Chapter 32
They appeared in the vault. Everyone was already there. They had conceded to let Rumple break through the barrier. There was nothing for him there. They'd hidden it all. They didn't know what he wanted anyway, so they hid it all.
Emma could see that Regina was still on edge. She didn't know what to do for her. She didn't know what to say. She'd tried to comfort her, but she didn't know if she could.
"Where is Coraline?" Regina demanded as soon as the smoke cleared.
Coraline peered around a bookcase and saw the look in her mother's eyes. She knew then that Regina had seen the memories. She still didn't understand what good could come from that memory and now, she knew that no good would come from it.
She stepped around further so Regina could fully see her. Emma caught the slight hesitation, but she didn't say anything. She just beckoned for Coraline to come forward.
"Will, can you go check on everyone?" Emma asked, knowing they needed some privacy.
"Sure," Will answered, knowing that Emma and Regina needed to talk to Coraline alone.
Coraline crossed the room and stopped in front of Emma. She waited for one of them to say something to her, to let her know what they needed, what they wanted, but instead, Emma wrapped her arm around her shoulders given her a half hug and pulled her along. She made her follow them into a small bedroom off the hallway. Coraline would have been more apprehensive had it been anyone other than Emma with her in that moment.
"Coraline…" Regina started to say before the emotion took her over.
"I tried to spare you that," Coraline stated as she sat on the bed.
Emma helped Regina onto the bed as well. She was content to pace. She tried to stop herself when she saw the looks that she was getting from both Regina and Coraline. She slowed her step, but didn't stop pacing. Emma smiled at them. Coraline leaned into Regina's welcoming arms. She sighed and watched as Emma paced before them, unsure of what to do.
"Why didn't you tell us before now?" Emma asked.
"What did you want me to tell you?" Coraline questioned in response.
"You should have told me that I became the Black Queen," Regina whispered.
"How could I tell you that?" Coraline inquired, still clutching her mother.
"I don't know, but you should have."
"Will you tell us more about it now?" Emma asked.
"What more is there to tell?" Coraline questioned.
Emma stopped pacing and Coraline started. Her eyes were flashing colors, purple and green. Her hands would flair and smoke, but she never thrust it outward. Regina watched her, amazed at her quite resistance, her ability to hold back when she was this frustrated, and her need to protect her family when she was still this angry with them for dying on her as a child.
"Stop," Regina commanded, forcefully but quietly.
"What?" Coraline asked, turning to find Regina staring right at her.
"Just stop. Stop pacing. Stop hiding. Stop protecting us."
Coraline turned a little more fully. She stopped right in front of Regina. She looked into her mother's eyes and she recognized her own. She fell on the ground in front of her and let her head fall into Regina's lap. Regina for her part just held her and ran her hand through her daughter's hair.
Their bond wasn't perfect. Their bond was beyond time and pain. Their bond was magical and infinite. They were mother and daughter. Nothing and no one would ever take that away from them. Even though, Regina had yet to carry her, the bond between them was just as strong as if she had already. She couldn't describe and she wouldn't dare try. As soon as she realized that Coraline was her, she knew that there was nothing that she wouldn't do for her. Stopping the Blackness had become priority number one. Finding out that she became the Black Queen put a damper on things, but she learned while finding out that knowledge more about the Blackness.
"It needs a host," Regina said like it was the answer on how to stop the horrible future to come.
"What?" Emma asked.
"The Blackness…it needs a host. It needs a host in order to survive. If it something happens soon that causes the Blackness to be released, then it will need to find a host. We know that I am not its first host. We know this because you've told us that much. You fought off the Blackness in the castle after I went to avenge Emma's death. It took Emma and then came after us. You fought it. You hurt it somehow. Evidently, I didn't die that die like you thought," Regina said.
"Yeah, it took me twenty something years to find out that. I spent my entire life thinking you were both dead only to be tortured by my worst fear. I spent weeks in a cell being tortured by the nightmarish Black Queen. My body was broken and abused every day. At night, she'd made sure that I was put back in my cell wrapped in the Resurrection Blanket."
"She would break you and then heal you?" Emma asked.
"It's more torture," Will replied.
"What?" Emma questioned quietly, looking at her friend and her lover's body guard.
"It was another way to break her down. The mind can only handle so much. The cloak or blanket can't heal her mind. It could only heal the body. The crazy thing is that Regina even as the Black Queen knew that Coraline wouldn't break easily because she didn't. She was trying to buy time," Will told them.
"Buy time for what?" Coraline asked, confused by the new line of thinking.
"For you to find a way to help me fight back," Regina answered.
"Fight back? Fight back from what? She becomes the host," Emma stated.
"I do, but as such, I retain part of myself. You said that the Black Queen seemed obsessed with finding 'Regina's Daughter.' This means that the Black Queen sees herself as a separate identity to me. It also means that I must fight her. This would be why she covers up her appearance."
"The mask?"
"She never took it off while she was in my presence until the day I told her my real name and who I really was. She always kept herself covered. She never once betrayed her true identity."
"Because she couldn't," Will added. "She was the Black Queen. Regina had become the vessel in which it inhibited. It needed Regina to stay pliant and do its bidding. If it had Remy, she could do that or force her to do it."
"But the plan backfired," Coraline responded.
"Because as soon as I heard your name, I knew who you were," Regina stated remembering from the vision the look on her own face with Coraline told the Black Queen her name was Remy.
"A mother's bond?" Emma asked.
"Like True Love, in certain incidents, a Mother's Love is a powerful magic. It can cause great feats of strength. It will make a sane woman run into a burning building to save her children…"
"It will cause a grief stricken vessel to fight back and send her daughter then only place that she knew that she would be free of the Blackness and its corruption," Regina told them.
"To a time when she could possibly help stop it," Coraline stated.
"To a place that the Blackness couldn't find her," Emma said.
"And, to friends that would find a way to stop it before it starts," Will added.
"So sending me here, now, is some sort of catalyst to break the chain of events?"
"It has to be."
"But, nothing about my life has changed."
"This time it has," Will stated.
"How?"
"I am here."
"What?!" Emma asked.
"In all the scenarios that I have worked up on this, I am the newest variable. You've even said it yourself that I am not there. I can't think of any conceivable reason that I wouldn't be there if I am here now. I wouldn't abandon Regina. I wouldn't abandon you," Will stated.
"I know that, but I don't know why you aren't there. You just aren't. I can't explain something that I don't know. I was barely five when it happened. I don't even know if my memories of that day are true or not. Everything that I know and understand is based on that one event. I can't change that. I don't know how except to stop the Blackness."
"So we stop the Blackness, we stop our deaths. We stop our deaths we stop you from coming here. We stop you from coming here we get to raise you from a child until you're an adult?" Emma asked trying to make sense of everything.
"That is the long and short of it," Coraline replied.
Regina held onto her tighter. Coraline wrapped her hands around Regina's waist. She held on to her like she was going to drown if she let go. There was something so childlike and innocent with her movements that Emma couldn't help but see. Their daughter was hurting and there didn't seem to be away to stop it.
Regina has poked around in her head and found out more than she really wanted to know. It was a possibility that they knew, but they needed more information to stop the Blackness. They didn't believe that they had been wasting time in not knowing, but now, Emma wasn't so sure. They had been trying to know their daughter, live as a family and explore relationships. All the while, Coraline had been going through a personal hell in her mind trying to unravel how she was so damn important to the Blackness. She needed to know what was so special about herself.
"It isn't you, Coraline," Emma stated when she came to the conclusion about why Coraline was so upset about all of this.
She raised her head and looked at Emma like she had four heads. Will stopped her miniature pacing and stared at Emma after her comment. Regina turned her gaze at Emma.
"What?" Coraline asked her looking eyes with her other mother's.
"This isn't your fault. None of this is your fault. You were just a child. You aren't the cause of it. You need to stop blaming yourself for this," Emma told her.
Her brown eyes fixed on her mother's green. There was a small war of wills before Coraline began to cry. She wasn't sure what else to do. What she was doing didn't seem to be working, maybe she needed her mother's full help after all.
"You aren't to blame. You've done nothing wrong. Everything that you have ever done from the day you were put on Red's back has been to protect us. We failed you. I failed you. But, no more, from now on everything that we do is to help you and fight the Blackness. We don't have time for petty bullshit. We don't have time for rivalries. We need to talk to Snow and tell her everything…well, enough to let her know that we need a town meeting. We need her backing if we are going to do this. We need to let the people know. They might be able to help."
"She has a point," Will replied.
Regina and Coraline looked at them. Regina knew that she was right. Coraline had been keeping information because she was afraid of letting them know too much too soon, but it seemed with Rumple's apparent lack of sanity that this was no longer a luxury. They needed to act and they needed to act fast.
"Go to Snow, Emma. Tell her what is going on. Bring them here. Will go with her. I'll keep Coraline with the fairies as we find a way to bind Rumple. There has to be something that we can do to stop him. He is the biggest liability, now."
"I'll help with that," Belle stated joining them.
"Are you sure that you can do that, Bookworm?" Regina asked her.
"At this point, I don't have any choice. He is going to destroy us. Either we stop him or everyone dies. I don't know about you, but I don't want that on my conscience," Belle replied.
"Neither do I," Coraline added, standing up and wiping her eyes.
The fierce determination that was set there reminded Regina of Emma. She smiled at her daughter as she headed further into the vault and to where the fairies were. Regina walked over to Emma and gave her a brief kiss before she followed Coraline. Belle smiled.
"Be careful, Emma. I don't know what he is capable of right now. He wants me back and he will probably stop at nothing to get me back. I know that you and Regina are trying to protect me, but if it comes to the point where I have to go back to him to save everyone, I will."
"It won't come to that," Will told her.
"And, how do you know that?" Belle questioned her.
"Because I'll kill him first," Will answered and left the room, heading up to the crypt part of the vault, leaving Belle and Emma to stare after her.
Rumple laughed manically as he passed through the force field to get to the abbey. He hadn't actually expected to get through so easily but he figured that he'd wasted enough time, energy and magic on it that it just finally gave way. He stomped his way through the rest of the forest until he was at the road that led to the abbey. He stopped there and sniffed the air. It was rife with magic and it wasn't his.
"Ah, Regina, dearie, what fun have you left for me here?" he asked the night.
He smiled as he crossed the roadway. There was another barrier between him and the abbey. His smiled dropped. He realized that the outer barrier was more of a warning system. This barrier was going to be harder to get through. He'd taught her too well.
He ran his hand across this new barrier. It wasn't like the first one. It was different and not as…he couldn't quite describe it. It seemed to be from blended magic. He didn't know if he could actually get through it because of that. He touched it again, poking his finger through it. He was amazed it would allow him to poke it, probe it, but he couldn't push completely through it. It was fluid and solid. It was a paradox to him.
"I wonder," he thought aloud as he bent down.
He knelt in front of it. He dug a small hole in the earth just at its base. He watched the hole and waited. When the barrier didn't fill it immediately, he grinned.
"It can't be that easy," he said.
Just as he pushed his hand under the barrier through the hole, the barrier changed and dropped into the hole. His hand burned as he pulled it back out. He stared at the marred and burnt flesh. He sat down and stared at the barrier.
"Well, that was surprising. But, this…this wasn't Regina. This wasn't Emma either. She's not prepared for something like this. Could the fairies be more magical than I thought?" he wondered.
He poked at the barrier again. His finger sank in but didn't go all the way through. When he pulled it back out, it wasn't burnt. It was fine. So it had some resistance but if he broke through it would hurt him. He stared at the barrier.
"This is the work of that Vulcannonian…" he hissed.
But, it wasn't. This barrier was the combined knowledge of Regina, the fairies, and Emma. Will actually just help Coraline cast it. She was the only one with enough power and mixed sides to pull from to make such a complete barrier as Rumple was testing.
"She has to have magic of some sort. She escaped the plague set upon her people. She's here now. I know that I sent her to this world, but there is something else about her. There is something that she is hiding. It can't be good."
He raised his hands to the barrier. He started pumping magic into it. He couldn't let something like this stop him. He kept his mind focused and let his magic flow. The green flashes coming from his hands kept lighting up the night. He steadied himself and kept pushing the energy towards the barrier, hoping that he could create a big enough hole for him to fit through.
"I will have what I need tonight," he swore but didn't relent.
Will and Emma stood outside Snow and Charming's home. Emma sighed. She hated coming to her parents for help and Will could tell. But, they were from Fairy Tale Land. They understood things on another level that Emma couldn't. They had a unique upbringing. They could help and Emma knew that, but she just wished that she didn't need the help.
"Still trying to do things on your own, Emma?" Will asked her, feeling her thoughts.
"I am adult and I am still going to my parents for help. I should be able to figure this out with Regina's help. I shouldn't have to go running to Snow every time something major happens."
"Welcome to being magical," Will replied sarcastically.
"Would you go to your parents for help?" Emma asked.
"If I still had them, in a heartbeat. My father had a unique mentality and my mother was part Wolf. They were perfect for each other and they taught me a lot. I understand family values on a completely different level than anyone else besides Ruby."
"The pack mentality?"
"Something like that, yes, but it was different. My family was an entire people. We did everything for the betterment of our lives and for our realm. Serving your mother and then Regina was a way for me to learn and thrive. It wasn't a punishment. It was politics, but not in the manner you are thinking."
"What then?" Emma asked her.
"Pyroxes was looking for my husband. By putting me in Regina's Court, he put me on display. Men who would dare try to court me would know who and what I was before they would petition my father. Unfortunately for him, it didn't work out like he'd hoped," Will told her.
"I see," Emma replied finally knocking on the door.
Snow answered it immediately. She looked them up and down before motioning them into the house. The door had barely closed before she started questioning them.
"What happened?" she inquired with a small crook of her head.
"What makes you think that something happened?" Emma asked her trying to deflect.
"Emma…"
"Rumple is causing trouble," Will said matter-of-factly.
"What do you need us to do?" Snow asked them.
Emma walked around the living room before sitting down. Her head fell into her hands and she looked over at Will, who had a grin on her face. Snow sat down in the EZ chair and stared at both of them. The look that she was giving Emma and Emma still hiding behind her eyes just caused Will to actually laugh at both of them. All that made Emma do was stare down her friend as her mother looked at both of them perplexed by the levity between them.
"I'm sorry," Will replied.
"So, you want to tell me what's going on?"
"It seems that Rumple wants to cause some trouble. He has found a way to open a portal back to the Enchanted Forest. The only problem with that is that he doesn't have all the ingredients he needs. He seems to think that the fairies have what he needs," Will told her.
"Do they?"
"We don't know exactly," Emma stated.
"So, why are you here?"
"We need you to organize the militia," Will answered.
"The militia?"
"We do have one, right? I mean the dwarves all seem to show up when there is a problem. Please tell me that there are more than just those seven," Emma said.
"I guess we do. I am not sure. I mean we really haven't been fully under attack before and when we did, we all just took care of it. Why do I have a feeling that this fight is going to be on many fronts?" Snow asked them.
"It will. Right now, we have Rumple contained."
"Contained?" Snow questioned.
"He is trying to battle several barriers that we have erected around the fairies' abbey. It will take him quite a while to get through them. While he is trying that, we need to form some groups and take care of business in case he does manage to get what he needs."
"And if he does manage to get what he needs?" Snow inquired.
"Then we will have to deal with that when the time comes. We aren't sure why he wants to go back but we assume it is due to magic. According to what we do know right now is he wants to open a portal there. What he wants there is another mystery? But, Belle seems to think that he is trying to find a way to win her back or find a way to change what has happened. We don't know if this stems from Will and Coraline's arrival, but it has become a logical conclusion."
"Rumple and I don't exactly have a stellar relationship. I have reason to believe that he might want me dead or worse. He can't be trusted around me. I'll need to stay in the background and still be able to fight. There are things that he has done to me and my people that cannot be forgiven and won't be forgiven," Will explained.
"Do I want to know?" Snow asked, regarding her old friend and body guard.
"No, Princess, you don't," Will answered her.
There was a silence between them. Emma wasn't sure what to do now. She'd come to her mother for help and now, she was lost as to what was going on between them. Will and Snow just stared at each for a moment. There was no battle of wills between them. It was a silent conversation between two royals plotting the next move in the gambit with Rumple. It was also a silent acknowledgement that Regina and Emma would be leading this campaign and that they would need Snow's backing. It hadn't been said, but even Snow understood why Will was there with Emma and not Regina. With a slight nod that only Will saw, Snow acquiesced and agreed.
"What do you need me to do?" Snow finally asked breaking their silence.
"Gather as many of your leaders as you have. I'll contact you and let you know what we need. They need to be on stand-by. We need to know that we can defend the town from whatever he decides to bring back with him or conjure once he comes back. He is the loose end."
"I'll get David on that while he is on his rounds tonight. Can I ask what you two are going to do? What other preparations are being made?" Snow questioned.
"Regina and Coraline are trying to work on a timeline. Once that is settled, we will start prepping for the future. We now that the Blackness is coming but we aren't exactly sure when and now that we know more about what is to come, Regina and I aren't sure that we aren't changing the timeline that Coraline originally gave us."
"Are her memories changing?" Snow inquired.
"Mine didn't," Emma stated.
"True, but if hers are, it might mean that we are changing things."
"That is the crazy thing about time travel. We just don't know. Like Emma had the book as a reference and she saw the changes in the book as they were happening. We are trying to get the journals that Coraline has from Regina. Belle and Red are going to read them and plot the main events in them versus the time line that Regina and Coraline come up with. Right now, it all we have. But, Regina, Emma, and I agree that we can't leave the town unprotected."
"I agree. I'll get with the dwarves and other militia leaders in the morning. We should meet somewhere so that we can discuss training and the sort. We can let ourselves be defenseless. It has been over thirty years for some of us. Some things come back, others need to be taught."
"I'll be setting up some sort of school. Don't worry, Snow; Emma will be my first pupil. She, Coraline and Henry. I still serve this family. I will not let it fail. I can't."
Emma heard the conviction in her voice. She knew that Will meant it. She was going to find a way to make sure that they all survived this craziness even if it meant her own death. Somehow, some way, Emma, Henry, Regina, Coraline…all of them would survive what was coming.
"Go back to Regina. Tell her we're in. Call or text me later and let me know where to meet in the morning. I'll go out on patrol with David tonight. We'll alert everyone."
"What about Neal?" Emma asked, worried about her little brother.
"I'll send him to Granny's. He'll be safe there. She won't let anything harm him."
That seemed to calm Emma down enough that she was willing to leave. She still hated the fact that after several years in Storybrooke, most of them as mayor, that she still needed her parents help in order to save the town. She was the Savior and she didn't know squat about living in the Enchanted Forest. The town still functioned like it would as a real town in this world, but the people still rallied like the townsfolk of fairy tales. Maybe it was because they were all from fairy tales, but for Emma it just seemed like there was more to it. That she was just missing something that she would never really get because she had been raised here instead of there.
"Let it go," Will told her as they walked out of the house.
"Let what go?" Emma asked confused by her words.
"The burning need to understand everything. It will crush you. Right now, you need a clear head. You need to know what you are fight against and what you are fighting for. Can you tell me that? Can you answer that for me?" Will asked her.
"I'm fighting for my family and their happy endings. I am fighting to keep the peace in this madness. Hell, for all I know, I'm fighting against the birth of the Blackness."
"Then, forget everything else and worry about those things. Spend time with your family. Love them. Spend time with Regina. Love her. Help us look through the books and tomes about magic. Let everything else go. It doesn't matter in this fight. If you can't, it will bog you down and hold you back in our fight. I need to know that on the field of battle, when the time comes, I can trust that you will have my back with no hesitation," Will told her.
"I will."
"Then, there is nothing else for us to worry about tonight. We need to get back. We need to make sure that Rumple can't get what he needs," Will stated as they crossed town back to the cemetery and back to Regina's family vault.
Across town at the abbey, Rumple was still pacing. He had spent himself pumping magic into the barrier only for it to absorb it. He was stumped, and he didn't like it. He stepped back and sat down on a stump. He stared at the abbey and wondered.
"They had to know by now that I made it through the first barrier. What are they doing in there? Are they even still in there?" he wondered aloud.
He hadn't seen anyone leave. Emma's yellow bug was still outside parked in the small parking lot. There were a few other cars there too. Mostly he believed that they belonged to the fairies. He could see that the lights were on, but he couldn't hear any noises coming from within. He figured that it had to do with the slight hum that the barrier was giving off, but he wasn't sure.
He laughed at himself for a moment. He thought that this was all just a distraction for him, but why? That is what bothered him. Why would they be distracting him? They must have what he needed and it had to be inside the abbey. There was no other answer. If the barrier was keeping him out, then it must be keeping them in. He couldn't see any other way around that.
"I will get inside. I will get what I need. I will get that portal open," he yelled at the barrier.
It hummed back in response. There was nothing else that he could do. He sat there and stared at it. Suddenly, he decided that he needed to know what happened. He needed to know if he did get through the barrier and get what he needed. He had been so clouded that he forgot to check the future and see if he got what he wanted. He knew that when he did that, that it could be one of many possible outcomes, but nine out of ten times what he saw happen happened.
He raised his hands and let float through the air. He felt the tingle of magic in his fingertips. He knew that he didn't have to go too far into the future, just enough to see if he got the portal open. Images flashed before his eyes as he closed them and let the magic do its work. Thousands of scenes played out before his eyes and all he had to was find the right time, the right event and he would know everything that he wanted to know for now.
He tried to focus but things kept evading him as they shifted over and over again. He couldn't lock on to anything in the near future because too many decisions were happening right now that was affecting it. He needed to look further, but he wasn't sure how far to go. If he looked too far, he might not get the answers he was seeking. Finally he saw a baby Coraline with Regina and Emma. He decided to stop there.
"Is your mother ready for this?" Regina asked her.
"Is any mother ready to do this?" Emma countered.
"No, I guess not. But, she is a Queen. She can't let the grief overpower her. She needs to hold her head high and still lead our people," Regina told her.
"When you know how to tell her how to do that, let me know. Until then, we will support her in everything. We will not the Kingdoms fall. David will rule in her place if needed."
"Or you could," Regina suggested.
Emma just stared at her. She couldn't believe that Regina would suggest such…but then, again, she could. She was the heir to their throne, but they had already named Neal to it, seeing that Regina and Emma had their own.
"I have our kingdom to deal with. I won't take over just because my brother died. There has to be another way. We just have to help her through this. I am not giving up on them."
Regina nodded. She understood where Emma was coming from. They had their own problems to deal with. They could take on Snow's kingdom and rule both, but the agreements had been made. She wouldn't push the boundaries.
"What about Henry?"
"What about Henry?" Emma countered.
"He is the next heir for both kingdoms."
"He is."
"He could help them," Regina offered.
"Do you think that Snow would let him be Prince Regent?"
"We could ask. We could just offer. Henry is a good boy. He is of age. I know that it isn't ideal, but your mother's kingdom has to know that it has a successor. If not…"
"Plays for the throne will happen."
"And if they do…"
"I'll have to go to war to protect a throne I really don't want."
"Exactly," Regina agreed, having already known Emma's position on the matter.
"It will come better coming from me," Emma mused, knowing that Snow wouldn't care.
"I know."
"We should talk to Henry," Emma added, trying to push her thoughts passed her grief.
"We should."
"Later," Emma stated, still holding herself up as Regina could feel her grief consuming her.
"Tonight, then," Regina replied.
"I'll talk to Mom in a few days. She needs time to grieve. I will not take that from her."
"Agreed," Regina replied, taking Emma into her arms and holding her.
"Regina?"
"Yes, Dear?" Regina asked her.
"Never stop loving me."
"I won't, Dear. I promised you that. Until death and beyond, Emma. I will love you always."
The vision vanished and he was standing. He didn't get the answers that he wanted, but he got some answers. The young Prince Neal dies and leaves Snow without an apparent heir. Emma was still denying her royal blood and birth right. They were going to offer Henry up as an heir. There seemed to be two kingdoms that were living in harmony. This meant that they were back in the Enchanted Forest. He took that to mean that he finally gets his portal open and in doing so gets what he needs to force them back to the Enchanted Forest.
He knew that it meant that he got his powers back fully and full strength. He was happy. He would get his Belle back. He would get his love and with his love he would find his way to getting his family back. That was his end game: his family.
Through the forest, things were happening. Things that no one could predict. No one would know what was happening until the morning and by then it would be too late. There would be only so many things that they could do when they woke up. The magic was flowing all around and pooling towards the old well, tucked back and forgotten for the evening.
The well was sucking in power from the forest and creatures that its new reach could get to. Rumple had opened a gate, but to what, only the magic knew. It pulled and fueled itself on the small amounts of natural magic that the trees and other wildlife in the area. When the well had enough magic, it mixed the magic it was drawing from this world with the magic it possessed from the Enchanted Forest.
The faint green glow of the well got brighter and brighter with each moment and each new amount of magic that it drew in. The well having no consciousness of its own was at the mercy of the last spell that it was given. This time it wasn't True Love. This time it wasn't trying to bring magic out of the natural world here and give the enchanted creatures of the Enchanted Forest back their magic. No, this time it was only half way ready to open a portal to the Enchanted Forest. But, as the magic grew and the light grew, the pool swirled and swirled with the words of the Rumple's spell echoing off the stones into the magic.
The spell mixed with the magic to create a strange casting, not quite complete, but not quite incomplete either. As the magic swirled inside the well, a portal opened. Daylight began to show through the churning magic. A world beyond the well started to come into focus.