Everything went wrong in an instant. Emma saw it all coming but couldn't stop it. Her magic was unpredictable at best and try though she did, the shields didn't work, didn't hold. The Snow Queen and her minions broke through. She felt the first sting of the ice, heard the screams, and the only thing she could think to do in that moment was save Henry, save her son. He couldn't end up with ice in his heart. She couldn't lose him. Not again.
She rushed him, covered him with her body, and she felt her magic go haywire. The world went dark moments later.
"Mom?" She heard the word, felt a small hand pressing at her shoulder. "Mom, wake up. Mom, are you ok?"
She finally managed to pry her eyes open to find Henry staring down at her, his brow furrowed. "What happened?"
"You saved me," Henry whispered and drew back.
Emma continued to stare upwards for a moment before finally managing to sit up and look around them. "Oh no," she muttered. Not again. Oh, this could not be happening again.
"Where are we?" Henry offered her a hand and helped her stand. Sometimes it was unbelievable how big he'd gotten. She'd met him as a precocious ten-year-old child. Now at thirteen, he seemed almost a man. How long before he started to shave and date girls? She didn't even want to contemplate that.
"Nowhere good, kid," she muttered. "Come on. We need to find some shelter." As she strode off, Henry trailed behind.
"Shelter?"
"Someplace we can stay safe." She kept walking, knowing Henry was falling behind. He was still shorter than her, still having a hard time keeping up.
"Mom!" he finally shouted and she knew she'd have to face up to just exactly where they were once she turned around to face him. "What's going on?"
"Oh, Henry," She reached out and ruffled his hair briefly. "Welcome to the Enchanted Forest."
His eyes widened and he glanced around. "Really? We're here?" At her nod, he let out a whoop and started to race off.
"Henry!" Her voice was a bit more strident than she wanted it to be.
"Where's everyone else?" he suddenly asked as he stopped and turned back to her.
"That's the question we need an answer to. And soon." They had been simply surrounded by people before they ended up here. She didn't think her magic was quite powerful enough to pull everyone to the Enchanted Forest, but what if it wasn't her magic that got them there? What if it was the Snow Queen's and they'd been dumped all over the place, far away from each other? Where was Regina and all her magic, Gold with his magic and knowledge of pretty much everything? Where was her mother and father and everyone else she knew and held dear?
They set off together into the forest, hoping eventually they might find a main road and figure out exactly where in that infernal forest they were. She didn't have Hook to guide her this time. He had been fighting far from her in those final chaotic moments. She didn't have her mother to guide her. Snow had been holed up in the apartment, trying to protect baby Neal from the fight while her father fought valiantly with his sword.
This time she was on her own with figuring out where exactly they were.
"So where are we going?" Henry finally asked after nearly a half hour of dodging fallen logs and skirting unpassable muddy areas in the woods.
"First we're going to find a road."
"And then?"
She gave him a stern look. "Then we follow it and see where it goes."
Henry pulled his bag around to his front and reached inside. "This will help," he said as he pulled the book of fairytales out.
Emma cocked her head slightly to the side. "Don't you ever go anywhere without that?"
"Nope. This book is important." He held it out in front of him.
"Is there a map in there somewhere, kid?"
He just gave her a look, that same eye rolling look she had gotten so many times before when she didn't buy into the whole fairytale thing, before she knew she was the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming and before she knew Henry's father was the son of Rumplestiltskin.
They walked off again, Emma trying to keep them heading in the same direction, west as it were. They had to run into some road sometime. Henry clutched the book close to him and they were silent, moving through the woods together as a team.
It was probably an hour later when they pushed through some low brush to find themselves standing on a road. "Finally!" Henry said. And then looked back and forth. "Which way?"
Emma didn't move for a moment. There was a sound coming from around the bend that it took her a moment to realize she knew the source of. "Horses," she whispered and pulled Henry back into the brush. The first to appear was a tall man on a large white horse, a knight if she could guess by the armor that he wore and the way he carried himself. He was accompanied by what appeared to be several lesser knights.
"He seems familiar," Henry whispered.
"Is he in the book?"
Henry started to flip through it while Emma turned to look back at the approaching knights. Behind them was a carriage, ostentatious and obviously carrying people of great importance. It came closer and she realized the curtains were drawn back by a small hand, a face looking out. It was a young woman, blue eyes wide with fear, and Emma started. She knew that face.
Emma tapped Henry on the shoulder. "Is that…"
He looked up immediately, saw the woman in the carriage just as they rode past. "Belle," he whispered. "That's Belle." He started frantically flipping through the pages of his book to her story. "Oh." And the way he said that made a shiver go up Emma's spine.
"What?"
"That tall guy? That's Gaston."
"The knight?"
Henry nodded. "She was supposed to marry him but then the Dark One made a deal with her and took her away to be his caretaker."
"So that's how she met Gold?" She hadn't known the story, really. She knew that Henry's book was filled to the brim with everyone's stories but she hadn't looked that closely at it.
"It is." Henry sounded rather hesitant to go on.
"There's a but in there kid, isn't there?"
Henry flipped open the book and Emma saw a drawing of a scene very much like the one they just saw. "My book has changed."
"Oh not again…"
Henry seemed to not even register the words. "It says here that she marries Gaston."
"What happens to Gold?"
Henry flipped another page. It was blank.
"We've gone into the past, haven't we?"
Henry nodded, still staring down at the blank pages of his beloved book. "Mom, we have to set this to rights."
"Oh no, I'm not making any changes. The last time I landed back here, I almost destroyed the entire timeline and caused myself to not be born. I'm not doing this again."
"But Mom…"
She stepped out on the road. She didn't even know where she was going to go, who to go to. Well, she knew who to go to, but she wasn't sure she wanted to face that quite again. Once had been enough, thank you very much.
"Mom." She felt him tug hard at her sleeve and turned to look back at him. "We have to fix this. Belle is supposed to marry Mr. Gold." She just stared at him. "He's my Grandpa. We can't let him down."
Sighing, she stopped to look at her son. Really look at him. He was a good kid with a huge heart. "Alright, kid. Where do we start?"
He looked back down at his book and his face scrunched up for a moment. "It says here that the ogres overran Belle's village and her father sent her off to marry Gaston has soon as possible. He stayed behind with a group of soldiers to protect their village." He paused as he finished reading. "Belle," he finally said, resolutely closing the book. "We have to start with Belle." At Emma's confused look he pressed on. "Don't you see? In our timeline she convinced her father to call for Rumplestiltskin and so she went with him as a caretaker. She has to call for the Dark One to take her away from her marriage."
"Do you really think that's wise?"
"Mom…"
"You don't know what he's like back here Henry." He gave her a look. "You don't. He's…well, let's just say he doesn't look a thing like Gold."
"Really?" Henry flipped through his book. "He's always this sort of shadowy figure in the back of the drawings. I never could see him clearly."
"Well, you probably don't want to. Look, kid, I don't know if we can get Belle to fall for him…"
"She did before." And damn him, he was right. Emma well remembered meeting Belle at his castle when she was here the last time. Their banter had been really odd and, frankly, a little off-putting. But there was clearly some sort of unacknowledged affection there that led to, well, whatever it was they had in Storybrooke.
"Alright kid, you win. Let's go talk to Belle." With a huge grin Henry ran on ahead of her, following in the direction the carriage had just gone. It was just a damned good thing the procession they'd seen hadn't been going too fast. Hopefully they'd be able to track them right to wherever this Gaston's family lived.
Trapped. She was trapped. Well, not exactly, she supposed. She had free reign of the castle as long as a servant came with her. She was allowed to go for a ride as long as she was accompanied by one of the grooms and a chaperone. It was suffocating.
Belle had discovered, during her first hours at the castle, that there wasn't a library. Gaston had scoffed when she asked and his mother, oh so politely she might add, had told her there were a few books in her husband's study but she hardly considered those proper reading for a lady.
And so she was spending most of her time holed up in the rooms she had been given, mourning the loss of her life as she knew it. Her father had been indulgent, strict at times but also kind. He had been especially kind to her after her mother's death, coddling her, allowing her to read anything she wanted, allowing her to be in the war room during discussions of the ogres (frightening, beastly creatures) and how the war was going (terribly, apparently). It was how she had come to find out that not only was she suddenly betrothed (He has hundreds of fresh soldiers, dear) but that she would be leaving with him that very day.
She had had no chance to make any contingency plans, to beg for more time, to research some other way to conquer the ogres. Gaston, one of the most superficial and self-absorbed men she had ever had the bad luck to meet, had shown up with those soldiers and left with Belle.
Gaston's mother was nice enough.
His father was…well…Belle had been taught to never speak unkindly of folks and to hold her tongue. Which was sometimes sharper than she intended.
A knock came at the door some hours after she arrived at the castle. "Enter," she said and was relieved to see it was the maid that had been assigned to her and not her betrothed.
"There's a visitor for you, Miss," the maid said. Amandine, if she remembered her name right. She had been introduced quickly and then shuffled off to her room like so much chattel.
"A visitor? For me? Surely you must be mistaken."
"Oh no, Miss. I'm not. It's a woman, near your age, and a young man. She says her name is Leia and the boy is Bruce…"
"I know no one by those names." They didn't even sound like names from her area of the world, truth be told.
"She is quite insistent, Miss. She said it's very important. Life or death, she said."
Belle's eyebrows shot up. "Life or death? Whose?"
"She didn't say, Miss."
Belle took a deep breath. A part of her wanted to just hide in her room, read one of the few books she had managed to bring with her from her home. But this might be the last chance for adventure that she'd get, the last time she might be able to have a bit of excitement before she spent her days married to the rather uninteresting Gaston.
"I'll meet them in the…um…" She realized she didn't actually yet know her way around this castle.
"The parlor, Miss?"
Belle nodded. "Yes. Of course." Her maid gave a curtsey and departed. Belle took a moment to freshen up, smoothed her hair down, and left to find the parlor.
She had to ask directions twice.
She supposed someday she'd get used to the size of the place. She'd have to if she were to be its mistress. With a sigh, she pushed the door open to the parlor. Inside she found a woman, oddly dressed in trousers and a jacket made out of leather. Her hands were on her hips as she spoke to the boy at her side. There was an easy camaraderie there, Belle noted, and she wondered if they were related. When the boy turned toward her, she saw they had the same determined chin, the same shape to their eyes.
"Belle!" the boy said and rushed toward her. The woman held him back.
"Hey kid, you can't just rush her like that." Definitely his mother.
"Sorry." He gave his mother a sheepish look and then looked back to Belle. "Hi, Belle!"
"Um…hi?" She shook her head. "Do I know you?"
The woman stepped around the boy, holding out an arm to keep him back. "I'm…Leia."
"You can't marry Gaston!" the boy suddenly burst out with.
Belle just stared at the pair. This was getting more ridiculous all the time. Not that she wanted to marry Gaston. Quite the contrary. But there was something strange going on here.
Leia stepped forward once more. "Look, if you marry this Gaston guy, you're going to mess up the whole timeline."
"Timeline?"
"I'm screwing this all up," Leia muttered. "Have you ever heard of the Dark One?"
Belle's eyes widened and she looked back and forth between the pair of them. "Of course. I read about him…well, before all of this." She had considered calling on him, seeing if he could put an end to the ogres once and for all. But everything had happened so fast that her head was still spinning and she had put that thought out of her mind. It was probably for the best.
"You need to call on him," Leia said.
"What…why?"
"You just need to." Leia was starting to sound frustrated.
"He needs to save your family from the ogre war," the boy said.
"Come with us," Leia suddenly said.
"What?"
"We're going to journey to the Dark Castle. You can ask for his help, offer him some sort of deal." Leia was rushing through the words now and she saw a smile starting to creep across the boy's face.
"I…" Belle started. Could she? Could she really disappear with these two people she didn't even know, just walk away from the castle, find the home of a dark sorcerer, and offer him a deal to save her people and perhaps even herself? Was it even possible? She studied Leia for a moment, saw the hard edges to her face, the earnest look in her eyes. She glanced at the boy at her side, saw the hopeful smile on his face. This was her chance, her chance to be a hero, to save her people. "Yes...I'll go with you."
The boy let out a whoop and the woman clamped her hand over his mouth for a moment. When she released him he spoke. "Bring gold!"
"He makes gold," Belle pointed out. One of the few things she had learned about him was his strange predilection for spinning straw into gold. "What good would gold do for a creature who can make his own?"
The boy's eyes were wide as he stared at her. "It's almost like you read that straight from my book."
"Book?" Belle's eyes lit up.
"Hen…Bruce…do not take that book out right now," Leia warned and her voice had turned sharp and motherly. Belle realized she missed that, missed it dearly. Her mother had never been really sharp with her, but she had taken that motherly tone of voice many times when Belle was about to do something stupid.
"That's fine," Belle said and then leaned toward the boy, Bruce apparently. "You can show it to me later."
He leaned toward her and whispered, though she was pretty sure his mother heard it. "Count on it."
"Ok, kid," Leia said and pulled him aside.
Belle slid toward the door and looked out. No one was waiting for them, the butler was just down the hall a ways, but not close enough for sound to carry. She let the door shut carefully and took a few steps back toward woman and her son. "Meet me in the forest just beyond the gate at sundown."
Leia nodded, Henry rushed her for a quick hug, and then both disappeared out the door. Belle took a deep breath. It seemed she had some packing to do. Just what exactly did one wear for a meeting with the Dark One, anyway?
They had been traveling for nearly a day at that point. The first night Belle had crept out of the castle and met them right where they had arranged. She had been dressed in a pair of leather pants that were too large for her, her riding boots, and a baggy shirt with a cloak. She seemed a bit ill-equipped for a midnight rendezvous, but she had headed off into the too-dark woods without any question.
Belle had been quiet most of the time, contemplative. The young woman had kept up with them and Emma was amazed at that. She was sure she had a core of steel, she must to marry Gold, but she still seemed so tiny and fragile and especially here, back in the Enchanted Forest, she seemed more lady than the tough young woman who stuck by Gold through thick and thin. At least until the end. She hadn't seen the fall-out up front from an apparently huge string of lies the bastard had told her, but she had seen Belle's haunted look and Gold's dead eyes, had seen them fighting at the end on different sides of the group. The glances they sent toward each other were full of the kind of sadness that made her heart ache.
"The map says it's just over that next rise," Belle said, breaking the silence that had fallen on them during their long trek.
"That so?" Emma really did not want to go that route again. She had met the Dark One once. And once was frankly quite enough. Gold she could handle. Gold was human. Rumplestiltskin was like some sort of weird nightmare in which a lizard mated with a human and produced a man who tittered like a madman and clapped his hands together like a delighted toddler. He might have the creepiest thing she had encountered yet, though the ogres did come awfully close.
"Are you ready to face him?" Emma stopped and turned toward Belle. Despite Henry's insistence, if Belle refused, she'd take her back to her betrothed and apologize for dragging her out on a wild good chase.
"Well, I've been doing some reading…"
"Of course you have!" Henry piped up with. Not surprisingly, Belle had packed a few big books. Those seemed more important to her than a change of clothes, a pillow for their night on the ground. Instead, she had read by firelight and been enthralled with all she had learned.
Henry had offered up his book, though most of the pages were blank at this point. "So why exactly do I have to call on him again?"
Henry gave her an exasperated look. "Because you can't marry Gaston and he's supposed to save you from that."
"You know the Dark One doesn't…"
"Save people, I know." Henry looked downcast for a moment before he cheered suddenly. "But he will for you! He…" Here Emma clamped her hand over his mouth. The kid was one word away from spilling everything.
"Trust me, Belle. He'll do this for you." Even I have to kick him in the scaly backside to get him to do it.
They walked to the top of the next rise in silence after that. Emma glanced over at Belle once in awhile, studying her. She wasn't exactly what she expected, though truth be told she wasn't even sure what she did expect. This Belle seemed slightly out of sorts, but brave. She had left without so much as a word to anyone in the castle, left on very little information and headed off into the woods with two people she had never met. She supposed she should have expected that much out of someone who seemed to be able to bend the will of the Dark One with just a word or a look. She had seen the effect the woman had on Gold in their world, the way a softly spoken word or a light brush of her hand took the rage right out of the man. It was impressive and suddenly she wished she had spent time getting to know her rather than staring cock-eyed at her and wondering how the hell she could do that with him.
"So now what?" Belle asked.
"The last time he just sort of…appeared." She and Hook had been talking and then there he was behind them in all his lizardly glory, prancing around like…well, she wasn't even sure what. She had been so stunned that she didn't even recognize him for a moment. He couldn't look more different from the sedate pawn broker. Her mother still looked like her mother, her father still like her father, Belle still like Belle. But Gold?...Rumplestiltskin?...he didn't even look human.
"Why don't we just go knock?" Henry asked.
"Do people just waltz up to the door and say 'Hello there Mr. Dark One, we'd like to make a deal'?"
Belle shrugged. "In the books I read it seems there are any number of ways to contact him. And sometimes he just simply shows up when he hears his name. They say you can say his name three times, send a note via carrier pigeon, and that brave souls will go to the Dark Castle."
"Well, I guess we go knock at the door and see if anyone is home," Emma said and steeled herself for seeing Rumplestiltskin in all his Dark One glory again.
He heard them. Of course he heard them. They didn't actually have to say his name for him to know that he was being discussed, to know that there were people nearby who wished to make a deal with him. And so he watched through his crystal ball as they made up their minds to come calling on him.
With a little titter he waited for his guests. Two women, a young boy, all dressed rather curiously. There was something eerily familiar about the dark-haired woman, a sense that he somehow knew her, though he did not know how. His sight, perhaps. Part of a vision. She must be important somehow, any connection she might have to Snow White or her Prince unclear even to him.
When they arrived, he allowed them to knock and then wait. He watched the taller woman glare angrily and then shout something. He saw the boy say something to her and then she was knocking on the door again.
He took great joy when it flew open and the blond woman lost her balance and tumbled in, landing heavily at his feet. "If you keep pounding away at that door, dearie, you're going to give me a headache. And you really don't want to do that."
The blond woman quickly drew herself to her feet and stared at him, but it was the boy whose attention drew him. There was something about him, a way of carrying himself, the thick dark hair, that reminded him of his Baelfire and he felt it pierce his heart. He stepped closer to him and the boy stepped back just half a step. "Who are you?"
He didn't answer, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open. "I told you, kid," the blond woman said and the boy just shook his head.
"But you didn't say he'd look like this?" He continued to stare and then finally his face turned up in a smile. "That's really cool."
Rumplestiltskin shook his head. Not that long ago he couldn't have imagined anyone speaking of the way he looked. He was the feared Dark One. Incur his wrath and you may not live to see another day. But now two people had dared in a fairly short period of time. And it seemed he was going to let this one live too.
He snarled something incoherent at the boy and was pleased to at least see him back up a couple paces. "Who are you?" he asked them again.
The young dark-haired woman stepped forward and he felt himself calm almost instantly, as if a balm had been applied to his soul and the rage simply drained out of him. "I'm Belle of Avonlea." He voice was soft, but confident. She was a tiny little thing, smaller than him by quite a few inches, but she held herself with the bearing of a queen. "This is Leia and her son, Bruce."
He scoffed at their names. "Those are not your names." Their eyes widened and he let out a mad little giggle. "Names are my stock in trade, dearie. Or didn't you know that?" He pointed a finger at the lot of them. They dared to come to his castle and they didn't even know that much about him?
"Rumplestiltskin," Belle said and his eyes flitted away from the others to focus on her.
"Now that is your real name," he murmured. "What do you want of me, dearie?" And if his voice had softened slightly when facing the woman he didn't think anyone would notice.
Emma started speak. "She needs to…"
"Hush, Emma Swan," Rumplestiltskin said and waved his hand. The blond woman stared at him, tried to speak, and nothing came out. He giggled.
"That wasn't very nice," Belle said and he turned to glare at her.
"She's not the one who is here to make the deal," he pointed out.
"No, she's not," Belle confirmed. "It's for me, you see…" She trailed off there and he waved a hand at her. "Can you give Leia…"
"Emma, dearie. Her name is not Leia." He waggled a finger at her and watched as the young woman sighed. Sighed…in exasperation…at the Dark One. Just who was this woman anyway?
"Just give her back her voice."
"Is that part of the deal?"
"No."
"Then no." He crossed his arms over his chest.
Belle stood. "Then I guess we're done here." She turned to walk away.
He didn't know why he did it, but it was like a compulsion. Something in him wouldn't let her walk away. "No, wait…" The young woman turned back to him, one eyebrow raised. He waved a hand. "She can speak."
Belle looked at Emma, who nodded once.
"So please, do sit." He waved a hand at one of the seats at the table in the Great Hall. "And tell me what brings you here."
They didn't even know each other and still they bantered and argued and bickered back and forth like an old married couple. Apparently true love recognized its own even when the two people didn't recognize it.
Belle leaned forward. "I'm betrothed…"
He let out a little titter. "Oh I do so love a good wedding."
Emma watched the other woman roll her eyes. "I'm betrothed to someone I don't want to be betrothed to. I want out of this marriage."
Rumplestiltskin leaned back and steepled his hands. "Do you really think I'm in the business of renegotiating such contracts? Do I look like a…a…well, whatever the opposite of a matchmaker is?" He waved a hand about and Emma damn well nearly rolled her own eyes.
"There's more than that," she prompted.
"More? Oh do tell," Rumplestiltskin answered, keeping his gaze focused on Belle.
"There are ogres…" Her voice trailed off for a moment. "They're attacking my village. I was…traded…I guess? As a commodity. I marry Gaston and his family provides more soldiers for the war."
"But soldiers won't make any difference," Rumplestiltskin said, his voice taking on a strange high-pitched note. "They'll slow them down, but not stop them."
"I know. I need you to stop the ogres and save me from this marriage." And Belle sounded resolute. Emma was impressed with the way her voice didn't even waver, the way she looked Rumplestiltskin right in his very creepy eyes as she spoke.
"And just what do I get in exchange for this deed?" The showman was back, the flare, the theatrical hand motions.
Belle blinked, glanced over at Emma.
"She has gold," Henry piped up and Emma just shot him a look.
Rumplestiltskin's mouth pulled back into a big grin and wasn't that just the most grotesque thing she had ever seen? His mouth was full of rotted teeth and she sure as hell didn't want to get too close to him. Belle, though, seemed to be staring at the man…imp…lizard thing?...with some sort of rapt attention.
"Yes…well…you see, I make gold…"
"I knew he was going to say that," Henry whispered. Emma just gave him a look. She was hoping that Rumplestiltskin wouldn't notice that they seemed to know just a little bit too much about him.
But of course he did.
He was staring at Henry with a look that Emma really did not want to evaluate properly, a look that seemed to be part assessment, part curiosity, and a little part murderous rage. It was the latter that had her the most concerned.
"You can have Belle," Emma suddenly said.
"Her?" Rumplestiltskin responded with and his voice had somehow gone up an octave.
"Me?" Belle's said at almost the same time.
"Yes," Emma said and smiled, though it felt a bit brittle.
Rumplestiltskin leaned back in his chair and stared at them like they had two heads. "And just what in the blazes am I going to do with her?"
Well, she couldn't very well tell him the truth now could she? Fall in love with her, marry her in another world in what felt like a thousand years from now.
"She can be your caretaker," Henry piped up with and thank God for Henry because Emma was just one step away from shoving Belle at Rumplestiltskin and telling them to go upstairs and get their freak on. Because there was one thing she knew about this extremely odd pair, and it was they got that on a lot. She couldn't count the amount of times she had come into the pawnshop and found them both looking flushed and a little bit sweaty. She didn't put her hands on the countertops anymore. Who knew what they did on those things anyway?
"My caretaker?" Rumplestiltskin sounded incredulous and at least it was a step up from murderous rage. "Why would I need some princess for a caretaker? She can't cook, she can't clean? Honestly, what use would I have for her?"
"I'm not a princess," Belle shot back.
"Fine…what use would I have for whatever kind of noblewoman you are?"
"I can cook."
"Really?"
Belle looked sheepish for a moment. "Well, I'm sure I can get the hang of it anyway."
"Hmph." was all that Rumplestiltskin responded with to that statement.
"She's real smart," Henry tossed in. "She can read a bunch of different languages and she knows a lot of stuff."
"Does she now?" He looked at Belle as he spoke and she flushed.
"Y…yes. Yes I can." She took a deep breath. "And I can clean. I can," she said to his skeptical look.
He remained watching her for a moment and even Emma found it uncomfortable. But not Belle. She met his gaze firmly, her chin set and her arms crossed over her chest. Apparently the Dark One had never intimidated her. Certainly not in this timeline. Probably not in their own either. She really needed to make a note to get to know Belle better. She had underestimated the tiny librarian and with all the running around they had been doing, just hadn't taken the time to get to know her. She'd have to remedy that if…no when…they got back.
"My caretaker, you say?" Emma was surprised at the almost soft tone of his voice.
"I can do it." Belle's voice was adamant, firm. She had been shocked at the proposition but somehow in the intervening minutes between Emma's suggestion and now, she seemed to have come to accept it. And yes, if she looked closely, there was a gleam of something in the woman's eyes.
There was a matching gleam in Rumplestiltskin's. "It's forever, dearie." He pointed one long finger at Belle.
For a moment Belle was silent, then took a deep breath. "Then I will say here with you…forever." She watched as she let out the breath, looking relaxed for the first time since Emma had met her.
"Deal!" Rumplestiltskin said, his voice shrill and his giggle piercing. He stood then and offered his arm to Belle, like he was some noble gallant and not a creature of darkness. Belle stood, took the proffered arm. "Shall I show you to your room, then?"
Belle nodded and Rumplestiltskin started to sweep out of the room with his future bride on his arm.
"Wait!" Emma suddenly called out. He couldn't leave. Not until she figured out some way to return to their own time.
"Ah yes, Miss Swan." And she started at that voice coming out of that creature because for a moment he sounded like Gold and yet he clearly wasn't. It was disconcerting. He waved his hand in the air and a wand, twisted and black, appeared in his hand. He tossed it to her and she caught it without even thinking about it.
"The Black Fairy's wand?"
His eyebrows rose. "I see you're already familiar with it."
"I've…had my run-ins with it, yes." In fact, in their world it was currently in Gold's shop, no doubt hidden away in that safe of his.
"Good. Then you know what it does. It will take you home."
"How did you…"
"I know all, Miss Swan. Far more than you might think." And he turned away then, walking out of the room with Belle at his side. Emma watched them go, walking in lockstep as they disappeared out of the hall. For the first time she thought that perhaps they really were a matched pair.
Returning hadn't been easy. Emma and Henry had left the Dark Castle. Henry had griped, but Emma had insisted on walking a long distance from the castle before trying the wand. She remembered how it worked the last time and she didn't want to accidentally take anything from Rumplestiltskin's damned castle this time around. Enough damage had been caused by her indiscretion the first time. She didn't want to wreak any more havoc on Storybrooke than she already had.
So they set out for a clearing in the forest around the Dark Castle. Far enough away that if they brought something back, it would be nothing more than a tree or some bushes or something. Her magic was unpredictable. The Snow Queen had certainly taught her that. And though she had been getting control of it, it still managed to elude her complete grasp on it.
"Ready?" she asked Henry when they entered the clearing.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing, Mom?"
She smiled, just a small quirking of her lips. "Not a chance of it, kid. Maybe we'll end up in Agrabah or three thousand years ago."
"Cool."
"No. Not cool. I'd like to get home thank you very much. We were in the middle of a pretty big mess when we poofed out of there." She was worried about what she'd find. Would they end up right where they left off, falling back into the middle of the battle? Or would she arrive to find half the town blown up and her family dead? She had been so worried about protecting Henry that her magic had simply reached out and tore them away from anything that might threaten him.
Now it was time to face the aftermath.
She reached out to Henry and he stepped closer. "Hold on tight. I don't know what this is going to be like."
She held the wand out in front of her, staring at it, willing it do something, anything. It stayed dark and silent, no thrum of magic rolling through her. She could feel the magic in it, just beyond her reach, but she couldn't access it.
"Think harder?" Henry offered.
"No," she murmured. Not harder. Magic is about emotion, Gold had once told her. Think of the people you love, the people you want to protect, the people you want to get back to. Taking a deep breath, she concentrated all of her love on them. On her parents, on Elsa, even on Gold and Belle and the rest of the people who relied on her and loved her. Hell, even Hook, who had been there for her, whether she wanted him to be or not.
She thought of Henry, who would lose his whole family if they didn't get back.
"It's working," Henry suddenly shouted and she half opened her eyes, saw the tip of the wand glowing blue. She stared at it for a moment longer, willing it, watching the blue turn to green then white before it shot out from the tip and formed the vortex she had been waiting for.
"Now!" she shouted and pulled Henry with her. And as they were sucked through and the world went dark, she felt something shatter inside her.
"Emma?" She heard her name but wasn't sure who was speaking, what was going on. "Emma." Her name was spoken again, stronger this time. Followed by, "Henry!"
Her eyes finally cracked open and for a moment she couldn't focus. Something was close. Too close. And then it backed away and she realized it was her mother's face and that she was laying on the ground. "I'm back?"
"You left?" Snow asked and there was a crease in between her eyes.
"I…apparently not." Emma struggled to sit up with her mother's help and glanced around her. Her father was there, looking terribly worried, Henry was still at her side. And was that Gold, somewhere behind them with Belle on his arm looking as happy as two newlyweds could? There was no sign of any disaster having befallen the little town. "What happened to the Snow Queen?"
"Who?" Snow asked and shook her head.
Her father helped her to her feet as she stared at them all. "The Snow Queen. Crazy ice lady? Elsa's aunt…" Her voice trailed off as she was greeted by nothing but confused looks.
Gold moved closer to her and reached out a hand and actually touched her shoulder. "Miss Swan, are you quite alright?" And his voice sounded softer than she ever remembered it, quiet with a concern she had never actually heard from him except when Belle was in trouble.
"Maybe we should get Neal," Belle offered.
"Neal?" Emma said and almost choked on the word. "Gold, he's been dead for months…"
His eyes widened and he glanced at Belle for a moment. "Perhaps she needs to see someone?"
"See someone? What the hell is going on here?" She backed away from the group of them, could feel the panic welling up. The same sort of panic that recently had resulted in magic gone awry. And nothing happened. She reached down and picked up the fairy wand.
"Where did you get that?" She saw him reach out and then hesitate, pulling back at the last minute.
"From you, actually." And she couldn't help the grin that crossed her face. "I thought I might hang onto it. Might come in handy."
"I don't expect that it would," Gold responded with and there was a slightly pained look on his face.
"What? Why? What happened?" She looked around at the rest of them, noting the furrowed brows, the cocked heads. "Did the Snow Queen destroy the magic in this town?"
"Emma, who is this Snow Queen you keep talking about?" Snow's voice was soft, concerned. She reached out a hand to touch her and Emma stepped back. And she watched her mother exchange a look with Gold. Gold, like he was the trustworthy one in town and not the snake who had gotten them into more trouble than she could keep track of over the past couple years.
"I don't understand…" Emma didn't get more than that out before she heard a voice calling her name, turned, and almost fell over. And did Gold actually put a hand on her and steady her? And was that actually..."Neal?" His name came out like a prayer and she grabbed him and held on and she had no idea what was going on. Henry was suddenly there with them and it was like they were a family again and he was alive and how was all of this possible?
"Whoa." Neal backed away just a bit and looked at her and she never ever thought she'd see those great big puppy dog eyes of his again. "Are you ok?"
"Look, when we…Henry and I…left this town, we left in the middle of this huge magical battle with the Snow Queen. We just…transported out of here and ended up back in the Enchanted Forest."
"Back in time!" Henry piped up.
"Emma," Snow said and she sounded both patient and impatient all at the same time and exactly how was that possible anyway? "That's not possible."
"What's not?" Emma looked from one to the other, glanced at her father who nodded slightly.
"Magic," Gold said and she watched as Belle wrapped an arm around him, saw the sadness in the creases at the corners of his eyes.
"It's Storybrooke," Emma pointed out. Storybrooke had had magic ever since Gold brought that stuff there, indirectly, or directly depending on who you asked, causing all their problems.
Gold shook his head. "There's never been magic here."
Emma just blinked one, twice. "What do you mean? You brought it here."
Belle put a hand on his shoulder and she watched as he bowed slightly to her and let her step out in front. "Emma, Rumple never brought magic here. He couldn't. He came here without magic."
Emma suddenly realized that Gold had his cane. He didn't when she left and so she stopped, took a closer look at him. He looked smaller, somehow less than he'd been. The crackle of power she could always feel just under the surface was gone. And while she could see the keen intelligence, that seemed to be all he was left with.
"No magic?"
"None," Gold confirmed. "My curse was…broken. Before we came here, you see."
"Oh?" Emma then looked at Belle and saw her pink cheeks. "Oh."
Henry grabbed his backpack and pulled out the book, flipping through the pages quickly. He stared at what he'd found on the page and his eyes widened before he looked back up and Gold and Belle. "You broke his curse."
"I did," Belle said and she was sure there was a fond smile that passed between her and Gold.
"I didn't know what hit me," Gold admitted.
"And so my Mom still cast the curse?"
"She did," Gold confirmed. "There was no stopping that." He shook his head, lips quirking up just slightly. "And I was thankful. Without that curse, I never would have found my son."
Emma glanced up at Neal. Neal.
"Look," Neal finally spoke up. "Can we save all of this for another time? I think maybe it's time to go home." He reached out and ruffled Henry's hair and Emma loved watching the huge smile break out on her son's face. "Ready to go kid?"
"We live with you?" Henry asked.
"You sure do, kid." He turned and gave Emma a look. How well she remembered the look, that look of indulgence mixed with disbelief and she felt a little teary-eyed at the thought. "It seems your mother doesn't remember agreeing to marry me."
Henry whooped as he ran off to follow his father. Emma lagged just a little bit behind, glanced back at Gold and Belle, who still stood close to the apparently former sorcerer's side. "You're going to explain this all to me sometime."
"Of course, Miss Swan." And then she left the pair there in the middle of the road, following Neal and Henry to wherever it seemed they lived. There was a lot of explaining to do, indeed.
Belle watched them go. "Didn't she…"
"It would seem so," Rumplestiltskin said and looked down at his lovely wife of nearly two years.
"Why is it I only just realized that?" She shook her head. She had remembered their story any number of times, recounted it to people over and over. But she didn't remember Emma being the one to bring her to Rumplestiltskin, nor did she remember Emma being the one to convince him to take her on as a caretaker.
But now? She can't imagine what she thought it really was. It was just like…she suddenly woke up and remembered things she had entirely forgotten for many years.
"I can only guess it has something to do with all this alternate reality stuff Miss Swan is going on about." He gripped his cane a little harder and Belle reached out, touched his hand.
"Do you miss it?" Her voice was soft. "Your magic?"
He took a deep breath and finally met her eyes. "Every damned day of my life." She leaned over, wrapped her arms around him. "But if it means I have you. If it means my son is alive and working toward forgiving me for all I've done to him? It's worth the loss."
"I like that answer," Belle responded with and went up on her toes to kiss him softly on the cheek.
"So shall we head off, sweetheart? I do believe we have a dinner planned."
Belle smiled as he reached up, fingers ghosting over her wedding band, before kissing her hand and pulling her in close to him. Arm in arm, in lockstep, they headed home.