Dean watched skeptically was the woman named Cora bent down to inspect Mary Margaret.

"You sure she's going to be ok?" Emma asked, more concerned about her friend than whoever this person was.

Cora looked up and smiled at the pair of them, "Don't worry. She'll be fine."

Dean groaned and Emma pat his arm. "Sam is probably flipping his shit right now trying to figure out where we went."

"Your brother and David both." Emma stood up and began to look around the strange hole. "What is this place? Where are we?"

"It's a little island our captors like to think of as their haven."

"Haven," Dean questioned. "From what?"

"The world's dangerous. What's left of it anyway."

Emma looked between Cora and Dean, "Well they can't keep us down here."

"That's right," Dean agreed. "We didn't do anything wrong!" he yelled up to the hole, trying to get someone's attention.

Cora shrugged, "Neither did I."

"Then why are you here?" Emma asked.

Cora sighed, "I'm here because of something my daughter did. The curse that ravaged this land – she cast it. Regina."

"You're Regina's mother?" Emma asked, pulling Dean's attention back to the woman in front of them.

"Yes. But you've nothing to fear from me. The apple fell very far from the tree." Cora looked between Emma and Dean, looking down at their clothes. "You're from over there, aren't you? How did you get back?"

"Emma." Mary Margaret, holding the back of her head, began to stand up. She was staring at Cora, a look Dean recognized as distrust. They had met before – and it hadn't ended well, at least not for her. "No," she whispered.

"Oh, Snow. You're awake. I'm so relieved," Cora said with a smile.

Mary Margaret grabbed Emma's arms and positioned herself between her daughter and the woman. "As bad as you think Regina is, this woman is worse."

Emma tilted her head and tried to reply, but Cora spoke up first. "Oh, Snow." Mary Margaret turned around and wrapped a protective arm in front of Emma. "Sweet Snow. Please. Believe me. Whatever she told you isn't true. I just want to help you."

Dean watched from the sidelines, wondering whether this woman was trust worthy or not. He tried to remember if Regina's mother was mentioned during his time in Storybrooke. He thought he remembered Sam mention something about the Evil Queen's mother being a bitch, but he wasn't exactly sure. Either way, the woman didn't sit well with him. He barely knew Mary Margaret, but he trusted her judgment.

Emma, on the other hand, wasn't as convinced. "Let's hear her out," she said softly to Snow.

"Emma." Mary Margaret warned.

"Ok, right now we are at the bottom of a hole with no other options. And Henry is back in Storybrooke with Regina," Emma tried to reason.

Cora looked between the pair of women, "Who's Henry?"

"My son," Emma explained. "I kind of share him with Regina." Mary Margaret shook her head and spun around. "It's complicated –"

Mary Margaret grabbed Emma to get her attention, "Don't talk to her."

"Enough!" they heard above them. A rope was tossed down through the hole. "Our leader requests an audience."

The trio looked to each other and shrugged. Dean helped Mary Margaret up first, then Snow. He looked back to Cora, who smiled something slightly shady.

"You never introduced yourself," Cora mentioned, taking a few steps towards him. She reached out and stroked his arm. "You're not from this world, I can sense it. Just who are you, stranger?"

Dean noticed Emma had looked down at them as she climbed upward. She was probably listening intently to what they were saying. He tried not to read it as jealousy. Dean scoffed, "I'm just an Alice that's fallen down a rabbit hole. I'm a nobody." He looked down at her hand still on his arm. "And I'm not into older chicks."

"Alice? Rabbit hole?" her brow creased. "You're not from Wonderland; that I know for a fact."

"And how would you know that?" Dean asked, watching as her mask slipped for a second to reveal that she had accidentally revealed something she hadn't meant to.

"Up!" the voice above commanded to Dean.

Without looking back at the woman, Dean climbed up the rope.

When he got up to the top, he heard Emma and Mary Margaret whispering to each other as they waited for him.

"Why couldn't you just listen to me?" Snow whispered.

"Why couldn't you have trusted me? I was just trying to find a way to get us home," Emma replied. When Dean joined them they started to walk with their escort. "I could've handled her."

"Cora?" Mary Margaret laughed. "Don't be so sure. I've lived here, Emma. I know this world and its dangers."

"Wait here," their guard instructed.

Emma sighed, exhaling a deep breath before turning around to face her mother. "Is that why you came through the portal? Because you thought I was helpless here? We were helpless here?" she asked, gesturing to Dean.

"Hey!" he said, insulted.

Mary Margaret kept her attention on Emma. She shook her head, "No. I came through to be with you." Her gaze moved to something behind Emma and Dean, her expression changing. "Lancelot?"

Dean and Emma turned when Mary Margaret started walking towards the man in full body armor.

"Snow," the man stated. They walked quickly towards each other and greeted with a warm hug. "If I'd have known that you were the prisoners Mulan had brought back, I never would have locked you away. Please, forgive me."

"Of course."

Emma and Dean looked to each other, then back to the pair.

"Mulan?" Dean asked, finally figuring out who exactly the warrior woman was.

"Lancelot?" Emma asked. "Really?"

"Like the round table, knights, Camelot, first hand to King Arthur Lancelot?" Dean asked. They all looked at Dean, probably wondering how he knew so much. He shrugged, "I used to read the stories to my brother when we were kids."

"He's an old friend," Mary Margaret explained. "We can trust him. This is Emma, my daughter, and Dean."

"Her husband?" Lancelot asked.

"No," Emma and Dean answered in unison.

Lancelot chuckled, placing an apologetic hand up. "My mistake. Come, let us gather together for a meal. You all must be famished."

"Thank god," Dean exclaimed as they began to follow Lancelot and Mary Margaret to a dining table. Emma rolled her eyes, but smiled slightly at him. "What? Being time warped into some black hole portal thing and being man handled into a pit by a cross-dressing China-saving warrior woman takes a lot out of you. Do you think they'll have hamburgers?"

They sat down at the table and people began placing bowls of food in front of them. Strange food.

"What the hell is that?" Emma asked, looking at some long, weird looking pieces of meat. Or bone. Dean couldn't tell. But he was asking himself the same thing.

"That is Chimera," Lancelot replied. "An acquired taste, but all our hunting party could bring back. One part lion, one part serpent, one part goat."

Dean scrunched his brow and made a face at the man's description.

"Like turducken?" Emma asked sarcastically, sticking her fork into a piece and inspecting it.

"Which part was the goat?" Dean asked, also picking up a piece of the meat.

Mary Margaret began to talk over him, "I don't understand. We were told this land didn't even exist anymore. How did you all escape the curse?"

"It is a mystery," Lancelot explained. "The curse struck, and when the smoke cleared, most of us had been torn from this land. But some of us here, in this particular region, were left behind. We don't know how and we don't know why. Finding this safe haven wasn't easy. It took some spilt blood. But worry not, you're safe here."

"We can't stay," Mary Margaret said apologetically. "My husband's back there, Emma's son, my grandson. We have to get back to them. Can you help us find a portal?"

Lancelot shook his head, "Leaving is unwise. The Enchanted Forest is not as you remember it. The ogres have returned."

Dean choked a bit on a grape he'd been chewing on at the mention of ogres.

"Ogres?" Emma asked, just as shocked as Dean. "Like as in fee-fi-fo-fum?"

Mary Margaret put her hand on Emma's arm, "Those would be giants."

Dean chuckled. "Yeah, Emma. Come on, don't you know the difference?"

Emma made a face at Dean's jest, rolling her eyes.

"Ogres are far worse," Lancelot glared at Dean, giving him a very serious look. "That's why we live here, on this island where it's safe. Please, Snow. Stay here. There are no more portals left."

Dean felt his heart sink a bit at the knight's words. He had to get back to his world, his brother, and the people who were depending on him to save that world.

"I might know of one," Mary Margaret mentioned.

Emma and Dean quickly turned their attention to Mary Margaret, caught off guard. "You do?" Emma asked.

"Where?" Lancelot asked.

Mary Margaret looked back to where the pit was and shook her head, "Cora's near. I don't feel comfortable voicing my plans. She's powerful."

"Not anymore. The curse stripped her of her powers. But given her reputation, we've kept her locked up as a precaution."

"Nevertheless, I'm not taking chances," Mary Margaret reasoned. "Just trust me. I may have a way. Let us go."

Dean rose an eye brow, wondering why they needed permission to leave. Nothing was going to keep him from getting them back to their families. Especially not some former knight of Camelot.

"I'll allow it," Lancelot finally said. "But on one condition. Take my bravest warrior with you. Allow Mulan to defend you."

"We can defend ourselves," Emma said defensively.

"Deal," Mary Margaret said over her. Dean glanced to Emma, who shot her mother an unimpressed look. He was on her side, they didn't need extra people to get in the way. No extra baggage. "Thank you, Lancelot. For always looking out for me."

When they finished all they needed to eat, the trio followed Mulan to grab some supplies for their journey.

Mulan opened a crate filled with weapons. "Choose wisely. We must be vigilant if we hope to survive the journey."

Mary Margaret pulled out a bow and case of arrows. Emma grabbed a dagger and pushed it in her boot.

"Where's my gun?" Dean and Emma asked at the same time.

Mulan reached in her bag and pulled out the two guns, one black and one silver. "Is it magic?"

"Depends on who's pulling the trigger," she said as they took the guns from her.

Dean looked around the crate, pulling out all the knives and other belongings that had belonged to him when they confiscated them from him "I want my sword, too." Emma rose an eyebrow. "What? I earned that sword! There's no way I'm going to give it up. Even if I don't exactly know how to use it properly."

Mulan handed him his sword. "I can teach you some techniques on the journey so that you can defend yourself."

"Listen, I appreciate it. But I think I know how to defend myself properly."

"It couldn't hurt," Mary Margaret tried to reason. Dean rolled his eyes.

"Follow my lead," Mulan instructed, "step where I step. Do exactly as I say, and we might survive."

"Oh no," Dean groaned, "People don't just like randomly start bursting out into song in this land, do they?"

The women all stared at Dean, only Emma understanding him.

"You know, the song? Head my every order, and you might surviiiiiive!" The women stared at him as he sang. "We must be swift as a raging river! With all the force of a great typhoon! With all the strength of a raging fire! Mysterious as the dark side of the mooooooon!"

Emma had to cover her mouth to stop herself from cracking up, the other women standing speechless. Dean scratched the back of his head, realizing that only Emma understood what he was referencing to and that he'd just made a fool of himself.

"Are you finished singing? Can you be capable of acting serious?" Mulan asked him. "I'm trying to help you, keep you alive."

"Thanks for the pep talk," Emma added, her laughter residing. "but I think we're ok. I just killed a dragon last week."

"Hey, I helped!"

"Have you ever seen an ogre?" Mulan asked.

Emma met the warrior's glare, "Pretty sure I've dated a few." Dean smirked.

"Legend has it that when they kill you, the last thing you see is yourself dying in the reflection in their eyes," Mulan explained. Dean caught Snow in the background rolling her eyes at the woman's story. He tried to restrain his chuckle. "Let's walk. It'll be dark soon."

They started to follow her. "Don't let her rattle you," Mary Margaret said to Emma. "I won't let anything happen to us. Stick to the plan."

Emma rose her arms, "What is the plan? You haven't told me anything. What's going on?"

Mary Margaret looked around to make sure no one was listening and gestured for Dean and Emma to move closer to her. "The wardrobe," she whispered.

"Wardrobe?" Emma questioned. "The wardrobe? Like, the wardrobe that sent little baby me to Maine?"

"God, I should have read that storybook better."

"You think it could get us back to Storybrooke?" Emma asked.

Mary Margaret shook her head, "I don't know. First we have to see if it survived the curse, then we'll worry about making it work."

"Where is it?" Dean asked.

"My place. Wanna see where you're from, Emma? That's right. We're going home."

They left the haven and began walking through the forest.

"So, um, how far exactly is this place of yours?" Dean asked, wondering how far they would have to go and how far they would have to walk.

Mary Margaret shrugged, "About a day or so's journey. The time will go by quickly. We'll take a few sporadic breaks to eat and rest. How does that sound, Mulan?"

"Fine."

"Question," Dean announced, "why didn't we just take the horses that you and that other woman tied us to? Wouldn't we have gotten there quicker?"

Mulan shook her head, "They would have attracted too much attention. It's safer to go by foot. We'll just need to distract ourselves as we go through the journey."

"Alright ghostbuster, it's time to start spilling some stories," Emma said with a raised eye brow and a smirk.

"Wait a minute, so Snow White was killing people?" Mary Margaret asked, astonished.

Dean chuckled, "Well, not exactly. She wasn't really Snow White. But when she was younger, her step mother poisoned her with bleach, causing her to slip into a coma for fourteen or so years. It was her spirit that had attached to the story of Snow White that was causing all the mischief. Her father would read to her from a fairy tale book, and she would use these stories as her template for violently acting out."

"But why?" Mary Margaret asked. "Why turn some innocent man into a psycho wolf killer and send him to maul the three little pigs? Or Red Riding Hood's grandmother?"

Dean shrugged. "That's just how violent spirits are. They're stuck on Earth and they're angry. Either at whoever killed them or because something is holding them back. And they take it out on the living. That's why me, and the people who do what we do, learn to stop them."

"So you really do save lives," Emma said softly.

"So ghosts are real in your world?" Mulan asked. Dean nodded. "What other creatures exist?"

Dean shrugged, "Lots of things. Some living, some dead. Some in between. Spirits, shapeshifters, genies, reapers, ghouls, gods, demi-gods, sirens, zombies, angels, demons, werewolves –"

"Werewolves?" Mary Margaret asked, a worried tone in her voice. "You and your brother, you kill werewolves?"

Dean scrunched his brow, "Sometimes. We've tried to find a cure, but when they change and lose control like that, they're dangerous. The one's we've… stopped. They've killed a lot of people."

Mary Margaret's breathing began to increase. "Red."

"Red?" Emma asked. "Ruby?"

"Yeah. She's a werewolf."

"What?" Dean asked, "My brother's into another werewolf? Hell, I guess he has a type."

"You don't think he'll hurt her, will he? If she changes, that is."

Dean shrugged, "Knowing Sam he'll probably do everything in his power to help her. Besides, your werewolves and our werewolves might be different." Dean said the words, but he wasn't sure if he meant them completely or not.

"Wait a minute," Emma held up her hand. "So Ruby is a werewolf? How? Henry thought she was Red Riding Hood."

"That explains all the red," Dean chuckled.

Mary Margaret nodded, "She is. But she's also the wolf from the story. So was Granny in her time. But her red cloak is enchanted to keep her from transforming. And she's learned how to control the wolf in her well over the years before the curse."

"Woah, hell of a plot twist on the original story. Well if she can control it or prevent it, then I don't see Sam finding any reason to harm her," Dean reasoned, proving that the werewolves were different between the worlds.

Emma shook her head, "This is too much. I should have read Henry's book better; I should have taken him seriously."

Dean put his hand on Emma's shoulder. "Hey, you didn't know. You reacted the way any sane person would have reacted."

"That's not how you reacted when Henry told you about the curse."

"I'm not a sane person," Dean winked and Emma couldn't help the soft laugh that left her throat.

Mulan stopped and looked around. "This will do. We'll make camp here for the night. We just need to find water, collect some firewood."

"Um, if we're hiding from ogres shouldn't we maybe, I don't know, not start a fire?" Emma asked.

"Ogres are blind," Mary Margaret explained. "They hunt by sound alone."

"Right, because that's something everyone would know about ogres," Emma replied sarcastically.

Mary Margaret and Mulan made awkward eye contact as Mary Margaret sighed, taking a few steps closer to Emma. "Look, I know you're out of your element –"

"I'm fine."

"I know. But maybe, you and Dean should just stay here while we get wood and water. Guard the campsite."

"You mean the big empty clearing?"

"It's the safest place," Mary Margaret sighed. "We'll be right back."

Mary Margaret and Mulan left in two separate directions, leaving Dean and Emma alone to guard.

"This is insulting," Dean groaned as he took a seat on one of the boulders. "I've been out in the wilderness before. I bet I know how to track and survive on the land better than both of them."

Emma sighed as she took a seat next to him. She exhaled deeply. "I hate being patronized. I've lived on my own since I was seventeen, I think I can handle myself."

"She's your mom, she's just trying to protect you."

"Yeah, I'm sure she's been playing that mantra in her head all day," Emma said almost bitterly. Dean watched Emma speak and then drop her head, inspecting the ground. Though he could tell her mind was elsewhere.

Dean decided to ask a dangerous question. "You're mad at her, aren't you?"

Emma swallowed sharply before looking over at him. "I don't want to be. But she went from my roommate and best friend to my mother in like half a second. When I needed a mother, I didn't have her. And now, I don't need a mother anymore. I'm a grown woman. Now is when I need someone like who Mary Margaret was. A friend; a confidant. And in one moment, I lost that and gained a mother. An apparently over protective mother who thinks I'm helpless. But I don't need a mother."

"Everyone needs a mother," Dean said. He reached out and grabbed Emma's hand, trying to get her attention. When she finally looked up at him, he continued. "I understand your anger. You feel betrayed. And now that she's back, what right does she have to lay claim as your mother, right?" He squeezed her hand. "Give it time. You've been given a remarkable chance, Emma. You've been reunited with your parents. Take it from someone who's deepest wish has always been that his mother was still alive."

"You miss her, huh?"

"Actually, I just recently saw her. Well, her when she was in her twenties." Emma rose an eye brow. "Angels, time travel. Another long story that I will be happy to tell at another time."

Emma smiled slightly, but looked down. "But your parents didn't give you away."

"No, you're right."

"I just want to get back to Henry," Emma sighed. "And I'm sure you want to get back to your brother."

Dean nodded. "I wonder if Cas will be able to help him and David in trying to find some way to help us get back. If anyone is able to travel across worlds, I would imagine angels would be likely."

"What about the apocalypse thing that he mentioned before?" Emma asked. "The four horsemen?"

"My great and honorable destiny, you mean?" Dean asked sarcastically. He scoffed, "Yeah, my destiny to save the entire world from its end. I wonder if it'll go on without me. See, my brother and I sort of brought on the apocalypse – on accident."

"On accident?" Emma asked with a smirk.

Dean chuckled. "If anyone was going to bring on the end of the world, it'd be my brother and I. Well, before the apocalypse could begin, 66 seals had to be broken. And I sort of broke the first one when I was in hell."

"How?"

Dean cringed, wishing she hadn't asked that. "Hell is…"

"Hell?"

"Exactly. Human souls that are sent to hell are tortured, tormented until their humanity gets stripped away. Then they become demons, who hate hell so much that they climb and claw their way out of it back to Earth to cause chaos and destruction. Time moves differently there. One month up here could end up being ten years down there."

"You were in hell for forty years?" Emma calculated, remembering his prior story.

Dean nodded. "Forty years of torture. Every day the dick who cut into me and beat me would offer me a deal: stay on the rack or get off it and torture souls myself. Forty years I said no to his deal. Until I couldn't take it anymore. I said yes, breaking the first seal. I was the righteous man who started it, I have to end it."

"Wow," Emma was speechless, taking in his story. "So what did your brother do?"

"He broke the last seal. He was manipulated by a damn demon into thinking that by killing this specific demon, he would be stopping the apocalypse. But instead, killing that demon was the final seal, releasing Lucifer from his cage in hell."

"And the horsemen?"

"War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. We've killed two of them, War and Famine. They have these rings, and when you cut them off their finger, they die. Once we get all the rings together and recite an incantation, we'll be able to open Lucifer's cage once again. That's what the archangel Gabriel told us, anyway. Before he died after saving us."

Emma exhaled, "Wow. That's heavy."

"Tell me about it," Dean chuckled. If he were being honest with himself, he actually felt a bit relieved. He was away from it all. He didn't have to worry about angels coming after him trying to bully him into saying yes to Michael. He didn't have to worry about demons coming after him. He didn't have to worry about Crowley or Michael or Lucifer or anyone. Except Sam. Dean realized that with him gone, there was no one to protect him from Lucifer trying to capture him. And that was what drove him to try and find a way home.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you," Emma admit, "you know, before. I thought you were crazy. I said some pretty awful things to you when I told you I was leaving."

"Hey," Dean nudged her arm with his, smiling at her. "Don't worry about it. I knew you didn't mean it," he winked. Emma rolled her eyes and nudged him back playfully.

"Tell me another hunting story while we wait for them to get back," Emma insisted.

Dean laughed, "Alright, alright. Let me tell you about this time we hunted a Wendigo."

This is a long chapter. I hope you enjoy my double post for tonight!