The town hall was packed with curious people. the atmosphere was that of euphoria and celebration. Everyone was healthier and more content than ever before. Here and there, people were missing, villains were missing, and those who still cared for them were slightly less elated. But that did not change the fact that those who were -there- and were formerly in danger of dying of magical maladies, were now safe and healthy. It did not change the fact that those who were once thought to be forever dead and lost were back alive and given another chance at happiness.

Emma and Regina stood at the podium and explained the reason for the meeting.

Regina began, "we all know what has occurred yesterday in this town, and probably all around the world."

The crowd cheered and applauded Emma, who they all knew was the source of their "happily ever afters" and their savior.

"We also know that the source of it was right here where the portal opened and we found Emma." again the hall erupted with cheers, "Our question is how it happened. It was very obviously a very powerful force. We scoured the entire hill for clues and found only this little bottle of potion." Regina lifted the potion bottle to show the crowd.

"We are all still very emotional having met our lost loved ones, and we understand that most people don't care -how- it happened as long as you can finally see your family and friends again. But such power must have had a source and we are trying to investigate where it all came from"

Someone shouted from the back, "of course, -Regina- wants to know everything to do with power!"

"Yeah," someone else yelled, (it sounded like the mad hatter) "all the -normal- people are just happy that life is good. -Normal- people are not looking for power."

"isn't it interesting," someone else called out, "that of all villains who disappeared with this magic, only Regina remained?"

"yeah!" a few more voices.

"Why is that?" called grumpy.

"first of all," Emma shouted over the voices, "-I- am the one investigating it. Sherriff Graham and I. Second, many of us looked this magic up. For example, Blue measured it with her wand and found that it was definitely not dark magic, but it did not come from a light source"

"And lastly," Emma continued firmly, "Regina is not a villain. She has not been a villain for years. People can change. People reform. Apparently, she is the only villain who managed to do that and stay alive during this great revolutionary magic that occurred.

The town hall was silent again and many of the people nodded in agreement.

"Now, the only clue that we found was a small bottle of forgetful potion. We understand that in the past year or so, when life was horrible, when people were dying of magical epidemics and disorders, and villains were terrorizing the world, we all seeked to purchase such bottles. I remember a month ago it was even for sale at Granny's. Mr. Gold's shop sold them for a dime a dozen a few months ago, and they were sold at the Rabbit Hole as well. Also, Regina gave them out freely to anyone who came crying to her about something they wanted to forget. It will be very hard to take inventory, but if any of you remember buying such a thing or seeing anyone acquire it recently, please report to the station."

The meeting ended with more shouts of thanks toward Emma and everyone dispersed joyously looking forward to spending more quality time with all their loved ones.

Emma and Graham walked back to the station together after the meeting, discussing the possibilities of figuring this out.
"I doubt we will get anywhere with the memory potion," Graham commented.

Emma was giddy with excitement every time she looked at Graham, alive and well, solving mysteries together with her.

In the past 24 hours she was on a high with happiness. She saw Neal again, then she ran to Henry and they celebrated together all night, eating bagels and doughnuts and ice cream and talking non stop. There was so much to catch up on! Sometime during the night Snow and Charming arrived with their baby. Then they all went to Mr. Gold's shop to check if he's there, but unsurprisingly, he wasn't. all villains disappeared. Belle, however was there with her new baby. Belle was a little nostalgic and sad, but she seemed so happy with her little baby that everyone hoped she couldn't be -too- depressed that her husband was gone.

Neal was pleasantly surprised to learn that he had a little sister and they all sat and talked together about how much better the world became thanks to Emma's magic.

Emma was not comfortable when the conversation moved toward her "savior magic" mainly because she had no idea what she did or how she did it.

And now she is back at work, as sheriff, together with Graham, trying to solve the mystery of her magic.

"at least we're trying," Emma told Graham, "this is driving me crazy!"

"Don't let it," Graham said, "one day you might remember or figure it out. Just be happy with life, Emma, you earned it."

Emma agreed, but she was still thinking about it non-stop.

Henry, too, was thinking about this very powerful magic. This magic brought his dad back. He had to know how it happened.

Henry spent the next day in Gold's shop looking at every item. Touching it, listening to it. Henry found that although he loved to find information in books, he was able to glean so much more from objects. He just had a feel for it.

He started with the potion bottles. Henry noticed that many of the more sinister potions that he saw a few weeks ago, while snooping around, were gone. Probably the magic that eliminated all the villains also got rid of dangerous products like those shady potions.

Yesterday, Henry had already seen the potion that his mother found on the ground next to her. He held it in his hand and felt something huge engulf his heart and warm it, but at the same time his heart felt like it was breaking. Henry instantly knew that whatever happened on that little hill was not just powerful, but intensely profound. he quickly removed a thread that was attached to the bottle, (it looked like it came from a fraying book bind) feeling just a little guilty for sabotaging his mom's evidence. He rationalized that since his moms didn't consider looking into this piece of evidence after all this time that they had it, they might not have noticed it at all anyway.

Henry paused. He could hear Belle singing to the baby in the back while he carefully took down some dusty old potion bottles and checked them out.

The quiet from the back meant that the baby was sleeping and Belle might come out at any moment. Henry quickly bagged the potions, and just as Belle came out, He greeted her innocently, as if he had just entered the shop.

"Hi, can I see my little auntie?" he asked with a smile.

Belle told him that the baby was sleeping and asked if he could come again later.

"sure!" Henry sprinted out of the shop with his book bag full of dubious potions and his heart full of excitement.

At the corner of the street he opened his book-bag and took out the potion he recognized as one that 'finds things'. He then took out the thread that he found with the forgetting potion bottle. He poured a drop of potion on the thread and let it guide him. he followed the thread until it reached a garbage dump and the thread fell inside. Henry climbed into the dump and looked around.

He spotted some ancient looking books that seemed to call to him. Ancient books that looked as if they were destroyed by someone and thrown there in hopes that it would never be found. He opened one book. It was completely burned. He opened all the books, but they were all burned by the same fire, Henry could tell by feeling the books and holding them that the fire was a magical one.

Back in his room, Henry took the burnt books and one by one, he hugged them close to his heart and listened carefully. He believed that he could feel the books telling him that they were somehow connected to the great power that turned the whole universe around and brought hope back into the world.

After he was unsuccessful at repairing the damaged books, he decided to ask his moms to help him.

"Where did you find these books?" Regina asked.

Henry has been warned against snooping so he said that he just found them in the garbage dump.

"what do you mean you 'just' found them in the garbage," Emma asked, "what were you doing in the garbage dump?"

"I was playing hide and seek with Roland," He answered thinking quickly and looking at Regina. (he avoided looking at Emma when he lied).

Regina looked at Emma and Emma looked at Neal. They all shook their heads. "Don't play near the garbage dump anymore, Henry," his father sighed.

"But can you fix them mom?" He asked looking at Regina and Emma.

He tried to do it by himself using some of the potions he found but was unsuccessful.
Regina took one of the books and looked it over.

"it looks like whoever burned these books really meant for them to be destroyed. There isn't even a single letter left in it.

"if it was a regular fire that burned them we can fix it, though," Emma said confidently, and Regina nodded in agreement.

"we will take them home and try to fix these books" Regina said, and Henry felt a sinking disappointment, because he knew that this was no ordinary fire that destroyed these books. He guessed that his mothers will not be able to fix these books easily and he would have to snoop around so that he could read from it if it is ever fixed at all.

Regina and Emma spent many weeks shut in Regina's living room trying every combination of magic possible to reveal something, -anything- about the books. Even a word or a title, to no avail.

On one such day, when they heard a knock on the door they couldn't believe how late it was. Regina opened the door and Neal walked in with dinner.

"I didn't think you gals remembered to eat anything while doing your detective work," he said handing Regina the take-out bag and turning to leave.

"Wait," called Emma, "stay here with us and let's eat together," she said, "I really don't think we will do anymore work on these useless books. When we're done eating we'll leave."

They sat down and told Neal about the types of magic they tried on the books. Neal pretended to listen, but magic never interested him.

"…and then we tried a memory potion in combination with a incantation and a charm and still, nothing," Emma said taking another bite.

"did you try to use a dream catcher," Neal asked un-enthusiastically, pretending to care and offering one of the only magical things he new about.

Emma gasped at that and looked at Regina. Regina looked back at Emma in excitement and they both got up forgetting about the food and rushing to get a dream catcher and gently caress the first book with it.

Almost instantly, words began to appear in the dream catcher. The title of the book: "The Greatest Power in the All the Realms"

Regina and Emma squealed as the first page appeared. Neal saw their excitement and got up taking his phone.

"I will snap pictures of the dream catcher as the chapters change. No one can read this fast."

"Good idea," Regina said.

After a few long hours, they had all the books on their phones, and were each starting to read.

They were all so engrossed that when Henry came home he was able to see exactly what they were doing before they pretended that they were just sending each other video clips on their phones.

Henry already started thinking of plans to get his hands on one of his parents' phones.
After Henry went to bed, the three parents continued reading. As the days and nights wore on, they had to call Blue to explain a few things, they called Belle to explain some passages, and by the summer's end they had a basic idea of what must have happened.