So you can find me on Tumblr here: theworksofshumdinger . tumblr

This is where I originally posted the fic if it looks familiar to you. I guess it's AU since we now know how Archie was really saved.

DISCLAIMER: Once Upon a Time, Own, I do not.

but if I did tonight's ending wouldn't have happened.

It was over.

Cora and Hook had been beaten. Fairy Tale style. Good had triumphed over Evil.

While the fairies were working with Rumpelstiltskin to secure the powerless devils, Emma decided to look aboard Hook's ship (Which had become unveiled when the fighting started), just in case they had any other means of destroying the happily-ever-afters of the Storybrooke community. She expected to find a few odd bobs here and there and a lot of pirate-y things. What she didn't expect, was to hear muffled noises coming from one of the cargo holds.

Unsheathing her sword (because every princess needs one), she crept up to the door, counted to five, and then flung it open. Thwak!

"Archie?!" she almost yelled. The local psychiatrist and former cricket had been found dead in his office months ago!

Quickly coming to her senses, Emma sheathed her sword and pulled out the dagger she kept at her hip (because princesses need daggers, too). She pulled the gag off his mouth and began to cut the ropes on his wrists.

"Emma!" he breathed. The poor man had tears in his eyes. His face was ashen and his hair was dirty. He had a cut above his eye that looked inflamed. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Cora and Hook hadn't taken very good care of him.

"Archie, we gotta get you to a hospital."

He shook his head.

"No? You don't want to go to a hospital?"

He nodded.

"Archie, you've been down here for months! Please, let's go see a doctor."

He chuckled. "Emma, I am a doctor."

She gave him a pointed look. "Just get me into town. There's something I gotta do first."

She held that look. "I promise I'll go to the hospital afterwards."

She kept looking at him, and then she sighed. "I don't have my car. You'll have to walk."

For the first time, Archie broke into a genuine smile as Emma helped him up.This is it, he thought.

~O~O~

Ruby. Was. Beat.

She sat outside of the Diner, re-thinking last night's events.

Daylight had just broken through the clouds and the last night of Wolfstime was over. She supposed it was good luck that it coincided with the final battle, but her body was killing her and her wolf senses were in frenzy from all the blood spilled. It was at times like this when she wished her dear friend was still around. She could always talk to him when she was uneasy or, most recently, when the wolf was making itself known. But now…

She shook herself out of her thoughts. She was tired of losing people. First Peter, then her Mother, then Billy, and now Archie.

She thought of all the times when she could've talked to him, not just as the town therapist. Who knows what might have come of it? She sniffed.

And then she sniffed again, frowning.

She smelled that scent before. It was faint, but it was there and it was familiar. It smelled like pine wood, and aftershave, and…

Pongo?

She got up and started to follow the scent up main street. She had just turned the corner on the way to the docks when the sight in front of her made her heart stop.

It was Emma. And Archie. Emma holding Archie up. Walking. Ruby hoped her mind wasn't playing cruel tricks on her when she called out, "ARCHIE!"

He lifted up his head. She could see his face break into a big smile and brighten up like the sun. He pushed himself away from Emma as he yelled back, "RUBY!"

She ran to him. He started to walk forward. Somehow they met up in the middle.

Ruby ran her hand against his cheek, barely touching his cut eye, making sure he was real. His eyes roamed over her face, memorizing every detail about it. Remembering just how beautiful she was in this moment.

And then a little voice, kind of like his cricket self in the other world, told him to do something completely insane.

He kissed her.

Ruby's eyes went wide for a second, but then she leaned in and deepened the kiss. It was unlike any she had had before as he wrapped his arms around her and almost picked her up off the ground.

Emma watched them, completely awkward, from the sidelines. She never would've guessed that these two would romantically in touch with each other, much less kissing.

But neither of them were fish and they had to come up for air.

Ruby was quite pink, with a beautiful smile on her face.

Archie looked like he'd been struck on the head with a hammer. He was completely stunned at what he had done and the way Ruby had reacted that all he could sat was: "Wow."

And then he fainted.

Yep. It's over. But they did live happily ever after!

Review Maybe?