Chapter Twenty-Five: Rash Decisions and Convictions

In StoryBrooke

"Where is she, Zelena?" Emma demanded, as Zelena stepped out of Mr. Gold's car. Zelena looked at the ground, breathing in deeply. "She's not here. She escaped."

"That's a lie." Mr. Gold spat. Zelena looked up at him, surprised. "What are you doing here?" She asked, confused.

"Mr. Gold informed me of the events that occurred at the farmhouse, Zelena." Emma explained, snapping her fingers. Ropes appeared out of thin air and wrapped themselves around Zelena's wrists.

"He told me that you were having doubts about me, and doubts about my plan."

"You want to kill my daughter." Zelena spat, striding towards the Dark One. Emma snapped her fingers, and Zelena fell to her knees. "You want to stop her before she stops you."

"Now, who said I planned on doing that?" Emma cooed, tracing a finger across Zelena's face. "But I must admit, I was disappointed to hear that you had given up on me so easily. Thankfully, Mr. Gold here told me the truth." Emma gave Mr. Gold a smile.

"But that's a lie!" Zelena snapped. "He told me about your plan, and told me to take Gerda into the woods and hide her. From you."

"I told you she would say that." Mr. Gold whispered to Emma, who nodded. Mr. Gold stepped forward. "I was told by The Dark One to take that pendant to Gerda and put it on her. That was completed. But I remember you tying me with rope and escaping with the girl using my car. You tried to outsmart the Dark One." Mr. Gold lied, finding that with each lie he told, less effort was required.

Zelena was lost for words. "You little-"

"That's enough." Emma interrupted. She stepped forward, and traced a finger across Zelena's cheek. "Mr. Gold told me what happened, and at first I didn't believe him. But when he led me to you, in his stolen car, with Gerda missing, I decided to take his word for it." Emma stated.

Zelena felt her heart drop. She gave up trying to blame Mr. Gold, or explain to Emma how he told her what to do. She decided to take responsibility for her actions. "I didn't want her hurt." Zelena admitted, tears in her eyes. Her throat tightened as she thought of her daughter. "You didn't tell me she would be hurt."

Emma squatted, and took the witch's chin into her hand. "And you should have believed me."

Gerda felt winded, but her training had helped her endurance, and the fear of her life being threatened kept her going.

Gerda could hear the Dark One's voice behind her as she ran, even had taken a moment to stop and listen. But she knew her mother would want her to get as far away as possible, and Gerda had actually decided to listen to the woman.

Slowing down her pace, Gerda didn't dare stop moving. Gerda found that the most surprising aspect of the whole situation she was caught in was the fact that her phone was still with her.

She assumed that it had fallen out of her pocket, whether in the hospital, in Zelena's house, or in the car she had just escaped. But oddly enough, it was still with her.

Turning her phone on, Gerda found several messages show up on the screen, most of them coming from Henry. Gerda didn't read all of them, but she could see what the theme of all of them were: Henry was apologizing for what he had said about her in the hospital.

"Gerda, I wish I could take back what I said…I am so sorry"

"Gerda, where are you? It's all my fault! We should have told you! I shouldn't have said what I did."

"Gerda, I will find you. I am so sorry for what happened at the hospital."

The texts went on and on. Gerda shut her phone off and sighed. She could forgive Henry for what he had said, had forgiven Henry for what he had said, the moment she realized how sorry he was.

But she couldn't get over the fact that he, and most of the other people she cared about, frankly, kept her in the dark. About what the training really was for. About what Emma was after. They didn't bother telling her about anything, which was just as bad as lying in Gerda's eyes.

Feeling tears in her eyes, Gerda stopped jogging, and decided that she was far enough from Emma to just walk. Thinking back over the events of the day, Gerda came to only one logical conclusion: I have to get out of here.

Robin and Regina arrived at the boat yard, on the defense. Robin had a new arrow notched in his bow, while Regina had a fireball at the ready. Nodding to each other, both crept forward towards the doors leading into the large warehouse. Regina opened the door slightly, and breathed in deeply.

She rushed inside, holding her arm out in defense. "Gerda, are you in here?" She called out, looking around. Robin came in behind her, aiming his bow at anything that moved. But there was no one there.

After feeling it was safe, Robin let the tip of his arrow drop. "Regina, no one is here." He stated, as if it was blatantly obvious. Regina sighed, extinguishing the fresh fireball in her hand.

"Then Mr. Gold wasn't telling the truth after all." She stated pitifully. She walked to a large wooden crate and sat on it, resting her elbows on her raised knees. Her hands cupped her head as she sighed again. "Where could she be, Robin?" Regina asked.

Robin placed his bow on the ground and came up in front of Regina, hugging her. "I don't know." He admitted. He placed a kiss on her head, moving his hand up and down to rub her back.

Feeling tears in her eyes, Regina moved her hand to wipe them away. "I mean, Henry has tried texting her, and there has been no response. We've searched Zelena's house and now the boat yard…"

"Hey, we cannot give up." Robin squatted in front of Regina, placing his hands on her knees. "Gerda wouldn't, so why should we? Our niece is out there somewhere, and we need to find her." Sighing, Robin stood up, scratching his head. "I don't know, why don't you call David and Mary Margaret?"

Regina felt her stomach drop. "I completely forgot about them!" Regina gasped, checking her phone. No new messages had come from the Charmings, which wasn't good. Something was wrong.

"We better get over there." Regina stated. Robin nodded, and picked up his bow. Together, the two headed out to Emma's blue house on the edge of town.

"Aye, is anyone here?" Captain Hook called out, entering Emma's house through the back door. He held his sword aloft, ready to attack. He could hear voices coming from the living room. A loud sound filled the house, as if something had fallen over. Cautiously, Captain Hook walked towards the living room.

"Mary Margaret! David!" Captain Hook dropped his sword and rushed over to David, whose nose was bleeding.

"I tried to stand, but fell forward. I couldn't save myself from the fall with my hands." David extended his arms from behind his back, as if to prove his point. "Aye, I can see that." Captain Hook agreed. He worked at the ropes binding David's hands.

Once Captain Hook had freed David of his binds, he started on Mary Margaret's ropes. "So, what happened exactly?" The Captain questioned. While David pressed a cloth to his nose, Mary Margaret explained the encounter the two had with Emma. "So now, she's off after Gerda." Mary Margaret finished, burying her face in her hands.

Captain Hook sighed, and just as he did, Regina and Robin entered through the front door. Both were expecting a fight, as Regina had a fireball in her hand, while Robin's bow was notched and loaded. When they saw that Emma wasn't in sight, they sighed.

"This keeps happening today." Robin stated aloud, letting his bow drop. "Are you two alright?" He asked, walking over to Mary Margaret and helping her up. "We're fine." David stated. "What about Gerda? Has she been found yet?"

Regina shook her head. "I'm afraid not. Perhaps I'll try another location spell." Regina suggested, but Mary Margaret shook her head. "That didn't work before, right?" Regina sighed, remembering that was true. Robin then snapped his fingers. "I know! Regina can put me back to sleep, and I can see if I can find Gerda."

Regina nodded, agreeing. She had to admit, it wasn't the best plan. Whenever Robin had a dream about his family member, including Gerda, he seemed drained whenever he woke up. Regina was scared that Robin would end up in the hospital like Henry did.

But there were no other options. "Alright, let's try it."

Nodding, Robin handed David his bow and arrows, and walked over to one of the couches in Emma's living room. He laid down on the blue cushions, closing his eyes. When he didn't immediately fall asleep, he opened his eyes, looking at Regina. "We don't have any time to waste."

But Regina still hesitated. Her hands began to shake. "Regina?" Mary Margaret asked worriedly, coming up beside her. "Is everything alright?"

"I can't let it happen to him!" Regina admitted, letting out a huge breath of air. She looked down at Robin. "Henry ended up in the hospital because of these dreams. What if that happened to you?"

Surprising Regina, Robin smiled, and grabbed her hand. "I cannot guarantee something won't happen." He admitted, squeezing her hand lightly. "But I am willing to risk my life for Gerda's." Giving Regina's hand one last squeeze, Robin closed his eyes.

Regina felt her throat tighten, but this was no time to let her emotions to take hold of her decisions.

Closing her own eyes, Regina waved her hand over Robin, sending him to sleep.

Emma looked to Mr. Gold, holding out her hand. "Take this." A sword appeared magically in her hand. Gerda's sword, the one that Emma stole from the Jolly Roger. "For when you run into the girl."

Mr. Gold took the sword, as Zelena struggled against the ropes that bound her in the car's backseat. "You won't get away with this!" Zelena stated. Emma ignored her, closing the door. She stepped up right beside Mr. Gold, whispering in his ear. "Find the girl, and convince her come to me."

Mr. Gold looked down at the sword, and giving it a sly smile. "As you wish."

Gerda zipped up her jacket, and shouldered her backpack onto her back. Thankfully, she hadn't run into any of her family in the house. That would have made things pretty awkward.

Giving her aunt's house one last look, Gerda sighed, and headed off down the street. If she didn't waste time, she could reach the town line before it got too dark.

Robin opened his eyes, breathing in deeply. "I found her." He said aloud. Regina and Mary Margaret drew close to him, Regina holding his hand. "She's just leaving your house." He continued, taking unsteady breaths. "She has her backpack with her."

"Henry put it back in her room." Regina admitted. "I told him to while we went looking for her."

Regina let go of Robin's hand, and started to turn around, about to say something to David, when Robin blurted out new information. "I went further in." He announced, making Regina turn. "Robin-" She started.

"I could hear what she was thinking. She's leaving town." He stated. "She…she can't face…"

Robin stopped speaking, closing his eyes. His body started to shake, his hands trembling.

"Robin!" Regina squatted in front of him, taking his hand. "Robin, what's wrong?" David pulled out his phone, calling Dr. Whale.

"Dr. Whale, something is wrong with Robin." He stated over the phone.

"Robin!" Regina said again, this time yelling. But Robin didn't answer her.

Gerda gave her aunt's house one last look before she headed down the main street of StoryBrooke.

As Gerda walked, she remembered the necklace around her neck. She recognized it from her adventures in the Enchanted Forest, but couldn't remember what had happened with the piece of jewelry. She only knew she had it on after she was kidnapped by her mother.

Zelena. The thought of her made Gerda's blood boil. And none of this would have happened if her family had told her what Emma was really after. But no, they didn't think Gerda could handle it. Or better yet, they thought she might do something rash.

Well, too bad what they think.

Gerda hiked her backpack higher onto her shoulder, and kept on walking. She didn't see Mr. Gold watching her in the distance.

The mirror's words played back in his mind. Gerda's decision is between two worlds. Her realm, and yours. If she makes the right choice, you will gain much. However, if she fails, and makes the wrong choice, you will lose.

Mr. Gold had to keep Gerda in town. Or else.