Oz (The Outer Zone)
The Northern Island
One minute she was in her warm suite at the Emerald Place in Central City, the next she was back in the room that had been the scene of her death years before, a room she once vowed to never return to until she learned it was the only place she could undo the terrible curse that had been placed on her heart and Wyatt's but the moment she approached the bed the image that flashed before her eyes chilled her blood and her heart now felt like a piece of stone in her chest. She'd been betrayed and the man she loved was now in the arms of another woman.
"Az! Az….I need you," she moaned and crashed to the floor.
The Dream Realm
"I've missed you so much," Adora murmured, burying her face in Wyatt's shoulder and kissing it. He reached for the blanket and pulled it over them, unable to chase away the chill the creeped into his bones though a warm fire blazed in the hearth or the guilt that washed over him like a tidal wave. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," he said quickly.
She raised her head and kissed his lips. "Then don't think about it anymore. Think about us."
"This is just a dream Adora. You'll be back in that cold grave alone when I wake up."
"It's no dream. It's real. Feel it," she whispered as she caressed his chest.
But she knew there was little left to feel when his heart was no longer in his body. Alemedia had already removed it and hidden it away while she was in control of him and now her essence had transferred to her third vessel to take DG's.
The Northern Island
"Wyatt…" DG sobbed as she crawled toward the bed, her tears turning to ice on her cheeks, the pain in her chest so intense it took every once of strength she had to pull herself up.
"DG!" Az screamed from the doorway.
"She feels as cold as ice," Belle cried. "Rumple, what do we do?"
Rumple scooped her up and the moment her body touched the mattress icicles began to form on her fingers and toes. He rubbed his hands together and moved them over her limbs to warm her with a spell but to no avail. The ice began to spread to the rest of her body. "I can't stop it unless I know what's causing it!" he growled in frustration. "Help me!"
Az reached for her sister's icy hand and held it tightly. "Nothing can hurt us if we're together, Deege. Remember," she said through her tears. A faint beam of light emitted from their joined hands. Suddenly they were all blasted back, and a construct of DG rose from the bed laughing evilly as she approached them, and a katana sword appeared in her hand. She waved it over the blade and they could see the name Dorothia Ozopov written on it.
"The second dagger!" Az exclaimed.
"They were right under your nose the entire time Az," Alemedia taunted in DG's voice and waved her hand again. A tin suit appeared in the room along with the badly rusted remains of the first Tin Man. "And now they're in the hands of the vessels that will do what that village coward will not, bring me the heart of Lurline!"
Rumple rose to his feet and glared at her. "You may have the upper hand now dearie, but you won't for long because I am FINALLY going to do what I should've done centuries ago and rid myself of this curse that has done nothing but drive away the ones I loved and who loved me."
"And you've been my vessel longer than any other. I know you too well Rumplestiltskin. You've never been able to choose love over power when it came down to the wire, now could you? It's why you sent your son to the other side alone and threw Belle out of your castle."
"I will get my son back and once I do, I am sending your arse back to Ephesis where it belongs!"
"Only part of it, Rumple," the goddess reminded him. "You'll never be able to break my hold on these two."
"We'll see about that."
"Will we? Remember the prophecy, Rumple? The boy will be your undoing? Now you know who that boy is." DG's lips curved into a devilish smile. "Your grandson."
"But not if I get to him first, laddie."
Rumple cringed when he heard the familiar voice in the mirror behind him.
"Never!" Rumple raged and threw a fireball at the mirror, shattering his father's image.
Alemedia gestured and an orange shimmering portal appeared on the floor in front of them. "So many Daddy issues! Now let's see if you are strong enough to free yourself from me." She flicked her wrist and sent the four of them flying into it and the last thing they heard was her maniacal laughter until they were dumped in the field at MacDonald's farm.
Storybrooke
Hours earlier
After hearing rumors of portal activity being reported near MacDonald's farm, Charming jumped in his truck, stopped by the school to pick up Henry and the two of them raced to the farm unaware that Regina pursued them in her Mercedes, the potion intended to be used on the wishing well in her jacket pocket. She knew her mother was no fool and that the wishing well couldn't possibly be the only portal she would use but she wasn't taking any chances. Cora ripped the heart out of her fiancé and there was no doubt in her mind that she would kill Henry too unless he agreed to become her puppet as she did.
"I hope its Emma and Mary Margaret!" Henry exclaimed.
"So, do I, Henry. So, do I." Charming murmured. He turned down the gravel road leading to the farmhouse and spotted two black SUVs parked near the barn. He stopped the truck and pulled his gun out of its holster. "Henry, stay in here and keep down. Understand?"
"Who do you think they are?"
"I don't know but I'm not taking any chances. Stay down."
Henry nodded and slid down between the dash and the passenger seat as his grandfather crept toward the farmhouse with his gun drawn. The front door opened and a tall Japanese American male in his early thirties came out.
"Who are you?" Charming demanded. "Hands up where I can see 'em!"
He raised his hands. "Lieutenant Jim Koto, SFPD homicide," he recited.
"You're a long way from home, Lieutenant."
"But you may know me as the White King of Wonderland, well one of them anyway."
"How did you get here? Why are you here?"
"Because there's something coming and you're gonna need our help. Hello, Your Highness. It's been a long time," David Molk said when he came out of the farmhouse with Beth beside him. "Except my brother and I aren't crickets anymore."
"Jasper," Charming breathed a sigh of relief and lowered the gun. "Henry, you can come out! It's safe!" he called out to his grandson. Henry jumped out of the truck and ran to the farmhouse, a wide smile on his lips when he recognized Archie's twin and his wife.
"Come on in and we'll introduce you to the rest of the crew. You don't ahh…mind that we're squatting here for a little bit until we're sure it's safe to go into town?"
"No but I sure am glad to see at least one familiar face among you." He followed them into the farmhouse where their friends Hildy and Terry English waited along with Hildy's daughter Louise and Edgar Navarro and his wife with their four daughters. Edgar's wife and children were in housecat form.
"….So when Regina's curse was cast Maleficent sent me and Navarro to San Francisco while Beth ended up in Pennsylvania."
"Hildy, Terry and I came through the Looking Glass when our armies were defeated by Hearts," Jim added. They were gathered in the kitchen. "The new Queen of our Wonderland is no better than yours. She may not rip people's hearts out by she keeps them under control by drugging them. A little trick she picked up from the Sorceress Bastinda."
"So there's another Enchanted Forest?" Henry asked.
"Five as far as we know. Different worlds, different lives. Archie's counterpart from their world works for the NSA." Beth spoke up. "And David and I don't exist in it."
"And I'm supposed to be Ingo Montoya's dead father from the Princess Bride and Puss In Boots from Shrek," Edgar joked. "I don't even have a son yet, but I do have four beautiful daughters." His kitten daughters meowed and rubbed against his feet.
"David you said something was coming and that I'd need your help. What are you talking about?"
Terry slid a bottle of whiskey across the table. "Might wanna have a sip of that, man because you're gonna need it."
"Henry, why don't you and Louise come in the living room with me?" Beth suggested.
"Go in the living room with Beth, girls," Edgar instructed his kitten daughters.
Once the children were out of earshot David brought out the files Isaac Wallace had given him along with copies of the department's own files on the Fairy Tale killer cases and laid them out on the table. Charming's hands shook while he read the reports and looked at the crime scene photos.
"If we found the town, they can find it," David pointed out. Charming sighed and raked his hand through his hair. "And we gotta be ready for them or we're gonna be like the other safe havens; wiped out of existence."
Suddenly they heard a knock on the door and reached for their guns. Charming stood up. "Let me handle this."
"We got your back if there's trouble," David said. The others nodded in agreement. They walked out of the kitchen and took positions in the hallway as Charming opened the door to find an impatient Regina standing on the other side.
"What the hell is going on here?"
"You better come in Regina. It's okay. Stand down."
"Are you nuts, man? That's the Evil Queen!" Edgar exclaimed.
"Don't shoot my mom!" Henry pleaded.
"Stand down," Charming said again, more firmly this time. "Madam Mayor, won't you join us in the kitchen?"
"Figures SHE'D be running the town," David muttered, and they went back into the kitchen.
A short time later Regina set the last file folder down and shook her head. "And you're sure this Home Office is going to try to come here?"
"They got through every other safe haven no matter how strong the wards were."
"First my mother then a cult of fairy tale killers!" Regina grabbed the bottle of whiskey and poured herself a drink. "We need to talk to Rumplestiltskin but right now he's in Oz trying to settle a crisis there. Charming, these people are your deputies effective immediately. We'll take them down to Granny's to introduce them before a panic starts and you and Emma can decide whether she wants to stay sheriff or allow one of them to take over since they obviously have experience that wasn't given to them by the curse. Then we're going to figure out how we can keep this Home Office OUT of our town."
Moments later they saw a flash of orange light.
"Beth, stay here with the kids. We've got portal activity!" David called out to his wife. Regina conjured a fireball and teleported outside while the others followed with their guns drawn. As they crept around the side of the barn Regina burst into laughter seeing legs in a pair of Armani trousers and loafers sticking out of a pile of hay.
"It's Rumple!"
"Dinna just stand there laughing like a hyena dearie!" came an angry shout from the pile followed by a sneeze. Hay scattered everywhere revealing Rumple, Belle, Az and Archie. Belle stood up and rubbed her red nose then sneezed again, emitting a gust of wind that sent Regina and the former SFPD inspectors flying.
"Oh no! I am so sorry!" she cried. "I…aahhhh chooo!"
"Oh, for God's sake take a damned Claritin before you blow us all to China!" Regina yelled.
Rumple conjured a gold band and slapped it on Belle's wrist. "I'm sorry sweetheart but I've got to dampen your magic a bit and drink this." He gestured, and an allergy potion appeared in his hand. Belle took the bottle gratefully and sipped, her allergies beginning to subside.
"Thank you Rumple."
"Well, well looks like the prodigal brother's come home Archie…and Charming's out of a job!" Rumple giggled.
"Very funny Gold. Actually, Regina just appointed them to be my deputies."
"Did you get the crisis settled in Oz?" Regina demanded.
"No because now we have a worse problem dearie. I'm not the only Dark One anymore."
"What! Are you saying my mother…?"
"No. My sister and her bondmate," Az spoke up and got to her feet.
"Jesus….three Dark Ones. And let me guess, they're coming here?"
"Not at the moment. Alemedia's got something planned with them but we were locked out of the OZ before we could find out what it was. She now has the advantage, but we can gain the upper hand when I break my curse but first we need to keep your mother out of here."
"I'm afraid we have more than just her to worry about now Gold."
"The Home Office is coming, Archie," David informed his brother.
"You're sure?"
"One of the twelve dancing princesses, whose cursed name is Alyssa Garrett, was working in a strip club in the Bay and she knows who one of them is. His name is Greg Mendell and she says he has a female accomplice, but she hasn't been able to find out who it is yet. She's still workin on it."
"Wait a minute…Archie you KNEW about this and didn't tell me?" Regina asked angrily.
"I was going to, dammit and they're being helped by a dark mage! It's not just any dark mage. It's my father…Peter Pan," Rumple confessed.
"Peter Pan is your father?" Regina stared at her mentor in shock.
"He's worse than me, dearie! He may be in Neverland but he's able to exert his influence outside its boundaries. He also can cross worlds easier than we can though I'm not certain how he does it. The Home Office is merely a diversion for what he really wants. He wants Heart of the Truest Believer and we both know who has that heart, Regina."
"Emma."
"Henry."
"NO! He is NOT getting my son!"
"Then we need to make certain he doesn't…by keeping his puppets and your mother out of this town."
"Let's get to the wishing well."
"Not yet. There's some instructions I need to give Henry before he contacts Aurora again."
"He's in the house. Do you want him to try now?"
"The sooner the better. It's nighttime there."
"Archie and I can take the others into town and introduce them Regina," Charming offered. "But Archie…uhh…you might wanna change first."
"What's wrong with what I have on?"
"Well you look like a hippie with those clothes and no one's gonna recognize you with your facial hair grown in."
"I am a hippie. Deal with it," Archie retorted and snapped his fingers. A painted VW bus appeared in the field.
"You're not seriously gonna drive around in THAT thing are you?"
"Yes I am. We all drive around in old cars anyway so it's not gonna make that much of a difference." He climbed into the driver's seat of the bus and turned on the radio, Jimi Hendrix's version of the Star-Spangled Banner blaring out of the speakers.
"Will ye turn that disrespectful crap off?" Rumple yelled, covering his ears.
"Respect the classics, man. It's Hendrix!" Archie yelled back and started the engine as his brother and his family and Edgar and his boarded the bus. It billowed out green, pine scented smoke while it cruised down the driveway. Rumple, Regina and Belle went into the farmhouse. Regina gestured, and a blanket appeared in Henry's hands.
"I brought your blanket. From your bedroom back home."
"All right Henry, just relax and soon you're gonna drift off," Rumple said softly.
"What do I tell them?"
"Just listen to my bedtime story and all will be clear. Once upon a time, Snow White and Prince Charming needed to stun a very powerful magician long enough to lock him up in a dark dungeon…"
"That was you. They used Cinderella to trap you with a magic quill."
"Yes, indeed." Rumple waved his hand over his grandson and cast a mild sleeping spell. "The quill. And yet, it wasn't the quill itself but the ink that captured the Dark One. Harvested from the rarest species of squid from the bottom of a bottomless ocean impossible to find, unless you're a mermaid. Or me. I happen to have a private supply on a piece of parchment with Emma's name on it. All they have to do obtain it is just blow on it." He placed a small vial in Henry's hand. "And catch it in this."
The Enchanted Forest
The hiding place Mulan believed Cora could've been hiding turned out to be a dead end. The sorceress was nowhere to be found and they still had hours to go before Rumplestiltskin's cell and they stopped to rest. Phillip decided to take first watch to give all the women a chance to sleep despite Mulan, Snow and Emma's protests while Aurora waited to find Henry again in the burning room for a new message from the other side. Her dreams, once painful and terrifying now offered her the chance to be of use to her new friends and it brought her one step closer to being reunited with her daughter.
"Hello Henry," she greeted him once she found him in the room, the flames retreating with every step they took toward each other.
"Hi Aurora. Rumplestiltskin says that you need to look in his cell for a piece of paper with Emma's name on it. It has squid ink on it you can use to freeze Cora. Blow on it and catch it in this." Henry handed the vial to her. "You'll be able to catch it in this. Good luck…and please tell Emma and Mary Margaret I can't wait for them to come home." He smiled. "And I'll tell your daughter you'll see her soon."
"Thank you, Henry."
She awoke a short time later, the vial clutched tightly in her hand. "Parchment with Emma's name on it in squid ink. That's what we're looking for. We have to blow on the page to release the ink and catch it in this." She stood up and brushed the dirt off her dress.
"Okay. Let's go get some ink. In and out. Should be simple," Emma said.
"Nothing's ever simple in this realm," Snow reminded her.
They heard growling and snarling as a pack of corpses began shuffling toward them.
"Oh crap!" Emma groaned. "We got the walking dead coming!"
"Emma, watch out!" Snow yelped.
"The compass. The COMPASS! You know how to kill these things?" Emma asked her mother while she started firing arrows at the zombies, the compass falling out of her pocket. She kneeled down and snatched it up.
"No. Mulan! Mulan!"
"Where is she?" Emma decapitated one with her sword.
"Hurry, hurry. Go. AURORA! Phillip!"
"You're still in one piece?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Their heads!" Phillip called out when he approached them with Mulan and Aurora. "Destroy the heads!"
"That I can do!" Emma kicked one of the zombies and thrust the tip of her sword into its head. Aurora battered at another with a stick. "We gotta get the hell outta here!"
Snow rode up on her horse and held out her hand to her daughter. "Get on!"
Emma jumped onto the horse behind her mother and the pair rode off with Aurora, Mulan and Phillip behind them and soon they left the zombies behind in a cloud of dust as they raced to Rumple's cell unaware that Cora was already there with a more compliant Hook courtesy of the heart she'd taken.
Cora held out the parchment page with the Savior's name and blew on it, the ink hovering in the air above her. She conjured a vial and trapped the ink in it and tucked it in her cloak pocket.
"Now what do we do?" Hook demanded impatiently.
"We wait."
"I'm done waiting. I want to skin that damned crocodile now."
"We can't give the portal its direction without the compass that you allowed to slip through our fingers." She summoned his heart from its box. "Now unless you want to stay here as corpse I suggest you follow my orders."
"No need to be hasty Cora love."
"Quiet! We have visitors!"
She waved her hand and transformed them into rats as Snow, Emma, Aurora, Mulan and Phillip entered the cave.
"Huh. Rumplestiltskin's cell. I haven't been here since before Regina's curse. This is where he told us you were going to be the Savior."
"He knew?"
"Oh, it was prophesized. Come on."
"The parchment's not here!" Aurora exclaimed.
"Gold said we would find it," Snow reminded her.
"Well, was there anyone else in here with him? Could they have taken the ink?" Mulan inquired.
"No, he was kept alone. Visitors were forbidden. He was too dangerous to allow any human contact."
"How'd he keep from going crazy?"
"He didn't," Phillip murmured. "Look." He held his lantern up, showing Emma's name written on the walls of the cell.
"We've looked everywhere. There's no ink in this cell."
"Well, it has to be. He had Henry tell us it was!" Snow kicked up a pile of dust in frustration.
"Maybe something got lost in translation."
"No. She heard right. But someone got to it before we did."
"Yes, we did," Cora said triumphantly when she reappeared with Hook at her side and held up the bottle of ink. She then gestured and the cell door slammed shut, trapping them inside and summoned the compass to her hand.
"Forgive us. We'd love to stay, but Storybrooke awaits."
"Hook. Wait. Please don't do this. Our children are in Storybrooke. They need us," Aurora pleaded.
"Perhaps you should've considered that before you abandoned me on that beanstalk," Hook sneered.
"You would've done the same." Emma retorted.
"Actually, no. Do you know what this is, Emma?"
"The bean that the giant kept."
"Yes, indeed. A pirate always keeps a souvenir of his conquest, but this...well, this is much more than a mere trinket. This is a symbol...something that was once magical, full of hope, possibility. Mm. Now look at it. Dried up, dead, useless. Much like you. The time for making deals is done, just as I'm done...with you."
"Well the feeling's mutual, pal! But don't think you're gonna have an easy time of it in Storybrooke because Gold's gonna kick both of your asses!" Emma taunted.
"We'll see," Cora sneered, and they teleported out.
"Open…you…worthless…prick!" Emma grunted, swinging at the cell bars with her sword.
"We aren't going to break it down, Emma. It was enchanted to hold Rumplestiltskin. We don't have a chance."
"Yes we do. With this!" Aurora held up the travel storm coin.
"We can't. We have to stop Cora and Hook from getting to Storybrooke," Snow reminded them.
"We're out of time Mary Margaret. They may already be there. Throw it Aurora!"
"We don't even know if it will work."
"It will work," Phillip said confidently. "My son-in-law is no fool. Ozian travel storm tokens have been used since the beginning of time and they never fail to reach their destinations."
"But this cell was built to dampen magic! We can't risk it!"
"Phillip, she's right." Emma sighed. "I'm the Savior, and I'm not doing much saving, am I?"
"We're going to win this fight, you know. Good always defeats evil."
"You sound like Henry."
"Guess optimism runs in the family."
"I think it skipped a generation."
"You should know better than anybody. You broke the curse.
"What have I done since then? I got us stranded over here, burned down the wardrobe, let Cora get the ash, and now, the compass. The only reason I ever broke the curse was because it was exactly what Gold wanted me to do. I had nothing to do with it."
"What are you talking about?"
"He told you I was the Savior. It was his plan. Once I fulfilled that role, maybe that's all I was ever meant to do. Everything I've ever done… He had it all mapped out before I was even born. I'm not powerful. I'm… I'm not… a Savior. I'm a name these walls. I'm a pawn, and that's exactly why we are in here. And Cora's on her way to Storybrooke."
"We are going to get out of here."
"How? By staring at the walls? It's not like they're going to magically open a door for us."
"Yes they are," Snow said with a smile. "He always finds a loophole. He had his method for escaping right in front of our faces, but he never used it. Look at the walls a little more closely Emma."
"Squid ink! He wrote on the walls with squid ink! Come on, let's blow this joint!"
Mulan, Phillip and Aurora stared at her. "What?"
"You heard me. BLOW!" Emma blew on the letters on the wall beside her, the others following suit the ink floating over to the bars and melting them.
"Told you. Good always wins."
"Now let's get the hell outta here. Aurora, toss that coin!"
"Wait."
"Mary Margaret, you're not suggesting we still try to go after Cora," Emma groaned.
"We have to."
Storybrooke
"You are certain the portal is going to open up all the way out here," Regina asked Rumple while they stood in front of the wishing well.
"This is where Cora's going to come through," he insisted.
"Unless it's Snow and Emma."
"No. They will come through at the farm as planned. Drop the potion in and we'll begin. It doesn't matter how comes through now. They won't survive."
"if it's them Henry will never forgive us."
"Oh, I think Emma is more clever than that. She will do as I've instructed."
The Enchanted Forest
Lake Nostos
"And now the ashes. Would you care to do the honors?" Cora handed Hook the bottle with the ashes and he poured it into the newly restored lake. A few seconds later a glowing whirlpool appeared in the water.
"Here we go. We'll be in Storybrooke soon enough. I really look forward to seeing my daughter. I told you I'd deliver you to Rumplestilskin. Now don't let go unless you want to end up some place that isn't Storybrooke," she advised as they held the compass in their hands. An arrow zipped through the air and it shot out of her hands and onto the beach.
"You're not going anywhere!" Emma announced.
"The compass. Get it!" Snow ordered. While Aurora hid behind a tree with the travel storm token in her hand, Phillip
"Find it first. I'll take care of them." Cora instructed and threw a fireball at Snow. She twisted to the size as it flew past her and felt some of her hair being singed. Hook grabbed the compass and started running with Emma and Phillip in pursuit. Cora threw a fireball at Mulan and she held up her sword to block it. Snow fired another volley of arrows at Cora only to have her catch them in her hand. Hook kicked Emma's knees out from under her and she fell on her back.
"Normally, I'd prefer to do other more enjoyable activities with a woman on her back. But with my life on the line, you've left me no choice. Bit of advice: when I jab you with my sword, you'll feel it. You might want to quit."
Emma snorted and felt something metallic in her hand. "Why would I do that when I'm winning?" She kneed him in the groin. "How's your sword feel now, asshole!"
"Bitch!" he hissed. Emma tossed the compass to Phillip. Hook got up slowly and ran toward him and they began to fight. "Emma, I'll hold him off. Get your mother and Mulan, use the token and go home!"
"We go together!"
"Why do you want to go to Storybrooke?" Mary Margaret was asking Cora. "Regina doesn't want you there."
"Because my daughter needs me. And now I'm going to give her the one thing she's always wanted: your heart. Goodbye, Snow." Cora stalked forward ready to do just that when Emma jumped in front of her.
"No. You want a heart, come get mine bitch but you ARE NOT TAKING MY MOTHER'S!"
"Emma!"
"Oh, you foolish girl. Don't you know? Love is weakness. Once I kill you I'll take her heart anyway." She plunged her hand into the girl's chest.
"No, it's strength." Emma declared, bright white light emitting from her chest, transforming into an energy blast that sent the queen flying. "What the hell was that!?"
"That is a great subject for discussion... when we get home."
"Yeah. Let's go. Phillip! Come on." The prince and Hook were still engaged in a duel until Hook and Cora teleported out. "Dammit!"
The portal closed.
"Aurora, toss the coin!" Mulan yelled. Aurora stepped out from her hiding place behind the trees and tossed the coin onto the beach. A funnel cloud made of sand began to spin toward them.
"It's a twister!" Emma cried. "We'll get ripped apart."
"Join hands and hold on tight. Snow, where do we need to go?" Aurora asked her.
"MacDonald's farm."
Emma's eyebrows rose into her hair. "Seriously?"
"Seriously," Snow said with a smile.
Seconds later they were swept into the cloud.
Storybrooke
"It's done," Rumple murmured. "The portal is closed."
"Thank God…" Regina murmured.
"We must go back to MacDonald's farm."
"If Emma and Snow aren't there, we've killed them, and Henry will never forgive me!"
"He will in time."
"No, he won't. They won't let him."
"Do you sincerely believe your son can't think for himself? Because if you do then I need to question his upbringing and for that I'd need to talk to you. You always had a difficult time thinking for yourself because of your mother and I'd hate to think you've repeated her mistake with Henry."
I didn't. I couldn't have. Could I? she thought worriedly while she followed Rumple back to his car. Belle was sitting in the passenger seat with the door open reading a book, classical music playing on the stereo. She leaned across the seat and turned it off when they approached.
"Is it done?"
"It's done," Rumple confirmed. "Now we need to go to MacDonald's farm and make certain Emma and Snow have followed my instructions."
Or they would be holding a memorial service instead of a victory celebration.
The Enchanted Forest
Lake Nostos
"We failed," Cora said sadly as she stood by the lake.
"Really, Cora. After all this time, why do you still doubt me?" Hook held up the bean necklace in triumph.
"But that bean is petrified. It's useless."
"But these waters have regenerative properties. Perhaps it's time to do some gardening."
She smiled. "Perhaps it is." She waved her hand and the Jolly Roger appeared on the beach before them. The pair climbed about and she tossed the bean into the water and another whirlpool formed around the ship. Hook grabbed the wheel and began to steer the ship toward it. There was a brief flash of magic and suddenly there were in calm seas and he could see a port in the distance.
"There it is," Hook announced, pointing to the shore.
"Storybrooke." Cora smiled.