AN: Long chapter for y'all this time!

Chapter 10

A deep shiver passed over me as I followed the group into Mr. Gold's Pawn Shop. The magic that pulsed off of the objects in this unassuming store was unlike anything I had ever felt. I had assumed that magic was different here earlier when Regina had explained her past, but I had no frame of reference for how it would actually feel, since she hadn't actually cast anything in my presence.

The group had moved to the back room, where I could faintly see Mr. Gold being set down onto a low couch, a series of muted pillows propping his back up. Emma bustled past me towards them, and after a moment I hurried to join them, hearing the tail end of their conversation.

"Invisible chalk." Mr. Gold rasped out, pointing at something that Emma was holding. "Use it in the front doorway." He grunted in pain, shrinking into himself for a second. "Draw a line. The rest of you, you might wanna prepare for battle."

I tilted my head at that. Battle? With who? But I was quickly distracted by my brother coming over to join me. He glanced down at me, looking concerned. Before he could say anything I waved him off, indicating to him that he should help Emma with whatever she was doing with the chalk, before walking over to join David in surveying the outside perimeter.

As I moved off I could hear Neal begin to talk to Emma. "Missed a spot." I scoffed. Smooth.

David glanced up as I joined him at the back of the store and he nodded silently to me, moving off in one direction as I went the opposite way, keeping an eye out for anything that might look amiss. Once all clear, I doubled back to the back door, jogging to make it in as David held the door for me.

He made his way into the main parlor, with me on his heels, announcing, "We're all clear outside." David paused for a moment, sensing the weird tension between Emma and Neal that I had only just begun to notice as well. "Everything ok?" he questioned, glancing between them. They both nodded quickly, and the corner of my mouth turned up in a sarcastic smile that I aimed at Neal. He rolled his eyes at me, and Emma stood, quickly making her way to the back room. I nudged Neal.

"You wanna explain what all that was about?" I murmured, careful to not let David, who had turned towards the back room, hear. Neal raised his eyebrows innocently at me.

"I've got no clue what you're talking about Val." He hummed back, smiling when I shot him a suspicious glare.

Mary-Margaret rushed out of the back, grabbing David and leading him to a corner to speak rapidly with him. A moment later, a soft rumbling shook the shop, and my hand snagged Neal's as a magical shield settled over the walls of the shop. It was almost too much to look at, and I grimaced in pain as my sight was filled with light that I tried to shy away from. I covered my eyes, and felt a hand land on my shoulder.

"Valkyrie?" Neal exclaimed in a concerned tone. "What's wrong?" I began blindly making my way to the back of the shop, hoping that the lack of windows would help decrease the magical aura overload I was currently experiencing. I could feel Neal's hand, which had moved to my back, guiding me there, his other hand still held in my tight grasp.

"Sorry, the magic in this place is getting a little overwhelming." I said, not seeing the various looks that passed over the faces more magically knowledgeable people in the room. Mr. Gold cleared his throat from a few feet away from me.

"Dearie, are you saying that you can sense the magic in my shop?" he asked, his eyes burning intently into me. I shook my head, scrunching up my nose as I tried to figure out how to put what I was feeling into words.

"Not exactly…" I started, opening my eyes just enough to glance between the tense forms of my newly found brother and… Mr. Gold. "…I can see the magic surrounding each object. It's usually pretty faint, but all these magical things together-" I winced, pressing a hand to my temple and closing my eyes again. "-it's a bit much for me to handle." Neal pulled me over to a seat near Gold.

"Sit down a minute, would you?" He said as I let him guide me into the chair. "I don't want you to keel over." I laughed at that, and started to retort when the entire shop shook. David and Mary Margaret rushed into the back with us.

"It's them." David rushed out. "Regina and Cora. They're here." I sat up rammroch straight at that.

"Why would-" the words died in my mouth as I finally pieced a part of the puzzle, that should have been obvious earlier, together. Hook, Cora, and Regina were talking about stabbing Mr. Gold that morning. Mr. Gold who was a collector of powerful things, and likely, if my 28 year old memories were severing me correctly, a powerful being in of himself. The difference in appearance make some sense, after all, he would never have fit into Storybrooke if he had the scaley gold skin I remember him sporting in my younger years. I grimaced.

And I'm the idiot who slept with the man who is trying to kill her father.

The conversation around me continued, but I found that I couldn't focus, as I gazed across the room unseeingly at the dying man who had the same shade of eyes as me. The man who I could remember loving me, caring for me, and who I lost, but had finally found my way back to, too late it would seem.

When I focused in again, the room was empty, barring me and Mr. Gold, who had turned his eyes on me. I stood, faintly hearing the bell over the door jingle and my companions speaking.

I sat on the edge of his bed, taking his hand in both of mine. Staring down at it, I found myself lost for words for a moment before I cleared my throat.

"It worked you know." I got out, raising my eyes to meet his again. He looked curiously at me.

"What did?" he asked, seemingly drinking in my face, looking for his features in mine I suspected. Not like I blamed him, I had done that many times since I had gotten to this weird little cursed town.

"The necklace." I answered, pulling the chain and pendant out from underneath my shirt so he could see his handy work. "I had someone break the seal on my memories, and as soon as I remembered what you said to me on that last birthday-" His hand brushed over mine as he grasp the pendent gently.

"You came and found us." He interrupted in a reverent whisper, something lighting behind his eyes as he fingered the gem. Mr. Gold cleared his throat. "We were going to come looking for you, you know. I just wanted Neal with me when I found you. I never-" This time I interrupted him.

"I know." I smiled down at him. The moment was broken when Emma and Neal rushed in, luckily uninjured. Emma looked over at us, mild confusion in her eyes as she took in our joined hands, but she quickly shook it off.

"David and Mary-Margaret are outside of the shield, and I'm not sure how long that's going to keep Cora and Regina out anyway. Arm yourself Valkyrie." I nodded towards her, giving my father's hand one last squeeze before searching the room quickly for some kind of weapon.

It really wouldn't do to reveal what I can actually do, not until I knew what sort of situation I was truly in with these people. That and the paperwork I would have to fill out if I revealed Mage magic to them would be a complete headache, and that was very much not what I needed at the moment.

I could hear Emma on the phone with David as I searched, pausing brief over an ornate, but unfortunately cursed, dagger, before picking up a non magical short sword. Mentally, I thanked Tanith for her insistence in teaching me how to use weapons like this on our free weekends. I gave the blade a few experimental swings, shrugging sheepishly at Neal when he gave me a weird look.

The magical shield, the edge of which that was now at the doorway to the backroom, shook, as Cora tried to dispel it. Emma and Neal moved in front of Mr. Gold.

"It's getting weaker." Neal said, almost sounding defeated. "She's gonna get through." Our father breathed out heavily, his wound looking worse than it had a few moments before.

"Maybe it's for the best." He rasped out, clearly in pain. "At least this cursed power will pass from this world."

"No!"

"No." Neal and I spoke as one, exchanging looks before he continued on. "No, you're not dying."

"I am dying." Mr. Gold retorted. "That much is certain." He paused for a moment, thinking. "I need to talk to Belle."

Belle? I mouthed to myself, confused beyond belief that the turn this was taking.

"Emma, please." He reached out to her, and she pulled a phone out of her pocket.

"Who's Belle?" Neal asked, apparently in the same bewildered boat as me. Emma, to her credit, looked awkward beyond belief as she answered.

"You're dad's girlfriend." She said, quickly handing Mr. Gold the phone. Neal and I glanced disbelievingly at our father, who chose to ignore us in favor of calling 'Belle'. I shuffled away, unwilling to listen to whatever emotional catharsis my newly found father was about to have with his girlfriend. My nose scrunched up. He was hundreds of years old. He didn't get to have a girlfriend. A partner? Sure. Paramore? Why not. Wife, or fiancée? Absolutely. But girlfriend? The word was so mismatched with the man that I remembered.

Neal cleared his throat, bringing my attention back to the moment at hand, and I turned to face the somber faces around me, no one willing to make eye contact with anyone else.

"Didn't know you had that in you." Neal said, still faced partially away from our dad. The man on the bed chuckled.

"Oh, I'm full of love." He sighed heavily, turning his head towards Neal and I. "I've spent a lifetime looking for you… both of you… for a chance to say 'I love you.'" Neal turned towards him at that. "And I'm sorry." Our dad rasped out.

Neal sniffed lightly, and I moved over to him, resting a comforting hand on his shoulder. He reached up to grasp my hand for a moment with his, before he turned his head towards dad. "I didn't think you would go back on our deal." I squeezed his shoulder as he spoke, unsure of what exactly they were talking about, but unwilling to let him go through this alone.

"I just made the wrong choice." Dad responded. From the corner of my eye, I could see Neal's face crumple, and dad reached out a bloodied hand towards him. "May I?" he asked gently. Neal glanced at the hand, head lowered.

"I'm still angry." Neal bit out, voice rough with emotions.

"I know."

There was a long pause, before Neal's hand shot out to grasp dads, and my hand slipped from his shoulder as he threw himself into an embrace with our father. He stayed there, hands clutching dad's desperately, their foreheads pressed together, and I almost smiled at the moment they were having before the reality of the situation hit me once again.

I glanced over at Emma, only having a few seconds to register the look in her eyes as she gazed down at Neal and dad before a terrible screeched filled the air, and Cora began striding into the back room.

Neal and Emma moved quickly, placing themselves in front of me and dad as Cora walked in, a strange curved blade in her hands. She paused, a fed up look on her face as she gazed at the pair in front of me.

"You two, out of the way." She said, waving her arm, and banishing Emma and Neal in a cloud of purple smoke. I stared her down, short sword in hand and the will to fight my grandma coursing through me. She tilted her head, observing me quietly. "Now what to do with you." She said quietly, watching me with her intense brown eyes.