Little Dawn walked with the Lady Nymph in the woods, the trees all had grown immensely and the roots seemed so close together but worked in harmony at the same time to never entangle themselves in one another. Dawn glanced around at the beauty of it as the Lady held onto the little girl's hand to guide her through the woods, for she knew where to go. When the Lady Nymph stopped Dawn glanced around her to see a tree with a magical entity that vibrated Dawn's core. She gasped and took a step back as she realized where the Lady Nymph had taken her, it was the Lady's tree. She looked up to the leader as she knew it was a great honor to be taken to a nymph's respective nature.

"My Lady, this… is this your tree?" Dawn asked as she walked over to it, but was afraid to touch it.

"Yes, it is, little one" the Lady said.

"Wow! I never knew you were like me!" Dawn turned to her, "Why didn't you say something?"

"Because a Lady has to be not one but all elements and treat them fairly" the Lady looked up to her home, "While protecting hers as well… which is why I brought you here. Did you know that whatever a nymph possesses holds magical abilities, depending on how powerful he or she is?"

"Yes, of course" Dawn said in a slightly annoyed voice, "You have been mentioning that a lot lately"

"Now, imagine what kind of power my tree could possess just by us living so long" the Lady walked up to her tree as she said, "One of it's divine abilities is to become a portal"

Dawn furrowed her eyebrows as she opened her mouth to ask what she meant by that before the memory of the last royal meeting popped up in her mind. The Blue Fairy mentioned an ancient part of a forest where such power in a tree is located, she wasn't listening too much because Pinocchio wanted to play but that part got her curious. She looked over to the Lady Nymph as she stroked the tree and had a faint smile on her face. Dawn gasped as she realized that the magical tree was Lady Nymph's natural state.

"No!" Dawn screamed as she got in between her and the tree and pushed the Lady away, "I won't let you do this! You can't kill yourself! We'll find another way!"

"Oh, but Dawn, we are already out of time" the Lady crouched down to her, "Snow White will give birth in just a couple of months and we have no other solution. Believe me, I wanted to keep this to myself but there is no other way around it, I have to sacrifice myself for the greater good"

"It's not a sacrifice" Dawn sobbed, "It's a death sentence, you can't do this!"

The Lady Nymph moved to embrace her in a hug but Dawn pushed the Lady away and ran out of the clearing as rain came pouring down with so much weight. The Lady sighed sadly as she knew that Dawn would not return if she called out to her so the Lady sat by her tree and felt her own tears fall. She knew this was how Dawn was going to react, but the Lady never expected to feel such sorrow for the little one, becoming a leader at such a young age with no one else to turn to.

Dawn's phone buzzed near her ear, waking her up from the memory as she noticed her salty tears had already stuck to her face. Without moving her head to see who it was, Dawn found her phone next to her on the pillow and opened it as she cleared her voice.

"Hello, this is Dawn," she said.

"Tell me you weren't stupid enough to go up against Rumplestiltskin"

Dawn sat up in her bed, "Pinocchio?! Is that you?"

"Yeah, Dawn" Pinocchio could be heard sighing, "It's me"

"Where are you?!" Dawn asked, "Your papa and I have been searching everywhere for you! You have us worried sick, don't you know that?"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry. It's just that… I can't face him like this" Pinocchio whispered, "As a failure"

Dawn rolled her eyes, "Pinocchio, you're many things but you're not a failure, do you understand me?"

Pinocchio only sighed as she knew her words weren't getting to him before she blinked and realized something.

"You saw my conversation with Rumplestiltskin?" Dawn asked, "You've been in the woods all this time, haven't you?"

Pinocchio hesitated as he responded, "I keep an eye on you from time to time to make sure that you don't do something stupid, like take on Rumplestiltskin! God, Dawn, what were you thinking?! You probably barely know how to control your powers and you decide to threaten him of all people?!"

"I asked him for a simple favor and he refused me" Dawn straightened up, "I hate when people act as entitled as him, you know that"

Dawn quickly opened up her curtains and glanced outside of the window but saw no one walking down the street. She didn't know what to expect at first; Pinocchio standing across the street with the phone in his ear, an obvious white van, or August smiling and waving at her. She took a sigh as she dropped her hand down to her side before checking the number on the phone, of course, it was blocked. Her mind suddenly jumped to Emma as she turned back to the house and walked through the building. She didn't mind not taking her coat as she reached out and grabbed onto the doorknob to make her way to the Sheriff's Station.

"Don't go to Emma"

Dawn paused, "What?"

"Please don't try to trace me" Pinocchio said to her, "I just need someone to talk to, that's all"

Dawn hissed before she ran a hand through her hair and said, "Then come over here and let's talk. Geppetto's not home, I'm the only one here"

Pinocchio let out a small chuckle, "I know you're clever, Dawn. You will try to keep me there until he arrives… which means that you probably have your powers coming back stronger, am I right?"

"Maybe" Dawn mumbled, "I think I'm starting to get the hang of it"

Dawn glanced to the left where the sun room was practically filled with different types of flowers and plants that she's been practicing on. They had more but Dawn and Geppetto just recently gave some to the flower and plant shop owned by Mr. French, he seemed very grateful, especially since Geppetto was so desperate enough that he actually paid the other man for the plants. Dawn was just excited that she could start using magic once more after nearly 28 years of not being able to. It almost felt like a therapy session to feel her magic flowing through her, but now she keeps it out of the house for Geppetto's sake.

"You need to be more careful, Dawn" Pinocchio said, "You're the only Nymph left in Storybrooke and Rumplestiltskin seems to know about that. I'm not too sure if he's aware of the powers that are enabled in the Nymph's natural form but knowing he was around a cluster of Nymph's trapped in their form can't be good. Not only that, you're alone in these parts and he can always find a way to use that to his advantage. Sooner or later, he'll come back for you"

"So then protect me" Dawn pleaded, "Be with me and help me if he shows up again, Pinocchio. You know I would do that for you within a heartbeat, now please, help me"

Pinocchio sighed as he thought about it before he said, "I know this sounds selfish Dawn, but I am protecting you by keeping away from you. You don't know what it's been like for me when you were frozen for 28 years. I made some enemies and they will come for you if they figured out what you meant to me. I'm sorry, but this is for the best"

Dawn couldn't help but scoff as she closed her eyes and willed her tears to not push through from what she heard her best friend just say. He wasn't willing to help her because he thought that avoiding her would be the best option. She knew that if the tables were turned, she would've ran to Pinocchio's side and stay with him at all costs if she knew he was in danger, or at least, that was what she was trying to do for him now.

"So you'd leave me at the mercy of the Dark One in order to save yourself from these so called enemies" Dawn shrugged, "What if they never come to Storybrooke, Pinocchio? What if these people don't know about the town or don't even know that you're here"

"Trust me when I tell you, she's probably more clever than me" Pinocchio said, "I'm sure she's willing to wait for a Curse to be broken in order to come and find me"

"She?!" Dawn felt a pang of jealousy hit her, "So you're worried about a crazy ex, is that it?"

"She's not an ex- girlfriend, Dawn, believe me" Pinocchio hesitated, "She's just a big part of my past that I wished I found another way around"

Dawn rolled her eyes, "Okay, August, I think I know where this is going"

Pinocchio blinked as he said, "You think I'm making this up?"

"Yes!" Dawn yelled out, "All just because you don't believe you deserve a happy ending with your family for a mistake that no one honestly cares about! You want to wallow in your self pity than be my guest!"

Without thinking about it, Dawn hung up the phone but immediately regretted it once she noticed the time she spent talking to her best friend was blinking back at her. She let out a shuddering breath as she leaned into the wall, wishing it was her tree that she could disappear into. Her eyes blurred as she wished she could take away the things she told Pinocchio and wished she found a way to have a conversation with him like how she used to when they were kids.

"I'm so sorry, Pinocchio" she whispered as for all sake of hope, he would call back, but when five minutes passed with her just staring at her phone, she realized that she lost her last form of communication with him.