Chapter Thirty-Two: The Vanishing Act
It seemed to Jack that most of the town of Storybrooke was inside Granny's that morning to question him and River, who most never met until that day, as they sipped glasses of fresh, cold water while answering their concerns. The question that was asked the most was where Emma and Mary Margaret/Snow White were. And when Jack answered with a genuine "I don't know," it only fueled everyone's apprehension, most particularly David's.
"They were in the TARDIS with you and then they just…disappeared?" David asked, trying not to sound as if he didn't believe Harkness. It was hard enough to believe he and River returned the way that they did with a barely-held-together TARDIS and a compass that was beyond repair.
"We both saw it happen." River said. "We can't necessarily explain how it happened. It just did."
Mother Superior stood by, listening to their case. "They must have been banished by the magic. The Doctor told me once how differently his TARDIS machine reacts to the magic of our old world and this one. It's possible the magic excommunicated Emma and Mary Margaret."
"Just like it did to John." Ruby said before she left the room with more tears streaming from her eyes. Granny followed her to the back to the diner, leaving the other townsfolk with Jack and River.
Seeing how depressed Ruby was over the Doctor's disappearance, Jack felt terrible. "We're sorry…We're sorry that we lost them. But you have my word that we will find them again."
"And how ya plan on makin' that happen, Captain?" Leroy coldly asked.
"We still have a functioning TARDIS outside." River indicated. "With the right calibrations, we should be able to…" She glanced out through the window and spotted something unsettling. "Oh, god!" On that exclamation, she dashed right out of the diner to the confusion of everyone around her – Jack included.
The others followed River out of the diner and discovered what had lured her out. The structure of the TARDIS began to dissolve into blue ashes right from where it stood near the entrance to Granny's. It was quite a disturbing sight, mostly to Jack and River, who saw the blue alien box as their only hope in finding Emma, Mary Margaret, and even the Doctor again. After mere seconds, the once-standing police box had transformed into a four-foot pile of blue ashes, and it lost inches from the gust of wind that blew some of the ashes down the sidewalk.
"What's happened to the TARDIS?" Henry asked.
River held some of the ashes in her left hand and bits escaped through her fingers. "It's just…gone. The TARDIS has disintegrated itself."
"How in the hell does that even happen?" Harkness questioned, sounding very displeased at the sight of the blue ashes.
River did her best to maintain composure as she gave her hypothesis. "I-It's got to be the result of our reentry into this reality. It wasn't able to sustain the journey between worlds, so it just…it disintegrated."
Jack was seething. It did not help calm him to hear the arrogant voice of Mr. Gold speak near them. "My, my. They just don't make alien relics like they used to, do they?"
He looked over to see Gold standing out in the middle of the empty street corner with a puzzled Belle by his side. Of course, Jack didn't see Belle; his focus was entirely on Gold. His mind shifted back to the time before he was sent off into the fairy tale world with Emma and Mary Margaret. He remembered one crucial detail that was the reason for his next action. Without a second thought, Jack walked briskly up to Gold and slugged him right across the face, shocking Belle and everyone else who witnessed the sudden attack.
Gold collapsed on the concrete, losing grip on his cane, which fell to the street with a loud clang. He held the side of his face that Harkness struck him in and found a small trickle of blood that escaped from his mouth. The punch didn't surprise Gold one bit; in fact, he anticipated someone doing just that to him one day, but he never imagined that someone to be Jack Harkness.
Jack moved in for another strike, but he was suddenly cut off by a furious Belle. "You stay away from him!"
David, doing his duty as a temporary sheriff, stepped in to prevent any more violence from the immortal captain, who voiced his distain of the man also known as Rumplestiltskin. "This whole thing is on you, Gold! Emma, Mary Margaret, the Doctor…all of them are gone because you decided to bring magic back!"
"Magic comes with a price, Captain," said Gold, who was being helped back up by Belle. "I just never realized at the time how much of a price it came for everyone, myself included. But I wouldn't worry yourself too much over the fate of the Doctor." He nodded to the pile of blue ashes near River. "That 'vanishing act' you just witnessed? It isn't because of your miraculous return to this town. It's because both the Doctor and the TARDIS still exist within this world."
Gold's revelation sounded surprising yet suspicious all at once.
"How do you know for sure?" David asked him.
"I've known enough about that powerful blue box in the time I've chased after it and its owner before the curse." Gold answered. "I've seen the way it reacts to our magic. It's like poison to it. And the Doctor is like poison to our magic. One merely cannot exist with the other."
River seemed to follow what Gold had explained to them. "Sounds like a feasible fact. But the Doctor managed to return to this town when your magic was at its strongest."
"And our magic tossed him back out when it saw fit. It's like a paddleball, dearie. Our town is the paddle while the Doctor is the ball. Every time it tries to bounce him away, he just keeps comin' back."
River smiled from the interesting metaphor. "Paddleballs have strings to link the paddle and the ball together. Are you suggesting there's some sort of link between the Doctor and this town?"
"Indeed I do." Gold admitted. "And that link is the one person who has been such even for this town during its most troubling time."
"Emma." Henry uttered with an excitable smile. "You're saying that Emma and Mary Margaret could be with the Doctor this minute?"
Gold gently bent over to retrieve his cane. "I wouldn't be surprised if they were, Henry. Your mother has just as strong of a link to the TARDIS as she does to Storybrooke. If there's anyone who can get the Doctor back here, it's her." He began to walk away with Belle, but not without giving one more bit of advice: "But…if you're anxious to get them to return sooner rather than later, and I'm certain that you are, then I'd turn to someone who has just as much of a special connection to the Doctor."
"And who's that?" Harkness asked.
Gold grinned. "Her Majesty."