Glass Believer

Glass Believer is the het ship between Henry Mills and Ella "Cinderella" Mills from the Once Upon A Time fandom.

New Enchanted Forest
Henry and Ella met in the New Enchanted Forest when his motorcycle nearly collided with her carriage, resulting in Ella crashing in a field of hyacinths and losing her horse. Henry recognized her as that universe's Cinderella due to her blue dress and glass slippers. Assuming that her story would go the same way, he helped her to her feet and told her the fairytale he was familiar with, of a woman who went to a ball, fell in love with the prince, and left her glass slipper behind which he used to find her again. Ella was skeptical because many women wore the same size shoe as her. Unbeknownst to Henry, Ella intends to kill the prince to avenge her murdered father, not fall in love with him. After Henry teaches her how to use his motorcycle, she steals it as well as a dagger from him and goes to the ball. Henry catches up to her, realizing she must be on a revenge mission since he took the weapon. He presents her a hyacinth and tucks the flower in her hair. They danced together and he tried persuade her out of continuing with her plan. Henry offered to bring her to his home in Storybrooke where she could start over and get her happy ending. Ella initially refused and raced off to the prince. But after getting him alone and preparing to kill him, Ella couldn't follow through with the assassination. Despite this, her stepmother, Rapunzel Tremaine, stabbed the prince instead and framed her for the murder. Ella and Henry fought their way out of the castle, but got separated. When Ella reached the place they had first met and planned to reunite, she was confronted by a soldier and rescued by Princess Tiana, who has formed a resistance against the monarchy. Before she and the princess rode away on the motorcycle, Ella left her glass slipper for Henry to find. When he arrives and discovers the slipper, Henry decides to forgo his chance at returning home in order to find Ella.

Hyperion Heights
During the curse Mother Gothel and Drizella enacted, Henry and Ella were separated without their memories. While he was cursed to believe that he was a failed author whose wife and daughter died in a fire, Ella (with the identity of Jacinda) was cursed to believe that Lucy was a product of a one-night stand and that she signed away her custody rights to her stepmother. Their daughter, Lucy, reads his book and realizes that the characters in it are them and that he is her father. When she goes to him to bring Henry to her mother, he doesn't believe her. Lucy steals his laptop and leaves a note for him to meet her in Hyperion Heights. Ella met with Henry and returned the laptop. When he saw her, he instantly knew he loved her. They talked and she shared her dream of moving to the island on the other side of the Puget Sound with Lucy. Later, when Henry's car goes missing, he shares that information with Rapunzel, who has the police stop Ella from escaping there with Lucy. Ella confronts Henry, who is apologetic. After going their separate ways, they still manage to bring a bit of magic to the real world when Ella wishes on a quarter and Henry is given new inspiration to write.

Child
Lucy Mills Lucy was born in the New Enchanted Forest. On the day of her birth, Drizella announced that on Lucy's eighth birthday, a Dark Curse would be cast. Though the heroes turned Drizella to stone, she was freed by Mother Gothel on Lucy's eighth birthday, in time to enact the curse. While the spell works on Lucy, she is a true believer like her father and realizes that they are the characters in his book. She pushes for her parents to realize the truth.

Fanon
Glass Believer has a following and is the most popular pairing for each character. But there has been backlash against Ella as a character and Henry/Ella as a ship due to the character being cast with Afro Latina actress Dania Ramirez. As noted by Xio Rodriguez at mediam.com, "The OUAT fandom has also not been kind to Latina Cinderella either, criticizing Dania Ramirez’s accent and instead shipping Henry with Drizella because Adelaide Kane fits better within their narrow interpretation of who a fairy tale princess should be. Racism in the fandom is common but that won’t change the fact that Prince Charming will live happily ever after with a brown Cinderella and their daughter Lucy."

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Ella/Henry on FanFiction.Net
 * Ella/Henry on FanFiction.Net

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Trivia

 * Since he was a child, Henry named his plans as "Operations." He names his pursuit of Ella "Operation Glass Slipper" while his daughter Lucy names her plan to restore their happy ending "Operation Hyacinth".
 * Hyacinths become a romantic symbol for Henry and Ella as well as a sign of magic in the real world.
 * Ella and Henry are true loves as established by the enchanted lockets glowing for them.
 * While cursed as Jacinda, Ella makes a wish by tossing a quarter in the well at the barren community garden. This reignites magic in the real world and a hyacinth quickly sprouts. Later in the season, both Henry and Ella toss quarters into glasses without looking, on the bet that there is destiny between them.