AN: Just a head's up that this story is posted on AO3 under my other account, Graphingcalculator. Enjoy this (slightly shorter) chapter!

Chapter 9

A voice broke my slumber, and I was honestly getting sick of waking up in different beds. Though, technically, this time I was waking up on a different couch, not bed. Mary-Margaret's tense voice rang through the space.

"Well, let them know that they have the knife, okay? Who knows what that wicked woman would do?" she said, listening to what the other person was saying for a few more moments. "I love you too." Mary-Margaret hung up, pacing the floor of the apartment she and David lived in, squeezing a red stress ball as she went. I sat up and watched her for a few moments before clearing my throat. She gasped, startled, and twirled around to meet my semi amused gaze.

"Everything alright? I questioned, any humor melting off my face at the serious look she was leveling at me. She shook her head.

"No, not really. I…" she trailed off looking at me contemplatively. "How good are you with wounds?" she asked, ignoring the tension that immediately ran through my body.

"Depends." I answered cautiously. "Patching people up in an emergency is no problem, but I'm not exactly a surgeon." She nodded at this, hesitating for a moment before coming to sit down next to me. She tilted her head, a cautious look entering her eyes.

"And how much did Regina tell you about the…the origins of this town?" She watched me intently. I raised an eyebrow.

"Are you talking about the curse, or the fact that magic exists here?" She breathed out heavily.

"Good. Good." Mary-Margaret sighed, standing up. "Then I'm going to have to ask you for your help again."

"Of course, yeah. Just let me find my pants."


David picked us up in the tan Ford truck that he had driven us from the funeral in. The drive to the docks was tense and quiet, and I was beginning to wonder what exactly I had signed myself up for. He parked, and the two rushed out of the car towards a group of people who were holding an older man up between them. I followed behind, unsure of how I could help.

"Are you ok?" Mary-Margaret called out as she approached them. The blonde woman standing beside a brunette child answered as she tied up the smaller ship they had come in on.

"Yeah. Yep. We're alright." She called to Mary-Margaret and David. The child at her side piped up.

"Uh, I drove a ship." He said with an enthusiasm that did not match the tone of the situation at all. I suppressed a smile, and hurried to meet them at the back of the truck, noting absently that Ruby had gotten there before us and was holding the right side of the older man up. His other side was held by a dark haired man who clutched a gold handled cane under his other arm.

"Did you now?" said David, taking Ruby's place at the older man's side. The child smiled.

"Yeah, my dad showed me how."

The dark haired man grinned back at him, and turned towards David. "That's me." he said, gesturing with the cane, before looking up and noticing me. Something clicked as our eyes met, and I couldn't help but think that this man looked scarily familiar. He let go of the older man's arm as he leant on the bed of the truck, and he came closer to me.

"…Valkyrie?" he asked in a hushed voice, ignorant to the way the older man's eyes snapped towards us. I huffed lightly, glancing up at him and wondering how he knew me, though a part of me strongly suspected I already knew.

"I have to say, it's getting a little frustrating that so many people know my name." I said with no heat, mirroring the grin that crossed his lips. He stuck his hand out to me.

"Neal Cassidy, otherwise known as Baelfire," he took a deep breath, eyes searching mine, "and son to Rumpelstiltskin." My hand frozen in midair, taking in his features again and comparing them against mine. I hadn't even considered that my father might have had children before me, but, in that moment, standing before Neal, I could see the appeal. I grinned even wider back at him, despite the deepening pit of panic that grew at the thought of meeting even more of my biological family.

"I always wanted an older brother." I whispered, which was all the prompting that he needed to pull me into a tight hug. Over his shoulder, the conversation with the older man and the other people who had banded together to help save him continued. I just decided to enjoy this moment with my brother, ignoring the lingering thought that that older man was likely the very man I had come here for.


The young boy, who I was beginning to strongly believe was Henry, (and who I privately noted would technically be both my younger brother and my nephew), was ushered off by Ruby before I could introduce myself. Mary-Margaret and the blonde woman approached us, the blonde looking more cautious than my newly found step sister, as David pulled Neal away to help the older man into the front seat.

"Hi." The blonde said, reaching a hand out. "I don't think we've met yet. I'm Emma."

Ah, the son stealer.

I tried to ignore that thought and smiled tightly back at her, accepting her hand. "Valkyrie Cain." At Mary-Margaret's look I sighed. "Regina's biological daughter." She reared back slightly at that, glancing at Mary-Margaret for confirmation. When her mother nodded back at her, Emma turned to regard me once again.

"Huh." She said, letting go of my hand. "I can see it." She nodded towards the truck. "We've got to get Gold to his shop, Mary-Margaret seems to think you can help save him." Emma stared intently at me. "Can you?" I rose a single eyebrow.

"I'll do what I can to help you, but I'm not entirely sure what you are asking me to do." I replied, eyes drifting to the front of the car before snapping back to Emma. She sighed.

"Given that you are Regina's daughter…" she took another deep breath. "There is a good chance that you have untapped magic deep inside you. Just like me. And even though you don't know how to use it, Gold's shop is full of objects that can be used to channel it." It took everything in me not to react. A sarcastic smirk threatened to break through, so I rubbed a hand over my mouth and let out a loud breath, trying to look like I was thinking deeply about what I had just been told.

Don't know how to use magic? Me? Deciding quickly to let this play out for as long as possible, if for nothing else, the entertainment of it all, I turned back to Emma and Mary-Margaret and nodded.

"I'll do whatever I can to help you." I breathed out, trying to look hesitant. "Even…magic." Emma smiled at that. She nodded towards town.

"Let's go then." She said, starting for another car. I followed, Mary-Margaret at my side, ignoring the ever blooming fear in my gut of who Mr. Gold really was to me.