It was late, she understood that, but she couldn't wait until morning! If Emma and David weren't still at Granny's she'd have to call them, and Regina, to come listen to what she'd found. There were at least three ingredients that Zelena needed to enact the spell and she had all of them as of this morning! She didn't know what she was waiting for, why their world hadn't disappeared completely by now or changed or been destroyed in fire or flame or an earthquake from the failed attempt, but she knew that as long as she had those three things they were working on borrowed time. For all she knew, Zelena was enacting the time travel portal now!

She ran down the street to Granny's. The lights were dim and she could see the stools and chairs lifted off the ground for cleaning. She was about to pull out her phone and call when she glanced in the window and saw that the diner wasn't empty. Emma and Hook were sitting in one of the booths. It wasn't exactly who she wanted but it was all she had at the moment, together they could find the others.

"Emma!" she said slamming into the room with barely a breath left. Breathing could wait until after they figured out where the others were. "Emma, I…I found it," she said setting the book down and opening it to the place that she'd kept marked with her finger. She didn't even know where to begin to explain this! She pointed to the place on the page where it all began and tried to catch her breath. She could show her now and explain later, with everyone in the room! "We have to tell Regina and the others!"

"Okay, Belle, slow down, what did you find?" she asked looking over the book before giving up and looking at her again in confusion. It took a second to connect why she wasn't getting the obvious, but then she looked down at the book again. Of course she couldn't read it, it wasn't in English. It was an old dialect from their land and it had taken her years to master it! Other than the picture of the circular portal with lines sketched into it to resemble a clock, Emma wouldn't be able to understand. She didn't know if any of the others would be able to read it or not. It was up to her, she had to explain and be calm and collect herself, but she couldn't get her heart to stop racing!

"Zelena's plan," she informed her, and Hook since he was there, "I figure out what she's doing."

Emma's jaw dropped and she stared at her with wide eyes. "What is she-"

"Regina, David, Mary Margaret," she listed shaking her head. "Where are they?"

"Mary Margaret stayed with Regina and David went home a couple of hours ago-"

"Call them," she insisted, "we have to talk, all of us, now. It can't wait!" and she couldn't waste time explaining this twice, or bear to sit around and listen to different theories. She needed all of them together, to do this once, to use all their ideas at one time in one room. Fortunately Emma seemed to understand that and she slid out of the booth pressing buttons on her phone and waving at them to follow her. She picked up her book and she and Hook followed quickly as she spoke to David, made sure Mary Margaret was still at Regina's house, and told him to meet them there now, not in five minutes, not after he finished baby proofing the house, now!

The three of them piled into Emma's yellow buggie and she tore off down the street, promising it wasn't far and they'd be there in a few minutes. Better yet, it was only a minute or two later when she saw lights behind her and realized David had caught up with them in his truck. Perfect.

Or so it seemed. When they arrived at a large white house that she assumed belonged to the mayor she could see something was wrong immediately. There was a blue light flashing like lightning in one of the upstairs windows.

"What does that mean?" she asked staring at the phenomenon.

"I've got no idea but it can't be good!" Emma yelled before running down the walk way to the door…which didn't open. Emma slammed her hands against it angrily a couple of times. "Regina!" she yelled. "Regina!"

"Mary Margaret!" David screamed pounding on it with her. She didn't know if there was noise in the house or not but she knew they couldn't hear them! What did that mean? What did the blue light mean? Was Zelena inside?

"Okay, stand back!" Emma urged.

"Emma, what are you-"

"Let her try it, mate," Hook muttered behind her almost as if he was bored with the entire situation. Try what? What was she going to try?

She knew the answer the moment she saw Emma hold her hands out as if to feel the door but never actually make contact. Magic. They all held their breath. Then watched Emma, glanced up at the room's window with its flashing light, looked back to Emma, then checked the room, finally the door to Regina's house slammed open as if it had been bashed in with a log! She'd done it. Emma had magic and she really was learning to control it! And not a moment too soon it appeared.

"Good girl," she heard David breath as he moved around her and dashed into the house, calling out for Mary Margaret and reminding her that they didn't have time for unnecessary emotion or amazement. Emma and Hook were already storming into the house, so she followed wondering if she could be of any help, wishing she'd brought her freezing potion. There were sounds coming from upstairs that sounded like a struggle was going on, she ran up the stairs following the noises, locating the room that was emitting the flashing blue light. But just before they reached them…it stopped, and the house got quiet again. They cast strange glances around the house and each other before they went on regardless of the calm.

"What the hell was that?!" Emma asked shocked.

"Cora," Regina said staring at the ceiling as if everything was explained by that word.

She stepped inside set the book on a table before looking around, but everything seemed perfectly normal, until…

"She okay?" Regina asked and she looked over to find her examining Mary Margaret asleep in one of the chairs. No. Not asleep. Worse than asleep. She looked ill, as if she'd just passed out and was fading in and out of consciousness.

"Mary Margaret," David whispered kneeling down beside his wife, "can you hear me?" he questioned loudly.

"Cora..." the fragile woman mumbled as Emma stepped up next to her to investigate further. "I saw…tried to communicate…"

"She was?!" Regina almost seemed to be begging her, trying to get more out of her, but she wasn't even sure she was making sense! "What'd she say?" Who?! Cora? Her dead mother? The one they'd failed to summon?! What was happening here?

"Leopold…my…my mother…"

"Shh, Mary Margaret, relax," David cooed.

"She's not making sense," Emma stated. "We need to call a doctor."

"If she knows something that could help us-"

"Regina, it's gonna have to wait!" David insisted pulling out his phone.

"It can't wait!" Regina screamed at him. "If we want to stop Zelena we have to know what the hell she's doing and why!"

"I can help with half of that," she blurted out suddenly.

"What?" Regina asked her looking shocked. She knew what she was doing but didn't know why, with any luck she could talk long enough to give Mary Margaret a break to be able to tell them what she knew too. They'd been trying to get information on Zelena, maybe she knew the other half. Besides, it was urgent, they couldn't waste time waiting for Mary Margaret to come around, she may as well fill in the time with what she knew.

"She's planning on going back," she stated, "back in time."

"Are you certain?" Regina asked in stunned disbelief. She nodded. She might have been new at this but she was certain. Everything fit. Perfectly. Too perfectly to be wrong. "No one's ever been able to cast a spell to go back in time."

"Well, clearly she thinks she can succeed," she argued. "Brains! Courage! A resilient heart! Those ingredients are in every time travel spell I've found."

Suddenly the opposition behind Regina faded and she sat down looking utterly overwhelmed and nearly as pale as Mary Margaret, who didn't seem to be recovering as well as she'd hoped. This was urgent and she'd believed she only needed a little bit of time to come around, but she was beginning to think she was wrong. Maybe someone should call a doctor.

"But why go back in time?" David asked her suddenly. "I mean, we have no idea what she's trying to accomplish."

"I do," Mary Margaret suddenly whispered, her head lulling side to side uneasily on her neck as if she didn't have the energy or the strength to support it. But then she sat forward, using what looked like all of the effort she had. Her eyes were still closed as if she was exhausted by the action, but went on mumbling anyway. "She…she didn't-"

"Don't push yourself," David interrupted, something she wanted to agree with, but was torn because she wanted to know what she did, wanted to understand.

"She didn't want to give up Zelena," Mary Margaret explained, "she was forced to, by…by my mother, Princess Eva. She told a secret…just like I did."

"Wait...I thought our family were the good guys," Emma whispered as Mary Margaret fell back in the chair again, looking spent.

"Life is too messy for it to ever be that simple," Regina stated beside her.

"You're saying if it wasn't for Snow's mother," David clarified, "Cora would have kept Zelena." Her mouth went dry and suddenly she understood, perfectly! She understood it better than anyone else because she had a memory, in the back of her mind, that no one else would have because they'd never been as close to Rumpelstiltskin as she had. She'd asked about Cora once, and he'd told her, regrettably about the deal he'd made with her. Gold for Cora's child? "I needed Regina to cast the curse. I knew the child she bore would be the one to do it…" Zelena. Not Regina. Her comment at the showdown! "He should have picked me!" It all made complete sense!

"She would have been tutored by Rumpelstiltskin," she realized out loud. Zelena would have been the one that cast this curse that brought them to this land. Not Regina! He just hadn't known!

"And all if it weren't for this…Princess Eva," Hook stated softly.

"So that means…"

"Zelena is going back to kill my mother," Mary Margaret clarified for her daughter sadly. They all looked at one another in shock as the other half of the equation was finally fell into place. The entire room was on the same page, but they were just having a hard time swallowing the facts.

"You'll have never been born!" Regina realized, looking at Snow White.

"I'm guessing this is where your help ends," Emma muttered at the comment.

"No, think it through Miss Swan. That means…you'll have never been born. And, and neither will Henry."

"And on this different path, Regina, you may not be either." And if Cora had Zelena, would Rumple have ever been in a position to have a relationship with her? If he'd tutored Zelena who would have told her she loved him! Would she have ever gone back to him?!

It was overwhelming, just how much one little detail could change everything!

Obviously there is some more cross over between this chapter and a couple of chapters toward the end of ME. Not that you would know about any of that because you were suppose to forget everything that you read in ME. Right? "Yes, Treatian, that's totally how it works, you say forget it and just like that it's gone. What are you talking about again?" Good. Mission accomplished. Also, Belle without her freezing potion...that's kinda meant to be tongue in cheek. Because she always thinks things through but in the end rarely does she have herself together. "I'll be okay, I have a freezing potion...oops, I forgot it at home. My bad." That totally seems like Belle to me.

Thank you to Meredith Pechta, Onlyinyourdreams77, Sara K M, Katido, Raizen Yusuke, and Deweymay for your reviews on the last chapter. Just ignore me while I do my happy dance because ya'll liked the Research!Belle section. "Oh happy day!" Peace and Happy Reading!