Somewhere in The Realm of Misfortune...
It was late at night. Half of the knights at the camp were asleep. A small boy not much older than the age of 14 snuck in behind a couple of bushes. He walked closer to the knight who was asleep on the ground. He quietly reached for the bags that were laying haphazardly next to the slumbering knight. He was able to snag the small one and sneak away into the bushes again unseen. He paused to look inside the bag and sure enough, there were gold pieces glistening in the moonlight. He tied the bag to his belt and began to move away from the camp. But unfortunately, luck was not on his side.
A twig snapped beneath his feet, and he froze. "Who's there?" He heard someone shout. 'Maybe they'll think it's just an animal or something.' The boy thought to himself. He stayed frozen, terrified to make another sound. "Hey! Who took my pouch? That gold is for the king! Where is it?" He heard someone yell. 'Aw crap.' He thought again. He tried moving to get further away but alas he was seen. "HEY!" The boy took off at a fast sprint. The men were right on his heels. He got to the road and began to run faster. But being smaller than a full-grown man was a disadvantage. They caught up with him quickly. They threw a bola and it hit his feet wrapping itself around his ankles and making him fall to the ground.
"Ah!" The boy yelped. He struggled to get the bola off, but it was wound too tight. The men were closing in on him now and his fear spiked. He pulled out a small knife in an attempt to protect himself, but it proved fruitless. The man he stole the pouch from knocked it out of his hand, and held him down, pushing him into the ground. The knight leaned down close the boy's face. He was smelly, and he had a scar on the left side of his face.
"You think that little thing can help you?" He asked with a devilish snicker. The boy gulped. The knight brought a much bigger knife out of nowhere and waved it in front of the boy's face. "Now this, this is much better. Sharp enough to gut a deer. Why don't we test it out on a young boy?" He asked rhetorically. Before he could respond an arrow was shot and knocked the knife out of his hand. "What the...?" The man looked around trying to find the shooter. He stood up and drug the boy with him, holding him by the collar of his shirt. "Who's there? Show yourself!" He demanded. At first no one appeared. The other knights looked around; swords drawn; arrows pulled back. One of the other knights heard something shift in the branches of the trees above them. "There!" He shouted in a thick accent. Two of the men shot their arrows in the direction of the noise and then suddenly a figure in dark clothing jumped down on top of the knight holding the boy and they all landed in a heap in the ground.
The man in the hood reached for his bow and took out the two archers. The other two men rushed up on the hooded figure and swung at him with a sword. He pulled his own sword out and blocked the incoming blow. He fought with swift movements and protected the boy who sat on the ground watching the battle commence. It wasn't but a few moments later when he saw the men retreating to their camp in surrender. The boy sat unmoving. The hooded figure walked to the valuable pouch and picked it up. He looked at the boy and tossed it over to him. He said nothing as he turned and started walking down the road. When the boy looked back up, he was gone, having disappeared into the night. The boy didn't even have a chance to thank him.
Storybrooke...
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Emma asked Blue and Regina with a skeptical eyebrow raised. Emma stood at an altar in Regina's vault. David and Belle walked in, and Belle had something in her hands. "Did you get it?" Regina asked. Belle nodded.
"I did. This was uh... not easy to find." She said lightly. Emma gave her a sympathetic smile.
"Thank you. I know this isn't easy." Regina said taking the object. Belle nodded and gave her an appreciative smile.
"So how is this going to help us find the book?" Belle asked.
"Well, Gold hid the book using magic, and his dagger was tied to him and his magic. So, it's connected. We should be able to use the dagger as a central point to pull the book out of whatever magical hole he hid it in. It's not unlike a locator spell." Regina explained.
"So, the book will just appear out of thin air?" Hook asked walking to stand by Emma. Emma grabbed his hand to hold it and he felt his heart warm. Emma was giving him a small smile.
"Unfortunately, no. We have to pull the book in using the dagger." Regina replied placing the dagger on the altar. "More specifically, you do." Regina said looking at Emma. Emma raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"Me?" She pointed to herself. "Why me?" She asked. Regina pushed her hair behind her ear.
"Well because you have the strongest magic here, being the Savior. And you were also once a Dark One. Which means you're somewhat connected to both the dagger and the book." Regina explained in detail. Emma took a deep breath to try and prepare herself. It wasn't that she didn't like using magic, she just... didn't like using magic. She only used it when she had to.
"Okay, well show me how to do this so we can find this other Savior." She ushered.
"This is going to take a while so if you have anything you need to take care before we jump through a portal to the land no one wants to go to, I suggest you do it now." Regina said to the others.
While Emma and the others worked on getting the book, Belle went to pack a few things that might be necessary for their quest. She was happy to go. She wanted to help them, and it was also a good distraction. David went to check on Snow and baby Neil. It was also after three o'clock, so Henry should be getting out of school by now. They needed to fill him in on the plan. Especially since both of his mother's would be leaving soon.
"Snow?" David asked walking in the door. She came around the corner holding baby Neil.
"Ssshhh." She whispered in a hushed tone. David gave her an apologetic look and a smile. He moved quietly with her as she moved to lay the baby in his bed. They moved to the kitchen to talk. "Sorry, it took a bit longer to get him to sleep." David just smiled at her and placed a kiss on her lips. "What's that for?" She asked lovingly.
"I just love you." David answered. She smiled and kissed him back.
"So did they find the book yet?" She asked while she started to prepare an extra bottle of milk.
"Not yet." David sighed. "Regina thinks she's found a way to get it though." He replied sitting on the stool at the counter.
"That's great! The sooner we can get to the Land of Misfortune and defeat the Black Fairy, the sooner we can finally get back to our lives." David looked at her confused. "There's so much that we haven't been able to do yet. We have to look for a bigger house, have Neil's first birthday, we have Henry's graduation coming up next year."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down. We'll get to those things, don't worry." David said trying to ease her mind.
"Will we?" She asked a little despair in her voice. "Every time we think we have defeated evil and can finally get on with our lives something happens. The curse, Zelena, Pan, Jackel and Hyde, and now the Black Fairy. It never ends!" She said frustrated and sounding a little hopeless.
"Listen to me..." David stood and rushed over to his wife and gently grabbed her by the shoulders and leaned in a little to look her in the eyes. "I know everything seems hopeless right now. But happiness isn't something that you're given, you have to work for it. And we have, we've fought so many evils. We just need to fight one more. One more, the final battle and we can have our happy ending." He said trying to restore his true love's hope. He hated to see her so upset.
"Until the next villain comes into our lives and wants to destroy it. Where's the hope in that?" She asked wanting an answer but knowing that David couldn't give her one, and so did he. So, he simply wrapped his arms around her and held her close. They could each feel their love radiating off of each other. They both prayed that they could find this other Savior and defeat the Black Fairy.