A/N: Thank you everyone! Your response to the last chapter was outstanding. It really helps to hear such great things about my story.

I know a lot of people have been asking for Regina to get her act together and kiss Emma awake already, but for someone with emotional walls as high as hers, it's going to be a process. We'll get there, I promise!

Laurathechef proved as an amazing of a beta as ever, and as always I claim no ownership of the show, characters, settings, or plots. Any resemblance to any real people, places, or events is entirely coincidental.

Enjoy!


"Henry's gone?" David repeated, trying to clarify what he'd just heard.

"Regina said he never showed up after school," explained Snow, sliding her phone back into her pocket as she ran to the kitchen where she kept her purse, "She sounded frantic."

With a grunt, David reached for his jacket. "It's Regina and Henry. She's always going to be frantic. I'll get in my cruiser and start with the school, working my way out to the town line."

"Good thinking. I'll get Ruby and start her searching from the mansion in the same way," Snow replied, packing her purse and heading for the door.

David stared after his wife, frozen in place by her sudden burst of energy before shaking his head and following her. Grabbing his keys, he bounded down the loft's stairs and out the door. He ran to the cruiser that had taken up residence in the street front parking ever since they had taken to keeping the town running while Regina worked on waking Emma.

If ever there was a situation that called for flipping the siren, it was searching for his lost grandson in a town of magical threats. The normally tranquil Storybrooke streets echoed with the blaring. The few cars he encountered on the road hurried as best they could on the snowy, slippery roads to get out of his way. Winters in Maine were a challenge for someone whose profession involved a lot of driving, occasionally in a hurry. He swiveled his head from side to side, checking out the roads, sidewalks, and areas between buildings on his route to the school. The leaden sky, grey pavement, and buildings all seemed to blend together, making his search for a brown-haired boy with a dark jacket much harder.

Not for the first time did he yearn for a peaceful existence. Just a few months without another threat or villain putting their existence into danger. He supposed it was the shepherd in him but the thought of a quiet life in Storybrooke caring for his family, strange as it was.

Caring for Emma as a father was always strange, given that the frozen time during the first curse meant that she was essentially a year older than they were and had to grow up faster in a world that was far harsher than the Enchanted Forest, even with all its amenities. There was never a day when he didn't regret making her grow up without them.

For the longest time they'd blamed Regina for the Dark Curse, but time and events had shown them all who the real mastermind behind it all was. After the trigger, Neverland, Zelena, and the Snow Queen, things were different. Regina was family. With all the times they'd stood shoulder to shoulder and fought for Storybrooke, she was a part of the family in more ways than merely being his grandson's adoptive mother.

Then there was Henry: proof positive that Regina had turned good long before the Dark Curse broke. The Evil Queen could never have raised a boy that conscientious, smart, and kind-hearted. With the age anomaly, there were times he felt more like an uncle to the boy than his grandfather. Knowing that he was missing now drove David in a way that…sadly felt very familiar, given that his daughter and son had both been threatened in the past.

David's train of thought left the tracks as he saw someone walking in the same direction as he was headed. He carefully pressed the brake, not wanting to skid the cruiser off the road and cause any mayhem. The hair and clothes made the person look just like Henry, but something was off.

It was the way he was walking, David realized with a start. Henry had so much energy that he constantly bounced when he walked. This child, while a near-twin from his vantage point, was almost dragging himself along with a broken gait.

Parking the cruiser, he closed the door behind him and moved with caution toward the child. It looked just like Henry, but something about this situation was putting his nerves on edge. "Henry?" he asked.

The child turned around and David felt a rush of adrenaline-fueled fear shoot up his spine. The face was Henry's, but nothing else about the figure was his grandson. Instead of his usually shining eyes, they were blank, pure white. Pale skin that gave the figure even more of a ghostly appearance.

"Henry?" he asked, his voice cracking in a way that he hadn't felt since puberty.

A sickening grin, almost a grimace, broke across the…person's face. "Not Henry, dearie. Not yet, anyway. Keep searching! Follow the trail like a good little doggie and it will lead you to your quarry. Give up the Savior and save the whole town," he teased in a sing-song voice far too eerily reminiscent of Rumpelstiltskin. With a wiggle of its fingers, the figure giggled and vanished.

"What the hell was that?"

Then his phone started ringing.


Snow shook her head as she pushed Neal's stroller away from Granny's. The weather had warmed a bit with the emergence of the sun, so she wanted to get him some fresh air instead of loading him into and out of a car. As they moved up Main Street, her mind was as divided as her heart. As a mother she was on the alert for any signs of distress from the infant carrier car seat snapped into the stroller – she had the brief thought that the available technology in this world made being a parent far easier than in the Enchanted Forest (unless one was royalty with scores of servants to see to the children) – but as a grandmother, she was scanning for signs of her grandson.

Henry wasn't supposed to have left the mansion today. As more signs gathered that the three witches were up to something, they'd started keeping him closer to the mansion where Regina could protect him. He was Regina's weak spot.

She puzzled over how the child could have gone missing until she turned the corner and saw him. At least, saw the back of him. He was walking away from her toward the seashore. Pushing the stroller faster, Snow started following him.

As she picked up speed so did he, to the point where the stroller wheels were wobbling as she ran. "Henry?" She called as she struggled to keep up with the child.

Before she could go much farther, he turned on her. Snow stepped back in shock at the lack of color in the boy's eyes. It was almost like one of the horror movies that Charming had gotten her to watch one night. The effect was even worse on someone who looked like her grandson than it was in a movie. "Why are you chasing me so fast, dearie?" he cackled, sending shivers down her spine.

"Henry? What's going on?" she asked, hearing the tremor in her own voice even as she moved the stroller behind her.

He giggled, a high-pitched cackle entirely too reminiscent of his grandfather's more monstrous side. "You're chasing an illusion, Snow White. A ghost. But who knows what you'll find while you keep chasing your own tail, hmmm?"

"Chasing my tail?" She tried to figure out what the hideous mockery of Henry was trying to tell her, but before her thoughts progressed too far, a terrifying giggle sounded from the boy.

"There isn't much time left, dearie! Give up the Savior to save the town," he chortled in an otherworldly voice before vanishing into a puff of scarlet smoke.

"Give up the Savior?" breathed Snow, horror filling her. She grabbed at her cell phone and dialed David, trying not to drop the device with her shaking fingers.


It was the same all over Storybrooke.

The Sheriff's Office was flooded with calls from every corner of town. Everywhere residents were seeing a version of Henry shuffling along before regarding them with his empty eyes and making the same threat. He'd been seen at the docks, by his old castle on the shore, the school, the woods, Granny's, up and down Main Street, and even out by the convent. The fairies were quite distressed at the implications.

As soon as she'd learned that Henry was gone from his room, Regina used her favorite mirror to open up a communication channel to Maleficent's room. "Yes, dear?" Greeted the older woman, as she rose from her desk.

"My son is missing. I have no idea how or when, but I do know who," Regina explained, abandoning a greeting in her worry.

"The Dark One is seriously coming after you," Maleficent acknowledged.

Nodding, Regina started pacing the room, puzzling out the sequence of events. "I agree. The trouble is that I know the Savior is his ultimate goal, and God only knows what havoc he will wreak on this town with the Author under his thumb. I'm the only one who can protect Emma from here."

"What do you need from me?" asked the blonde, knowing Regina wouldn't have turned to her unless she needed someone equally as powerful.

"You're the only other magic user in this town strong enough to challenge the Dark One. I know there's nothing you owe me with our history, but if you would be kind enough to use your dragon form to fly over the outskirts of the town to see if you can find any sign of him, I would consider it a personal favor. I will owe you," Regina finished, maintaining her eye contact with her old friend to show how sincere her promise was.

Maleficent quirked her head to one side as she regarded her old friend. "I'll help you out. We'll discuss my end of this deal after all this mess is over."

Without another word, she teleported out of the room and Regina could hear the dragon's roar echoing across Storybrooke.


"What the hell do you mean 'stay home while we look for your son,'? He's my goddamned son! If you lose him to the Dark One I will personally rip out your heart and use you as my fucking marionette! Pinocchio would be jealous of how you will be dancing for me for all eternity if so much as one hair is out of place on his head!"

Snow winced at the volume of the screech in her ear. Regina was beside herself, threatening to come out of the mansion to look for Henry herself. "Calm down, Regina. Rumpelstiltskin won't hurt Henry. We think he's somewhere out of the way and safe while Rumple projects his image around town. We need you at the mansion protecting Emma. You're our best hope to keep her safe while we find Henry."

It took a lot of effort and more placating words than she'd ever spoken to Regina, but eventually they got her calmed down. Reminding her that she could use her mirrors and any reflective surface around the town to scan for her son while she stood guard over Emma helped convince the frantic woman.

It was Ruby that eventually found the boy hunkered down in a room at Granny's of all places. Only her highly-sensitive nose could detect his scent through all the overpowering smells of Granny's kitchen, but once she had the scent, everyone who had been out looking for the boy and had made their way back to Granny's for a quick bite and a fast break rushed around after the waitress. He was in a room sealed with a magical barrier, but it was a weak one that Blue was able to break easily.

That concerned them all. If it was a magical barrier that required a light magic user to break but didn't take much strength, it could only mean that Rumpelstiltskin wanted light magic users occupied with a problem and away from the mansion. That realization galvanized the entire group. Snow carefully deposited Neal with a waiting Granny who waved off her apologies and settled down with her favorite resident in all of Storybrooke. As one Snow, Charming, Blue, Ruby, Maleficent, Hook, Tink, and Henry rushed out of Granny's toward the Mayor's mansion.

What they saw when they arrived, turned the blood in their veins to ice.


Dozens of Dark Ones ringed the property. Perfect copies of Rumpelstiltskin, exactly the same way he'd copied Henry and sent him around the town. Snow and Charming exchanged a horrified glance at the sight of more than thirty – which they could see – Dark Ones spread out around the mansion, chanting in a tongue that none of them understood.

"Get away from the house!" David bellowed, drawing both his sword and his department weapon and charging at the nearest. The rest of the group followed suit, drawing from his bravery. With a wave of their hands, the ring of clones sent an energy pulse backward without even looking. The group flew back, landing with a thud in a semicircle.

"Ah, ah, ah! No, no, no! Naughty!" the clones cackled, "Mustn't disturb us! We're in the middle of something much too important! Stay and watch!"

They cast another spell, freezing the group in place. They watched as the Dark One copies raised their hands in unison. A pulse of reddish-tinged light shot from one to the next, ringing the entire mansion's grounds. From there, the light beamed up from their hands, attacking Regina's protection spell.

It didn't take long. The dome shimmered and shook, valiantly trying to hold itself up against the onslaught, but it was a vain effort. With one final push, the dome shattered, evaporating into the night sky like a weird reverse Aurora Borealis.

The clones gave one final giggle before they began to vanish. One by one they disappeared until the group of heroes were alone again. The freezing spell released them as the last copy winked out of sight.

Charming looked at Snow and then around at the rest. "Everybody okay? Let's move!" He led the way, carrying his weapons at the ready to handle any threat.


When they made it inside the mansion, chaos reigned. Copies of the Dark One were running throughout the house, breaking vases, ripping decorations off the walls, and shattering mirrors wherever they could be found. David started lunging with his sword, Hook joining him with his own as well as his actual hook, at any of the clones they came across. Whenever each made an impact, the clone disappeared in a puff of scarlet smoke. Before long the main floor was clear, though each of those present were looking around with wide eyes, panting from the adrenaline.

Snow took charge, delegating an area of the house for everyone. "Guard the back entrance, Ruby! Maleficent, can you set up a protection ward on the back door and then act as the first line of magical defense?"

"You're sending the dog to guard the back door?" the waitress snarled as she ran through the kitchen.

"Never would have thought to see myself fighting alongside the heroes," chuckled the older woman. "The back door will be protected against everyone and everything that might try to come through, light or dark magic. I'll handle everything, dear."

Without missing a beat, Snow kept dispensing orders. "Blue and Henry, can you do the same to the front door? I know Rumpelstiltskin has broken through the barrier, but slowing down any surprises he may have hidden outside might buy us the few seconds we need."

The fairy responded to her Queen's command with all the deference that she did in the Enchanted Forest, and ran off with Henry without another word.

Charming took his turn. "Hook and Tink: stay on the main level as backup. If you put yourselves in the kitchen or living room, you should be able to move to any entrance as needed."

Hook nodded. "Aye, mate. Count on us."

David and Snow ran toward the stairs, making their way to the second floor just in time to see a very solid-looking Dark One slip through door to the extra bedroom where Regina had been guarding Emma.


A/N: We're almost there! The last two chapters just came back from my beta, so I'll be posting a bit more frequently on this one. Thank you for your amazing support. Reviews are always welcome!