"Pick axes down, brothers! First round at Granny's is on me!" Happy said, ready for a drink after a long day.
"Come on, Leroy. We're going to miss happy hour." Doc said.
"Granny's running a two-for-one special on mead."
"Just cause it's called happy hour, Happy, don't mean you got to be there. We got work to do." Leroy, the only dwarf for some reason to keep his cursed name, said.
"But you're tired. We all are. A break could help."
"Charming asked us to mine for dust – fairy dust. To help bring Snow and Emma back home. And that's…what I'm…going to do!" Leroy said, continuing to hack at the wall with his axe.
Until suddenly, he breaks through the wall and falls through into another cavern face first.
"Leroy!" Happy yelled him and Doc rushing into the cavern, Bashful and Dopey following close behind.
"Ahhh." Leroy said turning over to lie on his back. "Wow, must have hit my head harder than I thought, I'm seeing stars." He said waving his hands trying to clear his vision.
The others looked up as well, and then Happy wasn't the only one smiling. "Leroy, it's not your head."
And after closing his eyes and shaking his head, Leroy also got a stupid grin on his face. "We did it."
"Where is he?" David asks, having just arrived with Henry and Mother Superior/Blue.
"This way." Happy says, guiding them to the cavern.
"Are those…" Henry couldn't even finish the sentence, his mouth was hanging open..
"Diamonds. They're back. The magic brought them back." Blue said.
"You mean, the kind that become fairy dust?"
"Indeed. We just need to refine them – grind them up. Do you still have what remains of Jefferson's hat?" Sha asks, and then David pulled out the beaten up hat. "You lock this up. Keep it safe. Because, by this time tomorrow, we'll have enough magic dust to make it work again."
"So, Mary Margaret and Emma…"
"That's right, kid. We're bringing 'em home."
Gold and Merlin had also heard the news, David had called to tell Gold that he was getting Henry from his house to see the diamonds. Gold had called Merlin, and they were both standing outside the mine with a sound barrier spell around them. "Should we delay them do you think?" Merlin asked.
"No, it may prove useful for the fairies to have the option to do magic now, give the binding spell on them a little more weight." Gold said.
"Yes, but what happens if they try and charge the hat, it won't end well."
"They can't charge it without our allowing it, and we won't, if needed I'll convince David it's in our best interests not to, besides, I have a feeling."
"Ah, want to share."
"If anyone intends to stop getting Emma and the rest back, they will do it now; we let events unfold to smoke them out."
"And you have a feeling someone wants to stop Emma from crossing over."
"Yes, unfortunately that's all it is, but if it's right, then this is how we find out without putting the real plan in jeopardy."
At Granny's, David, Mother Superior, Belle, and the dwarves are celebrating, Ruby going around passing out drinks to them. "To the dwarves!" David yells, a chorus of cheers echoing him. "That was quite a spill. Are you okay?"
"I've had worse." Leroy says. "But do you think I could take tomorrow off, spend some time with the god-son?"
Red goes to clear off a table, where Billy is waiting for her. "A mouse." He says.
"What? Where?" Red looked around, slightly afraid. That was one thing she hated about the curse, Ruby was scared of mice, while red was indifferent, and the Wolf would eat it.
"No. I meant me. I was a mouse. My name was Gus. I lived in Cinderella's pantry, I ate cheese, I gnawed on wood, but I preferred the cheese."
"And, why are you telling me this?" She asked, because it was a little weird.
"Uh, we haven't had a chance to talk since things…changed. I just wanted you to know who I was… Back home."
"Uh, can I, um, still call you Billy?"
"You can call me whatever you want, as long as you let me buy you a drink after your shift. I already know Ruby. I want the chance to meet Red."
"Um, tonight's actually not great. Because…" And there was another thing she hated about Ruby, she couldn't lie worth a darn without ten minutes to rehearse it and practice it front to back and back to front.
"Uh, we, uh… We have, uh, plans." Belle said coming out of nowhere.
"That's right, um… Its girls' night. I'm bringing the cheese which has nothing to do with you being a mouse. It has to do with the wine." Yep, and Ruby was not very smooth.
Actually, come to think of it, there was very little that Red liked about how Ruby had changed her personality.
"Okay. Um… Maybe next time." Billy says leaving.
"Thank you." Red said with a sigh of relief.
"I can spot a girl in trouble. He… He seems really nice."
"It's… It's complicated."
And while that was all going on, Henry went and sat with Merlin and Gold.
"Is that coffee?" Merlin asked, eyeing the cup suspiciously.
"No." Henry said, pulling it closer.
"Trying to stay up, huh?" Gold asked
Henry just nods.
"Still worried about those nightmares?"
He nods, again.
"Well, don't be. Because, when you go to sleep tonight, I'm going to be right in the next room. Now maybe, lose the java, and go grab a cocoa." Gold said, giving Henry a smile. "And if that doesn't work, I might have a trick or two up my sleeve."
Henry smiles at him and does leave. But then Gold notices that Albert is sitting down with David. He nods in their direction, "Problem."
Merlin simply nods and gets ready to stand up.
"Congratulations, Sheriff. Quite a celebration." Albert says as he sits down across from David.
"What are you doing here?"
"You may have taken care of me in the old world, but, in this one, we get another go at each other."
"Whenever you're ready."
"It's a big moment for you, isn't it? On your way to getting your family back."
"Ah… Yeah, it must be hard for you. You know, watching good win."
"Good? So sure of yourself. But I know the truth. You're still just a shepherd pretending to be a prince. You weren't fit to run the kingdom, and you sure as hell aren't fit to run this town."
"I think the people of Storybrooke might disagree with you." David said smugly.
"Today but I'm going to see to it that they see things my way. That they see you for who you really are. By the time I'm done with you, you'll wish you'd killed me when you had the chance."
"The people of this town know who I really am. And they've seen me defeat you before. So, if you want to try and take me down, they'll see it again."
"Well, we will see." Albert then stands up and goes to leave. But then Merlin goes and puts his arm around him as he's half way to the door. "What do you want?"
"Oh, just thought I'd give some unsolicited advice." Merlin said smiling. "I must admit, going after Charming, nice move, bold, well timed as he's distracted, new playing field, you have more money and technically more power in this land then he does, in fact I only see three problems with the plan." Merlin then opened the dinner door and half forced him out.
"Oh, and what are they?" Albert asked, rather angrily, as he forcibly removed Merlin's hand from him.
"Well. You lack loyal followers who love you, power to make them fear you, and respect to make them want to follow you. And as you were a king, you know that you need at least one of these things if you are going to rule, and you don't."
"And what makes you think I can't get what I need."
"All of your loyal followers who used to either love or respect you have long since gone, so the only thing you have really is power from your job as the district attorney, at the moment that position hold about as much power as the Mayor's office in the public eye. And then there is also one other minor detail."
"Do enlighten me."
"In order to have power through fear, you have to be the biggest guy in the room. And even if, somehow, you managed to get together a following of people who fear you, there's still the minor obstacle that no matter what you do, they will always fear Rumpelstiltskin and I more. You can estimate it really comes down to in this town, whose side where on. Because if David wasn't family, we could easily snap our fingers and have complete control over the town before sunrise tomorrow, so even if you somehow managed to wrestle power away from him, make the people lose their love and respect for him, you won't have the throne for more than five minutes before one of us comes and takes it from you." Merlin said smiling. "Have a nice day."
"Almost done. Let's finish clearing out those perishables." Granny says wheeling an impromptu cage to the inside of the walk in freezer.
"What the hell is this?" David asked, very confused as to what was going on.
"We're making a cage. Know anybody who might want thirty-eight frozen lasagnas?"
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I know. Nobody would believe it if you told them my lasagna was frozen."
"I would." Gold said. But he was standing at the door with the silencing spell still active, so no one heard him. The events of the night were turning out to be very interesting.
"No. Why are you building a cage?" David asked.
"Tonight's the first full moon since the curse broke. It's the first night of Wolfstime." Ruby said.
"I thought you figured out how to control the wolf in you ages ago?"
"Yeah. But, thanks to the curse, I haven't turned in twenty-eight years. I might be rusty. I can't let what happened last time – what happened to Peter – happen to anyone else."
"What about your red hood? That could keep you from turning."
"If I had it. I've looked everywhere. I even went to Gold. It's not in town. I don't think it came over with the curse."
"Ruby, I know you. I trust you. Snow trusted you. Wolfstime or not, you won't hurt anyone tonight."
"Maybe. But I can't afford to take any chances."
Gold's Home.
Henry went upstairs up to his room an hour after the party, very tired, even with the coffee.
"So, you threatened George." Gold said, not even looking up from his worktable in his basement.
"Yes, but I like to think of it as giving unsolicited advice in a threatening way. Less likely he will try and bring me up on charges."
"Well then." Gold continued his work; he was attempting to brew a Dream-Walker potion for Henry, something to let him keep control of his dreams. The last ingredient he needed was for it to catch a ray of moonlight from a full moon at midnight. The autumn harvest moon would be preferable, or a hunter's moon, but this would do for any dreams that might be from a sleeping curse, he just hoped that was not the problem.
But if that was the case, at least he was not under a sleeping curse, especially one with nightmares added in, because then only the harvest moon would do.
But there might not be any moonlight tonight, the clouds were very thick an hour ago, and he had a feeling that it had not gotten any clearer. "Do you know what I did with the bottle of western wind?"
"No." Merlin said, he had already gone over to the bottle case on the shelf, looking through the different drawers and shelves. "Would a bottle of backwards eastern wind work?"
Gold just looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "If that is your big attempt at comedy, I wouldn't suggest quitting your day job."
"My job is stay at home, count my money from my supposed tycoon days, and wait for you to get out of your depth and need me to save your sorry self. I think comedy would pay better."
"You and I have very different memories of who saved whom back then."
"I'm thinking of the time you tried to get a bottle of dragon's piss."
"I was very young back then." Gold said, suddenly defensive.
"The dragon wasn't even in the cave, and was coming back as you were leaving, it was very poor form."
Granny's dinner
The next morning, Granny enters the diner, muttering to herself. "I am just too old for this... You awake yet, Ruby? Ruby, Ruby."
When she gets to the freezers, she found the door off its hinges and that Ruby had escaped.
"Ruby!"
Granny quickly got David and began a search for Ruby in the forest. Granny leading the way.
"This way. Over here." She said. Walking over a small hill, they find Ruby asleep on the ground. "Ruby. Ruby, wake up." And then Ruby jolted awake.
"Hey."
"Where am I? What happened?"
"You're in the forest. You must've fallen asleep here last night."
"I-I don't understand. You put me in that cage. You locked me up."
"The freezer was torn to shreds when I came to check in on you this morning." Granny said. And Ruby started looking around like a trapped rabbit, looking very nervous.
"Ruby. Ruby, it's alright." David reassured her.
"No. It's not. I don't remember anything from last night. This is exactly what I was afraid of. Oh my God. Did I do something last night?"
"Ruby, all we know for sure is that you broke out and ran through the woods. There's no reason to assume the worst." David said, and then his phone begins to vibrate. He gives them both an apologetic look and then answers it. "Sheriff. Yeah. Okay. I'll be right there."
"What is it?"
"Somebody left their car double-parked in front of the cannery. I got to go check it out on our way back into town. Hey. Relax. Everything's going to be okay."
"That's Billy's truck." Ruby said.
"Great. Who do I call to tow a tow truck?" David said, actually that probably was a good question. But then he saw the look on Ruby's face. "What is it, Ruby? What's wrong?"
"I smell blood."
And then he realized something. "Where's Billy?
Ruby then begins to follow the scent of blood, David following her. Granny discovers Billy's torso underneath the truck.
"Here. David." She yells, David runs over to look, just as Ruby screams.
She found Billy's lower half, sticking out of a dumpster.
"It was the wolf! It was me!"
Henry came down to breakfast feeling very tired and swore, maybe he should ask his dad for a water bed.
And a more magical solution to his problem, but the bed would be a good additional request
"Ah, Henry, how did you sleep last night?"
"Not well, I AHH!" Henry suddenly yelled, he then lifted up his arm and showed it to Gold. It had a very light burn.
"Ah, that's what I was worried about." Gold said turning off the stove. "Good thing you have me."
"So you can help? It was just a dream."
"Well, what you're describing's certainly not a dream. I just wasn't entirely sure until now."
"Then, what was it?"
"A side effect. You know, it's remarkable your mother would cast a curse she seems to knows so little about." Mr. Gold then went and got his bag of potions, taking out the one he made last night. "When people fall under a sleeping curse, the soul travels to a Netherworld, where it resides until awoken. Now, this world is between life and death, and it's very real. However, even when the curse is broken, sometimes, in sleep, the victims find their way back to that world."
"But I wasn't under a sleeping curse."
"No, but unfortunately, what we had to use was a fake sleeping curse, it has been know, very rarely, to allow a person to travel to the nether realm, but your protected from its more harmful effects. Tell me, how close has the fire been?"
"Not that close, but I can feel the heat."
"Exactly, you are like a person looking at the fire through a pane of glass, you can still burn yourself if you touch the glass, but it's rarely life and death serious. You probably got frightened in the dream and did just that."
"Can you to give me something that will keep me from going there."
"Well, I'm afraid that's not possible. I can, however, provide you with something that will allow you to control your actions whilst in that world. And once one controls something, one no longer need fear it." He holds up the finished product – a necklace.
"A necklace?"
"A dream walker's necklace which was used by an ancient king to control his kingdom by inflicting pain where no one can save them, in their dreams. You wear this while you're sleeping; it was the part of the process that let him control the dreams. Once you control the journey, fear will stop. And then, you can come and go as you please."
Henry took the necklace and put it on. "Anything else I should know?"
"Well, your operating behind the sense as it were when it comes to this kind of thing, your only half way into the nether realms, so it is possible that if you encounter someone else there, you could temporarily take control of them, use them as a conduit, but that can be very difficult, and you must remember something about this type of magic, while the necklace and the fact that you're not all the way in the other realm will give you an advantage, a door once opened this way can be walked through in either direction."
David, Ruby, and Granny are still at the docks.
"It had to be something else, Ruby." David said.
"No, I did this! We both know it."
"No. A few months ago, everyone thought Mary Margaret was guilty of murder. She needed someone to believe in her. I didn't do that. I am not going to make the same mistake with you!"
"Mary Margaret never killed anyone. I have."
"I know who you really are, Ruby even if you've lost sight of it."
"It doesn't change the fact that I am going to turn again tonight, and somebody else could get hurt." Ruby said hysterically.
And Granny began to notice that the docks were slowly getting busier, and that some people were staring. "Maybe this isn't the place to have this discussion."
"It's okay. I'll protect her."
"No! Lock me up. If the freezer couldn't hold me, maybe a jail cell will. I don't need to be protected from other people, David. Other people need to be protected from me."
David locks Ruby in a cell at the station.
"You'll be safe in here tonight."
"Thank you, David."
"Thank me in the morning. By then, I'll have found whoever really killed Billy."
"You already have. That thing. That she-wolf." They both looked at the door to see Albert standing in the doorway.
"Get out. Whatever issues you have with me, don't involve her. There's no proof Ruby had anything to do with what happened."
"It seems to me, that you're allowing your emotions to cloud your judgment."
"Leave him alone."
"Protecting your friend at the peril of everyone else. I knew you'd slip up, shepherd. It was only a matter of time."
"What do you want?"
"Justice. Hand that over to me, and let the town decide her fate."
"Never. I know exactly what kind of justice you have in mind."
"This town is bigger than you think. I start telling people that you're putting their lives in danger to protect your own interests? You'll have a mutiny on your hands."
"Yeah, we'll see. You want her; you have to go through me."
"I look forward to that."
Later, Albert and an angry mob met in front of the Sheriff's station.
"We won't cower in fear of this creature any longer! We know who she is; we know where she's hiding. So why is she still alive?" Albert yells.
Everyone cheers in agreement.
"Because she's being harbored by one person – David Nolan. How many more people have to die, before our Prince decides to act?"
"Yeah!" The mob yells.
"If he won't protect you, I will." Albert says, gesturing for a man to break the chains.
Once inside, the mob heads towards the jail cells.
But they find the cell empty.
"Oh dear, oh dearie dearie dear. Damaging public property."
The mob looks over at the inside of the sheriff office.
And found Mr. Gold sitting at the computer. He didn't even bother to look up. "Breaking and entering, endangering the public." Then Gold looked at the mob, specifically Albert. "I don't know, what sounds better, dereliction of duty or the insisting of ochlocracy. Honestly, I think the dereliction of duty sounds better. But I would love a former D.A.'s opinion."
"Where is that beast Gold?"
"Don't know, and even if I did, telling you would be opening myself up to charges of being an accessory before and/or after the fact. Like all of you people are right now." He then picks up a clipboard. "If you all could just sit down, I will need to process and book all of you."
Albert just looked at him in utter disbelief. "You can't be serious."
"Oh I am, you have all just committed a number of crimes, and as a temporary deputy I will have to make sure everything is in order in case the D.A.'s office wishes to press charges, it might take a number of hours to finish it all, but I'm sure we'll manage."
The mob just started looking around, shifting and muttering like they were all about to run. "Dove, the other more permanent deputy, has already barred the door to prevent anyone leaving, but if any of you think you can out run me…" He said with his most threatening smile, motioning toward the exit. "Be my guest."
At the library, Ruby, David, Granny and Belle have gathered to protect and secure Ruby.
"These should work." Belle said bringing in some chains.
"Thanks for letting her hide here. The Sheriff's station isn't safe."
'Of course. It's, uh… It's not every day you find out your friend's…"
"A monster?" Ruby said, looking sad.
"Hunted. I was going to say hunted."
"The crowd's six blocks from here." Granny said.
"You… You have wolf hearing, too?"
"It's not all it's cracked up to be, especially when you run a hotel." Granny said. "Sounds like only a few of them have left the station."
"The only way we're going to get the mob to stand down, is if we prove Ruby had nothing to do with Billy's death. I'm going to need your help." David said to Granny. He then turned to Belle. "Now Gold said he could probably buy us three hours at the most. If the mob comes this way, call us." He then went to the door. "Come on."
Granny and David exit leaving the two ladies alone. "So, what's the worst book you ever read?" Belle asked.
And Ruby couldn't help it, she just had to laugh.
"You need to leave. The moon's going to be up soon." Ruby says a few hours later, but she's still not in chains.
"But will the chains hold?'
"Hopefully.'
"Then, I'm staying. Think of it as girls' night." Belle said smiling. "We could even invite Madalyn." But then she saw the concerned look on Ruby's face. "What's wrong?"
"I know David wants to believe the best, but I've killed before, and I'll do it again. Everyone in this town is right to be afraid of me."
"Okay, well I'm not."
"You should be."
"No matter what you might've done in your past, David sees the good in you and… And that tells me one thing."
"What?"
"That it's in there. So if we can all see it, why can't you?"
"You really think so?"
"Trust me. I'm sort of an expert when it comes to misunderstood people who are thought to be or think their monsters."
"Maybe. Maybe, you're right. But the town's right, too. I am a monster. And that's why I need to make sure I don't ever hurt anyone again." And then suddenly Ruby snapped the chains on to Belle.
"No, no, no. Wh-What are you doing?"
"I can't let you stop me. The mob wants a wolf; I'm going to give them one. I need to pay for all I've done."
"And they'll kill you!"
"Isn't that what I deserve?"
David and Granny are on main street.
"This way." Granny says, having smelled one of Billy's jackets in order to pick up the scent. She leads them to a parked car. "The trunk."
David pops the truck. Inside, everything appears to be normal.
Until they checked the spare tire compartment underneath, where they just so happen to find Ruby's hood and a hatchet.
"The wolf didn't kill Billy." David said.
"Ruby's hood."
"So she'd be forced to change back into a wolf. So whoever killed Billy could pin the murder on her."
"Who would want to hurt my Ruby?"
"Perhaps I can answer the question." Gold says appearing out of nowhere. "This isn't about Ruby. It's about you, David. Here's the car's license and registration, I think you'll recognize the name."
"Spencer." David said.
"King George?"
"He needed a reason to wrestle power away from me, so he created one."
"A rather convincing reason I might add. He managed to get almost 100 people on his side." Gold said. But they all stop talking when a wolf is heard howling in the distance. "Well that's not good."
"She's out." Granny says concerned.
"The mob. They're going to kill her."
"Something tells me that's what she wants. You go; I'll get the necessary reinforcements." Gold says as he walks away.
Albert and his mob have now gathered outside of the library. Ruby howls.
"She's close." He yells, and leads the mob to an alley, where they find Ruby hiding behind a dumpster.
"There you are."
Albert draws his gun and goes to shoot the wolf.
But, before he gets the chance, Granny shoots the gun out of his hand with her crossbow.
"The next one goes between your eyes!"
"Ruby!" David yells, the mob angrily protests at David's arrival.
But he eventually manages to get through. "Listen to me! Ruby didn't kill Billy. He did." David yells, pointing at Albert. "He stole her cloak, and killed Billy in cold blood to make it look like a wolf. All to get you to think I wasn't leading this town as I should."
He's silenced when the wolf growls, causing the mob to start to move forward. "Hold up! Somebody already died because of what this man did. Let's not spill more blood. She won't hurt anyone. She's just scared." David then slowly edges towards where Ruby is hiding, the hood in hand. "Ruby? I know you're in there, so listen to me. It was Spencer, not you. Don't let him trick you into thinking you're a monster."
The wolf growls. Mad.
"Alright, alright. Poor… Poor choice of words. Please. Ruby. I know you. I know the real you, and I know you can control the wolf. Ruby." David then keeps saying her name as his hand inches closer to Ruby.
"It's me – David."
The wolf stops growling and obediently sits.
David quickly throws the hood over Ruby, transforming her back into a human.
"You saved me." She says, standing up and smiling at him.
"No. You saved yourself. I just reminded you of what you already knew." David says, smiling back at her.
But then behind them, there is a commotion amongst the crowd. They run over and find Granny on the ground. David helps her up.
"What happened? Where's Spencer?"
"He's gone. Go. Go." Granny said, urging them to get going when they didn't start running immediately.
"Okay." David said before he runs and gets into his car. Ruby joins him.
At the beach.
Ruby and David found Albert standing next to a fire. Ruby ran up first.
"You think you can hide from a wolf?"
"I wasn't trying to hide." He said with a chilling calmness.
"You killed an innocent man." David said.
"He was a mouse." This time he sounded a little mad.
"He was better than you'll ever be." Ruby said.
"You want to make a deal? It's not going to happen."
"I'm not interested in making a deal. I just want to see the look on your face when you realize something."
"And what's that?"
"That you're never going to see your wife, or your daughter, again."
"What are you talking about?" David said, suddenly feeling apprehensive about the fire.
"You really should be more cautious with something so valuable." Albert then pulls out Jefferson's hat and tosses it into the fire.
"No!" David yells, running over, throwing dirt on the fire, trying to put it out.
"It doesn't matter, how much fairy dust you gather, or how much you rally the town behind you. Your family's gone."
David just punches him in the face, knocking him to the ground. David then draws his gun and levels it at Albert.
"David, don't." Ruby yells.
"I told you – you should've killed me when you had the chance."
David, after some internal debate, decides against shooting him, and lowers his arm.
"A wise move sheriff, leaving him for the more morally bankrupt to handle." They all look up when they hear Gold's voice. He's standing just outside of the fire's light, it was rather creepy.
"What are you talking about Gold?"
"Well, he wanted a monster, a beast in town, something to scare people, I thought I would oblige."
Then they all heard a low growl. There wasn't anything particularly scary about the sound, at least on paper, but there was something, just something to it that made your blood freeze.
Then, slowly out of the shadows, came something. Something big.
First a giant claw, the size of a finger then a paw the size of a plate, then an arm as thick as a fire extinguisher.
Eventually they saw what it was, a giant black cat, with the body of a very large man. It had large yellow eyes with green irises and a gold collar. "Napoleon, sic-him."
He didn't need to be told twice, and with a loud growl lunged at Albert, tackling him to the ground a good 10 feet away from where he had once stood. Clawing and biting, mauling the man as if he wanted to eat him.
"Good boy." Gold said.
"What the hell are you doing?" David yelled.
"Reinforcements."
At Mary Margaret's apartment, David and Ruby are sitting, Gold is getting drinks.
"Henry may never see his mother or grandmother again. How am I going to break that news to him?" David said.
"You won't have to." Ruby said.
"Travel between worlds is as hard as it comes. Fairy dust on its own isn't enough. It took an entire curse to get us here in the first place. Without the hat…"
"You'll find another way."
"You don't know that."
"But I know you. And I know you'll never give up until you do. And David? You're not going to be doing this alone."
"Thank you."
Ruby smiles and then turns to leave. "Do you mind giving Granny a call?"
"Sure. Why? What for?"
"I may have left Belle chained up in the library. Somebody should probably…"
"Unchain her?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah, I'll take care of it. Where you going?"
"I've still got a few hours of Wolfstime left. You helped me regain control. I want to do something I haven't done in a very long time."
"What's that?"
"Run."
Ruby exits. And then a moment latter David hears a howl outside and smiles.
Gold then sat down with two glasses and a bottle of whiskey. "Well, all and all, we had a good day." He said, pouring a liberal amount in each glass.
"A good day, where did you get that idea from?"
"Well, no important people died."
"Billy died."
"Like I said, no important people died. Spencer is in the hospital."
"Because Napoleon mauled him."
"I don't think anyone will believe that a little kitten did that, do you?" Gold asked, and David said nothing in response. "And the plan to bring our wives back is now safe to continue unhindered from this end of things."
David slams his drink down. "The hat is ashes now."
"So?"
"The hat is burned; the plan went up in smoke."
"No."
David just stared at him, not sure how to respond. "What are you talking about?"
"No. Your plan is up in smoke. Mine is coming along nicely."
"What plan?"
"I have a plan to save them that is entirely different than your plan to save them. Your plan was never going to work, mine is."
David just stared at him, dumbfounded. "And why am I learning about this only just now?"
Gold picked up his drink and turned away from David, so that his side was facing him. "Because you are a stubborn, thickheaded, mule of a fool." Gold said, taking a sip of his drink while enjoying the gob smacked look on the other man's face out of the corner of his eye. "Oh, don't look like that, it's not a bad thing, it's what makes you a hero. I knew there was no way of convincing you that it's out of your control, I knew that, even if it would only end up burning the heavens, you would risk whatever hair brained scheme you could cook up if it meant getting them back, so I let you have one." He then took another sip. "There is no way that hat would have worked, even if you had all the fairy dust in the world, pixie dust even, it couldn't have helped you."
"Why not?"
"The hat was broken. Trying to open a portal would have been like trying to open a door when the frame has been warped, it does not work. And what you were going to do, very dangerous, pouring magic into an imperfect container like that hat, it would have been like putting water in a broken bucket, only instead of getting your feet wet, you would have probably blown a good portion of the town to kingdom come."
"So why didn't you just tell me it wouldn't work, why risk it if it's so dangerous?"
"You forget, I have the fairies bound, they can't use magic to lift a feather an inch off the ground, let alone channel that amount of power. And because I removed the risk, there was no harm in allowing you a project, so long as it kept you from doing anything truly stupid, I let it continue." Gold said, refiling his glass, and while he drank he saw the look on David's face was not getting any better. "Come now, you know yourself, you know how you are with your constant "I will always find you…" And so forth. Can you honestly tell me that if I simply told you to stand down you would have?"
David wanted to answer that he would have, but he knew he would be lying.
"The fact simply is that we cannot go and get them, they must come to us. You're working on it made m, George being case in point, there was actually something going on that could be useful on our side they could try and stop. Better to deal with him now then risk it later." Gold said, and David found himself nodding in agreement. "And it gave Henry hope that we could possibly do something that might help. Hope in what he could see was enough to keep him going; now hopefully hoping in what he cannot see will be enough for him."
Netherwolrd.
Aurora is in the burning room from her nightmare, screaming as the flames jump at her. Suddenly the flames gradually subside, until there is only ash, looking like snow, falling around her. "Don't be scared."
She hears a voice say, sounds like a young boy's voice. "Who are you?"
"My name is Henry, what's yours?"
"Aurora." She said, still wondering where he was.
"Sleeping Beauty."
"Yes."
"Have you ever met Snow White?"
The question shocked Aurora a bit. "Why would you want to know that?"
"She's my Grandmother."
Realization dawned on her. "Your Emma's son."
Now was Henry's turn to sound shocked. "Yes. Do you know my mom, are you with them?" He asked urgently.
"Yes, they are with us now. Do you want me to tell them something?"
"No, I can do one better."
"What's that?" Aurora asked confused.
"It will take time to explain, and I'm not sure how much of that we have. Just close your eyes and imagine a door."
Aurora found the request, odd, to say the least. But she complied nonetheless. "I don't know how this will feel, but just try to relax.
Fairy Tale Land, the group's camp.
The group is sitting around a small campfire. Aurora is sleeping with her head on Phillips lap while he lazily runs his hands through her hair. Mulan and Lancelot are busily discussing battle plans and strategies and wondering where Cora might be hiding. Mary Margaret and Emma are just content to look up at the stars, dreaming of home. While Hook stood over to the side, a good distance away, keeping watch.
Suddenly Aurora gasped and woke up, drawing the group's attention to her, which suddenly got a lot more attention when they saw that her eyes were pure black. Aurora just looked around the group until her I settled on Emma. "Mom." She said, but her voice had a faraway quality, with an echo, and sounded a great deal like, Henry almost. "Mom, it's me, Henry."
Emma's eyes just widened in disbelief, quickly looking over to see if they attracted Hook's attention, luckily they hadn't. "Henry... H-how?"
"It's a side effect of the fake sleeping curse and necklace dad gave me, I can... Take control, someone else who's been under for a short time... Even see... some of their memories."
"Henry, are you all right. You sound tired."
"I am... This... Is taking more concentration... Then you'd think."
"Oh believe me I can imagine." Emma said, thinking back to the first few times she had dream-skyped, because there was really no other name for it she could think of that was good, with Gold and how tired she had been afterwards. "Is everything all right, how are the triplets? How's your father?"
"And how is David?"
"They're all fine... Mom… When are you coming home?"
"Soon Henry, very soon, without a way to come back and will be there soon."
"Good… I… I have to, go now… I love you."
"We love you too." Both Mary and Emma set the same time. Then Aurora closed her eyes again and collapsed.
"Well." Lancelot said after a moment, breaking a rather tense silence. "I did not see that coming."
I am so terribly sorry for not updating in so long but I actually have a number of good reasons. First off being that school has been a stabilizing factor in a rather hectic life at the moment, thank you for helping me see it that way Twyla, of course it's also a very time-consuming one. The custody battle nonsense is extraordinarily annoying, more so by the day, Father dearest is a liar and a moron.
And then there's the fact that every single piece of tech I have involving fanfiction is deciding to die.
To make a long story short I have an external hard drive which contains among other things the complete versions of all of my published works, and incomplete backups of all of my unpublished. It is no longer working and I have yet to find a repair place of which to take it too. On top of which my Mini Sim card that I use to type up all of my stuff, and in this case almost complete versions of three pieces of work that were completely unrelated to this story. These were either continuations of stories I have labeled one-shots or the first chapter of a story that I am thinking about doing but might not.
But I digress, the point is that that particular Sim card decided to let the magic smoke escape from its, and for layman's who don't get the joke, that means it caught on fire internally and completely and utterly destroy any data on it.
For any fellow authors to understand my displeasure, I have incomplete backups that I managed to dig up for some of the works that contain around 4000 to 5000 word saved for works that I had gotten to almost 9000+ words on.
So I was not exactly having good day that day.
And then OUAT happened.
I was going to start Rumplestiltskin's Strangest Deal back up again, I was getting right back into the swing of all things Rumple*Belle, and why you might ask, because of the episode The Bear and the Bow, when I saw the trailer, I had high hopes that this would be the episode resurrected my Muse ever since the season 4A finale catastrophe. Otherwise known as one the dumbest things the show ever did when he came to the Rumple*Belle relationship.
I was going to start writing again on that story, I was, is going to restore my faith in the relationship.
You'll notice I'm using the past tense.
The episode failed, and I think we all know why.
That stupid car scene, the one were Belle is trying to tell Gold that they should go back and fight Emma because it's the brave/hero/right thing to do, and because they still have loved ones in town.
Someone please shoot me now. When on earth does Belle even get these crazy ideas from, I mean seriously. Gold is not a hero, at that point at least, and who are these people who he cares about.
NEWS FLASH – earlier in the episode they were all willing to let him die because, when you're in a coma and people are doing things without your consent, it's your fault that the darkness escapes from you.
Maybe, you all should have just let Hook die, or left the alternate reality alone, then none of this would have happened.
Thank you ramen-luver101 for the compliments and support, yuiop for the compliment.
Thank you again Twyla Mercedes, and yes, I realize the last chap was mostly about the beanstalk, but I was going more off of episode names, coming up with your own chapter names is surprisingly hard.
Thank you as always Grace5231973, my tireless Beta.
And thank you power214063, yes, I got bits and pieces of that part in my head already.
I will try and update faster, hope everyone had a great thanks giving, and if I don't get to it in time, Marry Christmas.
And last but not least, I shall be posting Napoleon's picture on my tumbler, normal and his transformed/monster/guardian form.
Oh, and a very short collection of one-shots are forming in my head, be on the look out the next few days.