Ms. Susan Aveline put down the battered old book she had been reading and walked to her front door in response to the sound of someone knocking. She hadn't been able to catch up with Belle, and frankly, she was fuming a bit. As she opened the door, she found Emma and her son Henry looking downcast. Along with them was Mary Margaret and her slightly fussy young baby.

Mary Margaret spoke first, "Mrs. Aveline, we need your help."

"Well hello to you, too," She responded a touch snippy. She had been in denial and angry for so long, and she really didn't want to get involved. Secretly, she'd found herself begging not to get involved. And here they were on her doorstep, involving her.

"I really wouldn't trouble you, but you are the only one who can help," Mary Margaret responded in an earnest tone that filled Mrs. Aveline's heart with shame.

Emma spoke up, "It's that Jadis person. It turns out she has her powers from Charn. She, apparently, can kill everyone in town with a word. And if that weren't bad enough, she has put some sort of magical force field thingie around town. Look, we weren't born on earth. I know you don't exactly believe in this stuff, but it's true. It took me a whole season and a near miss with my son before I came to terms with it. The barrier only keeps in people who weren't born here. So you can leave, as can my son, and my mom's baby."

Mary Margeret spoke up, "We're asking for a bit of faith, Mrs. Aveline. If we're lucky, we'll be able to figure out a way to let you back in at the end. But, I just can't leave another baby without someone to care for him. So, please, take my grandson and my son, and take them across the line. It's the only way for them to be safe. You're the only one who can."

Susan Aveline got a strange look as she looked between Emma and Mary Margeret, who both looked about the same age. With a mutter, she said, " I get it, there's one of those screwy time things going on between you two.

Then with a much more firm voice she said, "Alright, I'll take them. Where will I go?"

Emma replied, "I can give you direction to Neal's place in New York. It's not much, but it's a place."

"Ah New York, Mr. Aveline and I used to love visiting there. I can do that, but I'm afraid I don't have a car."

Emma said quietly as she gave over the keys to her beloved yellow bug, "Here, take mine."

Haveronger landed on Simone's shoulder and reported to Jadis, "My Lady, the citizens of Storybrooke are ready for us. They have raised walls about the town, and I have seen the heroes on the walls, waiting for the coming battle.

"Otim, let us not disappoint them. They've gone to such pointless efforts. Order the troops forward. Simone, I need Haveronger skyward. Adolf, feel free to join the vanguard. Soon, the town will be mine," Jadis spoke with relish and an evil glint in her eye.

Emma's cell phone buzzed the sound of receiving a text. She looked down and saw it was from Snow White. She looked up to Robin's legendary merry men, dwarves, one very human sized giant, Captain Hook, and oh so many other heroes, and said, "They've come."

The group rushed to their stations. Dr. Whale joined the bulk of the nuns, or rather fairies in the triage area. Regina and Rumplestiltskin headed up to the battlements they'd raised earlier, along with the Merry Men, Hook and Emma joined them, carrying bows. Tiny, as his pickaxe and family called him, took up his position by the wall, and dug out the small piece of Wonderland mushroom Regina had given him.

As Grumpy followed the rest of the dwarves down a tunnel, he said, "It's win or die time, then."

Haveronger circled and Jadis' army advanced. Adolf had loped on ahead to ambush anyone who might be lying in wait for the vanguard of her forces. She strode confidently, her wand in one hand and sword in the other. Her forces surrounded her in the grim silence of the dead.

In the woods, Mary Margaret put her phone up and took her bow off her shoulder. It was time to go hunting.

As Jadis' legions crested the hills, the defenders of Storybrooke stood at ready. Regina had joined Rumplestiltskin on the battlements. She couldn't help a slight smile, "Well look what we have here. The witch brought siege engines."

"Indeed, we should do something about that."

Regina got a truly nasty smile as she summoned a fireball and said, "Let's give her a proper Storybrooke welcome."

As two of the catapults exploded in fire, the undead soldiers simply abandoned them. The third got a shot off, but it wasn't set quite right and overshot the walls. Simone felt herself growing angry. Her thoughts were on the nerve they had, flaunting their powers. Well she'd show them. She grabbed one of her wand and gestured, throwing a small bolt of force back at Regina.

It got close, but instead of hitting her, it hit a previously unseen shield of force. Regina said to Rumplestiltskin with a smirk while blowing up one of the battering rams carried by Jadis' army, "Amateur."

Adolf in wolf form was feeling quite proud of himself. He had caught the scent of a human. It was probably one of the scouts from town. He could not wait until he was able to sneak up on his quarry and crunch his throat. He slunk around the corner on a man with bow in hand, sighting a glowing crystal skyward towards a distant dot in the sky. Adolf's human side dimly recognized him as Robin Hood, but the wolf wanted blood. So he crouched and leapt.

Only to have his jump intercepted mid leap by fast moving black haired wolf. He was thrown to his side, causing him to thrash in anger, trying to fight like a human in a wolf's body. The wolf facing him, on the other hand, fought like a wolf with a single objective. It caught hold of the belt buckle with it's teeth and yanked the belt loose, causing it flap and writhe like a snake. Adolf became a little boy again, as his bones twisted, bent and cracked. His howling snout became that of a screaming and crying young boy. Meanwhile, the black wolf fought with the belt, it's buckle moving like a serpent. Despite the pain, Adolf rushed to grab it back, he was caught by Robin Hood, who had easily slung his bow. He restrained the crying, screaming boy with gentle words, "No child, let it go."

"Give it!" Adolf screamed and wept, "It's mine, I need it! give it back!"

The black haired wolf bit off the belt buckle. Black smoke arose from it's broken remains, as it's belt buckle rusted and fell to pieces. The black haired wolf stepped away from it's battered remains. Robin Hood let young Adolf go. The child ran to the remains of the belt and picked it up, trying to make it work again, but the magic was gone. Nearby, Red Riding Hood, for that's who the wolf was, returned to her human form and donned her legendary hood.

She smiled impishly at Robin Hood, "Thanks for helping me set that up. Don't you need to do something?"

"On it, " he said, vanishing into the underbrush.

Red dragged a protesting young Adolf by the ear and said, "Come along young man. It's time for you to get a few lessons on what free power actually costs. And what it cost me to be a wolf."

Jadis advanced towards the walls surrounding Storybrooke with a firm and deliberate step. Her army was taking casualties, but what did she care for the losses of the dead. The battle was going reasonably well. In fact, one group had managed to get close to the walls. Haveronger had been giving his sycophantic reports on the battle, like a good servant. Jadis frankly found it more useful than annoying for now. However, as far as Jadis was concerned, the less said of Simone's contributions, the better.

As Jadis strode forward following the troops almost to the wall, she saw a most improbable, and definitely unwelcome sight. A giant, with brushy brown hair and beard emerged from a massive cloud of purplish smoke and stepped over the wall, smashing a dozen of her skeletal troops to dust with a pair of spiked shoes. Those with a more modern frame of reference would call them golf shoes. This to Jadis was odd and unwelcome. The massive pick axe labeled "Tiny" he used to destroy a siege tower, on the other hand, was downright improbable. Then her situation took another turn for the worse, as the ground erupted in seven dwarves, each carrying their own pickaxes. Mary Margaret been lining up a shot on Jadis when they emerged, blocking her shot. Mary sighed and said, "Great job, Grumpy. Still, why waste a shot?"

As a red fletched arrow snapped the bowstring on a ballista some of the undead had been winding to fire, the dwarves advanced on Jadis. Seven dwarves advanced to attack the witch. Dopey fell first, overbalancing his attack and leaving him wide open to Jadis' wand. Then Grumpy fell, grumbling as he became stone. Happy and Sleepy were turned to stone next as they tried to flank her. Doc tried a more subtle ploy, and maneuvered into Jadis' blind spot, but she simply reversed her wand and turned him to stone as he approached. In moments, seven dwarves became seven statues, and Jadis stomped off to deal with the giant.

Haveronger swept over the field. Simone's latest contribution had been to enlarge one of the skeletal warriors. Which had simply made it a lovely target for Regina's fireball and arrows from Robin Hood's Merry Men, who were using the hastily raised battlements to good effect. A full third of Jadis' army lay in destroyed ruins, but she was almost to the battlements, and it wasn't like the siege engines or losses were really all that important. However, Haveronger saw Adolf as a boy again, being dragged back to Storybrooke by a very angry Red Riding Hood. Surely, he thought, her ladyship needed to know. It was another Hood that should have worried him more.

Simone was angry to the point of wrath. It wasn't fair! She should be winning, instead at every turn whatever she did was countered and stopped. Up ahead Jadis was finishing turning the newly re-enlarged giant to stone. She went through her wands to try to find something that would be impressive and work. Even her golden device offered no insight, and Haveronger seemed to be more interested in helping Jadis than her.

And then a green fletched arrow shot from the nearby trees, skewering her daemon. As Haveronger fell, it streamed black smoke, and it's raven-like body crashed to the ground. Simone ran quickly to where her bird fell, headless of the danger around her.

Finally Jadis turned towards the battlements where Regina and Rumplestiltskin and shouted a dark word of power. As the battlement began to shiver like water, Rumplestiltskin said, "Oops, time to go."

Two clouds of smoke signaled Regina's and Rumplestiltskin's departures as the battlement turned to dust. Unbalanced, the remainder of the battlement cracked apart and fell all around. Unfortunately, some of Robin's merry men were under the debris.

"Emma, we have injuries over here!" Little John yelled.

As Emma ran to their aid, dropping a single drop from the cordial into each of their lips. Meanwhile, the uninjured archers poured arrows in Jadis' direction. She was slowed, but only long enough to enact a shield of ice. From behind it, she started turning the Merry Men to stone. Emma took in the situation and shouted, "Clear out Guys, fall back into town and try to jump her when she and hers come into town. I'm going to go try to get her with David when she breaks into town."

Mary Margaret had found a hillock with a good view of the battle and set up to start to resume helping her fellow heroes. There she spotted the smoke signaling Regina's arrival in one of the secondary towers. The army of the dead was thinning, but still quite the threat. She didn't have a proper shot yet, but did have a great view of a camouflaged Robin Hood rising up stealthily behind Jadis and lining up a shot.

In the fields, Simone rushed to the husk of her daemon. She said, " Haveronger, I am here! What do I do?"

It turned it's almost raven looking head towards her, eye red and glowing and said hatefully, "Fail again you stupid cow."

Simone's world crumbled, but the demon wasn't done yet. It continued, it's voice becoming even more raspy, "you're a worthless magician compared to the Lady, and I hated you every second. I am undone because of you and how worthless you are. Your kind is so worthless, and I hate you so very much. But you were such a fine pawn."

With that, the birdlike thing fell apart into black smoke, some bones, and a couple of mockingbird feathers. And Simone's world crashed around her and she wept.

Jadis was oblivious to the end of Haveronger and probably wouldn't have cared much if she had been aware of it. Behind her, Robin Hood stealthily arouse behind her, letting his green camouflage hood fall aside. He snapped his bow up and knocked the arrow, and lined up a great shot, only to have it ruined by as a massive undead fist hit him with a hissing bellow, spoiling his shot. He looked up at the opal eyes of the Minotaur Otim. It stood over him, holding his rusted and notched scimitar. Jadis turned, seeing the tableau, she dismissively turned Robin Hood to stone and moved on.

Regina smiled a dark angry smile that promised nothing nice for the cause of that smile.

"Burn Witch, " she muttered. She gestured drawing the power to her and from Regina's pain, anger and frustration came a massive fireball that crashed down on Jadis.

As the flame and smoke cleared, the ground was scorched black, broken, shattered and glowing slightly red. Jadis herself, however, was untouched. She turned, touched her wand to her forehead in ironic salute and strode towards the wall.

Mary Margaret had another shot spoiled when Jadis uttered another sharp word of destruction. The wall shivered, turned to dust, and rubble fell into resultant hole. David and Hook strode out to attack her. Emma was right behind, but took a bad step on the rubble. A piece of it shot forward, and she fell to the ground at a bad angle, dropping her pistol in the process. David broke to the left of Jadis and Hook feinted to the right, bringing both his hook and a rather nice rapier into play. Otim stepped up to block David, slamming his notched scimitar onto David's shield, and his off-hand rusted blade shattered intercepting David's bright silver sword. David turned the slash into a counterstrike, flashing the lion headed pommel in the light. Meanwhile, Hook had caught Jadis' wand with his eponymous appendage whirling it aside, and then he made the same mistake everyone else had made, he tried to stab directly for Jadis' heart. Although the sword was in her off hand, and at a bad angle, Jadis was the sort of being who ripped the crossbar off of lampposts when aggravated. On the other hook, Captain Hook had the strength of a mortal man. He was simply outmatched, and just as quickly as he had made his thrust, she had wound his sword down to the ground, and freed her wand hand. Meanwhile, David broke one of Ortim's horns on his shield as the undead beast charged him, but it bowled him over, right into his daughter who was in the process of getting up. As David rolled and stood, Jadis bit her lip, and cast. Hook's skin hardened and turned to stone as he bravely tried with his last moment to deliver a hard slash down on Jadis' head. Alas, it was too late.

Emma's face promised death to Jadis, as she went for her gun. In response, Jadis swung her wand with easy grace and readied her sword to deliver death to the savior of Storybrooke, first. Mary Margaret saw her beloved daughter and husband with whom she shared a heart in mortal peril and tried to intervene. Just as she lined up a shot on Jadis' heart (assuming she had one), her husband, David, blocked her shot as he drove forward, confronting Jadis by interposing the silver shield with it's cherry red lion device. For Jadis, that shield reminded her of all the things she'd hated about Narnia, and she had nothing but bad memories of that particular shield, and the being represented by it's device. Jadis vented her rage with a one handed strike of her sword against the shield. A lesser shield would have been cleaved in twain, steel or no. But this gift could not be so easily broken. David has fought many battles, so he twisted the shield to slide her blade free, and open her up for a fast strike at her center. Jadis was fast and twisted back acrobatically, causing his strike to miss. Otim moved to help Jadis by getting to David's exposed flank, but was hampered when a red fletched arrow sliced between the bones in his bull hoofed foot, and into a tree root, forcing him to stop and grab it with both hands to free himself. Emma chose that moment to roll up with her gun, and shoot Otim in the other knee, causing him to stagger and drop to one knee. That moment, Robin Hood's Merry Men and Regina resumed launching arrows and fireballs on Jadis' undead army, reducing it yet further, almost to the point of collapse. And then it all went wrong.

Jadis lashed out with a quick kick, knocking Emma down and sending her pistol flying. At the same time, she managed to turn David to particularly bad angle. Otim chose that moment to lash out with his fist tripping David to the ground, and freeing up Jadis' wand for use. Jadis used her sword to tie up David's blade and then bit her lip and invoked her dark magic. David's skin and clothes grayed and hardened. In a blink he was a stone statue. Jadis looked at Emma, still hunting for her gun and smiled with evil joy, "See, Savior, how your allies fall. And just in case you think you've accomplished anything here today... Otim, call them!"

Otim bellowed, and from the trees a massive, second army of the dead began to emerge, thrice the size of her original army. She curled her lips up to let loose another round of gloating in Emma's direction, when Otim exploded in a ball of hot flame, revealing an angry Regina, resplendent in pantsuit, and holding an ancient looking dagger dripping in the venom of a two-headed viper from Agrabah. She said with equal venom, "Oh, we are not done Witch! This is my town."

"It was. Now, you'll join the garden of your allies, and I will move into your little white and black office and rule your town, and then your world. And that toy won't stop me."

Jadis strode forward, twirling her sword confidently and kept the wand arm loose, as she closed on the Evil Queen. As Jadis drew back her wand to turn Regina to stone, Emma leapt and grabbed her upraised arm. Were Jadis human it would have worked better than it did. Jadis simply glanced over, and said, "Fine, we'll do it the other way."

And Jadis stepped forward, and stabbed Regina, causing her to drop her poisoned dagger and collapse. Then Jadis shook her arm, throwing Emma back to the ground. As Emma quick crawled towards her gun, Jadis loomed over her, sword bloody and wand at the ready.

Mary Margaret had seen it all unfold. In that moment, the strong beacon of Storybrooke collapsed. One should not think ill of her for doing so. Half of her heart became stone, she had suffered the theft of her baby by a Wicked Witch and had to surrender him yet again for his safety. She'd lost her first child moments after birth and it was nearly thirty years before she saw her daughter again, and now it looked like she would loose her again. Her former rival and foe lay bleeding, unable to continue to fight. It was, in that moment, too much.

But it is in moments like this help often comes from unexpected places. A hand gently fell on her shoulder, and she looked up with tear blurred eyes to see Susan Pevensie Aveline standing over her, gently lifting away the quiver and bow. Susan smiled kindly and said, "It's okay, Snow White. You rest. I will take it from here."

"Hello, old friend," Queen Susan the Gentle said as she picked up her bow, knocked an arrow and then said, "Besides that old witch and I have some old business to attend to."

Here is how Susan came to be standing next to Snow White.

Mrs. Aveline had loaded up Snow White's baby, and the accoutrements that the modern world requires for babies in the back seat, along with Henry. Like many children that age, the baby simply decided that there was no such thing as worry, and had faded off to sleep. Henry was watching over her as they drove towards the town line. Crossing the Town Line was a one way trip out of Storybrooke at this point, courtesy of fairy magic meant to protect it from the dangers of the Land without Magic.

Henry, however, had many questions, but Mrs. Susan Aveline wasn't in an answering mood. She was fuming and angry. But more and more, the anger was turning inwards towards herself.

They were almost to the town line, clearly spray painted across the street when she broke. She slammed on the breaks with both feat and beat on the steering will shouting, "No no no no no no no no no!"

Henry looked up in shock and the baby awoke with a confused burble. Susan got control of her emotions and turned to the baby and said gently, "Don't worry young one, Granny is just having an existential freak out."

Henry spoke up, "So we're not leaving town?"

Susan's voice no longer held as much anger, but rather the fierce determination of someone who knew the right thing to do, and was determined to do it. She said, "No, we can't leave yet. There's something about Jadis they don't know. It's a mistake only my brother Edmund ever sorted right. And, you, my boy have a job to do.

"But first, we have to get this little cutie to safety, " she ended in a teasing note.

Henry said as Susan made a U-turn back towards town, "Wait, so if we're not going across the line, what are we going to do with the baby?"

Susan smiled as she drove, far above the speed limit, and a bit recklessly, "Oh I know the perfect place."

A short time later they stopped in front of Mr. Gold's shop. Without hesitation she walked in the front door to find a very aggravated Belle testing out the purple energy bubble around the shop. Henry followed her in and looked surprised. He said, "how did you know?"

"Oh, Mr. Gold seemed the sort. Hullo Belle! Could you please do me a huge favor?"

Belle looked up in surprise, "Mrs. Aveline! I thought you were leaving town."

"I can't leave yet, that old witch and I have business. Besides, isn't it past time you called me Susan?"

"Alright, Susan, then. Can you get me out of here?"

Susan sighed a bit, "I have no idea how to do that, but what I can do is give you charge of Snow White's rather precious baby. Henry and I still have work to do, but someone must care for him. Oh, I need a topographic map of Storybrooke. Do you have one here?"

Belle said, "While you get the baby settled, I'll go find it. Susan, be careful, she's dangerous."

Moments later Susan and Henry roared (as much as a yellow VW bug can) towards the battle. As they approached the walls, the distant sounds of fireballs exploding and the twang of arrows could be heard. Susan stopped and she and Henry got out.

Susan said to Henry, "Henry, I have a simple job for you. Look for the Lion. He's here, I know it, but my eyes are too old to see him anymore. Seek him, you'll find him. When you find him, run to him and ask him for help. He is good, he will help."

"But if he's good, why hasn't he helped already?"

Susan found a small smile, "Because he doesn't want to take your victories away from you. If you want to do it yourself, he'll let you, even if he knows you really can't. He's a gentleman, that Lion. Now scoot! I have to find your grandmother."

Susan headed out into the woods, and picked the spot where she would have set up to support her brothers in battle, and there she found a weeping Snow White.