A/n: and the second. A little longer, maybe a bit broken, but we're getting to longer chapters so I don't feel as guilty.
The Outsider
Orabella quickly entered the pawnshop. "It's finished?" In her excitement, she threw herself to the counter where Gold stood with a self satisfied smirk on his face. "You finished it?"
Gold took an exaggerated breath. "Indeed, I did." Her smile was more than enough as he reached for a vial. "When this potion is poured over the objects we each hold most dear, they become a talisman that allows us to cross over the town line and still remember who we are."
Her happiness was sweet on the tongue when she reached across the glass case to kiss him. "My genius hero," she praised. "Now, for safekeeping, whatever talisman you choose, keep it on you at all times."
"You think Hook will come to take it?" He turned and opened a hidden wall safe. From inside he pulled Baelfire's old shawl.
"He'll probably attack me in that hopes you'll leave it behind for Smee to find. Keep it with you, or give it to me, but don't leave it alone."
Gold wrapped the shawl around his neck. "If he comes after you..."
"Oh, he'll try," Orabella cut him off. "And I'd roast his ass if I didn't know he's relevant to the future." She though for a moment then shrugged. "I'll probably just freeze it off."
"You're planning something."
"Archie is alive and on Hook's ship. I'm going to set him free."
"Cora could be there."
"She's busy with her daughter. The ship will be clear. I'm not going now, I have to wait." Gold moved to speak. "Archie wont last long against Hook, you know that."
"I was going to say 'be careful'," he hastened, covering her hand with his. He thought for a moment and chuckled. "How did a loving, kind hearted, caring woman like you ever manage to fall in love with a beast like me?"
"Probably because you're not a beast, Stiltskin," she said bringing his hand up for a kiss. "You battle against true darkness as much as I do. We are neutral. We continue the plot. We are chaotic, and play both sides. Two sides of the same coin. I, slightly more light, and you, the more dark. Together we keep balance in the world." He smiled down at her. "And Devon helps sometimes, too," she added as an afterthought.
The pair laughed. "Go," Gold urged her. "Call me if you need me."
"I will." She hurried out of the store, ready to find a lost cricket.
The pair drove to the town line and stopped waiting for the heavier rain to pass over them. They exited the car and toed the spray painted line. She held out Balefire's shawl for him to pour some of the potion on.
She draped it over his shoulders, half noticing how wet they were becoming from the patchy rain. "Okay," she smiled, knowing it would work but still worrying what she would do if it didn't.
"Here we go." He took a careful step over the spray painted line, leaving her behind. Magic enfolded him for a moment before he spun to face her with a smile. "Stacia Erimentha Certainty Orabella Marquardt-Shine."
She laughed and held out her hand for his. "Now we can go find Bae."
"Almost," he chided. She looked confused. "You said Cora would bring me what I need to find him."
She would've slapped herself if he hadn't been holding her hands. "I completely forgot." Her face fell with worry. "But that happens after-." She was cut off by a shot resounding through the night, and a stinging pain going through her shoulder. She fell forward from the force. Before she crossed the town line, a ball of Magelight erupted from her hand and sped off down the road.
"Happily never after," Hook said from behind Orabella as she fell.
"Ora! Ora, are you alright?" Gold looked to the woman in his arms.
She looked around confused. "What?"
"Oh, fear not, Crocodile, she'll live. She'll just have no idea who you are," Hook said with his gun still pointed at the pair.
"What?"
"What you've done cannot be undone," Gold gasped in anguish.
"Well, now you finally know how it feels," Hook said snidely. He threw his arms open wide. "Well, go ahead, Crocodile. Do your worst."
Gold moved Orabella back over the town line. "I intend to," he said summoning a ball of fire.
"What?" Orabella sharply pulled away from Gold but ended up rolling them over as a car came careening down the road, her Magelight stuck in the windshield.
The driver was blinded and struggled to stop, but plowed into Hook where he stood. The car veered into the other lane, skidded and hit a boulder before it stopped.
"What?"
