At the Beginning With You

Chapter Eleven

Inside the apprentice's manor…

After trying to reverse the magic that Rumpelstiltskin had used to blow the doorway to the realm where Elsa and her sister and husband were from for over an hour, Regina threw her hands up as she groaned angrily and said, "I give up! This is hopeless. The all-powerful Dark One's magic is far stronger than it ever was."

Mother Superior looked back at the Queen, then over at Belle who remained behind to help, then the Blue Fairy replied, "I hate to admit it, but Her Majesty is right. The portal is destroyed and not even both of our powers combined is enough. Getting home again will truly be up to Emma, Snow, and Prince David now."

"Maybe not," Robin called out as he entered the ballroom with his bow and quiver full of arrows upon his shoulders, as he and a few others had been out searching the town for any sign of Rumpelstiltskin after he disappeared. "I'm afraid that there's no sign of the monster, not even at his shop, but August and I happened to run into an old friend, who has finally returned from his long sabbatical. And just in the nick of time it seems."

"Hello," Anton responded as he and August, as well as Henry and the rest of the dwarfs walked in behind the archer. "It's good to be home, even if the real world is even more amazing than I ever thought possible."

Regina looked at the former giant skeptically as she asked, "You think he can help us? You'll forgive me if I don't seem to believe that, but unless you were able to grow more magic beans out within a world without magic, then I'm afraid…"

Anton interrupted, "Actually, you'd be surprised by the magic that's out in a world that claims to be without magic. I discovered a new way to grow the beans thanks to an education the humans call botany, or the study of plant life. Between all I know about growing and tending to the beans, as well as all the new stuff I've learned, I was able to grow a single stalk so far. It didn't produce more than three beans, but they're yours if you need them to save Emma and the others. I can grow more later on."

"This is incredible, Anton!" Henry exclaimed until he looked between him and his adopted mother in confusion. "But wait. That means someone is going to have to go to Arendelle and find them in order to get the remaining beans to them."

"I'll go," August stated immediately. "I've been waiting for this for awhile now. It's about time I do something to repay you all for helping me, back when I had turned into a man of wood and when you rescued me from the villains."

Robin looked over at the woman he loved, then he spoke up saying, "I'll go as well. I'm sorry, Regina. But you and I both know it's the right thing to do. Besides, August certainly can't go on his own. Who knows what trouble our friends are facing in this new world?"

The Queen nodded with frustration as she answered, "Of course, you're right, but I don't have to like it. And Henry, before you get any ideas and try to volunteer, the answer is no way in hell. After everything we all went through in the Underworld, I'm not ready to let you go anywhere outside of Storybrooke just yet."

"Don't worry, Mom," the young man replied as he smiled at her. "A part of me wants to help them, but even I'm not sure that I'm ready to leave home right now either."

"So, it seems like you're already well prepared," August said again as he looked over at Robin, motioning to the former thief's weapons of choice. "I'm not much of a warrior myself and so I'm not actually trained to handle any weapons, seeing as my state of remaining a real boy depends on me not getting into confrontations, but I can fight in hand to hand combat if necessary, so long as it's to defend our friends, right Blue?"

Mother Superior smiled at the man before her and responded, "You are remaining selfless, brave, and true by wanting to be there to help save others. So long as you remain so, no matter how you defend them is up to you."

August took the three beans from Anton when the man offered them to him, then answered smugly, "Excellent! Then I will go and find something to help us on our trek too. Why don't you meet me back at my shop in about twenty minutes, archer. That way, you can say goodbye to your lady and I can say goodbye to my papa."

"You're acting like you don't believe you're going to make it back?" Regina spoke again nervously. "If anything happens to Robin, so help me…"

"Don't worry, Your Majesty," the man who was also Pinocchio replied assuredly. "I promise you I will watch his back, the same as I know he'll do for me."

Meanwhile…

When a cloud of smoke emerged inside the pawnshop as Mr. Gold appeared from it, the Dark One suddenly collapsed to the ground as the pain from the marque Pan had given him in the Underworld manifested itself once again due to the villain using his magic, not only to blast the portal apart, but also to freeze his enemies, and to make himself vanish from the manor. Despite what the marque was trying to cost him, Rumpelstiltskin bit back the pain as he used magic to cast a cloaking spell upon himself, knowing full well that the heroes would look there for him first. When the pain finally passed, after remaining on the floor for longer than he should have, Gold finally stood and got to work searching through his books for a way to remove the brand his dear old father had cursed him with. As Robin Hood and one of the dwarfs with him came in moments later to look for him, Gold watched them both smugly as they searched both rooms, then left again within a few minutes, having no idea that the man they were looking for was right on top of them.