"Thanks for this," Robin said, rolling up the parchment.
Thor gave him a nod. "I'm happy to add my accolades to the others. Your service to the kingdom will not be forgotten. I've been searching for Loki for more than a fortnight."
"I'm just glad he's safely locked away," Emma said. "And now we need to find a way to solve my problem."
"Wait!" Henry stepped forward. "Do you have a relic or something that might give her luck?"
"Luck?" Thor looked confused. "We make our own fortunes," he said firmly. "Your destiny is yours and yours alone. The fates but dabble in the lives of mortals. The course is your own to set."
"Does he always talk like that?" David asked Snow under his breath.
"David..." she warned softly. "That's enough..."
"It was worth a try," Henry shrugged. He looked over at Regina. "Where to now?"
"I suppose back to the Enchanted Forest," she said. "It's as good a place as any to get lucky."
Killian reached out, touching Emma's arm. "Can the bifrost take us to Hogwarts?"
"That's not a real place," Henry said.
"Not out there," Emma agreed. "But it might be here." She looked at Thor. "Can we get there from here?"
Thor shook his head. "Wherever it is, it is not among the nine realms. The bifrost cannot take you there."
"Back to the Enchanted Forest it is," Emma said with a sigh. "Just...everybody stay a safe distance from me."
They all moved into place as Heimdel opened the path, and Killian reached down, taking Emma's hand.
"Killian..."
"Not a chance, Swan," he told her again. "We're in this together."
He squeezed her fingers and she took a deep breath, stepping onto the bifrost. The lights swirled around them, rainbow-hued and brilliant, and then everything went calm and they all stood, surveying their new surroundings.
They were on what looked to be a mountaintop, covered in snow. The air was frigid, the sky overcast and gray. Hooded figures - dozens of them - appeared off in the distance, moving slowly towards them.
"Where the are we?" Henry asked. "I don't recognize any of this."
"Neither do I," replied David. "Killian?"
"It's no place I've ever seen before," Killian replied. "But then again, I didn't spend much time this far inland."
"Where's Snow?" David asked, looking around.
"We've lost Robin and Regina, too" Emma noted. "We need to try to stick together. How can we all get home if we're all over the - whoa!"
She broke off as three enormous wolves ran by her, skidding to a halt in the snow. Before their eyes, all three changed, morphing into Regina, Robin and...
"Red!" David rushed forward. "What's going on?"
"You're late!" she said. "They're almost here. Come on!"
Regina looked down. "That was unsettling," she said warily. "I enjoy wearing fur, but not protruding from my body."
"I quite like it," Robin said. "It's invigorating to run on four legs."
"We don't have time for this," Red said, clearly getting irritated. "You need to take your places. They'll be here any minute."
"They?" David asked, just as the sun broke through from behind a cloud. Killian stared at him in rapt fascination.
"Are you...glittering, mate?"
"Sparkling," Emma said, with dawning realization. She looked over at the hooded figures. "Which means they're..."
"The Volturi," Red finished. "And if we're going to survive this, I need you all on the same page. Robin and Regina, you're with the rest of the pack. You three," she gestured to David, Emma and Killian, "join the others."
Emma made a pained face and turned to look behind her at Carlisle and the rest of the family.
"Oh God," she said, as Red, Robin and Regina resumed their wolf forms. "This is all my fault."
"What the hell is going on?" Killian asked, holding up one sparkling hand.
"Cool!" Henry proclaimed, watching the diamond glitter of the sun across his skin.
"We're vampires," Emma replied morosely. "I donated the book to the library when Henry and I came back to Storybrooke. Belle must've loaned it to Red."
"So now what?" David asked.
"Now we fight a bunch of superhuman vampires and hope we come out alive. Which we should, as long as they don't rip our heads off and light us on fire." She glanced back again. "But, there's no Bella. Or Edward. Why not?"
"Maybe you're supposed to be a character in the book," David said. "What did this 'Bella' do?"
The Volturi were close now, conferring with each other as Aro peeled off to address Carlisle.
"I don't know!" Emma wailed. "I never finished the damn book!"
"Why not?" Killian replied testily.
"Because I had more than enough romance in my real life, okay?" she snapped. "And I was fighting a wicked witch! Honestly! Do I have to do everything around here?" she gestured wildly with her hands, and an energy bolt shot from her fingers, hitting the face of a nearby peak and sent an avalanche down its face, just a few hundred yards from the clearing.
"Easy, Swan," Killian said. "Nobody's blaming you. Were there any clues as to how we could defeat them in the part you did read?"
"I can't...I think maybe she had some mental powers or something. I'm not really -"
"They want to meet the child," Carlisle said, appearing at Emma's side as if out of nowhere.
Emma eyes widened and she froze, until she realized he meant Henry, who was so tall now, it was hard to think of him as a child anymore.
"Oh. Okay," she stumbled. "Sure. That's...fine."
"What happens now?" David asked.
Henry made a face. "Don't look at me. I don't read vampire romance novels."
"I guess we go meet the guy," Emma said. "But you don't let him touch you. He can read minds if he touches you. Or maybe he shocks you. I forget."
She started forward with David, Killian and Henry, then felt a large, warm body sidle up next to her.
"Regina?"
The glossy black wolf gave her a nod, and Emma kept herself from patting her. "Thanks," she said, and they kept on walking. It only took seconds for them to cross the space between them.
"Come forward," Aro bade them. "We would meet this...child."
"You're not getting near my son," Emma said firmly.
"We must have a resolution," Aro stated coldly. "If the law has been broken -"
"You're not touching him," Emma repeated again.
"Jane," Aro called out. A young woman stepped forward from the crowd behind him.
"Oh shit," Emma said under her breath. "Watch out for this one. She's got powers."
"I've got her handled," Killian said quietly.
"Master?" Jane smiled a catlike smile, knowing what was coming next. Her eyes scanned the group, but when they locked with a pair of piercing blues, and a devilishly cocked brow above them, and received the full impact of a slow, mischievous grin, she faltered, losing her focus.
A second later a blur of fur launched straight for her, and she and Regina tumbled end-over-end in the snow. Pandemonium broke loose as vampires began to charge and wolves howled and joined in the fray. David drew his sword, and it clashed metallically against the marble skin of his attackers, Killian's hook could find no purchase either - the best they could do was protect themselves.
Emma shoved Henry behind her and raised her hands, ready to blast the Volturi when a whistle cut the air.
"Robin!" Snow called out.
He ran forward, morphing into human form as he went. Snow was wearing full bandit regalia, and carrying a lit torch in each hand. She tossed one to Robin, and then tossed him his bow and a quiver of arrows.
"Light them!" she shouted, ramming her torch upright into the ground. "They can't fight fire!"
It only took a second or two for them both to light arrows and nock them in place. Robin's shot hit Aro in the chest, and Snow took down Felix, right behind him. Killian was tussling with Alec when two more arrows caught the vampire in the back. The remaining Volturi began to scatter as fiery arrows rained down all around them. Emma felt the energy gathering in her palms, greedy and ready to burst.
"Get back!" she screamed at Henry. She took a step forward and threw her arms out toward the rest of the Volturi. The bolts ricocheted off their marbled skin, arcing and flashing in a dozen different directions, taking out trees and causing some of the fighter to duck or leap out of the way. A large shelf of rock exploded nearby, and with an ominous rumble, half the mountain came down on top of the fleeing Volturi.
Snow, Robin and the wolves made short work of the rest. In no time at all, the group was vanquished. Robin put down his bow as a panting Regina morphed into human form beside him.
"You're all right?" he asked, putting a concerned hand on her shoulder. She nodded, not quite able to get her breath.
"That was brilliant, Swan," Killian praised. "Burying them alive like that."
"Not what I was aiming to do," she said ruefully.
"It was effective nonetheless."
"How can we ever thank you?" Carlisle asked, turning to Snow and Robin. "Without your help, we might not have been able to turn the tide."
"No thanks necessary," Snow replied with a smile. "It felt good to pull a bow again."
"And did it feel good to run around, playing bandit?"
The question hung in the air, and Snow's eyes widened as she was once again facing herself. Her bandit self.
"Yes," she replied carefully. "This is part of who I am."
"Who you were," Bandit Snow answered. "And I don't know that you should be so proud of it - running out on your kingdom like that."
"I was in exile!" Snow protested. "And there was a bounty on my head."
"A convenient excuse for turning your back on your people and leaving them to an evil queen," Bandit Snow said.
"Now, just a minute -" Regina started, but David held up a hand.
"She has to deal with this," he shushed quietly.
"Well...that would be a first," said Bandit Snow. "She didn't have to deal with anything, running around the forest, showing her face just often enough for someone to proclaim her a hero again before she ran off and left them to their miserable lives."
"That's not true!"
"It is true," Bandit Snow went on. "It wasn't until you found your prince that you suddenly decided the people were worth your notice again."
"Hey! You can't just -" David's exclamation was interrupted by Snow this time.
"I've got this," she said, stepping forward.
"Do you see all these people? They're here because I took chances. I fought those in power and I'll do it again if that power is corrupt. I saved Regina's life, then spared it even when she wanted me dead. I went against my husband's orders to do so. I fought the most powerful king in the realm and a powerful demon teenager on a god-forsaken island to keep my husband, my child and my grandchild safe. I'll go rogue again in a heartbeat if that's what it takes to reach the final goal."
"But you can't deny you loved it," goaded Bandit Snow. "Humiliating and ridiculing those in authority. Pulling that bow."
Snow held her bow up in front of her, giving it a slow perusal.
"I loved it," she said. "But I love them more." She gave her other self a just-slightly-ever-so-smug smile. "And I was pretty badass, too."
Her other self returned the smile before winking out, leaving Carlisle in her place.
"Here," he said, holding out a glittering tiara, set with a fat diamond at it's center. "This was a gift from an old friend, given several centuries ago. It's missing some stones -"
"I can remedy that," Snow said, taking the tiara with a warm smile.
"I'd like you to have it, as a thank you." He looked over at Robin. "I'd like to thank you, as well."
Robin reached into his doublet, pulling out the parchment. "I know just how you can do that," he replied. "I only need one more signature of reference for my seal of commerce."
Carlisle pulled a ball-point pen out of his pocket. "Of course. But I am a doctor. They might not be able to read my writing," he quipped as he signed with a flourish. The parchment glowed a moment, and then a large, crimson seal bloomed in the center.
"That's done it," Robin said.
Snow held up the tiara, now encrusted with all seven gemstones. "For me, too," she said.
"I've been done," Henry shrugged.
"That leaves four of us," David replied. He pulled the branch out, and the leaf was beginning to disintegrate - only half of it remained.
"You're all welcome to come back to the house and stay for a while," Carlisle offered. "If you need to hunt, I'll ask only that you travel at least fifty miles to keep suspicion away from our family."
"Hunt?" David looked down at his glittering hands.
Emma gave him a slight head shake and he shook Carlisle's hand. "We'd love to come and visit."
Carlisle looked over at Emma and Hook. "The cottage is just as you left it. I would imagine you'll be going straight there."
"Thank you," Killian said, pulling Emma in close. "We'll be right behind you."
He continued to hold her as they all walked away, and she laid her head down on his shoulder.
"You all right, Swan?"
She looked up at him. "I'm a vampire. We're practically indestructible."
"That's not what I meant." He turned, pulling her in so that he was facing her. His hand reached up to gently cup her jaw. "I saw your face," he said. "When Carlisle mentioned a child."
Emma glanced down at the ground. "You caught that, huh?"
"I know your every expression, love. And it's all right. It's all right to still feel the pain."
She closed her eyes, and his fingers moved over her jaw, up across her cheek.
"I feel it to, you know," he murmured.
Emma opened her eyes. "But I feel like I let you down."
He was immediately concerned, and his eyes showed it. "Emma..." he pulled her in, wrapping his arms around her to hold her tight. "Never think that. It just happened. You had no control over that."
"Not just the miscarriage," she said, pulling back to look at him again. "But after, too. I've been too afraid to try again. I know you're waiting."
"And I'll keep waiting," he said. "And if you decide you don't want to take that chance, then I'm more than happy to focus all my love and attention on you."
She searched his eyes. "You mean that?"
"Emma," he said, putting his forehead to hers. "We're in this together. All of it, love. Unless we're both in agreement, I don't want to do it."
She swallowed hard. "I'm afraid."
"I know." He kissed her softly. "And now is not the time or place to make a decision about any of this."
She sighed, then nodded. "You're right." She put her arm through his and they started walking, and she leaned her head on his shoulder once more.
"Tired?" he asked.
She looked up at him. "No. Vampires don't sleep."
He looked intrigued. "Ever?"
She gave him a slow, sexy smile. "Never."
"How fast can we reach the cottage?"
"We've got super speed," she said. "Catch me if you can!"
She took off at a run, leaving Killian in hot pursuit.