Edge of a Knife

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1 for full disclaimer.

Emma is in her old office when the phone rings. It's difficult to find a place that is unaffected by the slow disintegration of Storybrooke, and the Sherriff's office is a tiny island of sanity in a world turned on its head. To be honest, Emma wasn't even sure that the phone lines were still working, and her boots slip off the edge of the desk in surprise as the old telephone shudders into life.

"Uh...hello?"

The voice on the other end is quiet and unfamiliar.

"Emma?"

"Yes?"

There is a moment's pause and Emma catches a glimpse of Le...Grumpy on the street below. She's known the man for only a few months, and his grin, visible even from so far away, creeps her out a little. Isn't there another dwarf with the monopoly on that emotion, or something?

"It's Belle."

Emma stands abruptly, her chair rolling away across the carpet and pitching into the wall.

"Belle! Oh my god, are you okay? Where are you calling from?"

"Washington."

"What are you doing in Washington?"

"I was just...travelling."

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong?"

Belle sounds awful, tired and hoarse, exhaustion cracking her gentle voice and giving Emma a case of very bad vibes. She rakes her fingers through her blonde curls and takes a cautious breath.

"How's the...the magic?"

Belle lets out a tiny sigh.

"It's bad."

Emma's done some investigating in the weeks since Belle left Storybrooke. She thinks she has a better grasp on magic as a concept, and what it does. How it corrupts. From what she's heard, the curse might have actually stopped Gold's slide into insanity. The man she knew now seems a well-adjusted and sane individual compared to some of the stories she has heard of his exploits in the Enchanted Forest.

"A new story appeared in Henry's book."

"Oh."

Belle doesn't seem to have the energy for curiosity. But she needs to be told. Emma paces up and down a few times, and then drops the bombshell.

"It was about him. And you. Rumplestiltskin, I mean."

There is a long silence.

"Oh."

The amount of pain in that one sound makes Emma clench her teeth.

"Henry's been telling everyone. I mean, everyone that's left. Most of them have gone back to the Forest. This portal, I guess, appeared near the Troll Bridge and you can just step over the line. I don't know how long it's going to stay open, though. No one does. But Henry's making sure that everyone knows about what happened. The truth."

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why is he telling people about us?"

Why does he care, is the unspoken question Belle is asking. There is an edge to her voice that is betraying a grief that is still very raw.

"Well, for one reason, it turns out Rumplestiltskin was his grandfather."

Alice Marley is curled in the corner of her hotel room. There is a throbbing lump on the side of her head, and her fingers come away bloody when she dares to explore it. Her attacker is sitting on the bed, talking on her phone, and Alice doesn't know what to do. The woman is playing with a strange wavy knife, watching the light play off the blade. If she screams for help, will she stab her? For that matter, will anyone hear? She's stayed here three nights and never heard anyone's television in another room, or footsteps above or below. The wall behind her sore head feels thick, made to deaden sound. Made to cage her cries for help. Alice shivers, and tries hard not to cry.

The woman on the bed shifts, and frowns. Her eyes are very blue, Alice can't help noticing, blue as china. Doll's eyes.

"Baelfire is there?" She asks the person on the other end of the line. She hooks her free arm around her stomach, and hunches her shoulders. She looks tired and beaten. Maybe Alice could beat her to the door? But even as she thinks it, the woman's eyes drift to hers, and she freezes under the weight of that stare.

"No, I can't come back." The woman says, staring searchingly into Alice's wide eyes. Her accent is hard to place, pleasant to listen to, almost musical.

"Ask him if you don't believe me. When he came through to this world, his father couldn't follow. The Magic wouldn't let him. It has purpose, Emma. It has intent. If I come back to Storybrooke, I won't be able to help going through the portal."

Alice stares at the carpet under her feet, petrified. She's locked in a room with a madwoman. God knows what this woman is capable of. Magic? Portals? She's completely insane.

"When the curse broke, I saw my future there. I saw the future of the kingdoms. I saw what I turned into, Emma. It's best that I never go back."

The woman is silent for a while, listening to this Emma person on the other end. Is she trying to talk her out of these delusions? Is she an accomplice? Alice draws her knees up to her chest and hugs them, trying to think.

"I'm sorry." The woman says finally, sitting up straight. Her eyes are clear and her jaw determined.

"I hope you have a good life. You and Henry. Tell Baelfire...tell him his father was a good man. That's why I loved him. Goodbye."

For a moment, the two women are statues, wooden puppets propped in opposite corners. Alice's attacker puts her head in her hands for a moment and murmurs, "I choose my own fate."

Then her strange eyes are back on Alice, unblinking. Hypnotic.

"Guy." She says, and Alice blinks, nonplussed.

The woman lowers her head and stares at her.

"Your boyfriend?"

"Yes." Alice whispers breathlessly.

"Do you love him?"

The woman is blurring, disappearing behind a veil of tears.

"Yes." Alice gasps.

"Then tell me when the ship leaves, and I promise no harm will come to you both."

Author's Note: Thanks go to my reviewer Me, although if I'm supposed to know who you are... I don't. Thanks anyway. Thank you also to abbasragamuffin and c3144160 for your interest. More soon!

Concrit well received,

Taluliaka.