Emma Swan and Henry Mills were walking down a gravel road through the Australian country side. Henry was holding his big book of fairy tales close to his chest concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. Emma watched him, her hands stuffed in her pocket, feeling guilty. This was no life for a ten-year old boy, constantly on the run, sleeping in bars and stealing from strangers. He should be in school with friends, playing sports and starting to notice girls.

Emma was a fugitive. A year ago Henry had shown up on her door, claiming to be the child she gave up for adoption nine years earlier. Emma had resisted at first, sending him back to his sociopathic mom, but keeping in touch with the boy. She had said, at first, she just wanted to be sure he was happy. Once she got to know him she couldn't stay away. Regina had informed Emma, near Henry's tenth birthday, that she and Henry would be moving and would not be sending a forwarding address, making Emma spring into action. It was impulsive and rash and selfish, but she stole him away in the middle of the night.

That had been a year ago. Henry would be eleven soon and they would still be running. Henry would spend his whole life on the run, missing key experiences, first kisses, dates, loves. Emma was starting to think turning herself in was the best course of action. Even if Regina was awful, she was stable and Henry deserved that.

A truck driving down the road stopped, an elderly man rolling down the window. "You two need a ride some place?"

Henry automatically shook his head; he had learned not to trust strangers."No thanks," Emma said, smiling.

"I can't let you and the boy walk. Come on, I insist."

Emma looked at Henry's hopeful face. He was clearly tired and it seemed cruel to make him keep walking.

"Sure," she said, opening the door for Henry to climb in. She followed behind him, taking one last quick look around. They would be fine for now, but they weren't staying. They never could.

"What we heard on that transmission stays between us," David said after a long, punctuated silence. Nicholas snorted and turned to head back to camp, clearly uninterested in anything David had to say. Archie moved to follow him but David caught up quickly, effectively stopping them both.

"We make a pact, for now, not to tell them."

"And why would I agree to that?"

"It would take away their hope," Belle said softly, wishing she could be on the beach with everyone else now, blissful in her ignorance.

Nicholas stared at her for a long moment before making a decision. "Whatever you say, Charming. You're the leader." Nicholas stepped around David and went back to walking. Everyone else nodded in agreement and followed. This time Belle dragged behind, too lost in her thoughts to try and make conversation with these strangers. They were going to die here if no rescue ever came. Die, surrounded by people they didn't know, on a polar bear infested island.

Halfway back to the beach Archie spoke up for the first time, jolting Belle out of her melancholy."What will we do with the gun?"

Belle paused, having forgotten that she had it. She didn't like how all eyes turned to her.

"What's wrong with Belle holding onto it?" Jefferson asked tersely, his stance becoming defensive.

"Uh, because we know nothing about her," Ruby interjected. "How do we know she's not the prisoner?"

"I'm not the prisoner," Belle said quickly.

"Belle was sitting next to me on the plane, she's not the prisoner," David spoke in her defense. Belle took the gun out and moved to hand it to David but Nicholas stopped her.

"Oh no you don't, dearie. You hold on to that."

"How can we know she's trustworthy?" Archie asked. The whole conversation was making Belle slightly miserable. She didn't want any of this.

"She's a librarian, not a member of Hells Angels!" Jefferson said angrily. "We can't trust anyone but I'd rather the librarian have the gun than the stuttering ginger, superficial sun bather, or psychotic Scotsman. No offense." He tacked on the last bit with a wide, fake smile. The mood was tense for a moment before Nicholas began chuckling.

"None taken."

"Belle keeps the gun," David said, his tone final.

"Smartest thing you've said," Nicholas said, his tone still light. Belle shifted her weight nervously and followed after him when he began walking to the beach.

"Why did you want me to keep the gun?" She asked, falling into step with the man. He shot her a sideways glance and Belle felt like he had a measure of her.

"Don't get excited, you are merely the best option out of this collection of morons."

It was insulting and rude, and she didn't know why it made her laugh. It surprised them both, Nicholas jumping slightly and Belle clamping her hand over her mouth. They didn't say anything else, and Belle didn't consider Nicholas a friend by any stretch of the imagination but she liked him a little better than she had before they left.

Emma and Henry had stayed with the farmer, Max, for the last three months. Max had insisted Emma and Henry stay for the night, and then the next, and then had offered her a job working on his farm. He paid her well and it offered Henry some stability at least for the time being. Emma wanted to save enough money to get them out of Australia and on to somewhere else. She had enough now so it was time to go. Part of her regretted this decision, Henry had become very close to the aging farmer, but they had already stayed too long. People were looking for them and staying any longer made it easier for them to be found.

She snuck into the house once everyone was in bed to retrieve the money she kept hidden in a coffee can in the pantry. It was all there, enough money for a plane ticket to Europe and food and lodging for a month if they were careful.

"Leaving?" Max's voice startled Emma. She clutched the money guiltily in her hand, unsure of what to say.

"I, uh," she said eloquently.

"I had hoped you would at least tell me good-bye, Katie."

Katie. Emma flinched at the lie, her guilt threatening to overwhelm her. Everything she had told Max had been a lie, starting with her name.

"I'm sorry," Emma hung her head, wishing he hadn't caught her.

"Won't you at least let me drive you and Josh to the train station tomorrow morning?"

Emma shook her head no. Something in her gut was telling her it was time to leave now. "You don't have to do that, we'll be fine walking."

"Katie, it is too late to make little Josh walk to the train. Let me drive you. Do this for an old man."

She still felt uneasy which she chocked up to a year on the run. Max had proven himself to be trustworthy. Henry didn't need to walk, Max was right about that. Emma nodded yes and allowed the man to hug her. Max was the kindest man she had ever met. Someday, she decided, as she climbed the stairs to her room, she would find a way to repay him.

Something was very wrong when they got back to the beach. The doctor was waiting for them, his face grim.

"How did it go?" He asked. Nicholas scoffed and walked off and Archie and Ruby went in the other direction. Emma, who had been mostly silent, found her son, leaving Belle with Sean, Jefferson, and the doctor.

"Good," David lied moaning met their ears. Everyone who hadn't been on the beach earlier paused, listening to the agonizing noise coming out of another human being.

"I found the U.S. Marshal. He's alive, but only just...and he wants to speak to you."

Belle and Jefferson walked back to where they had slept, leaving David with the doctor.

"Looks like we're going to find out who those handcuffs belong to," Jefferson commented, plopping down in the sand.

"Who do you think it is?" Belle asked her eyes sweeping over the castaways quickly.

"Honestly, my bet is on Gold."

"Really?" Belle didn't agree with that. It was true that Nicholas had been nothing but antagonistic from the moment they crashed, but she got the feeling that was his actual personality. She looked at Jefferson again, noting the thin scar starting to form on his neck from the injury he had sustained in the crash. Could he be the prisoner?

"Well, he's hiding something, at any rate," Jefferson was watching the Scot again carefully.

"Aren't we all?" It was more of an off-hand comment than anything else but it gave her Jefferson's full attention. He regarded her carefully, his eyes thoughtful.

"I suppose so."

"He's going to tell them," Henry was anxiously filling his mother in on the events that had transpired since she left. The U.S. Marshal was awake and talking. The doctor, Peter, had quarantined him from everyone else once it became clear that the man was dying and in excruciating pain. They had used a tarp and piece of the plane wreckage to make a little room where no one could see the man, but it didn't block out the noise.

Henry had watched the entire thing with a sense of building horror, especially when the doctor had spent a long time in the room with the dying marshal. Emma looked towards the room, also nervous. She didn't want to find out what would happen when everyone found out she was the one the handcuffs belonged to, especially if the Marshal told David and the doctor just what exactly her crimes were.

"It's going to be okay," Emma reassured him. She and Henry were skilled runners. Worst case scenario, they'd leave the group of survivors and make camp somewhere else. No one was coming for them, her only saving grace now.

"No it won't! They'll arrest you and send me back and I don't want to go!" Henry's voice was elevating to a dangerous level. Ashley, the pregnant girl, and Ruby, both looked over at them curiously. Emma dropped to her knee in front of Henry.

"No, they won't. I promise they won't but you need to calm down, okay?"

Henry nodded and took several deep breaths. It was cruel, but the marshal was going to die, sooner rather than later if his moans were any indication. If he told David and the doctor, Emma would explain and hope they told no one else. If no one was coming for them, then this was Emma's chance at a fresh start. No more running, because there was nowhere else to go.

The drive was quiet. Henry was sulking in between her and Max as Emma stared out the window. This is why she didn't stay anywhere this long. She was going to miss him and Henry would miss him more.

She snapped to attention when a black SUV caught up with them. She wondered if it was her deep-seated paranoia that made her worry until she saw Max nervously checking his rear view mirror. Something was wrong. Next to her, Henry wiggled in his seat, trying to get a better look at the car without appearing to do so. The black SUV suddenly swerved into the opposite lane, pulling up next to the passenger side of the truck. Emma looked over and saw the U.S. Marshal that had been chasing her for the last year, Matthew Hordor, roll down his window. Her stomach dropped as she watched the man form a gun with his thumb and index finger and pretend to shoot her.

The SUV dropped back behind them as an oncoming car approached. "How long have you known?" Emma asked, feeling both defeated and betrayed. If they had left the night before, like she wanted to, none of this would be happening.

"A week," Max said. To his credit, he looked miserable. "Your picture was in the post office."

"How much were they offering?" Emma asked shrewdly.

"A hundred thousand."

Emma wanted to plead with him, but there was no point. Hordor was here and he was going to take her boy. It was over. She'd be thrown in prison and Regina would take Henry away from her forever.

"I'm really sorry, Josh...or...Henry, I guess," Max said.

Henry nodded.

"So am I." Before anyone could react, Henry grabbed the steering wheel and yanked hard, causing the truck to veer sharply off the road. The SUV behind clipped them, sending the truck tumbling down a steep hill.

"Henry!" Emma screamed the moment they stopped tumbling. The truck was smoking and she could smell gas. "Henry!"

"I'm fine Mom," Henry responded. He had a cut under on his forehead but otherwise appeared to be fine.

Emma breathed a sigh of relief and shimmied out of the broken window, pulling Henry out after her. The boy immediately began to run through the brush but Emma paused. Max was still inside the truck, unconscious

"What are you doing?" Henry demanded, watching him Mom go to the other side of the truck and begin pulling the man out. Henry groaned when he saw a beaten up Hordor rushing down the hill alone. He reached Emma right as she had Max's body safely out of the smoking truck.

Hordor punched Emma once for good measure before clamping the handcuffs on her wrist

"Why did you do that?" Hordor asked in her ear. "You would have escaped if you left him there."

Emma didn't respond but her blue eyes flashed angrily. She saved him because he had been good to her and Henry, and he deserved to live. Hordor hauled her to her feet once he had secured Henry.

"Let's get you two back home."

It was night fall and everyone was gathered around the fire, whispering. The Marshal was moaning again, loudly. The doctor was sitting outside the tent with his head in his hands.

"This is ridiculous," Ruby complained without compassion. "That man needs medicine."

"And where do you propose we get that from, princess?" Nicholas snapped. The dying U.S. Marshal was bad for morale as everyone knew it could easily be them next in that tent, dying a slow, agonizing death. Belle shifted further from Jefferson, uncomfortable with the thought.

David, who had been inside the tent, came out with a somber face. Belle watched as he whispered something to Emma and then led her to the tent. Belle herself got up after making sure the gun was safely hidden in her carry-on bag that she had found earlier in the wreckage. She needed a moment of walked into the tent with Henry at her feet. "You should let her do this alone," David said, stopping Henry. Henry looked to Emma, who nodded, and stayed. Inside Emma found Hordor lying under a thin sheet, sweating profusely. There was an unfamiliar smell of something putrid and rotting and realized that it must be coming from him.

His dark eyes were open and blood-shot but focused on her.

"Come here," he coughed. Emma hesitated for the briefest of moments before going to his side. "I have to ask you something."

"Okay," she said once she was close.

"Why did you save his life? Why not keep running? He turned you in," Hordor coughed violently through his question, blood staining his lips. It was becoming too much for Emma.

"Because he took care of us," she said simply. She rose to get up but Hordor caught her wrist with surprising force.

"Kill me. Please."

Tears stung at Emma's eyes as she tried to keep it together. "I can't. I'm sorry."

She yanked her wrist out of his grasp and fled, running into David on her way out.

"Emma, wait," he said. She quickly wiped away her tears.

"What?"

He handed her a folded up white piece of paper. When she unfolded it she saw a picture of her with her listed crimes underneath.

"Do you want to know what I did?" She asked, but David shook his head no.

"Everyone here gets a clean start. Even you."

She nodded a thank you, tears threatening to overwhelm her, and walked off. As she moved past Archie and Ruby, Ruby called out to her.

"What did he want?"

Emma couldn't tell her the truth so she responded, "He wanted me to kill him."

Belle thought she was alone. She had practically run down the beach until she was a far enough distance from the moaning. She stepped into the warm water and closed her eyes, letting the noise the ocean made fill her senses.

"Nice night for a swim."

Belle spun so fast she lost her bearing and fell backwards in the water. Immediately strong arms grabbed her and lifted her out of the water. Another swell washed around them and they fell onto the sand.

"I didn't mean to startle you," Nicholas Gold said, looking down at her. Belle half choked, half laughed at his surprise as she pushed her wet hair out of her face.

"It's okay."

His hair was wet, too, as was his clothing. "Sorry, I followed you. The noises that man makes..." Nicholas tried to look indifferent but even in the dark Belle could tell he was just as bothered by it.

"Yeah. Just needed some quiet." Nicholas nodded and for a moment they sat there until a gun shot rang through the air. Belle jumped up, scared half to death, Nick staring at her wide-eyed.

"Belle, where is the gun?"

"I left it back at camp," she said. He groaned and the two ran towards camp. When they got there they found a terrified looking Archie holding the gun while the doctor shouted, "Well you missed! You pierced his lung; it will take hours before he bleeds out!"

"I was trying to end his suffering," Archie said miserably. Belle moved towards the red-head but Nick caught her hand, holding her in place. She felt bad for Archie but Nick clearly didn't. Nick looked horrified and angry.

"You don't need to associate with him. Not tonight."

The doctor went into the tent and Archie dropped the gun which David picked up. Belle and Nick separated, and she joined Jefferson back at their spot.

Neither of them said anything but she felt strangely comforted just being next to him.

Moments later the moaning stopped and the doctor walked out looking grim, tears running down his face.

"He's dead" he said, walking away. Jefferson put a hand on Belle's arm, both looking at a crying Archie. Though the doctor never said what he had to do, everyone knew.

They all knew at any point they could be next.