They'd decided the second everything settled in the new realms and the small quiet funeral for Rumpelstiltskin finished. The wait was over, and they deserved their happy endings.
"Have you…."
But the question stopped at the hard look the asker received from both women.
"We have and we're still doing this so stop trying to talk us out of it Papa." Alice insisted putting the finishing touches on smoothing out the comforter over the sleeping coat they'd moved into the main alcove of the vault.
"And that goes for you both too." Robin joined in knowing without needed to look over at them that her mother and aunt were about to argue for the now quiet Captain "We're starting with ours as a tester and if it works then we'll tell the others and see if they'd want to try." Robin continued gingerly taking one of the black covered books from beside the caldron and moved it over to her other side, so it would be within easy reach when the time came.
"and that's why you asked me here." Henry or Sheriff as he goes by now to stop confusion with his adult self commented twisting the author pen between his hands. "Just in case." He guessed making both Alice and Robin node in answer.
"But the author power shouldn't be used that way. It can't be used that way remember what happened with…with what's his name." Regina reminded them moving to stand beside Sheriff resting her hand against his shoulder in that Motherly way he was still getting used to. "I'm not going to turn dark again Mom." The young man vowed covering her hand with his own reassuringly. "Robin and Alice just want me here to finish the stories and make them happier ones like you've given me."
Zelena huffed crossing her arms over her chest as she met her daughter's eyes. "But why do you have to go into the books to be sure the story turns into a better one? That seems incredibly dangerous." Killian cut in still pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose as he tried yet again to wrap his mind around what his little girl wanted to do.
"Which is why we're not going into our own." Robin answered wrapping her arms around Alice's middle when her fiancée flinched as her eyes fell on the dark bound book bearing her name. She sunk back against her archer's strong hold resting her head against Robin's shoulder. "And to be sure we don't get pulled in ourselves we're going to be outside with the rest of you while the other is being written in." Alice picked up "Then hopefully once we've gotten the other's darker self into a more docile state we'll bring them back here, so they can start a new story together just like we have."
"I'm still hearing a lot of 'ifs' with this plan." Zelena announced, "What if something goes wrong with…." Robin got up leaning down to press a kiss against the crown of Alice's head then closed the distance between herself and her mother. "We're going to do this Mom with or without your help alright? These stories aren't just words on a page they are some version of our lives. Lives that need to be better and we're heroes so making other peoples lives better is what we do best." The archer reminded her. "I hate it when your right." Zelena sighed wrapping her arm across her daughter's shoulders. "So, who gets to go first?" she asked her eyes sliding toward Rogers when Alice's hand raised.
The quiet argument was something to witness but it ended with the pirate captain giving in with a small node that had his daughter tackling him in a tight hug. "I'll be alright Papa. Promise." She assures him burrowing against his chest when he wouldn't let her go. "I trust you Starfish its this other Robin I don't trust." He confesses sending their Robin a guilty look, but she only shrugs it off stepping more against her mothers' side. "I tamed this one easy enough I can do it again." Alice joked earning a halfhearted scoff from her fiancée.
"Take care of this for me. I want it back the second I get back." Alice whispered pressing her engagement ring into Robin's shaking hand closing her fingers over it without looking away from Robin's eyes. "Just…. stay safe over there." her archer pleaded while everyone but the author and Zelena rather than Regina climbed the steps out of the vault. Alice's answer was a rather long promising kiss much like the one they shared before the last curse.
The three in the vault waited until the stone coffin had been moved back into place before they started. "Wait wait wait." Zelena insisted seeing the author unpacking his pen and turn to a clean page of her darker daughter's book. Alice was prepared to yet again defend what she was about to do only to be pulled into a rather bone aching hug by the other woman that would soon be her mother in law. "If I see you need help I'll be coming in after you as fast as I can to talk some sense into that girl of mine." The former Wicked Witch vowed without dropping her arms from around Alice's middle.
"Let's get this show on the road." Alice sighed once she could breath again taking two of the waiting little bottles from beside the caldron pocketing one and pulling the stopper out of the other drinking the liquid inside it in one go. "gah that little liar she said this would taste like cand…." She started to say but she wasn't able to finish her thought. Luckily Zelena was close enought that she could catch the little glass bottle as it falls through Alice's hand while the woman herself vanished from her place on the neatly made bed.
"We didn't think she'd drink it if she knew it tasted like powdered squid ink." The author confessed taking the now glowing bottle from Zelena's hand and dipping his pen into the freshly made ink. "She'll be fine as soon as the story is finished." He promised seeing Zelena's wide unbelieving eyes as he turned to the blank page of the open book and started to write.