Cold morning air filled her senses. She last remembered her father laying her down on a bed of hay somewhere outside the village they had arrived at, the sun just beginning to lighten the sky. Everything was bright around her when she opened her eyes; trees gently swayed, the arid breeze bringing her fully awake. The night before felt like a dream to the girl; it all happened so fast. Zelena was out there searching for her, and although she no longer had magic, she still feared her.
"Dad?" She called out to the nothingness around her, realizing that she was completely alone. Calling out his name again, louder this time, she stood up and brushed the loose straw from her cloak.
"Caroline, over here!" She heard him call out towards her, his voice flooding her with relief. Rounding a corner, she realized that the hay she had slept on was right behind a log house. Her head peered cautiously through the open door, her worry vaporized when she saw her father seated at a small table with a plate of food in front of him, an older man sitting at his side.
"You're awake!" He stared with a smile, gesturing for her to come closer, "I was just going to come get you- this is Peter, and he's nice enough to share his breakfast with us."
Though still a bit confused, the girl came over and gave the man a polite smile, taking a seat at the table next to her dad.
"Have whatever you like," Peter proposed, "I don't mind sharing. I know what it's like to be traveling."
There were strawberries, oatmeal, milk, and sausage. Seeing food again made Caroline realize how hungry she was. She quickly began filling her plate.
"I can't thank you enough for letting us catch some rest," Robin said, "we really needed it."
The man sent him a reassuring look. "Not a problem, anything for a fellow marksman." He then turned his attention to the ten year old, who was fully invested in the food on her plate. "Has your father taught you to shoot yet?"
She glanced over towards her dad, shaking her head. "I keep asking to try, but he says no."
Robin laughed. "Because we don't have time! I promise, once we get back home, I'll teach you."
The pleasantries then began to fall flat; she had no idea when that would be, only how far away it was.
"I taught my oldest- your brother- when he was twelve, and he hit an apple head on his second try."
She remembered Henry telling her that story. It seemed like such an exciting time, one she wished she could be a part of. The Enchanted Forest slowly revealed itself to be the wondrous land her family always raved about- she didn't realize, however, that the happy times were hidden underneath all the danger that hung like fog between the trees.
"My daughter Marcel can out shoot every person in this village- I taught her everything she knows."
His words made Caroline smile. "Maybe one day I'll be that good."
Robin admired her for a moment, her spirit finally returning after so many days of absence. She was a brilliant mix of the both he and Regina.
"I've been relying on my daughter to bring me part of her hunt for the last little while," the man said, gesturing towards the far corner of his cottage. "Mine broke clean down the middle, and I don't have the money to make a new one."
Robin followed his glance, taking a sip of coffee before standing up. "May I?"
The man nodded, and watched as Robin carefully picked up the pieces and observed them. "You're right- with a break like this, there really isn't any way to repair it."
Walking across the room to meet her father, Caroline gingerly touched the smooth wood. Then, an idea crossed her mind.
"What if... I could fix it?" She softly asked, earning a surprised look from her father.
"That's awfully nice of you, but are you sure you know what you're doing?" Robin gently asked, "you've only had one lesson with the whole magic thing."
She responded by giving him a look, one that resembled Regina's trademark expressions of annoyance almost perfectly. "Well I can try, can't I? If my magic is as powerful as everyone says it is, then it should be easy."
Back over at the kitchen table, Peter seemed confused while listening to their conversation. Caroline turned to face him after handing her earrings over to her dad. "Promise you won't freak out, okay?"
Robin found himself holding his breath in anticipation. While the ten year old was all trusting when it came to new people, he had more reasons to be wary- especially when the stakes were high.
Concentrating on the broken bow clasped in her hands, Caroline closed her eyes and recalled what Zelena had taught her the night before. Her first triumph with using her powers seemed to have happened eons ago instead of just a few hours. Having Zelena evolve from a friend to an enemy was still fresh in her mind; thinking of everything she did to her mother quickly flared the magic she felt humming through her system, her fingertips burning at the sensation.
She then heard a gasp coming from her dad, causing her to cautiously open her eyes. Purple smoke was clearing away, revealing the bow perfectly mended together in her hands. The three of them all stood in shock, not knowing what to say.
"It- it worked!" Caroline exclaimed, facing her father with pure excitement, "I did it!"
"I've never seen anyone use magic before," Peter said, his expression hard to read. "Let alone someone your age..."
Gently, he took the bow from her hands, looking it over in amazement. "I can't tell you how grateful I am for this, thank you."
Her smile broadened. "No problem- thanks for letting us rest here and giving us breakfast."
"Now you can go out hunting with your daughter again," Robin encouraged, "take care of yourself out here- things can be unpredictable."
"Speaking of unpredictable, I'm sure you're aware of all the talk about the Ice Queen lately. People say she's dangerous."
Caroline tensed at the mention of her name- it instantly brought back a memory she had with Zelena, one where they discussed how magic could be detected by others. The air around her suddenly became suffocating.
She took back the earrings from her dad, putting them back in with haste. "We should really get going, thanks again for everything."
Taking his hand, the girl quickly headed for the door, much to Robin's confusion. Although the outside sun was shining bright above them, Caroline knew it was just a matter of time before the darkness found them.
Having something to focus on made her days go by like minutes, giving the woman a feeling of purpose that she hadn't felt in a long time. Sure, being sheriff of the small town kept her busy, but it was never anything substantial, nothing compared to Neverland, or any of the other stressful endeavors of their past. A life hanging in the balance tended to reignite the quick witted passion the blonde had throughout childhood.
"Is this really the last spellbook we have?" Emma asked, only then realizing that their pile of books and scrolls from Gold's shop and Regina's vault was almost completely gone.
Beside her, Tinkerbell nodded. "That's it- whatever's in there better give us something to work with."
She wasted no time in cracking the book open, beginning with page one. Henry's book of fairytales proved to be the most important book in their lives; she hoped the book in her hands could come in as a close second.
"I'll make the coffee," Tink said, appearing visibly tired. They had permanently relocated to the Mills household during their work, mostly for the quietness it brought. With Henry, Neal, and Tink visiting, space was tight.
Her son had become their transcriber, putting useful bits and pieces from the literature into organized lists of potential solutions. Being a political science major, it all came very naturally to him. Everything they had worked on for the past week was showcased on a cork board that belonged in Regina's mayoral office- unfortunately, it all looked like a jumbled mess.
"I brought bagels!" Henry announced, coming through the front door with a paper bag in his hand. "Roland, you up there?"
"He went back to Granny's," Tinkerbell called out to him, "I hope he's doing okay, seemed a bit off when he left last night."
Henry made a mental note to go check up on him later on. "Is that really the only book left?"
His mom half-hazardly reached for a bagel, already engrossed in reading. Even though he had been out of the world where magic was possible for quite some time, coming back into it was easier than he expected it to be. Having once lived in the Enchanted Forest for a brief moment of time, understanding the complicated universe of magic and all it encompassed was almost like studying for one of his exams. The cost of failing, however, was losing his mom forever.
"This one brings up a word that was mentioned a few times in other books," Emma said, tracing her finger across the link. "Perascus? Do we have that word on the board anywhere?"
Henry finished his bagel and jumped up to check. "Yeah, it's cross referenced with one of Rumple's scrolls- it's a potion, I think... do you think this could be what we're looking for?"
A perplexed expression on her face made it hard to tell. "It could be, but everything would have to be perfect. And, since it's from an unknown realm, we can only assume it'll require all of our magic."
"Well, why don't we try it?" Henry encouraged, not understanding why she seemed so closed off. "If it doesn't work, we can just-"
"Just, what, watch her sleep for the rest of her life?" Emma finished for him, giving him a stern look, "if we don't get it perfectly right, chances are we won't get another shot."
"And if we continue reading books all day, things are going to stay the same." He countered, feeling like a teenager again. "Come on Mom, you've worked on your magic enough."
Tink then entered the room, holding a mug between her hands. "He's right, Emma. Rumple has so many things in his shop, I'm sure we can do it."
Rumple had been on and off when it came to helping them with their venture; his health was spotty, and Belle had him under strict orders. It seemed odd for the Dark One to be in such a fragile state, but nothing could be constant forever.
"I'll call Belle and see if she's okay with us going," Henry said, his cellphone already in hand.
Beside him, Tinkerbell was flipping through pages of one of the old books. "Perascus... it says here that the potion requires hemlock root, juniper, eye of newt... these are all fairly common ingredients, they just seem like an odd combination."
Emma's mind was racing as she weighed their options, knowing that they would have to give it their all to make things work. The complexity of magic wasn't her strong suit- she had relied on natural instinct alone to get by, and it worked out well until now. She hoped that the fairies knew enough technicalities to get by.
The drive over to Gold's shop was a blur to her. She was stuck in her head, drifting in and out of the conversations Henry and Tinkerbell were having about potion making from her time in Neverland. Even when Belle had welcomed them in and began pulling out various and unrecognizable ingredients from shelves tucked deep within the pawn shop, Emma struggled to be present with the rest of the group. She observed the scene in front of her as if she were watching from miles away, caught in her own little world of doubt and dismay. The feeling was one she had felt back when the town relied on her to break their curse, something completely insane to her in that moment. Although being a leader came naturally to her, it also came with an overbearing amount of stress.
"I believe we have some hemlock root in the convent," Emma heard Blue say, steering her thoughts back into focus, "Nova's getting back to me on that now."
Rumple was subtly leaning on the countertop as he surveyed the ingredients laid out in front of them, his mind seemingly as heavy laden as Emma's. "It will take at least a few days for everything to properly bind together. Then we can get to work on combining our magic to generate enough power."
Henry was assessing all of the ingredients, checking them off on a hand written list scribbled on notebook paper.
"And lastly, we need something of hers to direct whoever is going to wherever she is- it has to be something significant."
"What about her spellbook, the one she got from Cora?" Henry asked, "she's had that since you began to teach her magic, right grandpa?"
He nodded slowly, the memory returning to him in a slow fade. "It could possibly work. Something smaller would work better, I'm sure a look through her vault would give us what we need."
Henry knew she had hundreds of little trinkets stowed away in her vault, never to see the light of day again. She hadn't gone down there in years- there was no reason to. Everything she needed was behind the door of their two story house. Then a crazy woman had to come in and demolish it all.
"I should be the one to find her- she's my mom." Henry announced, gaining the attention of the group. All the hectic activity seemed to cease at once.
"No, absolutely not," Emma was quick to counter, giving him a stern look, "I don't care how old you are, you're still my son. Putting you in harms way is something I promised I'd never do."
"I've seen her in her dark days more than you have. Wherever she is, I know-"
"No offense, but there's still a lot to Regina that neither of you have seen," Rumple cut in, his voice brisk. "Belle, Killian, the Charmings- they've all seen bits and pieces of the Evil Queen. Whoever ends up going will have to be... prepared for anything."
Silence fell among them. Henry knew he was right, but it didn't make his desire to go any less strong.
"I know you could get her back." Emma finally spoke, "but the bottom line is, I have magic, and I also made a career of finding people that didn't want to be found. I'm still the savior, and I'll bring her back. I promise."
Emma's determined to get her back! Thoughts on where Regina is?