She sat in the middle of the bed, with her arms around her knees. A warm shower had helped to soothe her, but she still felt as she always did - pulled and coming apart at the seams. As though her skin were stretched too tightly over her bones, excruciating and uncomfortable and unbearable.

She could have killed them all. And if she stayed, she probably would kill them all. Or they would be forced to kill her.

She was starting to think that death might be a relief.

She was so deep in her misery, that she didn't notice the shadow near the window, not until it began seeping in through the cracks and into her room, taking form. She raised her head from her knees and stared at him warily.

"Zeus."

"Pandora." He gave her a slight nod, his gaze sweeping her bare legs and the towel loosely wrapped around her body. Dora stiffened, pulling the ends more tightly around her and shifting her legs to the edge of the bed - as if she could flee. As if he couldn't stop her in an instant. What was the use?

"What do you want?" she asked listlessly.

He walked over to the bed, sitting down next to her. "I want what you want. I want you to have a fresh start."

That surprised her, and her face clearly showed it.

"You - you can free me? From the curse?"

"No." His voice was firm, but kind, and he reached out, stroking her hair back over her shoulder. "You always were the loveliest human," he murmured. "Aphrodite gifted you well."

"I have no need of your gifts," Dora said shortly. "They've only brought me misery."

"Hermes' gift got you here," he pointed out. "Travel between realms isn't something that mortals can do upon command. That very gift is what shielded you from my eye for the longest time. You move like a goddess, not a mortal."

"If you cannot help me, why are you here with me now? Your time with me is long over."

His eyes darkened. "It doesn't have to be. We could spend a lifetime together, you and I. I can see that you are taken care of. I can shield you from Hera and any in Olympus who would seek to harm you."

"Why?"

"What?" He looked confused. What mortal woman would refuse such an offer? This Storybrooke was a curious realm, indeed.

"I do not love you," she said. "Not anymore. And you never loved me. Why now?"

"Because we need each other," Zeus replied simply. He got to his feet, pacing the room. "Humankind has become jaded. They've outgrown us - at least in this realm. Perhaps it's time for Olympus to seek out friendlier pastures."

Dora looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"When I released you from Tartarus all those years ago, I expected you to wander until the box drew you to it," he explained. "I lost you for nearly thirty years. I thought perhaps you had been killed. Then you suddenly reappeared, and moved from that realm to this one, and in so doing, I found you again. Imagine my surprise when I realized where you'd come from."

"You've been to the other realm," Dora said. "You knew Rumplestiltskin."

"I did. And he is the very reason we never had more than a passing presence in that realm," Zeus growled. "Once he harnessed all the dark magic, he became a formidable foe who made it clear that he would never tolerate our presence there."

"And now that he's trapped here, you think to return to that realm?" Dora said, with understanding dawning in her eyes. "What makes you think they'll set their own gods aside and worship you?"

"You do." He gave her a winning smile. "You come back with me, to the other realm. I'll see that you are living in ease, secluded, and in return, I only ask that you take an occasional visit or a stroll with me from time to time."

"Raining discord and misery all around," she said venomously. "You think to use me to wear them down, and then the Gods of Olympus arrive to save them."

"Over and over again," he said. "Just like the old days. And it will be so much easier in that realm - they don't have the reliance on technology that these mortals have. They're much closer to the simple lives that suit us best."

Dora glared at him. "You mean lives that you can control!"

"Lives that we can enrich and ease, as the mood strikes us," he pointed out, with more than a little irritation. "We enjoy being benevolent, you know. Man will always find discord - you know this. But if the discord is directed, channeled - it can give them perspective. Make them appreciate the simple joys of life that much more."

"And this is how you justify your meddling in their lives?" Dora asked coldly. "In my life?"

He wagged a finger at her as he stepped closer, and he looked down at her as though she were an amusing little plaything. "You enjoyed our time together, as did I. Do I need to remind you? I can have you crying my name and promising me anything - and you know that I can."

She hastily stepped back. "Please. No."

His smile faded, and his gaze hardened. "You forget your place. You were made by the gods, to serve the gods. And like it or not - I am your only hope of peace in any part of your lifetime, now. I'll give you until the sun sets tomorrow to make your choice."

He vanished in a dark cloud of smoke, seeping back through the window. Dora stared vacantly at the wall as his words turned over in her mind.

"You're not my only hope of peace," she whispered. "You're not."

###

"This," Belle said, placing the heavy tome down on the table, "Is why I asked you all to meet me here. I think I may have found something helpful."

"Is it an ancient Greek dating guide that tells me how to get rid of a stalker god?" Emma asked sardonically.

"No," Belle said, raising her eyebrows. "But it is a record of a prophecy made by the Oracle at Delphi - and I think it has something to do with us. Look at this."

She flipped the pages in the book until she found what she was looking for, pushing the book toward Snow, who read:

In a time of broken boundaries, by the burning of the fire

He seeks to build an army; to burn the world upon a pyre

By the unleashing of its chaos, by the turning of the tide

Mankind will cry and tremble

And the walls will not divide

This truth I speak, this truth I know

Call upon the lost

For the truth to not be so

Return the balance, no longer alone

Lest mankind be enchained to a golden throne

"Well," observed Killian. "There's nothing like a bit of light reading."

"And you think this references...who, exactly?" David asked.

"Zeus." Emma stated flatly. "It has to be Zeus."

"We don't even know if it's really a real prophecy," Henry pointed out. "Remember how weird some of the myths were? And there were a bunch of different versions?"

"He's right," Belle said. "There were usually discrepancies in translations. Embellishments. But this prophecy?" She tapped her finger on the book. "This prophecy appears in three separate works, and translated in exactly the same context, give or take a word or two."

"Maybe the same guy wrote all three books?" Henry pointed out.

"That's just it," Belle said. "They were all from the Oracle at Delphi, but from three different oracles, across nearly a thousand years."

"Well, we certainly know who chaos is," David remarked. "And if the golden throne represents Zeus and Olympus..."

"Then he's here to raise an army," Snow said.

"With the box?" Emma asked. "If the box were that powerful, why would he ever have let it out of his sight in the first place?"

"Because the box is only for storage," Regina said. "He needs a facilitator."

"He's using Dora as his weapon," Snow said, her eyes growing wide. "Emma, didn't you say that he offered to take her away?"

"Yeah, and 'take' was the operative word," Emma said grimly. "He's not much on free will."

"I'd better go make sure she's all right," David said. He started to get to his feet, but Snow pulled him back down gently. "Why don't you sit this one out," she said. "I think she's too nervous around you, anyway."

"I can go," Henry offered.

"Absolutely not," Regina and Emma said at the same time. Regina shook her head emphatically. "Robin and I will go."

"Actually," Snow said, as she dialed her phone. "I have someone else in mind."

###

"All right there, Swan?"

Emma nodded, squeezing Killian's hand as he leaned against the doorframe to his room. "Sorry. Just have my mind on this prophecy thing."

"Really? I'd have thought by now you'd grown bored of villains and mayhem." He gave her a crooked smile that won a begrudging smile in return.

"Just another day in Storybrooke, I suppose," she said, moving into his arms as he pulled her closer. He kissed her lightly once, then again, for a bit longer, leaving his lips to hover just above hers.

"If you'd care to come in for a while, I promise to make you forget the mayhem."

"Now, see..." she said, leaning in to kiss him again. "That's what I like about you. You ask."

"I'll bloody well beg if you want me to," he quipped, and her answering smile lit up her face as he pulled her into the room and shut the door behind her.

It was a long time later, and they laid sprawled across the bed, Emma against Killian's chest with a shapely leg thrown over his, and his hand lightly caressing her backside with his other arm folded under his head.

"That just keeps getting better," Emma said, with a sigh and a stretch.

"It does," he agreed, turning his head to kiss her hair.

"And when you do that one thing with your tongue..." she shivered with the memory, and Killian couldn't help the satisfied smile that crept across his face.

"Would you like me to have another go at it? I'm sure the whiskers have only gotten more coarse..."

Emma arched and shuddered again, remembering just how it felt to have those whiskers lightly - ever so lightly - abrading her inner thighs. Her hand shifted from his chest downward to caress him, wringing a stretch and a shudder from him as well. She looked up at him with a catlike smile.

"I think I'm going to assert some free will," she said, shifting until she was astride him. She lowered herself slowly down, nearly purring with satisfaction as his eyes closed tight from the sensation.

He opened them again, the blue of them burning bright and full of promise.

"Did you really turn down a god for me?"

She made a rude noise. "Please. He's got nothing on you."

He looked so absurdly pleased to hear that, she almost laughed.

"Well, you did call out to a deity more than once," he said. "I suppose that puts me about equal."

She shook her head and began to move, slowly and sensuously.

"He's not even in your league," she said, rolling her hips and taking them both to heaven.