Storybrooke was completely clouded over. For a moment its residents could no longer see more than two feet in front of them but it didn't matter right now, as they all held their loved ones close. They finally knew who they were, who they loved and, most importantly, who loved them and that was everything. Killian's arms wrapped around Emma. Even in this darkness she felt so safe, her head rested on his still bare chest, Killian's hair tickled her chin as they waited for the dust to settle so they could face the aftermath together.

Snow's mind was racing, her heart could barely keep up with it all. Everything that had happened in the last 15 years, her two lives colliding rushed in through her mind. However, even with all the memories of banditry having her family, her husband, finally beside her again reminded her that there was only one thing she could focus on right now.

"Emma."

David nodded. Grabbing Snow's hand they ran into the hospital together. They arrived in the ICU feeling desperate. They would finally have their family together. They may have spent time with her in the last few months but that was before they knew everything. It was different now. They ran in to find the hospital almost empty, Dr Whale slammed into David on his way out, stopping when he saw them. Their eyes frantically scanned the room but Emma wasn't there.

"Where is she? Where is my daughter?" Snow asked.

"She was just here. Killian and Emma went to go find you just a moment ago. They should have passed you in the hall." Whale looked at them confused.

Snow spun around looking around the room. Emma's bag was on the floor by the hospital bed where Killian laid just a few minutes ago. She picked it up, holding it close. Where had Emma gone?

Emma ran down the stairs. Killian followed closely behind her, still trying to get his shirt over his head as the three of them ran down to the basement. He had no idea what was going on, they were on their way out of the hospital when this girl came running out of the stairwell shouting Emma's name, telling her to follow if she wanted to live.

"Swan, what's going on? Who is this girl?" Killian stopped running after they all exited the stairwell. Now in the dank basement and panting like crazy, he could barely see Emma's face in the dark. She was about to answer him when the other girl opened her mouth first.

"My name's Lily and I'm here to warn Emma, but we have to keep moving. It's coming."

Emma would have liked to give Killian an explanation but she had no idea what Lily was doing here, or how she knew Emma was in Storybrooke for that matter. Emma hadn't seen or heard anything from Lily since the day of the fire at her old foster home. None of this made sense but Lily looked even more scared then she did that day she almost got caught sneaking out of the house. Suddenly, there was a crack in the wall. Something moved in the corner. Whatever it was, it went quick before falling silent.

"We've got to go. It's HERE." Lily yelled. She took off again towards the emergency exit.

"What? Lily, I don't understand." Emma grabbed Killian's hand. She was getting really worried now. Lily wasn't easily frightened and she was terrified right now, so whatever it was they were running from must have been bad. Emma followed Lily but they didn't get far because all of a sudden the room got colder and darker. A huge shadow stood before them or more like floated, there was black smoke coming from it almost surrounding them.

"Emma, get back." Killian grabbed her arm, pulling her back and the three of them ran back the way they had come.

Before they reached the stairs the Shadow was in front of them again. It was everywhere, it seemed like it would be impossible to escape the darkness surrounding them. Killian noticed something. It wasn't focussed on him, just Emma and Lily as if it were hunting them. He saw this as an opportunity. The old hook would have just ran away and left them to their fate but fifteen years was a much longer time then he'd thought and that boy had begun to fade away like a bad memory.

Killian noticed a box of junk by the wall. He ran to it hoping to find a weapon. It wasn't exactly what he was expecting but it would do. Killian grabbed an old flare gun that was a bit wet and he would have use his hook to light it. There was no time to think, he just reacted. Closing his eyes and hoping something would work was an unfamiliar feeling for the former pirate. He scrapped his hook over the top once twice but it failed to ignite. Emma and Lily still scrambled to get away from the enclosing darkness.

"Third time's a charm." Killian slid his hook over the flare once more. It flared up alright, almost burning his face. He waved it right at the creature which surprisingly let out a shriek. He moved in front of the girls wanting to protect them. The creature almost had its claws around them before Killian intervened and it shrunk back to whatever dark pit it came from. The basement was bright with the light from the flare.

"It's gone." Emma smiled. She could see Killian's smirk through the light. Emma went over to him, how could it be he was barely alive a moment ago and now he was battling demons?

"You ok?" Emma asked him, realising what a close call that was again after saving his life only twenty minutes ago. Killian nodded but he hadn't been expecting this. Everything was meant to be ok now that the curse was broken. He never really thought about how it would be and had not been expecting magic back to come back into his life so soon. But in the end Killian knew had Emma at his side and that was everything.

"What the hell was that?" Anna asked, confused when the purple cloud of smoke finally cleared from the cell she had called home for the past fifteen years.

"Magic. I can feel it." Elsa said, but she wasn't relieved she was worried.

"That's good. You can get me out of here."

"Not that simple, it's been fifteen years. I'm a little rusty. What if I hurt you or worse?"

"It's ok. Just focus. I know you can do this."

Elsa was breathing heavily. She could barely contain it let alone control it. She felt like she was going to lose it. She could feel the snowflakes in the air already. Maybe if she just focused on something else then she could do this.

"Anna, have you been here all this time?" Elsa had tears streaming down her checks thinking of all the lost years between them. She had spent all this time missing her sister and during that time Anna was locked away down here, trapped and alone.

"Yeah, I had my memories after we all got sent here so the queen, she locked me up so I couldn't find you and tell you the truth about who you are, who we all are."

"How could she? What kind of person does this? She saw me every day. All this time and she never said anything." Elsa was in shock. It was almost too much and she knew she wouldn't be able to take much more.

"Hello?," A voice called from the other end of the dark hallway. "Is someone down here?"

"Mulan." Elsa said in relief. She didn't know how she found her but she needed her right now. Mulan came running down the hall out of the darkness. She hugged Elsa, so relieved it was all over.

"What are you doing down here and why is it so cold" Mulan said confused. She rubbed her shoulders to keep warm.

"I found my sister, and the sudden drop in temperature is my fault."

"You found Anna! Where is she?"

"I'm in here" Anna called out from the other side of the door.

"Oh! We better get her out of there."

"It's a solid door and I don't see any keys around here. I don't know what to do."

Mulan could tell by the sound of her voice that Elsa was stressed but she knew what to do.

"I got this, girl." Mulan smiled walking off.

She had seen something when she was making her way down here. If only she could find it in the dark.

"What's going on?" Anna asked, confused about why she was not hearing anything from the other side of the door.

"Mulan's getting something to help you out of there."

"Who's Mulan?"

"She's kind of my girlfriend" Elsa said rather slowly and awkwardly. She didn't imagine introducing Anna to her this way. Mulan came back then with a crow bar in her hand.

"I don't think that will work." Elsa said eyeing the bar sceptically.

"The door may be solid but those hinges look a little rusty." Mulan went over to the door, jabbing the crowbar in and pulling the hinges off quickly and skilfully. Elsa's eyes went wide. She was impressed. She knew how strong Mulan was but she didn't know her girlfriend was so handy.

"Who are you?" Elsa smiled, happy to be able to free her sister and feeling more attracted to Mulan than ever.

"I'm a warrior." Mulan stood there proud finally feeling like herself again. She pulled Elsa to the side and with one last pull the door fell forward with a loud clang. Anna came flying out almost tripping over the door as she leapt into Elsa's arms. They held on to each other tight. It may have been many years since they last saw each other but it felt like yesterday. The bond between them was as strong as ever.

"Thank you." Anna said to Mulan when she let go of her sister. She wrapped her arms around Mulan, who was surprised by the gesture but smiled and hugged the red headed girl back.

"You guys sure do like your hugs."

The three of them laughed before making their way out of the hospital to find the rest of their friends.

There was a lot of loud rumbling in the street. A crowd had gathered and they didn't sound peaceful. Maybe Emma was out there David and Snow thought, so they followed the noise. They came out of the hospital and walked through the almost empty streets of Storybrooke eventually spotting the town's residents forming an angry mob and heading towards Regina's house.

"What's going on?" David yelled out as they got close enough to the mob.

"Oh you're here!" Leroy turned around. He wanted to be grumpy but he was too relieved to see his friend to make any real attempt to at rudeness.

"Grumpy, have you seen Emma?" Snow asked.

"No. Sorry. I was on the streets when the curse broke and the first people I saw were my brothers. The next were the guys with the pitchforks and boy was I eager to join them."

David looked at the crowd. "Where are you all going?"

"To the Evil Queen's house of course. She has to pay for what she did to all of us."

"So you're going to kill her?" Snow said, contemplatively. Regina was terrible and she could understand the pain these people were going through better than anyone but still something about this felt wrong.

Snow looked at Charming and he nodded his head. They knew they had to bring some levity to this crowd. They began to fight their way to the front of the crowd, hoping to reach Regina first. It seemed to have gained momentum after their arrival as they ran through the streets a lot of people still finding their loved ones in the crowd.

They arrived at her house to find it quiet maybe empty, David spotted Graham by the front knocking on the door. David and Snow where told by most of the crowd that that last time anyone saw Emma she was fighting in the street with Regina before going to the hospital maybe it was round two and Regina had her magic the mere thought of it had them in a panic so David didn't even bother knocking slamming the door down they made their way in.

"Emma" Snow yelled but she wasn't there just Regina in her lounge hunched over books and frantically researching something.

"Mary Margret, what are you doing here?" Regna frowned coming out of her focused state she hadn't even noticed the crowd forming on her lawn into right then Graham was holding them off at the door while they went in to figure out what was going on.

"Looking for our daughter" David snapped but he was wary he knew what Regina was capable of.

"You can relax, I seem unable to use any of my magic" Regina was frustrated she had been researching hours trying to solve this problem knowing her time was up and she would have to face the people she hurt.

"Guys where got more problems out here" Graham yelled from the doorway he was standing in front of.

"What are you doing" Snow asked wondering why Regina would bother researching her way out of this but as Snow looked around at the display of books and ornaments scattered around she realised Regina was trying to save herself she was trying to save Killian, trying to break a sleeping curse.

"Feeling some regret" Snow asked

"Never" Regina replied through her teeth scolding at Snow

Graham couldn't hold back the angry crowd any longer they barged into the house breaking things as they came through to Regina but no one was sure of what they were doing or what to do next they just wanted action.

"Wait everyone just calm down" David yelled over the crowd his hands raised in attempt to get them to stop.

"How about I take her down to the station we can discuss what to do a town meeting" Graham stood up on the table trying to get everyone's attention.

The crowd got louder again not everyone was happy with this idea but what else was there to do where the really going to kill her. Snow spotted Elsa by the end of the room then forgetting the current disaster for a moment remembering the reason they came here in the first place maybe Emma was with Elsa she went over to them while David helped Graham.

"Elsa, Elsa have you seen Emma" Snow called out as she made her way over but she couldn't see Emma there.

"No last time we saw her was at the hospital, what's going on, we saw the crowd we followed"

"Oh my, Anna" Snow noticed a familiar face beside Elsa she hadn't seen her in fifteen years

"Yeah we found her" Elsa reached down grabbing her sister's hand so happy to have her back

"Well now we have to find Emma" David came over as the crowd headed out the door Graham leading the pack with Regina.

"What about Graham does he need help?"

"He'll be fine; we can worry about that later"

The group nodded making their way out the back entrance away from the crowd to continue their searched for Emma, while everyone else was out the front.

"HANG HER" someone yelled in the back as Graham marched Regina down the front path to his cruiser

"WITCH" the crowd yelled and heckled

"You ruined MY LIFE" another voice called out. Regina looked around at all the anger and fear being thrown at her she had no one, nothing to hold to and for a moment she wished they would do it just end it. Nobody seemed to notice the dark shadow behind the trees feeding of this hate waiting to strike.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Killian sighed in-between breaths as they quickly made their way to the exit. It still seemed so dark in there, and he felt ten times better coming up the stairs and into the dark of night. Even with a cloud covered moon it still seemed much brighter than that basement.

"That was the shadow." Lily replied ominously.

"Well, good thing it's gone. That thing was terrifying."

"It's not gone. It will be back. It won't leave until it takes us. Both of us." Lily said, her eyes flicking to Emma.

Emma could feel Killian go stiff by her side. The very thought of that thing taking her to wherever shadows demons go scared him to the core. He was getting frustrated fast, it was one crisis after another in this town.

"Why? What does it want?"

"It wants souls. It takes the ones who are marked."

"How did you know? How did you find me, Lily?"

"After I realised it was after you, I came as fast as I could. I wanted to get here before the curse broke, before magic returned, but I was too late."

"Hold on a minute. You know, about the curse and magic and everything? How do you know about all this, about who I am? I only just found out." Emma was confused this was too much to process.

"It's a long story. Like you guys I'm not from this land. I have been researching my history, well our history, ever since I found out."

"When did you find out?"

"It doesn't matter. I'll explain it later, Emma. Right now, we have to leave Storybrooke. It's the only thing we can do to keep safe." Lily tried to shake it off but she was feeling guilty about something. Emma could tell.

"I can't. I just got here."

"Come on, Emma. How many times have you left a place behind?" Lily looked at Emma but she could tell this time was different by the look in her eyes. "What's so special about this place?"

"I..I I found my birth parents."

"Oh." Lily was surprised. She always thought that wasn't going to happen for her and Emma, like they were on the same path. "Well, you can call them when get somewhere safe. We don't have time."

"We can't leave." Killian was frustrated. He had it all, he was finally going to take care of the dark one and now magic was back. How could he kill that monster especially if they were to leave Storybrooke.

"No one said you had to come." Lily frowned at him.

"Why does Emma have to leave? How will that save her?" Killians asked noticing the rude remark but feeling too frustrated to bother with a retort.

"There's no magic outside this town. No magic means no shadow demon." Lily said confidently as she took off urging them to follow her out to the street. He didn't want her to be, but Lily was right. If there was magic in this town that could hurt his true love she had to leave. He followed Lily with Emma by his side just as lost in thought. How could this happen again? How can the dark one keep taking his loved ones away?

"Crocodile." Killian mumbled through gritted teeth, remembering his vowel to end the Dark One's life.

"David we're back. We're back where we started. How do we know she isn't out there looking for us?" Snow said frustrated as they made their way back through the hospital entrance.

"Something happened. She was on her way out but never got there. Something must have made them go another way" David was trying to calm his wife but he was just as worried wondering where his daughter could have gone.

"Maybe she's not looking for us. Maybe she doesn't forgive us for leaving her."

"We don't know that. We gave her best chance. That's all a parent can do." David held is wife. He didn't know what else to say to comfort her, he was feeling the same thing. That's when he spotted the door to the stairwell and he knew where to go. "Look maybe they went down there." David pointed to the stairwell.

The couple made their way down to the basement, fast. They were eager for this to be over. Never had the pair wanted to find someone more than right now.

"There's no one down here."

"But there was. Look at this." Snow picked the used flare off of the ground. It was still hot. Whoever it was who used it they were just here. They must have gone out the emergency exit.

"I know it's been sixteen years but can you still track?" David asked finally feeling hopeful.

Snow nodded and they made their way out following three sets of footprints in the dirt, hoping one of them were Emma's.

Emma, Killian and Lily made their way quickly down the road out of town. Lily wanted to take the short cut through the woods but with Emma and Killians past experiences getting lost in there they didn't think it was a good idea. Plus the path was lit by street lights and it seemed like light was the creatures weakness.

"Killian, do you think that Gold was telling the truth about your brother?"

"I wouldn't trust anything that comes out of his mouth."

"Yeah, he did double cross me. He took something, I think it was magic. Maybe that's what that purple cloud was?"

"I stole it form him a long time ago. I had to make sure when the curse broke I'd have a fair fight with him. I should've known the Dark One would never have a fair fight."

"What's the story with you and him?"

Killian took a deep breath. He had a sort of a guilty look on his face and he stared down at the ground for a moment.

"I'm not a good person, Emma. I've ruined lives. The dark one and I's past.. it's complicated. He made sure I was part of this curse and as punishment he altered it after he realised I took the memory potion. He made it so that I couldn't harm him in any way; just remember all the pain he caused me for 15 years I was stuck"

"Killian, that's horrible. You've just been wondering around this town for fifteen years and no one could even remember you, no matter what you did or were planning to do. You need to stop punishing yourself. You haven't done anything yet and so far all I've seen is good from you. I don't care who you were then. I know who you are now." Emma grabbed Kilian's hand and held it tight. He smiled down at her, kissing her forehead.

"You two love birds want to speed up the pace? Kind of a life and death situation here."

"So, how do you two know each other?" Killian asked, looking between Emma and Lily.

"Foster home." Lilly said bluntly. Lily was the only person Emma knew who hated the foster system more than her.

Emma had so many questions but didn't know what to say. She didn't think she'd ever see Lily again. She thought Lily hated her after what happened, Lily was almost killed in the fire after all. Emma let go of Killians hand for a moment catching up to Lily. Killian knew she wanted to talk to the girl alone so he lingered behind, focused on spotting anything lurking from the dark.

"I never thought I'd see you again. How have you been?"

Lily just looked at Emma eyebrows raised. How had she been? She was still alone, still on the run, this time from an actual demon. Lily pushed on ahead trying to avoid talking about the past. Emma felt so guilty, she had spent so many nights lying awake wondering how this would go, how she would apologise to Lily if she ever got the chance, even if she still wasn't sure she started the fire.

"Look, I know you don't wanna talk and that you probably hate me, I just want you to know I'm sorry for everything. I don't know that happened that night but I know we had a good set up there. We had each other and I ruined it, ok. I'm sorry."

Lily slowed down, her mind racing with guilt because she knew the truth. Everything that happened that night was her fault and Emma took the blame. Emma had ended up in juvy because of what Lily did.

"uhh, Emma. It.. It was me. Ok?"

"What?"

"I started the fire. I lost control. It was my fault." Lily had tears in her eyes. She should have said something long ago but she let her friend take the blame. After she woke up in the hospital, everyone was so nice to her and they had already decided Emma was the fire starter. She had been weak and let her dark side take over. She let her friend get sent away because she was too afraid to go back behind those bars.

"Look out." Killian yelled. The street lamp above them was out. The shadow swooped down fast at Lily. Emma was too slow to react, she was still in shock. After all this time she had never even suspected that Lily started the fire. The shadow took this opportunity to grab Lily surrounded her in a moment.

"EMMA DON'T LET IT TAKE ME!" Lily screamed, but it was too late. She was gone. She disappeared into a cloud of dark smoke with the creature.

"Brother! HELP!" A voice called out from the dark. Killian may not have heard it in hundreds of years but he knew instantly that it was his brother.

"NO, No. LILY." Emma ran into the street looking for a sign of the shadow. She was not thinking, just feeling. She saw the shadow flicker slightly as it made its way around the corner. She chased after it.

"Swan, where are you going?" Killian yelled, chasing after her.

Emma went full speed ahead staring into the darkness. The shadow grew to twice the size it was in the basement and it was heading straight for them. Snow, David Elsa and Mulan were in the street they had been following them, finally finding them. They were relived until they saw the looming cloud of darkness hovering over Emma.

"EMMA!" David yelled. He and Snow ran towards her, not even realising the danger the shadow posed.

No, you can't take them too. Emma said to herself. She ran towards them as it swooped down. Emma waved her hands up trying to warn them to run away but they kept coming closer. Suddenly a white light expelled out of Emma's hands shooting up into the night sky straight towards the demon. It shrieked even louder than before, it was as if the creature caught alight. It lit up like a Christmas tree, it was actually quite a stunning sight until it all turned to ashes and began falling from the sky.

"Swan, are you okay?" Killian ran towards her, shocked. He didn't know what just happened or how but it seemed that they were ok.

"She saved you." Leroy yelled from the side of the street. He too, was shocked at what he just saw. There was a crowd forming now and slowly coming out of the dark.

"She saved all of us." Snow came closer, looking down at her daughter with pride and relief. She was okay and they were finally all together. Tears of joy were streaming down Snow and David's face as they came closer, going in for a hug. They both held their daughter tight and Emma wasn't sure how to feel about it. With all the commotion of the day she hadn't had time to process this. She wasn't sure if she ever could. It couldn't be this simple to find your true love and your parents and just live happily ever after.

"You found us." David said, finally letting go. Snow seemed to be unable to remove Emma from her arms. David turned to Killian who was watching the reunion. "One thing I don't understand, who are you and what was that thing?"

"In our land I was known as Captain Hook, and that monster.. I have no idea what that was but I have a feeling it will be back."

"At least we're all okay."

"For now. What the hell are we going to do next time that thing appears" Leroy butted in.

"What was that anyway?" Mulan asked standing with Elsa and Anna and having no idea what was happening.

"That creature is called the Noctis. It simply means night." Mr Gold said. No one had noticed that he had arrived at the scene until now.

"Crocodile." Killian's emotions running wild, spurred on by Emma being in danger and hearing his brothers voice. The teenager just charge at the old man.

"If I were you I'd be careful. You need my help."

"Your help?" Emma frowned. As if. What could possibly make her ever want help from him again?

"Your friend isn't dead and neither is your brother. They are trapped in another realm and you can free them with my assistance, of course." Mr Gold smirked.

NOTES

Not 100% sure what next chapter will be but more chamring family ofc as the town tries to figure out where to go from here and the new dangers they face.