Hello, my darling readers. I apologize for the tardiness of this update (you know I'm usually pretty good with this stuff). The truth is, my father is here spending the holidays with me, and he lives nearly two thousand miles away, so that doesn't happen often. He's also in his late seventies, so every Christmas we get together is doubly precious. I trust you'll forgive if I spend more time laughing with my Dad than opening a laptop.
I do plan to wind this fic up around the New Year, though, or shortly thereafter. We've still got some more story to tell and more people to save from themselves, so let's get that rolling, shall we?
Emma woke up to find Killian propped up on one elbow, smiling down at her, and it occurred to her fleetingly that this wasn't a bad way to wake up. Not at all.
"What?" she mumbled self-consciously. "Did I drool in my sleep or something?" she ran a hand over her face, rubbing at her eyes.
"No. You look lovely. I'm quite content to sit here and just look."
She smiled a sleepy half-smile. "You're not too hard on the eyes, either, you know."
"I know." He gave her a cocky grin.
She turned her head to look out the window. "What time is it? It's still gray outside."
"It's early. You can sleep some more, if you'd like." He laid down, facing her. "And I'll try not to stare."
"Really?" Emma rolled her eyes. "It's not like a grew another nose overnight. Still the same old me."
He shook his head. "No you're not. You're the woman who shared my bed last night."
She raised her brows. "I would imagine you've met a lot of those."
"They weren't you." He said it simply, but the heat in his eyes seemed to travel straight down her body, sending her blood coursing through her veins. She slid her arms around his neck as he leaned in, but he barely touched his lip to hers when a knock sounded at the door.
"Emma?" Robin's voice sounded from the other side.
She glared at the door. "Yeah, just a minute!" she called out.
"I'm going to head down to breakfast - have you seen Killian?"
"I know where he is. I- I'll get him and we'll meet you down there!"
"So much for our morning," Killian said, with a good deal of grumpiness.
"You can shower first," she offered magnanimously.
"Care to join me?" He lifted a brow, giving her his most devious, flirtatious smile, and she very nearly caved.
"If I join you, Robin will have to meet us for lunch," she smirked.
"I like that plan."
"Me, too," she said, and they looked at each other for a long, charged moment before Emma let out a sigh.
"Come on," she said. "Might as well get moving." She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stretched with a groan. "If I can even move, that is."
And if she hadn't been so busy staring at his backside, she would have seen the thoroughly smug look on the face of one devilishly handsome pirate.
###
They walked down the street after breakfast in the bright morning sunlight, heading toward the town library.
"You're in a gratingly good mood this morning," Robin said, nudging Killian.
"Am I?" Killian turned his head, smiling widely.
"You were grinning like a simpleton all through breakfast," Robin observed.
"Of course he's happy," Emma said innocuously. "It's a beautiful day."
"Everyone we know is missing, confused, or both," Robin pointed out, reaching for the library door. "I fail to see how that makes for a beautiful day."
Emma paused in the doorway, reaching out to touch Robin's arm. "Hey, we're going to find Roland. And Henry. We'll find them all."
Robin's eyes were tight, but he managed a nod. Emma stepped inside, blinking a moment as her eyes adjusted to the light.
"Hello?" she called out. "Rumple - uh - Rufus? You around?"
"Over here," Rumple called out. "I was in the back making some new book covers." He held up a crochet hook, with a half-worked design hanging from it, trailing yarn.
"O...kay," Emma said, raising her brows and looking over at Killian. "We were wondering if you might have a certain book."
Rumple smiled gesturing at the shelves. "It's all about books here. Do you have a title?"
"Once Upon A Time," answered Robin. "Its a very large book of fairy tales."
"Doesn't sound familiar," Rumple said, laying his crochet down on a nearby cart. "We can check over in mythology and folklore." He motioned for Robin to follow him, and they walked off between the shelves.
"Let's check over this way," Emma suggested. "That book has a habit of just appearing. I think we should search the room."
"Good idea," Killian said, grinning.
Emma lowered her voice and pulled him off to the side. "Will you cut that out?"
"What?" He looked at her, baffled.
"All the smiling. You really are going overboard, here."
"Can't help myself, love," he reached out, pulling her into him. "I waited a long time for last night."
Her face softened. "Yeah, so did I."
"Ah, but I've got centuries on you, Swan. Centuries."
She closed her eyes as he dropped a gentle kiss on her lips.
"All the same," she sighed, "It's a bit much. You were even singing in the shower."
"I always sing when I bathe," he said, still smiling. "Consider it an added bonus."
"I'll keep that in mind," she smirked. "Now let's find that book."
She reached for the nearest stack of books, pulling them off one by one and working her way through. Killian moved over to the shelf, his fingers tracing the spines as he walked down the aisle. Emma finished her cart and headed down the next aisle, nearly bumping into Rumple again.
"Oh, sorry!" Emma stepped back.
Rumple smiled. "It seems we're destined to run into each other, Miss...?"
"Swan," Emma replied. "Just call me Emma."
Rumple froze for a solid ten seconds, and Emma watched him warily.
"Rufus? Is something wrong?"
"There are several things wrong, here," Rumple said. "The least of which is that my name is no longer Rufus."
Realization dawned on Emma's face. "You remember."
"Indeed. Thanks to a failsafe from the original curse. Your name is enchanted. It's brought my memories back."
"Robin, Killian!" Emma called out. A moment later, Killian's face appeared around the corner of the bookshelf, and Robin came running around from the other end.
"What's amiss?" Killian looked alarmed.
"Have you found the book?" Robin asked.
"No," Emma replied. "Rumplestiltskin's back to normal."
Rumple held up a hand. "Not quite, Miss Swan."
"You said my name enchanted your memories back."
"And so it did," he agreed. "But I'm afraid that's all it brought me. Wherever we are, whatever is going on - I seem to have no magic at my disposal. None at all." He waved his hand through the air, and nothing happened. His eyes briefly landed on Killian - who was staring at him intently - before they shifted away.
"Why didn't you go back to normal?" Emma asked.
"Perhaps you'd better fill me in on what you know, Miss Swan."
Emma nodded, motioning him over to a table nearby, where they all took a seat.
"Here's the deal," Emma said, folding her hands in front of her on the table. "Nearly two weeks ago, we all suddenly woke up thrown into various places, and with no memory of our former lives."
"Yet we retained much of who we were," Killian added.
"And Killian was spared entirely," Robin pointed out. "How is that? I never did ask."
"I was holding a piece of the deck from the Jolly Roger - a bit of a memento. It was my talisman, obviously, but I believe I survived the worst of it because the Jolly was made from enchanted wood."
"That's right," Emma said, remembering. "We sent you to get it."
"Yes," Rumple said, musing. He steepled his fingers together. "George went after the magical compass, then most likely collected the ash from the enchanted tree that brought you to Storybrooke as a baby. Yet when we went to collect some of the ash to try to trace where he took the rest, there was none to be found."
"So you sent Killian for his piece of enchanted wood," Robin said.
"And that's when it happened," Emma finished. "George got thrown to the Enchanted Forest, which is at the bottom of a beanstalk. Storybrooke is at the top, everyone's turned around, and George must've lost the compass when he was tossed around because he's looking for it again."
"And who did George end up becoming?" Rumple asked.
"He's himself," Emma said. "Just like Killian."
"If he was holding the ash, that would make sense," Robin theorized. "He would have had the same protection as Killian. We found the wheelbarrow he'd been using."
"The one he'd procured from Mr. Smee," Killian filled in, "Along with a shovel."
"Miss Swan - did you say they'd found something suspicious at the docks?" Rumple asked. "You got a call as we were waiting for the captain."
"Yeah," Emma said, wrinkling her brow. "It was Henry. He was down at the docks and he found a big pile of - " she stopped, her eyes growing wide. "Of ash. A big pile of ash. Right in the middle of the dock. He was telling me about it and then...we all got thrown to wherever."
"Why at the dock?" Robin asked, confused. "My men saw him in the north woods."
Rumple sucked in a breath and leaned back in his chair. "Oh, George..." he murmured. "What have you done?"
"What?" Emma asked warily. "You think you know what happened?"
Rumple pushed himself to his feet and paced over to the window, holding his hand up to touch the pane. "The whole town..." he said quietly.
Emma got up from her chair. "Come on, spill it. What the hell happened?"
Rumple turned slowly from the window. "What happened is that our good friend George is a rank amateur. This is why you leave magic to the people who actually practice."
"What's that supposed to mean?" she prodded.
"George obviously sought to recreate the portal that brought you and your mother back to Storybrooke. Unfortunately for George, and for us, he wasn't content to take himself back to the Enchanted Forest. He sought to move the entire town."
"He tried to move an entire town through a portal?" Killian asked incredulously. "Is that even possible?"
"Of course it is," Rumple admonished. "But only if you have a powerful enough catalyst."
"Like the ash from a magical, enchanted tree," Emma said.
"No," Rumple folded his arms. "To move an entire town, you'd need a forest of enchanted trees. Or at the very least, several dozen, with the ash spread in a solid, unbroken line around the town. Robin and his men saw George in the North woods. Henry found ash at the docks which are - "
"East." Killian finished. "The docks border the town on the east."
"And I've no doubt he set piles to the south and west. Four piles of ash, thinking he was creating a line of sorts. Then he took the last handful of ash, and the compass, and tried to create the portal in the wishing well, expecting it to suck the entire town in after him."
"It worked on some of us," Robin said. "Killian, Emma and I were thrown to the other realm, though we hardly expected to find Storybrooke at the top of a beanstalk."
"Strange things happen when magic is improperly enacted, particularly something as strong as portal magic."
"You think you can undo it?" Emma asked.
"That would depend on two things," Rumple said. "First, we need to find out where we are."
"We're in Storybrooke," she reminded him.
"Not entirely. Storybrooke doesn't exist like this," Rumple explained. "It can't exist like this. Neither can the Enchanted Forest, for that matter."
Emma raised both brows. "So...where are we...exactly?"
"Between."
"Between? What the hell does that mean?"
"It means, Miss Swan, that we are neither place. Not really. Our worlds have been merged, and when that happened, we became encapsulated, as though in a magical 'bubble' of sorts. Wherever we are, we aren't where we think we are. We need to discover exactly where that is."
"And how do we go about doing that?" Killian asked.
"I would say that our best hope is to go after George, and to find that compass. If we can locate some enchanted wood, we can possibly reverse what George did, once we have all the information to do so."
"You said there were two things you needed to undo this," Emma said. "What's the other thing?"
"Well, Miss Swan, I'll need my magic. And yours, and Regina's. To reverse something this catastrophically botched, we'll need all of us. We can find Regina and get her back to herself, but I'm not there yet. I may have my memories, but I haven't touched my true talisman yet. To do that, I'll need to find my counterpart, and I'm willing to bet, he won't want to give that dagger up any more than I would have."
"No, he won't," Emma said. "In my alternate persona, I've had some dealings with him. He makes you look like a cream puff."
"And he is...?"
Emma's voice was flat. "My father."
Rumple's eyes widened infinitesimally. "Well. That's certainly unexpected," he commented dryly. "And I don't suppose his sword is in my shop?"
Emma turned to Killian. "Did you see it?"
"I didn't think to look. It's possible."
"Or it could be back in the Enchanted Forest," Robin brought up. "We have to go there anyway."
"And luckily for you, I can speed that journey up a bit," Rumple said, walking over to the elevator doors and turning the crank to open them. "This elevator drops down - "
"I know - into the caves," Emma said. "I've been there, remember?"
"Not this elevator," Rumple said. "It takes you directly to woods, just outside of Regina's castle."
"You mean George's castle," Emma said. "He took it over. She's on the run now."
"She's an outlaw?" Robin gave a crooked grin. "Really?"
Emma gave a reluctant smile. "Yeah. So I guess we need to find her, but first, we need to get my Dad to grab his sword."
"I could challenge him to duel," Killian suggested, rubbing his chin.
"He'd just kill you with magic," Emma said. "He wouldn't need the sword."
"She's right," Rumple agreed with a cold smile. "You'd hardly be a bother."
"Perhaps I could pose as someone looking for a sword?" Robin said. "Get him to pull it out for me."
"That's if the sword is even in the shop," Emma said, pushing her hair off her face in exasperation. "And if that doesn't work, then we riff on Killian's plan."
"Riff?" Killian questioned.
"We challenge him to a duel," Emma said, frowning. "Or at least, I do."
"Why you?" Killian demanded.
"Because he won't kill me outright," Emma said.
"You're sure of that?" Robin asked.
"Oh, yes," she answered firmly. "He'll want to see me suffer."