The three of them crowded into Flynn's car, she and Raunzel up front, with Flynn sitting in the back. She gave instructions to Rapunzel as she drove, telling her where to go, at the same time telling Flynn what was going on, why they were working, and finally where they were going. The time it took to get there apparently was not long enough for his taste and by the time they pulled up he was still sitting in the back, shaking his head, looking utterly lost and confused.

"So…the River has Souls…why not just not feed it souls or avoid it all together?"

She opened her mouth and looked over at Rapunzel as they pulled up to the house but she only shook her head. "You go, I'll explain." And that was exactly what she did. She got out of the car, jogged up the stairs to Emma's front door, let herself in, and instantly regretted not counting the cars on the street. Emma had said that they would be at her house, she had hadn't taken into account who all "they" would be. Emma, Regina, Snow White, David, Killian, even Henry despite the fact that she knew it was a school day was sitting on the counter behind them. They all looked thoroughly engrossed in a small bottle sitting on the table in front of them. At least they were engrossed until she came crashing through the door.

"Belle!" Emma sighed with relief. "Tell me you found something."

Honestly? She didn't know how to respond to that. The River Styx and what it promised might not actually be something that could work for them or was worth making a deal with Rumple for depending on the situation. "Maybe, but…I don't want to get your hopes up," she admitted sadly.

"We'll take anything," David admitted from his place between Snow and Regina.

She sighed. "There is no mention of the River of Lost Souls in any of my books on the Underworld, from here or the Enchanted Forest. There is plenty of information there on Rivers in the Underworld, but none that closely matches the river that we encountered.

"There was one story of a boy who was dipped in a different River in the Underworld, one called the Styx. Supposedly this water was able to make him invulnerable. Anyone who bathes in the Styx would receive that same ability, but it requires us to convince Rumple to open the portal, go back to the Underworld, find the Styx, and bathe."

"Back to the Underworld?" Killian questioned. "You must be crazy."

"We don't have time to wait around to open the portal," Snow added.

"And even if we did I really doubt Gold would be willing to help us for a reasonable price," Regina growled.

No. Of course he wouldn't. Because he had no idea what it meant to help people just because they needed help. But she did. She wondered what kind of price he would consider a visit from her, or even just a conversation. She hated to think of their relationship in those terms of course but depending upon the situation and why they needed to neutralize the water.

"What is all this about any way? Why the sudden interest in the River of Lost Souls?"

"Because the Evil Queen has decided to kill the entire town," Regina blurted out.

Her eyes went wide and for a moment she tried to make sure that she hadn't heard the wrong thing. But no, Regina looked serious enough. "What?!"

Regina uncrossed her arms, grabbed the little bottle before them and set it closer to her. "Look familiar?"

She stepped forward and took the small bottle. There was certainly water inside of it. It was clear, had the same density, certainly moved like water…but she had a feeling it wasn't from the tap. "You're sure this is from the River of Lost Souls."

"Positive," Regina snarled.

"Where did you get it?" she exclaimed setting it down. She never wanted to be near that stuff again.

"The Evil Queen grabbed me from my bed last night and gave it to me," Snow White explained. "She told me we had twelve hours to figure out what it was and give our hearts up willingly to her otherwise the town would have a taste."

Well…that answered that question. They could not transport everyone in the town to the Underworld to bathe in the River Styx and she was sure that even if they did manage to find the River they couldn't bring enough back to protect the town and certainly not in the twelve hour time frame!

"And you're sure," she questioned again, grasping at straws. "You are absolutely positive she didn't just grab water out of the tap and is making an empty threat? And…if she had you vulnerable last night why not just take your heart then?!"

"Because I put a protection spell over their hearts when my other half first showed up and…I never made empty threats," Regina explained. "And there is a tree just outside Granny's that has seen better days and can attest that this water is what the Evil Queen says it is."

She sighed as she looked it over, even knowing what she now knew she was stunned and shocked and scared. Nothing that she'd read today promised any kind of protection or even hope against an attack like that. There wouldn't be. It was the Underworld. The people there were dead, these waters, any of them from any of the rivers weren't to be used as attacks! They were not something to be countered or reversed; they were used as punishments. But up here, in the real world…not the Underworld…she felt her stomach flip over.

"How…how did the Evil Queen get her hands on something like that?" she questioned. "None of us would have brought any of it back from the Underworld and…the Evil Queen wasn't even around then! You didn't separate yourself until afterwards! Where is her source?"

Regina snorted. "More like a who. Three guesses…"

Three guesses. She had an awful feeling in the pit of her stomach that brought tears to her eyes that she didn't need three guesses, just one. Her husband. "Rumpelstiltskin had it," she mumbled to herself. "He gave it to her…I'm right aren't I?"

"So it would seem," Regina confirmed.

She had to take a deep breath to keep herself from bursting into angry tears or throwing something. As it was, her jaw hurt from clenching her teeth together in frustration. This was so typically a Rumpelstiltskin move she should have expected it back in the library when she and Rapunzel were talking about asking him to let them into the Underworld. Why had she ever believed he'd be helpful and part of the solution instead of the part of the problem?

"You don't seem shocked that Gold brought some of this back and gave it to the queen," Emma observed.

"I'm not," she answered trying to resist the urge to pick the thing up and throw it across the room. Who knew how he'd managed to get it without forfeiting his own life as Gaston. "He's not acting like the man he could be. I wish I could help. But I-I've looked through all my books for any information on-on how to neutralize water from the River of Souls, but...I'm afraid there's nothing," she declared sadly.

That wasn't good enough. She felt it herself, no answer was worth nothing. There had to be something somewhere! And she might know where to find it…

"I'll keep looking…" she declared, she had an idea…a bad idea…but an idea either way.

She opened the door and found the Blue Fairy about to knock. She meant to say "hi" to her but before she could the fairy moved around her and into the room. She was tempted to stay for just a moment, to hear what she had to say, but she had a feeling that if she didn't move now then she might lose the nerve she had.

With a deep breath, she walked back down the stairs and got into the car where Rapunzel and Flynn were both watching her carefully. Her stomach was twisting and turning as she got in and buckled her seatbelt despite the fact that the car wasn't running.

"Well?" Rapunzel questioned cautiously.

"It's bad," she concluded.

"Bad?" Flynn asked as though he didn't believe it

She nodded. "Bad. Destruction of the town, bad." Also not exactly a surprise for her husband the Dark One. Destroying the town was not exactly a new thing for him. It was something he'd tried to do after they got married. So long as she and their son were immune…

Immunity…she nearly slapped herself. Jekyll, before he'd tried to murder her, while Killian was still in the Captains Quarters with her, he'd told her that Rumple had made a deal of some kind with the Evil Queen. She had a sudden idea she knew what that deal was.

Again, she really shouldn't have been surprised. He would justify his dirty actions by saying it was for her own good. Making decisions for her, sacrificing the entire town for his own purposes, playing dirty…

He wasn't the only one that could do that.

"I have an idea about where we could look for answers. It's no guarantee…but it is something at least…"

"Go on," Rapunzel replied after a long pause.

She sighed, instantly feeling guilty. In a perfect world she would go and do this on her own…but a lookout might be necessary.

"You're not going to like it," she added, giving her friends an opportunity to run if they wanted to.

She watched as Rapunzel turned and looked back at Flynn and the pair exchanged a silent glance.

"Go on…"


Pretty straight forward chapter. It's the scene that we saw in the episode, but I had one heck of a time getting it publication ready because when we finally come in to see it, half of the conversation has already taken place. Again, this isn't something I blame the writers for. We the viewers already know what's going on so it would actually be poor writing to include the first half of the conversation, but since we only see the series from Belle's perspective, I had to write it. Also, this is just another example of how easily Rapunzel and Flynn have so far fit into the fiction. It's pretty easy to leave them in the car or excuse them for something. At least so far. I hope it's acceptable.

Thank you to Grace5231973, Fox24, and Curly J for your reviews of the last chapter. I'm happy some things like Research!Belle are still a pleasure to read. I wish this was like years past where I could honestly say I felt Belle was at her finest, but like I said, sadly, the writers turned her into a moron this season. I still enjoy writing it, but I wish I could get just one last good Research!Belle chapter to write. Then again, there is always 6B...Peace and Happy Reading!