The car journey was taking forever, like seriously, forever, and Henry was finding reasons to complain every five minutes (are we nearly there yet? I need to pee. I'm bored. Has Grams called about Archie? Are we nearly there yet?). Neal was arguing with his father about little details from their shared past, and Emma just wanted to throw herself out the door. At some point they started discussing something interesting, and she was able to tune back in as Gold explained why he had brought magic to Storybrooke. Neal yelled, like, really loud when he first admitted it but calmed (a teensy bit) when he tried to explain. He couldn't be sure he could leave Storybrooke without something bad happening, and he needed to leave to find 'Bae'. At some point around the 'Welcome to Storybrooke sign' he said he would break the 'curse' if he could, now that he had Bae, and that a part of him wished he had when given the chance a few years before (because that 'poor decision', he said, had cost him the most valuable thing he ever had). Neal had calmed down then (a teensy bit more), and went back to looking out the window. After a moment he looked back, and decided to ask the question Gold hadn't really given an answer to.
"So..." He began, like he always used to. "who's Belle?" Gold closed his eyes as they passed through the forest, and Emma pretended to text Mary Margaret as he gave his answer (hey. we're back. gold pissed, kid tired, neal reeeeally irritating. miss me?). With a broken sigh he said 'I loved her, and she was a brief flicker of light amid an ocean of darkness. And then she died.' When Henry took a breath Emma should have braced herself for what came next, but she still turned to glare at her kid when he said 'no she didn't'. She heard a sharp inhale from Gold but ignored it, and only turned back to the road when Henry's eyes widened at whatever he could see. A few yards away, in front of Gold's hastily braking Cadillac, was a woman in a royal blue dress with dark hair piled messily on to of her head. She raised her arm and Emma saw the glint of metal. The car was jolted by a sudden movement, and Emma swore as it was flung through the air to crash into a tree. It landed upside down, and when Emma glanced to the side she saw Gold was gone and Henry was crying. Neal was trying to kick his door open whilst supporting Henry's neck at the same time. Glass skittered across the top (now bottom) of the car.
As Emma looked through the twisted metal and shattered glass, she saw something that made her blood run cold. Cora held a dagger. And before her knelt Rumplestiltskin.
