Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-27060727-20161015022604/@comment-25926288-20161129023845

It's rather simple. It's not an AU/AR. It's simply a manufactured reality/state that Emma's in. Why Henry's there is for whatever reason magic/Aladdin put him there to begin with.

If they went back in time, stopped the Dark Curse, etc, I'm sure then we'd attribute it to greater forces. This manufactured reality should consist of manufactured people, meaning that the Henry in that reality isn't really Henry, just some mental/ magical projection into some weird reality.

I think it's going to be somewhat like what Isaac did. Genie's can't bring back the dead or change the past, but nothing doesn't say they can't completely warp those that currently are living and create false people.