Killian opened his eyes at the sound of a shout coming from outside.
"Rider!" Leroy called out, and Killian once again found himself colliding with Emma as they both rolled to their feet. He reached out to steady her just as Leroy's voice called out again.
"It's Robin!"
They rushed out the door and found Robin leaping off his sweat-lathered horse.
"She's got Regina," he said without preamble. "The evil queen."
Snow pushed her way out the doorway. "How?"
"Regina was sneaking into the castle - trying to rescue her father."
"Her father?" Emma turned to look at Snow.
"Marco," Snow supplied. "He recently married the queen, who became Regina's stepmother." Snow glanced back over her shoulder. "Roland..."
"Leave Roland to me," Robin said. "I'll tell him about his mother."
He strode through the doorway, and Emma shook her head as she watched him go. "That's got to be hard - your own son not knowing you."
"No harder than not knowing where your son is," Killian pointed out.
"Or knowing he's with George," Snow added, closing her eyes. "We've got to get this fixed. We've got to get our lives back."
Emma walked over and put an arm around her mother, hugging her tight. "We'll find them," she said. "We'll find them all. But first, we need Regina." She paused a moment, and her forehead knit into a frown. "Wait...she thinks Marco is her father? Didn't her talisman work?"
"Her talisman?" Snow looked equally confused.
"Robin brought it with him," Emma said. "It was an ap - "
"An apple," Snow finished, wincing. "An apple that I took out of his bag after we knocked him out and gave to Roland to eat."
"You fed him the bloody talisman?" Killian raised his brows.
"I didn't know that," Snow protested. "And schoolteachers can't resist apples, you know."
"So now what?" Killian asked. "We go back up the beanstalk and get another apple?"
"We need to do that anyway," Emma said. "Once we figure out how to reach my father." She turned to look at Snow. "Have you been able to think of anything besides the sword? Anything at all?"
Snow shook her head. "I don't know. A shepherd's crook, maybe? Or...he did have a favorite cloak pin. We'd need to get in the castle for that."
"The castle where Regina is being held?" Killian asked.
"That's the one. If I could get into our old bedchamber..." Snow gnawed her lip thoughtfully, then her eyes widened. "In the courtyard - there's an apple tree. One that Regina planted."
"There's another apple tree?" Robin came up behind them. "That's excellent news."
"How's Roland?" Emma asked.
"Worried," Robin replied. "Archie is talking to him now. I promised him we'd get his mother back."
"It's a shame you don't know what his talisman is," Emma said.
"Have you tried anything?" Snow asked.
"I know exactly what Roland's talisman is," Robin said. "I have it with me."
"Come again, mate?" Killian raised a brow, clearly confused.
"It's a carved wooden figure of a rabbit - Little John made it for him and he takes it everywhere. I swiped it off a shelf in Charming's shop." Robin reached in the pocket of his doublet, pulling out the toy.
"I don't understand," Snow said. "You have his talisman, but you haven't brought him back?"
Robin pocketed the rabbit with a shake of his head. "I can't. Not until we bring Regina back. It would devastate her to lose him. I can't do that to her." He looked over at Emma and Killian. "So what's our plan for getting her out of there?"
"I sent Red over to Dopey's first thing this morning to buy his cloak from him - she should be back shortly and we can use her to get us in," Snow said. "There are passageways under the walls that she can squeeze into. We should be able to find them if we go in through the mines."
"The mines where we might also find a pickaxe?" Emma asked.
Snow nodded. "Maybe. From there, we'll need to get to the tower. The queen has four legions of soldiers at her disposal, at least two of them guard the castle at any time."
"Just who is she, anyway?" Emma asked. "Maybe if we know who it is, we can bring her back."
"I don't know," Snow said. "I've never seen her. She only just married Marco and then all...this happened." She gestured around her.
Killian turned to Robin. "Can you give us an overview of their fortifications?"
Robin nodded. "What I saw of them. I did get a good look at the tower from the outside, including access and exit points. They've no doubt cut down the tree that Regina used to access the wall by now, so we'll have to find another method of escape."
"I know that castle," Killian added. "Provided they haven't changed anything."
"Who knows, the way things are now," Emma interjected. "How far are we talking?" She asked Robin.
"I rode, and it took a few hours," he supplied. "If we're going on foot - and we probably should, since the Queen's forces might have seen me getting away - it'll take most of the day to get there."
"Then let's go," Emma said. "We'll leave Archie here with Roland. Once we're in the castle, we'll split off. Killian and I will go after the apple, Leroy and my Mother will try to find that cloak pin, and then we'll all meet Robin at the tower." She looked over at her mother and Robin.
"And then we all get our kids back," she said firmly. "Every single one of them."
###
Henry reached under his bed, pulling out the backpack and setting it on the floor. He squatted down next to it, unzipping it carefully so as to keep as silent as possible. It was close to two a.m. and as usual, he was having a problem sleeping.
Some of this was due to Vince's snoring, but mostly he was just homesick. He padded silently over to the window, moving the curtain and staring up at the stars. He tried to imagine his dad, spending decades, centuries even, in Neverland and he reminded himself that his father never gave up. He figured out how to get out of there. So did Killian. He could do this. He just needed to figure out how.
His eye caught a fading streak of light far off in the night sky.
"A shooting star," he whispered. He closed his eyes. Send help. He wished. Send me a clue. An answer. Anything. He opened his eyes again, waiting expectantly.
Nothing.
Even if he could get out of here, he had nowhere to go. No idea of how to find them. Were they all cursed back to the Enchanted Forest? How? And how did he find them? He needed a portal, but he needed to be sure they were on the other side of it before he used it.
He reached into the bag to pull out his notebook. Maybe he could sneak out to the bathroom, and do a little writing. He couldn't risk turning on the light in here. His hand searched inside the bag, passing over the paperback and the snowglobe, then suddenly coming to a stop as his fingers touched and then traced a highly familiar object.
An object that hadn't been in his pack the last time he opened it.
He closed his hand around it, and pulled out the story book with a wide, excited smile.
###
"This way," Red said, guiding them deeper through the tunnels. "Just past this bend, the tunnels narrow. I can get through in my wolf form, then open the hidden gate on the west wall."
"Is this where we'll find the mining supplies?" Snow asked, peering into a nearby alcove.
Killian reached out, grasping her arm. "Perhaps we should leave that for now and grab one on the way out." He shot a look over at Leroy.
Emma leaned in, lowering her voice. "He's right. We need a soldier right now more than we need a dwarf."
"What if we end up having to leave another way? We may not be able to get back here," Snow pointed out.
"So we carry it with us," Killian suggested.
Emma pushed a hand through her hair, thinking. "Yeah, but how do we know which one?" She glanced back at Leroy. "We're gonna have to do this now. Leroy!"
Leroy stepped around Robin, sword drawn. "Is there a problem?"
"We might need some extra muscle on one of these passages - it's partially collapsed. We found some pickaxes over there." Emma pointed with her chin. "Can you grab one for us?"
Leroy gave a nod and disappeared into the shadow of the alcove. A moment later his voice carried out of the darkness.
"What the hell?"
"Leroy!" Robin called out. "Welcome back!"
Leroy stepped out of the shadows, holding his pickaxe. "Am I hallucinating, or are we actually breaking into the evil queen's castle?"
"That's the plan," Emma said. "Now widen that passage a little bit so Red can get in there and then follow us out."
He stood staring at them for a moment as if they were all crazy. Then he shook his head, lumbering off.
"I don't get a hug," he grumbled. "Everybody else gets a hug, but no...not me, sister."
"I'll only be a minute," Red said, tossing her cloak back off her head and reaching for the ties at the throat. "Head over to the west wall - the gate is hidden behind a large patch of ivy climbing the wall."
"Good luck," Emma said. "We'll see you over there."
They made their way along the wall, stopping every so often to listen or to push back further into the shadows. The guards had been doubled along the wall, so it took a lot longer than they'd planned. They finally reached the door, but had to chop back some of the ivy to get to it, stepping back as it suddenly flew open. Leroy let out a startled sound at the sight of the large black wolf on the other side and Killian clapped a hand over his mouth, hauling him inside.
"Sorry," he mumbled. "I never have gotten used to that."
Emma rolled her eyes, throwing Red's cloak over her back. A moment later she was standing before them.
"Took you long enough!" Red hissed. "Come on!"
They moved quickly through the halls, using hand signals as much as possible to communicate. At the edge of the courtyard, Emma gave her mother a nod and watched as Snow, Leroy and Robin took off in two different directions down the hallway that led into the rest of the castle. She turned back to Killian.
"Just how are we supposed to get past those guards in order to get an apple?" she whispered, looking over at the tree. It was on the opposite side from where they stood.
"I don't know, love," he replied. "I suppose they'd question your sexy bar wench persona, though it might buy us some time."
She gave him a look.
"Well, it was worth a try," he said, smiling gamely.
"Wait - not a bar wench," Emma said. "But a pirate captain."
"They'll kill me on sight," Killian said. "I've got nothing of value to offer them."
"Ah, but I do," she said. "Wait here."
"Swan - " he protested, but she was already walking toward the tree, and the three men who were milling about just a few yards away.
"Evening, boys," she called out, hips swaying and flinging her hair back. "Is this the apple tree?"
"Who are you?" One of the men - the captain from the looks of him - stepped forward, drawing his sword. "Identify yourself!"
"Relax," she said, placing a coquettish hand on the man's shoulder. "The queen told me I could grab a few of these before I left."
The captain's eyes narrowed. "The queen told you that?" he asked doubtfully.
"I made a deal with her. There's somebody she wants dead, and in return, I get apples."
"Apples." The captain clearly wasn't buying this, and it was all Killian could do not to go charging in there.
"Look, do I get the apples, or do I have to bother the queen and let her know you weren't being...accommodating?" she asked, running her fingers playfully up his arm as she smiled flirtatiously at the other two men.
"They're only apples," one of the other men pointed out. "And we don't want to be disturbing her majesty."
"Why apples?" asked the captain suspiciously.
Emma put a booted foot up on the low wall that surrounded the tree, and three sets of eyes slid down to look at her shapely leg.
"Don't you know who I am?" she asked, feigning outrage. "I'm the Black Swan."
"The Black Swan!" the other of the two guards blurted out. "Captain, she's - "
"One of the most fearsome pirates to sail the realm. I know who she is," he said, giving her an appraising look. "She has quite the...reputation. But why apples?"
"These?" Emma jerked a thumb over her shoulder at the tree. "These are enchanted apples. Guaranteed to ward off scurvy with a single bite. A few of these, and a careful eye to the seeds, and my crew can sail in comfort." She leaned in, showing a goodly amount of cleavage as she did so. "Have you ever seen scurvy?" she asked, leaning into the captain even further. "It's not a pretty sight."
The captain's eyes stayed firmly on her breasts - as did the eyes of the other two men - for a long moment. At last, he seemed to come to his senses.
"I'll have my own men pick the apples for you," he said carefully. "You can wait for them in the main hall, and once I've cleared their transfer with her majesty, you can be on your way."
Emma took her foot down off the wall, nodding her agreement. "That's fine with me. Only, you know you can't pick them now, right? She said they had to be picked in the daylight. Something about needing the sun for the magic to work. I just wanted to make sure we could arrange for their transfer to my ship first thing in the morning."
"I'll see that it's done," the captain promised. "I'll speak to her majesty right after breakfast."
"Sounds like a plan," Emma said, smiling, then shifting her eyes over his shoulder a moment. "Well, I'm going to hit the hay. Any idea where the nearest bathing room is? I'd love to get out of these clothes..."
She stretched, and three sets of eyes watched the way her shirt pulled against her breasts as her back arched.
"I'll escort you personally," said the captain, waving the other guards back to their post and sheathing his sword. "If you'll come with me?" He extended his arm and Emma looped hers through it, walking with him toward the door at the far end of the courtyard. Once they stepped into the shadows, an arm came out and grabbed the man from behind. A short, nearly soundless scuffle ensued and a moment later, Killian was dragging the unconscious man into a stand of bushes near the doorway.
"Take his armor," Emma whispered. "It'll look like you're escorting me to the tower as your prisoner."
"Capital idea," Killian agreed, pulling off the man's helmet.
"Did you get it?" she asked.
He held up the apple, smiling widely. "I could have chopped down the whole bloody tree and they wouldn't have noticed, with that fine display of goods in front of them."
She gave him a sideways smirk. "Hurry up. Robin's probably at the tower by now. If we can get Regina's powers back, getting out of here will get a whole lot easier."
"I've got what we need," Killian said, pulling the doublet over his head and grabbing the helmet. "Let's go."
He opened the door into the main hall, stepping cautiously inside and breathing a sigh of relief when he saw it was empty. "The tower is that way," he said in a low voice, pointing toward a staircase on the opposite wall. "We'll take the stairs up, and then we need to cross the rampart."
"Let's get out of here before somebody decides to start a game of pinochle or something," Emma suggested.
"You'd win any game they played, love." He leaned in, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "You've an unfair advantage. Two of them, actually." He waggled his brows and she bit back a smile.
They stepped forward toward the staircase, but a puff of purple smoke stopped them in their tracks, and a voice from behind them sent a chill up their spines.
"Well. Aren't you two cozy?"
They looked at each other grimly, and Emma turned slowly around, closing her eyes with a grimace before opening them to face the new threat.
"Hi Dad," she said.