Rumplestiltskin was dead.
Henry was back in his own body, Pan was gone, but the curse had been cast.
And Rumplestiltskin was dead.
His magic washed over them, releasing them from the freezing spell that had been holding them in place.
With a primal sob, Belle collapsed, her legs unable to hold herself any longer. Neal crouched beside her, coaxing her into his arms.
Regina bent down, picking up the answer to Pan's curse, her eyes travelling over the place Gold had been.
"Regina?" Snow asked. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Regina murmured.
"I'm so sorry," Snow whispered.
"My father did what he had to do," Neal said, his voice thick. "He saved us. Regina, don't let him die for nothing."
Regina didn't answer.
"Regina?" Neal prompted.
"What?" Regina snapped.
"We're here for a reason, love," Hook said impatiently. "Pan?"
"He's dead," Regina said absently.
"His curse remains," Hook said. "Can you stop it? Or shall we all start preparing our souls, because mine's going to take some time."
Emma gave him a scolding look, stepping forward to try and comfort Regina - the Dark One's influence on the Evil Queen may not have been a good one, but it was a profound one.
And, just like her mother, Regina was likely in shock.
But before she could say anything, Leroy's voice rang out. "The curse is here! The curse! It's here! It's coming! From all sides!" He skidded to a halt in front of David. "There's no escape."
"It's not too late," David assured him. "We can still stop it, right? Regina?"
"Yes," Regina said firmly.
"What's the price?" Emma asked. "Gold said there was a price. What is our price?"
"It's not our price," Regina said, finally turning to face her so Emma could see the tears in her eyes. "It's mine."
"What are you talking about?" Emma asked.
Regina smiled sadly. "It's what I felt when I first held it. I have to say goodbye to the thing I love most."
Emma's breath caught, automatically reaching for her son. "Henry?"
Regina nodded. "I can never see him again. I have no choice. I have to undo what I started."
"The curse that brought us to Storybrooke?" Snow asked.
"That created Storybrooke," Regina corrected. "It doesn't belong here. And neither do any of us."
"Breaking the curse destroys the town," David concluded.
"It will wink out of existence as though it were never here," Regina said quietly. "And everyone will go back to where they're from, prevented from ever returning."
"We'll go back to the Enchanted Forest," Emma said, taking August's hand.
"All of us," Regina said. "Except Henry. He will stay here because he was born here."
Emma tightened her arms around Henry. "Alone?!"
"No," Regina said. "You'll take him. Because you're the saviour. You were created to break the curse, and once again you can escape it."
Emma shook her head. "I don't want to. We'll both go back with everyone."
"That's not an option," Regina said. "I can't be with him. If I don't pay the price, none of this will work."
"She's right, Emma," Snow said, her voice choked with tears. "Henry can't come. And you can't leave him alone."
Ten minutes later, Emma's car, packed up with her and Henry's belongings, was parked just inside the town line, while their friends and family gathered to say goodbye.
August turned up with a duffle bag, which he tossed into the trunk. "I'm not leaving you. Not again."
"You might not have a choice," Regina warned.
"I'll take that chance," August said, pressing a kiss to Emma's temple. "I have to try."
"Pinocchio," Geppetto said softly.
As August stepped away to speak to his father, Emma turned to her parents. "I don't want to."
Snow cupped her face. "I don't want you to. Just … We love you, Emma."
"I know." Emma took a deep breath, reaching out to take her father's hand as well. "Listen, I'm going to need you to do something for me."
"Anything," David agreed readily.
"Don't put your life on hold for me," Emma said. "I'm not dead, just out of reach. Trust that we will be okay, and live your lives. Have the family you wanted to have before everything went to hell."
"Emma …" Snow began.
"I mean it," Emma said, tears beginning to blur her vision. "Just make sure you tell them all about their big sister and how much I love them."
Snow and David pulled her into a hug, all three of them beginning to lose the battle with tears.
Before Henry got passed from person to person to say goodbye, Neal took him to one side.
"We'll see each other again."
"I know, Papa," Henry said with a brave smile.
"August will look after you and your mama," Neal said. "I …"
"I know," Henry said. "You could probably stay, but Grandma needs you."
"Bae," Belle said chidingly. "If you can stay with your son, you should do so."
"Grandma, you're really upset," Henry said. "You and Papa are the only people who are really mourning Grandpa - you shouldn't be on your own."
"He's right, Mom," Neal said.
Belle faltered, taken aback by both Henry's words and Neal's new name, even if it was partly in jest. "You're a brave boy, Henry; you know that?"
"I try," Henry said, his voice muffled in her shoulder.
While everyone said goodbye to Henry, and August spoke to Blue, Regina drew Emma to one side.
"There's something I haven't told you."
"What now?" Emma asked, her voice thick with tears.
Regina sighed. "When the curse washes over us, it will send us all back. Nothing will be left behind. Including your memories."
Emma's breath caught. "What?"
"It's just what the curse does," Regina said sadly. "Storybrooke will no longer exist; it won't ever have existed. So these last years will be gone from both your memories, and
we'll just go back to being stories again, as far as you're concerned."
"What will happen to us?" Emma asked.
"I don't know," Regina admitted.
"August already knew everything," Emma said now. "What about him?"
"I've talked to Blue," August said, approaching them. "She's not sure if I'll be able to stay with you, but she's given me a bit of help, so I'll know you don't need to break the curse."
Emma shook her head. "That doesn't sound much like a happy ending."
"It's not," Regina admitted. "But I can give you one."
"You can preserve our memories?" Emma asked hopefully.
"No," Regina said. "I can do what I did to everyone else in this town, and give you new ones."
Emma raised an eyebrow. "You cursed them. They were supposed to be miserable."
"They didn't have to be," Regina said. She turned to where Henry was waiting with his grandparents, all of them looking miserable. Holding out her hand, she silently called her son to her side. "My gift to you is good memories. A good life for you and Henry. You'll have never given him up. You'll have always been together."
"You would do that?" Emma asked.
Regina nodded. "When I stop Pan's curse, and you cross that town line, you'll have the life you always wanted."
"But it won't be real," Emma said.
"Your past won't," Regina conceded. "But your future will." She pulled Henry into her arms, holding him tightly for one last time, murmuring loving words into his hair.
Finally, with a shaky breath, she released him. "Now go. There isn't much time left and the curse will be here any minute."
That was an understatement - Emma could see it now, a plume of green smoke on the horizon.
She took a moment to hug Regina. "Thank you," she whispered. "I promise; he'll be happy."
Regina's arms contracted around her momentarily, and then she was gone. "Go."
Emma nodded, giving her mother one last hug, before ushering Henry and August into the car.
Sliding into the driver's seat, she took a second to wipe her eyes and steady her breathing, before starting the engine.
"Just in case," August said, "I love you."
"Just in case," Emma said. "I love you too."
The yellow bug crossed the town line, Emma's eyes half on the rearview mirror where her family were gathered together, the ominous green smoke growing closer and closer …
Emma blinked, momentarily distracted from driving.
A hand settled on her thigh and she smiled over at her boyfriend. "Alright?"
"You tell me," August said. "You looked sad."
"Vacation's over," Emma said, taking one hand off the wheel to squeeze his. "But it's okay. We've got a whole new adventure in front of us."
"You still haven't told me where we're going," Henry said from the backseat, a little whine in his voice.
"Oh, alright," Emma said with a grin. "How does New York sound?"
Happy New Year everyone! Let's hope 2021 is better than 2020 (not that that's a high bar to reach!)
The next chapter in this story is an epilogue that takes place a year later. So, for the sake of chronology, I'm going to hold of posting that chapter until the next story in this series is complete (I have finished writing it, so it will be weekly updates as usual).
The first chapter of Little & Broken will be uploaded shortly.