Henry shrugged off his coat and threw it onto his bed, it had been brand new but after going riding every morning with his grandfather it was now ready for a wash. It was about a week into the new year and Henry had seen his grandfather every morning while they went horse riding, but otherwise had avoided the loft. It wasn't Emma's fault, or Snow's, but it still felt weird to be around there. He wasn't sure if he was ready to move on or not.

He collapsed into his desk chair. On the desk was the book he had received from Santa Claus, he was still shocked he was a real man, but he supposed it made sense in a town full of story book characters.

Also on his desk was the box. He had flicked through in when he had first received it, but he had quickly put it all back, he hadn't been prepared. He looked at the closed box again now. Would he ever truly be prepared?

He let out a sigh. "Come on Henry." He mumbled to himself. He grabbed the box and finally opened it.

There were more things in the box than he had remembered when he had glanced inside before. There was a stack of paper with words on tied together with a ribbon. There was a voice recorder thing he thought was called a dictaphone, there was a small clear box with a memory card on it, there was a sticky note attached in David's writing 'A video from Emma. Operation Legacy'.

He opened his laptop and stuck the memory card in waiting to play the video.

While he waited for it to load he looked inside of the box, pulling out the items.

A pair of glasses.
Shoelaces Emma used to wear around her wrist, after Graham had died.
There was a mood ring like the ones sold in the plastic eggs in the vending machines at the store.
There was an old video camera and a pile of tapes labeled with different things and different years.
There was a pile of photographs, for her as a baby to before she had aged down, with people he knew and didn't know, and there were names and short explanations on the back in Snow's writing.

There was an old ipod, it was scratched and scuffed on the mirrored back, but there were some purpose 'N+E'. "Neal and Emma." Henry whispered with a smile growing on his face. A few years ago he didn't even know his biological parents' names now he had something from the time they were actually together. He pressed the center button and the screen came on.

There was a lot of music but only one playlist on the ipod 'I luv u', he pressed on it and saw all of his father's favourite music, he was pretty certain this ipod had been Neal's, his father's.

He undid the ribbon and read the papers, each had memories of his mom, a couple of his dad, all kinds of stories he had never heard. They suddenly meant the world to him.

He finally looked back at his laptop and opened the video.

Emma, the young version of her, was on his grandparents' bed. He took a look at her face, her charming smile, and realised it wasn't just the young version, it was the adult version too. When she still had memories.

"Hey Henry"

He watched as she waved and smiled.

He sat back in his desk chair and watched her talk. She talked non stop for nearly forty minutes. Every so often she would wipe her eyes, and Henry found that he was having to wipe his eyes too. She gave him advice, told him some funny stories, and some sad ones, and told him how much he meant to her, how he had saved her time and time again and made her a better person. She told him she was proud of him.

"The last thing Henry." Emma stared directly into the camera. "You need to find your own story. When you're old enough. You shouldn't stay in town and be content to be part of others' stories, we all love you, your mom, your grandparents, me… but you deserve your own story, you deserve adventures, and danger, and love. Most of all you deserve love. Please find your own adventure Henry, you've always wanted to be a hero, and you already are one, you've saved the town so many times, but I think other worlds need you too. Don't just be content. Don't do anything unless it makes you happy. I love you."

The screen blinked to black.

Henry wiped his eyes, unaware that tears had started to fall. Despite the silence from his laptop he could hear Emma's voice urging him to find an adventure. To leave the town. To explore realms. He hadn't put much thought into it before but he suddenly realised that he couldn't possibly stand to spend his entire life in this town, to find a job in a store, and to stay here forever. Reading stories instead of living them.

Henry placed everything back into the box. He placed it on a shelf of his bookshelf, beside a picture of him and Emma.

He pulled out his cellphone and pulled up the group chat he had with his grandparents.

"Hey, can I come over today?"

He got his response back pretty much straight away.

"Of course!"

He put his phone back into his pocket and left his room, shutting his door behind him.

The town clock struck nine.

He was finally ready to start the year anew.

So this is officially the end of the story! I hope you've enjoyed it, I know I certainly enjoyed writing it these past two and a half years. I'll hopefully start writing a new long story soon :D