"The Queen has created a powerful curse," Rumpelstiltskin said. "One that will rip us from this land and send us to another. It will rip us apart, cursing us to live in a loop for all eternity. No more happy endings."
Snow White gasped in horror as she stared at their prisoner imp. No more happy endings? How could they live like that?
"How do we stop it?" her husband, Prince David (or, James if you were everyone else in the kingdom. Or Charming) asked, clearly just as shaken as she was about the thought of the curse.
"We don't. It's too late to stop the curse. But all curses can be broken," the imp replied, reaching through the bars and reaching at Snow's stomach. "That little thing in your belly. That is the key to breaking the curse."
"Our child?" she whispered as Charming smacked the hand away.
"On the child's eighteenth birthday, she will return to us, and break our curse," Rumpelstiltskin said, withdrawing his hand and frowning a little. "But I see something else… a way for you two to escape. A tree. An enchanted tree."
"A tree?" Snow asked. "And… the three of us can stay together?"
Rumpelstiltskin nodded. "Indeed, dearie." He smirked a little. "It will be amusing to see the Queen when she realizes you are not there."
Snow let out a breath of relief. She would be able to raise her child. Her daughter, as Rumpelstiltskin confirmed for them.
"What is your price? This is a lot of information Rumpelstiltskin," Snow said softly.
"Her name," he said. "All I want is her name."
Snow looked at Charming, who returned the look, before she stroked her stomach softly. "Emma. Her name is Emma."
"The Tree is enchanted… but it can only hold two," the Blue Fairy told them as they stood in front of the newly completed wardrobe.
Snow White's hand stroked her stomach as she gazed nervously at the thing that would get she and Charming to safety – to the other land before the curse hit and took them away, ripping them apart. She knew that was what Regina wanted, and she would never allow that to happen. But…
She didn't want to leave her friends. The dwarves, and Red and Granny, had become a family to her when she had lost her mother and her father to the Queen's wrath.
It was because of her, she knew it. She never should have told Cora that Regina was in love with someone else, but she couldn't stand to see Regina unhappy. She understood revenge, but this curse, one that was going to rip them to a land without happy endings… was too much for her to stand.
"So we go together," Charming said, squeezing her hand. "But what about the rest of you?"
Snow nodded in agreement, and looked at Red, her best friend. Leaving her would be the hardest part of this.
"Snow, don't worry about us," Red told her, obviously reading her mind. "Please. You and Charming need to go together, so you can come back and save us."
"But Red… this might kill you."
"It's simply a curse," she said. "And all curses can be broken. This one included. We will be okay, but you need to be safe."
"We must hurry," the Blue Fairy said. "Before the Evil Queen knows you're gone."
Snow felt tears stream down her cheeks as she hugged Red and Granny tight, not wanting them to go.
"You'll come back to us Snow, we know it," Granny said. "Now go. Hurry."
She felt Charming's arm wrap around her, guiding her to the open door of the wardrobe. It was small, but they managed to fit.
"Good luck Snow, Charming," Granny said. "We'll be here waiting for your return."
Gepetto closed the door, and Snow cried out as a light surrounded she and Charming, transporting them somewhere they didn't know.
Her eyes had fallen closed tight as she'd curled tight into her husband. Opening them slowly, she gazed around. They were in a tree again.
"Did… did it work?" she asked, looking into her husband's eyes.
"I don't know," Charming said, holding her close and reaching for the door. Pushing it open, Snow saw that they were in a forest, and not their palace.
"We're here," she whispered. "It worked."
But now where did they go?
Charming stepped out of the wardrobe and helped her down.
"A forest… good to know that our worlds aren't completely different," he muttered.
At least they hadn't wound up in a desert, or floating around somewhere without the ability to get to the ground.
A rumbling from the sky had them both crying out and ducking, trying to get back into the tree. There was something big, metal looking, flying overhead, and Snow didn't want to know what it was or how it worked.
But they were both blasted back.
There was no way for them to get home until the curse broke.
Charming stood, helping her back up. "Let's go see if we can find a village or something. We should also find some clothing to help us blend in better… just in case this world is different."
"We have to go get Dad!" Owen said to his uncle. "He needs our help!"
Uncle Paul sighed and shook his head. "Owen, how many times do you have to be told? Storybrooke does not exist. This is the third week you've said this. We've already sent police officers out there, and they have come back with nothing. No pictures of a town. No sign of your father. Nothing. Now what really happened to him? Did he get hurt while you were camping?"
"I already told you yes! Someone kept trying to arrest him and they wouldn't let him go!"
He had trusted Mayor Mills, looked up to her as a friend, but instead she took his father away from him. Why couldn't she have let him go with him? She knew that he'd lost his mother. Why did she have to take his father away from him too?
It had been a few weeks since he and his father had gone on their camping trip, before finding that town in the middle of the woods –that had been woods the night before-, and Owen was feeling less and less confident that anything really had happened. Maybe he was insane like the doctors were trying to tell him.
No. His father never would have left him like that. His father would have been found, even if he had died. Storybrooke had to be there. It just had to be.
But if he couldn't find anyone to believe him, how could he get there? How could he save his father?
"Come on Owen. It's time for your therapist appointment."
Sighing, Owen stood and followed Uncle Paul out to the car.