AUTHOR'S NOTE/DISCLAIMER

Belongs to ABC Studios and whoever else owns the show. I only own the plot.

"What on Earth is going on?" Snow wondered. What's going on? The last thing I remember…..she then gasped as everything came flooding back. "Oh no, Red! I was so mean to her! What have I done?" she breathed. I can't believe I was so mean! Red must hate me, she worried. How was she going to repair their friendship?

"It wasn't your fault. You and Charming were under a loyalty spell," her stepmother hastened to assure her. Not going to let her blame herself for something she had no control over, she determined. It wasn't her stepdaughter's fault that someone had screwed with her mind.

"So what's going on?" David queried.

"Your midwife Zelena is the witch that did this to us," Regina responded.

"What?" the two chorused.

"How did we not see it?" Snow wondered. I can't believe I was so dumb. How could I be so dumb? She wondered.

"She placed you under a loyalty spell,' Regina told her. "It makes you blind to a person's true intentions, but it's not a particularly strong spell, having to be reinstated every couple of days."

"So does that mean she's not very powerful?" David queried.

"Either that or impatient," Regina replied. Or both, she thought. But either way, it wasn't good.

"Why would she want us to be loyal to her though?" David wondered.

"The baby. She wants the baby," Snow realized as her eyes widened, placing her hands on her stomach protectively. No. Not this time. Not losing my child again, she determined.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to either one of you," Regina hastened to assure. She'd protect her stepdaughter with everything she had. Ironic, considering that she had once tried to kill the young woman, but that was the past now. Now she was going to protect her no matter what, and she had the magic to back her up. In Rumplestiltskin's shop, Belle gasped as the memories came rushing back. Belle and the others fought their way to where Zelena was even as the witch recited the incantation for the Dark Curse. Gotta make sure she doesn't do anything, the librarian thought to herself, dodging a swipe from a flying monkey, hearing sinister laughter as she did so. Zelena's eyes widened in horror as she realized what had happened. Her Curse-her lovely Curse had been broken! No! It's impossible! she seethed. There was no way the Curse could've been broken, not even with True Love's Kiss! She had made sure of it! Zelena just laughed as they continued fighting her minions. They're too late, she mused as she continued the recitation. Soon she was going to have everything that she ever wanted. Regina inhaled sharply as the images came back. As one, Rumplestitlskin and Regina also began to the recite the incantation, deliberately changing a few words here and there.

"Are you sure this will help us retain our memories?" Regina murmured.

"Nothing's for certain. Never tweaked a spell of this magnitude," he answered truthfully in a soft tone.

"Lovely," the woman murmured. Not really what she was hoping her old mentor would say. But then again, at least he hadn't lied to her, so there was that. However, she kept reciting, praying that what they were doing would work. Rumplestiltskin's lips curved into a smile. It had worked. The spell he and Regina had weaved into the Dark Curse had worked, including the loophole he had come up with.

"Papa, what was that?" Neal wondered. Some sort of magic had happened, but he couldn't be sure what.

"Magic," Rumplestiltskin replied.

"Well that much I figured," Neal stated. "But what exactly happened?" he wondered.

"When Zelena first started her attack, Regina and I teamed up to stop her and when we realized she was planning a curse, we came up with some…modifications….to weaken the curse," Rumplestiltskin responded.

"Modifications? What kind of modifications?" Neal wondered. Just what did he do? he wondered. And was he sure he really wanted to know? After all, with his father, the word "modification" could mean anything. And to be honest, that was something that scared the hell out of him. He didn't want to end up in a land where everything was flipped on its head.

"Retention of memory, keep us all in Storybrooke, and some fail safes for the children in case we were all put out of commission," he responded.

"So in a way, it was a protection for everybody," the younger man surmised.

"Precisely," his father confirmed. Smart lad. Got it in one, he thought to himself. Not that he was surprised that Baelfire would understand what he was doing. The lad had always been smart as a whip. He just hoped that he hadn't screwed things up between them by admitting that he had tinkered with the Curse.

"That was smart thinking," Neal told him.

"You…don't mind that I used magic?" Rumplestiltskin asked in surprise.

"Does it make me nervous? Absolutely, and I'll probably never like it as much as some people, but I can also understand how it would be useful for protection," Neal responded. Well, that's something at least, Rumplestiltskin mused. He wasn't completely against it like he had been when he was a boy and he was honest with him about his feelings regarding it, so he would take it. And really, after everything he had done with magic, it wasn't really all that surprising that he still had misgivings about it and his use of it. While this was going on, Snow and David had gone to find Red and had found her in the street with the others.

"Hey Snow," she greeted nervously. Is she back to normal? she wondered hopefully.

"I'm so, so sorry," the queen apologized. Immediately, the wolf pulled her friend into a hug.

"Nothing to apologize for. It was all Zelena," she assured. In Rumplestiltskin's shop, Belle grinned. It had worked. Belle watched as Rumplestiltskin pushed the magic into the bell.

"Are you sure this will work?" she queried. I've never heard of a spell being used this way before. What if it doesn't work? she fretted. Not that she was doubting Rumple. She just didn't like leaving things to chance.

"Yes. The bell was enchanted long ago to send magic over a long range. And since Zelena will be expecting us to rely on True Love's kiss, she'll never suspect that it holds a memory potion," he responded. Tom blinked as the tremor flowed through him. That was weird, he thought to himself as his memories sorted themselves into their proper order. Without wasting anytime, he teleported himself to where Emma is.

"Tom, what is it?" she wondered.

"I know where Neal and Rumplestiltskin are," he reported.

"Where?" she demanded. For an answer, he grabbed her and then teleported her to the location.

"Emma! Tom!" Neal gasped. He came back, he thought as the other man and his girlfriend instantly began undoing the ropes.

"You know him!?" Emma asked.

"I met him a long time ago," Neal responded.

"Is there anyone in this town who's not originally from the Enchanted Forest?" Emma griped somewhat rhetorically. Why can't I just meet someone who's exactly who they appear to be for once? she wondered to herself. Was it really too much to ask? She didn't think so, but apparently the universe-or whatever-did. She was just really tired of meeting people who were actually fairy tales. She just wanted someone to actually be who they said they were. Tom ignored this as he and Emma got Neal and Gold's bonds free.

"She has his dagger," Neal reported.

"Crap. We need to get that," Emma declared.

"But how?" Neal wondered. Zelena had kept it in her possession at all times. It wasn't like she would just let them take it from her. They needed a plan.

"Two of us are ex street kids and I don't know about you, but I was always pretty good at filching things provided I had a distraction," Emma responded and Neal grinned knowingly.

"And I'm a pretty handy pickpocket," he stated.

"I can provide the distraction," Tom offered and the other two nodded.

"But what if she summons him before we can find her?" Emma pointed out.

"I can teleport you with me. I have to obey the dagger's call but it doesn't prevent me from bringing others with me," Rumplestiltskin assured her. While this was going on, Zelena was going around Storybrooke. I'm losing control. I don't like this, she thought to herself. Her spell had been broken and she had no idea how it had happened. Well, it was no matter. She'd show them that she still had control. And the only way to do that was to use the Dark One. Yes. That would do quite nicely. She had control of the most powerful being in the Enchanted Forest and no one would be able to stop her. But first, she'd better check on her prisoners to make sure that they weren't trying to plot another escape attempt. With a wave of her hand, she teleported herself to where she was holding the Dark One. Hearing the crackle of magic, Neal, Rumplestiltskin, Tom, and Emma turned and watched as Zelena suddenly materialized and before anyone could move, she threw them across the room with a wave of her hand, causing the group to grunt in pain.

"I had a feeling something like this would be going on," she declared, using her magic to summon the dagger to her. At this, Neal froze. Can't let this happen to him again, he thought to himself. Yeah, okay, they wanted her to produce the dagger so that they could take it from her, but there was still a big risk here. He then glanced at his father who had also frozen. However, he could also see the hint of defiance in his eyes. He's still fighting. Good, he thought to himself. Not that he doubted that he would, but it was nice to know that his father still had some fight left. He just hoped that it would be enough to stop her.

"Dark One, I command-" Zelena's order was cut off as Emma slugged her and then threw a burst of magic at her, knocking her off of her feet and causing her to lose her grip on the dagger. Seeing his chance, Neal grabbed the dagger and jumped back.

"Dark One, get us out of here!" Neal shouted and with a wave of his hand, Rumplestiltskin teleported them out of the room and into his shop.

"What happened to being sneaky?" Tom wondered once they landed. Didn't expect her to off like that, he mused. Not that he hadn't seen her act impulsively before, but it had surprised him this time.

"So I got pissed off," Emma replied, texting her mother their location as Neal handed the dagger to his father and Belle quickly ran to Rumplestiltskin, pulling him into a hug. "She hurt Neal and Gold. No one hurts the people I love," she continued.

"So when you saw her-" Rumplestiltskin began to say.

"I saw red," Emma admitted. And how could she not? The bitch had hurt the man she loved. Wait. Loved? Yeah. She loved Neal. She was in love with him. She could freely admit this.

"Rumple, do you need anything? Hospital?" Belle queried. So worried. He looks bad, she thought to herself. And she had never liked seeing him this way.

"No I'm all right," Rumplestiltskin assured her. Hate that I worried her, he mused. Belle was the strongest woman he knew, but she also tended to worry about him.

"Besides, it's too open. She could easily get to them," Emma added. And Neal's probably not ready to let everyone know what happened to him, she silently added. Hearing this, Neal gave her a grateful look. Don't want everyone knowing what happened to me. Too humiliating, he thought.

"Agreed but you should still be checked out at some point," Tom stated.

"Don't think I've forgotten the weirdness of you, Tom. You have some explaining to do," Emma told him. "You look younger than when I knew you and that shouldn't be possible," she continued.

"And one and done," Rumplestiltskin interjected.

"That's already been explained," Neal objected.

"I want the full explanation," Rumplestiltskin insisted.

"It's a pledge of loyalty for us. When I say it, I'm telling them that I'll be faithful and protect them," Tom responded.

"And when the two of you say it?" Belle wondered.

"We're telling him we're loyal," Neal replied.

"When did the two of you meet him?" Rumplestiltskin asked.

"It was right after I escaped Neverland," Neal admitted.

"I was thirteen," Emma answered at the same time.

"Wait, how is that possible?" Belle queried.

"I'm a wizard and I can teleport. My magic allows me to cross realms pretty easily. I also use my magic to be as non-threatening to someone as possible, but my price is that I'm immortal and I live outside space and time. Note for future reference, get all the facts before dipping into magic to save your fiancée," he stated.

"Who was your fiancée?" Belle asked.

"Becky Thatcher," Tom replied.

"Wait. Becky Thatcher? You're telling me that you're Tom Sawyer?" Emma demanded.

"As in the guy who conned his friends into white-washing a fence for him?" Emma continued.

"That wasn't one of my finer moments, I will admit that," Tom confirmed.

"Can I just for once meet someone who is not in a storybook?" Emma demanded.

"Sorry," Tom apologized. Then, "We can argue about that later. Right now, I think we need a plan of action on how to defeat Zelena." At this, Emma nodded. He was right of course. They had to figure out how they were going to stop. Back at her farmhouse, Zelena's eyes blazed with fury as she recited the incantation she had studied. She had lost her hostages. The Savior had been faster than she had thought possible and her actions weren't acceptable. She was going to kill them all. They had ruined her happy ending so she would ruin them. This spell would target them all and she would be rid of them once and for all. As she did this, the monkeys chattered nervously. Mistress was angry. This would not bode well for them.

"GO! FOLLOW THE SPELL AND DESTROY THEM ALL!" she shrieked as her eyes darkened. Using her magic, she levitated herself, went out of her house, and then flew through the air, a green cloud and her flying monkeys trailing after her.