a/n: I apologize for the ridiculously long wait. I know it's been forever, so I'd probably suggest re-reading the last chapter since you've all forgotten what was going on. I'll try to have this not happen again, but you know, shit happens in life so I won't make promises.

Emma's yellow bug came to a standstill as the sheriff pulled up in front of Granny's Diner. She had asked David to call a meeting of their closest allies. If evil was coming, she was going to make sure Storybrooke was ready for it. In the windows she could see that the diner was packed full of people. She took a deep breath before climbing out of her car and entering the diner. The room fell silent as she stepped inside. Charming and Snow were standing close together with the seven dwarves gathered nearby. They all looked to her expectantly as the door crashed shut behind her, practically causing the savior to jump out of her skin.

"So I uh... called you all here for a reason," Emma began unsteadily. She licked her dry lips nervously. Speaking, leading, none of it was Emma's thing. They eyes that stayed trained to every move made her skin crawl as if everything she did decided whether they were all going to live or not. She met her mother's eyes from across the room and she nodded encouragingly. Why hadn't Emma run over what she was going to say with Regina? Dammit, why hadn't she made Regina speak? Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, Emma forced herself to focus. "Listen. We just discovered something that will be affecting all of you."

She waited for a reaction, but everyone was just as still as they were before, listening carefully.

"Something may be on it's way to this world, through Storybrooke. And we...well we need to stop it."

"What is it?" Leroy asked, and all eyes returned to her.

"It's well...we're not completely sure. Mr. Gold had been trying to help us figure that out."

"Rumplestiltskin? How do we know we can trust him? He's the dark one!" someone shouted from the back of the crowd.

"Look, I know he's done bad things, but we have to trust him on this," Emma sighed tiredly.

"Why should we? He has no reason to protect any of us?" Dr. Whale spoke up.

"But he does have reason to protect his son, Belle, and...well himself," Emma replied.

"And that's enough?"

Emma shook her head in frustration, and snapped, "Yes! For now it's enough! Look whatever's coming. It's going to put us all in danger and we need to start trusting one another or we are all going to die." Everyone fell silent at the word 'die' and Emma felt like kicking herself. "Look, I'm sorry. I don't mean that. No one is going to die. But this isn't going to be easy, and like I said, we need to trust each other."

"Of course it's not," Dr. Whale said again. "You haven't told us anything about this thing that's coming. How are we supposed to trust you if you don't tell us these things?"

"I told you, there's something very bad and very evil coming. It wants to take over this world, and that's everything I know," Emma retorted. She paused before sighing in frustration and exhaustion. "Listen, trust me or don't trust me. It's up to you all to make that choice for yourselves. But I'm here offering help. So you can stick with us, or you can fend for yourselves."

A long silence filled the room as everyone looked to one another, waiting for someone to leave, to turn on their savior, but everyone bowed their head to their feet in acceptance.

Emma looked to her parents who nodded encouragingly. She took a deep breath and nodded. "Alright then. Here's what we're going to have to do."

Henry woke with a start, eyes snapping open quickly, but his mother strong hands caught his shoulders, pulling his attention to her brown eyes.

"Mom?" the young boy murmured, still drowsy.

"Yes. Are you alright, Henry? Did you have any more dreams?" Regina replied with delicate concern.

Henry took a minute before shaking his head, and Regina smiled in relief and pulled her son into her arms. "It seems we should be thanking Mr. Gold," Regina said as she released him from the embrace. Henry didn't say anything as he rubbed sleep away from his eyes and Regina bit her bottom lip, considering her next words. "Henry...I know Gold saw some of what you were dreaming back at the shop, but is there anything else you can tell us?"

The young boy frowned before slowly shaking his head. "I wish I could Mom, but..."

"It's alright, Henry, I understand," Regina said quickly, rubbing a gentle circle on his back. After a long pause, she offered, "How about I go make you something special to eat?"

Henry nodded and studied his mother as she clambered off his bed, straightening her skirt and heading for the door. "Mom?"

Regina paused, turning back. "Yes, Henry?"

"I know you're worried that we're going to lose, but we won't. You and Emma, you'll stop whatever is coming. Good always wins."

The brunette's lips formed a sad smile as she opened her mouth before closing and considering her son. She closed his door gently and then walked back over to his bedside. "Listen Henry, there's something I think you need to understand."

Henry hung onto her every word, waiting patiently.

"You know I'm grateful that...well that you consider me good now, but I'm not."

The young boy opened his mouth to interject, but Regina held up a hand.

"No, please, hear me out. I'm not good, just as I'm not evil. We all have both inside of us. Even Snow and Charming, even Emma, and even...well even you, Henry. We all have demons inside of us that we have to face in our lives. Sadly, some of us are able to defeat them better than others. I've always struggled more with mine then perhaps your grandparents have, but Henry..." Regina trailed off, studying Henry's face, seeing if her words were having any impact on the young boy. "You're going to have to face them some day as well, and I just want you to be prepared for that day, okay?"

Henry nodded in understanding, and said, "Do you think the things that are coming for us...that they're like that too? Because maybe...maybe we could try and help them find the good like you did and everything will be fine."

Regina beamed at her son's hopefulness for he had almost always been blind to the gray, and always seen the world in black and white, as his fairy tales had taught him to. Now Henry seemed willing to offer out second chances to everyone, including her. "I have a feeling, that whatever is coming, Henry. It isn't people or someone we could convince to leave the evil behind." Regina didn't want to scare Henry, but she had vowed after the curse broke to try and lie less to her son, and so she finished with the honest-to-God truth. "I think what we are going to have to deal with is evil without a conscious...the root of evil itself."

Henry gulped, his eyes shimmering, and looked down into his lap. Regina reached out and grasped his hand.

"But I promise you this, Henry. I will do everything within my power to keep you safe. I won't let this evil defeat us, and I won't let it within a mile of you."

When Henry looked up into his mother's eyes he saw a burning determination aflame there, and he knew that she meant it no matter what the cost.

David entered the sheriff's station after saying goodbye to his wife who was making plans with the rests of the town for the fight that would be coming their way and his daughter who had headed back off to Regina's again to check on the mayor and their son. Someone had to be on duty, and with everything that was happening with Regina, David thought it was best for Emma to have all the time she could with the mayor to try and help her through it all.

Throwing his keys down, David turned to his desk to rifle through the stack of papers that had been growing in the last week. The deputy was so immersed in his business he didn't look twice at the prisoner who was sitting on edge, as if awaiting something. Greg glanced at the clock and as the long hand ticked off the last minute to noon, his eyes snapped to attention as a masked figure crept quietly into the room and up behind David who was now scribbling out a report. Greg stood up, finally catching the deputy's attention.

"What's wrong Greg? Do you need some-"

But his words were cut off when the masked stranger cracked the butt of their gun over his head and the man fell forward, unconscious on the desk.

"The key is on his belt," Greg informed the figure who rifled through keys until finding the one they were looking for and hurried forward, and slid the key into the lock and opened the cell door for Greg. As he slipped out, the stranger slipped off her mask, revealing her long dark hair.

"Boy do I have a lot to tell you, Tamara," Greg said, slipping out of the prison. "But we need to get out of here before he wakes up."

"Are we going to be able to follow through with the plan?" Tamara asked.

"We're going to need to move things along from the whispers that have been going around town today," Greg replied leading the way out of the station.

"Wait what do you mean?"

Greg paused and turned to face his partner. "Something's coming. Magic is coming, and soon. We need to find the device and wipe this place off the map before it can spread."

"But Greg, magic is already here. What's this thing that's coming?"

"Something much worse. Regina was right. There's a bigger picture and this, well this is bigger than all of us, Tamara. They think they can stop it, but it's a heroic fantasy. There's only one way to defeat this kind of magic, this kind of evil. And we're going to do it our way."

a/n: Hopefully this wasn't too much of a disappoint update. I realize there was no Regina/Emma interaction but there was need for other developments and there will be plenty to come. Including magic training and practicing (which is awesome since it looks as that may be canon next season!). I apologize for the Greg/Tamara plot line because I started this story when OUAT was getting nowhere with those two. I would've never brought Greg into my story if I had known where the creators were taking them, but alas I have to make it work and I'm going to try and have a plot line that makes sense but please be understanding with that. I appreciate any and all reviews to help me get going again on this story. I'm also going to be trying to work out 'Impossible Child' at the same time so I apologize for slow updates, but encouragement and pressure always helps, so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review and help a writer out! Thanks for sticking with it guys!