Emily was still looking for a way out permanently. She knew of Cerberus. Her grandmother, Hercules, and Meg had defeated it together, but Hades kept reviving it because it was his faithful pet. She knew that they all hit the heads at the same time, but it took three people and that was a problem. She was only one person and she was not advanced enough to duplicate herself. Her grandmother might have some hints as to how she could pull this off, but she needed to hear from Snow what she is really facing.

In the castle, Snow was still lingering outside the throne room door. She was still internally debating as to going in or not. She was about to leave when Regina's voice broke the silence. "Snow, get in here now. I know you heard everything and you can't hide from me. Also, where is Emma?"

Snow entered at last. She looked at Regina and made sure she was stable before speaking. "Yes, I heard everything. I didn't want to ruin your happiness by entering. Emma is in Emily's room and she is sleeping. I don't know exactly what is going on because I only heard your response. Also, I found this, well technically Emma found it."

Snow handed over the painting and the note to Regina. She could see that Regina was hesitant on taking whatever it was, but she finally did. She looked over at the beautiful painting and was about to speak when Snow gestured to the letter. Regina opened it and she looked like she was about to cry. "When did she do this?"

"When you were gone, she would sneak off to remote places in the kingdom. She was too fast to catch and we didn't want to anger her. She apparently inherited your sense of style and she is amazing."

"She is. She definitely is."

"Will you please tell me what is going on? I want to be able to help her leave that horrible place. You saw what happened when we were all together. What about her when she is alone?"

"She thinks she can trick someone and get back here, but she needs a magical object. She needs to use the same magic my sister used on Robin. The issue at hand is, she has to get it off of Cerberus."

"Wait, but I killed him when we were there with Herc and Meg."

"Do you really think that Hades would not want to revive his pet?"

"Good point. She needs to kill all three heads at once or she will be attacked by the others."

"That is the problem. Cora has been helping her with magic, but she isn't advanced enough to even start with a duplication spell. I need to find a cheat that she can use."

"We can focus on that later. Right now, Emma needs you."

"What happened?"

"She is fine for now, but she has been trying very hard to keep it together for you, that she is emotionally drained. She is the rock for you, but she hasn't been able to grieve for your daughter that you share. She needs support and I can't be that for her because I can't comfort my daughter when I don't know how. She needs someone that she connects with and no one is better that her wife. I found her in Emily's room and she is the reason I found this painting. There are so many more sketches that she wanted to show you and I think you and Emma could both benefit from that. Go to Emma and help her."

"I didn't realize. How could I have not considered that? I need to get to her."

"Go to Emily's. Go to your family and never let go. You said to me that we didn't need Mary-Margret, we needed Snow White. Well, we don't need the Queen, we need Regina Mills. The wife, the mother, the resilient heart. That is who we need to help your daughter."

Regina rushed out of the room. She practically ran down the hall, but remembered she had magic. She just teleported to the room and she saw Emma. Her wife was curled into a ball, with tear stains on her pale skin. Regina climbed into bed behind her wife and just embraced the woman that managed to keep it together for her. Emma didn't stir much, but she did lean back into the warm embrace. Regina kissed Emma's forehead and fell asleep.

Emily was still pondering in the Underworld about Cerberus. She could try to throw three fireballs or three arrows at the heads, but that gets tricky when it comes to finding it. She has to find it, fight it, and win it. She isn't that well-versed in multiple objects at once. She still needs help with her powers, but the mix of dark and light magic in her weakens her with each spell. The sides fight when she uses magic and she gets over tired. She isn't ready to face any magical beings for the time being. She just went back to the books for some more spells that could help her. She really wasn't wanting to stay there forever, but she has to honor the deal for now. She went through the books and found nothing. Everything was either too advanced or too draining.

She just decided to get some sleep. More pretentious work on finding a loophole. She was just exhausted from all the magic training, but managed to hide it from Cora. She couldn't show weakness, especially not to her all-powerful and scary as hell grandmother. She hit the pillow and was immediately taken by sleep. Her dreams are usually peaceful, but every once in a while she would be plagued with her fears, as well as the fears of her family. She was in the dreamscape again and was walking around. She loved all the bright colors that appeared, but it felt different. It usually was happy, but she felt hate and...darkness. She walked some more and then she saw it. The speck of darkness in the light.

"Hello, dear."

"What are you?"

"My, what a rude question. I can't believe you don't recognize yourself."

The dark matter transformed into a showdow version of Emily. "See. I am the part you supress. Your desire and your hate. I am all the things you know you can't have."

"I have everything I want."

"Not a family. They can't love you. You are something they got rid of that sadly found its way back into their lives."

"That isn't true. We know that they don't hate me."

"True. They all don't hate you, but the one person you want to love you doesn't. She hates what you did. She hates they you caused her pain. You brought her pain."

"I did it to protect her."

"You can keep telling yourself that. Is that what you still say about Amelia?"

Emily stood still. She didn't have a response and also didn't want to. She had not heard that name in a long time. "You are not allowed to say her name."

"Did I hurt your feelings? Well you are doing the same thing you did all those years ago. And to your best friend."

"I had to help her. She was being mocked and ridiculed because of me. Just leave me alone."

"Don't you see. I am you. You know there are different dimensions. I am you when you are ambitious and outgoing. You have everything you want. We are one in the same and I will never leave."

"That isn't possible. You would have caused in imbalance in the worlds. You could cause chaos."

"That isn't true. I am the good side that keeps everyone happy and safe and free from pain. You are the sad little creature that nobody wanted. Can't you see. I am a better you and that means I can do what I want."

"You can't have control over me. I am not you."

"Oh, but you are. And after I'm done here, I will finally be the most powerful being in the universe. You should really be thanking me. I am going to make you great." The darkness jumped into Emily and it hurt like a bitch. Emily screamed in agony. It was as if her soul was being ripped into pieces. Her whole being was being seperated. She was being suppressed. She fought the inner workings of her brain, but nothing stopped until she finally gave out. The darkness had won and now it was her dominant side. This new person heard someone calling for her.

"Time for me to try out my new toy." Then she left the dreamscape and woke to see a paniced Cora.

"Emily, I heard you scream. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Who's Amelia?"

"She was an old friend I had when growing up. We were inseperable and it was great. We bonded like sisters, but I pushed her away because people were harrassing her because she was friends with the lowly orphan that wan't loved. I said some horrible things and I haven't seen her since. She was an amazing person and I wasn't going to stand in the way of that anymore. I was thinking that I have been doing a similar thing to Regina. I want to protect her, so I sent her away. That doesn't make me a bad person, does it?"

"No, dear. Of course not. Get some sleep. We can talk in the morning."

"Okay. Night."

Cora left the room. The new Emily sighed in relief. Either I'm really good at rricking people or she is dumber than my mother. Well, I guess both could be possible. Hades is going to love that I was able to trick the Queen of Hearts into caring for darkness. Emily smirked at her own thoughts. She wanted to pay the poor man a visit, so she used her new combinded powers and teleported to Hades. He was in his weird-ass throne and was sitting there with the worst smirk she had ever seen.

"Emily, I thought our deal was clear. Your life, for your mother. There is no loophole."

"Oh, but I found one. You see, Emily said it was her life, but I am not the same Emily. I am the new version that is much better, so I don't have to stay in this hellhole."

"That isn't true. Nothing enters my domain without my knowledge."

"They do in dreams. So, as you can see, I am not the Emily that made that ridiculous deal, so I am going to go and I might send you a gift. Have a nice day, Hades." Before a response could be spoken, Emily had teleported herself back to the castle grounds. I guess my home is better here. Why in the world would I want to give this up? She started to walk around the rim of the barrier. She was hoping to alert someone of her presence, but nothing happened. She just went into the castle grounds and walked among the garden. It was quite nice with all the fruit. She found this splendid apple tree and took one of the fruits. She went into the castle and everyone bowed at her presence. I could get used to castle life. Taking over this world will be easy. No...it...won't. I can see you're finally up and awake. You can see what power I really have. Maybe I should start with your mother. She seemed like she really missed you. Don't you dare...hurt...her. You are growing weak, sweetie. Being the host can do that. Now take a nice long nap. I will see you later.

This new version walked the hallways liked she knew them by heart. She was searching for the rulers of the kingdom when she ran into someone. She couldn't see in the dark, but she felt a huge welt forming on her forehead. She grunted a little at having her face marked, but saw that she was meant to run into this person. Her skin was almost glowing in the dark because of how white it is. Her hair is as black as ebony and her lips as red as blood. Snow White.

"Emily? Is it you?"

"Hi."