Rumple sat in his cell looking at the key he conjured before he lost his powers. He was no longer bound to the dagger with darkness being vanquished for good. He needed power. He was a coward and had lived with it for far too long and he felt too vulnerable without it. He would get his powers back by any means necessary.

He tucked he key back under the mattress as he heard a noise from down the hall.

Robin entered with a bag from Granny's and a bottle of water. With everything that had been going on, Emma and David had added Robin to the payroll. Robin handed Rumple the food.

"So how long am I supposed to remain locked away now that my powers are gone?" Rumple grimaced at the grilled cheese and apple. Just because Emma had a hankering for grilled cheese all the time didn't mean she had to foist it upon everyone else.

"Well that depends. Perhaps we'll let a jury of your peers decide." Robin leaned against a desk and crossed his arms.

"A biased jury."

"Not my fault you've managed to target every member of this town with your dark deeds." Robin paused for a moment. "Don't worry, we won't let you rot in that cell for too long even though you deserve it."

"A fact I am truly grateful for" Rumple said with as much sarcasm as he could muster.

"Well eat up. I'll be back again with your dinner." Robin left.

As much as he wanted to leave, he needed to gain Belle's trust first. He had done enough damage. He knew it was futile, but he still had to try to regain her trust. He hoped he could at least regain her friendship. Besides, he couldn't begin to enact his plan for another month and it would be best if the heroes and Belle willingly let him out, but he had the key just in case hoping their quest would also be enough to distract them and decide he was no longer a threat.

A few months ago in another realm…

Lily and Maleficent stood in the middle of an empty field.

"So strong emotions are the key to tapping into any magic. It can be any emotion as long as it's strong enough. So you need to tap into that. Feel that emotion in every part of your body and then focus on what you want your magic to do."

Lily looked a little suspicious. "That's all there is to it?"

"Well, that's the most basic aspect of it. Once you learn to control and harness your emotions you can begin to manipulate the magic you produce. That's when it becomes a little more complicated, but this is the hardest part." Maleficent went to stand behind her daughter and straightened her up. It annoyed her that her daughter hunched over a little. She needed more pride in herself. "Now, I want you go into your dragon form. Fly around the field but only very briefly. DO NOT go over the trees. Once you can control your form, we'll discuss flying. You could seriously hurt yourself with only a simple mistake. Brushing your toe or wing against something…"

"Okay, okay. I get it. Stay in the field." Lily interrupted.

Lily focused herself and harnessed the desperation she felt to find her father. It worked. Her mother got smaller and smaller and she felt her body transform. She lifted her head up to the sky and roared. It felt good. She spread her wings and took off flying quickly around the field.

Maleficent felt her heart swell with pride. Her daughter was going to be incredible.

Present day, Storybrooke….

"It's getting late. Maybe we should call it a night and meet back up in the morning." Regina said seeing Henry passed out on a pile of books.

Everyone nodded. They had found only a little more information on the two men that might possibly be Lily's father. No one expected it to be easy, but they did expect Gold's clue to be a little more helpful.

Everyone departed. Lily went home with Regina and Henry to ensure she behaved herself. Leroy and Belle took some books home with them, insisting they weren't sleepy yet.

Emma and Hook walked home hand in hand.

"Killian?" They hadn't yet gotten the hang of understanding each other silently like her parents insisted they would be able to with some time, but she knew he was upset by something with Lily.

He sighed. Couldn't hide anything from her even if he wanted. "Seeing Lily struggle with the darkness as we went through book after book with her clue from Gold…it just made me worry about myself. You saw how easily I gave into the darkness recently. Who even knows who her father is. What if he is formidable foe and I give in again in desperation?"

Emma smiled putting her hand on his cheek. "You really think that is possible with us sharing a heart? I gave into darkness too to keep you alive. We all have weaknesses and that is okay. It's how you handle your mistakes."

"Aye but love, you rescued me. I would have destroyed the whole town if it hadn't been for you." He looked over her shoulder. Too ashamed to look her in the eye.

"I talked to Belle earlier. She said it wouldn't have been possible for my heart to split and bring me back without a lot of factors aligning. You also had to have hope and goodness and all still left in you. Fighting to win." She stopped. She knew he believed her but she felt that something was still bothering him. "What else is bothering you?"

"How have you all forgiven me so quickly? I just don't understand."

"Have you forgiven me for what I did to you?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

He smiled as he looked at her. "Because I love you. I can never truly stay mad at you."

Emma leaned up and kissed him. "We've forgiven you because we love you. That's just what you do when you love someone. You told me you'd love and forgive me no matter what I had done."

"You never cease to amaze me." Killian said as he wrapped his arm around her and they walked up the steps and into their home. He couldn't wait to marry his Swan as soon as they finished this new adventure he was ready to go on with her.

The next morning Leroy sat in his small studio apartment eating a bowl of cereal on his bed looking through a book Henry had pulled at the library. This was just his breakfast to get him out the door. His actual breakfast at Granny's was of course the more important meal. However, his usual banana wasn't enough. He hadn't had his late night snack and was unusually hungry this morning.

He had gone through the other two books he'd brought home, finding nothing. There weren't many pages left in this last book so his hopes weren't too high.

This new mission was working though for his purposes. He hadn't thought of Astrid in about eighteen hours.

Leroy turned to the last page of his book and that's when he saw it. A picture of an armored man with a sword, a single talon on the ground. He was pretty sure it was the same talon that Lily now had. It was quite distinctive. He jumped up and ran out with the books.