So, unfortunately Once has ended, they gave us 7 amazing seasons of love and hope, and I will never forget that. But this AU is not going to end, so please if you're still in love with Once, stick around because things get intense in later chapters.
Speaking of Once finale, how did you guys like it? I loved how Rumple told Hook that he never killed him because he was like his only friend and how he gave up his heart to save him. The ending was filled with feelings when Emma and Killian burst through that door holding their bundle of joy Hope and then how Regina became Queen of all the realms, Regina's speech was just amazing and I thought it was lovely how they showed Storybrooke one last time before leaving Storybrooke.
But anyway, let's continue...
Chapter 28: Another Sleeping Curse
Emma and Hook looked at each other, what were they going to do? They were stuck in a dilemma, if they gave the rattle then Aurora survived but then it would take them longer to get home. But if they didn't give the rattle then they could be on their way home any day but then Aurora would have died all thanks to them.
"Emma...give Cora the rattle," Mulan demanded, "Are you really going to let Aurora die in cold blood?"
One final look at her husband and she knew exactly what she was going to do, she knew all this time, it was just a matter of accepting it.
"It's alright love," Killian spoke gently to her making eye contact so she knew that he was being serious when he told her that it would be alright.
Emma closed her eyes and sighed, she knew she was doing the right thing, but still the ache of failing killed her. Slowly she walked up to Cora and reached out her hand that had the rattle in it, Cora immediately took it and pushed Aurora to the forest floor.
"Now was that so hard," Cora said as she looked into Emmas' dead eyes that were set right upon her before she vanished in a cloud of purple smoke.
"Killian..." Emma called out as she could feel the stinging feeling start in her eyes and the ball form in her throat.
It took him no longer than two seconds to act as he pulled her in close to him, "I know, don't worry you did the right thing, Swan." He placed his hand behind her eyes, almost like you would for a baby, just so she knew it was alright to let it out.
"Did I?" She mumbled into his shirt as the tears started to fall. She felt as if she had failed them both, she failed Henry.
He ended up making her look up at him into his eyes, his hand went under her chin so she wouldn't look away, "We'll find another way home, don't lose hope love," He said as he placed a soft kiss on her forehead before letting her fall back into his arms. But even after telling her that they'd find another way he himself almost felt like he was losing hope.
David was helping Snow sooth her burn with a cold wet cloth, but the stinking wasn't going away. Whatever damage was done in this Netherworld seemed like it was permanent.
"Here, let me help with this," Gold said as David gently removed the wet cloth. Gold slowly shifted his hand over the burn, a soft purple glow appeared from his hands and by the time he was done working his magic the permanent burn on Snow's arm was no more, it was like it never existed.
"What caused this?" Regina then asked from the chair in the corner she sat on as everybody else was listening to Snow explain it wasn't Emma, it was Aurora in the Netherworld.
"When you venture deeper into the Netherworld instead of away, There are risks," Gold explained, "Someone woke Aurora before her soul was ready to return. The violence of that act tore her away and injured Snow," He finished as he pointed to Snow who was now examining her arm in amazement. "We're lucky it wasn't worse, she's gonna need some time to recover before she can be sent back."
Everyone had something to say about that...even Regina surprisingly, "Out of the question," was what she said to be exact.
"No way in hell!" David exclaimed along with Regina. He was not going to risk his wife's life again, not after knowing the full risks of this Netherworld. "We'd be monsters to even consider having her risk her life again."
Snow understood why her husband didn't want her to go back into the Netherworld, it was dangerous, she could very much die, but she didn't understand why Regina was against it. Regina hated her ever since they first met and Regina blamed Snow for the death of her lover Daniel, so it didn't make sense to her when Regina disagreed to let her go back when she had been trying to get rid of Snow for years.
"Careful with your tone, Charming," Gold threatened the prince as his attitude started to turn into a tone you would use towards an enemy. But he did understand where the man was coming from, he too lost his family but the difference between them was that Charming was actually fighting for his family while Gold just sat and watched it all unravel. "I understand your concern for the boy, but I know Cora. Without our help, Killian and Emma will soon be dead. And then...a true monster will be on her way to Storybrooke."
Regina knew he was talking about her mother, and he was right, nobody would want Cora here, she was like the devil himself times a thousand. She had spent years trying to get away from her mother. "Aurora and Emma are gone! Why do we have to send Snow back to that fiery inferno with no one there to receive our message!"
David started to pace, it seemed like all luck was going down the drain for them ever since the curse had broken. But then he realized, "Because someone will be there, Emma."
Regina placed her hands on her hips and her eyes went wide, was he being serious? "Well, that's an awfully big assumption, considering she wasn't there just now because her pirate boyfriend thought it was best if she didn't...probably because her body was burning up as well!" Regina snapped as she pointed over to Snow was now sitting up looking up at David cautiously, she knew what he was going to say next.
"No. No, it's not, I know Emma, and if that means she has to go back under into the Netherworld to receive a message that'll help her get back to her family then she will do it, I know it." He was positive it's what Emma would do if she knew what her best chance of coming home was, "And I'll be waiting."
"You're going to this Netherworld?" Regina said with a slit bit of sarcasm not believing he actually would or know how he would since he was never under a sleeping curse. "How do you plan on doing that?"
David looked at Snow and then Gold, he understood what had to be done. "Gold put me under a sleeping curse!"
"What! David no! You can't do that like Regina and Gold said magic works differently here, there's a chance you may never wake up!" Snow proclaimed as a tear ran down her cheek just having the thought of losing her prince to a sleeping curse.
Walking over to his wife he cupped her cheek into his hand and squatted down to look her in the eyes, "I will, I know when the time is right, when Emma and Killian have returned you'll wake me up by true love's kiss," He said as he whipped away a tear.
"But what if it doesn't work?" Snow asked. They had just had a baby together, Neal couldn't grow up without a father and she couldn't raise him alone.
"It will," David said lovingly as he placed a small and chaste kiss on her lips, letting her know that he was confident and she should be too. As he stood up he looked at Gold who had a look of uncertainty, "Now I have spent too much time looking for my daughter and son-in-law, it's time to bring them home!"
It was the next day since the attack and since Emma had given up the rattle to save Aurora's life. They had been walking part way through the night and pretty much the entire day to only stop to grab a drink of water and snack on whatever few berries they could forage from a nearby bush. Aurora seemed off, she didn't seem like herself, she was quite rather than complaining about being in the woods.
Mulan had looked back to make sure Aurora was still there, which she was. But she was dazing off and looking down at the ground while she walked, what had Cora done to her she wondered. "Just over this ridge, we'll be near the woods of the dead!" She called out loud enough for everybody else to hear.
They thought that would've been the next course of action, at least move to a safer spot, somewhere Cora wouldn't so easily spot them. Of course, the name 'woods of the dead' didn't sound quite safe at all but apparently to Mulan it was the safest place to go.
Killian and Emma had been walking a couple feet away from Mulan and Aurora, Emma seemed to have gotten sore from her fight yesterday and Killian didn't want to leave her side, he was always there and that's what she loved about him.
Killian ended up looking over at his wife, her face was glowing with sweat and she was breathing a lot heavier. He knew it couldn't have been from the battle because she was the strongest lass he knew, even if she didn't have her full strength. "You alright, Swan?" He questioned, feeling his heart race up from worry, he realized he had been asking that a lot lately since they arrived, but he was only worried for his wife, she went ten years without seeing her son and then when she got him back he was ripped away just as fast once again.
"Yeah, I'm fine" She quickly answered back, as he helped her over a fallen tree that happened to have been in their path.
Immediately he knew that was a lie. "Hey. No. Wait, wait, you seem on edge love," He said stopped her tracks, making sure she looked him in the eye.
Emma shook her head, She didn't only wake up feeling sore, she woke up feeling once again nauseous but this time it was even worse then what it had been. "It's nothing, I just...haven't been feeling the best lately."
Arching a brow he wondered how long she had been feeling like this, "What seems to be the problem?"
"Nothing really, just an upset stomach, couple of headaches, probably from stress." Of course, she was trying to push the topic away and act as if it were nothing because really she wasn't even sure if she knew what it was, it could have just been from stress which she assumed.
Of course, the first thing that popped into Killian's mind was that this was an effect of the Netherworlds, "Love, I presume this may be from the Netherworld, tell me...how bad is it? What's it like?"
Taking a deep breath she thought about how she felt each time she went there, it was like a never-ending nightmare. "It's um...like you're lost...sleeping in the dark with nothing to do but think...think about how you will never see your loved ones again," She began as a tear started to slowly slide down her cheek, having Killian whip away the tear.
"Don't worry love, I'll always be here, you have family that loves you and will always be there," He told her as he cupped her face with his hand and hook, "No matter what gets pushed in our way, we'll always get through it."
She nodded as more tears slid down her cheeks, she knew he was right, but one thing just kept coming to mind. "If only I believed Henry when he was telling all these things about who I really was, this never would have happened, I would never have gone to the Netherworlds, I wouldn't be going through this."
He understood exactly where she was coming from, his whole life he thought about if he did something different then maybe he wouldn't be the cold-hearted pirate he was. If he tried harder to stop his brother from trying the dreamshade on his own person then his brother never would have died and he would never have turned into a reckless pirate. "Aye love, that may be true but if I never stole Milah from the crocodile I wouldn't have gone to Neverland for over three hundred years to only fail at getting my revenge...but look where that got me today," He said as he placed a sweet and chaste kiss on her lips, "Everything is just how it should be," He last whispered.
"But what if it's not?" Asked Emma sadly, "I'm Henry's mother, I'm supposed to believe him...and I didn't." That's what tore her apart more than anything, a mother is supposed to always believe her child no matter what and for almost a year she didn't believe her own son...she didn't even believe when he said he was her son even when she felt a familiar bond with him when they first met.
"He was asking for you to believe in a lot, love. The only thing that matters now is that the curse is broken and once we get home we can get things on track and be a family again." This time he took her hand and they started to walk together once again, their talk seemed like it had lightened up Emma's spirits a bit more and she seemed like she was getting strength...she was fighting to get back home.
While Regina was crunching up her ingredients to create this new sleeping curse, David and Snow were having some time as a family with Neal and Henry before David had to go sleep, neither knowing how long until they would be able to have this moment again.
"Hurry back to us," Snow said as she held a sleeping Neal between the two of them.
"I will, I promise," David said as he placed a kiss on Snow's forehead and then bent down to place a kiss on Neals'...his boy, his bundle of joy.
Henry started to feel emotional at this moment, he was scared that his grandfather would get injured and with him in this curse, it was just another family member that he was losing. Deciding he had to distract himself he walked to the back of the shop where he saw Regina making the potion that would make his grandfather sleep. "So, Mr. Gold had everything you needed in his shop?"
"Yes. We're almost ready," Regina said as she didn't bother to look at her step great-grandson.
Henry was fascinated by all the tubes and beakers filled with different kind of ingredients. He always imagined creating curses would be different. "So, this is how you do it? Magic?"
Regina shrugged as she did end up looking at him this time, and all she was a little boy that was curious, he wasn't scared of her like everybody else had been since the curse broke. "There are many ways, it's never easy."
"And...have you been using magic?" Henry asked as he remembered the events from last week when Regina had taken him to her house and tried to take him as her own son, he told her that if she wanted to change then using magic would prove that.
That was when she paused what she was doing and ended up looking over at him, straight in the eye. "Henry, I told you I wouldn't, and I haven't...except for...with
Daniel...and now" She said honestly, saying the last part with sadness in her voice. "I've really been trying." It's true she was trying if she wasn't then she wouldn't be helping out the Charming family right now.
Henry knew she was telling the truth, that was something he inherited from his parents. "It's okay, at least you're using it to help people," He said as he gave her a smile thinking about how she had helped him when Daniel was closing to ending his life.
"I'm trying, and after this, I won't," She told the boy. Regina smiled as she placed her hand on Henrys that rested on the table, she was thrilled by the feeling that overwhelmed her when Henry didn't pull away.
"I know." And that's when they shared a moment together, he looked into her eyes and she looked back. He didn't see the women that tried to kill his family...even though he would never forget that, but at this moment he only saw a woman who was trying to change for the better in herself.
Regina gave one last smile and one last squeeze of his hand before she went back to her work. She felt warm on the inside, it was a feeling she hasn't felt in years...love.
Scooping only a small amount of the powder that she had crushed herself into the small beaker, the potion started to fizz and glow a light blue.
"Will David be okay?" Henry then asked out of nowhere making Regina immediately look over at him in shock. He was scared of losing another family member, he thought that it should be him taking the sleeping curse, he just wanted to see his mother.
Starting to pour out the curse into a smaller beaker, Regina thought of what to say, "He'll be...asleep, and in there he won't die. Gold's explaining everything to him right now, and I do believe Snow gave David the necklace that'll help with the flames" She spoke kindly as she tried to be careful not to spill anything. The liquid came out blue, Regina swirled it around and nodded, it was ready.
"It should be me," Henry whined.
Regina stopped what she was doing and looked at him with wide eyes, "Henry, you have no idea what it's like in there, look at Snow, she's only been in there a couple of times and was already burned remarkably bad," She said, "We won't just risk your safety, it's not worth it."
Henry sighed, he knew that was going to be the answer, but he had to try. "But it is to me..." He so desperately wanted to see his mother, he would go under a sleeping curse just to see her.
She placed both her hands on the boys' shoulder, and looked him deeply in his eyes, and then she spoke. "There is one thing about your grandfather that I know for sure and that is that he will always succeed, and if there's one thing I know about your family, it's that they will always find each other, so don't worry, everything will be alright."
That made Henry smile as they both looked into each other's eyes. At this moment Henry was only seeing the good in her, she was trying to help people rather than hurt people. He liked this new Regina.
They had arrived at their destination, Mulan said this was the safest part of the land. Killian and Emma decided to sit under a tree on a log, his arm was wrapped around her neck and she was snuggled into his side. Emma was experiencing a whole lot of nausea, Killian actually had to start carrying her after she kept feeling like she was going to faint.
The plan was for Aurora to go back under to the Netherworlds and try to meet Snow again and get the information they needed so they could start figuring out a way to defeat Cora.
"Aurora, are you ready?" Mulan asked, she honestly didn't want Aurora to go back under, she thought it was very dangers but she understood it would probably be a lot safer than if Emma was to go through again. Aurora never answered her, she just sat on the ground with her knees to her chest looking into space. "Aurora?"
They tried for ten minutes to get Aurora's attention but they failed, it was almost like she wasn't hearing any of them.
"What the bloody hell do we do now?" Killian exclaimed as he started to get frustrated since their only way to contact snow wasn't responding.
Taking a deep breath, Emma closed her eyes as she thought about the only option left, "Aurora wasn't the only one that could go to the Netherworld..."
Immediately Killian looked at her shaking his head in disagreement, "Love, you'll get hurt."
"I might not," She said, "If it's our only way left, I have to do it, I have to get that information, Killian."
"Emma's right, it's the only option we have left," Mulan said walking up the couple and leaving Aurora alone since she obviously was dealing with some things of her own.
He didn't like this option very much, but he knew that they had to get home and see their son and family, "Alright, I'll agree but please be careful, love, I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you."
"I'll be fine," She said softly before she placed a soft and gentle kiss on her pirates' lips. "Alright, now let's get me to sleep." Leaning up against a tree they were already sitting next to, she got comfy and tried to relax.
Killian took her hand, to comfort her even more, knowing she was already on edge to go back, "I'll be here waiting, and tell Snow to say hi to our son for us."
Emma nodded right as she drifted off to sleep, she wasn't going to lie, it did feel good to finally go to sleep after almost forty-eight hours.
So this was it, David was about to prick his finger and go into a deep slumber to only awake when they knew their family was home safe. They were, of course, doing it the old-fashioned way, by the prick of a spindle on a spinning wheel. He had already told Snow and Henry that he loved them very much and that everything would be fine, but he honestly was scared and was trying not to shed any tears when he looked over at Neal who was now awake in his mother's arm. They all watched as David started moving his finger near the spindle as Gold started spinning the wheel, but then he stopped.
"When I awake, I'll be in that fiery room?" David questioned, he was going to make sure he knew exactly what was going to happen.
Gold stopped the spinning, "Not exactly, that room is where those who've already be awoken from the sleeping curse return. You, however, are being put under for the first time."
This didn't make sense to him, how was he going to find this room if he can't exactly get to it. "Then how will I know where to go? How the hell am I supposed to find a room with no door?"
"And that, dearie, is the conundrum we're all depending on you solving. Now I say this with most utmost sincerity...good luck," Gold said as he started to spin the wheel again, wanting to get this show on the road.
David scoffed at Gold's response, he obviously thought this was going to be easier than it actually was. "I love you," He spoke to Snow and Henry before he turned his eye vision back to the spindle and slowly pricked his finger, immediately falling into a deep slumber on the cot that Snow had been previously laying on.
David had woken up and he was surrounded by nothing but pure darkness but up ahead he could see a torch that was well lit. Walking towards it he grabbed the torch and then all he saw was mirrors of himself, he didn't understand, was this what Snow saw when she first arrived here? Did the same go for Emma?
"Snow!" He called out, knowing already he wouldn't get a response but he at least tried.
Emma woke up in the fire room, she hated to be here but they had to get the information Snow tried to tell Aurora.
"Mom?" She called out when she didn't see anybody in the room when she arrived. The flames crackled around her, she was trying not to get touched by any this time, "Mom?" Fire wooshed up high in front of her, making her step back and cover herself. "Mom? Mom! Where are you!"
Did her mom not come back? Were they too late? Did David not want to send her back here like what Killian did for her? There could have been multiple explanations to why she wasn't here, but Emma hoped that she would return, she did not want to come back to this Netherworld.
David walked around, he tried walking closer to the mirrors but every step he made, it was like he was going nowhere and the mirrors were getting further. But that was when he then noticed the blue glow coming from the necklace Snow gave him for the flames. Taking it off his neck he noticed that when he moved it around the glow got brighter, it was like the spell he used to find Snow when she was in a sleeping curse. Walking around it started to glow brighter until it got to the point where it burned his hand making him drop it to the ground.
Squatting down to pick it up he noticed there was a good amount of heat coming from the floor. As he placed his hand down on the floor it took no longer than a second for him to move his hand away quickly considering it probably burned him. But that was a good thing, that only told him one thing, the room was down under the floor. Taking the torch he smashed it right down to the floor having the floor crack all over, hitting it one last time he fell right from the ceiling and into the fiery room.
When he looked up and around he saw just what Snow had described, no doors or windows, nothing but fire everywhere. The necklace that was supposed to protect him ended up breaking on his fall, which now sucked since he couldn't control the flames.
"Dad?"
David looked up and saw his beautiful daughter standing there on the other side of the room.
"Dad? How...I don't understand, mom should be here," Emma said as she was confused, her mother was the only other one that could come to this room.
"I wouldn't let her come back. This is...This is too dangerous," David spoke as he looked around the room at all of the fire that was never-ending, "I knew you'd be here."
Emma smiled at how well her father knew her, but honestly, she wasn't supposed to be here, it was supposed to be Aurora. "I don't know how much time I have left," She said, she had been waiting for her mother for quite some time now and she would probably wake up any moment.
"Gold, he says there's a way to stop Cora," David said, wanting to get right to the point, "You have to stun her like we did with him."
She thought about that for a moment, how did they stun Rumplestiltskin when he was trying to steal Cinderella's baby? "The Quill!" She exclaimed as it all hit her.
"It wasn't the quill. It was the ink. There's a jar of it in the cell where we kept him, get it, get it, stop her and come home, everybody's waiting for you," He told her with a smile.
Emma nodded but then it dawned on here, her mother had told her this room was an effect of the sleeping curse, so how was her father able to come to this room. "Dad, how are you here? There's no way for you to be here unless..."
"A sleeping curse, I know. I had Gold put me under one, your mother will wake me when both of you return" He explained to his daughter that looked more than worried now, "I had to see you."
"...But now you're cursed." It was like her entire family was now cursed. First her mother, then her, and now her father, when will the sleeping curse stop?
"But it was worth it," He said with a smile he was glad to see his daughter now, and just know that she was alright. But when he jumped over the first and went to hug his daughter they went right through one another and Emma started to disappear, "It's a netherworld, we're not actually here."
Emma watched as her body was slowly drifting away. "I'm waking up!" It dawned on her, she was now waking up.
"It's alright, you'll get back and your mother will wake me as I woke her...just please hurry home," David told her, knowing very well everybody was missing her back in Storybrooke.
"Dad..." Tears started to come down her cheeks, she was scared, all the stress was finally letting out. She didn't want to leave her father trapped in here but there was nothing she could do.
"You can do this," He told her trying to boost up her spirits, "I love you."
"I love y..." Before she even got the chance to finish, she totally disappeared altogether, leaving Charming there by himself, dealing with the flames.
Slowly Emma's eyes opened and at first, she didn't even realize where she was at, but then she looked down at hers and Killians hands that were still linked together, he hadn't let go, he was there for her even when he couldn't physically go with her.
"Hey, you okay?" Killian asked as he noticed her eyes fluttering open, he didn't see any new burns, so that was a relief to him at least.
As soon as he asked she felt her stomach starting to turn and immediately rushed over behind a tree where she ended up throwing up. She didn't understand she had felt this way for the past two days but never had she thrown up.
Rapidly Killian rushed over to his Swans side and made sure she was alright, he hadn't seen his wife throw up in years, what was going on? "Swan? Is everything alright? What happened?"
"David, he's trapped in there, he went under a sleeping curse to see me and mom won't wake him until we're back home...we have to hurry!" Swan said as she whipped around her lips and took some deep breaths. She figured she threw up due to all the smoke she inhaled...or at least that's what she hoped for anyway.
Killian's eyes went wide as he heard what she said, there was another sleeping curse in the family...how many more of them were going to go through such a curse. "Wait...David is trapped in there?"
Emma's breathing was still rapid as Killian helped her sit down to calm down. He rubbed her back knowing that would clam her down since it always did before. "Mom has to give him true loves kiss...but she won't do that until we're home, so we need to hurry back Killian if we don..." She was speaking quickly, she knew exactly what would happen if they didn't get back, David would be trapped in there.
"Hey, We will, remember what I told you, to have faith" Killian said looking into her eyes as he rubbed her back, slowly he could see her start to calm down which he was glad, he knew how much stress she had been going through the last several days and he wanted to stop it. "Now, did you get the information?"
She nodded, "It's Rumplestiltskin he said the key to stopping her is in his jail cell."
"Okay, then lets go get it," Killian said with a smile as he helped her up, knowing she probably still didn't feel good.
"Where are we going?" Aurora asked.
Everybody turned their heads in surprise, Aurora had spoken for the first time since she had a knife to her throat by Cora.
"Rumplestiltskins cell..." Emma said in surprise.
"Another journey just as I expected," Mulan said in annoyance, every day they had to go somewhere new, it was never-ending.
Both and Killian chuckled softly at Mulan, they knew she was getting tired of travelling every day but hopefully this would be their last trip to get themselves home.
"Come on love, let's go get that rattle back." And with that they all started walking in the direction of where Rumplestiltskin use to be held.
Woohoo! Two chapters in two days! I'm so happy for myself!
I'm glad you guys are still with me and I'm glad you waited for me to get out of my small situation where I haven't posted for months, but that's over now! :)
Please review, favourite and follow and don't be afraid to tell me some of your guys ideas.
Next time Chapter 29: Home
