The Knife

Ruby tilted her head to one side, and then Emma's request sank in. All this took about half a second, and when it was over, she said, "Well, sure," and led the Sheriff back up to the room at the end of the second floor hall. She knocked on the door, but no one answered, not even when she called, "Housekeeping."

Ruby pulled a master key out of her pocket and unlocked the door. She and Emma stepped outside to find an open window and a nearly spotless room. Only the disheveled bed was any indication that anyone had been there. She closed her eyes and snifed. "They went out the window," she said, "toward the forest."

"Why would they go there?" Emma asked.

"Remember, they look like Robin Hood, so they probably think like him, too."

"What's that mean?"

"They only hid here for shelter from the rain. They probably live in the forests, so they had to get back there as soon as possible."

It crossed Emma's mind that she needed more puzzle pieces in order to make a complete picture of what was going on. Ruby walked out of the room, and Emma followed. The Sheriff had to jog to keep up with Ruby.

They slipped out of the back door and all but ran into the forest, around Storybrooke, and over the Toll Bridge. Ruby paused in an area at the top of a hill, sorting out exactly what she was smelling. "This is weird," she said. "The kids were here, but so was Gold."

Gold? Emma wondered. Then she remembered the development he'd mentioned. What was he doing out here? More 'gardening'? What sort of gardening? Was he burying a body? If so, who?

Ruby pulled Emma behind her, jerking the Sheriff out of her thoughts. Emma stumbled over herself, but once she regained her footing, she followed Ruby without the latter's assistance. But a short while later, Ruby stopped, and Emma almost slammed into her. The girl turned away from the dead campfire surrounded by seven arrow-filled bodies who wore the same clothing as the girl had earlier that day. "What happened here?" Emma asked.

"Mass shooting," Ruby replied, not daring to turn her back. "If we tried to follow the shooter, odds are he'd be long, long gone. Maybe in Canada, maybe halfway across the nation. He got away on horseback."

"We're not looking for a killer. We're looking for Gold's son." Ruby spun on her heel, eyes wide as saucers and jaw slack. "I owe him a favor." Ruby closed her mouth and nodded, but her eyes were still wide. In fact, her expression seemed to be one of dumbfounded acceptance. Emma turned back toward the campfire and asked. "Where'd they go from here?"

"Up the bank," Ruby said, her voice betraying her relief at being back in her element. She walked past Emma and the dead bodies, careful to keep her eyes on the prize, and moved along the bank into the forest. Emma jogged until she was close to Ruby, and they continued up the bank until she stopped again to sniff the air. She walked on, and finally, roughly a hundred feet from the bank and what had to be at least a couple miles from Storybrooke, Ruby said, "Here."

A small fire had been built here, and a few embers were still burning but fading fast. There were no bodies here. "Were they here?"

"Yeah. They went out, but some of their stuff's here, or stuff they might need. I think they'll come back for it."

"Do we wait?"

"We could leave a note."

"What do we say?"

"Say that someone in town's looking for them."

"Wait. What if they can't read?"

"Hm, good point." Ruby paced slowly to the embers and scuffed the dirt with her heel.

"You said it yourself. The kids will come back. Until then, let's figure out what Gold was doing in the woods in the first place." Ruby nodded, tilted her head up, closed her eyes, and waited. Then, she turned away from the river and all but ran off into the forest. "Do you have to move so fast?" Emma asked. Ruby ignored her and wove through the trees almost as if they weren't there. Emma, in contrast, nearly stumbled over herself in an effort to keep up with her guide.

They reached the hill again, and then they followed a small, overgrown path Emma could've sworn she hadn't noticed before. Here, she found herself tripping over herself and undergrowth even more, while Ruby seemed as effortless as always.

Ruby stopped at the crest of another hill, and several seconds later, Emma stumbled up behind her, picking twigs, pine needles, and burrs out of her pant legs. She noticed the fresh patch of dirt and abandoned the sad state of her pants almost immediately; she made for the patch and began digging. She didn't get a foot before finding a long object wrapped in cloth. Ruby walked over to her and looked over her shoulder as she unwrapped the cloth and tested the weight of a long knife with a curved blade. On one side was a series of runes, and on the other was a name.

Rumpelstiltskin.

"Recognize this?" Emma asked.

"The Dark One's knife," Ruby replied. "Figures it came with him. Nearly everything did. It's all in that goddamned pawn shop of his."

"He's operating a perfectly legal pawn shop, and that's not the issue. The issue is what the hell this knife is doing buried in the woods."

"You're not seriously going to ask him, are you?"

Emma stood, inches from Ruby's nose. "Hell yeah I am."

OUAT

"Gold, I know you're closing, but I need to ask you a few questions," Emma said, rushing the counter. Gold turned to face her. If he wasn't surprised, he was doing a pretty good job of faking it.

"Sheriff Swan, how may I help you?" he asked.

"We need to talk, but not here."

"Back at the station?"

"Anywhere we can get some privacy."

Gold nodded and said, "In that case, Miss Swan, please. Come into my office." He gestured to the beaded curtain in the doorway behind him and led her inside it. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

Emma slipped a hand into her jacket, switched on a tape recorder, and produced a long bundle. She unwrapped the cloth and held the knife in between them. "This has your name on it."

"Yes, it does."

"Why?"

"Well, you certainly like to get right to the point. Have you read Henry's book?"

"Haven't had the time." He wasn't saying anything that would give her any idea as to whether or not he was lying about anything. "And besides, the book might miss a few things, and I want the truth, from you."

"What are you willing to give me for it?"

Goddammit, Emma thought. "Information about your son."

"Where is he?"

"Ah. You first, or no deal."

Gold sighed and bowed his head. When he looked up at Emma, she saw something in his eyes that she could only describe as endlessness. "A long time ago, I was a desperate soul," he said in a slightly raspy voice. "My son was my only family. His mother had left me because I was a coward who refused to fight a pointless war. The duke's men came one day to take my son to join the army, and I was desperate enough, just enough, to try to control the Dark One, a man named Zoso. He talked me into killing him, and I kept the knife." Gold gestured to the object in Emma's hand. "I've had those powers ever since." Emma nodded. Gold stepped closer to her. "Now, where. Is. My. Son?"

"Still in the woods around Storybrooke, trying to stay alive in what looks like the only world he knows. Talk to Ruby. She can lead you to him better than I can."

Gold stepped back. "Thank you," he said in what was clearly a fake effort to be civil. He gestured to the door and said, "You may leave now." Emma nodded to him and walked out through the curtain.

The second he was alone, Gold regretted having said so much, but they'd made a deal, if only by implication. All of his deals had been honored, except one, and he wasn't about to repeat that mistake. Ever. Again.