Snow White taking the Forgetful Potion had been a disappointment. But this was a love story, and as sick as it made him, he'd made peace with the idea that perhaps this was just how theirs was destined to play out. It seemed unlikely every time he thought about it, but then the Dark One falling in love with a Princess who became his servant seemed just as unlikely. Who was he to dictate their story?

So, with Snow having taken the potion and her Prince thoroughly forgotten, he turned back to watch the one person in the equation who still had his memories, who still had the ability to change their story. He found David in the cauldron and something extraordinary as well. That same night she had taken the potion, David ran away, at almost the exact same moment she took it.

He was able to watch him through the mirror in his room, but it made no difference, the Prince was alone when he'd done it and there had been nothing to hear. It was just after David had been told to continue packing for his marriage to Abigail when he'd done it. He'd looked over the paper Snow had given him and then fled; out a window, down a tower, and into the woods. The King had been quick to catch on and send guards after him, but David endured and he ran on. If he was looking for Snow, he was going in the wrong direction. The next day, still on the run from the guards, he found the Prince with an unlikely ally.

After being unexpectedly kidnapped, a bag placed over his head, he figured that King George had found him, but instead his abductors had brought him face to face with none other than Princess Abigail. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he watched as the small party got onto horses, and rode. They rode hard, all through most of the day until they reached Midas' land. That was where David's compliance stopped, it seemed. As she handed him a bag of some sort, he cast it aside. The pair talked about what, he couldn't decipher in the silence, but as they spoke he noted that tensions began to ease. Hard faces with angry sneers became soft and thoughtful. David and Abigail talked and walked through the woods and eventually they came to rest before what looked like a golden statue, but he knew it was much more than that.

He wasn't a statue, it was Fredrick, Abigail's former fiancé. He wasn't a farm boy like David, he was the Dark One, he had eyes and ears everywhere. To him, the story of what happened to Abigail's fiancé was old news, to David, it was something new. He watched as Abigail spoke to David with such an expression of sadness on her face it could be nothing besides the story of Fredrick's downfall to Charming. First, he beheld it with curiosity, then shock, and then reverence. Finally, on the False Prince's face, he saw a resoluteness and determination in his eyes that he was familiar with. David was going to try and help her. He was a kind soul, everything he'd ever seen where it concerned David always revolved around helping someone. He had no doubt that if he'd gone to take one of the twins when David had been old enough to talk, he would have volunteered his brother to go to King George and live a life of riches because that was just the kind of man he was.

And that was how, in the middle of the night, David found himself standing beside the shrine at Lake Nostos, the Lake that was known for returning lost things. Clearly he, or maybe she, thought that the waters would help. David left Abigail there and descended the hill towards it.

It was lucky for him, for while Lake Nostos might not have been a perfect reflective surface the magic enhanced it and allowed him to watch on his mirror…and listen. He watched at an odd angle, from the depts of the water he saw up, a vision that waved and rippled as the water did. David shed his cloak and gloves, then reached down into the lake to extract some of its waters, and then jumped back to his feet in alarm. A change in the wind seemed to have stirred him. A sense of magic?

"Where are you?" he questioned out loud. There was no response. "Beast!" he cried, pulling free his sword. "Show yourself!"

Sometimes a challenge was all it took. Music filled the air, and from the depths of the Lake, a woman rose. Skinny, light hair, dressed in white with a tiara of expensively looking large pearls. She rose and rose until she was full-bodied in front of David. Full-bodied and filled with blood lust. All sirens were the same. He prepared to rise and help, but the Seer forced him to continue watching. He didn't need help, she screamed, he was right where he needed to be. He hoped she was right.

"Here I am," she stated. "What's your name?"

David didn't respond, the smile he'd initially worn when she appeared was beginning to wear as she stepped closer to him.

"Would you like to know mine? Because I can be anyone you want me to be."

"Stop!" he insisted, pointing his sword at her throat.

She glanced down at it, gauging its distance, but put on a face of no fear, despite the fact that she most certainly could be killed by the blade. Sirens could go on living for centuries in their youth, but they weren't immortal. They could be killed if their attacker was swift enough and bright enough to resist their...charms.

"I know what you are. You're a siren. Your deceitful words are a spell meant to lure me to my death."

"I would never hurt such a brave, powerful man like yourself," she insisted, batting his sword away and coming close enough to brush her fingertips over chest. "Not when there are so many other things we could do…"

"I said, stop!" David growled, grabbing at her elbow and forcing her away at arm's length. "I will not fall prey to your deceptions."

"Really? You're immune to me?" she questioned with obvious doubt. Oh, and she was right to doubt. Sirens were tricky things that could see a great many things in a man's eyes. Some even said that they were capable of reading minds, but as she stepped back and gathered water up into her hands, he knew that she wouldn't have to read his mind to get to what he wanted. She presided over Lake Nostos, it returned things that were loved and lost. All she had to do was know her waters and how to work them to her will or rather the will of Prince Charming. She held her hands up and let the water drizzle over her face and body. When the water stopped flowing, she put her hands down and revealed her face. He couldn't have been happier. The form of Snow White stood before David, same white gown, same tiara, but different-what he loved most. He had known; so long as one of them had their memories, there was hope.

"Like me more now, Charming?" the Siren questioned using Snow's voice.

"No. You're not really her," he breathed, hurt and desire evident in his voice. "It's an illusion. I know it's not real."

"Sometimes illusions are better than truth," she answered, stepping forward to stand before him again. "Everything you want that you can't have, I can give it to you. All you have to do…is kiss me." She put her hands on him, up and down his shoulders and neck as she rounded him, circling him like the prey he'd made himself. Still…the Seer gave him a feeling of peace and assurance. This was right. It was all going to be all right. "I know you want to. I can feel it."

"No…"

But David's plea was half-hearted, and he watched as the Siren pulled him in down to her mouth, closer to her body, into deeper waters. His sword slipped from his hand, plopped into the lake with little fight from its owner. When they broke apart, she grabbed his hand, pulled him a few more steps into the center of the lake before David shook his head and stared at her.

"No," David he insisted with force. "I don't want an illusion. I want reality or nothing."

"This doesn't feel real?" she questioned with a desperation that nearly made him believe it. She was quick to try and cast her spell again, to step closer and put her hands on him again and kiss him once more.

"Snow…" he breathed, deep under her trance, too deep to notice that she'd just spun him around, cutting him off from his easy exit.

"That's right," she whispered back. "It's me," she kissed him. "I love you." And again. And again. Only this time he could see what she couldn't. She didn't have David in her grasp, not like she had before. He was coming out of it. His love for Snow White; it was strong.

"No," he stated as she kissed him again. "No!" he roared pulled away. "It's not you."

"Yes, it is!" she snapped as if he was crazy; a last ditch effort to maintain the illusion. "I love you."

"No. This is not real love. I've felt it, and this isn't it. I know the difference." He pushed her away, and this time she didn't fight back, didn't try to enchant him again. This time, she smirked.

"Congratulations, Prince Charming-you're the first."

And then she struck. She'd had him under her spell just long enough to separate him from shore, she had the advantage. And she took it. She pounced, forcing him under the water, dragging him down. He managed to dislodge himself from her grasp, but he didn't understand that the Lake was connected to her, to her magic. As she tried to draw him back to her, he turned and attempted to swim away, but then an arm of seaweed reached itself up, wrapped around his leg, and pulled him down again, down to the bottom of the Lake. He looked around frantically as the Siren swam to him. Then he grabbed something off the floor of the lake. The Siren got to him, tightened her fingers around his shirt, and kissed him deeply before-

Her eyes opened in wide horror, before the life in them faded. Her hands loosened, Charming was able to push away and it was then that he saw the color red encroaching on the blue of the Lake. There was a knife in David's hand…the item he'd picked up off the lakebed. David swam to the surface as the image of Snow White faded from the body of the Siren. She was dead. Her death, eventually, would take the lake with her for without her magic it was nothing. But for now…David was victorious. He watched as he took the waters of the Lake, leaving the dead Siren behind and forgotten. He was happy to have seen it. He was happy to have seen how it played out with Snow for it confirmed what he already knew. As long as David had his memories, there was hope. He loved Snow White. No matter what she'd said, no matter what she'd done to him, he still wanted her. And that look he saw in David's eyes…hope had returned. He was a man on a mission. Just like this…he would not fail.

Sometimes I needed to get sort of creative to have Rumple listen in. The water of Lake Nostos gave me an excuse to let him listen in. Not a perfect solution, but a solution all the same. Pretty straight forward, lots of watching, but in my mind, still more interesting than reading a Wikipedia summary.

Thank you Alarda, Jennifer Baratta, and Grace5231973 for your reviews on the last chapter. I'm glad you are sticking through this with me. There was really no other way to get through this bit other than to write it this way. But hey, we finally get some action from the Seer. We can see her really starting to guide Rumple, to let him leave things alone and play out without him getting involved. And we see him trusting her, doing what she says, waiting patiently. I think it comes from a place of regret with Belle. She's not really in this section, but overall I do want it to feel like she's still with Rumple, that he's changed by her and affected by her loss. Peace and Happy Reading.