Author's note: Thanks sooo much for all the reviews! You have no idea how happy they make me. Anyway, finally finished all AP tests, so blew off all hw and speed finished this ch.

Chapter 4

The first thing Henry notices is the silence. The thick, encompassing silence that envelopes the entire room. He rolls over in bed, carefully sitting up. That's odd. Usually at this time the apartment would be filled with the sounds of his family: the clink of silverware, the crack and hiss of bacon in the frying pan, the gentle popping sounds of the coffeemaker.

It's not just the silence. The apartment has this odd air about it. It feels colder than usual, and as Henry walks downstairs, rubbing his sleepy eyes, vaguely unfriendly. Figuring that maybe they just forgot to turn on the heat, he heads into the kitchen. Expecting Mary Margaret to be there already, preparing breakfast, he is taken aback to find the kitchen empty.

Ok, no biggie. He reassures himself as he steps into the living room. Maybe everyone is just oversleeping, though that seems weird since his grandparents are always so punctual. He knocks on his grandparent's door, waiting for a response. But thirty seconds later, all is still silent. Henry then tries Emma's door, but gets the same silence.

"Mom?" He calls, searching through every room in the two story apartment. But he finds no one. There is no one in any of the bathrooms, kitchen, dining area, or living room. Henry even peeks into each bedroom. But no is there. The apartment is empty, silent, devoid of all life, save for him.

Everything seems different. It's as if the absence of his family has affected the entire apartment. The furniture seems tall and imposing; the normally friendly and warm apartment seems completely different.

His heart starts hammering. What if something happened to his family? They wouldn't just be gone like that. Still, he forces himself to ignore it, to push his fears to the back of his mind, as he begins his morning routine, brushing his teeth and washing his face, going through all the motions on autopilot. His stomach grumbles, already missing his grandmother's home cooked breakfasts, so he chokes down a granola bar. Vaguely, Henry is aware that there is something horribly wrong, but he convinces himself that his family has just left without him, no matter how strange that seems.

Grabbing his backpack from his bed, Henry stops to touch the picture above his bed, hoping that his suspicions will be proven wrong.


"What exactly do you mean by not here?" David says, his face still mere inches from Regina's. They are locked in a death stare, neither wanting to shift their gazes. In the background, David can hear Emma's angry shouts, peppered with colorful words, along with Mary Margaret's confused murmurs, but he pushes it to the back of his mind.

"Exactly what it sounds like." Regina answers.

"As in…back in Storybrooke?" David asks tentatively, already half knowing, half expecting the answer. Regina nods bitterly, and he steps back in shock and disbelief for about the millionth time that day, a wave of shock and nausea passes through him. First they were mysteriously transported here. And then came the revelation that nearly half the people have lost their memories. And now…this?

"Are you sure?" He asks, though it's glaringly obvious that Regina isn't lying.

The Evil Queen rolls her dark eyes. "Does it look like I'd lie about my son? I've been looking for him for the last three hours. He's not here and no one has seen him."

"What about Gold?" Mother Superior interjects.

"Him too." Regina nods. "Once I realized that Henry was missing I immediately called for Rumplestilskin, who I know by experience never fails to show up. But when he didn't…then I knew."

"This can't be happening." David mutters.

"Well it looks like it is." Regina snaps. "Figure out what to do, prince." She hisses angrily.

"Me?" David retorts. "Why me? You're the one with magic. Mix some potions together and send us home."

"Oh gee, if it was only that easy." Regina says sarcastically. "Potions have always been Gold's thing, and portals aren't easy to make. They require specific ingredients, ingredients that I have no means of procuring."

They continue to glare at each other, hatred coming off in waves through their heated stares.

"Stop!" Ruby waves her arms in a lame attempt to divert their attention. "We need to work together if we're gonna get back!"

"No way in hell I'm working with Prince Charming." Regina spits.

"Well it's your lucky day, cuz I feel the same about you, your Majesty." David counters.

"Look, if you wanna get back to Henry," Ruby turns to Regina. "And if you wanna help Emma and Mary Margaret, we don't have a choice. We have to work together." She reiterates.

Both Regina and David look as though they'd rather do anything but, though after a few heated seconds they nod begrudgingly.


As Neal watches Regina and David duke it out, he suddenly realizes with a guilty jolt that he's forgotten about one of the most important people in his life, his fiancée Tamara. He's been so distracted with trying to find Emma and Henry that he's let Tamara slip to the back of his mind. No doubt she's scared out of her mind right now, stuck in a strange land. He's freaked out enough, and he's from here. He cannot imagine how she's feeling right now, all alone, surrounded by strange people. It's probably similar to his first days in London, forced to steal in order to survive, trying to swallow back that gut wrenching feeling of loneliness and abandonment that clouded his eyes with tears every night for months.

Neal can't help but feel personally responsible for Henry's predicament. If only he'd kept a better eye on him. Does Henry even know why everyone's gone? As someone who knows how it feels to be abandoned, he wants nothing more than to start searching for his son immediately, though he knows that doing so would be futile. If Henry is truly stuck in Storybrooke (with his father, no less), then there is nothing he can do now.

He turns to Mother Superior. "Can you keep an eye on Emma?" He asks, knowing full well she'd run away as soon as he wasn't there to stop her. After all, running is one of the things she does best; no one knows about any possible dangers lying outside, and the last thing Neal wants is for Emma to get in some sort of trouble. "I have to find my fiancée." He mutters this last bit. Something inside him doesn't want Emma to find out about Tamara all over again.

Emma immediately begins to protest, just as he's expected. Some things never change. "What the hell are you talking about? I'm not a kid!" She shoots a glare at Mother Superior as she approaches. "You people are crazy!" Luckily, she doesn't seem to have heard him say fiancée. He doesn't know why he suddenly breathes a sigh of relief.

"Of course." Mother Superior answers.

"Great. Thanks." Neal nods. Vaguely, he wonders why the idea of finding Tamara seems so unappealing. He reassures himself that it just has to do with his worry over Henry's absence. Right?

He starts pushing his way through the crowd, keeping his eyes peeled for his fiancée. He notices that chaos is building, as more people are beginning to realize that some of their loved ones have lost their memories. He knows he should do something to help, but not before finding Tamara. He's left her alone for long enough.

He finds her finally. She is in a relatively empty corner of the cavernous room. She appears to be deep in conversation with someone wearing a brown coat. As the person turns, he catches a glimpse of his profile, and he sees that it's Greg. That random tourist.

Umm, what? Neal thinks as he approaches them. "Hey." His voice is hardened by what he recognizes as jealousy. What does he think he's doing with my fiancée?

"There you are." Tamara's voice is filled with relief as she embraces him.

"Sorry." Neal says, his eyes still on Greg. For a moment, it seems as though Greg's eyes flash with…envy? "I was just lost in the crowd for while." For some reason, he decides it wouldn't be a good idea to mention Emma.

"Where are we?" Tamara asks. "What happened? Is there what I think it is?"

"Tell you later." He says, not wanting to go into the whole magic discussion in front of Greg. "Is everything ok over here?"

"Yeah." Tamara answers. "I was just comforting him." She gestures at Greg. "I think he's lost his memory or something. I was walking around, trying to find you, when I come across him having a nervous breakdown. And I couldn't just leave him like that."

"Of course." Neal nods as his worries immediately dissolve. That makes sense. Tamara has always had this compassionate side, which is one of the reasons he fell in love with her. In the time Neal has known Tamara, she has never been able to resist helping people in need, whether they are friends or complete strangers.

He turns to Greg, who he notices for the first time is shaking like a leaf. "Hey man, you ok?"

"Where are we?" Greg is looking around frantically. "What is this place?"

Neal doesn't answer, for the answer would give away the whole magic thing that everyone is fighting so hard to hide. "What's the last thing you remember?" He asks tentatively, wondering how he can explain mysteriously being transported to the Enchanted Forest without giving anything away.

"Crashing my car." Greg answers. "I-I was texting, and I look down for a moment. The next thing I know, there's someone in front of my car, and everything's black. And then I woke up here."

Luckily, Emma has filled him in about Greg's arrival in town and how it'd started with him hitting Hook with his car. If this is truly what Greg remembers, it means that his memory has been affected too. Relief fills Neal as he contemplates this new piece of information, which makes explaining things a lot easier.

"Y-you were in a coma." Neal begins carefully. Everything hinges on what he says next. If Greg finds out about magic, all hell will be unleashed once a way back to Storybrooke is found. "The car crash caused brain damage and you were in a coma for a while." He can feel the weight of Tamara's stare, but he cannot stop to explain now. "While you were out, there was a…a hurricane. It completely destroyed the town. I take it that you've just woken up." He improvises.

"Ok…" Greg still looks confused. "So where are we now?"

"Where are we now?" Good question. "Umm…this is Storybrooke's church. The sturdiest building in town. When the hurricane struck, we were told to come here for protection. It's the only building left standing."

"How long have I been out?"

"Several…months." Neal guesstimates. "Yeah. Brain damage can do that to ya." He says sympathetically.

"Well, I seem to be ok. How soon till I can leave?"

"You can't." Neal says a little too fast. "Everything is completely destroyed or blocked by fallen debris. The roads, the buildings. It's not safe out there. We were told to stay here for the time being." He says, for it is imperative that Greg does not venture out of the castle. The moment he does, he'd realize right away that this is in fact not Storybrooke. Heart pounding, he hopes that Greg believes his rather thin cover story.

Greg nods slowly. "Ok." He says uncertainly.

"Come on." He starts to lead Greg towards David and the others. "We should talk to the sheriff about putting you in, er I meant back in, the hospital wing." He motions for Tamara to follow him, mouthing that he'd explain everything later. "The doctor should probably check you out."


"So it's agreed then?" David says, pacing around anxiously. The roar of the crowd is growing louder with every passing moment. Any second now, they will have an angry mob in front of them, demanding answers.

Regina nods, her choppy black hair bouncing up and down. "It's the only thing I can think of."

"What if it doesn't work?" David asks worriedly.

"Well, it's got to." Regina snaps petulantly, dark eyes flashing with traces of irritation and fear. "Otherwise we're screwed."

Just then, Neal comes up, Tamara's arm looped through his. He is pulling Greg, who appears to be dazed, by the arm, leading them towards David, Regina, and the others. Tamara seems to be comforting Greg, patting his arm soothingly. David does a double take at this strange sight, as does Regina. Since when do Tamara and Greg know each other? Even weirder is the fact that Neal seems to be entirely unbothered.

"We need to take Mr. Mendel back to the hospital wing." Neal begins, his eyes meeting David's, silently telling him to play along. "Tamara found him wandering around and it looks like he's woken up from his coma."

"Yes." David says slowly. "His coma."

"I think we should have the doctor check him out." Neal shoots him a warning glare. David shrugs as if to say, sorry, I was never a good liar.

"Well, good luck finding Whale in this mess." David replies.

"Here, I'll take him." Ruby offers, and she walks away, leading Greg through the crowd. As soon as they are out of earshot, David immediately turns to Neal. "All right. Explain. Coma?"

"I told him there was a hurricane and we've taken refuge at the church." Neal quickly explains.

"Hurricane?" Regina smirks. "Like he's gonna believe that."

"Looks like he did." Neal argues. "He says the last thing he remembers is the car crash. So I told him that he was in a coma and while he was out there was a hurricane."

"That's the thinnest lie I've ever heard." Regina mocks, her voice dripping with icy sarcasm. Neal glares at her and opens his mouth to argue, but David holds up his hand, effectively stopping him.

"If our plan works, that won't matter." David reminds Regina. "It's good enough for the time being. We have bigger issues at hand." He gestures at the approaching crowd. People are advancing towards them, fury etched on their faces.

Clearing his throat, he waves his arms in the air, trying to catch everyone's attention. "Everybody! Settle down!"

"My wife lost all her Storybrooke memories!" Someone calls.

"So did my kids!"

"What's going on?!"

"Regina! It's got to be her!"

"Settle down!" David shouts again. "I know that some of your loved ones have lost their memories! Believe me, I know how you feel. Emma and Mary Margaret have forgotten too. But we must not panic, for that would only make things worse."

The chaos grows again.

"How could things be any worse?" Someone grumbles.

Well, you could discover that your grandson is back in Storybrooke. David thinks wryly. "I get that this is frustrating. Really, I do. We are trying to do everything we can." Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Regina raise her hands.

"Ready?" He mouths to Regina, who nods curtly.

David keeps talking, mostly in attempt to distract the crowd as a puff of purple emerges from Regina's raised hands. Her face is scrunched up in fierce concentration as the purple cloud shoots out, spreading around the room, reaching the corners, bathing the room in purple. Confused shouts and cries fill the room.

"What's going on?!"

"Treachery!"

"It's Regina!"

"I can't see anything!"

"Help!"

"Mom! Where are you?!"

David crosses his fingers as the room continues to fill with purple. All he can do is hope that Regina's magic is strong enough to reverse the side effects of whatever transported everyone back to the Enchanted Forest. He cannot imagine life where his daughter does not know him, or where his wife is missing 28 years worth of memories. He tries to look back to see where Mary Margaret is; the last time he saw her she was talking to Archie, who had been attempting to calm her down. But the fog is too heavy; he can barely see three feet in front of him.

Slowly, the purple clears. Things are slowly growing into focus, and people are standing up, uncovering their faces, bringing their arms down from around their heads.

Regina, is staring intently at the crowd, trying to see if her magic had any effect. They'd planned to gather everyone and distract them while Regina channeled her magic and casted a spell to try and counter whatever is causing some people's memory loss. It was the only thing they thought of that had a possibility of working. What made it harder is that the memory loss is scattered; some people are affected while others aren't. Regina wasn't sure whether casting a blanket spell over everybody would have an additional effect, but at this point they were willing to try anything.

At first, Regina didn't even know why she bothered to help David. As far as she's concerned, her only priority is to find a way back to Storybrooke. Back to Henry. She still has magic, and can easily abandon all these people and go in search of a portal all on her own. But there is this part of her, a small part that is sick of being alone. She's been alone most of her life, isolated, hated, feared. She can't bring herself to admit it, but for the first time in her life she wants to be a part of something.

David and Regina side glance at each other, not daring to say anything. Their eyes meet, and both are wondering whether or not it worked. Whether or not everyone regained their memories.

"What happened?" Someone blinks in confusion.

"What was that?"

Before chaos can spread again, David quickly starts to address everyone. "I'm sorry for any fear we might have caused, but we were trying to see if Regina's magic could help those who have lost their memories regain them."

Murmurs are heard throughout the crowd as understanding spreads and people begin to talk with one another, trying to see if the spell worked. David leans forward, his heart pounding with trepidation. If this has worked, he'd be the happiest person on Earth. Right now, he doesn't even care that he's in a crisis. All he wants is his family back.

A sinking feeling slowly grows inside as the crowd grows restless again. Voices are rising quickly and fights are beginning to break out. He meets Regina's eyes again, and she shakes her head.

It hadn't worked. And now everyone is angrier than before.


Like he does every morning, Gold limps over to the hospital, bouquet of flowers clutched in one hand, cane in the other. The streets seem to be emptier than usual, but he thinks nothing of it as he step-thumps down the sidewalk, being careful to avoid the uneven grooves. It's fairly early, and Storybrooke isn't exactly known for being heavily populated.

It's a cloudy day, pretty typical of Storybrooke. Light mist drizzles down, slowly darkening the gray sidewalk. Gold tightens his grip on his cane, continuing his trek to the hospital. Cloudy days are her favorite type of weather; even back in the Enchanted Forest, she's always marveled at how cozy a cloudy day made everything, and how it added a layer of mystery. He remembers how he's scoffed at her, mocking her, quipping that nobody liked cloudy days. A pang of longing throbs deep inside as he recalls her cheerful smile and casual shrug. How even on his worst days, she's never failed to cheer him up.

And that's why he needs her so badly. She's the one person left who cares about him. He's found his son, yes, but he knows how badly he's screwed up with Baelfire. His son wants nothing to do with him anymore. He might have come back to Storybrooke, but Gold is dead certain that it has to do with Henry and not him.

There is still a small flame of hope inside. Hope that one day, he'll walk through that doorway into her room, and her face will light up with recognition. That his love for her will be enough for her to remember. He's tried everything, from various spells to charming the chipped cup. But nothing has worked. The magic of the curse (that he designed, he recalls bitterly) is much stronger than he remembers.

He limps through the automatic doors of the hospital. A rush of warm air greets him, a welcome change from the chilly morning air. As he crosses towards the elevator, something feels off. Gold slowly looks around, doing a double take as he becomes conscious of the fact that the hospital lobby is weirdly empty. Usually there is some perky receptionist at the front desk, greeting him, without fail, each and every morning in her annoyingly cheerful way. But she's gone. In fact, everyone's gone.

Gold looks at the clock: 8:15 am, a time in which the hospital is normally heavily crowded. Where is everybody? He limps from room to room, banging open doors with his cane, but each and every room is empty. It's as if everyone simply…vanished.

No. He thinks as a thought suddenly occurs to him. He takes off at a sprint for her room, vaguely surprised that he's still able to travel this fast, cripple that he is, praying the whole way that he's wrong. That he'd merely hallucinated the empty lobby. He reaches her room, stopping short at the sight of the empty bed.

Anger and grief course through him as he slowly comes to the realization that she's gone as a result of his actions.


He is lying in what appears to be a makeshift hospital wing. In its past life, this room was probably some sort of guest room, judging by its grand décor. Red wallpaper lines the walls, and a gold chandelier swings from the center of the ceiling. He can tell that it was once beautiful, but over time it has been rendered into a mere shell of its former glory.

He turns his head to the side, holding up his wrist to his face as he glances at his watch. 2 minutes to midnight. Slowly, he swings his legs over the side of this crude thing that Ruby and Whale called a bed, and stands up, unfolding his long limbs. Being careful not to make a sound, he tiptoes out of the room and down the hall, looking from side to side, keeping an eye out for others as he approaches their meeting place.

His heart is pounding so loud it's surely audible. Squinting in the dark, he keeps his eyes peeled for her, looking for the familiar shape of her dark hair. Suddenly, a pair of hands wraps themselves around his eyes. He jumps, nearly crying out.

"Shhh…" Her voice whispers, tickling his ear. Slowly, he relaxes as he recognizes her voice and her touch. "It's just me."

"Tamara." Greg spins around, roughly pressing his lips against hers. "Don't do that again." He gasps for air.

"Sorry." She whispers, her lips on his neck, her hands running themselves down his chest. It's all he can do to stop from moaning aloud. "God, I've wanted to do this all day."

"It was so hard, pretending." Greg says, enjoying the feel of her hands.

"Even harder acting like I loved Neal." Tamara replies. She seems keen to touch as much of him as possible.

Greg stiffens at the sound of Neal, but says nothing. They have limited time together, and he does not want to spend it fighting.

"But it'll all be worth it in the end." She whispers in his ear. "And then we can finally be together."

Just then, they hear a creak, followed by light footsteps coming down the hall. Greg and Tamara reluctantly break apart. Neither of them want to leave, but it is imperative they are not caught. They enjoy one last, lingering kiss before parting ways. Tamara looks back one last time. The lust on her face is gone, replaced by a mask of seriousness.

"Tomorrow, we commence stage 1."

Author's note: Ooohh, what do you think that means? Review to find out!