Time to Go part 2
David and Mary-Margaret take in the fresh, crisp air, wondering if this is the Enchanted Forest or somehow they fell into a strange world with monsters that they'd never be able to counter. "Where is everyone else?" David asks.
Mary-Margaret looks around at the trees and doesn't feel very comforted. "David, where are we? This is not the Enchanted Forest."
Suddenly a popping sound like popcorn kernels over the stove is heard all around them. They huddle together as Regina and Henry appear from a white wall of magic that shimmers like running water over glass. "Where is everyone that came with us?" Regina asks.
Henry walks over to David and Mary-Margaret. "Please tell me this is the Enchanted Forest."
They shake their heads and Regina throws her hands up in the air. "Great. Where did your daughter take us, heroes?"
"Regina, can you give us a break, please?" Mary-Margaret says.
"I'm sorry," Regina comes back with, forcing a comforting look. Henry rejoins his second mother and hugs her. "We will find her, Henry. Now where's that puppet?"
"August?" Mary-Margaret says. Then she shouts for him.
"And the one-handed wonder?" Regina says, not caring about hurting Killian's feelings.
August pops out from around a tree and is greeted by Killian and his hook. "You tell me right now what is going on? How do you know about that magical item that transported us to wherever this is?"
"You know I thought Emma might have got back with Neal, and even I fancied the notion of me and her being something, but never did I think she would be with the man that is responsible for Neal's parents breaking up."
That stung deep with Killian. Instead of letting his hook fall into the center of August's chest and letting the darkness consume him again, he backs away and cracks a smile. "Not a day goes by that I don't miss Baelfire and regret doing what I did to his family, but I didn't force his mother to come with me. Just as I didn't force Emma to be with me."
August steps closer. "You didn't? So I suppose it was another pirate that pursued her and made sure that he did everything to impress her and please her so that she would notice him enough to consider giving her heart to him."
Killian looked away, biting down on the anger boiling over. "I'm going to let you live because you are Emma's good friend and she cares for you, but make no mistake that I will tolerate your insults without some consequences."
"Again just doing something to please her. You know you didn't have some fairy telling you that Emma is your true love. So you don't know."
"You really need to stop talking now."
"Why, Hook, because I speak the truth? I don't lie anymore. I see things as I see them. If Milah was really your true love, you wouldn't have got over her. That's not how true love works."
"Well there is your answer then. I got over her because Emma is really my true love."
August fiddles with his zipper on his jacket. "Maybe. But I know Emma better than you do."
"Really? Who was it that wasn't there for her when she needed a friend? I believe you were too busy being a naughty little boy."
"I've made mistakes, sure. But I've also seen a lot of the world and I know that people who are good deep inside always make things right. You aren't one of those people, Killian."
"Mate, you know nothing of my past. I will remind you to keep your mouth shut."
"You should have let me change August back into a puppet. I knew he couldn't be trusted."
"Regina, don't be absurd. August has changed. He's been through so much," Mary-Margaret says.
David puts his arm around his wife to calm her down. "All that matters is getting to Emma. And finding out where we are."
"I can tell you that," a familiar voice says.
Everyone looks at the dark figure standing a few feet away from them. "Rumpelstiltskin," Regina says, surprised and empowered.
David and Mary-Margaret look at each other shocked, curious. "How are you here?" David asks.
"It's a neat little trick. While my broken, weak body remains in Storybrooke, I, the stronger part, can roam free. Something very unusual happened when the apprentice fiddled around with the hat."
"Where are we?" Regina asks.
"Well that's the thing, you aren't really anywhere."
"More lies," Regina says.
"Actually, no. This is Emma's playground. You are now a part of it, as we all are."
Without another word Rumpelstiltskin vanished. "Great," Regina says. "What the hell does that mean?"
"It means that somehow Emma has created a world for herself to be a prisoner in. Maybe she is somehow fighting the darkness this way," Mary-Margaret says.
"It's possible, isn't it, Mom?"
"I don't know, Henry. We have to find out if August and Hook are in this world too. Maybe they have found Emma already."
"Are we going to bicker the whole way?" Killian asks.
"I didn't come to argue with any of you. It's clear to me that we are somewhere off the grid. This isn't the Enchanted Forest. It's possible Emma is on some distant world we've never heard of."
"Maybe it's Oz."
"No, trust me, Oz doesn't look like this. No, this is not any forest I've ever seen and I've travelled to a few places."
"In the normal world, mate, this is an enchanted place."
They catch sight of faeries sitting around a giant mushroom that glows pink. "Well I'll be damned," August says.
"What is it?"
"Those creatures aren't real."
"What do you mean? They're faeries."
"No. We are inside a dream. We are inside a pretend place."
Killian raises his hook to August. "I've had enough of your games, puppet."
"You know I was made from wood but I do have the soul of a human being. You could try laying off the cheap nametags. They're a bit played out now." August jumps in and the faeries disappear, like really disappear as if they never existed.
Killian walks over, confused. "Where did they go?"
"I told you they aren't real. This is a pretend place. We are somehow inside a world that isn't real. What has Emma done?"
Killian looks up. "Is that fake too?" He points towards the sky, to a large, black object flying towards them.
"That is… oh we better run."
August starts running deeper into the forest, followed by Killian. "What is it? You said everything is pretend here."
"Not that!"
"If only we had the dagger, we could summon Emma," Regina says.
"Hook has it, doesn't he?" Mary-Margaret says.
"No. It disappeared moments after we watched Emma be taken by the darkness. I have no idea where it is."
"Regina, you wouldn't be lying to us, would you?" David asks.
"No. And for you to suggest that, after all we've been through… I think I want to leave."
"Go ahead. But how are you getting back?" David says, chuckling under his breath.
"You're not," Emma says. Her voice sinister, ominous.
From the shadows, from the sky, from under them—her voice is all around them.
"Emma?" Mary-Margaret cries out.
"Mom?"
"What are you doing here? How did you get here?" Emma asks.
"August. We used this magical snowglobe," Mary-Margaret says.
"You what?!" Emma shrieks.
Suddenly, trees topple over, the ground shakes, and the wind picks up. "I think the puppet just sealed our doom," Regina says, holding onto Henry.
David shields Mary-Margaret with his arms.
There's no sign of Emma, but her voice came from somewhere.