Hook told them that they were to wait in what looked like a miscellaneous storage/tea room of their ally's castle. It had apparently once belonged to Rumplestiltskin but was now used as a base for "the resistance" against the Wicked Witch of the West. Upon hearing that this was who their enemy was, Emma resistance the urge to curl up in the fetal position and try to forget everything that Hook had told her. Her life was getting more ridiculous every day.
"Emma!" Came dual, feminine cries from the doorway. Emma turned and saw two women quickly walking towards her. One looked like a story-book princess, though with the way things were going she probably was, and the other was a warrior woman in her armor. The princess embraced her while the warrior clapped her on the shoulder. Her look of confusion probably cued them in as she half-heartedly greeted them.
"Oh, right. Belle did tell us that your memories were gone." The princess explained to both the warrior and Emma.
"I am Aurora and this is Mulan!" She introduced both of them. Emma could feel her head reeling as two very famous Disney princesses introduced themselves to her. She also noted how Mulan placed her arm protectively around Aurora and suddenly that "weird" feeling she had while watching Mulan's movie made sudden sense, much to her chagrin.
"So…I'm guessing you two know me?" She asked, breaking the semi-awkward silence that has come over the trio.
"Yes, Aurora and I helped you and your mother to return back to your realm."
Henry came running in at that moment, a woman wearing a long red cloak trailing behind him. Emma had to take a breath to calm herself as the woman placed an arm around her son, she was still not sure she was totally comfortable with a werewolf acting as Henry's babysitter.
"Mom! Ruby is the coolest! She showed me how to track a deer and Granny promised to teach me how to shoot a crossbow while you were gone!" He all but shouted, wrapping his arms around his mother. Emma gave the kid a half-hearted smile.
"Don't worry, Emma. I used to watch Henry all the time and Granny would never actually let him shoot with the crossbow, his m-...Regina would kill us."
Emma's head snapped up as her mysterious woman's name finally came up. Not once had anyone mentioned her name and Emma didn't feel that asking about her would be the most prudent decision, especially since apparently her parents and their kingdom, and the kingdoms of their allies, were all in grave peril because of the Wicked Witch of the West. Very few castles and kingdoms were safe, but this was the safest one since the Dark One's wards still protected the castle. It was apparently due to the spells being blood magic and Rumplestiltskin had living relatives in the castle or that was the simplest answer she could get out of Hook before he slunk away.
Emma was now waiting for him and whomever else was supposed to be on their small escort squad. The plan was to take Emma to the castle of one of their allies and use magic, because apparently she had that, and stuff and Emma stopped listening because it all got too complicated. What the plan boiled down to was get her to that other castle, relearn magic, and then defeat the Wicked Witch. And all this was why Henry was being babysat by Ruby and Granny. She wasn't stupid or reckless enough to bring her son on a covert mission that could, and probably would, end up with someone's life being lost. Emma liked to believe she was responsible and taking Henry would be irresponsible.
"Hook, that is a terrible idea and you know it!" A voice shouted as two figures entered the room. Emma turned to see Hook and who had introduced herself as Tinker Bell, although she apparently preferred to be called Tink. Emma narrowed her eyes as she noticed the fairy's gaze flitting in her direction. They were talking about her, she could tell. Hook's reaction was to let out a half-hearted laugh, as if to say "it's out of my hand".
"Love, I know it's a terrible idea but we need all the help we can get. And wasn't it you who gave him the idea in the first place?" Tink glared at the pirate before shaking her head and throwing Emma a sympathetic look, though she knew not why the fairy would do so.
"What the hell is going on?" Emma growled. Both fairy and pirate shared a look before Tink looked over at Ruby.
"Ruby, would you please take Henry elsewhere. We have to tell Emma something important." The werewolf nodded and shepherded the boy out of the room. Mulan and Aurora also took this as a cue to leave as well.
Once the trio was alone, Tink let out an exasperated sigh and Hook took a long swig out of his flask which Tink then stole and then did the same. She offered the rum to the blonde.
"No thanks. I don't do rum." Fairy and pirate shared a look that seemed confused, amongst other things, before guiding Emma to one of the chairs around the long dining table.
"You're going to want to sit for this, Swan." Hook stated before taking a seat himself. Tink chose to remain standing, leaning against the pirate's chair. Emma waited for the two to start while they silently argued over who should tell the news. Apparently Hook lost or decided to just come out with it because he let out a deep sigh before finally beginning.
"I take it that your memories still include a man named Neal." Emma remained silent but the look of surprise on her face was all the answer he needed.
"I will spare you the long story, but he is Rumplestiltskin's son. Ergo, he is from the Enchanted Forest. I knew him as Baelfire. And he is here in this castle." This time, Emma was stunned speechless. She struggled to find something to say but Tink chimed in,
"His blood is what is keeping the wards up. Now that Henry is here, Neal is able to leave without the wards dropping. This means that he can travel with your escort and bring some of the wards with you."
"Hold on. You're telling me that my ex has been here this entire time and not once did you think to tell me?! Is this because you're jealous of him or something, Hook?!" Emma shouted, preparing to jump out of her chair and strangle the pirate.
"Sadly, Swan, I wish that is what it was." At this admission, Emma stood up, towering above Hook with fist raised, ready to punch the man at any moment.
"Something bad happened." Tink stated, her lips drawn into a thin line. Emma turned to look at the fairy who was now looking out one of the windows. She then turned to look at Hook who was busy scratching a small doodle into the wooden table. Both were obviously keeping the truth from her. Emma calmed herself and sat back down in the chair, waiting for one of the duo to speak up and explain what Tink meant.
"Love, you know what happened better than I do. You, sadly, should be the one to inform Swan of what befell Baelfire." At this, Tink nodded before circling around the table to take the seat directly in front of Emma.
"As Hook told you, I'm sure, there are very few ways to travel between worlds. Beans and flying ships are generally the preferred method, however, we lacked basically any method except the one you used to get back here. That was originally going to be the way we would have used to go to your realm, but we lacked a way to return you to this one. We searched and searched and searched until...we found the answer." Tink paused and took a deep breath to steady her wavering voice before finally continuing.
"We found an...alternative method. We could use the ash and water in your realm to return you to us...but to send someone to there...would require great sacrifice."
"Is he still alive?" Emma asked, suddenly numb. She might not have had feelings for the bastard who had left her, but she still cared for him in a way.
"Of course. The wards would not have remained up in the first place. We would have surely been crushed at the first sign that they were down." Tink explained. Emma took a deep breath and began wishing that she had a nice mug of hot chocolate and cinnamon to help settle her nerves.
"If he didn't die then what was the major sacrifice?" Emma asked as an uncomfortable silence had fallen upon the trio.
"Love." Hook simply replied, inspecting his hook's point. Emma's head snapped over towards the pirate, confusion evident on her face.
"We found an ancient spell from an even more ancient kingdom. Translated, the spell was simply a "Wolf Gate". With several hard-to-find ingredients and with the moon being at a certain angle in the sky and other magical nonsense, we summoned a giant door with a wolf headed guardian who asked for a great sacrifice. We all fought over what would work and many of the things we offered it would not suffice. Until Neal stepped up and made his offer. He knew that True Love was the greatest magic of all and he did love you. So he offered the creature his love and it willingly took it. It took all his love. Some of the former Storybrooke inhabitants even call him "robotic", whatever that means. You two were getting along and having a good 'ol time when the curse broke and erased your memories and sent us here." He finished and waited for Emma to say something. She didn't get the chance when Neal himself came into the dining room, interrupting the trio.
"Blue says that we should leave soon." He said. His eyes swept over to Emma but there was no joy or even sorrow to her presence. He just looked at her. "I'll be at the stables. Our horses are ready." And then he left.
Emma felt her throat tighten as he left. The Neal she had known would not have been so heartless as to completely disregard her. She couldn't remember those "good times" that Hook rather sarcastically mentioned. But maybe her heart knew something she didn't.
The blonde had thought all these years that she hated Neal. She had vowed to punch him in his stupid puppy-dog face if she ever saw him again but when she saw him, there was nothing negative, just sorrow for the man she once thought she loved.
"It's been hard on all of us." Tink said, laying a comforting hand on Emma's. Emma nodded and appreciatively squeezed the other blonde's hand before standing up.
"As Neal said, we need to get going. The sooner I can relearn magic, the sooner I can stop the Wicked Witch and save my...parents." Both Hook and Tink stood and the trio made their trek to the stables.
Everyone was waiting to see them off. Emma said her good-byes to Henry, trying to ignore the slight anger she felt when Neal didn't acknowledge his son. She knew it wasn't his fault but it still pissed her off.
"You'll be riding with Mulan, Emma." Neal stated as he mounted his own horse. She began opening her mouth to argue but was interrupted by Mulan,
"Your inability to ride might slow us down, the wards may protect us from her scrying spells, but she still commands an army. Their patrols could find us and running may very well be our only option if outnumbered. You can't fall into enemy hands." Emma mulled this over before swallowing her pride and accepting Mulan's help in order to mount the horse.
She looked around at her escort party and everyone who was waving goodbye to them. Neal, Hook, Mulan, a few of Robin Hood's men, and herself. She hoped that this would not be the last time that the all looked upon their loved ones. And she also hoped that she didn't die before finding her mysterious dream woman, this Regina.
Author's note: So according to one of my friends who read this before I posted it, the whole love sacrifice thing is similar to a situation in a show called "Lost Girl". I've never seen it so I do apologize if it is too similar. The Wolf Gate is from a defunct fantasy story I wrote many years ago that was a modern fantasy but not at the same time. One character would make a sacrifice to send her sibling back through the gate and back home (since she swore she would get him home) by sacrificing ever seeing her family again, she opened the gate. Other sacrifices the gate has taken: Arms, legs, lives of unimportant peons, etc.
