure but the ache in his chest is something even a someone older would have trouble with.
He wandered the streets of the city, drifting through crowds like a ghost. Children clung to their parents' hands, tugging them toward toy shops or candy stands. Families gathered around food stalls, sharing smiles and stories. Nathan stood on the edges, watching from shadows. He didn't belong to any of it. Not anymore. Maybe not ever.
Sometimes, he would pause outside a café window, staring at the golden glow of families eating together. The warmth of the light made him feel both comforted and painfully aware of what he lacked. He pressed his hand to the glass once, as if the simple act could draw him closer but the glass was cold. Just like the world without Emma.
That night, curled up beneath a flickering streetlamp, Nathan pulled his thin jacket tighter around his shoulders. The concrete was rough and cold against his cheek, but sleep wouldn't come. He didn't have the strength anymore to go to the shelter. His chest was too tight. Emma… you promised I wasn't alone anymore. Why did you leave me behind?
Then it came the now-familiar chime that cut through his thoughts like a blade.
[System Notification]
Quest Triggered: "Threads of Destiny"
• The Savior has taken her first steps down her destined path.
• A child with the heart of the truest Believer will soon be born—Henry.
• Your role is not yet over. Find him. Protect him. Grow with him.
Hint: The child will be taken to an orphanage. Seek him there. The bond you forge will help you arrive in Storybrooke.
Nathan shot upright, eyes wide, heart pounding so hard it hurt. For a long moment, he simply stared into the night air, watching the glowing words fade into nothing but the name lingered.
Henry.
The name filled him with a strange warmth, like the spark of a fire in his chest. It was as if the System hadn't just given him information, it had given him a reason to keep going.
"This isn't the end…" Nathan whispered to himself, voice trembling but resolute. "Emma's gone… but Henry… Henry will be the key."
The following weeks blurred into a strange rhythm. The System didn't give him an exact address, only fragments: a hazy vision of red-bricked walls and tall iron gates, the muffled cry of a baby echoing in his dreams, the faint tug in his chest when he walked down certain streets. It was never enough to guide him fully, but just enough to remind him he wasn't wandering aimlessly.
Some days, frustration gnawed at him. He was still only nine too small, too fragile. So he decided to exercise as much as his body can handle at this moment preparing for the far future.
He could run until his lungs burned, fight with sticks like they were swords, and tell himself he was getting stronger but at the end of the day he was just a lonely boy chasing after destiny that might not allow him the happiness he wants.
And yet… he refused to give up.
Nathan found odd jobs when he could, carrying groceries, sweeping in little shops just enough to scrape by without starving. At night, he trained. Push-ups, sprints, anything to make his body stronger. When exhaustion caught up, he'd collapse under the stars and whisper Henry's name like a prayer to keep him going.
Sadly tho he was still a child, and sometimes the cracks showed. On the loneliest nights, tears slipped down his cheeks unbidden, his small frame shaking as he muffled his sobs into his arms. He hated it, hated how weak it made him feel but every time despair threatened to swallow him, the System's words replayed in his mind like a lifeline:
Find him. Protect him. Grow with him.
And so Nathan carried on, each step bringing him closer to the future.
He didn't yet know what Henry looked like. He didn't yet know how long it would take to find the orphanage or when he will be born but one thing was certain: once he did, his story would begin again.
And when that moment came, when he finally found Henry he'll some how make it to Storybrooke and get his system on fully and get strength to never be so weak in from of destiny again, forging his own path through these stories.
But for now, Nathan clung only to the promise of destiny.
The hope that this path of loneliness would lead him not to despair but to someone or others worth protecting.
( I'll try not putting more details in the story now will have maybe a more straightforward or just have nathan just get too storybrooke now, had couple of people say that some chapters sound the same which they do as I was trying too flush out Nathan emotions considering he's never had anyone care about him in his last life and this one is starting to be the exactly the same but instead had Emma but that didn't last long. So yea still thinking about what to do)