"You have an amulet, but it won't work for this house," Mal told Nova, "take my hand," she requested, reaching toward the fairy, and then pulling her inside.
"I thought it was protected by blood magic?" Nova asked.
"That is a question I will answer in a moment, but I'm afraid I can't do that until we know why you are here."
Mal could see the wheels turning in Nova's head, as she rolled that piece of information around.
"You don't trust me?" Nova asked, "I think I know why. Let's talk?"
"Come with me," Mal led her through to the dining room, and gestured for her to sit down, "I'll just get Regina."
Mal walked back into the living room, and hovered in the doorway, waiting for Regina to notice her and look up. When she did, she beckoned her with a finger, waiting for her to detangle herself from a sprawled out, sleeping Willow.
"We have a visit from Nova," she told Regina in the hallway, "should we get the others?"
"Let's just hear what she has to say first. Belle is likely already asleep by now, she was exhausted at dinner. I had time to get used to it, but I know it must be strange to suddenly be so pregnant," Regina explained, "I was sleeping so much, before she became my surrogate. Let's let her rest."
"Ok. We can fill everyone else in on the details afterwards, and we don't want to scare Nova off."
The two women walked into the dining room and took a seat each. Regina at the end of the table and Mal to her right, so that they could all easily see each other.
"What can we do for you Nova?" Regina prompted the fairy to start talking.
Nova quickly filled them in on the strange happenings at the convent, and her suspicions about Blue.
"I have never trusted Blue," Nova came to the end of her account," and now I am very concerned because dark magic artifacts and potion ingredients are missing from the vault, and the only presence I can sense that has been in there recently is Blue. Tonight I actually saw her leave."
"We don't trust her either, that's why we have extra protection around the mansion. Do you know what could be made from the items that have been removed?" Mal queried.
"I think she could use them to remove magic from something, though I'm not sure why she could possibly want to do that?" Nova looked pensive, "she has magic. Why would she need more?"
Regina and Mal looked at each nodding, "I trust her," Regina told Mal.
"As do I," Mal agreed, before turning to address Nova again.
"It has come to our attention that Snow White and Blue have been working together. They have kidnapped Emma, and they have a plan to take her back to the Enchanted Forest. We have been told that Blue is planning to use a device to leach the magic out of Storybrooke until the town no longer exists. So that would fit with what you have told us about the missing items from the fairy vault."
Nova looked stunned, and after several attempts to make sense of it and start speaking, she seemingly gave up.
"Do you know of any way we can stop the device once it is activated?" Regina questioned her.
"You can't. Once it is activated it won't stop until it has achieved its purpose. Do you have any idea where Snow is hiding?" Nova asked.
"No. All we know is that it is protected by magic," Mal told her, "I believe Blue has been visiting her, but we have tried every type of locator spell that we know, including one of ancient dragon magic, but still we can't find them."
"What are we going to do?" Nova looked scared, "she has been going in and out of that vault for weeks, but if she has chosen to remove the last items tonight, she must be planning to use them soon."
"We need to call an emergency council meeting. It's late, but we have no choice. We're running out of time. I'll go and get my phone," Regina left the room.
"Nova, is there any way that you know of, as a fairy, for us to locate Emma? Any spells that we may not have tried?" Mal asked.
"There isn't anything. We have never needed locator spells before. In the Enchanted Forest we always knew where someone was, like being called, when they made a wish. It was the wish that guided us to them."
"So Emma could wish herself to be rescued and you would find her?" Mal asked.
"No. Wish magic never came over from the Enchanted Forest. When magic was brought back here, it didn't include the ancient fairy magic that would allow people to make wishes. It is why we have stayed living at the convent as our cursed selves."
Regina walked back into the room, "I've sent an emergency broadcast to the phones of all the council members, apart from Blue, advising them to meet us at the hall in half an hour. We need to go and get set up. Nova, would you mind accompanying us?"
"Of course not, that's fine," Nova immediately agreed.
"I'll go and wake Belle to let her know we are leaving. She needs to stay here where it is safe, and someone will need to be here for the children," Mal informed them, walking out of the room.
"Go through into the kitchen, Nova, and help yourself to a drink. I need to go and talk to the rest of the family and get everyone ready to transport over," Regina pointed through the door and across the hall to the kitchen.
"Thank you," Nova touched Regina's shoulder as she went past and out of the dining room.
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Despite the late hour, the council members were alert, as they listened to everything that Mal and Regina had to tell them about the current situation.
"So, what do we do?" Granny asked, "if we can't stop the device once it's been activated, and we can't find where they are hiding in order to stop the device being activated in the first place, what do we do?"
"We can't just sit here, waiting for the town to be destroyed. Do you have a plan?" Archie asked, knowing that he was sitting in a room with some of the most powerful people in any realm. If anyone would have a plan it would be the people in this room.
Mal looked at Regina, who nodded at her to speak. They had discussed a plan. It was crazy, but they were backed into a corner.
"We talked briefly, but we have come to realise that maybe we all need to be prepared to go back to the Enchanted Forest."
Everybody started talking at once. Leave Storybrooke? Go back to the Enchanted Forest? Leave their homes of over 30 years behind?
"Quiet down, let's just hear what they are suggesting," interrupted Archie.
"Obviously if the device is not activated, then we will all be able to stay here. However, we are sure that once it has been set working, those with magical abilities will feel the difference as the magic is leached from the air. So, we will get a warning of sorts. Our suggestion would be for everyone to stand by, with a bag packed of essentials, ready to go if we need to."
"But how will we get there?" Kathryn wondered, having not heard the conversation that Regina and Mal had had before everybody else had arrived at the meeting.
"Mirror magic. In the ballet studio at the dance school, one of the walls is made up of a single piece of mirror. We would enchant it so that it can act as a portal, and we would direct it to Regina's castle, where one wall of the grand ballroom is also a mirror wall. This would make it easy for people to pass through quickly, whilst taking whatever belongings they wish to, with them," Mal explained.
"But where will we live once we are there?" Granny asked, "do our old homes even exist anymore?"
Regina addressed them all, "the castle is extremely large with many rooms, and the grounds are full of cottages and homes that used to house my staff. The nearby village was also intact when we left, after the year we all spent there. Initially, you would all be welcome to stay in the castle and properties in the grounds. Once everything has calmed down, those who want to find alternative housing will be assisted by those of us with magic. We can make adjustments to homes to make them suitable, and make any repairs as necessary."
"This sounds like a good plan, and honestly, I don't think we have much of a choice here. I vote in favour of informing the town, and telling them to be prepared. How does everyone else vote?" Archie looked around the table.
One by one, every member of the council gave their agreement, and the plan was agreed upon. Mal and Regina would use their magic, once the meeting ended, to send a virtual messenger to each home in Storybrooke, telling the residents of the plan. It would be exhausting and a long night, but they needed to be ready. None of them knew how close to putting their plan into action, Blue and Snow were.
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"Hello, Emma," Blue greeted her, as she walked through the door.
"What do you want now, Blue?" Emma rolled her eyes, "come to torment me some more? I'm beginning to think you don't know what to do with me," she laughed.
"Oh, don't worry, we have plans for you, brat. I just came to inform you that you should probably say goodbye to your family, because by the end of the day, they will all be dead," Blue grinned wickedly, watching the expression on Emma's face fall.
"What?" Emma asked weakly, feeling her heart thudding in her chest.
"By the end of the day, this town, and all of its residents will no longer exist," Blue took great pleasure in telling her, "and you will be back in the Enchanted Forest, in the care of your mother."
"You can't be serious? Not even you are awful enough to kill an entire town."
"Really? Care to wager?" Blue taunted, "I already killed your child. What makes you so sure I won't kill everybody else?"
The truth was, watching the glee on Blue's face, Emma wasn't so sure anymore. The woman was not just evil, but actually crazy, just like Snow.
"Snow won't let you kill Neal or Henry. They are her bloodline," Emma informed Blue.
"Snow has already realised, with my help, that they are already lost to her and a necessary sacrifice. You will provide her with an heir, and that will more than make up for the loss of them."
Emma laughed then, "I'm not providing her with an heir."
"Oh, but you will, Emma," Blue told her smugly, "Snow has great plans for your future, and one of those will be marrying a suitable man and providing a child. You have little choice in the matter, this is how things are done in the Enchanted Forest."
"You can't force me to marry a man! I won't do it!" Emma told her vehemently.
"By the time I am finished with you Emma, you will be begging for a man. Trust me, magic can do anything, even this."
Emma felt truly sick at that moment. Shutting her eyes, she thought of Regina, 'please find me. Please get me out of this situation', she silently begged her wife.
Blue watched with satisfaction, as Emma battled with feelings of revulsion at the thought of what her future may hold. Deciding that her job was done for now, she left the room.
Blue was looking forward to her time with Emma in the Enchanted Forest. She was going to break her, and then rebuild her in the image her mother wanted. Emma would provide the kingdom with an heir, Snow would have her daughter back and be happy, and Blue? Once the magic had been transferred from Storybrooke to herself, she would be the most powerful fairy ever in existence. There would be nothing she couldn't do.
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At the mansion, it was still early, but everyone had packed. Each of them had a bag full of their essentials, in the hallway, just waiting for the right moment. Regina was sat in the garden with Mal and Belle, lost in thought. They had tried again, with no success to find Emma, and Regina was struggling to keep her emotions in check. Knowing she had to be there for the children forced her to keep herself together, most of the time, but moments like these when the children were elsewhere, she let herself just feel.
She knew that Emma was safe, and she knew that Snow had a plan for her, so it was unlikely that Emma was in danger at the moment. Physically she didn't think she had been harmed any more, because she would have felt it through their bond. However, she could feel the frustration, anger, sadness and sometimes despair that her wife was experiencing and felt helpless, knowing they had no way of finding her. It would be even harder to do so, in the Enchanted Forest.
Regina would not give up hope though. She would not ever stop trying to reunite her family.
"Aunty Mal? Will you teach us to fight?" Willow had walked into the garden, with Henry.
"Why do you need to fight, little dragon?" Mal asked.
"So that we can look after the baby when she's born," Willow replied, walking over to Belle and putting her tiny hands on the woman's stomach, "hello," she whispered to the bump. A foot kicked her hand, making her jump and squeal with laughter, "she knows I'm her sister!"
The adults smiled at this, Willow had a way of bringing joy even to the darkest days.
"I'll tell you what, little one, I will teach Henry how to use a sword, and Aunty Mal can teach you defensive magic. I don't think you'll need it, but it's a lovely day out here, and we may as well keep busy," Regina said, wanting to distract the children, and keep them from worrying.
So the rest of the morning was spent in the garden. Henry was actually a natural swordsman, to Regina's surprise and by the end of the morning, she no longer had to take it easy with him. He was going to be formidable one day, she thought proudly.
Willow and Mal had taken to the skies. Mal had shielded both of them to avoid damage and they circled above, throwing fire at each other. The scene reminded Regina of two pilots dogfighting in planes. Willow was quick, and controlled, managing to fly rings around the older dragon.
Eventually they all came to a stop and sat on the grass, tired, but happy. 'Well', thought Regina, looking at them all, 'as happy as they could be when Emma was still missing'.
A loud crack of thunder seemingly from nowhere, tore through the sky. The skies were clear, so they looked around them in confusion. Willow noticed the difference in the air first, being the most magical person there.
"It's started," she ground out, feeling like the breath had been taken from her body.
Mal and Regina could feel it then, that airless sensation, as the magic was being sucked from the air.
Jumping to their feet, they immediately got to work.
"I'll transport myself to the clock tower, and set the sirens working. I'll be back to help you with the bags and children in a few minutes," Mal advised.
Regina nodded.
It was time. They were leaving.
