I do not own Once Upon a Time nor any of its characters. To this day, I merely love them and continue to have stories of them in my head that have to get out.

I am not dead, fellow readers. It has been a rough go of it though the last few years amidst more health issues and eventually moving across an entire continent. Nevertheless, I am back after all that and another bout of writer's block. In fact, this is the first new thing I've written in years so I hope I've not lost my touch.

This story keeps gaining favorites and follows and it still astounds me to this day at the appreciation and love folks express for it. I 3 you all. Thank you.

I hope everyone and their families and friends are staying safe during this time. Here's hoping my story can at least brighten someone's day as I attempt to pick up the quill to bring this story soon, but not yet, to an end.

As they say in the biz, my worthy friends…on with the show!

—Y&M—

There are times in people's lives where they come to a fork in the road. They have two different paths they are presented that lead to very different lives. There are not necessarily right paths or wrong paths, merely different ones that you take and that you have within your power to make of what you will with the road chosen. Within a large, empty barn on the outskirts of Storybrooke, Maine, we now find a man whose path has led him here, standing in a barn, gently holding a newborn child in his arms. This man has had many forks and turns in his road. His paths have not always been in the light and, often, he treads deep into the darkness that lures him, time and time again. Here, as he looks down into the face of the child in his arms, he remembers a time long since forgotten when he first held his own child and how that moment in time will forever be etched in his memory, never to be lost. In this moment he knows…

…he knows he is at yet another fork in the road…

…and he knows he does not control his own path.

The blasted dagger of the Dark One and she who possesses it does. She owns his choice.

"So innocent, you are, my dearie," Mr. Gold said quietly to the baby who regarded the man with eyes that stared in wonder and curiosity.

The child made a happy squeal and reached up to touch the face of his captor, unknowing of the true danger he was in. Gold froze when the child's hand touched his cheek and the babe smiled at him. Even though he knew that he had no fight in this battle until his dagger was returned, Mr. Gold came to an internal decision, in that moment, that he hoped he was able to carry out as he gazed into the face of the son of Prince Charming and Snow White.

"I had a hand in ruining the lives of so many people for so long," he began saying softly to the child, fearing the Wicked Witch would return at any moment. "I promise you, my boy, that I will do everything in my power to attempt to keep you safe. Though that green woman has my dagger, I swear to you I will at least try."

As if he understood somehow, the child smiled again at the man that held him, bringing a sad grin to fall across Rumple's face. He brought the child over to a nearby bale of hay and laid the him atop it, taking off his coat and swaddling the child within it while he waited for the witch to arrive. Mere moments later, as if sensing Rumpelstiltskin's patience waning, Zelena arrived in a flourish of green smoke and magic before them.

"Well, now," she began with a toothy smile as she walked over to observe the baby lying behind Rumpelstiltskin. "Looks like you've acquired the first of our ingredients. Well done."

"Ingredients?" Rumple asked incredulously. "Ingredients?! Zelena, this is a child you're talking about here! An innocent life! What could you possibly be—?!"

Rumpelstiltskin stopped in mid-sentence as he came to the sudden and horrifying realization of the spell she was intended to cast for there was only one that would include a newborn innocent child. A powerful, dangerous and altogether impossible spell that no one had yet to achieve…even himself. For the price of this spell was too high, even for the Dark One.

"No."

"OH YES, Rumple-or should I call you Mr. Gold now that we're here?" she said grinning again as she pulled off her gloves and admired the fleshy-pale coloring of her skin in this new realm. "I dare say I love what the effect this world has on the both of our complexions. Just marvelous."

"Zelena," Rumple began as he paced around her-demeanor morphing to a controlled calm that she watched cautiously. Mr. Gold used this time to try to think of something, anything, to stop her from attempting this spell as he placed himself strategically between the witch and the baby before he continued, "Do you know why all those years ago you failed?"

Zelena made a surprised and almost wounded face at his change in the subject matter, "Whatever are you getting at, Dark One?"

"It's a simple question, Zelena. Do you need me to repeat myself? I asked: Do you know why you failed all those years ago?" he said, speaking his last, repeated words with a bit of a flourish not unlike his otherworld impish self.

"I didn't fail anything, Rumpelstiltskin. It was you who failed me!" she said with confidence.

"NO!" he said, so loudly that it scared the child who started crying and actually made the witch jump a bit, his voice echoing within the large barn.

Rumpelstiltskin waited a few moments, attempting to calm his fury towards her, before continuing, "You were the most naturally talented magical individual I'd ever laid my eyes on. Your power rivaled even my own, but even then, that didn't matter to me. I never was concerned about you becoming more than me. No, Zelena, I wanted to see you succeed. I wanted you to become the most powerful sorceress in the seven realms. I took a certain pride in knowing that I was the one to teach you how to harness your gifts."

"Where is this all going, Rumple? The way you describe it, I was the best and by the looks of it," she said as she brandished the dagger of the Dark One towards him, "I've won. I was the better student, not my ridiculous excuse of a sister. Not the bloody Savior, Emma Swan. And most definitely not you."

"It was never a contest, Zelena."

"Of course, it was," she stated with an edge of insecurity to her voice she tried to hide.

"No," he said as he shook his head sadly and walked up to her and placed his hand on the side of her face. "It wasn't and I'm sorry Cora's abandoning you all those years ago made you into this-made your envy swallow you whole and blind you to the powerful being you could have become."

"No!" she hollered at him, stepping away from his touch as if he scalded her. "What do I have to be envious of? Regina? The Savior? You? Please, Rumple."

"Your sister had it all. She had the love of Cora, your mother. By her own hand, she became the Queen and the most feared woman in all the realms. Then there's Emma Swan, though also abandoned much like you, she still came above the cards life dealt her to come into her destiny to be the Savior, to stop the curse, and reunite with her family," he wove his story before her, his aim to hurt Zelena to wound her the only way he knew he could while she still had his dagger.

Shaking with anger, her envy that did indeed exist beginning to overwhelm her, Zelena spoke with sheer venom in her voice, "And what of you, Rumpelstiltskin? What of the coward that stands before me?"

"I am the Dark One," he said with such authority that Zelena took a step back from him, forgetting herself. "Though you may wield my dagger, woman, I still wield the most powerful magic in all the realms. I have performed feats of magic you couldn't begin to fathom. You NEED me to even compete with the other two. You need me, not the other way around, Zelena, and you will never be able to know your full capabilities because your envy will destroy you in the end. Mark my words."

Zelena considered him for a few moments before walking up and moving mere inches from his face, so close he'd thought she might kiss him before she spoke, "The spell I'm going to cast soon will put all your paltry attempts at magic to shame. Then we'll see who the envious one is, won't we?"

"I would never be envious of the murder of an innocent child, Zelena."

"Tsk," she started as she put some distance between them. "You're no fun. Besides, it won't kill the child, merely sap him of his innocence."

"For someone who did their research on even knowing how to cast this spell, Zelena, you apparently stopped before you gained the full truth. It will kill the child. All of the items used for this spell, the child included, will be destroyed-sacrificed-in order to travel the lines of time. Magic always comes with a price, dearie, and even I have boundaries, this being one of them. Don't you think I wanted to try this all those years ago when I lost Bae?" Gold began, his throat closing when he spoke his son's name, surprising him and causing him to wait a few moments before using his voice again, quietly. "That moment when I didn't follow him, when I'd let him go – alone – to only change my mind too late…"

Zelena watched the man she knew as Rumpelstiltskin pause as he remembered. She knew this was one of the moments, if not THE moment, he regretted the most in his life. His son had meant everything to him and yet he lost him. Her gaze fell upon the baby lying within his very coat, a detail she found odd for someone who has been known a villain for so long to have felt compelled to help this child in any way. Surely, he was lying about the price of the spell. But if he wasn't…could she kill a child who'd yet to live their life? One so pure, so innocent, and so very defenseless-She considered as he continued after a moment's pause.

"I would have given anything to take that back. ANYTHING! However, as a father I knew I could never bring myself to intentionally kill an innocent," he said with a hint of resignation as his face seemed to age with sorrow over the loss of his son…lost twice-the latter loss infinitely more painful and final.

Zelena watched him for a few moments as she considered before she spoke to him with a sneer, "And that's why you are and always will be a coward, Rumpelstiltskin."

Cold dread washed over Gold with the realization that Zelena may very well be willing to murder this innocent child to achieve her goal. He glanced over to her, barely restraining his fury still over the ache of the loss of his son by her hands as well as the mounting fear he had for the child before him. Rumple's fingers twitched, wishing he could steal back the dagger, wishing he could plunge it into her very heart, wishing … wishing…

Of course, he thought to himself, coming to some internal conclusion as a sneer crossed his features.

"What are you smiling about?" Zelena asked, a bit disturbed by the flux of his emotions.

"You never let me finish my story, Zelena."

"What story?" she asked, still wondering where this conversation was all going and what his true intentions with this really were.

"Your story. Your story of how you failed."

Zelena blanched slightly, looking like she was uncomfortable while he continued, her interest in knowing why he actually believed she was a failure outweighing the insolence she'd felt at his behaving in this manner towards her.

"You see, Zelena, my dear, all along, through your entire life, you've sought power. You'd believed that power would make you happy and fill the hole that lives in there," he began as he tapped his cane towards her chest, gesturing at her heart. "What you didn't understand was a lesson it took me years to realize, myself."

"And what exactly is that, Dark One?" Zelena asked as she crossed her arms in front of her.

"That even with all the power in the world, your life isn't worth anything without love," he said with sincerity and a hint of something to his tone that told her he was perhaps realizing the deep truth to his own words in the moments they were spoken outloud.

"Love?" she spat like it was a filthy word. "Who needs love when you have power?"

"You do, Zelena," he said as he stared her square in the eyes as she rolled her own. "Tell me it's a lie. Tell me that your jealously wasn't about not being loved by your mother as Regina was. Tell me you aren't green with envy when you see how Emma Swan's family loves and fights for her. Tell me when you see Regina with her adopted son, who knows how much evil she has committed, that he still loves her, regardless."

It dawned on Gold that Zelena in this moment suddenly seemed small, fragile beneath his gaze as he saw how his words had struck true to her. He grinned, knowing how to wound her, the only way he could without having the dagger back in his possession.

"No, one loves you, Zelena, and no amount of power and magic can give that to you. Not now, not ever. Trying to change things in the past will not change that fact and you know it because we're both villains. We don't get a happy ending," Gold stated with resignation for himself and for Zelena in the truth he believed in his words. "Good will always win over evil, Zelena. Always!"

He watched as his words visibly wounded her as she shook in an attempt to control herself and failed. Even in this world, where magic was bent differently, changed from how it worked in the other realms, he watched as green crept up upon her neck and part of her face. What she did next, he'd not anticipate as she screamed and unleashed a bolt of powerful magic at him, sending Gold sideways and through the wall of the barn. Zelena followed over to where his crumpled form lay and checked a bit frantically to see if she'd accidentally killed him in her anger. She sighed when she found his pulse at his neck knowing she had merely injured him terribly. Her anger flooded back through her again, though, remembering as she leaned down to the Dark One.

"Oh, my dear Rumpelstiltskin, apparently you're forgetting something very important. Good may triumph over evil, but I'm wicked," she began as she leaned next to his ear before whispering, "And wicked always wins."

Meanwhile…

It's an odd feeling to know you've lost something and yet you had no memory of it. As the spell that had frozen them all helplessly in place subsided, Mary-Margaret still had her arms up as if holding the baby who she'd just been told was, in fact, her son, and just stared at the hollow space in her arms. In the back of her mind, she knew she heard voices speaking to her, calling her name, but they were muffled and drowned out by her mind attempting to really take in the events that just happened. She had lost another child and even the very memory of them to the hands of a villain. Mary-Margaret felt hollow and empty, a feeling that reminded her a bit of when Regina had once ripped her very heart out. Her heart was intact though, a fact she was painfully aware of, as it beat pounded in her chest and she forgot to breath for a few moments and slid to her knees on the cold pavement below.

She felt David's arms around her and then his hands on her face, wiping away tears she hadn't even realized had slide down her face, as he repeatedly called her name, trying to bring her back to their reality. Gone. He was gone, just like Emma. He was gone and she didn't even remember him. What kind of a mother was she. She didn't even remember his—

"What was his name?" she asked so quietly that David didn't understand her at first.

Lightening ripped across the sky, making the group jump, and signaled the beginning of a storm as cold rain started to harshly fall upon them all. David placed his wife's face in his hands and forced her to look at him, to pull her back to them all.

"Mary-Margaret, what did you say?" he asked, feeling rather helpless in this moment.

"What was his name?" she asked louder to not only David but the entire group, knowing his memories had also been robbed of him.

Emma felt the eyes of the group fall to her and Henry, the only two so far that had seemed to recall any of the events that happened prior to their waking up in the center of Storybrooke, Maine. Emma's heart broke for her mother in that moment. She could see it in her eyes what she was emotionally going through. The rain hid the warm tears that stung her eyes and she covered her mouth to stifle a sob before answering. Her son, Henry, always the brave one and also perceptive to picking up the emotions the adults surrounding him, had answered for her.

"We were attacked," he began, as he walked forward and Mary-Margaret placed her hands on his shoulders as she gave him a questioning look and he continued. "After he was born, the castle was attacked and we had to get to someplace safe. We had to get away from Zelena. There wasn't time…"

"We didn't even have time to give him a name?" Henry watched his grandmother say as she broke again and nearly collapsed to the ground below as David caught her in his arms

"How did this happen?!" David demanded out loud in anguish at the fact that he had no memory of what happened before. "We were back in the Enchanted Forest? All of us?"

Henry wrapped his shorter arms around them both and pressed his face into his grandfather's coat as he spoke again, this time his words falling out fast as he rambled a bit with the events that led them here, "We were in New York after the spell for a year and you guys were back in the Enchanted Forest. I didn't remember things and mom was dating this flying monkey guy, but Hook came and saved us and brought us back after he used True Love's kiss on mom and then there was the wardrobe and he almost died but he didn't and I learned to use a sword but the Wicked Witch of the West came and attacked us and something happened to Killian—"

Henry stood back and caught his breath before he continued and glanced over at Killian Jones and had a slight grin on his face, "He was my friend, but I didn't remember, and he just disappeared and the flying monkeys turned into ash. Then Mom disappeared when she went looking for him and—"

"And," Emma interrupted and took over from Henry, wanting to avoid the revealing at the moment that she'd returned the pirate's heart to him with a reckless use of magic. "I rescued him from the Wicked Witch and we made our way back to the castle only for her to come after us again."

Henry shot her a confused look for a second, "It was a little more than that, I mean you—"

"Are you telling me, Swan, that I was your damsel in distress, because that certainly doesn't sound like me," Killian began, partially attempting to inject a bit of humor into the altogether too serious dilemma they had on their hands but also because he could tell Emma was dodging something and given her present state, his concern for her was mounting.

"You were and I was amazing," Emma said with a grin as she leaned on him again and invaded his personal space as if she owned it and she quickly spoke again to avoid any other interruptions. "However, once we got back all hell broke loose. You had my brother, Zelena attached, and then there was the curse again."

"CURSE?!" the group, aside from Henry, collectively exclaimed in horror.

"Yeah, I know. Again," Henry said with a shrug. "This time though was rough."

"Explain, Henry," Regina asked as she came over to him and placed her arm over his shoulders. "None of us remember…any of this. If there was a curse who cast it?"

"Well, I guess with how it really works, grandma did."

"I cast the curse!?" Mary-Margaret asked in shock. "But that…that would mean…"

"How is that possible, Henry?" Regina continued as she sensed Henry hesitate.

"It was hard to watch," he said with a small voice before Regina embraced him and looked to Emma who nodded and continued their tale.

"Come on," Emma started. "I'll tell you the rest of it but let's get out of this rain. I don't want anyone getting sick on top of all this."

The somber group made their way into Granny's Diner and piled in silently. They collectively tried to dry themselves a bit before settling into the diner seats and booths before having Emma continue her story. Through all of it, Emma could feel Killian's eyes on her, burning into her almost, as he watched her every move carefully. She knew him well enough to know he was on to her dodging the full truth earlier. She also knew that something was not right with her. She felt weak and wiped out like she had just gotten over being sick was the only comparison she could make to it. As they all piled into the seats at the diner, she sat down weakly on a bar stool almost as soon as they made it inside and she felt a heavy coat be placed over her shoulders after she'd shivered visibly.

Emma looked up to see Killian standing there, his eyes boring into hers, as she looked away and gave him a slight thanks as he came to stand beside her, one arm around snaking around her, and he pressed against her to provide a bit of warmth after getting out of the cold rain. She heard him audibly sigh behind her and she dared not look back at him to ask what it was about. Emma knew there was a conversation they would have to have later on, well…everything else.

"I've never seen anything like what the two of you pulled off," Emma stated to her parents who were in each others arms at their booth and she watched them give confused looks to each other. "And Henry was right, it was hard to watch. After a lot of arguing about who was going to be the one to sacrifice themselves, Dad ended up volunteering and making us follow his princely orders."

There was a collective gasp that rippled through the group before Emma continued, "So I got to watch you crush his heart…we all did."

Silence filled the room and Mary-Margaret, horrified at even thinking about how bad of a situation they had to of been in for her to go to that extreme…killing David…crushing his heart in her hands. She quickly placed her hand over his heart and felt it beating beneath her fingertips.

"But Emma," she began, still looking into the eyes of her husband, "how is this even possible? Your father is still here. His heart is still here."

"It was one of the hardest things I'd ever had to watch," Emma started at first in a small voice before she then projected more as she continued so the group could hear. "You offered to share your heart with him."

"Emma," Regina began, just flabbergasted at what she was hearing, "that's not possible. You can't share a heart like that."

"But you can and you helped them do it, Regina. You helped them cleave her heart in two and place one half in his chest and the other in hers…and by some miracle of what I can guess was True Love-it worked."

Emma let that revelation sink into the minds of the audience before her. Hearing it out loud, it would be hard to believe, but she had to remind herself that only she and Henry, really, grew up not used to magic and the strange things that went along with fairy tales. Emma sighed. She was so tired but knew she had to keep it together so they could at least get everyone up to speed and get some sort of a plan to get her brother back. She shook her head. She was really going to have to spend some time with Archie unpacking all of this crazy shit after it was over.

"Now here's the fun part," Emma began again as she got the room's attention back, "Zelena threw some sort of a second curse on the curse before it was fully enacted."

"Well that's just great," Regina said as she threw her hands up in the air, already wanting to ring her supposed sister's neck over all of this trouble she's caused. "And what exactly did she do to the spell?"

"I'm not completely sure, but it looks like it might have been why none of you remember the last year or so since Henry and I left the first time," Emma stated with a shrug. "I mean, it's not like she announced exactly how she altered it. Seriously, guys, when has a villain ever made it that easy on us?"

A sound of agreement rustled through most of the group save Regina who merely rolled her eyes.

"She's not wrong," the former Captain Hook said with wry amusement as he felt Emma slightly elbow him in the ribs at that and give him a look.

"So now what?" Regina asked. "I mean, obviously we go after the little prince, but where do we even start? Based on what yours and Henry's account of all this, she's dangerous on one hand, sure, but she's also placed herself completely out of her element."

"What do you mean, Regina?" Mary-Margaret asked as she stood and began to pace the room.

"You're right," Emma said as she leaned more into Killian behind her, her voice now sounding exhausted. "She's not from here nor does she know that magic in this land isn't quite the same as it is in the Enchanted Forest or wherever it is she's from—you know the merry old land of Oz."

A few in the room gave Emma a concerned look for her mental health at that last quip while Henry meanwhile merely chuckled, knowing exactly the reference his mom was getting at.

"Right," Regina said, still eyeing Emma for whatever the odd reference she just used. "So any ideas on where to start?"

"We'll fan out, scan every inch of Storybrooke," David began as he also now stood and paced the floor along with his wife. "We all know this town like the back of our hand. We are going to find my son. Our family always finds each other."

"Right!" Mary-Margaret agreed with confidence as the others in the room also followed suit in agreement.

"Right," Emma began as she stood, "Dad, you take the east side of town and..and I'll take…I'll…I…"

Emma suddenly swayed on her feet and stammered, spots forming in her vision as her feet suddenly didn't seem to want to move properly. Her odd behavior getting the room's attention as she shook her head and tried to start again.

"I…" was all she got out before collapsing into the arms of Killian Jones.

"Emma?!" Killian asked as he shook her, panicking and attempting to get her to open her eyes but to no avail. "Emma, love, c'mon, c'mon. Open your eyes, Emma, please, say something to me! EMMA?!"