At the hospital, Henry is wheeled in on a gurney as Emma follows close behind, the urge to scream barely being suppressed.
Emma wasn't even entirely sure how she got a hospital, or even how she got off the floor next to where Henry had fallen. She vaguely remembered Winter coming to help her. Emma was going to have to give that woman a raise, almost certain that anything that it happened that would've required more mental awareness then breathing was no doubt done by her.
Dr. Whale and several nurses are at the door to meet them, all of them fully aware of how bad it would be for them if the boy died.
"Henry, can you hear me? Come on, Henry. Wake up, please. Come on, Henry. Come on. You can do it."
"Ma'am, let me take you to…"
"No, I am not going anywhere!"
"There's no pupil response. What happened? Did he fall? Hit his head?"
"He ate this." She said holding up the turnover in a bag. "I think it's poisoned."
"His airway's clear. Did he vomit? Any convulsion or disorientation?"
"He took a bite of this, and then he just collapsed. So, run the test for arsenic, or bleach, or Drano, or whatever could've done this to him!"
"The boy is showing no symptoms that would suggest neurotoxins. So, whatever's going on, this is not the culprit."
"Well, what else could it be?"
"I don't know. That's what I'm trying to find out."
"He's going to be okay, though, right?"
"Right now, we just need to stabilize him, cause he's slipping away. Is there anything else that you can remember? Any little detail?"
"I already told you everything. Do something!"
"Look, I understand you're frustrated, Mrs. Gold, I do. But I need something to treat. And, right now, there is no explanation. It's like…"
Emma dumped out the contents of Henry's backpack onto a table. When she sees his book, it's like the whole world just fades to background noise.
"Like magic."
Emma didn't know why, but she picks up the book and her mind is filled with memories. Memories from the Fairy Tale World, particularly the time when she was sent to the Real World as a baby.
When she comes to, Regina frantically rushes into the room.
"Where's my son?"
And Emma is mad. "You did this." Emma then grabbed Regina and drags her to a storage room. Throwing her against a storage rack. Emma continues the attack and ultimately ends up pinning Regina to the wall.
"You did this!"
"What the hell are you doing? Stop this! My son…"
"Is sick because of you! That apple turnover you gave me? He ate it!"
"What?" Regina said in complete shock. "It was meant for you!
"It's true, isn't it?"
"What are you talking about?"
"It's true, isn't it? All of it."
"Yes." Regina said. And this caused Emma to let go slightly, she was processing.
And then press even harder. "I was leaving town. Why couldn't you just leave things alone?"
"Because as long as you're alive, Henry will never be mine!"
"He'll never be anyone's unless you fix this. You wake him up!"
"I can't!"
"Don't you have magic?"
"That was the last of it. It was supposed to put you to sleep!"
Emma then let go completely. "What's it going to do to him?"
"I don't know. Magic here is unpredictable."
"So… So he could…"
"Yes."
"So, what do we do?"
"We need help. There's one other person in this town who knows about this… Knows about magic."
Emma froze for a moment, She couldn't mean, no, not, no."Mr. Gold." But her mouth said it anyway, and it wasn't a question.
"Actually, he goes by Rumpelstiltskin." Regina said, and now Emma was very shocked. "My condolences."
Gold's Shop.
The door opened, and through came Emma and Regina. Both of who were shocked to see Michal standing there. Gold looked over at Michal and said. "4:37, right on time." He then turned back to Emma. "Do my eyes deceive me, or is that the look of a believer?"
"We need your help."
"Indeed, you do. It seems quite the tragic ailment has befallen our young friend." He then turned to Regina. "My step-son." He gave her a good glare. "I never thought I'd enjoy having anything in my mouth as much as my wife, or a horrible as the taste of my boot leather after my father spent a very unprofitable night at the pub after an even more unprofitable day gambling. But this..."He took a moment to laugh. "My God! It tastes so good, and so horrible! I hesitate to swallow but I certainly don't want to spit it out." He then leaned back. "Oh, what the hell. I told you so, magic comes with a price."
"Henry shouldn't have to pay it.
"No, you should, but alas, we are where we are." Michal said.
"I'm sorry, what are you doing here?" Regina said glaring at the man.
"Well, I never lost my memories." He then snapped his fingers and a case appeared in a puff of silver smoke, causing Regina's and Emma's jaw to drop. "And Gold couldn't reach the top shelf, so I helped."
"You have magic." Regina said in disbelief.
"Can you save Henry?" Emma begged.
"No, sadly a sleeping curse involves forcing a soul out of it's body. Without true loves kiss to pull it back he'd wake up as a completely unresponsive husk and still die soon after." Michal, Merlin, whatever then turned to Regina. "With out magic to keep his now soulless body alive, just like right now." He then looked back at Emma. "And if I tried to fid it and pull it back, odds are without the proper time and magic to prepare, I'd find some daemon and put it in, which would be worse then letting Henry die. I'm sorry."
"Can you help us at all?"
"No, but Rumple can."
Emma took a moment, and then looked at her husband after she remembered what his name really was. "Can you?"
"Of course." Gold said smiling. "True love, that's your answer Emma… The only magic powerful enough to transcend realms and break any curse." He said smiling. "Luckily for us, I happen to have bottled some."
"You did?" Regina said in awe.
"Oh, yes. From strands of your parents' hair, I made the most powerful potion in all the realm. So powerful, that when I created the dark curse, I placed a single drop on the parchment. Just a little safety valve."
"That's why I'm the savior. That's why I can break the curse."
"Now you're getting it."
"I don't care about breaking the curse. All I care about is saving Henry."
"Which is why it's your lucky day. I didn't use all the potion. I saved some… For a rainy day."
"Well, it's storming like a bitch. Where is it?"
"Where it is isn't the problem. Getting it is what should worry you."
"Enough riddles. What do we do?" Regina said angrily.
"You do nothing. It has to be Emma, unfortunately."
"He's my son. It should be me."
"All due respect, but he's her son. And it has to be her. She's the product of the magic. She must be the one to find it."
"I can do it."
"Don't trust him."
"What choice do we have? And I trust him more then you."
"That's right, dearie. What choice do you have? And do you really think I'd put my wife in unnecessary danger."
"I don't know, you might."
"Then you don't know me at all."
"Where is this magic?" Emma said interrupting them.
"Tell me, Your Majesty, is our friend still in the basement?"
"Oh, you twisted little imp. You hid it with her?"
"Oh, no, no. Not with her. In her. I knew you couldn't resist bringing her over."
"Who is 'her'?"
"Someone you should be prepared for. Where you're going, you're going to need this."
Gold said opening the box Merlin had made appear. "What is that?"
And Gold just smiled. "Your father's sword." He said taking it out and handing it to her. "Perfect for dragon hunting."
Storybroke General Hospital.
"Henry… You were right about the curse. I should have believed you. I'm sorry." Emma said to the comatose Henry. She then lifted up his pillow in place book underneath. "For when you wake up. And then you would I can go for ice cream, and your dad she tell you all about sword fighting Dragon slaying." And then she got up and kissed Henry on the forehead, whispering in his ear. "And will be a family."
Emma then got up and walked over to the door. Regina walked up wanting to go through before Emma let her in she said to the Mayor. "Say what you got to say. You got ten minutes."
"You know where to meet?"
"Yeah. Don't be late." Emma said leaving.
"I'm sorry…"
"Pity, isn't it? There's nothing harder than not knowing whether you'll ever see your child again." Jefferson said coming up shadows, smiling at the woman. "There really is nothing more horrible is there. Other than possibly being tortured as well."
"Jefferson, now is not a good time." Regina said with absolutely no humor in her voice.
"For you. Well, for me, it's the perfect time. I'm here to collect. Where… Where is she… My daughter?"
"Emma was supposed to eat that apple, and she didn't."
"You wiser man than you or I once said it intends was meaningless. I delivered the goods, it was your job to get Emma to eat your little turnover."
"Well she didn't. So as far as I'm concerned, that makes our deal null and void."
"I did what you asked, and you're going to screw me over again?"
"Look at it however you want, Jefferson. The fact is, I'm done with you."
"But I'm… I'm not done with you."
"What are you going to do? Kill me? I know you want to, but I also know you can't."
"Do you?"
"Yes. You don't have it in you. Now, if you excuse me, I have to save my son." Regina said leaving.
Before she could Jefferson yelled at her. "The hour of reckoning is coming Regina. If you walk out that door. If you screw me over. I'll make sure you have absolutely no allies, no one to hide behind, nothing to shield you with, or rocks to hide under when the mob finally comes for you."
Regina just turned around, still managing to somehow look the Queen she once was. "Don't make idle threats you can keep. It's unbecoming of a headless madman."
Granny's Inn, August's Room.
Emma wasn't at all sure why she had come here. After all the man was a pain. But there was some small part of her saying she owed him this much. So she knocked on the door. "August? Please open up. I know you're in there. Open the door."
"I can't." Was the week reply she was almost certain she heard, but it was far too quiet to be certain.
And after having such a bad day, and putting so many dents on the door not too long ago, Emma decided to put the door out of misery, and trying get rid of some of her pent-up anger.
The wood gave a very satisfying splinter, but the feeling of satisfaction left the moment she saw a very wooden man lying in the bed. "No. What's happening to you?"
"You can see it now. You believe." He said giving some form of very weak chuckle. "About bloody time."
"Yeah. I-I do, but… H-how do I stop this?"
"Break the curse."
"I'll try – I promise. But I got to save Henry first, and I need your help."
"No, you don't."
"Yeah, I do. This is all too much. I-I just… Talked to the Evil Queen and Rumpelstiltskin, who him apparently married to by the way."
"My sincere condolences... Fair warning... Mom and Pop won't be... Won't be very understanding. At least at first. Dad especially."
And then Emma suddenly remember the rather obvious fact that everything else Henry said was true, her best friend was her roommate, and a man she had thought about killing once or twice for being mean to her best friend was actually her father. Who technically was cheating on his cursed wife with his real wife. Oh Thanksgiving was going to stink. "Right. So I get to where the my parents now. And the fact that my husband sent me on a quest, a quest to find a stinking bottle full of magic, inside of a Dragon. I can't do it, August. I can't. No normal person can."
"Luckily for us, you're not normal, no normal person could love The Dark One is much as you do. You can save Henry. You can save all of…" Emma wasn't certain if he managed to say us or not, one thing she was certain of was that he was completely wood.
"August?"
Library.
"What is this place?" Emma said walking into the library with Regina, a sword on her hip.
How often would she get to say that about her life.
And then Emma wanted to hit herself realizing it was entirely possible this would become the norm.
"Would you like a tour, or shall we just get to it?"
"Lead the way."
Regina then walked over to a wall and pushed on it slightly. Causing the wall to reseed and reveal an elevator. "Whoa."
"Get in." Regina said.
"After you."
"It's a two-man job. The elevator's hand-operated. I have to stay up here and lower you down."
"And I'm just supposed to trust you?"
"I don't think you have much choice in the matter, Mrs. Gold."
"This battle I'm supposed to fight… Who is it?"
"An old friend."
"Then why don't you go talk to them?" Emma said. Finding a perfectly believable after the day she had had that Regina was once an old friends of a Dragon.
"Because her punishment here was different than everyone else's. I trapped her… In a different form, certainly not one she approves of using on a daily basis. She doesn't want to hear from me. You have to trust me on that."
"Okay. I will go down there. But let's be clear about something… Your Majesty. The only reason you're not dead is because I need your help to save Henry. He dies? So do you."
"Well, then let's get on with it. Now, this is what you're going to have to do."
Emma finally got down to the bottom, and found a cave that was perfect for a horror movie. She walked around, thinking a dragon couldn't possibly be hard to find.
But after bumping into a wall, and that wall being said dragon, she suddenly wished she hadn't found her.
Grasping the sword as the dragon reared up , Emma suddenly remembered she had a gun, and that she had a sword, and that gun beat sword.
"To hell with this."
Emma dropped the sword on the ground and pulled out her gun. She uselessly shot four or five times at the dragon, which only ends up provoking it.
Storybroke General Hospital.
Mary Margaret was reading the end of the Snow White story to Henry. "And, yes, she was beyond hope. Beyond saving. This was her end. When Prince Charming saw his beloved Snow White in her glass coffin, he knew all that was left was to say goodbye. He had to give her one last kiss. And when he did, true love proved more powerful than any curse. A pulse of pure love shuddered out and engulfed the land, waking up Snow White and bringing light to the darkness."
She then couldn't read it anymore, not knowing that there was no kiss to wake Henry up. "Henry… When I gave you this book, it was because I knew… I know life doesn't always have a happy end. But I thought…"
And then the machines next to Henry started making noise. "What is it? Dr. Whale?" Mary screamed.
Dr. Whale and several nurses entered the room. "Dr. Whale, what is that? What… What… what's wrong?
"Nurse, get her out of here now!
"What is it? What is it?
"His heart rate's falling. Come on, Henry. Come on."
"Your tea." Jefferson said. He had managed to get a job as an orderly not long ago, and now it was paying off.
"Thank you. What's the commotion upstairs?" The nurse asked.
"There's a sick boy. He took a bad turn."
"How tragic. Is there any hope for a…" The nurses passes out before finishing.
"Recovery? Promising really." He then took the keys and went down the hall, passing Sidney's room and a rather large dumb looking man. Opening the door he found a young woman in hospital rags. "Come with me."
"Who are you? Why are you doing this?"
"My name is Jefferson, and I need your help to do something that I can't. There's a man. His name is Mr. Gold. Find him. All you have to do is tell him where you've been, and that Regina locked you up."
"Wait a minute, what?" The young woman said, trying to make sense of all the new information.
"It's very important. Mr. Gold's going to protect you, but you have to tell him Regina locked you up. He's going to know what to do. You understand?"
"Yes, I-I have to find Mr. Gold." She said while Jefferson was ushering her out.
"And one more thing." He said handing her a note. "Make sure you give him this, it's very important."
"Got it."
The Cavern.
Emma stares stunned at the dragon that looked like she had attacked it with a pee shooter. "Really?"
The dragon attacks and, again, Emma attempts to shoot it. Dropping her gun when it lunges at her. She then sees the sword on the ground near her and rushes over to pick it up.
"Hey!" She yells.
When the dragon turns to her, she throws the sword towards the dragon's belly. The dragon disintegrates into pieces ash, with the egg container resting neatly on top of the pile. Emma goes to picks it up.
But then the egg vanishes a moment later in a flash of light.
"No, no, no. Come on, where are you, where are you."
Gold's shop.
Gold hears a small thud, and turns to see that the egg is sitting on the counter. He smiles as he walks over to pick it up. "Well done Emma." He says proudly. He then looks over at Michal. "Go get ready, the morning is almost here, and the worlds about to change."
Michal nodes and leaves, and Gold goes into the back room.
Library.
"Where is it?" Regina asks when Emma comes back up very empty handed.
"I don't know, it was there, I went to go get it, but then it vanished in a flash of light."
"What? How?"
"if I knew that, I'd tell you. You know magic, how could it have done that?"
"I don't know, maybe it was some safety feature, protection incase someone aligned with me came for it."
"Then were would it be?"
"With Gold." Regina said.
The moment she said it they ran for the door.
But then both Emma and Regina's cell phones ring at the same time. "It's the hospital." They both say, looking at one another in terror.
Storybroke General Hospital.
Regina and Emma arrived at the hospital and rush to Henry's room. They arrive in time to see Dr. Whale and Mother Superior leaving the room. "We did everything we could." The doc said.
"I'm sorry. You're too late."
Emma just enters the room, where the nurse is unhooking the machines from Henry. And she tries not to break down and cry.
Gold's Shop.
Meanwhile, in the back room of his shop, Mr. Gold unlocks the egg container. He takes out the vial of 'true love' and pockets it. And then hears the bell ring at the front of the shop and quickly hides the egg.
"Um, excuse me? Are you Mr. Gold?" He hears someone enter the back room.
"Yes, I am. But I'm afraid the shop's closed…" He then stops
"I was, uh… I was told to… To find you and… Tell you that Regina locked me up. Does… Does that mean anything to you?"
No, it can't be. She's been dead for 30 and some odd years. She can't be alive, not now, not here.
But there she is, his Belle.
No, it was some trick, some illusion. Proof he had truly gone mad.
But then he touched her, and she didn't fade. "You're real. You're alive. She did this to you?"
"I was told you'd protect me."
Gold then enveloped her in a hug, clearly remembering how good it felt to hug her. "Oh, yes. Yes, I'll protect you." He said almost crying into her shoulder.
"Um, I'm sorry. Do… Do I know you?"
Oh right, that minor detail. "No. But you will."
Storybroke General Hospital.
Regina was currently crying into 's jacket, or beating him, or both. "No… No…"
And Emma.
Emma bent down to kiss him one last time. "I love you, Henry."
Emma kissed Henry on the forehead.
And then a light went out, going throughout the whole town.
But Emma really didn't care about that at the moment, because Henry woke up and gasps. "I love you, too. You saved me."
"You did it." Regina gasps. But then a crowd started to gather in Henry's room
"Henry… What's going on?" Emma asks.
"No…" Regina yelled.
"The curse. I think you broke it."
"That was true love's kiss." Mother Superior said.
"No, no…"
"Yes, yes, yes." And in a puff of silver smoke, Merlin/Michal appeared. This time holding a long staff with a blue crystal. The metal of the staff rapping around the gem four times. "The curse is broken." He said looking over at Regina. "If I were you, Your Majesty, I'd find a place to hide." He said.
"Henry… No matter what you think, no matter what anyone tells you, I do love you." Regina said before running away.
Michal then turned to Mother Superior. "And Blue." She turned to him, and he punched her in the face. He then rubbed his knuckles against his other palm. "28 years of wanting to do that, you have no idea how great it felt."
And Henry just laughed.
Storybroke's (crowded) Streets.
Charming jumped out of his car the moment he saw her. "Snow!"
"Charming." And of course they ran toward one another. "You found me."
"Did you ever doubt I would?"
"No." She said kissing him. But then pulled away. "But a jail cell did give me pause."
The Woods.
Belle and Mr. Gold were walking quietly through the woods. But then Belle suddenly stopped. "Wait."
"No, no, we're very close."
"Rumpelstiltskin, wait." The moment she said this, he froze. "I-I remember. I… I love you."
Being completely caught up in the moment, Gold hugged the woman he once loved, one he hoped would take the news well. "Yes. Yes. And I love you, too. But… There's something I must do. Something I must tell you."
"What is it?" Belle said smiling.
"I'm not in love with you anymore." And the look one her face almost crushed him. "For nearly 30 years Belle, I mourned you, I was haunted by the memory of you. But then, something happened, someone happened."
Belle looked at him confused. "Who?"
"Emma." He said. And by the way he said it, Belle knew he loved her. "I married her because she got drunk and almost forced me to do it. I never intended for us to love one another, but, life happened as they say here. I fell for her, she helped me look in the mirror and see a man , not a monster, helped me feel something other then hatred for myself, helped me see a light at the end of the tunnel." Gold stopped, suddenly realizing how he must have been tormenting the poor girl.
But she just looked at him with wide eyes and motioned for him to continue. "We opened up to one another, comforted each other and reassured one another that our lives didn't completely suck. She made me realize I could be loved, and I helped her realize that to." He then smiled. "We just had three kids."
"Three, at once." Belle said astonished.
"Wonders of this world, the ability to have kids survive with the mother, even see them before they are born." He then looked at her sheepishly. "I named the youngest Morain Bella Gold."
Belle gasped. "You named one of your children after me."
"I never forgot about you." Gold said beginning to walk up the path. "I once tried to get a child from Cinderella in the hopes of raising her in you honor. Sadly I lost that chance, but when I had my children with Emma, I had another chance."
He then turned to Belle. "I hope you can understand. I love her, but it's not just that. She's given me a second chance at every thing I ever wanted, a chance to redeem myself for all the mistakes I ever made. She's forgiven me for all the times I did something that should have made her leave me…"
"She gave you hope when you had none." Belle finished. "I understand, and while I know you don't need my blessing, you have it all the same."
"Thank you." Gold then began walking again. "If you like, I have lots of room at my home, and I have a feeling my maid will be handing in her letter of resignation soon. You could come and live there with us, if it's not to much trouble that is."
Belle grabbed his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "I'd like that." They then came to a well. "What is this?"
"This is a very special place, Belle. The waters that run below are said to have the power to return that which one has lost." He then takes out the True Love potion, and opens it before dropping it in.
Storybroke General Hospital.
Henry and Emma are still at the hospital, Michal having puffed Henry into some good clothing and restored the color to his cheeks. "Good, now you don't look like you just died."
Henry laughed, but Emma was looking around at all the people. "Henry… What's going on here? If the curse is broken, why didn't they go back?"
"I… I don't know."
A nurse suddenly drops a tray, and Emma goes to help. "Are you okay?"
The nurse just points to a window, and Emma is shocked at what she sees. And Henry comes over to see.
"What is that?" Emma asks.
"Something bad." Henry says.
"Oh I wouldn't say that." Merlin says walking over to the window, stretching out his staff. The gem in the top and in his necklace started to glow. Tendrils of what ever it is coming out from the main body and into the objects. "Just magic." He said smiling.
The Well.
"I-I don't understand."
"We're in a land without magic, Belle. And I'm bringing it. Magic… Is coming."
"Why?"
"Why? Because magic… Is power."
And the clock on the tour strikes 8:15.
First off. Guest, thank you about the babies, and yes Belle will find happiness of a sort, I'm just not sure what I want yet. And as for my saying that I "had plans for season four but didn't realize it" All I will say is that I have plans, they managed to blend with the show rather well in some ways, and not in others. These were plans I actually had back in September of 2013, but I didn't know they would be molded by the show, and I have managed to figure out how I will be handling it, I hope.
If worse comes to worse I could just skip a season or two, with how fast I'm writing the show will be in season 8 before I get to season 4.
And I did Guest first because *Drum Roll* you are my 125 reviewer. Yay, woot, so on and so forth.
Sorry to PumpkinKitten, but I was planning on having Belle, it was mostly if everyone said no to her emphatically that I would have not had her. The main question was how big a role she got.
Thanks other Guest for the kind review about the baby's names. lozzy035, as always it was short and to the point. JamieOUAT, no to ScarletBeauty, and to save time, I basically have two ends for Belle in mind, to be revealed at a later date, and I am 99% certain my mind won't be changed,
And of course, my dear Twyla Mercedes. Well I brought Belle in, this should be fun. And I hope you like how I handled this. We don't need to worry about this becoming a three way relationship, Belle and Gold will be at best friends, and worst employer/employ relationship.
But who knows, if I ever start righting smut, maybe I'll do just what you suggested, or maybe have Gold be running a harem.
*Tries and Fails to contain hysterical laughter.*
A big maybe.