At the Beginning With You

Chapter Seven

While they continued to stand outside of Rumpelstiltskin's prison, Regina spoke up again saying with frustration, "This is a bad idea. We all know where this portal to Arendelle is. Surely I can get it open with my own magic, or the fairies. Why do we need Gold?"

Mary Margaret quickly answered, "Because, Mr. Gold is the only one who knows how to get the door to reappear and we don't have time to wait for you or the fairies to figure it out. Our daughter needs us now."

"Fair enough," the Queen responded ominously. "Let's get this over with then. If you try anything, Gold…"

"Save your threats… dearie," the beast inside the cage sneered coldly as he stood when the door to his cell opened and Belle and David walked inside, the Prince with his sword drawn to protect himself and Belle. "And put away your sword before you hurt yourself, Charming. I have no intention of hurting either of you at this time. There's no point, until there is."

David glared at him as kept his sword raised and replied, "You'll forgive me if I don't trust you. Are you ready, Belle?"

Without a word, Belle opened Pandora's Box like she did the day she first put him inside to save Emma and Killian, once again pulling the man she loved until his final betrayal in, then together with the rest of the group with her, they made their way to the apprentice's manor in search for the magical door to a new world. After Rumpelstiltskin was released, he summoned the apprentice's magic broom into his hand, then cast a spell to make it do what it was meant to do, opening the portal as the villain gave his word he would do for the heroes.

Snow quickly opened the door and when she saw that it looked as it did before, she turned back to her husband and smiled, then stated, "It worked. We can go find Emma and Hook."

"If you think that you're going some new land without us, you're mistaken, sister," Leroy said as he and two other dwarfs, Bashful and Happy, entered the manor a few minutes after the others arrived. "You guys are running headfirst into unknown danger. I want to help. There's nothing better for us to do here anyway."

"How did you even know about us leaving?" David asked the short man curiously. "We didn't tell anyone else aside from those of us who are right here."

Happy answered, "Word spreads quickly here in Storybrooke."

Bashful added shyly, "Dopey saw you guys heading out here and we knew that something was going on."

"Please, Your Highness," Grumpy pleaded again when he looked between their two leaders. "I know the other dwarfs prefer to stay here, but I like to be where the action is and right now, that's not here."

"Our town's seen plenty of action," Regina responded suspiciously. "What exactly is the real reason why you want to go help the Charmings, dwarf?"

He glared at the mayor as he replied, "My name is Leroy or Grumpy, not dwarf, and well... Okay, the truth is I owe Hook twenty-five doubloons, whatever the heck those are. I'm hoping that if I help to save his life, again, that he'll forgive the debt. When it comes to dice, that pirate's either lucky as hell, or he's a cheater. I want to believe it's the latter, but I have no proof."

David smirked, then answered, "You said it yourself, he's a pirate. He's both lucky and a cheater. We'd be happy to have you three come along with us, Leroy. Thank you."

"Thank you, Gold," Mary Margaret stated nervously as she looked back at the beast as the three dwarfs entered through the portal, followed by Archie, while David waited for his wife to enter before he did. "If you can prove that you're not going to be a threat to us any longer, we may let you have your freedom back after all, but don't do it for us. Be the man Belle once loved, for her."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible any longer, as I am not the man I was before all of you chose to turn on me for the last time," Rumpelstiltskin responded smugly as Snow and Charming passed through, then he suddenly froze the remaining heroes within the room before they could stop him again and blasted the door into oblivion before vanishing in a black cloud of smoke.

Belle cried out worryingly, "No, Rumple! My God, what do we do? This portal might be the only way for them to return home. If they try to come back through the doorway on the other side…"

Regina groaned and then replied, "I suppose I'll have to enlist the fairies' help to see if we can't rebuild the door again. Let's hope that Queen Elsa and her sister have access to a supply of magic beans, otherwise they're probably screwed."

Meanwhile, in Arendelle…

Emma slowly began to come around as she weakly opened her eyes, finding that she couldn't see through the haze that clouded her sight, due to her plummet through the rushing water of the falls nearby. She slowly struggled to move until small hands gently pushed her back down, then pulled the blankets covering her body back up to her neck to try to warm her.

"You need to rest or you'll make your head feel worse," a strange voice said despondently. "You had quite a fall."

"I don't… I can't rest while… Who are… you?" she finally managed to ask as she turned her head toward the voice to try to get a better look at whoever was helping her, seeing a fire burning from behind something that resembled a snowman.

It was then that another voice sounded as a man called out quietly, "What have I told you, Olaf? You can't just appear before strangers or they'll freak out."

The snowman answered in confusion, "But she's not freaking out."

"You're a talking snowman?" Emma stated more clearly as she struggled to sit up again while staring at the small figure with a cloud of flurries swirling around his head.

"And now she is," the man continued curtly and then knelt down beside the woman to help her sit up and lean back against the mountain wall behind her, then suddenly recognized who she was upon getting a better look at her face. "You're Emma, from that strange town we were trapped in a year ago?"

Emma looked at him as the blurriness finally cleared, then she responded, "Kristoff, Anna's fiancé, right?"

He smiled and replied, "Husband actually, now anyway. We married shortly after we returned home and threw Hans out of our kingdom for good. What happened to you and how did you get all the way here to Arendelle from your land?"

"It's a long story," she answered weakly as all of her memories of what happened before she had awakened suddenly came flooding back to her, then struggled to rise to her feet with help from both Kristoff and Olaf. "Oh, God… Killian! I need to talk to Elsa."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, just take it easy!" Kristoff quickly responded as he tried to steady her while she fought against their efforts to help her. "We'll go to the castle as soon as you're able to move, but right now, you're not exactly thinking too clearly. You're pretty banged up after that insane fall from that cliff up there. You're lucky."

Emma didn't quit until she was finally steady and turned her head to look at the friends who helped her, then she replied sternly, "You don't understand, they have Hook. They have my husband. I have to help him, but I need your help to do it; yours, Elsa's, and Anna's."

Olaf stared at the blonde as he spoke quickly, "I'm sorry."

"Wait, who has your husband?" Kristoff asked remorsefully.

"Blackbeard and his men," Emma said in anger. "I have to stop them and get Killian back before they kill him."