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Chapter Twenty-Nine:
Now and All of Time

I heard the bells in my head the second I saw you

And against my better judgement I began to adore you

Don't you see the way your hand fits so perfectly with mine

We were made to stand together by some great unknown design

For now and all of time

You will be mine


The first sound heard in the cave after Neal makes his declaration is a child's scream, emanating from Henry. Mary Margaret quickly grabs the boy before he runs over to his mother and Neal, holding him back. I trust Emma, she thinks. I trust her to make the right decision.

"My son!" Gold is the next to cry out, stumbling forward. He drops his cane and lunges for the pair. It's only David's outstretched arm that holds him back as Neal's father struggles to reach his son, too distraught to use magic.

Neal shakes his head and bites back a wince of pain at the feeling of having a hand literally holding his heart. "I'm doing what I should have done before, Papa," he says. "Letting go of the past; making up for my mistakes."

Rumpelstiltskin stares at his son as Prince Charming keeps him from moving towards the two.

"I know it now – Emma and Hook are true loves," Neal states firmly, "and I won't stand in the way of that," his next words are soft, "I won't let anyone get hurt again."

Gold slowly settles down as he hears the determination in Neal's tone. David loosens his grip, although the pawnbroker still looks shocked, but he no longer struggles.

"You're going to break the curse," Mary Margaret states, understanding. "The only way to break the vow…"

"…is for another to take the job," David finishes, recalling the story.

"Are you sure of this?" Gold finally asks, slowly coming to grips with the situation.

Neal nods seriously and looks at Emma, whose hand still grips his heart in his chest. Her gaze is steely. His eyes flicker back over to his father – Rumpelstiltskin, the Dark One, Mr Gold the pawnbroker –his father. "I'm sure," Neal says and grits his teeth at the pain. "This is what I want to do. This is my way of making up for my wrongs – Papa, surely you understand that."

Perhaps, Gold thinks, he is right.

Calypso watches the scene with curious eyes and a different outlook, ever since that wave of magic washed over her not too long ago. I am not wicked, she thinks, making a decision. I will not be wicked any more. If this is what the mortal wishes to do…I am none to stop it. Especially since…

She does not interfere.

Neal looks at his son. "You're a great kid, Henry. I'm sorry we didn't have much time together."

Henry smiles sadly at his father and bites his lip. Mary Margaret rubs soothing circles on the boy's back.

Neal grins at Emma now. "I love you," he says, "and I'm sorry for what I did to you."

Emma's eyes soften. "I love you too, Neal. I'm not in love with you, but I love you. And…" she nods firmly, assuring herself, and takes a deep breath before her next words. "I forgive you. Are you ready?"

Neal sucks in a deep breath. "Yeah," he says. "Do it."

In one swift moment, Emma tears Neal's heart out of his chest. He gasps in air, squeezing his eyes , and when he recovers, Emma holds out the heart to him. Neal takes it, gratefully, and stands up. He narrows his eyes and looks at Calypso with determination. Hand open, bright ruby red jewel glittering in the palm of his hand, Neal presents his heart to the sea goddess.

"I bind myself to Davy Jones' Locker," Neal pledges. "I vow to care for the souls for eternity."

Calypso steps forward, and bows her head. She takes the heart from Neal's hand and waves her hand. Neal's heart glows bright gold and the man gasps as heat floods over his chest for a split second, before subsiding. It reminds him of the flood of magic from true love's kiss – bright, burning, strong and pure.

Irreversible.

David glances over at Neal once the process is complete. The man no longer appears to be suffering the effects of having his heart bound to the Locker, but he does not look any different. "You're immortal now, right?" David finally asks.

"Yeah…" Neal replies slowly, confused. "I think so."

"So you can't be hurt – " David looks at Calypso for confirmation, and she nods, " – but you can feel pain?"

"Something like that, I guess," Neal replies, still confused. "Why?"

David steps forward, and in one swift movement, punches Neal right in the face. The man yelps. David steps back and crosses his arms as everyone else stares at him in bewilderment. Emma is surprised when Mary Margaret doesn't berate her husband, but she does nothing either.

"What was that for?!" Neal yells, rubbing his nose as he looks at the so-called Prince Charming.

"Sending my daughter to jail," David replies coolly.

In the background, Jefferson silently cheers.


Emma looks at Neal – he's about ready to leave, go to wherever the caretaker of the Locker resides or whatever. She doesn't really know. Neal looks up at her as she steps forward. "Yeah?" he asks. "Emma?"

Emma gulps. She slowly reaches out towards Neal and gently wraps her arms around him, hugging him. After a few moments of awkward silence, Neal tentatively returns the hug. It doesn't last long, but as soon as they break apart Henry grabs his dad around his waist and hugs him, before hopping back to Mary Margaret. "Bye Dad," he says quietly.

Emma's words follow her son's: "Goodbye, Neal."

"What should we tell Tamara?" Gold asks as Neal moves to stand beside Calypso, who has been waiting patiently all this time.

Neal just shakes his head and takes Calypso's hand. The last sight they see is the pair disappearing in a whirlwind of magic, and their fingers intertwining tightly. Calypso's face flickers, once, and Emma swears she can see a different person underneath the mask. She shakes her head – just my imagination. Then Emma glances at Gold. Did he see that? she wonders, curious.

His eyes give her the answer – yes, he did. The rest of the group are oblivious to their silent exchange.

Just then, there's a gasp from where Killian's body lies, and Emma starts, remembering the focus of the entire situation is bleeding to death over in the corner. Emma runs over to him and is startled to see his ocean blue eyes blinking open. Killian stares up at her as Emma cradles his head in her lap.

"Where's it hurt?" Emma asks hurriedly, running her hands over his chest in a frantic attempt to stop the blood flow by applying pressure.

Killian weakly reaches up and grabs her hand, halting her movements. Emma looks at him and sees him grinning.

"I'm okay, love," Killian says gently. "It closed as soon as Baelfire made the pact."

Emma's eyes widen and she looks at Killian's chest in shock – sure enough, where Calypso had stabbed him there is nothing but the remnants of dried blood. Emma laughs in surprise. "You're alive!" she cries.

Killian slowly sits up and pulls Emma closer to him, wrapping his arms firmly around her waist. The two stand up, still in each other's arms, gazes locked firmly on each other. They're utterly oblivious to the fact that they have an audience. Emma slowly leans forward and places a gentle kiss on his lips, sighing softly and closing her eyes as he kisses her back. Killian tighten his grip on her as Emma loops her arms around her neck, pressing her body flush against his as their lips gently move together, breath intermingling.

Killian smiles a little under her lips and cracks open an eye to see Mary Margaret quickly covers Henry's eyes to the sight of his mother passionately kissing Captain Hook. Henry knocks her hand away and beams. Mary Margaret gives up and looks gently at David, who has come to wrap an arm around her shoulder. The two lock hands as they hug Henry in between them.

Gold stands by Jefferson – his partner for goodness-knows-how-many-years - and watches the proceedings. The two laugh and shake their heads, the Hatter respectfully holding his hat n his hands.

Ruby takes the opportunity to grab Victor. She pulls him towards her and smashes her lips against his, kissing the hell out of the bewildered doctor. He's a little surprised, to say the least. But he doesn't pull away and eagerly kisses the wolf-girl back. A werewolf and a doctor known for reanimating the dead, Killian thinks. Strange - but then, no, perhaps not much stranger than a pirate and a princess.

Killian closes his eyes again, amused at the sight, but now content to relax in the warmth and comfort of Emma's touch.

This is all he needs right now.

Killian finally leans back from Emma's gentle lips and brings his hand up to touch her cheek. She looks up at him. "I love you," he says.

A smile traces the lips that had been on his moments before. "I love you too," Emma says, and this time, the words don't make her scared at all.

Killian chuckles and rests his forehead against hers, gazing into her eyes. "It's about bloody time," he says, and it's the most accurate statement of the day.


Emma stands on the deck of the Jolly Roger, gazing over the side of the ship at the ocean as the sun falls in the sky. She hears the tapping of a cane and Gold comes to stand beside her. "We're heading through the portal soon," he remarks.

Emma nods and looks at Henry's grandfather - Neal's father - out of the corner of her eye. Neal, being the new caretaker of the Locker and also acquainted with them, had given the entire group free passage out of the realm – after all, he ruled over it now. The other day, after leaving the cave, everyone had watched as all the souls wandering the oceans were lead onshore like a herd, guided by Neal, who had a prominent scar across his chest but a face that shone with some form of happiness - or peace, at least. He travelled all his life from one realm to the next and finally has a permanent home, Emma thinks. Guess everyone found their happy endings here, in some way or another.

His hand was tightly gripping Calypso's as they walked, the two inseparable. Emma recalls this scene as she stands at the railing with Gold – Killian is at the helm directing the ship with help of Jefferson, the two laughing and joking. Apparently the hatter and the pirate got along rather well, when they weren't on opposites sides – which surprised her almost as much as the brotherly relationship Killian had with a certain mermaid…


"Where is Ursula?" a voice called out furiously. Emma and Killian slowly removed themselves from each other's arms – although still hold hands – as a young woman strode into the room, her red hair tumbling down her back in wild waves, accentuating the sharp lines of her cheekbones and chin. Her eyes were narrowed as she surveyed the room, finally coming to rest on the pile of dust that is Ursula's remains. She looked up and glared. "This is all that's left?"

Killian attempted a calming smile. "Ariel, sweetheart, Ursula is dead. Isn't that what you wanted?"

Ariel spun on her heel and stalked over to the pirate, her bare feet – feet, Emma observes, no tail – slapping against the wet stone. "Did our deal mean nothing, Killian, darling?" Ariel asked in an overly-sweet voice.

"Ariel –" Killian started.

"No!" The mermaid-turned-human raised a hand threateningly. "She's dead!"

"I'm sorry, but saving our hides was a little more important at the time than ensuring you got your vengeance," Killian replied firmly.

All of a sudden, Ariel stopped in her tracks. She stood there; white dress plastered to her legs, semi-translucent, and stared. And stared. Then her face transformed, and a quick, high-pitched giggle sounded out. "You think I'm angry!" she cried, a grin breaking across her face. "Angry because you got to kill her! Ha! Ursula's dead and I never have to see her ugly face again!"

Emma frowned. "Uh, you're not angry? Really?"

Ariel looks up and giggled again. "Not at all!"

She then glanced between Emma and Killian, back and forth, until her gaze found their interlocked hands. The grin grew, and she stepped forward, poking Killian in the chest with lightness in her eyes. "You got yourself a true love, didn't ya, Killian?" she squealed ecstatically.

Killian opened his mouth, but no sound came out. This only served to further egg the mermaid on. "Ha! You did! You did you did you did!" she shook her head. "What's your name?" this question was directed towards Emma.

"Emma…" Emma said. "And you must be…"

"Ariel!" Ariel finished. "Killian's friend!"

Emma heard David laugh under his breath at those words. She had to admit, it's a little weird for her too, but… "Nice to…meet you, I guess?" she said. "Uh, sorry for turning Ursula into calamari…"

Ariel shrugged. "No trouble at all, Emma! Now, Killian," she said this in a reprimanding tone. "Don't you owe me something?"

Killian looked confused.

Ariel rolled her eyes. "Silly pirate, as usual. A hug!" before he can react, she leaped forward and slung her arms around Killian's neck, pulling him tightly to her. The pirate was forced to let go of Emma's hand as he slowly hugged the mermaid back, and Emma can see joy in his eyes – relief that the girl is safe…


Emma's thoughts move back to present day as her first meeting with the infamous Ariel fades from her mind, replaced once again with those of Neal's departure with Calypso.

"Do you find it strange?" Emma asks the pawnbroker. "Her and him…them…you know."

Gold shakes his head. "Not as much as I did initially, Miss Swan. I've learned much on this voyage, and if there's anything to be said about people when in the Locker, is that they often hide behind a mask."

Emma laughs and gazes out to sea at the retreating Isla Sirena. The mermaids are in the shallows, waving and smiling at the group. Emma realized quickly after Ariel and Killian's reunion that there was a larger story there than she thought. The two have a history, and as far as

Emma knows, Ariel is probably the closest Killian has to a best friend.

"I don't know," Emma says. "I mean there was a resemblance and all – although I only met her once – but…never mind, hell, it's weird."

"Perhaps it is," Gold finally agrees. "But, you know, names happen of one of my specialities."

"And…?" Emma asks.

"Do you know the meaning of her name?" Gold asks questioningly.

Emma shakes her head, "Nope."

"Tamara means goddess of rivers and streams. It was the name of a deity," Gold explains. "Rather surprising, wouldn't you say?"

She laughs at the pawnbroker - it's a question that, when she first came to the Locker, she would have readily answered 'yes', to, but now - well, there's something to be said about the changes this land causes in a person. "I'm the 'Saviour', the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, my true love is Captain Hook – who is the son of Davy Jones - my godmother is a werewolf possibly dating Doctor Frankenstein, my son's father is the caretaker of said Locker and in a relationship with Calypso, and you, aka my son's grandfather, who used to work with the Mad Hatter, is Rumpelstiltskin."

Emma looks down at the crashing waves, then back at the Locker – the land that first seemed like a curse to end up in, now a blessing after finding love there – as it fades away in the distance, then shakes her head. "Believe me, Gold, nothing surprises me anymore."


A/N: *Insert keyboard smash here* You wouldn't believe my shock when I learned the meaning of Tamara's name, because it fit so perfectly in which what I'd already planned. Tamara can also means 'palm tree', but according to my reference, in ancient Britain her name did mean what Gold said it was.

In case anyone didn't get that, Calypso and Tamara are the same person - however, Calypso was not aware of the fact until true love's kiss removed the curse that prevented her from knowing that. Much like the curse everyone in Storybrooke suffered from, except in reverse.

Thank you all for being amazing, beautiful readers!

Reviews are to me what Colin is to fangirls.