NOTE: sorry it's been a while, I hope this chapter is okay. Im going to try skipping over the scripted part from the TV show in hope on getting back to the story.

Once Gold had left the cabin it became quiet and still. Ursula and Cruella were hanging out doing their own thing. Regina and Aldara tried their best to stay away from them. They had sat quietly by the fire for some time.

"So this August fellow… any chance he might know what's happened to Khamari? It's just I know we are getting closer to getting to the forest but when I get there I want to find him as fast as I can." Aldara asked just itching to get to him as fast as she could.

" No, I don't think so. He was sent over here with Emma when I cast the curse. He's more accustomed to this world than ours." Regina told her sadly, hoping that they could deal with his situation soon so they can get back to finding her daughter's friend. Aldara nodded her head but Regina could see the disappointment hanging off her body language.

" I really hope I can find him. I'm worried about him. When I left him in the forest he was in bad shape. I didn't think it would take this long to get back to him" Aldara confessed to Regina.

"I'm sure he's okay." Regina said not fully believing her own words but hoping that voicing them would soothe her daughter's thoughts. "I feel drained and I don't think I slept properly since… I was in my own bed. I think I need to get some sleep."

" Well I will keep an eye on things if you want to try to get some," Aldara said to Regina who nodded and closed her eyes and sighed.

Regina was walking through the forest. She looked around at the scenery and was trying her best to find Emma. It felt like she had been searching the forest for hours. She continued down the dirt path walking towards the more overgrown parts of the forest when she heard Emma's voice calling her name.

Regina broke into a jog towards the direction where she heard Emma's voice coming from. Emma continued to call her name but her voice began to sound more and more frantic as Regina got closer. Regina suddenly stopped when she saw the Evil Queen standing behind Emma holding a knife to her girlfriend's throat.

"Regina!" Emma almost whimpered at her as soon as they saw each other. The Evil Queen smirked at Regina.

"Emma!" Regina was frightened of what her Evil half was going to do.

"Love is weakness" The Evil Queen stated just before tightening her hold on the knife and in a quick action severing Emma's throat.

"No!" Regina said, suddenly bolting up awake, terrified. Aldara was shaken awake by her scream. She looked at her worried before realising Regina had been awoken by a bad dream.

"If you're having trouble sleeping, I have something that will help. " Maleficent said to her, clearly having watched her whilst she was sleeping.

"I'm fine thank you" Regina told her. Dazed and startled, her heart still pounding at the image of Emma dying right in front of her.

Just as she sat up straight Rumple came through the cabin door.

"Hello dearies." He said to them as he entered the room. He looked at August who was still sitting tied up on the chair.

"Did you find anything in the puppet's trailer?" Cruella asked him. Rumple continued to look at August.

"Of course not, I didn't even look." He said, taking off his coat and hanging it up on it's hook. "The man's a born liar. He never would have cracked so easily. Instead I paid a visit to the fairies. Or rather, a visit to their amply supply of magic. Now, this potion can temporarily reverse any of those do-gooders cast. They made him real. This can undo that." Rumple told the puppet who's eyes widened in fear. He knew that Rumple wouldn't think twice about reverting him back to his woody state." Now I promise dearie…. ThThis is going to hurt." Rumple said before ripping the gag off August's face. Rumple locked August's face still with his arms before forcing his mouth open and pouring the potion into it. August tried to squirm away but his attempt was useless.

Rumple let go just before the sound of creaking wood erupted in the room. They all watched as August's entire body started to become wooden once more.

"Now, let's see if we can pull this puppet's strings." Rumple said, bending down in front of August to admire his handwork and the potion continued to work it's magic.

David parked the car next to a wooden bridge that stretched over the large babbling brook. Emma was the first out of the car. She didn't want to have to wait any longer. She needed to stop this before anything else happened.

"Gold's cabin is up ahead, we go on foot from here." Emma told them as they started towards the cabin.

"Anything from Hook?" Snow asked as she jogged up to Emma who was speeding ahead."Think he's managed to turn Ursula yet?"

" If she hadn't turned him in." David said not yet trusting of the pirate. It wasn't that he didn't like the man he just knew he was and always has been...a pirate.

"Really, we're thinking that now?" Emma said a little annoyed that her parents couldn't trust that Hook was trying to change.

"Well he kinda went to a dark place this morning." David said in reply to Emma's remark. He knew that she was tense but he wished she wouldn't rush into things.

"Do you blame him? If Gold did to me what he did to Hook. I'd want to shove that dagger through his heart, too." Emma quipt knowing her parents wouldn't be thinking that way but Emma could definitely understand why Hook resented Gold so much. Emma wasn't far off that point herself.

"Emma, that's not you… You're not.." Snow said quickly, a little shocked at her daughter's words.

"It's also not Hook. Relax. I'm just saying I understood where he was coming from. Come on.Gold might not hurt a kid… But August? Who knows what he'll do to him." Emma told them she wanted to get to her friend as fast as she could. She turned away from them and continued on.

Rumple started at the man made of wood until suddenly the spell wore off a little and August's wood began to change back to skin.

"When you said it was temporary, you weren't kidding, where you, darling" Cruella said to him, a little disappointed by the short effects of the potion. Rumple ignored her.

"You see, you may not look like the puppet you once were, but it does not matter. That potion you just drank has activated the built-in lie detector of yours." Rumple told August who looked bewildered and scared.

"I don't know what you're talking about." August said to him just before his nose turned wooden on the end and began to expand. Rumple chuckled harshly at him as it continued growing painfully. Regina and Aldara were taken back by this and glanced nervously at each other. "Excellent, the next lie is going to hurt." Rumple told him before using his magic to turn the chair around quickly then grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him closer to the lit fire. He held his head as close to the flames without it actually touching August's face.

Regina and Aldara stood there even more nervous than before. Cruella and Maleficent however seemed more entertained by this sudden new treat to August.

""What do you know about the Author?" Rumple asked him in a quiet but eerie voice.

"I already told you everything."August said but was betrayed by his nose when it grew closer to the fire. August started gasping in panic.

"Try again Dearie. Where is he?" Rumple asked him through gritted teeth,

"I don't know," August told him, clearly trying his best to not tell him anything.But once again his nose got longer and even more close to the flames.

"Don't fool yourself, I will get my answer." Rumple told him knowing there was only so long the puppet could hold on.

"Okay" August said in a tired but scared tone.

"Where is he?" Rumple asked again. His voice seemed a little calmer to Regina which told her he must know Pinocchio was close to breaking.

"All right, I'm gonna tell you what you want to know. The Sorcerer trapped him behind a door" August told them quickly.

"The sorcerer? A door? He's speaking in riddles." Cruella said a little annoyed that this was talking so long and the puppet had yet to say anything useful to them.

"No, listen to me Gold. You know about the Sorcerer. You know I'm telling the truth. And she… she knows about the door." August pleaded to Rumple before looking at Regina who was looking confused at him. "I know my papa gave you my things. There was a page that I took out of the book. Had an illustration of the door on it." He said to her but Regina didn't understand what he was telling her. Aldara and the others stared at Regina.

"Regina?" Rumple said to her hoping she would tell him more about what the puppet had told them.

"They were just scraps of paper?" Regina told Rumple hoping this hasn't put points against her and Aldara. Sure she didn't want anything to do with this but she also didn't want her and her daughter to die before they had a chance to sort their story out.

"Then you'll have no problem with sharing them with us now." Rumple said to her knowing that she must be hiding something from them.

"Well, I would if I hadn't already given them to Henry." Regina tells Rumple who nodded slightly then turned back to August.

"Do you remember what the door looks like?" Rumple asked him hoping to get any kind of useful information for this new discovery.

"All I know is that it's somewhere in Storybrooke." August told him hoping that Rumple would let up. He was in pain and tired. He just wanted the whole thing to be over so he could calm down his racing heart. Rumple tilted him back upright on his chair after patting him condescendingly on the back.

" There we are, now. That wasn't so hard, now, was it? Since the sorcerer was the one who did the trapping, we will start our search for the door at his mansion. Maleficent." He says as he puts his coat back on. Regina and Aldara look at each other secretly knowing nothing good would come from Gold finding that door.

"We'll stay here and watch the puppet." Regina told Gold hoping at least she could help August get away safely. She knew that Gold wasn't done with him yet.

"No,no, Cruella will be our guard dog,since you're the only one that's seen the drawing of the door, you're gonna have to help us find it." He told her before he walked out the door.

Emma, Snow and David had finally found the hut in which she knew Rumple was hiding August. She looked at Snow and David. Her mother had a twinkle in her eye, Emma knew this must mean she had a plan.

" Emma you go break down the door, don't worry we will have your back" Snow told her, Emma nodded before making her way over to the front entrance of the hut. She took a deep breath before putting her bounty hunter training to practice and kicked the wooden door heavily. It quickly gave in and flew open instantly. Emma walked into the room and saw that August was tied to a chair near a large fireplace. Sitting opposite him was Cruella who quickly bounced off her chair ready to get Emma.

" I'm here for my friend," Emma told her. Not knowing what to do now she was through the door.

"So the saviour found us did she?" Cruella said before pulling a gun out from her back pocket and pointing it at Emma. " Now leave" Emma raised her hands but just as she did she saw Snow sneak up behind Cruella out of nowhere and hit her on the back of the head with a frying pan, instantly knocking the black and white haired bitch out.

"Nice one, Mom," Emma said, shocked and pleasantly surprised with Snow's actions. David walked in behind Emma to witness Cruella out cold on the floor.

"Well, the first thing you learn as a bandit, the back door is usually unlocked" Snow said with a smirk before Emma immediately turned her attention to August. David got to work untying him for the chair.

"August, are you okay?" She asked him. "Did they hurt you?"

"I'll survive." August told her just grateful to see he was being rescued at last. Emma stood back and used her magic to untie his feet as David pulled the rest of the rope off him.

"I see someone has been practicing," He said to Emma, surprised to see her using it.

" I remember someone telling me I just needed to believe in myself." Emma said with a smirk as he smiled back at her.

"I always knew you'd figure it out," He said to her. Emma knelt down in front of him.

"It's good to have you back, Even if it's not how things are supposed to be'' She told him. " I'm glad I didn't have to wait twenty years to see you...as you again." Emma said to him, glad to have her friend back.

"Me too" He said to her with a soft smile on his face.

"Come on let's get you out of here" Emma said standing up to look at Snow. When Ursula walked into the cabin.

"No one is going anywhere!" Ursula said as she entered the room.

"Where the hell is Hook. What have you done with him?"She said, panicking. She wasn't always Hooks biggest fan but she didn't want anything to happen to the pirate.

"Sorry sweetheart, you pirate is shark bait" Ursula said before wiping out one of her creep tentacles and wrapping it around Snow's neck. Emma raised her hands ready to stop Ursula using her magic. " Drop those hands, otherwise your mother is going to need gills to breathe."

"Ursula, you don't need to do this." Emma told her, seeing Ursula's grip get tighter.

" That's where you're wrong, I can have him leave with you. Not when the Author is the only one who can give me what I want" Ursula said, her grip still tight around Snow.

"That's not true." Hook said as he walked in behind Emma who sighed in relief to see he was still on dry land.

"How are you still breathing?" Ursula was obviously annoyed that Hook wasn't dead.

"I'm good at surviving or you're bad at killing," Hook said to her, walking into the room more. " Either way, you don't need the author to get what you want. I know why you couldn't release your voice from that shell, only the one who enchanted it can do that."

" What.. you don't mean." Ursula said, confused.

"Aye" Hook said just as Poseidon walked into the cabin.

After Regina and Aldara had gone with Rumple to the sorcerer's mansion and failed to find the door the author was in, she made her way back to Snow's and David's house hoping the entire time that August would be there alive and well. Aldara seemed a little shaken up by the recent events and Regina was doing her best to help her calm down.

"How can someone be that evil? Rumple is a piece of work. I hope that man chokes on a cupcake or something" Aldara said to Regina who was focusing on not being seen by anyone who would give away their cover.

"That's Rumple for you. That man is the embodiment of Evil. Look what he did to me and probably many other people. Most of what happens to this town is usually because he's stuck his nose in somewhere it didn't belong." Regina told her. Her body felt lighter now knowing she was about to see Emma again.

They made their way into Snow's apartment and walked up the stairs. As they walked in through the door Regina sighed in relief at the sight of a very much alive August lay on the sofa, next to him going through the story book was Henry clearly looking for something.

"We're lucky he's okay" Regina said as Aldara closed the door behind her. Aldara went to sit next to Henry. She had missed her little brother. He gave her a quick hug before showing her something in the book. Regina made her way over to Emma who was standing in the kitchen.

"It wasn't luck. You got us that message...thank you" Emma said and walked around the kitchen island to wrap her arms around Regina's shoulders and kissed her lightly.

"I missed you" Regina said, wrapping her arms around Emma's waist and sighed deeply.

" I missed you too, are you okay?" Emma asked her, being able to tell that Regina seemed out of sorts.

" I need to tell you something," Regina said, not knowing how to tell Emma about her dream.

"What is it?" Emma asked as they released each other from their hug. She made her way back around the island and began to make them a coffee.

"I had a dream about us. I was walking through the woods and I heard your voice. As I got closer I saw you being held by the evil queen, she had a knife to your throat." Regina told her, looking worried. She didn't know what the dream meant and worried what Emma might think.

" I'm not Archie but it sounds like you might be still having trouble accepting your feelings for me. I mean you weren't brought up in the best household...castle?" Emma said, looking a bit confused. Regina shook her head.

"Maybe but I don't think that was it. I'm. Just scared it means the Evil Queen will make an appearance" Regina told her seriously considering what would happen.