Chapter 14:
"Henry, what's wrong?" She asked him while August and Graham stood up, ready to act if anyone was trying to hurt him.
"It's Regina, she wants to lock me up until you leave town. I think she's planning on poisoning you, I saw her." Henry explained, speaking quickly.
Everyone in the dinner had heard him and looked shocked, worried or doubtful. Some were even commenting among themselves, not willing to believe Henry since Regina had made him out to be a liar with a great imagination.
However, before Emma could do or say anything, a shadow appeared in the doorway. Everyone turned to look and see who it was that came in such an intense moment only to recognize Regina. A very angry looking Regina with eyes that glared daggers at Emma and her little group.
Looking at Regina, the expression "If looks could kill" came to everyone's mind.
"I don't want any fights in here." Granny declared, getting out from behind the counter only to stand by Bella's side, stating clearly with this move whose side she was on.
"Shut it old lady, this doesn't have anything to do with you yet." Regina snapped, scaring Granny with that last word.
"Mom, don't let her take me please, I don't want to be locked up." Henry pleaded with Emma who nodded, determined to protect her son from the Evil queen, whatever the cost.
"Don't worry kid, you're not going anywhere." Emma promised him.
"You seem to forget that you abandoned him 10 years ago Miss Swan, you have no right over him anymore." Regina smirked, trying to pull Henry to her.
"And you seem to forget that I know the truth about you and I know that without what you did, I wouldn't have abandoned him." Emma glared back at her, hating being reminded of the way she had felt when she had had to give her baby boy up.
"What exactly is it that you think I did?" Regina smiled, feeling confident that she would win.
"You know exactly what you did now let Henry go, can't you see you're hurting him?" Emma snapped while Henry still tried to pull away from the queen who held him in an iron tight grip.
"If you don't let go now, I'll have to arrest you for child abuse and disturbing the public peace." Graham added, looking for any reason to lock Regina in a jail.
"I'm not doing anything." Regina replied calmly, never letting go of Henry.
"Yes you are, you're hurting me. You always lie to everyone and you're hurting me." Henry cried out loudly, making sure that everyone heard him.
If she was going to be stubborn, he was going to make a scene and embarrass her in front of everybody.
"Shut it Henry! After everything I've done for you, I can't believe you'd do this to me!" The mayor exclaimed.
"You did nothing, you don't even love me, you just want to win and now that you know that I know your secret plans, you want to shut me up so nobody finds out but it's too late, Emma and Bella will stop you. You lost!" Henry screamed, finally managing to free himself from Regina by hitting her in the stomach, and he ran right into Emma's arms while Graham went to stand between Emma and Regina.
"It's going to be okay Henry, don't worry. You're safe, I won't leave you again. I love you." She told him in a very motherly and reassuring voice before she kissed his forehead like only a mother could do.
Suddenly, a strong wave of the purest of magic escaped from this kiss, spreading rapidly across town until it hit the invisible town's limit, breaking the curse and giving everyone their memories back.
The first few seconds after it happened were completely silent and, suddenly, everyone was speaking at once, expressing their happiness at the curse being broken and their anger towards Regina, who fled the second she realized that her curse was broken. She had used Graham being distracted by Emma and Henry to run outside.
"She escaped! We need to catch her!" Leroy snapped.
"Don't worry, we'll get her. She can't go far." Emma promised.
"Emma's right, until magic is brought back, nobody will be able to leave the town, not even her." August added.
"But she was able to leave it to get me." Henry pointed out.
"Yes, but Emma broke the curse and it defeated Regina. Now she's trapped in town, just like anyone else she cursed." August replied.
"What about Emma and I? Not that we're planning on leaving… I'm just wondering." Bella asked him.
"You, Emma and even I could leave without any problem." August replied, holding her hand happily.
"I knew you could do it mom." Henry told Emma before he hugged her closer.
"Emma!" Mary-Margaret and David called out, running inside the dinner.
"You did it honey, you saved us all!" Mary-Margaret exclaimed, immediately hugging Emma, followed by David.
"I take it that you guys remember everything and not only what you saw in the book." Emma smiled.
"We do and we couldn't be any prouder of you. You saved us all." David replied with a proud smile before he hugged her.
"I'm going to try and locate Regina before she hurts anybody else." Graham decided.
"I'll come with you." Emma offered.
"No, you should stay here and celebrate with your family, you deserve it." Graham told her.
"Well, you're not going alone, not against her." Emma shook her head, not letting go of his hand.
"My brothers and I will come with you sheriff." Leroy offered.
"Are you sure?" Emma asked him.
"Of course Princess." He replied before getting his phone out and stepping outside to call his brothers.
"Princess? Why did he call me Princess? I'm not a princess, I don't want to be called Princess." Emma started to panic.
"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll stop if you tell him." Bella smiled.
"I hope so, I'm not the princessy type of girl. I don't mind if he goes back to calling me 'sister' like he does everyone but I definitely don't want to be called 'princess'." Emma added.
"How about some cake on the house for the savior who broke our curse and saved us all and for her son who helped her do it?" Granny offered, handing Emma and Henry a large piece of her best chocolate cake while Ruby hugged her best friend Snow.
"I believe congratulations are in order Miss Swan." Gold declared a while later.
"Gold… Thanks." Emma nodded.
"Does Belle remember everything perfectly as well?" Bella asked him.
"Yes, she does tough she already remembered most of it. She's catching up with her father as we speak. She asked me to pick her up in a couple of hours." He replied.
"Come and join us then, you shouldn't stay on your own." Bella offered and he accepted happily.
"Thank you, I figured you wouldn't want me to go after Regina." He smiled.
"Not if you'd go to get your revenge on her. I know that she deserves to be punished, but you can't kill her or do anything against her, you need to let her be judge by the people. Try to make the right decisions, who knows, maybe you'll end up fighting your darkness." Bella replied hopeful.
"That's very optimistic of you." Gold pointed out.
"I like to see the best in people." She replied.
A few minutes later, August kissed Bella quickly before he told her that he was going to find his father to try and catch up.
About an hour and a half after they left, Graham and the dwarfs came back, assuring that they had caught Regina and that she was now locked up in a jail cell, allowing them to celebrate before they went to investigate the town line and help people find their loved ones from which they had been separated through the curse.
"So Bella, do you think your parents are here too?" Mary-Margaret asked her.
"I honestly have no clue. All I know is what's at the end of Henry's book." Bella replied.
"What about your dreams? Henry mentioned that you remembered some things." She insisted.
"I do but I was a few days old when I arrived here, so everything is blurry, I mean, babies don't see much during the first few days of their lives, even magic ones. I remember magic fighting above me, my mother's cruel laughter, my father's loving and reassuring presence, his deep voice…" Bella explained, feeling sad all of a sudden as she was reminded that she didn't have a family with her, that she was alone while Emma had her parents.
.
.The sorcerer's thoughts.
Finally!
With the curse broken, it's only a matter of time before I can be with my daughter. Until then, I need to do my best to help her as much as possible from a distance.
First with her magic, the most important. She and Emma are going to need help and I only have one chapter left to write in my book for Bella. It will help them understand their pure magic and once they understand it, what it's made of, where it comes from and how to conjure it, they will be able to control it. They'll also be able to understand dark magic, where it comes from and what it's made of. It will help them fight it and not use it.
My apprentice will deliver it to her and, with it, she'll know more about how her magic works and be able to defend herself and her many loved ones. I know that she'll be powerful, maybe even more powerful than I am, which is a good thing.
Maybe meeting my apprentice will even give her a clue as to who I am, who she is. I don't know if he'll be able to tell her or not, but we'll see. I know that he'll do everything he can to help me, and her. He's always been faithful to me and is like a son to me. He was going to be her godfather before I was forced to send her away.
I want her to be strong enough to be able to face anyone who crosses her. I want her to be able to hold her own against her mother when the time comes, and I want her to be strong enough to fight the Dark One if need be.
I can't help but feel bad for her though, watching her tonight.
I know her, she's happy for Emma but she's also sad and trying not to be envious. It kills me to see her being this sad but I don't have a choice, I can't reach out to her. I just hope that she knows how much I love her, how much I wish I could be with her right now.
.
The next day, the town looked busier than ever. Everyone was looking for someone or helping someone look for someone else. The dwarfs had discovered that going over the town's line made you forget everything and made you cursed again while Graham was busy preventing several people from trying to kill Regina in revenge.
"We need to bring magic back. Not only for Gold's plan to find his son but also to give Sneezy his memories back and to try and find a way to go back to the Enchanted Forest. Maybe even to keep Regina locked up without having to always be on the look out." Bella declared as she and August had lunch with Marco, David, Mary-Margaret, Emma, Henry and Graham.
"I don't like giving the Dark One his powers back much but Bella's right, we don't have much of a choice." David nodded.
"How do we do this, then?" Henry asked.
"You don't do anything, kid. You have to get to school. It opens back this afternoon, remember?" Emma smiled.
"But I want to help!" he exclaimed.
"If I know that you're safe and in school, then I'll be able to do what I have to do better. You'll be helping." Emma tried to convince him.
"It's not fair." He complained.
"I'll be at school too Henry. I have to teach since they haven't found anyone to replace me yet. Don't worry, you'll be able to help at some point." Snow told her grandson, trying to convince him.
"Fine, but next time, I'm helping." He declared, looking resigned.
"We'll see.' Emma smiled.
.
"So, how do we do it?" David asked Gold as they all assembled where he had asked them to meet him:
In front of the lock tower.
"Remember the egg I asked you to hide?" The Dark one asked David who nodded.
"We need it. I hide inside a potion made of you and Snow's hair. It's True Love's magic and dropping it in the well will bring back magic." He explained.
"An egg hidden by David… You mean the one he placed down Maleficent's dragon form's throat?" Bella asked him.
"The very same." He nodded before he told them what fate Regina had prepared for her old friend.
"She's going to be pissed off. Nobody would like being locked up like this." Emma shook her head, already dreading the dangerous mission.
"Seeing as I'm the one who placed it in her, I think it's best if I don't go down, it would only anger her more." David explained and although Emma could tell that it wasn't the complete truth, she believed that he was right.
"I'll go." Bella, Emma, Graham and August declared at the same time.
"I think Emma and I should go. You two should stay up here in case something happens. We'll be fine, I can feel it." Bella smiled.
"How are we even going to do this?" Emma asked.
"I brought your father's sword for you and another one for Bella." Gold declared, opening a case and showing two swords to Emma and Bella.
"Let's do this then. I'd like for it to be over when Henry gets out of school." Emma nodded.
What did you think? Congratulations to those of you who guessed it was Regina, I know it was an easy one. If you reviewed as guest, I can't answer your question, sorry. Although most of you asked about Bella's pairing so I will answer this: she might not stay with August, because sometimes life is a *****. Will she be with Hook Maybe, for a time, maybe for ever, maybe not. A little bonus? She will exchange kisses with Mulan, but it won't last. Sorry if this didn't answer your question.
Don't forget to leave a little review on your way out.
Lorelei Candice Black