A/N: Athena- yes, she was horrible in her original stories. Here, I choose to believe she's grown up and deserving of her "Goddess of Wisdom" title. (I Disney'fied her!) This chapter is formatted a little differently. Normally 3 chapters, I felt it was a bit overkill to separate them.

~N.B.R.~

Neal couldn't bring himself to care or notice the events happening around him. He was slowly processing what had just been implied, not realizing he had lost his footing and was now leaning against the fallen table just behind him.

They took control of Neal and made him violate her.

Violate was a very vague word in this realm. It could mean anything, an unwanted caress on the arm, walking in on one changing, or… much worse. Much, much worse.

How could he- why would he- when did this- where had it-

He didn't know where to start. Knowing what actually happened would be a nice touch, but he wasn't sure where to go for the full story. Who would bother to tell him? Who could he even ask? Least, now, he finally understood the reactions of others even if he simply passed them by in a hall. The looks of hatred, sneering at him, or their rigid discomfort in his presence. People didn't like sitting next to him, or even being in the same room as he was. He had originally suspected it must be because he was a stranger to them, or they were wary of him because of what they claimed he did to Hook.

He never could have imagined the real reason. He had violated their beloved princess. Rather, she had been violated and he had been the tool used to do it.

Was there really any difference?

He thought not. Tool or otherwise, how could he shirk the blame? He felt responsible, felt the guilt. And he hated himself, in this moment. How could he only be on house arrest? How could the King and Queen -

They must have been going through hell, and it was because of him. He was the reason this family had broken. How could he ever forgive himself? Why couldn't he have broken away from the magick? He was there! He must have seen whatever had happened, he should have been able to stop it - and himself.

His thoughts were a swirl of emotions and memories, drifting to just a few days ago, when he was defending himself against the accusation of stabbing Hook. It was the first time he'd seen Emma. He remembered thinking of her beauty, feeling a pang in his heart almost as if she were tied to his own fate - he felt in that moment that she was the one for him. Thoughts of her had overshadowed the stress of the situation.

That second when they had locked eyes, as she was preparing her thoughts to speak her mind on the situation, he was in shambles. He was already unprepared for the accusation, worried this lie - what he had thought was a lie - would lead to his death. But she had defended him. She had given him hope. Not just for his own life, but a possible chance to get to know her when it would come out that he was completely innocent.

He truly thought he'd been innocent. He wasn't innocent, was he… he realized, he likely had stabbed Hook that day and she had been there to see it. Then he committed the worst possible act against her. Whatever the violation was, he knew it wasn't good.

He'd never be able to forgive himself.

Belle could feel her knees buckling as Athena vanished.

The Goddess had given her the compass.

She had focused, almost solely, on Belle.

Why?

Ohhhh no, she did not have the energy to contemplate all this.

Athena had nodded into an empty corner, raised her arm, and a bolt of lightning struck her in the palm of her hand. She grabbed it as if it were no more than a rope, and the blue circle engulfed her again.

She had vanished much calmer than she had appeared, a gust knocking over the table Neal had taken refuge under. Regina was surprised the Goddess hadn't done more, especially to Neal given his role and Athena's history, but if what the Goddess said was true about the worlds ending when Gods got in each other's way, Regina rationalized that must have been the reason for her lack of action.

Regina glanced at Belle, who began to collapse. She quickly reacted, magickally moving a chair into position to catch her. She nearly wasn't fast enough, but managed to get Belle situated in the seat before she looked to Neal who seemed wobbly. He was shaking, his eyes closed tight, but he had managed to lean back on that table Athena's exit had knocked over on its side.

Meeting a Goddess took much energy… For a normal mortal.

Regina took the moment of silence to head back to where she knew Rumpelstiltskin kept his supplies. The other two were in no position to miss her, or even notice her absence, she knew as she moved through the place. She hurried, though trying to keep her heels from clacking loudly took a bolt of magick.

This spell wouldn't take much, but she'd been low, or out of, most of her supplies since leaving her castle all those years ago. She'd never needed much to heal, or make amends to those she had harmed before. Light was so much easier than dark.

She glanced at a window as she passed one, noticing the light was almost gone. She'd have to rush.

All it would take was the tear of a champion here, a phoenix feather there. She thought a moment, looking at her concoction, adding a few bits of this and that to the mix. It had been a while, but she was confident her memory had not failed her.

She lit a tiny fireball at the end of her finger, thrusting it into the brass bowl.

There. One more favor to cross off her list. You're welcome, Hook.

She turned on her heels and hurried back to the library before her absence was noticed.

Thank you for reading!