Thanks for all your follows/favs/reviews and for staying with me. Without further ado, let's just pick up where we left our heroes - in the forest around Storybrooke with Maleficent just having turned into her human form again.
Come Back To Me
"Isn't that the charming prince... the fierce sheriff... and the versatile pirate." Maleficent smiled at each of them, and in some way she reminded them all of the Evil Queen, even if she was a completely different type; but just like Regina, she was extraordinarily beautiful, haughty and elegant – and very, very dangerous. That her intentions were not really clear to neither of them, didn't help.
"I'm here to help," Emma said for the third time, and despite her nervousness her voice was still firm.
"So, I presume this time you're not planning to stick a blade into my body?" Maleficent commented, the sarcasm dripping from her lips like venom from the fangs of a deadly snake.
"I would say I regret what happened at our first meeting," Emma replied, "but I did it to save my son's life. I was told I needed the potion that was hidden inside your..." she motioned vaguely towards the other woman, not able to bring herself to say "inside your belly".
The sorceress' grey blue eyes flickered briefly with interest, and she raised her eyebrows. "And did you save him?" she asked.
Emma nodded. "Yes. But as it turned out, the potion wasn't needed for it. I was tricked. So, I guess I should apologize."
Maleficent raised her chin. "Don't," she replied curtly. "I would have done the same. There's nothing more important than to save a child's life. How did you do it?"
Emma shuddered at the memory; never before had she felt that terrible sense of loss like when she'd seen her ten-year-old son dead in his hospital bed – not even when she'd given him away right after giving birth to him. "With True Love's Kiss," she answered a little reluctantly, and Maleficent tilted her head, eyeing her curiously.
"Now that's interesting," she commented thoughtfully and tapped her index finger to her full lips. "True Love's Kiss doesn't always work. You must be very special... and loved." She motioned her blonde curly head graciously to Hook and David who were standing on either side of her. Without being aware of it, both men simultaneously moved closer to Emma, never taking their watchful eyes off the sorceress for a second; ready to strike her at their own peril to defend Emma, if necessary. "So, you know about the prophecy," the tall woman went on after a little pause. "How?"
"It's written on the..." Emma motioned to the crooked wooden staff.
"It is indeed," Maleficent nodded, "but not visible just for anybody." She leaned a little forward, like she had done when she'd still been in her ghostly form. The move wasn't less imposing now that she was a beautiful woman instead of a screeching ashen monster. "How?" she repeated with a slight threat in her voice.
Emma didn't falter though. "I touched it, and the words appeared," she explained firmly.
"Well, well," the sorceress replied in an almost amused tone, "you have magic then." She tilted her head. "You didn't have any when we first met... or you didn't know about it."
"I barely knew anything when we first met," Emma retorted dryly.
"And now you do?" Maleficent asked, irony coating her voice.
Emma raised her chin. "Yes," she answered without hesitation, and both men on the left and on the right of her threw her appreciative sideways glances. That's my baby, David thought proudly. That's my Swan, Hook thought, not less proudly.
Maleficent raised a perfectly curved eyebrow. "Hardly," she contradicted. "You haven't even scratched the surface yet. But now at least you know who you are. And you accept it." She cocked her head in a barely perceptible nod. "I like that."
Emma raised her hands. "Just tell me what I am supposed to do now."
"Ah, all down to business? I like that, too." She tapped her staff lightly to the floor. "Let's see. What do you know about the prophecy?"
Emma shrugged. "Only that I'm obviously the one destined to reunite you with what you love the most..." She hesitated for a brief moment, then added tentatively: "Your unicorn?"
A shadow flew over Maleficent's gorgeous face, but she masked it quickly and snarled: "Who told you that – Regina?" Emma nodded, and the sorceress snorted sarcastically. "Of course."
"What happened?" Emma asked quietly. "No unicorn has ever been seen here in Storybrooke, so obviously, it wasn't transported here by the curse. Something must have happened to it before Regina cast the curse."
Maleficent nodded. "The prophecy was delivered to me shortly before the Dark One created that curse and gave it to Regina," she began her tale.
"Delivered?" Emma echoed. "By whom?"
The other woman waved her off impatiently. "A seer, of course, who else?" she snarled, and Emma rolled her eyes. Of course, she thought grimly. Well, sorry, but I'm still new to this. Maleficent went on: "When Regina came to me and traded the Dark Curse for something else..."
"She traded it?" Emma blurted out with wide eyes. "For what?"
Maleficent narrowed hers in return. "Would you be so kind as not to interrupt me?" she growled, a very clear threat in her voice now. "It is of no importance. Let's focus on the things that are, now shall we?" Emma swallowed and fell silent. "Why, thank you," the sorceress commented pointedly. "Anyway, the mere existence of the Dark Curse froze me with fear... and I knew Regina was the one who was to cause me torment."
"Why?" Emma asked. "I mean, how did you know it wasn't someone else? I find it a little hard to think of Regina as anybody's closest friend."
Maleficent smiled; a sarcastic, sad smile – and for a moment, her eyes seemed to drift off into a distance far away, long ago maybe. "She was my only friend," she simply said.
Emma swallowed. "Regina said the same about you."
The moment of weakness was gone, and Maleficent straightened her back. "How touching," she snarled. "Anyway," she went on, "with the Dark Curse in the world and that prophecy threatening me, I knew I had to do something to save my..." she left the sentence hang unfinished in the air and cleared her throat. "So, I decided to cast a protection spell to prevent it from harm through the Dark Curse... or any other curse." She pressed her lips together and nodded, for a moment, her gaze lost in some faraway distance again. Emma wanted to ask what kind of protection spell that had been, but she didn't dare to interrupt the other woman's train of thoughts another time. After a few moments, Maleficent focused on her again. "I cast a spell that would be triggered by the Dark Curse," she went on. "My unicorn would be transformed into an inanimate object and hopefully not be transported to..." – she waved her hand in an all-encompassing way – "...this world."
Emma threw a quick sideways glance at Hook; he raised his eyebrows, and she slightly shook her head. They both had had the same thought, and also David was thinking about Gold's shop full of things that had been transported to Storybrooke despite them being inanimate objects. But there was no need to tell Maleficent that and upset her, maybe unnecessarily.
"But I don't understand," Emma threw in after a short hesitation, "how could you expect to... I don't know, find it again if you didn't know what kind of object it would transform to?"
Maleficent rolled her eyes at that much ignorance. This woman really didn't know much about magic yet. "Of course I had to determine the form it would take later already when I cast the spell," she explained impatiently.
Emma leaned a little forward. "And what form was that?" she wanted to know.
"Now that is the weird part," the sorceress told her slowly, and Emma suppressed an ironic snort. Really? "I had a vision," Maleficent continued, "an exact vision of what it should be like." Emma raised her eyebrows, but said nothing, although she badly wanted to shake the other woman in order to precipitate her tale a little. "A little glass figurine of a unicorn, with a long wrought horn and raised tail."
"Glass?" Hook echoed in a doubtful voice, speaking for the first time since Maleficent's transformation into human form. All eyes turned to him. "I'm sorry, Milady, but wasn't it a bit unwise to choose a form that could be so easily crushed?"
"I said I had a vision," Maleficent snarled, "you don't question a vision, pirate. You follow it."
Hook tilted his head and raised his hand in a soothing gesture; then, his attention was drawn to Emma and her father who exchanged meaningful glances. Maleficent had noticed it, too and frowned. "Swan?" Hook asked.
"What?" Maleficent inquired sharply. "Speak!"
"We've seen unicorns like you described," David said, and her head snapped around to him. "We put them up on a mobile and hung them above Emma's crib in the Enchanted Forest," he explained. "But that was before the curse was cast."
"So, hers can't be amongst them?" Hook asked.
"Wait," Emma threw in, "how many were there?"
"Twelve," David replied without hesitation.
Slowly, Emma shook her head. "But when we saw them in Gold's shop I counted thirteen."
"That's impossible," David contradicted. "I put them up myself, I would know the exact number."
"Believe me, there were thirteen," Emma insisted. "Because I thought you could have chosen a luckier number."
"Nonsense!" Maleficent interjected sharply and pointed her index finger at Emma like a knife. "Are you two trying to trick me? How would you know that if you've never slept in that crib?!"
"Because I saw them here, in Storybrooke!" Emma replied. "Many items have been brought over with the curse, hell, there's an entire shop full of that stuff!"
"If there are really thirteen figurines now," David added, "one must have been added, because I definitely put up only twelve. It must be yours." He nodded his head towards Maleficent.
"Prove it," she replied coldly and raised her chin at Emma. "Bring it here."
"You'll have the proof in less than half an hour," Emma promised and started to walk away in a hurry.
"Stop!" Maleficent hissed and pointed her staff threateningly at Emma who whirled around to her again, staring at her in surprise.
"But you said..."
"Not like that," the sorceress commanded. "Nobody's going anywhere."
She raised her hands in a clueless move. "But how am I supposed to..."
"You have magic," Maleficent replied and smiled a snake-like smile. "It's time you put it to good use."
Emma's jaw dropped. "But I can't..."
"Swan," Hook interrupted quietly and nudged her arm with his hook, "you can do it. You did it with my hook, you'll surely be able to do it with that tiny thing."
She whirled around to him. "But that was different!" She muttered under her breath, almost a little angry that he'd contradicted her. "Your hook was in the same room, and this is..."
But he wasn't going to hear her out; as usual, his confidence in her and her abilities had no bounds. "You – can – do it," he repeated and tilted his head in an encouraging nod. "Have faith in yourself."
"How cute," Maleficent remarked, a malicious smile curving her lips. "You better listen to your beau. Now."
Emma's wide-eyed stare wandered from Hook to David – who nodded at her, too – and finally rested on the sorceress' face who was watching her with probing eyes. She pressed her lips together and closed her eyes, concentrating hard... but on what, she didn't really know. Should she try to summon up all the unicorn figurines that were in Gold's shop? Or focus only on one of them? She wasn't even sure where in his shop Gold kept them. A slight wave of panic washed over her when she realized she had no idea what to do and how to do it... why hadn't she focused more on practising with Regina? But then suddenly she remembered what Gold had once said to her: "Stop thinking! Conjuring magic is not an intellectual endeavor... it's emotion. You must ask yourself "why am I doing this, who am I protecting?" Feel it!"
And she recalled how she'd already put that advice to use – when she'd snatched Henry from Zelena's stranglehold without even touching him, and before, in Neverland, when she'd made Neal's coconut work at Dark Hollow to capture Pan's shadow and save Hook. On both occasions, she hadn't concentrated on any technique at all – she'd been all raw and pure emotions, and all she'd focused on had been the urging and instinctive need to save her endangered loved ones, and suddenly her magic had worked all by itself. Nothing else was required now: she needed to help Maleficent in order to save her family and her home, and that was exactly what she directed all her thoughts, her feelings to.
Suddenly she felt a thrumming warmth at her hip, and her eyes popped open. It took her a few seconds to realize where the sensation originated from, and then she reached into the pocket of her leather jacket. Her jaw almost dropped to the floor when she felt the smooth, polished glass figurine in her hand. She pulled it out and held it wordlessly out at Maleficent on her open palm, not even hearing how Hook muttered under his breath: "That's a good lass."
Maleficent drew in a sharp breath and fixed her eyes almost longingly on the small object on Emma's hand. "Very impressive," she murmured, but didn't take the small glass figurine from her. "How do I know this is really the right one?"
"Because of the prophecy!" Emma replied. "Am I not the one to reunite you both?" She stretched out her arm almost impatiently.
"Oh yes," Maleficent retorted, "but it wasn't defined how. For all I know, this could be any of the other figurines you mentioned."
Emma couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Well, there's only one way to find out, right? You have to... to un-cast your original spell and transform in back into a real..." – she almost stumbled over the words because they seemed so absurd – "...a real unicorn."
Finally, the sorceress took the figurine from Emma with a tilt of her head. "That's exactly what I intend to do," she agreed. "But I can't do it here. I have to go home."
"What?!" Emma blurted out. "By home you mean...?"
"The Enchanted Forest," Maleficent confirmed Emma's suspicion.
"Bloody hell," Hook commented.
"But... but... why can't you do it here?" Emma inquired cluelessly. "You have your staff, you have your magic..."
Maleficent leaned a little forward in that menacing pose again. "I see you have still so much to learn about magic!" she sneered. "Do you think a spell that complicated is easy to perform? Or to reverse?" She shook her head. "I need several ingredients for that, and most of them can't be found here, in this world. I have them at my castle."
Emma threw her hands in the air. "But then we're busted!" she exclaimed. "We don't have any means to get there!"
Maleficent smiled. "Oh, but you do," she contradicted, and Emma gasped.
"What?!"
The sorceress nodded. "You're going to open a portal for me."
Emma shook her head in disbelief. "With all due respect, but..."
"This," Maleficent interrupted and held out her staff, "is one of the most powerful wands in all the realms, and it can be made work only by someone with the utmost power and strongest light magic."
"So?" Emma replied cluelessly. "Aren't you something like... the mistress of that wand?"
Maleficent nodded. "Indeed, I am. But let's just say that my ability to perform light magic... isn't that distinct."
Emma raised her hands. "But I'm not..."
"We're going to do it together," Maleficent said firmly and held her staff out in Emma's direction. "Take it."
She took a hesitant step nearer, but didn't reach out for the crooked, mighty staff. "Are you sure this is going to work?" she asked doubtfully.
"Take it!" Maleficent repeated in a commanding voice, and Emma threw a nervous glance over her shoulder, her eyes brushing over David and Hook and finally locking with his. Wordlessly, he nodded, and Emma drew a deep breath and slowly reached out with both hands. She wrapped her fingers around the rough wood, and immediately she felt a vibrating warmth flowing through her palms into the wood. Maleficent held on with both hands, too, and the bottom of the staff rested on the floor. It felt like the wood had come to life in her hands.
David and Hook were mesmerized while they watched what was happening; although they both had seen Emma perform magic before, this had to be the most impressive display by far. A glow emanated from the wood and seemed to envelop both women, a light that increased by the minute. And then, suddenly, the ground opened, and an abyss appeared, accompanied by an almost deafening swooshing sound. Both David and Hook held their breath; David had seen that kind of an open portal before, and it had been a traumatic experience when Mary Margaret and Emma had both fallen through. Hook, of course, had had the pleasure himself, and more than once.
Emma and Maleficent both stepped back from the vortex, while Emma let go of the staff. "And now?" she called.
Maleficent looked at the glass figurine in her hand. "Now we're going," she answered.
Emma could barely hide her relief; she really hoped that everything would work out for the sorceress. "How will I know if it worked?" she asked.
Maleficent looked at her and smiled. "Oh, you will," she replied and suddenly swung her staff in a wide, circular motion; Emma heard a strange, clattering sound, and out of the blue Hook and David were wrapped from shoulders to hips in iron chains.
"What the hell...?!" both men gasped in unison.
"Wait, what are you doing?!" Emma called.
Maleficent tilted her head. "Just taking a little pawn with me, to make sure you're not trying to cheat on me."
"I'm not!" Emma replied, panic in her voice. "Why would I? Let them go!"
"I will," Maleficent answered, "once I have the proof that you really brought me the right unicorn."
Emma jumped forward, but with one move of her hand, the sorceress had put up an invisible barrier, and it felt like Emma had bumped against a glass wall. She saw that Hook and David were struggling against the chains, but without any success. "No!" she exclaimed desperately. "Free them! I'm going with you instead!"
"Someone you love in exchange for someone I love," Maleficent declared firmly. "That's only fair."
Emma pounded against the invisible barrier with both her fists. "No!" she cried again. The abyss in the ground swooshed perilously, and she thought of the horror she'd felt when she had been dragged into the time portal only four days ago.
"If you have been honest with me," Maleficent said clearly, "you have nothing to fear. I solemnly swear I will send them back to you before night dawns again. If you lied to me..." she tilted her head, "...I will send back what's left of them."
"Swan better picked the right one," Hook muttered dryly under his breath to David.
"But how will you send them back?!" Emma yelled against the thundering wind. "This portal will close as soon as you've gone through, and you can't reopen it just like that!"
"I have my means," Maleficent assured. "I promise I will do what I said, and the Mistress of the Forbidden Forest has always kept her promises."
"We'll be alright, Emma!" David called, not wanting her to worry, although he wasn't that confident at all.
"We'll be back sooner than you know, Swan," Hook added.
Emma clenched her fists. "Wait!" she called. "I..."
"Enough time wasted," Maleficent declared and swung her staff again, and then everything happened fast. She and the men were swallowed by the abyss in the ground, and the invisible barrier vanished. Emma stumbled and fell, and within the blink of an eye, the ground was closed again and looked like it had never been open. The silence was deafening.
"No!" Emma yelled. "Killian! Dad!" But they were both gone.
She felt a strong hand on her arm, pulling her to her feet. When she looked up through tear-fogged eyes, she saw Robin who had dared to approach now. "They're gone!" she panted. "She took them!"
"I know," Robin replied in a soothing voice. "But I can assure you..."
"What?!" she almost yelled in desperation.
"From what I've heard, the Mistress of the Forbidden Forest did always keep her promises." He squeezed her shoulder in a reassuring way. "You have to go home to your mother and Regina."
"I can't!" she contradicted. "I have to wait for them! I..."
"I will stay here with my men until they return," he assured.
For a few moments, Emma just stared at him, then she looked at the spot where the portal had opened and closed again and nodded, like she was in some sort of trance. Her mother and Regina. They would know what to do. She wasn't alone any more, after all, and didn't have to deal with terrible things by herself.
Still, when she arrived at the apartment – it was about 4 am by then – she felt numbed with panic and despair. So, although she dreaded what she had to tell her mother, she was relieved to find both Mary Margaret and Regina awake at the kitchen table. For a moment she thought that this could have been funny if the occasion hadn't been that dramatic: the Evil Queen and Snow White having a pajama party. Emma suppressed a hysteric laughter. Her mother jumped up from her chair, while Regina just looked at her curiously.
"Emma!" Mary Margaret exclaimed. "What happened?"
"She took them," she replied tonelessly.
"What do you mean?" Mary Margaret asked in an alarmed voice.
"Hook and David," Emma said, "she took them with her."
"What?!" her mother's voice had a definitely shrill touch now. "Where?"
"What happened?" Regina asked in a firm voice while Mary Margaret unconsciously put a hand at her throat and swallowed thickly.
Emma turned to her. "I gave her the staff," she began mechanically, "she turned human. She told us what happened." Her voice sounded lifeless; she was still under shock. Although she was facing Regina, her gaze seemed to stare somewhere in the distance.
"Miss Swan!" Regina snapped her fingers in front of Emma's face, and her eyes became a little more focused. "And what was that?" she inquired. "What did Maleficent tell you about the unicorn?"
Emma slumped down on a chair, and Mary Margaret put wordlessly a steaming cup of tea in front of her. "She's cast a protection spell," Emma explained and sounded more like herself again. "The spell was to transform the unicorn into a lifeless object once the Dark Curse would hit. She hoped it wouldn't be transported to Storybrooke."
Regina leaned a little forward. "What kind of object?" she asked.
"She said she had a vision. A vision that told her to transform it into a small glass figurine of a unicorn..." – she turned to Mary Margaret – "...that looked exactly like the ones you put up over my crib."
"And where are they now?" Regina wanted to know.
"At Gold's shop," Mary Margaret answered for Emma, "all twelve of them."
Emma shook her head. "Thirteen, mom," she corrected. "There were thirteen of them."
Mary Margaret frowned. "But..."
"I know," Emma interrupted, "dad told me you put up only twelve. But there were thirteen." She looked at Regina. "I counted them." Mary Margaret turned her eyes to Regina, too.
"One of them must be Maleficent's unicorn then!" the former Evil Queen stated matter-of-factly.
Emma nodded. "That's what I thought. She made me get it."
"Get it? You went to Gold's shop?" Mary Margaret inquired. "But how..."
Emma shook her head. "She wouldn't let me."
While Mary Margaret answered only with a clueless frown, Regina's perfect mouth slowly curved into a secret little smile; if Emma hadn't known any better, she'd have said it was at least a little proud. "You used magic," Regina supposed. "Right?"
Emma looked at her like she still couldn't believe it herself. "Yes..."
"Did you fetch all of them, or just one?" her former enemy wanted to know.
"Just one."
"How did you know it was the right one?" Mary Margaret asked, but Regina waved her off.
"No," she contradicted, "the question is – how did you do it? How did you make it appear?"
"What difference does that make?" Emma's mother snapped.
"Answer the question, Miss Swan," Regina insisted grimly, ignoring Mary Margaret's remark. "We haven't trained things like that yet."
Emma shrugged. "I remembered something Gold once told me: he said that conjuring magic has to do with emotions rather than intellect. That I should concentrate on the goal and feel it."
"You can say about him what you want," Regina murmured, "but that old reptile indeed knows more about magic than anyone else." She scrutinized Emma closely. "So what did you concentrate on?"
Emma shrugged. "That I wanted to help Maleficent find her unicorn in order to save my family and my home."
A slight smile curled Regina's lips again. "Excellent."
"Wonderful," Mary Margaret snarled, "and I ask again: what difference does it make?"
Regina rolled her eyes. "It means that your daughter here," – she motioned her hand nonchalantly at Emma – "most likely managed to fetch not just any of those kitschy things but the right one." Mary Margaret's eyes widened, and Regina went on snarkily: "It means that her pirate and your charming husband are probably not in danger."
Emma flinched at the memory of the two men she loved the most being wrapped in chains and thrown into a portal that had transported them into another world. Regina's inquiry had fogged her memory for a moment. "Yeah, well... Maleficent wasn't so sure about that," she replied despondently. "She didn't trust me. Said she'd have to reverse the spell and that she couldn't do it here but had to go back to the Enchanted Forest."
"Easier said than done without a portal," Mary Margaret threw in.
"We opened one," Emma told them, and both women stared at her.
"You what?" Regina exclaimed. "How?!"
Emma raised her hands and looked at them, still cluelessly about what had happened not even an hour before. "She told me touch my hands to her staff. She held it, too. We did it together." She shrugged and looked up at her mother, then at Regina who were both staring at her openmouthedly. "A portal opened." The dreadful memory of the thundering sound of the open portal washed over her, and suddenly the panic and despair came back with all might. She looked at her mother. "She... she jumped into the portal, and I... couldn't, I mean..." she stumbled over her own words and fell silent, pressing a hand over her mouth, the memory of the utter helplessness she'd felt bringing tears to her eyes.
Mary Margaret felt cold, steely fingers tug at her heart when she realized that she had just been separated again from her husband, and that just wasn't fair, but seeing her daughter like that almost broke her heart. She forced herself to stay calm.
"Emma, look at me," she said firmly, "you couldn't do anything. We'll deal with it. Calm down."
Regina threw her a quick sideways glance; not for the first time, she couldn't help but be impressed with the strength of the younger woman. She recalled what Snow White had gone through in her life, how many times she had been confronted with the prospect of losing her home, her family, her True Love for ever – and how she had always managed to face these perils with courage and strength.
"Your mother is right," she told Emma almost curtly, "we'll deal with it. Tell us exactly what happened."
Emma ran her hands through her hair. "She wrapped them in chains and... blocked me somehow. I couldn't get to them." Her fear mixed with anger. "She wanted to take them as a pawn! She said as soon as she has reversed the spell and sees that I gave her the right unicorn, she'll send them back."
Mary Margaret's jaw dropped, and she shook her head in disbelief. "But how? She can't open a portal just like that, you know what lengths we had to go to get back home!"
Emma threw her hands in the air in exasperation. "She didn't tell me! She just said she had her means."
Mary Margaret ruffled her short hair now, mirroring Emma's earlier, almost desperate gesture. "Oh God. But what if..."
Regina raised her hands. "Listen to me!" she interjected in her impressive voice, throwing in all her regal authoritativeness. Both other women focused on her face. "Calm down," she went on firmly, looking first Mary Margaret, then Emma in the eyes. "I know two things about Maleficent: she always has something up her sleeve. So if she says she has her means to send your men back, I trust she has them." Emma and her mother exchanged a doubtful, worrisome glance. Regina added in an undeterred voice: "And – she never breaks a promise." She turned to Emma. "I'm fairly certain you gave her the right unicorn. She has no reason to hurt either David or Hook. She will send them back, like she said. And if she doesn't..." Mary Margaret's and Emma's heads both snapped up and turned to fix their eyes on Regina's. The former Evil Queen raised her chin. "We are going to find a way and take them back," she promised, her voice dead serious.
For a moment, silence hovered over the table, then Emma rubbed her hands over her face. "I need a moment," she murmured and rose from her chair, heading for the bathroom.
Mary Margaret's eyes followed her, but as soon as she had closed the door behind her, she addressed Regina. "If anything happens to David..."
"Nothing will happen to him!" the other woman interrupted her briskly.
"Oh, come on!" Mary Margaret blurted out. "Anything can happen. We both know the Enchanted Forest can be a very dangerous place, even without you in it." Despite herself, Regina couldn't help but smile a little at the sarcasm in her voice. "If David dies..."
"Don't even think that!" Regina snapped, her smile gone in the blink of an eye.
"If he dies," Mary Margaret insisted imperturbably, "you know what's going to happen." Regina drew a deep breath and looked away, refusing to answer her. "We share a heart. If he dies, I'm going to die as well," Emma's mother went on matter-of-factly, and Regina turned her eyes to her again, an almost angry expression on her face. Mary Margaret noticed her eyes were glittering suspiciously.
Regina drew a deep breath. "Don't be pathetic, Snow," she snarled, doing her best Evil-Queen-impression, "you're not going to die."
Mary Margaret felt tears prickle in the corners of her eyes. "You must be there for my children as if they were your own," she demanded firmly.
"Nonsense," Regina snapped.
"Regina, please," Mary Margaret urged. "Swear it to me!"
The former Evil Queen pressed her lips together and clenched her hands to fists. Then she told her step-daughter through gritted teeth: "You have my word."
The hard landing on the rigid stone floor stole all the air from their lungs for a second, and Hook and David actually had to gasp. Maleficent, of course, had landed graciously on her feet. With a snap of her fingers, the iron chains wrought around the men's bodies were gone.
A quick look around in the spacious hall where they had landed confirmed David's suspicion. "Your castle," he stated. The sorceress just tilted her head in response, her blonde curls moving like a waterfall.
"It always impresses me how accurately these portals work," Hook commented and was the first one to get to his feet, then he offered David his hand before he turned to Maleficent again. "So, what do we do next?" he asked.
"We don't do anything," she replied coolly and, with a quick but gracious move of her hand had a cubic iron cage appear out of nowhere that imprisoned the two men. "I go and try my luck with the spell. You two handsomes pray that your precious sweetheart hasn't led me on." And with that, she snapped her fingers and was gone.
"What a capturing nature," Hook remarked dryly, and David rolled his eyes. Grimly, he put his hands at the bars and rattled tentatively and ineffectively.
"I hope she can make that spell work," he commented and tilted his head, "and that Emma picked the right unicorn."
"I'm sure she did," Hook replied firmly, and David threw him an appreciative sideways glance, mixed with a little ruefulness. He realized that he couldn't recall one single occasion where he'd heard the pirate utter a shadow of doubt about Emma; he'd seen him always nothing but supportive of her. He could only imagine how important it was for his little lost girl to have someone like that in her life.
Hook noticed his stare and raised his eyebrows in question. "What is it, mate?"
David shook his head. "Nothing. I was just wondering..." he cleared his throat and quickly thought of something to say. "Ah... do you think there are still people here?" Hook frowned cluelessly, and he added: "I mean – normally, Regina's curse should have affected everybody in this realm."
"Oh..." Hook tilted his head in a shrug. "Well, definitely not every inhabitant of this realm is in Storybrooke. So I reckon a few are still here. I suppose you know about the protective sphere Cora had created against the Queen's curse. Those within its boundaries weren't affected by the curse."
"Among them you," David remarked pointedly.
"Aye," Hook sighed sheepishly and scratched behind his ear, "among them me." he wasn't so thrilled with the topic of the conversation and licked his lips a little nervously. "But honestly, I don't really care who else is around here." He threw a worried glance through the bars, but nothing indicated where Maleficent had gone or when she was about to return. "The only thing I care about is that you and me return safely to our fa-" he stopped himself when he realized what he'd been about to say and quickly covered up: "... to Storybrooke." He deliberately avoided David's gaze.
Emma's father had of coursed noticed what the other man had almost said. Our family. Suddenly it dawned on him that the pirate was as much a lost soul as Emma had been; he'd slowly got to understand what twenty-eight years of being alone, lost and unwanted had done to his daughter... he could only try to imagine how much three hundred years of being in the same situation must have done to Hook.
"And we will," David just replied firmly and gave him a determined nod.
Deep in the dungeon of the castle, Maleficent was working meticulously, thoroughly on her spell; in an antique silver basin, she was mixing ingredients – solid, liquid and powdered – following a mysterious, age-old ritual that included certain waves of her hands. From time to time she murmured words in a language so ancient not even she knew the origins of. In the meanwhile, the filigree glass figurine of a unicorn was placed on a midnight blue velvet cushion on the big wooden table; to the sorceress it seemed like it was watching her attentively.
"Almost there," she murmured after some time, "we're almost there." Then she drew a deep breath and reached into the fold of her gown. When she pulled her hand out and opened it, two shiny, opaque white objects were resting on her palm; their surface smooth and cool, their size like a finger's phalanx: magic beans. "Let's hope one will be enough," she sighed and put one of them into a stony mortar; the other one disappeared into the folds of her gown again.
Slowly, carefully, she started to pestle the magic bean; a faint green light emanated from the mortar vessel while she crushed the rare and invaluable object. Very few people knew – she wasn't even sure if anybody beside her knew – that magic beans could not only be used to travel between worlds; they could also be used to travel between conditions: inanimate and breathing; solid and disembodied. Of the three magic beans she had ever possessed in her life, she had used one to perform the first, the protection spell on her unicorn. The second one she was using now. For the sake of the two men caged upstairs in her hall, she hoped that one was enough to make the reverse spell work; otherwise she'd have to use up the last one – the one she'd intended to use to send them back to where they had come from. Maleficent really hoped that wouldn't be necessary – she fully intended to keep her promise, but she also was going to use all her means to bring back into life the thing she loved the most. If that meant the two men would be stuck here in the Enchanted Forest until she'd manage to find another way to send them back, then so be it.
When there was nothing left of the magic bean than a little pile of pearly, shimmering powder, she put the pounder aside and carried the mortar vessel over to the silver bowl where the magical substance was waiting for its last ingredient. Maleficent slowly poured the powder into the silver bowl; the faint green light vanished and mingled into something clearer, stronger... she drew another deep breath and took the midnight blue cushion with the glass unicorn, setting it carefully on the floor. Then she took the silver bowl and sat it right beside the cushion. After taking two steps back, she spread her arms like wings and raised them up in the air like when she'd been in her dragon form and about to soar, a long, long time ago, when she'd been free.
A thick, purple smoke rose from the silver bowl, crawled over the floor like it had a life of its own and crawled over the blue cushion, covering it up completely. Then, for a few moments, nothing happened, and Maleficent's heart sank. She was sure she'd been thwarted. But suddenly, the purple cloud swelled up higher and higher, and the sorceress clenched her hands to fists and stopped breathing.
Abruptly, the cloud evaporated. Maleficent put her hand over her mouth. "My God," she murmured.
They didn't know how much time had passed when finally, out of nowhere and surrounded by a cloud of purple dust, Maleficent materialized before their cage. Both men jumped to their feet expectantly. When the purple mist cleared, they saw a gorgeous brown unicorn standing at her side, watching them with a curious, unblinking stare.
"You were successful!" Hook commented, not able to keep the relief from his voice.
"I was indeed," the beautiful sorceress replied.
"So you'll let us go now?" David inquired.
She inclined her head gracefully. "Of course I will. I told you, the Mistress of the Forbidden Forest always keeps her promises." She raised her hand and held something up between her thumb and her index finger – small, shiny and well-known to both men.
"I'll be damned," Hook muttered under his breath.
"You have a magic bean?" David gasped incredulously.
She smiled almost triumphantly. "I also said I have my means," she reminded him.
Hook stretched out his hand through the iron bars of the cage. "Well, then, if you'd be so kind as to..."
"Ah, not so fast," Maleficent replied, much to their surprise, and snatched the magic bean away. "Before you go..." She reached with her other hand into the folds of her dress. David and Hook exchanged a frown. Then she reached out again and put something in Hook's still outstretched hand. "Give this to your beloved sheriff."
He took a closer look at the object, and David scrutinized it, too. It was a small silver figurine, beautifully crafted, and it clearly showed a horned dragon. Both men directed their questioning glances toward the sorceress.
"It's for her son," she explained almost curtly, "it will protect him. Tell her I'm indebted to her forever, and I won't forget that."
"Be sure we will," David promised almost solemnly. Hook nodded in agreement and, after a questioning look at Emma's father who gave him a short nod, tucked the small figure in the deep pocket of his leather coat.
Maleficent raised her chin in an almost cheerful way. "Now," she said, "are you ready to go home?" She presented the magic bean again, and this time she let it fall into Hook's open hand.
"I've done this only once, aboard the Jolly Roger," David murmured, unusually for him, a little nervously.
"Just imagine the place where you want to go," the sorceress told him lightly, "or, even better, think of the person you love the most and that you want to get back to your loved ones, and you will appear again right where you left."
"I just hope this works," David grumbled.
"It does," Hook replied. David looked at him, and he tilted his head with a grin. "I've done it before, and it works exactly like the lady said." Briefly, he thought of his journey to New York; all he'd done was to think of Emma, and he had practically materialized in front of her apartment door. Otherwise it would have been difficult to find her in a monstrous city like that.
Maleficent cleared her throat. "I'm sorry for any inconvenience caused," she commented in a voice that was not really apologetic, "but the last thirty years haven't exactly helped with my trust issues." A slightly sarcastic smile curved her full lips. "I had to be sure the sheriff wouldn't trick me, you'll understand that." And with that, she took a step back, the unicorn following closely, never leaving her side. She put a protective hand on its back.
Hook noticed the small gesture and the tenderness in the short sideways glance the woman directed at the animal, and suddenly it hit him like a ton of bricks. There's nothing more important than to save a child's life. It's for her son. It will protect him. He motioned his head towards the unicorn and said: "It's a child, isn't it?"
Maleficent just replied quietly: "Farewell, pirate. Charming." She tilted her head in a short goodbye and vanished as suddenly as she'd appeared; with her, also the unicorn and the iron cage were gone, and the men were left alone in the vast hall.
Hook held up his hand with the magic bean and winked at David. "Shall we, mate?"
Emma's father nodded. "Let's go home."
Hook carefully put the bean on the floor, and both men took a step back. Almost immediately, the stone floor disappeared, and a dangerously swooshing vortex opened once again.
"I hate this stuff," David growled.
The pirate hooked his metal attachment through David's elbow and replied to his questioning glance: "Just to be sure we end up at the same place, mate."
Then they jumped into the vortex. Just within the blink of an eye later, they landed roughly on the mossy ground of the forest. Their heads spinning for a little moment, both looked a little anxiously around, but then they saw already Robin and his men approach them with loud cheers. They looked at each other and laughed happily, slapping each other's shoulders.
"I'll be damned!" David exclaimed almost triumphantly.
"Told you it would work, mate," Hook commented.
Henry and Roland were zapping through the various television channels, while the three women were sitting around the kitchen table in front of an untouched breakfast, barely speaking and exchanging wary glances. Suddenly, Mary Margaret's phone beeped. All three women jumped from their seats simultaneously, and Mary Margaret grabbed the phone. She looked at it and then raised her eyes at Emma and Regina in a teary smile.
"It's David!" she gasped.
"Well, I suggest you answer it!" Regina snarled, and Emma pressed her hand over her mouth in a silent plea and closed her eyes for a moment. Please, please, let it be him, let them be okay. Let him come back to me.
"David?" Mary Margaret almost whispered into the phone; her voice was shaking uncontrollably. Without being aware of it, Regina clenched her hands to fists. She wasn't really worrying about Robin because he hadn't been abducted by Maleficent, but she'd found herself really caring about what happened to David and even the Savior's handless wonder. But her step-daughter's blissful face behind her tears told her all she needed to know. She closed her eyes in relief. "Thank God you're alright," Mary Margaret almost sobbed, "yes... oh yes, she's here."
She passed the phone to her daughter. "There's someone who wants to talk to you," she told her with a smile.
Emma snatched the phone from her mother's hand and pressed it to her ear. "Killian?"
"Swan?" Hook yelled. "Is that you?"
She almost jumped and had to hold the phone away from her ear for a moment; Regina rolled her eyes and Mary Margaret grinned when she heard David's muffled voice from the other end of the line: "She can hear you, for heaven's sake. There's no need to yell!"
Then Hook's voice again, only randomly toned down. "Swan?"
Emma laughed, and she, too, didn't bother to suppress her tears. "Yes, it's me. Are you okay?"
"Aye. Didn't I tell you I'd be back?"
Not even fifteen minutes later, Emma, Mary Margaret and Regina were impatiently waiting in front of the house, down in the street, the children with them – Roland was clinging to Regina's left hand, her right was resting on Henry's shoulder. Emma's hand was at the back of his neck, and Mary Margaret had baby Neal on her arm. Suddenly, Henry jumped forward to the curb, seeing David's jeep approach from far, followed by another car.
"There!" he exclaimed. "Grandpa's car! And Robin's!"
"Daddy!" Roland chimed in happily, and Regina looked fondly down on the little boy's brunette head. Emma wrapped her arm around her mother's waist and kissed her cheek.
Both cars stopped at the curb; David, Hook and Robin got out, obviously unharmed and unhurt. While David and Robin approached the waiting group of women and children right away, both all smiles, Hook stayed a little back and remained standing by David's car. Roland released Regina's hand and ran over to his father who lifted him up in the air; after only a short moment of hesitation, she followed with a completely unusual, beaming smile, and they embraced and kissed. Mary Margaret unceremoniously flew into David's arms, and Henry quickly followed. Emma went over to greet her father, too; but her eyes were fixed on the tall figure in black standing in the background, smiling over to her, patiently waiting – as if he had all the time in the world.
Emma saw him, and suddenly her heart felt so light and elated again. When she hugged David, he pressed a kiss to her temple but then released her quickly and motioned with his head to the pirate, fondly smiling at her. "Your man's over there," he told her quietly, "what are you waiting for?"
She gave her father a sheepish smile and stepped away from her parents and Henry who gave her a smile and an urging nod, too. Then she drew a deep breath and slowly started to walk over to David's car where Hook was still waiting, showing off his pirate pose from head to toe. He was leaning nonchalantly against the passenger's door, his long legs crossed, the hooked arm slightly bent at the elbow, and his ringed thumb hooked into his silver belt buckle. For once, Emma wasn't annoyed at the flutter of her stomach and the way her heart skipped a beat. She couldn't take her eyes off his face; his smile was light but still dazzling, and the fine lines around his amazing ocean blue eyes crinkled.
She tried deliberately not to run, because she simply wasn't the type for that; or, at least, that was what she'd thought, but automatically her steps became faster the more closely she approached him. When she had reached him, she stopped dead in her tracks for a moment, right in front of him, her hands dangling uselessly at her sides. He hadn't changed his position and didn't move now either, and their stares locked. Emma's heart was beating deafeningly loudly in her ears now when she suddenly realized what she'd feared all the time since she'd seen him vanish in that portal in the forest: that she might never see him again. And she knew with utter clarity, that would just have broken her for good this time, crushed her heart more cruelly and irrevocably than Regina could ever have.
Hook read all that on her face, and it made him happy to see all those strong emotions mirrored so clearly there. He'd also heard the tears of relief and happiness in her voice when they'd spoken on the telephone earlier. And what was the best of all this: obviously, her feelings, strong as they were, didn't seem to frighten her anymore. When she was making her way over to him, her pace becoming quicker, even hastier with every step, her beautiful green eyes were truly the mirrors of her soul. He remembered the day before, not even twenty-four hours ago, almost on the same spot, she had told him, finally said it out loud that she loved him, and he saw also that on her face. His relief to be back with her was overwhelming, and he had to suppress the urge to lunge forward to meet her and pull her in his arms; but he knew, Emma Swan wasn't the one for the grand gestures, especially not in front of all those other people, and so he didn't want to overdo it – there would be enough time for that later, in private. For him, it was enough to know what she felt; he didn't need a public display of it to be sure. So, he forced himself to stay exactly where he was and just winked at her.
"Hello, Swan." His smile was heart-stopping, and he tilted his head; his eyebrows twitched, and suddenly Emma just knew what he was going to say. "Did you miss me?"
And right there and then, in that moment, she didn't give a bilge rat's ass about who was looking on and if her tough facade crumbled to pieces right there at his feet. She threw her arms around his neck, and he'd have stumbled if there hadn't been the car in his back supporting him. Hook caught her in his arms with a surprised gasp; immediately, both her hands were entangled in his hair, and she pulled his face down to hers, pressing her forehead against his, her eyes wide open and boring into his. Her lips were slightly parted, but still unable to speak, while her eyes were telling everything, and more. Overwhelmed with the tenderness he felt for this woman and touched beyond anything by the fierceness of her emotions, he brought his hand to her head and combed gently through her hair, finally letting it rest on her jaw, his thumb caressing her cheekbone. She leaned her face lightly into his palm, and finally he saw the tension fall from her eyes, be washed away by the tears that were welling up; and even if her lips weren't smiling yet, her eyes were.
He swallowed thickly and murmured softly: "I take it this is a yes..."
Emma finally smiled with her teary eyes, all the gripping tension suddenly fallen from her heart, and because she didn't really have to say anything, instead of an answer she just stood on the balls of her feet and kissed him slowly, lightly on the lips. Maybe to answer his stupid, rhetorical question this time, maybe to prove to herself that he was real, that he had indeed come back to her. Hook was thrilled with her open display of affection in front of her family and friends; she didn't care at all who was looking on – she obviously just felt comfortable. When their lips parted, she brought both her hands to his waist and slipped them under his coat, wrapping her arms around him, snuggling closely into his chest and resting her head for a moment against his shoulder. She closed her eyes and finally relaxed into him, deeply breathing in his now so familiar scent; and she was amazed at how much that felt like coming home. He smiled into her hair and held her with his hooked arm, his hand still in her hair, cradling her head. Above the top of her head, for a moment he caught David's gaze who was enveloped in a very similar embrace with his wife. Emma's father gave his mate a barely perceptible nod. They approve.
Only audible for him, Emma murmured against the side of his throat: "Missed you."
Only audible for her, he replied quietly: "Told you I wasn't going anywhere."
Meanwhile, Mary Margaret slipped out of her husband's embrace and exclaimed excitedly, without addressing anyone in particular: "Let's celebrate this with a family dinner! Tonight at seven, I'm cooking!"
"That's a great idea!" Henry agreed and turned to Regina. "Isn't it?"
She bent a little forward to him. "Yes, Henry. I'll see you tomorrow then."
"But, mom?!" he protested. "You're coming too, aren't you?"
"You heard your... grandmother," she replied a little uneasily. "It's a family dinner. I..."
"You what, Regina?" Mary Margaret interjected, benevolent irony in her voice. "You don't do family?"
"Yes, why don't you go?" Robin suggested. "I owe my men a celebration anyway. We'll have a few pints, and later I'll meet you at your house, if you like."
Regina frowned. "But Roland..."
"Is welcome, too, of course," Mary Margaret said quickly and smiled at the little boy who was clutching his father's and the former Evil Queen's hand.
Regina looked at her almost grumpily. "At seven, you said?"
Mary Margaret nodded. "I'm making lasagna. It's my specialty."
Regina raised a sarcastic eyebrow. "Well, that's going to be interesting," she commented dryly, "as lasagna happens to be my specialty."
Mary Margaret shrugged with a carefree smile. "Fine, then next time you make it, and we can have a friendly competition."
"We'll see," Regina replied almost curtly, definitely determined not to show how much the invitation and the underlying message actually pleased her. "I'll bring dessert." And with that, she turned around, and she, Robin and the little boy walked away. Mary Margaret shook her head and smiled to herself. They had all come very far, without a doubt.
Nearby, after reveling for a few precious moments in their nearness, Hook remembered something and loosened his embrace a little. "Oh, before I forget..."
Emma stepped back from him reluctantly and looked at him with a question in her eyes while he reached into the pocket of his coat. "Maleficent sends you this." He held his hand out to her, a small silver figurine resting in his open palm. It looked very much like a little horned dragon. "She wants you to know that she won't forget she's indebted to you," he explained.
"Okay..." She took the small figurine from Hook's hand and looked at it closely. A token of thankfulness wasn't what she'd expected to receive. "It's..." – she shrugged a little cluelessly – "...pretty."
"It's for the lad," Hook went on, nodding his head towards Henry who was standing beside his grandparents, and when she frowned at him in question, he added: "She said it will protect him."
"Really?" Emma's voice sounded incredulous. "But... why would she be interested in Henry? Or want to protect him?"
He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head. "Perhaps she felt the need to reciprocate the favor."
"Reciprocate?" Emma echoed. "What do you mean?"
Hook swayed his head thoughtfully. "I'm fairly certain her unicorn is a child," he told her.
Her jaw almost dropped. "You think so? Why?"
He pursed his lips and cocked his head in that typical shrug of his. "Just a feeling. What she said to you about saving a child's life. The way she was looking at the unicorn."
Emma slowly nodded and scrutinized her lover closely. "You're quite perceptive, right?" she stated and looked at him in disbelief. "Is there anyone who's not an open book to you?" If one thing was for sure, then that Killian Jones would probably never cease to amaze her.
He grinned and smoothed her hair out with his hook. "You're the only open book I intend to read, Swan," he assured her and winked at her with that devilish, teasing twinkle in his eyes. "But you should know that I'm not only a naughty pirate, I'm also sensitive."
She smiled fondly and openly. "And don't I know that." Her tone was teasing, but he saw that she meant it, that she had recognized and acknowledged also that facet of him.
Hook scratched behind his ear and then motioned vaguely to the common departure mood; Regina and Robin were driving away in Robin's car, and Henry had already entered the house again. "Time for me to go back to my quarters," he said reluctantly, not really keen on leaving his Swan. "I need a bath, and also some rest, I admit."
Emma smiled eagerly and motioned to her yellow bug. "Want a lift?"
He smirked. "As much as I appreciate the offer..." – he hesitated for a moment and slowly ran his tongue along the inside of his bottom lip, but then he pulled himself together and went on: "I'd better walk, love." he tilted his head and raised his eyebrows suggestively. "We both know what will happen if you accompany me." Emma averted her eyes and blushed slightly when she thought of the last time she'd given him a lift to Granny's. "Today you should be with your family," he added softly; thoughtful and sensitive, as always, she thought. Some pirate. "Tomorrow we can..."
She hiked her eyes up to his again. "Tomorrow?" she echoed and pointed her thumb over her shoulder. "Didn't you hear my mother? She said dinner at seven!"
Secretly, Hook was pleased at the upset tone of her voice, her reluctance to let him go. "Aye, a family dinner," he specified and motioned his hand vaguely between himself and the Charmings. "I can't seem to recall that I was invited."
"You gotta be kidding me!" Emma huffed. "She invited Regina!"
He cocked his head in a shrug. "Well, Regina is..."
Suddenly, Mary Margaret addressed him directly from behind Emma: "Hook?"
Emma whirled around, and Hook's eyes flew to the princess; neither of them knew if she had overheard anything of their conversation. He raised his eyebrows in question. "Dinner at seven," Emma's mother informed him matter-of-factly, like it wasn't an invitation, but an order. Or, simply the statement of an obviousness: that he belonged at the family table. Emma didn't even try to hide the smile at her mother's words, and the barely perceptible crinkle around his stormy blue eyes warmed her heart. Mary Margaret added almost severely: "And be on time. I hate to keep the food warm." She threw him a sarcastic glance. "In other words – tick-tock."
He tilted his head slightly more than usual and swayed his right arm before him in that mocking imitation of a bow, smirking instead of a reply. Mary Margaret just shot him a glare and turned around, walking towards the house. Once more, Emma didn't really understand what was going on between her mother and her lover, but she saw that they both seemed to be okay with the bickering and sensed that it was backed by some sort of mutual understanding, so she was fine with it, too.
She smiled at Hook. "She likes you," she told him.
He just grinned, turned around and strutted away. After admiring his pirate swagger for a few moments, Emma smiled to herself and murmured: "Like mother, like daughter."
A/N:
So, Maleficent's story is told now, as far as this story is concerned. But let's see how the family dinner turns out... and what closure we need to find for our darlings.
A special big thank you this time to Silvia who has been so much more than the muse with this part of the story - I could never have made up the whole Maleficent background story without her help. We make quite the team!