Look at me, updating on time for once.

Brief moment of nostalgia: On Friday, October 28th, 2016 around 1 o' clock in the morning, I wrote the middle part of this chapter. Back then, I wasn't planning on making this into a story. The writers had just killed off Jekyll and Hyde and I was really upset, so I did what fanfiction writers do best. I made it better. Fox's name didn't mean anything to me because I didn't yet know which fairy tale character I wanted her to be, and she was totally different. Initially, I imagined her as this posh English fairy with a very formal speech pattern and a stoic demeanor (oh how things have changed). To think I'm actually making something of those beginnings is something I'm really proud of.

"I want to show you the end of our story. And I want to watch you suffer."

The Dark One had known as soon as he heard those words that the day would not end well. Of all the enemies he had faced, Mr. Hyde was not the cleverest, nor the bravest. But he may have been the most stupid. His hands had been tied for the moment, but he had been sure to warn the tall monster of what was to come once they were not. Or at least, he had tried.

"You see, there's one final twist: I am not the monster you need to worry about."

Hook. The Charmings. The Evil Queen. Had it been anyone else aboard that ship, Gold may not have even cared whether Hyde was the monster they should fear or not. In fact, if he thought he could gain something from their peril, he may have even helped Hyde gain his own prize. But Belle was…Belle was Belle. She was kind, with a forgiving soul and warm eyes and a spirit that shot up in defense when she or someone she loved needed it. For a long time, that had been him.

"I think you'll find Jekyll has quite the temper."

Seeing Belle call out for him to lift the spell, he knew everything had changed. Logically, he knew that she was too far away for him to see anger or contempt or anything else that may have been in those blue eyes of hers, but the logical part of his mind had been silenced, and he could see it. When he had sensed magic behind him, felt someone else enter the scene, he actually thought about calling out to them, begging them to help Belle. But he couldn't force himself to say anything other than a plea to the man beside him. Insistence that she had nothing to do with Hyde's anger at him.

"Clearly, she does."

The price of leaving the Land of Untold Stories and letting this would-be monster from the deep and his weaker half hang should never have had to be the woman he loved. Not when she was so innocent in all of this. When her only crime had been letting him too far into her heart before she realized that, no matter how hard he tried, he would always fail her. Just as he was doing now.

A part of him hated the relief he felt when Hook intervened. The larger part of him would not have cared if Cora, Hades, and Peter Pan had joined forces from beyond the grave – whatever grave that may be – if it meant Belle was safe. And when he looked to his right and saw Hyde drop to his knees, his grip on the dagger weakening by the second, he hardly even noticed the brief sparkle at the corner of his eye.

Gold was satisfied. Smug. So it wasn't until he noticed Hyde gasping for air and actually succeeding once more that he bothered to spare the ship a glance. This time, it was a flash of pink that caught his eye. A dash of glitter. Gnat. Gold just knew he should have killed all of Storybrooke's fairies when he had the chance. Then again, he supposed this one was different. For one thing, he could not imagine Henry would have been too happy to find that his favorite shop owner was no longer among the living.

For once, Gold had no time to react before he felt the pull of the dagger again. But this time, it was not wielded with malcontent. The fairy rose from the ground beside Hyde, towards whom she kept a hand held out, encouraging him to stay down for the time being.

"And what can I do for you, dearie?" Gold whispered resignedly, staring at the dagger in her hand. She kept her eyes trained on him and her hands perfectly still. While she knew he could not just take the dagger from her, it never hurt to err on the side of caution.

"You can start by bringing the good doctor to his doppelgänger's former cell and chaining him in. Don't forget to lock the door on your way out, and do not pass go." There was none of the usual warmth in Fox's voice. Normally, even when she was flustered or stressed, there was some amount of tenderness in her tone. Now it was strictly business, and some steel, as well. Gold waved his hand and disappeared in a cloud of scarlet smoke.

Despite his hatred of being controlled, Gold found that doing the swarthy fairy's bidding was actually rather enjoyable. He kept the dialogue between himself and the stuttering doctor at a minimum, ignoring his pleas to be heard out and only pausing in the task of exiting the cell when Jekyll insisted there had been a misunderstanding.

But, well, some things are best left to the imagination.

Only upon his return to the docks did Gold begin to feel irked that somebody held his leash. The lady in question did not seem to have moved an inch, remaining stoically on her feet, facing away from Hyde and watching the Jolly Roger. Belle seemed to be doing alright. Fox didn't look at Gold when he appeared, but there was no doubt she was speaking to him when she opened her mouth.

"You should never have cast that protection spell."

"Are you suggesting it was my fault that Jekyll attacked Belle?" Fox thought he sounded a little too defensive.

"She only panicked because she knew she couldn't escape," she snapped, finally looking at him with hard eyes. "What if Hyde had managed to break through your spell?" Gold looked away, attempting to hide the distress on his face. "What if he had Molotov cocktailed the ship? What if he had gotten someone else to do his dirty work for him?"

"And what's that supposed to mean?" He looked up to face her again.

"We all know Storybrooke had no shortage of people who'd love to get their revenge on you." Obviously, she mentally tacked on.

"I've made my–"

"Oh, shut up," she ordered impatiently. Gold had no choice but to obey. "Look," she asserted, "ever since I arrived in this town I've watched you all fight your battles. I've kept my head down, haven't done a thing." She paused and tilted her head. "Now it's your turn. Stay out of this one." Gold had never heard her tone so forceful before. Fox held up the dagger. "So, Dark One," Gold straightened unconsciously, forcing an unaffected look onto his face, "unless there is a direct, impending threat present to Belle or her child, one that you haven't foreseen or caused…you're not gonna hurt Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde. Or me, for that matter," she added as an afterthought.

He met her eyes then. She could see the wheels turning, trying to find a loophole. And she was sure he would discover one, so she added another clause.

"Now, I'm sure you'll waste no time in trying to find a way around this," the corner of his mouth twitched, "so I'm not gonna tell you where Hyde will be." She pulled her wand out of her boot and waved it in the air, pointed upward at nothing in particular. Even in the sunlight, as bright as it was, Gold could see a small cloud of pink and gold glitter appear and hover around her wand tip for just a moment. When it dissipated, she kept her wand out but lowered it to her side. "Now there's a protection spell on Jekyll's cell. He'll be moved somewhere safer soon." Gold glanced away from her, looking irked. "Should anything happen to either of them, I know where to find you. I really don't want to hurt you, but if I have to I can and I will."

Gold froze then, attention immediately back on her, and Hyde's eyes widened. This was not like Fox. She was a fairy in the truest sense, her aim had always been to minimize suffering. To help the people around her. Gold doubted she had ever before uttered a single threat in her life. But the way she was looking at him made it clear that she had no qualms about putting all that on hold. He may have been an expert deal-maker, good at finding loopholes. Fox, however, was just as good at handling inconveniences. After all, she had kept her head down for years, but clearly she had been ready for whatever may come her way. And she had been prepared for the cost to her kindly countenance.

As she held the dagger aloft, she eyed the way the light glinted off of it. Something rose up through her chest; a stray spike of anger. She understood how he could tie himself to the dagger for himself and the power it would give him. But how could he keep doing this to Belle? Before she could stop herself, she was speaking again. "You know," she began softly, "I just don't get it. Is all that power really worth being tied to this thing?" Gold did not answer. He only swallowed, looking away from her again. "Is it worth losing your family?" she pressed. "Over and over and over…" she twirled the dagger as she spoke.

"Enough." Gold's voice was soft. His eyes slid over the horizon, the dock, the beach; anywhere but the fairy before him.

"So that's a no?" She raised her eyebrows. He remained silent. Her head tilted to one side. "What did you do to these two, anyway?" She asked with curiosity, but not with the power of the dagger. She did, however, use it to gesture to Hyde where he remained on the ground. Gold gave her an icy stare for exactly five seconds before replying.

"I trapped them in the Land of Untold Stories," he said candidly. Without missing a beat, Fox nodded. Then she sighed.

"Here." She tossed the dagger to him. He caught it deftly, stooping a bit as he did so. Then he stared at her for a moment. "Oh, come on," she implored. "You think I wanna hang on to that? I can't just start calling you up whenever I need something done. I'll get lazy." She slipped her newly free hand into her jacket pocket, giving no indication she even remembered Hyde's presence behind her other than the hand that still held her wand. Nonetheless, he stayed down. Gold said nothing, still seemingly bewildered. "You should go check on your ex-wife. I'm sure she'll be thrilled to see you." Something grim crept into Fox's already sarcastic tone, but despite the foreboding Gold could not help but feel, he also could not agree more.

For a moment, Gold felt the insane need to thank the fairy before him. That, however, might have been a bit much for one day. Instead he tucked the dagger into his coat, squared his shoulders, nodded to Fox, and turned to walk away. He moved slowly. Fox was right; he did need to talk to Belle. He did not, however, need to suffer through the snark that would, no doubt, come in spades from Hook.

Only once Gold was a good distance away from her and Hyde did Fox turn from the spot where he had been stood moments before. As if in denial of what she was doing, she still did not look at Hyde. Hands still in her pockets, she pivoted on her spot and began the walk back into town. There was, of course, a faster way, but she found she still was not sure exactly where she was going.

"Come on," she intoned, the only acknowledgement she had given so far of Hyde's presence. When the scarred man spoke, it was in a rather winded voice. If she did not know any better, Fox would have thought he was in shock.

"I don't think–"

"No, I don't think you do," she said apathetically. Still refusing to spare him a glance, she continued on walking. Hyde scrambled up and, this time, followed her. He limped a bit, but did not say a word, doing his best to keep up and keep behind.

Hyde did not have to wonder why Fox was so cold with him. He had, after all, just tried to kill someone, if indirectly. Wisely, however, he did not ask. In spite of the time he had spent looking over maps in the mayor's office, he did not have quite the familiarity with the town that he would have needed to know where they were going. As it was, he kept his head down, still trying to regain his breath and wondering why the fairy leading him had saved him, and why she had not immediately locked him away.

For her part, Fox was wondering something similar. Why had she not made Gold lock Hyde away as well? He deserved it and worse. Even walking through Storybrooke – and thanking her lucky stars that anyone who may have noticed them seemed otherwise occupied – some part of her brain was screaming at her to turn around. To keep her eyes on him just in case he tried to harm her. She doubted he would try to run, he was still limping, but she held her wand between tension-yellow fingers anyway. He did not speak while she tried to puzzle out what exactly she should do with him.

Now that he was free of Jekyll, she had no idea just how dangerous he might or might not be. He had once told her that Jekyll had done something that could not be undone, but how much of that had actually been Jekyll? She knew about Mary and what had happened to her, but could it be that Hyde simply wanted somebody to blame for her death? Until just a week earlier, he and Jekyll had been the same entity, if not exactly the same person. They fed into one another in every way. The more she thought about it, the more she kicked herself for not seeing Jekyll's attack on Belle – or anyone else it may have been – coming. Wary as she had been of him, she had been far more worried about what Hyde might do in Storybrooke. Now she saw that they were each just as much of a threat as the other. But none of this brought her any closer to solving the problem of Mr. Hyde. Where to put him?

The best way to keep him safe is to keep him with me, Fox reasoned to herself. Keeping him in the back room of her shop might disrupt her business, but it was probably the safest option. It had no windows and one door she could seal off easily enough. There was no way Gold could get to him in there, with the protection spell she had set in place earlier that day and the one she would put up if Hyde were there. However, there was something about leaving him in the little room that simply felt wrong to her. Locking him in a case like an expensive pair of earrings was simply too cruel, even for him. He could not be anywhere near Jekyll and she had an idea of where Emma would want to put him. Since Gold knew where he was and what he had tried to do to Belle, the asylum was only a temporary solution. Fox did not have anything like the cage Hyde had kept her in, and though from what Belle had told her she knew that Zelena did, Fox doubted the witch would be willing to help. She had to credit her; Zelena knew when not to get involved. Just like I used to. She subtly eyed Hyde. There was one other place he could go, but it was risky. It would take some extra time and some extra magic. It would also be the safest option for everyone, next to keeping him in her shop.

When they reached the parking lot of the building, Fox waved her hand impatiently before herself. Both she and Hyde disappeared in a glittering cloud of thick pink smoke. The moment the fairy landed them, Hyde finally spoke up.

"What did you just do? Where are we?" he asked sharply, voice more fervent than she had ever heard it. Rather than reply immediately, however, Fox waved her wand at him. Between the stress of her weekend and the events of the morning, she was frankly exhausted. The last thing she needed was the imposing dark side of a crazy doctor attempting to intimidate her in her own home.

A long, thick rope materialized in a warm glow, surrounding him. Hyde struggled, lashing out with his arms, but it was no use. The bindings were on him and before long, the rope was coiled all around him. There was not a single knot anywhere, and there did not need to be. Even with all of his strength, Hyde was no match for magic. Only when he was safely confined on her couch did Fox turn around. Rationally, she knew he was no longer a threat, but she still kept her coffee table in between them. Hyde glared up at her, but she remained calm.

"This is my apartment. Gold can't get to you here." Valiantly as he tried to keep the shock from his face, she could still see him do a double take. His eyebrows shot up and some of the fire left his eyes. The angry lines around his nose disappeared as his mouth fell open just enough that Fox let herself feel just a little smug. "I'm gonna go set up…your room." With that, she turned away. Had he been any less stunned, she was sure Hyde would have protested. As it was – whether it was the shock of any kindness from her or the trauma of nearly dying – he was silent, though she did hear some rustling behind her. Try as he may to escape the confines of the rope, she felt confident that he would fail. So, Fox strode down the hall off of her living room, passing the bathroom on her left and turning when she reached the end so that her back was to her bedroom door.

If she had continued through the living room, she would have walked into her small kitchen. She, like many Storybrooke residents, hardly ever used her kitchen. She had never been much of a cook, and never much cared to learn. It was not that she was incapable, if she put in the effort she would most likely succeed. Given her barren social calendar, she certainly had enough time. Fox simply did not have the desire. She had plenty of snack food, her refrigerator was never empty, nor was her pantry, but as nervous as Granny's made her, the grocery store was worse. So, most nights, Fox would call Granny and place an order for takeout. She could walk in, pick up her food, and be out the door in under ten minutes. Minimal social interaction. Truly, it was not that Fox did not like people. Quite the opposite. As a fairy godmother, she had bestowed plenty of gifts – blessings – on plenty of infants. She had congratulated plenty of parents, presented children to plenty of crowds. Generally, she had found that if a person was comfortable with small children, they could entertain an audience easily enough.

More than that, Fox liked to help people. In Storybrooke, however, she had wanted that to be unnecessary. So badly had she wanted the heroes to solve every one of their own problems, because if there was one thing she had been more afraid of than her own story playing out, it was getting in the way of a stray arrow. Now, faced with so much more than another villain of the week, all she wanted was to turn around and curl up, buried in her soft cream-colored sheets, and forget about the darkness sitting on her couch. But she was involved now. She had promised the Savior that she would handle this. With that in mind, she raised her wand and did just that.

The first thing that she saw move was the wreath hanging on the closet door she was facing. It mirrored the one on her front door, changing its foliage to fit the season. Fox watched as it flew back through the air before there was even air for it to fly through and land on the new closet door – still in front of her, but now to her right. Once it was in place, a warm rectangular glow shone on the wall across from it, to her left. The light pulsated once, twice, three times before fading away as rapidly as it had appeared. In its place now stood a white door with a small amount of wood grain artfully showing through the paint, just like every other door in her apartment. The hallway ended just beyond it. Moments after the new door appeared, it swung open a few inches. She imagined that to any onlookers, it might appear creepy. To her, it was reassuring, knowing that there was something beyond it.

When Fox stepped through the door, she found herself in a room with grey walls and wood-looking laminate floors that blended with the hallway outside. There were two windows, but unlike the large ones in the rest of her apartment, they were set up high in the walls and only half a foot tall. The bed, which had no footboard and a simple paneled rectangular headboard, was centered on the wall beneath them. To the left of it was an off-white heat register. The furniture was a darker wood than could be found anywhere else in her place. It was exceptionally plain overall.

There was another door in the corner, and through that an equally plain bathroom with a stand-up shower, a virtually empty medicine cabinet, and no windows. She took her time walking through, ensuring that she did not miss anything potentially dangerous. In all her years of magic, the fairy had never done an expansion spell so involved, and she could not afford to make any mistakes with this one. This room needed to keep Mr. Hyde contained. Had she been on friendlier terms with the Dark One, Fox would have asked what kind of magic he had used to trap Hyde and his…well, his other half in the Land of Untold Stories. Doing that, however, would have implied the hands-on approach she was taking with Hyde. That was simply too much of a risk.

So, Fox perused the titles on the bookshelf – classics, mostly – and sifted through the contents of every drawer in his dresser. She rifled up and down in the linen closet and looked under the bed and made sure that every lightbulb was in proper working order. Then she remembered that she would likely have to explain to him what a lightbulb was, and with another wave of her wand, conjured a short list of instructions explaining how every electronic device worked. Now she simply had to hope he could not find a way to fashion them into some sort of weapon. But then, if she put a strong enough protection spell on his door and never went inside the room, it would hardly matter anyway. Hopefully.

When she came back into the living room, she found Hyde sitting rigidly in his bindings. His posture likely had nothing to do with the rope holding him, and she noticed that he was looking paler than she remembered. He needed to rest. So did she. She waved her hand lightly in his direction to loosen the rope around his legs, leaving it tightened around his arms.

"On your feet." Her tone was not entirely unkind, but he still gave her a brooding look when he obliged. Without the use of his hands, it was difficult to pull himself off of the cushions he had sunken into, but he managed and before long he was back to towering over her. The shadow underneath his sharp jaw was one that Fox had seen many times before. This time, however, it seemed different. This time, she was no longer afraid. Uneasy, to be sure, but now she was in her home. In her hand she held possibly the most powerful wand in Storybrooke. Hyde owed her his life. This was certainly not the Land of Untold Stories. "Follow me."

Hyde limped after her as she led him down the same short hallway she had just come from. Whether because of the rope or by his own intention, he kept a comfortable distance between them and did not say a word. The door to the room she had just created was still open and she gestured him through it, always remaining in front, not allowing him to pass by her. He was safely inside before he spoke, still bound by the rope.

"For me?" If sarcasm came in cough drop form, Fox imagined he would never be found without them. She ignored it.

"Until Emma figures out what to do with you, yes." There was no reason for her tone to be as forceful as it was. She knew she could not hurt him with her words, knew he did not care enough for that. Still, she found she could not help trying. Immature as it was, what was there to stop her? Hyde nodded once, slowly. "Until then…" She put one hand on the door and moved to close it.

"Why did you save me?" Hyde asked suddenly. She paused, leaning away from the door. How to respond when she did not know the answer herself?

"Why did you stop the Evil Queen from 'clipping my wings?'" The air quotes were evident in her voice. He raised his eyebrows, blanching in apparent surprise. He appeared not to have a response to that, so Fox flicked her wand one last time and the door slammed shut in front of her. On the other side of it, Hyde's bindings disappeared in a puff of pink smoke.

Fox wandered back into her living room and slowed to an absentminded stop. She swayed in her place beside the coffee table, moving side to side. In theory, she should go back to work. She had not officially opened that morning. Even with all the excitement of the day so far, she imagined that someone in Storybrooke would wonder why she had not. There was always somebody who needed a ring resized or a necklace for their childhood friend's birthday. And now with all of Storybrooke's new residents from the Land of Untold Stories, offsetting those who had left when Gold had stolen magic from the town, she was likely to get quite a bit of new business. Still, she could not force her legs to carry her out of the door, or anywhere else.

She could sit on her couch and rethink her life. Or at the very least, she could read the book on her coffee table. However, her couch was somehow less inviting than it had been on Friday night, and The Count of Monte Cristo seemed a more daunting read. Who even wrote books that thick? Why had she bought it? She was becoming increasingly convinced that every story ever told had some truth to it.

Just as she reached up to pull the zipper of her black jacket free, her phone rang. Fox flinched, took a deep breath, and reached into her pocket. It took only a brief moment for her to pull out her phone and answer it.

"Hello?"

"Fox! Where are you? Is everything okay?" Emma. She had forgotten she told the Savior she would text her.

"I'm at my place, everything's fine. But listen, Jekyll attacked Belle."

"What?" the Savior inquired. She heard Fox take a quick breath before explaining.

"You can't have light without the dark, Emma. Even when they're separated, they find a way to come together again." Beside Emma, Regina was looking at Gold. She faintly heard him say something about killing doppelgängers. All of them were squinting in the afternoon sun and Regina's crossed arms were the only indication she gave that the chill of the wind coming off of the water was affecting her. Emma tugged the sleeve of her tan leather jacket down with her free hand.

"So, what, Jekyll and Hyde were both the evil one?" She glanced over at Regina. The mayor looked at her over Gold's shoulder just as he started to walk away.

"Remains to be seen, but I wouldn't bet against it. I may or may not have saved them both. Hyde's here with me-just don't tell Gold that."

"What do you mean he's–"

"Sequestered in his own wing, unable to escape. Don't worry about him, he's my problem now." Emma's eyebrows shot into a hard frown. She could hear the incredulity in her own voice when she spoke again.

"The guy came to Storybrooke and tried to take over a couple days ago. He killed the Count of Monte Cristo's girlfriend and let him try and kill my parents within his first forty-eight hours here. That kinda makes him everyone's problem." Just an hour earlier, Fox had shrunk from the demanding in her tone, so she was surprised to hear her respond the way that she did.

"He won't be able to hurt anyone else." There was something in her confidence that Emma could not place, but it sounded oddly threatening. Like Fox was angry at someone. She knew fairies worked for the common good, but why would Fox take such interest in Hyde's case? Could it have something to do with Belle? Looking out onto the lower dock beside the Jolly Roger, she saw Gold stepping up to his ex-wife, almost cautiously. She could not blame him – Belle looked angrier than she had ever seen her. The librarian seemed to be clamping down on her affect. "Jekyll should be at the asylum, can you find someplace to move him to? Gold knows and I'd hate for the good doctor to meet his untimely demise before we can figure out what to do with him long-term."

"Yeah, sure," Emma conceded. "What are you gonna do?" She heard Fox sigh quietly, most probably through her nose. It sounded like she was facing away from the phone speaker.

"Well, I'm not gonna let either of them out," she muttered. Emma grimaced. "I don't know, Emma, I just…didn't know how to let him die. And the safest place for him to be is probably here, where I can stop him if he tries anything and protect him if Gold does." Emma hesitated.

A large part of her wanted to argue, to say that Hyde should be in the asylum or the sheriff's station or somewhere she could seehim and know that he was no danger to anyone anymore. But then she remembered what Archie had told her during their last session only the night before. It's okay to let go of some of that control. That was something she had never been much good at. From the moment she had gained even a modicum of control over her own life, regardless of what she was using it for – namely stealing from convenience stores and hoping she would not get pulled over in her unregistered car – she had been entirely unwilling to give it up. She knew that Killian had felt it, he had refused to ask her to move in, even after months of championing their love and their relationship.

"Emma, is everything okay?" came Regina's voice. Steel gravel. Emma sucked in a breath before replying, both to her and to Fox.

"Yeah." Then, more to the fairy, "I'll take care of it."

"Thank you. We should talk soon, just drop by the shop." Emma hung up.

"That was Fox," she told Regina, still squinting down at her phone. Even with her screen's brightness all the way up, it still seemed too dim for the day. "The fairy who owns that jewelry shop Henry likes," she elaborated.

"Yes, we've met. She came to help take names on Friday. What does she have to do with this?"

"Well, apparently she knows Hyde. And Jekyll. She saved Jekyll's life." Emma gestured loosely to the ship before slipping her phone into her pocket. Regina looked down.

"Yeah, about that…" She hesitated for a long moment. Emma inclined her head to see her face better.

"Regina? You okay?" Regina blinked once, twice, then looked resolutely back up at the blonde.

"I have to die."

Wait.

"What?" She had said it so casually, Emma must have heard her wrong. But Regina repeated herself.

"To stop the Evil Queen, I have to die. That's how it works," she said.

"What exactly did Gold tell you?"

"He said that Jekyll was stabbed, and just before Fox saved him, Hyde was dying too." Emma lifted her head and immediately regretted it, closing her eyes for a few seconds. "That's not the only bad news I got today." After blinking a few times, Emma looked at Regina again. There was something wry in her demeanor now, like she was thinking about how this would happen to her. "We all thought Jekyll was the good one." But even though he separated himself from the darkness–"

"The darkness grew back," Emma finished for her. "That's what Fox said." Regina looked absolutely miserable by this point.

"So you know that even though the Evil Queen is gone now, she can always come back." But Emma shook her head.

"You're stronger than Jekyll." She almost sounded like she was reasoning with her, with the both of them. It was true, though. Between using good magic against Zelena and helping the townspeople, even when Henry was not looking, Emma had seen how far she had come.

"Maybe," she conceded. "But if I'm not…" Another brief hesitation. Then Regina said what, it seemed, she really wanted to say. "Back in Camelot, when you were the Dark One, you said you trusted me to do what it took to keep your family safe. I need you to promise me you'll do the same for me, if it comes to that." Emma replied before she even knew she had a reply.

"I won't let it come to that." Regina gazed at Emma for a long moment, and Emma – who had only ever seen Regina's heart once, in passing – could swear she could see it again. It was in her eyes, begging her to do what Saviors do, to keep everyone safe. Narrowed as they were, they were shining with something that looked not quite like tears.

"…promise." But no matter how openly Regina showed her heart, no matter how she begged, no matter how Emma thought of her absence in the visions that plagued her, there was only one thing she could say.

"I promise you, if it comes to that, we will find another way." The brunette seemed unsatisfied by this answer, but somehow reassured that Emma would not give up. So she nodded, and watched Emma nod back. Then she glanced over at Belle and Gold.

"What could they be talking about?" Emma followed her gaze. Belle looked…livid.

"Nothing good."

In her apartment, Fox had been eyeing her copy of The Count of Monte Cristo since she had gotten off of the phone with Emma. Quite suddenly, she heard a groaning drawl echo down the hall.

"You know," came Hyde's voice, "you might want to let me out of here." She said nothing, slipping her phone back into her purse and walking to her door to hang it on the hook beside the one on which her spare shop keys resided. "All of those stories I brought to this town will play themselves out and when they do, you'll need someone who knows how to keep things from getting out of hand." The more closely she listened, the more punch-drunk Hyde sounded. She thought of telling him to rest as she slipped off her jacket, but in the time it took for her to kick off one shoe, she decided against it. Best not to engage. "Fauna…" he called in what was likely meant to be a warning tone. It did make her nervous, but it also annoyed her. Fox walked back through her living room, swiping the thick book from her light wooden coffee table as she did, and moving to her coat closet. Then she opened the closet door and threw the book inside, paying no mind to where it landed.

"Nobody calls me that anymore," she called back flatly. With that, she pushed the closet door shut.

So yeah, very much a metaphor for her closing Chapter Safe of her life in Storybrooke. I'm a sucker for a good metaphor.