To answer a reviewer's question:

Characters with superpowers that we've met are Emma, Killian, Regina, Mary Margaret, Neal and Elsa

Characters without superpowers are David, Ruby, Belle, August, Granny and Victor

Sorry I haven't updated since last year! The holidays involved a lot of stressful family time followed by my 23rd birthday. Well, I'm back now and I still don't own anything you may recognise.

Neal nodded. "Bingo, Hook. Grab a fucking pastry off the shelf."

"Who's Robert Gold? Killian, what are you two on about?" - Emma asked, her bottom lip trembling. Killian sighed.

"Love, it's a long story and I promise I'll tell you as soon as I can, but right now's not the time" - he muttered, too low for anyone but Emma, who was standing right next to him, to hear. Neal chortled.

"Well you two look cozy. You gonna try and fry her brain too, Hook?" - he spat, putting as much venom into Killian's former alias as he could. Killian gritted his teeth.

"Look, I can't stress how sorry I am about what happened to your father, and I have to live with that every day, so throw all the insults you want at me, but can you do that after you help Emma and her parents take Regina down?" - he pleaded. Emma swallowed a lump in her throat and turned away from him to mask how touched she was by his plea.

"Fine. Emma, since you know August, I suggest you call him and he'll explain everything."

"Alright..." - Emma muttered absentmindedly and went into the station's bathroom. Mary Margaret and David tried to follow, but Killian placed his hand on the Sheriff's shoulder.

"She needs to do this herself, mate. Trust me."

And David understood. He took Mary Margaret's hand.

"Let's give them a minute as well" - he whispered to her and led her outside. Killian nodded his thanks, unlocked Neal's cell door and took a seat across him.

"And why shouldn't I beat the shit out of you right now?" - Neal growled, making a move to stand up.

"You should" - Killian said softly. Neal didn't move, however.

"My father is in a nuthouse, thanks to you and your goddamn books!" - he yelled. Killian winced and sneaked a look at the bathroom door visible between the bars, hoping that the noise wasn't disturbing Emma.

"Aye" - was the only thing Killian could say right then. Because no matter how many times he tried to convince himself over the years that Robert Gold was unwell way before he discovered "A Coward's Wife", Killian had a pretty good idea about the effect his curse could have on people. Even if the elderly man were mentally unstable, Killian's book have undoubtedly pushed him over the edge. If it weren't for his contract with Pan, he would have quit being James Hook when he was 22. However, he had to publish three more books under that name before he could back out. Every day for three years until he became Killian Jones, he woke up dreading that he's ruined yet another life. Writing fantasy brought a much needed relief from that anxiety, but it did very little to soothe his ever-present self-loathing. Seeing Robert Gold's eyes on the face in front of him was like looking at an enchanted mirror that revealed one's worst self. He had to stifle a laugh at the irony - in the third book in his fantasy series, the protagonist got trapped in an ice castle and forced to spend a day in front of such a mirror. The only thing that stopped Jewel from killing herself or freezing to death was...

Well, it didn't matter. Killian didn't have it and it was a myth anyway.

"You know, I vowed to never return home after I left the day I turned eighteen" - Neal interrupted his musings. - "My dad was always strange, to tell you the truth. He was obsessed with the idea of buying and developing more and more property and turning it into hotels, restaurants and whatever else. I never wanted any part of it, and it was slowly destroying him, so I confronted him about it. He just waved me off and told me: "I'm doing this for you, Baelfire. One day this will all be yours". So I bailed, got myself a new name, tried to start over. A few years later, I heard that he got institutionalized because of some writer. Imagine my surprise when the writer turned out to be James Hook, everybody's favourite romance novelist" - Neal's distaste for the name was impossible to miss.

Killian said nothing. It took all of his willpower not to look away in shame.

"Not even going to defend yourself, Hook? You destroyed my family and you've got nothing to say?!" - Neal yelled furiously. - "You know, his businesses went bankrupt soon after he's read your book and by the time he got institutionalized, I had to sell the rest of his assets to pay for a private mental health facility! Of course, I got fired from my job when my boss found out that my dad's a nutcase, and who would hire anyone with that kind of background?"

"I've been trying to make up for that for three years!" - Killian finally found his voice. - "I knew he's lost his money after the trial, and I was ready to cover the costs! I tried wiring payments to his account, even brought cash to the attorney directly, but I could never get through. The money either got sent back to me or the payments got rejected. I swear I'm telling you the truth, Baelfire!"

"My name is Neal" - he hissed, slightly taken aback by Killian's confession.

"I'm sorry, Neal" - Killian said placatingly. - "My real name is Killian Jones, not James Hook."

"I know that!" - Neal snapped. - "What are you even doing here? Playing with the minds of small town folk for your own amusement?"

"Whale also needed me for... for something and I was dumb enough to buy into it" - Killian answered laconically, not wishing to go into details.

"And where do you get off cozying up to my ex-girlfriend?" - Neal taunted. Killian narrowed his eyes.

"No offence, but I don't see how that's any of your business. Especially after all the crap you put her through" - he spoke coldly. Neal lunged to strike him.

"Neal, stop!" - a female cry interrupted the scene, leaving Neal's fist inches from Killian's cheek. Both men turned to see a pale, puffy-eyed Emma Swan running towards the cell. Killian stood up immediately and slipped outside.

"Emma, what happened?" - he asked anxiously.

"Doesn't matter, it's fine" - she muttered. Killian frowned.

"Normally I'd be all for stewing in one's own emotions in solitude, but right now, it would be rather insalubrious of you, Swan" - he spoke, wincing when he saw how she was glaring at him.

"Jones, I believe she said she didn't want to talk!" - Neal hollered. Emma groaned.

"Shut up Neal. I know everything. And after this case is put to bed, I don't ever want to see you again."

EMMA

She locked the bathroom door and slid onto the floor. Killian's "what a day huh?" was an understatement of the century. In the last nine hours (it was almost 6 pm now), she has learnt that her former headmistress slash mass murderer was a literal Supervillain who apparently knew how to control people by ripping out their hearts, that that same Supervillain has erased the memories of Emma's parents and made sure Emma grew up alone, and on top of that her ex-boyfriend was in town and apparently conspired with her mentor.

How did August even pull this off? And what was "this", even? Why did he lie to Emma about not having any idea that Regina was in town? And how did he avoid lying to her about Neal and getting detected for an entire decade?

It was time to get to the bottom of this. And Emma was going to call August Booth right now. He answered on the third ring.

"Hi Emma"

"Neal's here" - she wasn't going to waste time on pleasantries. Long pause.

"I see."

"August, I'm gonna need all the facts here! Do you and Neal know each other?"

"Emma..."

"Answer the fucking question Booth, or I'm never working for you again!"

"Emma, it's not as black and white as you think! Neither me or Neal wanted you to waste your gift on robbing convenience stores. We had to make sure that you'd use it properly..."

"Wait... So you're telling me that you and Neal both set me up and let me rot in jail for something I didn't do?" - Emma sat up, clutching the phone in her hand as though she might fall down if she didn't.

"It was the only thing we could do, Emma!"

"You're such a fucking asshole, Booth" - she spat. - "How dare you? How dare you justify yourself to me?!"

"Emma, I'm not going to apologise for getting you out of that life and being there for you when nobody else was!" - August was yelling now too.

"Yes August! My life! You don't get to make decisions for me! That was MY life you robbed me of - it may have been a life of thievery and crime, but Neal was a home!"

"He had a choice not to leave you - all I did was suggest that he does because of who you are and what you have! The world needed Emma Swan the Human Lie Detector, and a relationship with a deadbeat statutory rapist was..."

"It was not your relationship to end! It was MINE and Neal's!" - Emma had tears streaming down her face now.

"He would have left you one way or the other, and deep down you know it!"

She did. But it didn't make the betrayal any easier.

"I'm done, Booth" - she spoke calmly, after a minute. - "As soon as Regina is behind bars, I quit."

"Emma, please be reasonable! The world needs you!"

"I am done being your Supersaviour, August. I can't work with someone I don't trust."

"You still need me to take Regina down, Emma! And I don't keep my data on computers, so Ruby can't get it for you."

Emma groaned. "Fine. Start talking and don't fucking lie to me this time."

She could hear him sigh.

"Your friend Sidney is a good investigator, but some things are buried deeper than even he can find. Regina did a lot worse than just steal millions from various government and school budget. She also made sure that her deeds were never discovered."

"You mean she killed people who got in her way."

"I guess so." - Either August didn't know about Regina's power or wasn't telling Emma that he did. - "Anyway, I first got a whiff of her a couple of years before she expelled you. A journalist called Daniel Stables was murdered under suspicious circumstances and the case went cold because Cora, Regina's mother paid off the M.E. to hide evidence, as I later found out. I've been tracking her since then and discovered that she used to receive bribes from a man named Robert Gold some time ago in exchange for some regulatory bodies averting their eyes from his business practices and stuff like that..."

"Robert Gold? As in Neal's dad?" - Emma interrupted, stunned.

"Yeah. How do you... Never mind. Anyway, I looked into him and discovered that he had a kid called Baelfire. Took me a couple of years to find him and then I spotted him in Portland with a teenage blonde - you. I watched you two practice your superpowers together and realised that I needed you, Emma."

"So... what? You blackmailed Neal into setting me up?"
"I told him that if he didn't make himself scarce, his father would go down and the whole world will know Neal Cassidy was actually Baelfire Gold. Needless to say, he was more than willing to comply."

"You're a selfish lying coward, you know that?" - Emma hissed.

"If it it selfish to want what's best for the world, then yes, I am selfish, lying coward" - August deadpanned.

"Why didn't you tell me all of this before I came to Storybrooke? Were you that worried about me going off to try and find Neal? August, that was over ten years ago! I tried very hard to move on and I had no reason to go looking for him now!"

"I thought I could have Neal take Regina down on his own, but when I haven't heard from him for almost six years, I realised that I had no choice but to send you to Storybrooke."

Emma paled.

"Did you say six years?"

"Yeah, why?"

"No reason." - She wasn't going to divulge that a fire followed by a big memory wipe occurred at roughly the same time.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't think you'd go if you knew. For that, I am sorry."

"Go to hell, Booth" - Emma snapped and hung up.

As soon as Neal recovered from his surprise at Emma's deadpan remark, David and Mary Margaret walked back in, hand in hand and stopped at their tracks upon seeing everyone's facial expressions. Mary Margaret raised a hand that was holding a large paper bag with "Granny's" written on it and spoke uncertainly:

"We brought bagels?"

Hahahahahahhaha I'm sorry I couldn't resist the ending XD.

Hopefully the chapter clears lots of things up and here's hoping I won't have any more writer's blocks! Reviews are, as always, my dinner.