Back in Storybrooke, Belle was sat at the counter at Granny's, spending her lunch break alone, as usual.

Since Rumple had left, she had taken to splitting her days, spending the mornings in the pawn shop, making sure that everything still ticked over, and the afternoons in the library.

She had even taken over the rent collection, checking over the ledger books Gold had kept under the counter.

That part, she had been somewhat nervous about, but people responded far better to her than they had to Rumple.

Not that that should have surprised her - she was well aware that her true love was not exactly gifted in the 'people skills' department.

A plate landed in front of her, startling her out of her thoughts. Her gaze fell on the stacked cheeseburger and salad, and she heaved a sigh, one that did not go unnoticed by the woman on the other side of the counter.

"What's the matter?" Granny asked, a little impatiently. "Too many pickles, not enough pickles …?"

"Oh, no," Belle said with a weak smile. "I guess I'm just … not hungry."

As Granny rolled her eyes and walked away, Archie rolled up his newspaper and moved down the counter to sit beside her. "Alright, that's the fourth cheeseburger you've turned down this week. This is about Gold, isn't it?"

"Certainly not my cooking," Granny muttered.

Archie gave her a chiding look until she moved out of earshot - well, human earshot at least. "You miss him."

Belle hesitated.

Archie had - unopposed - taken up Regina's mantle in her absence, and was surely far too busy to listen to her woes.

On top of that, she was still used to people judging her, referring to her love for Rumple as something unnatural or to be ashamed of.

But Archie's eyes were kind and understanding. He had been the first after Snow White to consider Regina's redemption something possible and tangible, and had, in fact, been going through the archives and letting everyone know exactly what Regina had done for the town during the twenty-eight years they couldn't remember.

A lot, as it turned out.

So Belle turned to face him, and let herself spill her worries. "Yes. And it's not just … He said he was going off to his death. And I … I … I wish I was able to help him, and help save Henry."

Archie hesitated a second, apparently taken aback by her revelation. "You protected Storybrooke. That's just as important."

Belle shook her head. "All I did was pour a potion over some rocks. The dwarves did all the hard work."

"Hey," Archie said softly, touching her arm. "You wanted to be a hero. Sounds like you were. You kept the bad guys out."

"What bad guys?" Belle asked bitterly, ignoring the bell over the door as it rang. "Come on, face it - nobody's coming here. I wasn't on that ship because he doesn't need me."

"Beg to differ, sister. Cause this little lady just swam a real long way to find you."

Belle twisted on her stool to see Leroy standing just inside the door. Beside him was a stranger, which would have alarmed Belle were it not for the fact that this woman clearly was not from the Land Without Magic; her red hair was damp and plastered against her skin, and she was wearing a purple bikini that looked like it was made from seashells, and a skirt that appeared to be made of seaweed.

Someone - maybe Leroy - had lent her a leather jacket which was wrapped around her shoulders, preserving her modesty.

"Maybe you didn't notice the sign?" Granny asked. "No shirt, no shoes, no service."

"Now you've got a dress code?" Leroy asked. "I seem to recall some Ruby outfits that are seared into my brain."

Granny gave him a dirty look and Belle rose from her seat. "So who are you; why are you here?"

"I came from Neverland," the woman said with a smile. "Rumplestiltskin sent me."

Belle's heart swelled in her chest. "Wait, he's alive?"

"Yes," the woman said. "And he wanted me to give you this."

Belle took the object and examined it closely.

It appeared to be some kind of shell. There was no writing on it, nothing to explain why it was so important for Belle to have it.

"What's your name?" Belle asked.

"Ariel," she said, shivering a little. "I'm a mermaid."

That explained the strange bracelet on her arm; Belle had seen something similar in the Dark Castle, which Rumple had told her would allow a mermaid to grow legs rather than a tail.

Belle slipped the shell into her purse. "Granny, can I take that burger to go please?"

Granny nodded approvingly, pulling out a box from under the counter.

"You must be cold," Belle said.

"I'm a little chilly," Ariel admitted. "Even if it is warm here."

"You can borrow something of mine," Belle told her, taking the to-go box. "We're about the same size. And we can split the burger. That is, if you eat meat?"

"I do," Ariel said, frowning slightly. "But I don't know what a burger is."

Belle smiled. "Neither did I." Giving Leroy a smile, she led Ariel out of the diner and down the street to the pawn shop, her heart much lighter with every step.

"Do you know what it is?" Belle asked, while Ariel changed.

"It's a sand dollar," Ariel said from the next room.

"A sand dollar?" Belle repeated. "What am I supposed to do with it?"

"Don't ask me," Ariel said. "I'm just the delivery girl."

At a loss, Belle set the sand dollar on Rumple's workbench and grabbed a magnifying glass, intent on examining it more closely.

Except before she had a chance to do so, the sand dollar began to glow.

"Looks like you figured it out," Ariel said, coming to join her, looking much more comfortable in one of Belle's outfits.

Belle spared her a smile, as the glow grew bigger and bigger, and then suddenly, there he was, right in front of her, like a mirage.

"Belle." His voice echoed around them, and she ached to reach out and touch him, knowing that it would do her no good.

"I hope you raised the cloaking spell," Rumple continued. "The people headed for town are far more dangerous than even I first believed. They're unwitting pawns in Pan's game."

Belle winced. Her knowledge of Neverland was limited; despite access to all the books in the library of the Dark Castle, information about Neverland was few and far between.

She had heard enough, though, to have a good idea of how dangerous Pan was.

"I told you I was going to my death. I've found another way. I can defeat Pan and live. But only if you get me something from the shop. The object that I need is hidden, but I know that with the strength of our love, you'll find it."

The image vanished, leaving Belle's heart pounding and her mind spinning.

"He's really into being cryptic, isn't he?" Ariel asked.

"He wants my help," Belle whispered. "He wants me to save him. Save Henry. Save everyone."

"So what are we looking for?" Ariel asked.

"I'm not sure," Belle admitted. "You'll stay and help?"

"Well, whatever it is, I need to take back," Ariel pointed out, "or you'll have no way to get it to him. Plus, I had to leave my true love behind in the Enchanted Forest, and … he might be here, I don't know."

"What's his name?" Belle asked.

"Eric," Ariel answered. "He was the prince of a maritime kingdom, on a diplomatic visit … Everyone came here with the curse?"

"Not everyone," Belle said. "If he is here, there'll be paperwork somewhere. Regina kept meticulous records. You help me find whatever Rumple needs, and I'll find out where your prince is."

There were strangers in Storybrooke.

Again.

This time, however, they came to the B&B accompanied by Belle.

"Belle …" Ruby began.

"They came in before the cloaking spell and they know about magic," Belle said briskly. "They're going to help us."

Ruby eyed them warily. "How can you be so sure?"

"Pan has their sister," Belle said. "They just helped me send help off to Rumple so we can save her."

Ruby relaxed a little. "I suppose you need a room."

"Please," the taller of the two men said quietly. "We don't mean any harm, miss; we promise."

"We just want our sister back," the other man said.

Ruby nodded. "Names?"

"Darling," the first man said. "John and Michael."

Ruby filled in the guestbook and handed them a key. "Room ten. Breakfast is included in the price of the room, but we don't make it here. If you've been here a while, you'll have seen the diner."

As soon as the two men were out of earshot, Ruby leaned on the counter. "Granny said a mermaid showed up with a message."

Belle smiled tiredly. "He needed a magical object. He says he has a way of saving Henry and destroying Pan without killing himself."

Ruby still did not trust Rumplestiltskin as far as she could throw him.

Her wolf liked him even less.

But she had to admit that he loved Belle purely and honestly, and his grief at losing Baelfire, while it had been borne in private, had been tangible.

So Ruby kept her concerns to herself and sent Belle off with a hug, grateful that her friend was, at least, smiling again.

She would keep an eye on those strangers though.

Returning to her book, Ruby leaned back on her chair, propping her feet up on the reception desk. If Granny found her like that, she'd give her a clip round the ear, but Granny would be at the diner for at least another few hours - and John and Michael made the sixth and seventh people she had sold a room to in the last three decades.

So when the front door opened again ten minutes later, Ruby's immediate thought was that it was Belle back, finally taking her up on the offer of company.

But it wasn't Belle standing in front of her.

Nor was it a stranger.

It was someone Ruby had believed she would never see again - at least not for another thirty years or so - and she was on her feet and round the desk before she had processed the information.

"Oh my God, August!"

August chuckled, accepting her hug, lifting her feet off the ground. "Hey Rubes."

"How are you … I mean … Why aren't …?" Ruby released him. "You look like you again."

"Yeah, I'm still a bit groggy," August said. "The way Blue explained it was that my body needed time to heal so the magic made me a child again to give it a chance to do so. Papa's … not handling it well."

"Oh dear," Ruby murmured, reaching for her phone. "Archie with him?"

"I came here first," August said. "I didn't want to scare Emma; she might shoot me."

Ruby finished her text to Archie and then fixed him with a look. "You may want to sit down."

"Why?" August asked. "Is Emma okay?"

"To the best of my knowledge," Ruby said slowly. "But she's also not in Storybrooke."

"What do you mean, she's not in Storybrooke?" August asked. "Papa said Tamara had been dealt with, but he was too upset to tell me anything else; where's Emma?"

"She's in Neverland," Ruby said, "looking for Henry."

August stared at her. "Maybe you'd better start from the beginning."

True to her promise to Ariel, Belle spent several hours with Archie in Regina's office, going through all of the paperwork.

By the time Ariel returned, knocking on the pawnshop door early one morning, still dripping wet, Belle had an answer for her.

"He works down at the docks on a fishing vessel," Belle said, as she opened the door.

"Not now," Ariel said hastily, before Belle could hug her. "Only one of us needs to be wet. Can I …?"
"Of course," Belle said, ushering her through to the back room. "Help yourself; I'll make us breakfast. The fishing boats won't be back until later anyway."

It was something that Belle had found quite interesting about their lives in Storybrooke - after the curse broke, everyone had kept up their day-jobs, even those who had been royalty back home.

Ella, of course, had not grown up in a palace, so for her to remain in her job as a waitress was, by all accounts, a far better life than she had growing up.

But Snow had continued working at the school, David still worked at the animal shelter when he wasn't at the sheriff's office, Thomas was still a mechanic, and Eric was still a fisherman.

The only real exception had been the former King George, who apparently considered even an attorney beneath him, but he was locked up following his ill-fated attempt to frame Ruby for murder.

By the time Belle and Ariel stepped out on to the docks, the sun was well up and the fishing boats had returned, fishermen and customers bustling back and forth.

"Are you sure he's here?" Ariel asked, her eyes scanning the crowd.

"He should be," Belle said. "The rest of Regina's records were pretty clear."

The crowds parted and Ariel's gaze settled on a man by one of the boats, cleaning fish at a trestle table.

"Is that him?" Belle asked.

Ariel nodded with a smile - a smile that vanished when the man forcefully beheaded the next fish. "Oh boy. He must be really mad."

"Go on," Belle urged, giving her a little push.

Tentatively, Ariel approached the table. "Eric?"

Eric glanced up automatically, then did a double-take. "Ariel?"

Belle smiled to herself as he removed his apron and rounded the table, pulling Ariel into a passionate kiss.

As she turned away to give them some privacy, sunlight reflected off of something in the sky. At first, she assumed it must have been some kind of aircraft, but then there was another flash of light.

"What's that?" Ariel asked, tucked into Eric's side.

Belle shielded her eyes, her jaw dropping when the Jolly Roger broke through the cloaking spell, swooping down to land on the ocean. "It's him … He's come back to me."

AN: Normally I wouldn't post next Saturday, because it's the day after Christmas, and we'd be going to visit family, but our family consists of about sixteen different households so it's going to be a quiet one. And I will be posting (even though it feels like no one's actually reading this).

I hope you all have a happy - and safe - festive season, whatever holidays you do - or don't - celebrate.