"Mom? Mom! Where's my bow and arrow?" Esme called downstairs as she hunted for the gift her father had given her many months ago.

"You're what?" Regina called back up the stairs to where her daughter was scurrying around upstairs.

"Bow and arrow!" Esme called but it was useless, Regina didn't hear her and it was highly unlikely that anyone would remember where it was. She hadn't used it in months and the main reason for that was that it was the one thing that she and her father had been able to do together. Just the two of them. Esme felt like it was some obscure kind of betrayal but recently she had been starting to feel like perhaps it was time to embrace her father's memory. So she thought that maybe Robin would have wanted her to keep up that tradition with Roland and while Henry was away with Emma for the weekend and Regina was still helping the Charmings, Esme thought that she should take the opportunity to spend some quality time with her brother when it came.

"Sissy! Are you ready?" Roland asked as he ran excitedly into her room.

"Almost sweetie, i just need to find my bow. You have yours already?" Esme asked but as she looked at her delighted little brother, she saw that he had both his bow and hers in his little hands.

"Oh you have them! Do you know where the arrows are bud?" Esme asked, giggling somewhat at the fact that Esme's bow was almost taller than Roland himself.

"Yeah. Gina put them by the door for us," Roland explained happily.

"Awesome. Let's go then!" Esme exclaimed before Roland immediately seized her hand and practically dragged her downstairs. Esme felt somewhat melancholy about the whole experience but she realised that her main problem was timidity about Roland's questions about Robins death. Regina always handled them amazingly well, but Esme had never had to deal with one when it was just her.

"Mom! Roland and I are heading out!" Esme called but Regina was beside them in seconds.

"Okay. Have fun!" Regina said as she zipped up Roland's coat and wrapped a scarf around his neck.

"And you," Regina said, addressing Esme solely.

"Be careful! We don't know anything about this Gideon guy," Regina explained and while Regina could occasionally be somewhat overprotective, this fact was true. There had been talk that he had been with Rumple and Belle for a couple of days now but nobody had seen any of the dark family since then rumours began; the whole town was on high alert.

"I will. Is Finlay helping you guys today?" Esme asked.

"Yes. I thought his strength would come in useful and frankly, i thought you could maybe do with a little break," Regina explained. Finlay had been here for one week and while Regina was certain that both he and Esme were glad to see one another again, Esme confided in her that she had been struggling. She didn't know how to trust him and she didn't know how to forgive him for everything. He was her family before Regina was, and Regina understood his importance in Esme's life, but she also didn't want to place any extra pressure or stress on her daughter when she was already dealing with so much.

"Oh. Mom, honestly, i think i just blew things out of proportion the other night-"

"Go enjoy your day. We can talk about it when you get home and we get Roland to bed," Regina explained. After this, she kissed her daughter on the cheek, kissed Roland on the head and watched as they set off towards the forrest.

"Sissy. When do we get to see baby Robyn again?" Roland asked in the typical, innocent manner of a child.

"Oh. Ummm, i don't know honey. Zelena isn't being very nice right now so i think that we just have to wait until she realises that Robin needs us."

"How long do you think that'll take. Don't you think she misses us?" Roland asked inquisitively.

"I'm sure she does, little knight," Esme explained as she put her arm around her.

"Did you miss us when you were away?" Roland asked and Esme was somewhat taken aback. Of course, Roland didn't understand the context behind his question but this is one thing that she had been worried about from the moment Finlay arrived. Not only had Henry already began asking questions about Esme's time in Messene, she had noticed that Regina and Roland were also gaining an increased inquisitiveness and Esme just didn't want her family knowing. With her brothers, she didn't want them to look at her any differently. She didn't feel like she was the same person in Storybrooke as she was in Messene. Back there she was a warrior, a soldier; she was forced to be ruthless and was trained in combat. In Storybrooke, she felt like her true self. She could have the simple life that she had always craved along with the family she had longed for. Storybrooke was her home and she wanted them to see her for who she is instead of who she was. But with Regina, she was terrified that Regina would blame herself. Her life in Messene was not pleasant and she knew that, as a mother, Regina would feel guilt about not protecting her from it. Esme would never want to put that on her Mom; she had never blamed her, at least not after learning what had happened to her.

*"You know honey, when i was in Messene, i didn't know about you or Henry or Mom or Dad," Esme explained but she wasn't exactly sure where she was going with it. How were you meant to explain to a child that the people who had imprisoned you never mentioned a family so you always assumed that you didn't have one.

"So you were all alone?" Roland asked and when Esme looked down and saw the sad expression on his little face, her heart sank.

"No! No, sweetie I saw a lot of people. But it is a lot better being here with you guys," Esme explained and hoped that Roland didn't follow up with anything else.

"Because we are your family," Roland exclaimed.

"Yeah! And family is super important, right?" Esme explained.

"Yeah! Daddy always said that family is the most important thing. Ever!" Roland screamed as he ran into the forrest that they had now reached.

"He did! Now do you remember what else dad told you? About using out bow and arrows?" Esme asked as she positioned Roland's bow and arrow correctly around him then did the same for herself.

"I think so. Where will we hit?" Roland asked.

"Umm. What about that tree?" Esme asked as she pointed to the largest tree that was relatively close to them both. Once Roland had nodded, she walked towards the tree and used red spray paint to mark it with five circles, all of which enveloped one another.

"Okay bud you ready? Grab your arrow - good - now pull…. yeah… you've got it little knight!" Esme said as she watched him hit the outer ring on the tree. Se couldn't help but laugh at how elated Roland was and while the action of firing an arrow seemed somewhat mature, his reaction to hitting the target reminded her of his young age. As it was Esme's turn, Esme realised that she hadn't actually fired an arrow since her fathers death. For months it had felt like she was betraying him by doing something that the two were meant to do together, but as Roland grew and his grief began to release its incessant, horrifying grip on him, Esme realised that in contrast to Roland's celebration of his fathers life, her way of dealing with his death was to try and forget about him. She refused to do anything that the two had done together, she didn't read any of the books he had given her or wear the perfume he had bought for her because that would remind her of the loss. She knew that this was wrong but everyone dealt with grief differently and this was her way; but whenever her little brothers started emulating her, she realised her folly. Both Henry and Roland simply stopped talking about him or asking questions about him and the name Robin slowly turned into an unacceptable word in the Hood-Mills household. So Regina's fairly desire to stop pushing Robin into an abyss and remember the life that he lived inspired Esme to do the same; he had always wanted his children to be close and by doing something that the two had done together, it was one way in which they could feel close to him and Esme would never want her own personal feelings to jeopardise Roland's grieving process. Anyway, Esme was quite enjoying using her bow and arrow again.

"Wow! Sissy you're good!" Roland exclaimed as Esme shot an arrow mere centimetres to the left of the centre of their target.

"Thanks little knight!' Esme exclaimed and the two enjoyed hours of target practice. The relaxed glow of the morning sunshine gradually evolved into a bright ball of light that signified midday. As they siblings talked and shot their arrows, Esme could see that Roland was beginning to lose interest in the tall tree.

"One more? Just so i can try hit the centre?" Esme asked, all too aware that Roland only ever went one hour before complaining of hunger, exhaustion or boredom.

"That sounds okay sissy," Roland explained happily as he took aim at hit his usual spot on the target. However, when Esme went to do the same, she felt a gentle nudge. As if someone had placed both of their hands on her shoulders and moved her sightly towards the right, but as she lowered her bow turned around, the only person that was there was a bemused and rather bored Roland; he was nowhere near tall enough. A shiver rushed from Esme's head to her toes.

"Don't you want to take the shot Ez?" Roland asked. Esme smiled and nodded, however the uncertain feeling that had took hold of her mere moments ago remained. She raised her bow once more, drew back her arrow and aimed once more. Yet again, she felt a gentle nudge, forcing her to move her target to the right somewhat. This time, however, she simply let go of the arrow: it landed right in the centre of the target.

"You did it!" Roland screamed as he jumped at Esme but she struggled to catch the growing young man.

"I did! Let's go get some lunch shall we?" Esme asked as she scrambled to collect their arrows from the tree, hoping to move before she saw whoever it was that nudged her. However her haste and worry were ill-placed because the moment that she reached the tree, she heard a voice. His voice.

"Esme? Esme. You will need to run."

Esme whirled around to Roland, hoping with every bone in her body that he heard their father too, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Roland? Roland!" Esme screamed. She had taken her eyes off him for one minute. He couldn't just disappear. But as Esme searched around the general area of where they had spent their morning, that is exactly what had happened. Esme's mind began to race. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening, she thought. As she searched their temporary playground, she immediately picked up one of her brothers arrow and enchanted it. It took her a couple of attempts but on her third try the arrow began to float in the air and move effortlessly in the sky; she assumed that her locator spell had worked. She followed the arrow the whole way to the road and it was there that the spell stopped: Roland stood at the edge of the town.

"Roland!" Esme called with a mixture of relief and fury in her voice.

"Sissy?"

"Where the hell were you? I told you do not go anywhere without telling me!" Esme explained as she wrapped very confused Roland up in her arms, an action that was more for her than him.

"I'm sorry. I just forgot," Roland explained and as he did so, Esme's heart broke somewhat. She didn't want him to be scared all the time but she wanted him to be safe and with the Evil Queen, Zelena and possibly even Finlay, Esme wasn't sure how best to protect her family.

"Oh. Roland i'm sorry, it's okay. I shouldn't have reacted so badly. We're okay, little knight?" Esme asked as she lowered herself down to eye level with her brother.

"Mhhmm!" Roland explained dismissively, although he didn't seem to be entirely certain about what Esme was apologising for. Esme gathered the arrows and took Roland's hand into hers as they walked towards Granny's. As they walked, Esme engaged in a conversation that one could only participate in with a child; stories full of imagination and blissful ignorance of the trials and worries of adulthood. Along with the simplicity of the varying colours of green presented in the forrest and the fresh air, Esme enjoyed every moment of their morning. As they neared the town, however, peacefulness was replaces in a manner that happened only in Storybrooke.

"No! You mustn't hurt him!" screamed Belle as she threw herself in front of a man that Esme simply didn't recognise. As they walked closer towards them, she saw that almost the entirety of the town was standing united against Belle and the man; only Rumple was somewhat in the middle.

"If he is Gideon, Belle, he's the one who kills me!" Emma explained, brandishing her sword towards the man as she did so.

"How could he kill you? Emma, think about it! He was just a baby when he left not even a week ago!" Belle pleaded, protectively grabbing her supposed son's hand as she fought to defend him. David, Emma, Snow and Killian however were not so convinced by his innocence and their instincts were somewhat justified when Gideon used dark magic, albeit inadvertently; as Emma and her family moved towards him, he pleaded with them to stop yet when they continued, he raised his hand in defence of himself and his mother and the magic emitted from it. The magic harmed nobody, Esme wasn't even sure if it was an actual spell, but the darkness of the enchantment terrified the rest of the town. They began to circle the man, and as they did so, his magic began to spark, much like hers had and it was then that Esme could see the man wasn't evil, even if he did come from the Dark One. He had no control over the magic he was using. Nevertheless, that didn't make it any less dangerous, so when one of his curses came hurling towards Esme and Roland, she was quick to grab her brother and 'poof' her brother to safety. Once safely inside the Charmings house with Roland, Esme explained to her brothers that they needed to stay here while Esme helped with something. Roland was easily distracted but Henry had been insisting more and more about becoming more involved in things.

"But I can help," Henry exaggerated.

"I have no doubt about that! But this man's magic is unpredictable and right now i need you to look after Roland. Please?" Esme begged and Henry very reluctantly, and grumpily, agreed. Once the two had gone upstairs, Esme poofed her way to Regina who was in the crowd. As she appeared, she saw that Regina was upfront with Emma, trying to deflect the curses. However, when one whirled past Esme, missing only by inches, Esme saw rage overcome her mother.

"No! Mom, he could be innocent!" Esme explained as she desperately grabbed her mom's arm.

"He isn't. I saw him-" Emma began but Esme was quick

"In a vision, I know. But Emma, visions change. There isn't one set destiny. Events and people change depending on the decisions that they make and because of that so does their fate. You can't imprison or kill someone based on one vision!" Esme tried to explain but she could sense that she was fighting a losing battle. Not only did she have to convince Emma, she had to convince the rest of her family and that didn't seem particularly likely.

"Emma please. Look at him! He has no control over that magic. The person in your vision had a sword. If he could kill you with magic why would he use a sword?" Esme asked as she edged to the front of the mob that had transcended upon the square, towards Emma and her mom.

"It is him. His cloak," Emma stated defiantly.

"You can't condemn an innocent man based on one vision. Believe me, I know that better than anyone," Esme explained.

She could see that Emma was wavering however just as Esme was about to take Emma's sword, she was knocked to the ground by Killian who lunged dramatically towards Gideon. Gideon shoved Belle out of the path of Killian's hook mere seconds before it could have been disastrous. Killian landed on Gideon's chest and punched him before raising his hook high in the air. Rumple, who had been relatively useless until this point immediately sprung into action and quickly hurled Killian high into the air.

"No!" Emma screamed before using her magic to gently lower him to the ground. Finlay and Regina quickly came to Esme's side but she was fine; she was merely surprised at how events had escalated. Gideon's magic, however grew in intensity and it began behaving erratically; having evolved from mere sparks to indistinguishable curses as he lay recovering on the ground.

"Mom what is that?" Esme asked as she watched Gideon get to his feet and regain his breath.

"I have no idea. I've never seen magic like that before," Regina explained as she held her daughter's hand protectively.

"Enough!" Belle called as the mob began to get rowdy. Immediately, the town listened.

"Esme is right. How can you stand there, people who are meant to be my friends, and condemn my child. My son! You call yourself heroes yet you're willing to imprison my son, or worse, based on an image of a man that Emma doesn't even see? You ought to be ashamed of yourselves!" Belle said as she instinctively checked her son over. As she did so, Gideon seemed to talk to her and after a few moments of muttering, Belle looked confusedly at the crowd.

"Esme?" Belle asked.

"Yeah?"

"He… he wants to talk to you. You and Regina," Belle explained.

"Over my dead body," Regina stated as she stepped protectively in-front of her daughter.

"The seer," Gideon stated, and while she was scared, this intrigued Esme.

"You know me?" Esme asked.

"I know of you yes. You are quite famous where I come from," Gideon explained however as he did so, Esme could feel Finlay's grip on her arm tighten.

"Why is that?" Esme asked. She noticed that as she spoke, Gideon's magic seemed to calm down; the magic that was once frantically flying around Storybrooke returned to some dull sparks radiating from his hands. It was for this reason that Esme began to walk towards him, much to the annoyance and resistance of her mother and Finlay. Though Regina knew that her brothers were safe there was still half a town of potential victims that Esme felt obliged to protect in the absence of a Charming that was rational. So, in order to calm the situation, Esme walked slowly towards Gideon, who was still stood behind Belle. Slowly. Calmly.

"You escaped, little seer," Gideon said however the second he said it, Esme could feel a force rush past her. She didn't have to look to see who it was. Little seer. Little seer was what Finlay and Axl had called her. They and they alone had known about it and Esme knew that Finlay would take this as indication of a conspiracy. Danger. He was many things but his biggest flaw was his inability to think before he acted.

"Finlay no!" Esme screamed but it was too late. In his attempt to protect Esme from what he perceived as a threat, Finlay hurled himself towards Gideon. But his strength was little use against the curse that Gideon used in an attempt to protect himself and once it hit him, Finlay dropped to the ground with such force, his head smashed horrendously against the ground.

"No! No! What did you do? Gideon!" Esme screamed as she rushed to Finlay. The veins in his head were sooty, a symptom that darkened Finlay's face to a horrifying dark grey. Esme searched desperately for a pulse but her hands were shaking so violently that it was useless.

"Mom? Mom!" Esme screamed, overcome by helplessness. Regina ran to her daughter immediately, ignoring Gideon fleeing down the street.

"It's okay honey. Everything is okay," Regina promised as she knelt beside a seemingly lifeless Finlay. As a rather distraught Esme clung to her waist, Regina used her free hand to search for Finlay's pulse. As she did so, she hoped desperately that he had one; her daughter had already experienced immense grief and she didn't want her to deal with any more.

"Mom you have to fix it-" Esme pleaded.

"I will. Honey, i promise," Regina promised. And so she did. Finlay's pulse was strong but the spell must have been charged with a particularly strong electrical charge and his body was effectively fried.

"Charmings, Belle; go after Gideon but make sure you do so calmly. Your mob mentality hasn't exactly helped things so far," Regina demanded.

"You and I are going to bring Finlay to the hospital," Regina said as she rested her hand on the chest on the young man, waiting for Esme to do so so that they could both apparate.

"What? Is that going to help-"

"Esme we can't meddle with life and death. You know that. But he has a pulse and medicine has its own kind of magic. Trust me honey," Regina explained and once she had, Esme rested her hand on top of her mothers and before she knew it, they were both in the hospital waiting room. Within minutes, Finlay was placed on a gurney and wheeled immediately into a room that neither Regina nor Esme were permitted to enter.

"Mom, thank you," Esme said as she wrapped herself up in her mothers arms and watched as four nurses attached wires to Finlay and multiple vials of drew blood.

"I'm your mom honey," Regina stated simply; Esme squeezed her all the tighter for it.