Hey everyone. It's been a while. Hope you're all doing okay while the world outside burns haha.

I have some sad news. Unfortunately, I will no longer be continuing this story. To be honest, I've kind of lost interest in writing in general. I'm just not in the best headspace anymore. I don't know if I'll ever come back to this fic. I knew it was going to be a lot of work, particularly with the world building and character development and I really can't remember some of the details I had planned. It was kind of a "making things up as I go" process. Much like the writers on this show haha.

This wasn't an easy decision to make, but I figured I'd let you all know what's happening, rather than just ghost. I know some of you did like this story and I greatly appreciate it. Your likes and comments really helped me.

What I will do before I leave is give you a rough outline of where this story was going to go. It's *very* rough - there were a lot of things I hadn't fleshed out yet. But I hope this gives you guys some kind of closure. So here we go:

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The next chapter was going to pick up right away with Emma sneaking out of the castle and venturing to the mill to see if her theory about Snow White being imprisoned there was true. The mill has a protection spell around it but Emma unknowingly breaks it with her magic. Sure enough, Snow is indeed inside (think Emma's prison in Operation: Mongoose). She's overjoyed to see Emma but Emma is of course still very confused and upset. She thinks Snow purposely sent her away because of the whole prophecy thing, but Snow denies this - they genuinely sent her away as a last resort. Eventually Emma would get overwhelmed (she'd also learn the song she's been hearing is Snow's lullaby) and run back to the castle, only to be confronted by Cora.

There'd be this big confrontation scene between Cora and Emma in the throne room where Cora's backstory would be revealed - pretty similar to canon (miller's daughter who makes a deal with an evil being to get power). And yes, her ruby cane is nimue's staff, my equivalent of the dagger. I thought about implying that Cora did care for Emma in her own way, but wasn't sure. The scene would end with Cora trying to rip Emma's heart out but Emma's magic kicks in and blasts Cora across the room (2x08 scene).

Once again, Emma panics and accidentally teleports to the village. Her magic goes haywire and hits a few people, including Henry. (4x08 scene) She runs into the woods and Regina chases after her, concerned. Emma pretty much word-vomits everything she's learned to her "sister" and Regina is shocked but still wants to help. Emma tells her she can't though she asks her to watch out for Henry (Cora knows about him) and runs.

So that's where part 1 of the story would end and part 2 would begin. Emma eventually ends up in Longbourne and buys passage out of Misthaven. She goes to Glowerhaven and is told that there's a captain who has a compass that points to whatever the user desires. She sneaks aboard the ship and tries to steal the compass but is stopped by the captain. Guess who it is? ?

So Emma and Killian, who is now going by Hook, strike up a deal; he's looking for the key to the land of untold stories, which is perfect for Emma because she just wants to get as far away as possible. So he'll provide passage for her in exchange for work. She agrees and to keep her identity secret from the rest of the crew, adopts the moniker 'Swan', in honor of the Prince's nickname for her.

The next couple of chapters would pretty much be filler, as Emma gets to know Hook and the rest of the crew. In addition to Smee, the crew would include Nemo, Robin Hood and Roland, Mulan, Will Scarlett and drumroll please….Charming (Of course he'd be going by David). We'd slowly learn that Hook isn't as hardened as he tries to appear to be; most of the crew is actually Nemo's. They had crossed paths some time ago and Hook agreed to help them find the key because he's interested in what's guarding it. He plans to use it for revenge against Cora.

So we'd see Emma slowly let down her walls to everyone, particularly Hook. We'd see a lot of the classic scenes from canon, such as their first swordfight, their first dance, the "wouldn't you like to know?/perhaps I would" exchange, etc. Of course, Emma would be in denial about her feelings. She'd also form a bond with David and eventually realize his identity after he talks about his "lost love". Turns out Charming was initially banished to Wonderland when the curse hit and although he managed to escape, Cora stopped him from rescuing Snow. As punishment she cursed his heart. So he's hoping that in the land of untold stories, he'll find a 's magic would also keep flaring up and she'll try to hide it but everyone finds out when she uses it to save Roland during a storm.

I debated how long the time skip would be, but I'd say roughly two years later they'd finally reach the lair where the key is hidden and battle its guardian - the kraken (6x06 scene). They kill it and retrieve the key while Hook collects some of the creature's blood. So the crew docks and Emma goes off in the woods to think (she's not ready to say goodbye to hook) and discovers Excalibur in a stone. When she touches it, she has a vision of herself standing in a field of middlemist flowers. Standing there is Merlin, who says he's been waiting for her.

Merlin tells Emma about the prophecy and her destiny - this is where I didn't iron out the details but it's pretty much your standard 'good vs evil' thing. Emma of course is resistant but Merlin insists she's the one. He then tells her that she is the new owner of Excalibur but the sword will only allow her to wield it when she's "worthy". Emma would then wake up back in the woods, with Excalibur now in her hands, sheathed.

Emma is still reluctant about being a hero but she remembers that Snow is still a captive so she decides to go back and rescue her mother. David immediately offers to join her and Hook does so too, though he claims it's because she's going back to Cora and he still wants revenge so for now their interests are aligned. The trio says goodbye to Nemo and the others and departs. There'd be a few more chapters, filler again, of them traveling back and bonding. Hook and Emma would have their first kiss but Emma would still be in denial. Eventually they'd return to Misthaven and learn that Cora has since died and Regina is now the queen. Dun dun dun.

And thus concludes part two.

Part 3 begins with Emma and Regina reuniting. Regina is very happy to see Emma again but also still hurt that Emma pretty much dipped out. Emma meanwhile learns that the Prince has also died and Henry is now Regina's ward. The kingdom is also not doing so hot either. Hook is disappointed to learn about Cora's death and decides to leave, since nothing is keeping him there, which upsets Emma. Regina reveals she's allied with King George and is planning on expanding the kingdom's borders. Emma tries to get Henry to help her rescue Snow but is caught by Regina, who finally lets out all the anger and resentment she's built up all these years. She imprisons Emma in Snow's tower.

Emma and Snow meet once again and talk. Snow gives a generic hope speech and Emma cries for the first time in a while ("I'm not used to somebody putting me first" "well get used to it"). She breaks Snow out of her chains (I guess she uses her magic or something?) and just as they're leaving, Charming and Hook show up ("you're depriving me of a dashing rescue"/"sorry") Charming and Snow reunite but it's cut short when Charming's curse activates.

And then honestly I have no idea what was going to happen haha. All I knew was at some point, Regina plans to cast the Dark Curse as revenge and Emma finally pivots to trying to be a hero. There's a lot of battles and character development. At one point, Charming pulls Snow to safety and his curse starts to kill him (a la Wish!Hook) so Emma does the heart split with her parents to save them.

Eventually, Emma has a second vision/conversation w/ Merlin. He tells his backstory with Nimue and how he couldn't kill her so she was able to mortally wound him instead. Emma learns that the prophecy means she and Regina will have to fight (yes just like the show) - but if one of them kills the other, the darkness will win regardless. So Emma decides to try and find a loophole where she can defeat Regina but not kill her.

Regina sends Emma a note telling her to meet and that they'll finish things once and for all. Before departing, the Blue Fairy gives Emma the magic cuff that nullifies the wearer. Emma and Regina duel but Emma can't unsheathe Excalibur because it still doesn't see her worthy. In the middle of the fight Henry, who snuck back to help, gets hurt. Regina begs Emma to save him which she does. Realizing she's become a monster, Regina destroys the dark curse and allows herself to be cuffed. She tells Emma and Henry to leave.

Our heroes celebrate. Emma learns that the cuff was made from the kraken's blood. Hook had finally let go of his vengeance for her. But before our lovebirds can kiss, they are attacked. King George's men have them surrounded and Regina is leading the charge. I wasn't sure if this is really Regina doing this or the Darkness is puppeting her but whatever.

Outnumbered, the group is forced to flee. Emma uses her magic to open a portal and finally wields Excalibur to help drive the enemy forces back. She realizes that she needs to stay behind in order to keep the portal open long enough and make sure no one follows. With a tearful goodbye, she goes to face Regina alone. Singing her mother's lullaby under her breath, Emma sheathes Excalibur and allows Regina to attack her. And just as Regina stabs her, Hook pulls her through the portal and it closes. Now I'm gonna be honest - I hesitated using TLK to save Emma here. I always found it a bit hokey on the show. But I guess I figured if I had developed Emma's arc and her relationship with Hook, it would feel deserved. Emma is revived, our heroes won and everyone lives happily ever after. (gotta include the "happy beginning" line)

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So yeah, that's how the story would've gone down. I'm sorry I couldn't give it to you guys in its full glory. I'd like to thank seemeeimbee for being my beta. Thank you so much for listening to my crazy bullshit ideas and helping me rein them in. Seriously, you are such a talented writer and I'm so glad we got to meet because of this fic. And thank you to everyone who read and enjoyed this story. I'll admit, for my first fic I think I did okay.

See you around 3