Thanks for the reviews so far This is a short chapter, just a quick look at how some others are dealing with the curse being broken. I always thought Jefferson and his issues about dealing with two separate lives intriguing and had wanted a little more about that with the other characters. Also I brought across some characters in this version of the curse that weren't in sb before. Apologies Dearies, no Rumple this chapter. But he'll be back in chapter 3!

Chapter 2: As the dust settles

Storybrooke, present day.

"So what do we do now?"

It was Red who had asked the question.

They were sitting around a table: Red, Granny, Archie, Snow and himself. Take away the electric lights and diner food and it was just like the old days in the Enchanted Forest when the war council met, David found himself musing. Except now he felt an uncertainty that he had never felt back then. Now, he had David Nolan lurking in his soul, a man who would much rather run from his problems than face them. He tried to force that part of him aside. He needed to be Prince David now.

"Leroy's keeping an eye on Regina at the station. She doesn't seem to have her magic back." Snow said.

She didn't have to voice the 'for now' for the others to hear it.

"Maybe we can get some squid ink from Rumplestillskin, just in case" Red suggested.

"That's an option," David said. If the man ever showed up. No one had seen him since the curse broke. The pawn shop was locked up tighter than Fort Knox and his cursed persona didn't have any friends so no one really knew his home address.

"She still needs to stand trial," Archie said.

"She already did," Granny chimed in. "We found her guilty in the Enchanted Forest remember? And then she got away. I say we make sure she doesn't this time. I say it's time to carry out the sentence." The older woman thumped on her cross bow for emphasis.

"We can't just execute her!" Snow replied horrified.

Granny narrowed her eyes and scowled. Before she could reply, David spoke up.

"Snow's right. She's still Henry's mom. And we made a promise. Besides, she cast the curse that brought us here so she may be able to take us back."

"Fat chance," Granny muttered.

"Well for now it's the only chance we have," Snow said, sounding exasperated. "I think we should adjourn for now until we have some new ideas."

With that the party broke up. Snow stood and walked out of the diner, leaving David behind. He had to run to catch up.

"Hey," he called to her. "Wait up."

"Sorry," she said, stopping and turning to face him. "I just needed some air."

"Hey," he said again, pulling her towards him. "It'll be okay. They're just…angry."

"I know…so am I. But it's not just them…it's Emma."

"What about Emma?"

"She wasn't home when I got up…"

"I know, she wanted to go out early and help the dwarves get everyone together…we need to know who's here."

"She's avoiding us, David. Since the curse broke and she realized who we are."

"Snow, it's going to take time…"

"Time? I waited twenty eight years to see my daughter again!"

"I know," he said, wrapping his arms around her. "But we can't rush this. She'll come to us, when she's ready."

Emma Swan walked towards the library. She didn't really have a reason to go there but she needed some time to herself and it was the only place that wasn't swarming with confused fairy tale characters. Ironically. Maybe she could retrieve her father's sword.

Her father. David. David who wasn't much older than her. And Mary Margaret. Her friend and roommate. Both people who she had come to know and trust. Both people who really didn't exist but were concoctions of a curse. Who they really were, Emma wasn't ready to deal with yet.

When she had been a little girl she'd imagined herself a princess. She'd read a book of fairytales and pretended that she wasn't an orphan but was really the daughter of a fairy queen, who had been spirited away by an evil fairy. She scoffed at the memory. If only she knew how close she had been to the truth. She should feel happy…finding her parents was what she had always wanted. But instead she just felt angry.

Pushing the library door open she entered and walked towards the elevator. She got in and descended down to the hidden level. Cautiously, she walked over to where the sword lay. Even without a dragon the cave beneath creeped her out.

"That's funny," she said aloud. She remembered the sword lying in a large pile of dragon ash when she left. But the ash was gone. The stone floor on which the sword lay was completely clean and there was no wind down here to account for it being blown away. Maybe magic dragon dust disappears on its own. Maybe, but the feeling in the pit of her stomach was telling her otherwise. Taking the sword she headed back into the lift. She had to go find David and Mary Margaret.

Dr. Hopper sat in his office and looked over his appointment book. His next patient wasn't till the next hour so he had some time to himself. A rare thing since the curse broke and people were coming to him to help them reconcile dual identities. It was easier for him than most, he supposed, because his own persona in this land was similar to his old self back home. Except he was taller here. And not an insect. But aside from that…

A knock at the door interrupted his musing.

"Come in," he called.

"Hi, Dr. Hopper. Or should I call you Dr. Cricket?" Henry Mills said brightly, as he walked in.

"Henry, hello. I didn't realize we had a session or that you still needed sessions with me considering you were right all along."

"We don't. I don't," the boy said smiling, "I just came by to say it's okay that you didn't believe me before. And to see how you were doing."

"Me?" Archie asked.

"Yeah, well I figure everyone will be coming to you since the curse broke, and that maybe you might need someone to talk to, you know, for you."

"Ah," Archie said, smiling. "I am actually quite well, but thank you Henry."

"You're welcome. Anyway I better be heading back to the diner or my mom will freak if she's back and I'm not there. See ya."

"Henry," Dr. Hopper said before the boy could exit. "How are you doing with all of this? With your mom…and other mom?"

"I…I'm okay." Henry said but his smile faltered.

"I'm here, if you need me. You know, for you."

"Thanks," the boy said and flashed a small smile before leaving.

The woman sat drinking alone. The phone rang but she ignored it. It wasn't Moira…Moira wanted to be alone. Unfortunately for whom ever was calling, she wanted to be left alone as well.

The answering machine activated.

'This is Michelle and this is Moira. We're not home right now. So leave a message after the tone.' The recorded voices said.

"Michelle. Mulan." She muttered the names. It all felt so confusing. She looked at the framed photographs on the mantle place. Two smiling woman stared back at her from various photographs, one raven haired and the other with fiery red curls. One showed them hiking in the woods, another dressed up for a New Year's eve party and another at the dojo and then the range. Smiling, holding hands, goofing around, kissing. Friends, lovers. And now…now they were strangers. To themselves and each other. She didn't even know Moira's real name. Or where she was now. She had been too upset to say anything before she left. Well, anything other than how their life had been a lie.

God, remembering hurt. Her head hurt. And her back. Her back worst of all. The skin over her tattoo felt like it was burning. Maybe her lucky dragon was waking up. Moira always said how life like it looked, like it would just burst out in a great ball of flame and smoke. And suddenly a memory flashed though her mind, hot and searing. Fire. Flames.

"Oh, God," she gasped as the pain in back intensified. She suddenly felt as though the skin was being ripped. Screaming she collapsed into blackness.

TBC