It is the end of all hope
To lose the child, the faith
To end all the innocence
To be someone like me
Nightwish – The End of All Hope
Storybrooke, Maine
Seven days prior to the Final Eclipse
He'd promised her he would given her time alone, but it was a promise Rumple hadn't intended to keep because he too had his final respect to pay to the woman who had been his second love. He plucked a red rose from his garden and teleported to the Mills family vault, hoping to find Regina still there but when he entered the room housing Cora and Henry's caskets there was no trace of her.
"Regina? Dearie?" he called out.
Rumple!
Cora?
Rumple, please hurry. Our daughter is in danger!
How am I able to hear you? You're dead.
I haven't crossed over yet. I can't. Not until I'm sure she's safe. Please! Find her!
In danger from whom?
They're here!
Suddenly his phone rang. He grabbed it out of his pocket.
"Hello?"
"Papa, you gotta come over to Emma's place! Something's wrong with Henry!" Bae screamed into the phone. He teleported over to the loft to find his grandson convulsing violently on the living room floor while his maternal grandparents and parents could only watch helplessly. "Papa, please, help him!"
"Henry, Henry lad…it's Grampa…." Rumple soothed as he knelt beside the boy and took his hand. The moment their fingers touched a terrifying image appeared before his eyes. Regina was strapped down on a gurney with electrodes attached to her head, legs and arms. A man stood before an electroconvulsive therapy machine, a malicious smile on his lips as he turned up the dial.
"What's happening to him!" Emma cried.
"It…it's not him…it's Regina…and he's feeling it because of their bond…" Rumple gasped.
"Help him, please!" Snow begged.
"Find Regina!" he ordered them. "It won't stop until we find her. I'm trying a locator spell, but something is blocking me. Bae, hurry! If Regina dies so does Henry!"
Emma grabbed the keys to the Bug off the table. "C'mon Neal! Dad, Mom, you too!"
Belle, I need you, Rumple sent to her. She teleported into the loft, her eyes wide with shock and horror seeing her grandson in such a terrifying state.
"What do you need me to do?"
"Hold his other hand and chant with me," he instructed. Their joined hands began to glow, and a protective shield formed over them. "Not this time, not this time," he chanted.
"Rumple, what's going on?"
"The damned Home Office…they're here and they're attacking Regina, but Henry is feeling it through their bond. The last time this happened the only choice had been to sever it and it CANNOT happen again!"
"Why?"
"Because Henry will forget everything…who he is, who he will be. A severed memory is the price of a severed bond. They're trying to divide them the way DG and Wyatt are."
Storybrooke Cannery
"Tell me where my father is, you bitch!" Greg yelled, turning the dial up again. Regina cried out as more currents surged through her body and she could smell burning flesh.
"F…Fuck you…" she panted.
"Goddammit I'll MAKE you tell me!" He turned the dial up again.
"Never mind that," Tamara said when she came into the room. "Where's the diamond?"
"Up…up your ass!" Regina cried weakly. How had they known about the diamond? No one knew about it, even Rumple. Fearing that a Savior would indeed break her curse, Regina had a fail safe built into it that she'd thought of using in the early days after it was broken. All she needed to do was strike the black diamond that had been one of her wedding gifts from Leopold with a dwarf's pickaxe and it would activate, sucking all the magic out of the town and returning it to the forest it was back in 1983. She planned to cross the town line with Henry and make a new life somewhere else, even without magic while the others perished in the final destruction. Now she was determined to take the location of the deadly device to her grave. The Evil Queen was gone, and the Heart of the East Gate would not allow any more innocent lives to be taken.
"Hit her again," Tamara ordered. "We can make it stop. All you have to do is tell us where the diamond is."
"Fry me," she challenged. "I'm not telling you anything."
"You will," Greg said confidently.
"…I need everyone to do a town sweep immediately! Regina is being held captive somewhere and tortured," Emma bellowed into the radio on her car.
"Greg Mendell's escaped from the hospital," David radioed back. "Witnesses and CCTV match the descriptions given by my contact in San Francisco. It's his girlfriend Tamara. Navarro and I are already doing a canvas."
"Damm you! Damn you!" Emma growled, punching Bae in the arm while he was trying to drive. "You brought them here!"
"No, I didn't! Emma, I swear I didn't know Tamara worked for the Home Office…"
"FIGHT ABOUT IT LATER!" Snow yelled from the backseat. "We have to find Regina."
"English, Mulligan, Koto you back up Molk and Navarro," Charming radioed to the other deputies while Snow called the diner to mobilize a search team from there.
"Ruby, go to Regina's house and get something to pick up the scent."
"Already on it. Granny, we got trouble again!" she called out.
"Diner's closed. Everyone go home, get changed and arm yourselves. Two of those Outsiders are on the loose and they're coming for us," she ordered. Minutes later people were running to the cars and down the streets to their homes, arming themselves with anything they could find.
Dr. Whale was having problems of his own back at Storybrooke General trying to persuade his newest patients to remain in their beds.
"I'm fine in case you haven't bloody noticed now get out of my way or you'll live up to your name…whale!" Zelena threatened and flicked her wrist, sending him crashing into the wall.
"Zee, you didn't have to be so rough," Angelo scolded.
"I am sorry caro but I can't just lay here. That bastard is after Bae and he needs my help. You must stay here." She summoned her bow and arrows.
"You're not going without me. You forget I was on my way to becoming a made member in the Gabbano Family before you met me. I can fight."
A Glock appeared in his hand. "Grazie cara." He tucked it into the back of his jeans and followed her outside. As Zelena was about to cast a locator spell the Bug sped past them with Bae at the wheel. She gestured and a broom appeared in her hand. "Get on caro and hold on tight!"
"It's been a long time since we did a broom ride!" he laughed and hopped on behind her. She started humming Elmira Gulch's theme from The Wizard of Oz as she flew off.
Frustrated with their lack of progress, Tamara left the cannery determined to find the black diamond herself. She understood Greg's need for revenge, but it was causing him to lose sight of their ultimate goal; to destroy all magical creatures, not just the Evil Queen. She was driving back to the Mills family vault when her phone beeped with a text. She pulled over to read the message from her superior.
Go to the mines. It's hidden inside Snow White's casket. Activate it and bring the boy to Neverland before the destruction is complete.
She parked the car a short distance away from the mine entrance, grateful it was deserted. She only had one clip left for her gun and her taser would need charged again before she could use it. As she walked in and got into the lift a map appeared in her hand giving her the exact location of the casket. She lifted the broken glass lid and peered inside, spotting a white velvet cloth bag tucked beneath the pillow. Reaching inside she pulled out a large black diamond. She tucked the diamond back into the bag and took out her phone. "Greg, I've got it. Get over here."
"I'm almost finished."
"We're running out of time. The Home Office wants it done now so we can get the boy."
"I'm on my way."
Greg threw the switch one last time, Regina's screams of pain music to his ears and the scent of her burning flesh the sweetest aroma. The volts surged through her body until she lapsed into unconsciousness. He slapped her face several times before he grabbed his bag and ran out of the cannery.
"Henry? Henry?" Rumple cried, shaking his grandson frantically. "No! No! Don't you dare! Don't you dare die on me lad! Belle, open his mouth."
"Why? What are you doing?"
Rumple closed his eyes and began to chant in Ozian, a white mist emitting from his mouth and into Henry's. The boy gasped and his eyes fluttered open. Belle looked up to see several strands of silver in her husband's hair.
"What did you do?"
"Gave him part of my life force. I had to. It was the only way. Henry lad, are you all right?"
"Mom…" he croaked. "We gotta save Mom."
"Where is she lad?"
Belle helped him sit up and conjured a glass of water for him to drink.
"At…at…at the cannery."
"Belle, call Bae. Come on lad. Let's get you into bed for some rest." Rumple gestured and teleported his grandson upstairs to his room.
"…They're at the cannery," Bae said when he hung up the phone. They had just pulled into the parking lot when Zelena flew past them on a broom.
"Zee, what are you doing here?" Bae demanded.
"We're here to help," she insisted. The group entered the cannery and immediately split up with each pair searching a different part of the cannery. Snow and Charming were walking past the office when they spotted a bound Regina on the table.
"David!" she cried and ran into the office, undoing the buckles on the restraints. "Oh, she's hurt badly. We have to get her help!"
Charming picked the former queen up in his arms and carried her out of the office, encountering Bae and Emma.
"Is Regina okay?" Emma asked worriedly.
"We need to get her some help. We're taking her to the convent."
"No, take her to Rumple!" Emma insisted.
"The convent's closer," her father disputed.
Emma tossed them the keys to her Bug. "Go. Go!"
She and Bae continued their search, discovering a crude looking electrocution therapy machine. The second she touched it she felt a tinge of dark magic. "Sick bastards," she whispered. "This machine's been modified to kill mages and I'd be willing to bet the Father From Neverhell is behind it."
"You just described Pan and Neverland perfectly," Bae muttered.
"Son of a bitch! He's getting my son over my dead body."
"Ours, Emma. He's my son too."
She spun around. "We're gonna let you see him IF and only if you don't bail on him like you did me because I swear to GOD if you do it again I will hunt you to the ends of the Earth and kill you. I don't care if it brings your father's wrath down on me or not!"
"I think you'd have to get in line Em. Papa's pretty much told me the same thing."
"Good," she growled and pushed the machine off the cart. They continued to search the cannery but could find no trace of Mendell or his accomplice. Two sheriff's department squad cars were parked outside when they emerged.
"Sheriff?"
"Deputy Koto, I want you English and Mulligan to seal this place off and keep watch in case they come back. Where are Molk and Navarro?"
"Still searching."
"Alright Neal, let's go!" She tossed him the keys to the Bug. They got in and sped off downtown.
When Greg entered the mines, he found Tamara waiting for him holding a large black diamond in her hands.
"That's it?"
"That's it," she said with a smile. "All the magic in this town is tethered to this stone, just like all the magic from the place they came from is tethered to an emerald. She set the diamond down on a large rock. "Once we activate this, this place goes back to being the forest you remember and they all die."
"Pity we can't go to their world and do the same to that emerald."
"We don't have to. It's going to be destroyed in seven days. Pan's assured me of that."
"How do we get it to work?"
She grabbed Happy's axe off the wall and swung it down hard. "With this!" The moment the tip of the axe touched the top of the diamond it rose in the air and began to glow a fiery red. Unlike the Ozian emerald, the black diamond would destroy Storybrooke in two hours. The emerald would destroy Nonestica in three days with the Enchanted Forest the last realm to fall. "Now let's go get that boy!"
"….Rumple….Rumple….look outside!" Belle cried. He pulled back the drapes and gazed up at the now night sky, his heart pounding with dread. Just a few moments ago it had been daytime but now the sun had been eclipsed by the moon…a crimson moon.
"No! No! It can't be!"
David Molk slammed on the brakes of his squad car before he could crash into the back end of his brother's VW bus parked in the middle of the street.
"Archie, what the hell….?"
"The crimson moon," he murmured. "It's too soon!"
"Why's the moon red, Molky?" Navarro asked him.
"I don't know…"
Archie gestured and he and Az teleported outside the town line, discovering that it was still daylight there.
"Dellia, what's happening? Is this it?" he asked worriedly.
Az closed her eyes, opening a telepathic link with her mother. "No…Nonestica is not in danger yet…but we are. Someone has tethered Storyrooke's magic to a stone similar to Lurline's emerald and it's been activated."
"Who would be crazy enough to…Regina!" he growled, and they teleported back into town, finding Regina now at the loft under the care of the Blue Fairy and Rumple. "What the hell happened?" he demanded, seeing the burn marks on her skin.
"They tortured her. She needs rest to recover her strength."
"The Home Office," Archie hissed.
"No, she doesn't. She needs life force. My life force," Rumple murmured.
"Rumple, you can't. The more you give, the weaker you become…" Blue reminded him.
"There's no time. The crimson moon is in the sky."
"But not for Nonestica. Here," Az said.
"What?!"
"It's my fault…" Regina said weakly. "I had a failsafe built into the curse. I…created a tether like the goddess's emerald and tethered all of Storybrooke's magic to it. They found it…and activated it….I am so sorry…"
"You silly, silly girl!" Rumple sobbed and opened her mouth.
"Rumple, no!" she protested as a white mist emitted from his mouth into hers. More silver strands appeared in his hair and he fell across her unconscious. "Oh God, why? Why did you do it?"
"Because he loves you," Belle said softly. Regina teleported herself off the bed and him into it.
"I have to stop it."
"Mom, what's going on?" Henry cried. She knelt down and gazed into her son's eyes.
"The town is being destroyed Henry and it's my fault." Violent tremors knocked them all off their feet. "Someone has activated the stone I tethered Storybrooke's magic to. And soon all this…will be gone."
"We have to get out of here now," Archie said firmly.
"Not everyone can cross the line. You know that!"
"Better they live as their cursed selves than die awake," he argued. "How much time do we have?"
"Two hours," Regina murmured. "Round up as many people as you can. Get them across the town line."
"What are you going to do? Can you stop it?"
"All I can do is slow it down, give you more time to evacuate everyone."
It's going to kill you. You know that, he sent to her.
It's my price to pay. Go. Save my son. Save as many as you can.
"Mom if you stay, you'll die! You can't!" Henry sobbed, clinging to her.
"I have to," she croaked.
"Nooooo!" Henry screamed as she vanished.
"Henry, we have to go."
"Archie we can't leave her. We can't. Please…" he begged. "You're an Ozian Guardian. So am I! We have to DO SOMETHING!"
"Listen to me! The only thing we can do now is survive! Regina used dark Ozian magic to crate that stone and only dark Ozian magic can destroy it, but she is no longer a dark mage. She's been reborn to the light. All she can do is slow it down and give us time to escape. She's giving her life for you Henry. Don't let her sacrifice be in vain."
Belle waved her hand over Rumple and shunk him then clapped her hands.
"Where did you put Grampa?" Henry asked her. She held out her chipped cup necklace.
"The safest place he can be. With me. Come on. We have to get everyone out of here."
"All right, teleport everyone to the Town Hall," Az instructed. Moments later they joined them, hearing voices raised in anger and confusion.
"Why is the moon red as blood? Is this the Apocalypse?"
"Are we having an earthquake?"
"Everyone, please be silent and allow us to speak!" Blue shouted.
"There are Outsiders in the town," Archie announced. "And they've activated a device that's going to destroy the town. We have to evacuate."
"Can't someone stop it?" Granny demanded.
"Regina can only slow it down and she is doing so as we speak."
"She made it, didn't she? Figures!" Leroy snorted.
"Enough!" Emma growled. "They tortured Regina almost to death before they got their hands on that stone. I know her. She never would've told them where it was. She would've died first because she knows it would kill Henry too and she would never let that happen."
"She didn't tell them where it was. My grandfather did," Bae added angrily. "They're working for him. Pan's using this as diversion to get Henry but it's not gonna work."
"There has to be another way," Snow insisted. "There has to be another way to stop that stone and save Regina. She's come a long way from being the Evil Queen and I would not be able to live with myself if we didn't at least try." Her eyes widened. "A portal! That's it! If we send the stone through a portal it stops the destruction!"
"We don't know it will work Snow. The stone's sucking all the magic out of the town, isn't it?" Charming asked.
"Yes," Az confirmed.
"We only have a few hours. Archie, Azkadellia and I will try to break the memory barrier on the town line but if it doesn't work your cursed selves will be your only selves," Blue reminded them.
"Better to stay cursed than dead," Happy muttered.
"Pack up only your essentials and get to the town line as fast as you can," Emma instructed. "Molk, English, Mulligan, Koto…go to the line and get ready to herd 'em through."
"Yes, Sheriff."
"Neal, get Belle and Henry the hell outta here."
"Mom, what are you doing?" Henry cried.
"Emma, don't you dare…" Bae warned.
"Regina may not be strong enough to hold off that stone by herself. We need more time. I'm going."
"Dammit, Henry can't lose BOTH his mothers!"
"Emma, please," Snow begged.
"I have to do it for Henry. To give him his best chance. Just like you did with me, remember?" She hugged her parents, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I just wish I had more time to get to know you…"
Henry cried into his father's chest. "She can't….they can't…"
Rumple emerged from inside Belle's pendant. "What is going on?"
Bae quickly brought him up to speed.
"Emma, go to Regina. Belle, Archie, Blue and Azkadellia, with me!" he instructed. "Bae, get my grandson out of here before they find him! The rest of you get your arses to the town line or I'll teleport you there myself!"
"Come on Snow. We'll get them moving," Charming urged his wife.
Rumple, Az, Archie, Belle and Blue teleported to the town line. "We're going to hit this barrier with everything we've got dearies. Blue, stay inside the line with Archie and Belle. Az and I will work out here. Let's begin."
"Wait." Blue whistled and soon her sister fae joined her at the town line. They pulled out their wands and began firing energy bolts at the barrier along with Archie and Belle as Rumple and Az worked from the other side.
"It's fighting us," Blue panted.
"Keep going!" Rumple yelled.
"I wanna help! I wanna do something!" Henry yelled from his father's arms on the other side of the line.
"Henry! Henry get back here!" Bae yelled, seeing his son charge at the town line with his staff in his hand. "Dammit!"
Henry slammed the tip of the staff into the ground and closed his eyes. "The winds of change I summon thee, barrier of memory, I banish thee!"
"Get back everyone!" Rumple shouted as a funnel cloud came spinning toward them. "Henry, what are you doing?"
He smiled. "You didn't just give me part of your life force Grampa. You gave me memories. Blood memories of our ancestor, Alexander Strogoff, your grandfather and East Gate Guardian. I'm just letting him guide me."
"Oh, that is brilliant lad!" he whispered.
"Please let this work," Archie prayed.
The funnel cloud pierced through the magical barrier shielding the town and swept it up inside it. The cloud then began to spin back to Henry's staff and it was slowly absorbed into it.
"Did it work?" Nova inquired.
"There's only one way to find out." Blue handed her wand to her sister fae and stepped across the painted line. "I am Galaluna, the Blue Fairy she declared and summoned her wand back to her. It is safe to cross, my sisters."
Moments later they heard and saw a fleet of vehicles pull up. Geppetto got out of his car first.
"Is it safe? Can we cross?"
"We can," Blue called back.
"Start driving through," Rumple instructed.
The vehicles began to cross using both lanes, the line backed up all the way to Main Street as cracks began to form in it. Those who were in the path of the cracks began abandoning their vehicles and making a run for it to the town line. Trees started sprouting all over town, destroying buildings and homes along with grass and all the other vegetation that had existed prior to that day in 1983. Greg emerged from the mine, smirking with satisfaction at seeing yet another menace to the world being eradicated.
"We gotta go," Tamara reminded him.
"Not until we find my father."
"He's probably dead and buried. There's no time. We have to find that boy and get him to Neverland! Come on!"
They jumped into Tamara's car and sped off.
"They've escaped!" she cried, slamming on the brakes.
"What?"
"Look!" She pointed to the abandoned vehicles in what was left of the town, slamming her fists against the steering wheel. Then she regained her composure. Capturing the boy was their mission now and they could not fail. She threw the car into gear and spend toward the town line. Regina waited a few minutes before she ran into the mine, feeling all the magic from the town being swept up by the glowing black diamond.
"Regina!"
"Emma, what are you doing here! Go to Henry!" she yelled.
"Everyone's across the line safe. Come on."
"But what kind of life will they have out there? This town is all they know. You were right, you know. Everything that's happening, it's my fault. I created this device. It's only fitting that it takes my life as punishment for taking away the only safe haven we had."
"You're not dying today," Emma said firmly.
"I only wish I was strong enough to stop all this. I'm just not. Tell Henry. Tell him I love him," she sobbed.
"You may not be strong enough, but maybe we are."
"You're just learning your magic."
"I'm not letting you die. Henry needs both of us and I'm gonna make damn sure that happens." She stretched out her hands and began blasting at the stone, beads of sweat forming on her brown as she concentrated. Regina stood on the other side and blasted it with her own magic. They were throwing every bit of magic they could conjure to deactivate it, but nothing seemed to be working. A powerful shockwave went out, throwing them to the ground. The stone stopped glowing and fell onto the rock
We did it," Emma said as she got to her feet.
"Yes...we did," Regina said hesitantly with the stone in her hand. Once her fingers had touched the stone it shattered. She smiled.
"Whoa! Is that supposed to happen?"
"I don't know."
"Regina...your clothes..."
Regina glanced down to see that she was now wearing the black satin robes of a guardian with an apple on the back, a katana sword at her feet with the image of an apple engraved onto the blade. She knelt and picked it up.
"I am the Heart of the East Guardian, the bearer of the staff that summons the winds of change," she murmured. "And I will protect my son until my last breath for my word is my bond, and you Emma, will stand at my side and guard him with me. The OZ may not have chosen you, but I have. We will both be his mother." She gestured, and Emma's clothes were transformed into white satin robes with the image of a swan on the back. A katana sword lay at the younger woman's feet.
"I am also the Heart of the East Guardian and I will protect my son with my last breath for my word is my bond. The power of eight shall become the power of nine," Emma murmured as she picked up her sword.
"Rumple, what's going on?" Belle asked him once things settled down.
"Stay here. I'll find out," he said softly. When he appeared in the town he could see the trigger's effects being reversed and the forest turning back into their town again. "From the East she is the heart of the truest believer. You've seized your destiny Regina. Well done dearie," he murmured. "Well done."
"Rumple...the town...is it safe?" he heard Belle ask from behind him.
"It looks like it is, sweetheart." He took her hand in his and they started walking down the street. Everything looked the same yet there still had been a change, the creation of a new guardian. Emma and Regina would protect his grandson together as they were meant to. The power of eight would become the power of nine.
"The town's safe," Archie announced to the others. They began walking back to their vehicles and started driving back to their homes while Greg and Tamara watched from behind some trees. They could see Henry and Baelfire in Emma's Bug, the last car in the line. They waited until the other vehicles were out of sight before they started their car and followed them. As they got closer to the town Tamara sped up and blocked the road with the car and the pair jumped out.
"Dad!" Henry cried as the Bug plowed into the side of the car, unable to swerve in time.
"Henry! Henry! Are you okay?"
"Yeah…Dad look out!" he yelled as Greg reached through the open window and shocked Bae with his taser. Henry opened the door and jumped out when he saw Tamara coming toward him. She removed a bottle from her purse and tossed the contents onto him.
"What…what did you do to me?" he cried.
"Squid ink," she explained with a grin and fastened a leather cuff around his wrist. "I'll take care of Neal. Get him to Neverland. Now!" she ordered Greg. He seized the frozen child by his arms and began dragging him to a portal that he'd opened with a magic bean. Greg pulled the terrified boy through and the portal closed.
Tamara stalked toward the unconscious Neal with a gun she'd taken out of her purse.
"I'm sorry Neal," she said coldly and pulled back the trigger.
"Arriverderci, putana!" Zelena hissed as she swooped down on her broom and threw a fireball just as the bullet discharged from the chamber. The bullet exploded as it came in contact with the fireball, killing not its intended recipient but the shooter. She fell back on the road, her face burned almost beyond recognition.
"Zelena!" Angelo cried frantically. "Henry's missing! Look!" He pointed to Henry's backpack inside the car while Zelena tended to Bae. She waved her hand over the spot where he'd been tazed and he opened his eyes.
"Henry…oh my God! Zee, we gotta get to my father! They took Henry!" Bae cried frantically.
Zelena teleported Bae to the backseat of the Bug and Angelo jumped into the driver's seat. Angelo drove the car back into town while Zelena followed on her broom.
Oz (The Outer Zone)
That same day
"Now it will be your duty to destroy the East and West," Alemedia, now using DG as her vessel commanded Pan from the other side of the mirror she was scrying from. "Fail and I will make your eternity in my realm as painful as possible. Zero, you will go to this Storybrooke and kill the North guardians and their child while it slumbers in the womb."
Zero smiled evilly. "With pleasure." He was looking forward to going another round with Commander Ozopov, only this time he would be the victor.
Wyatt teleported from his hiding place on DG's desk back to his old cabin where Jeb, Ambrose and Raw were waiting for him. "Jeb, I'm sending you and Elmer to the other side. The Dark One is sending Zero through to try to kill Az and Archie."
"Father, if she takes control again..."
"I'm fighting her, but I don't know how much longer I can. Take Xenia with you. Rumplestiltskin has to banish her before her hold on me and Dottie can be weakened enough for us to take back control. And now that Dottie knows what happened between your mother and me…"
"Father…"
"There's no excusing it Jeb. Yes, I love you mother and part me always will, but I love Dottie too and I've betrayed her in the worst way possible. What if my actions bring the Final Eclipse? That's what Aramon warned us of, didn't he? That our family's actions would bring the final destruction of our world. I need to find my heart. It's the only way I can try to reshift the Balance before Rumple goes to Neverland."
"What do you need us to do?" Ambrose inquired.
"Go to the Queen…and tell her to prepare for the worst." Wyatt sighed deeply.
"What do you mean?"
"We have to get everyone out of here before the crimson moon appears."
"Are you saying we should evacuate the OZ?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying. You know what's gonna happen if we stay. We die. This world dies."
"You can't give up. There's still time."
"Seven days Glitch! That's all the time we have left. Seven days! And with Alemedia switching back and forth between Dottie and me…we might not make it in time. Go." He teleported Xenia to the cottage. "Take care of my son, Xennie."
"I will." She hugged her future father-in-law. "You take care of my big brother."
Jeb held back tears as they stepped through the funnel cloud that would take them to Storybrooke. Wyatt teleported himself back to the Northern Island and raced up the stairs to DG's old suite of rooms. She lay on her bed, encased in ice as she had been that terrible day she'd learned his guilty secret. He took her cold hand in his and pressed it to his lips.
"Dottie," he whispered. "I know you can hear me. There's not enough words for me to say how sorry I am." He leaned forward and kissed her lips to no avail.
"She's mine…as you are," Alemedia taunted.
"Not for long," he growled. "I'll get her back if I have to go to the darkest part of Ephesis to do so."
"Soon there will be no Ephesis. Soon I will walk the mortal realm as your mistress. You will all serve me or die. Seven days, Tin Man. Seven days." She vanished.
Wyatt crawled onto the bed and pulled DG's cold, frozen body into his arms. "If you won't come to me, I'll come to you. In the only place the darkness can't find us…." he murmured as he drifted off to sleep.
The Dream Realm
He found himself walking down the familiar roads that led him back to his old cottage in Elba, hearing music playing and saw DG sitting on the porch sketching.
"Bury all the memories
Cover them with dirt
Where's the love we once had
Our destiny's unsure
Why can't you see what we had
Let the fire burn the ice
Where's the love we once had
Is it all a lie?
And I still wonder
Why heaven has died
The skies are all falling
I'm breathing but why?
In silence I hold on
To you and I…" a woman's voice was singing.
"Dottie?"
She pressed a button on the device he now knew from their talks about other side culture was an Ipod and looked up at him with tear filled eyes.
"You shouldn't be here."
"But I am, Princess and I'm not goin anywhere until we talk."
"There's nothing more to say. It's my turn to step aside now."
"We both know you can't even if you want to."
"Do you think I want to? I love you! I've loved you most of my lives and I've been spending as much of this one as I can trying to make up for the mistake I made in letting you go the first time. But seeing you in her arms is killing me," she sobbed. "But, it's what I deserve isn't it? Because I made you watch while I went into Nicolai's arms. I shouldn't feel anything at all without my heart, but I still do."
"If you don't have heart, you have nothing," he reminded her. "Dottie, my heart was in my body still beating while I was in that suit, but it may as well have been dead. I thought it died the day I lost my family but then a stubborn young woman came into my life and brought it and me back to life again." He took her hand and pressed it against his chest. "I took mine out too but it's missing its other half and you are that other half. It was always meant to be you. Adora will always have a place in my heart but we had our time together. I have to let go."
A glowing heart appeared in his other hand. "She may have part of our souls, but we have an advantage over her. We have her memories." He gently pushed her heart back into her chest. She closed her eyes and concentrated, his heart appearing in her hand. Both bore dark spots as they suspected they would, based on their actions as the Dark Ones. She gently pushed his back into his chest and held her hand over it.
"I love you Wyatt but I'm not ready to be with you…not yet," she confessed sadly.
"I know, but I'll wait as long as it takes Princess," he vowed and took her in his arms.
"I am NOT finished with you yet!" Alemedia growled, throwing her glass of blood at the wall. Several mobats screeched and took cover behind the pillars and the marble tile floors cracked beneath the weight of her furious steps as she stalked down the hall to her vault. She reached up and took down on box on the top shelf, expecting to find three hearts inside but to her horror there was only one.
"NO!" she screamed and took out the remaining heart, squeezing tightly. Adora appeared in the room gasping in pain. "Bitch! You tricked me!"
Adora smiled faintly. "You underestimated them sister. Their…love…is stronger than your darkness."
"We'll see."
But first she had to make sure a certain manchild did his duty and destroyed the Strogoff guardians.
Storybrooke
Seven days prior to the final Eclipse
"No….no! Henry!" Regina and Emma screamed, holding their hands to their hearts. They teleported out of the mines and onto Main Street as Rumple and Belle pulled up in his Caddy, Archie and Az in their van and Angelo in Emma's Bug.
"Regina, Emma, what's wrong?" Archie asked worriedly.
"They've taken Henry!" Emma yelled. "We have to get after them! Tell me you have one of those coins!"
"I'm afraid we don't," Az confessed.
"We have to try something, anything!"
"There's no way without a portal!" Bae moaned.
"Yes, there is," Rumple murmured and reached into the Bug, pulling out Henry's backpack. He unzipped it and took out the staff. "This is going to take us to him."
"How? Only he can use it!" Regina said angrily.
"Not anymore, dearie." Rumple placed the staff in Regina's hands. Seconds later the eyes began to glow.
"How are you doing that? What is that?" Emma asked her.
"The Staff of Air," Regina said softly. "Take us to him. Take us to our son," she commanded it. A white mist emitted from the dragon's mouth and formed a whirlpool in the sea.
"Papa, is the Jolly Roger still here?" Bae asked him.
"Yes, why?"
"Because I'm commandeering it!" he said.
"You know how to sail a pirate ship?" Emma's eyes widened.
"Only useful thing Hook taught me before he dumped me on Neverland and you're not going there without me. I know every inch of that hellhole."
"We're coming too," they heard Snow and Charming say from behind them.
"No! Mom, Dad, you need to stay here."
"He's our grandson," Charming said firmly. "We're going."
"So are we," announced Archie.
"No, you and Az are staying here with Belle," Rumple ordered.
"No, I wanna help!" Belle insisted. Rumple pulled her aside.
"The town is no longer safe. Greg and Tamara weren't working alone. Others will follow. After we've gone, follow these instructions. It's a cloaking spell. It'll shield the town, making it impossible for anyone to find." He handed a scroll to Belle.
"Then how will you find your way back to me? You're not coming back, are you?" she asked worriedly.
"The prophecy. The boy is my undoing, but he's also my grandson. I must save him. He is the key to restoring the Balance."
"I understand, but I also know that the future isn't always what it seems. I will see you again," Belle cupped Rumple's face in her hands and kissed him passionately. " I love you and we are going to be married as soon as you get back."
"Come on Belle," Archie said gently. "We have to get that shield up as soon as possible."
He hated cutting their moment short but he knew time was of the essence.
She nodded through her tears.
Teach her the path of the dragon. She must be ready, Rumple sent to Archie. He nodded.
Rumple gestured and the Jolly Roger appeared in the water.
"Alright, let's go get Henry," Regina said and teleported herself and Emma onto the ship. Rumple teleported himself, Bae and the Charmings aboard and Bae took the helm, steering the ship toward the whirlpool. Seconds later it vanished.