Board Thread:Fanon: Season 8 & Beyond/@comment-25551215-20191204022821/@comment-25551215-20191212013711

8x01 has aired! Here's the recap – postmortem coming later.
 * A previously on montage shows scenes from Seasons 5 and 6 featuring the Land of Untold Stories as well as Regina’s coronation in 7x22
 * We open with a pan around of the United Realms
 * At last, we find ourselves at Regina’s office, where she and Zelena file papers.
 * Zelena asks Regina if she’s going to the festival that night
 * Regina says that she has to; she’s the Queen
 * Zelena smiles at her and reminds her that it’s okay for her to put herself first sometimes; the people will love her nonetheless.
 * Cut to somewhere in the Enchanted Forest. Two boys run through the forest.
 * “Julian. Wait up. I need a break.”
 * Julian waits for the other boy. We don’t know who they are yet.
 * They begin running once he catches a break.
 * Cut to Storybrooke; we pan in on a mother and her child in the playground. We only see her back and her face.
 * The mother sees a raven fly by and is disturbed. She calls for her child, who runs to her.
 * She calls for Pearl, and the camera pans down to reveal a scarlet A on her breast. This is Hester Prynne, the protagonist of The Scarlet Letter.
 * Cue the title card: a scarlet A in the skies above the Enchanted Forest – we’re back to the normal forest.
 * Zelena and Regina continue to file papers in Regina’s office when they receive a call.
 * It’s Rogers, calling them along with Tilly and Margot.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">In the sky above Storybrooke, a raven flies by, revealing a scarlet A in the sky.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Tilly is concerned. Sabine enters the sheriff’s station – a shadowy raven figure had attacked Rollin’ Bayou in the Land of Untold Stories, where two others have been killed.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Regina promises they’ll get right to it. She and Zelena start.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">“We’re going to get to the bottom of this. The people of the United Realms are under our protection,” Regina says.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">“Looks like some people haven’t let go of their unfinished business,” Zelena says as they begin.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">They both poof out.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Hester hides out in her house and looks out at the A. It’s the house Belle lived in in 6x22.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">“No… it has found me. The Raven. I… this is no longer safe.”
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">She goes to a magic mirror, allowing Pearl to run around the house.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">She watches her husband Chillingworth meet with the Shadow Raven and two other men.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Chillingworth looks right at her and she ends the mirror image.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Now she knows that Chillingworth and the Shadow Raven are up to no good.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Regina and Zelena are in the Land of Untold Stories
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">They both see the A and hear a raven caw
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">“What the bloody hell is going on?” Zelena asks.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">“For once… I have no idea.”
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">They pass by an alleyway. We close in on the alley...
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">We find the unnamed boy from earlier again, this time without Julian, running through the alley until –
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">He comes across a grave looking pair – a man and a woman, each angry.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">“Did you really think you could escape me?” the man asks. “Montagues will always have their way.”
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">“Then let me be free!” the boy exclaims. “I left because you wouldn’t let Julian and I –”
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">“It’s demented. Two boys from feuding families?”
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">“I don’t care then.”
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">“Fine. Have it your way, then. But there will be consequences… Romeo.”
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">We realise it now – this is Romeo and Juliet but gay.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Sabine finds blood near Rollin’ Bayou
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">She touches it and it forms a raven, which flies away cawing
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Sabine looks concerned and calls Rogers
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Rogers picks up
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">“Officer? We’ve got serious problems.”
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Rogers is in the middle of dinner with Tilly and Margot.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">“What kind of trouble?”
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">“I… I don’t even know where to begin.”
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">“What’s going on?” Tilly asks.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">“I don’t know. I don’t think anyone does…”
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Elsewhere, a young man reclines on a chaise in his lounge when Chillingworth walks in along with Lord Montague.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">“Is the plan in fruition?” he asks carelessly.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">“Yes, milord,” Chillingworth says. “The Shadow Raven awaits the next move.”
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">These are the men that Hester saw.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">The young man looks into a painting of him and smiles darkly.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Cut to Regina and Zelena. Zelena recaps what they found (just some deaths in the Land of Untold Stories) and asks Regina what they’re going to do.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">“Now we wait. We don’t have enough information yet.”
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">“Do you think we can defeat them?”
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Regina gives the typical premiere hope speech. Montage time!
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Hester and Pearl pack up – they need to find somewhere safe.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Romeo journeys through the United Realms, calling for Julian.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Sabine repairs her food truck when she hears the ominous sound of a raven cawing.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Margot, Tilly, and Rogers walk down the street, with Tilly in the middle. There are wedding rings on the two women’s fingers. They’re all smiling.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">“Who knows what the future will bring? After all, this is a new chapter… for all of us.”
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">Close in on a book in Regina’s hands. She and Zelena look down at it as the Author’s Pen begins writing the story by itself. She closes it.
 * <p dir="ltr" role="presentation">The book is Once Upon a Time, Volume III.