…Present Day… Present Moment … Storybrooke Library…

"The Author can travel through time as well as different realms and I thought," explained Merlin as he struggled to stand up on his own. He could still feel the pain in his back from when Gold's magic slammed him against the wall. In all honesty, he should have known this would happen to him, especially since he was from the future and had done the exact same thing from his past to protect Belle. As he straightened his spine and stretched his back he continued his thought, "that by wearing the Sorcerer's hat I was ridding myself of the Dark One curse. I thought that by attaining the hat, I could still keep my magic no matter the realm. I didn't think that I'd be simply trading one master for another."

"If you're still here, then how come the universe isn't… I don't know, imploding?" wondered Belle.

"This is when I'm supposed to convince him to take the hat," Merlin said pointing to his younger self.

"But if you're still here," Gold wondered with the look of utter befuddlement, "then I've already made the choice to take the hat. What exactly is the point of this reunion? And what happens to you when I take the hat?"

"To be honest, I don't know what happens to me. When I was in your exact shoes, I remember my future self telling me I had a choice and then he walked straight out those library doors. Assuming I'm still alive after all is said and done, all that's left for me is my happy ending. That means you, Belle."

"Me?" Belle replied nervously.

"Family means everything to me. You, Lily, Henry… Not too long ago, I realized that my happy ending is with my family. That is," he said while looking humbly over at Belle, "if you are still willing to have me." He shamefully looked down at the ground, unable to look her in the face for fear of rejection. He knew it was an awkward suggestion to even imply, especially since his younger self was standing right there watching the whole exchange. He knew it would undoubtedly take time for either one of them to get to that point of reconciliation. But when it came down to family, he would wait forever for them. He looked up at her and apologized, "My dear, I'm so sorry it took lifetimes to see the merit of your wisdom."

"That was you! You are telling the truth," pointed out Belle, recognizing the apologetic tone. It was her husband from the future that wore that youthful disguise. He was the one that had greeted her when they first arrived to Storybrooke at their home on the porch. His tears that she saw were from years, centuries, possibly millennia of having been separated from her and trapped by the Sorcerer's hat. The brief bittersweet kiss that they shared on the front porch was remorse for having never been able to feel his true love's touch and to prevent her from being frightened of him and for the sake of her sanity he had to put her to sleep. It all became clear to Belle as she continued, "You were the one on the porch. It wasn't a dream.

"Indeed. Brilliant as you are beautiful," Merlin replied with a soft gentle smile. He looked down nervously and said as he looked up at her, "Obviously, I never stopped loving you or Lily. I'm sorry if I had frightened you earlier. I just had to see you again." Merlin paused briefly to breathe and realized that he had used the dagger to send his counterpart away. What was curious was where he knew to find them, so he turned to look over at Gold and asked, "I had just sent you to the edge of town. How did you know where to find us?"

Gold scoffed, "It was quite simple, actually. In Arthur's tale on how he acquired the hat, he conveniently omitted what happened to you. When I felt the dagger's pull to go to the edge of town and saw that Arthur didn't have it, well… it only confirmed my suspicions. So as soon as I arrived to Storybrooke's border and saw nobody there, I knew I had to come to the library. It's the only place I knew my wife would ever go to for refuge."

"Of course," Merlin chuckled to himself as he realized his own cleverness. He sipped the last little bit of the youth potion and instantly transformed back into a calmer, gentler and more subdued version of the Rumplestiltskin standing across from him. He placed the empty potion bottle on the circulation desk's counter next to the dagger which was already there. He then revealed the Sorcerer's hat, which was hiding just behind the counter and placed it deliberately next to the dagger. After making it obvious that he had the hat, Merlin waved his hand over the Sorcerer's hat and the hat became invisible.

"You took the hat?" Belle asked, wondering what he was doing.

"I did, that much I do remember of my past self," acknowledged Merlin.

"Why show the hat to us now and then hide it? Why didn't you just let me take the hat when Arthur first offered it to me?" Gold asked Merlin.

"I took the hat away from you because I wanted to warn you with as minimal interaction with other people as possible. I hid the hat to warn you because you needed to know that you had a choice. That hat," Merlin said as he pointed to the void where the hat once sat, "is far too dangerous to be in anyone else's hands but my own. I suppose after having worn it for some time, I feel partly responsible for it," said Merlin. He looked up and came over to Belle, leaving all the dangerous and powerful items behind. He cupped her face and gazed at her longingly, as if trying to burn the image into his mind. "When you're ready to have me, I'll be waiting for you."

Rumplestiltskin stared at the items on the desk and looked over at Merlin who was on his way out the door. Wary and skeptical of what Merlin was doing leaving the dangerous items exposed like that he asked just before he left, "Just like that, you're just going to leave these dangerous magical items behind and not tell me what I need to do?"

"I am, actually. I've already said too much. Besides, I know you and since I am you I know what motivates you to make the right choice. Don't worry, you'll figure it out. You have what you need to know what to do," Merlin said while looking over at Belle, "Just remember, that when you decide… you decide for all of us."

Gold looked at Merlin quizzically as his future self walked out the library doors. He had so many questions. What did he mean by that? What was he implying? What was the choice? Merlin was here and that meant he made the choice to take the hat. It wasn't a choice, more like an eventuality. Wasn't it? No matter what he was going to do he was going to choose that hat. And that power… that infinite power…

The temptation was insatiable and his will to even consider the other option his counterpart warned him about became obsolete.

I could manipulate time, Gold reasoned. I could come back to this world whenever I desired. I could negotiate with the Author and convince him that my intentions with that power are noble. But there was only one problem, Merlin made the hat disappear before Gold could take the hat. How was he going to acquire the hat?

Just then, the library doors burst open and Henry ran up to his grandfather out of breath. "Grandpa! We've got to destroy the hat! It's the only way!"

"How?" questioned Belle. "Merlin made it disappear."

"Merlin? He's here?! Don't trust him!" exclaimed Henry.

"Henry," said Belle coming closer to Henry and placing a concerned hand on his arm. She shook her head. It wasn't important for Henry to know Merlin's true identity at the moment. Knowing how to destroy the hat was much more important. No one should have that much power at the price of enslavement. "How do we destroy the hat?"

"Excalibur and the Grail, I mean, the Author's pen the paper," stated Henry as he corrected himself.

"What do you mean?" Gold asked.

"The pen," Henry said as he pulled it out from within the depths of his coat pocket, "It doesn't work for me. I already tried to destroy the hat by wishing it away, but I'm not the next intended host. It's you, Grandpa."

"Me?"

"You make one request, here," Henry said as he pulled out the enchanted parchment and pen and placed it on circulation desk next to the exposed Dark One dagger. "You have one wish before taking on the hat. The hat is never forced onto the host. It's the Author's way of allowing you one last act of free will before you lose all of your freedom. When I had the pen, I wished to take the Sorcerer's hat because I thought that by taking on the power I could find and give everyone's happy endings. But you… you can wish to destroy the hat!" explained Henry.

"Belle," Gold said turning to his wife. Gold felt guilty and sounded like he was justifying his inevitable actions, "You saw Merlin. He exists because I choose the hat! If I destroy the hat, the time loop will be broken and there's no telling what will become of us. There's no other cho-"

"Papa?" interrupted Lily. She stood behind her father and everyone turned to see the little girl standing bravely before them. There was no telling how long she had been standing there or when she had arrived, but there she was. Lily looked at Henry suspiciously and moved skittishly around him as she ran quickly into the safety and comfort of her parents.

"Lily!" yelled Belle as she lifted her daughter into her arms.

Lily looked to her father from her mother's arms and asked, "Papa, why did you leave Neal and me? What's the dangerous choice you have to make?"

Leaving… Neal... Abandonment. Hearing the name and the word 'leave' in that combination struck a chord with Rumplestiltskin and it made him immediately think of Baelfire. He thought of the green swirling portal. He remembered the painful memory of giving up his son for magic. His own child. But his other child, Lily, remains and she was standing right there in front of him. He still had a chance to do right by her. Gold stood there dumbfounded as it suddenly occurred to him, he was standing at the same crossroads with his daughter like he once was with Baelfire. He was staring at his second chance.

Merlin never mentioned their daughter arriving when he took the hat. Did this happen to Merlin, his future self? And if so, then why would he neglect to share this important detail? Something changed within Rumplestiltskin as he saw his family there together. Henry… Belle… and Lily. Why did he want the power in the first place? He wanted the power to use it outside of Storybrooke because magic made him happy… but did magic make him happy? It seemed to have caused only problems. Was magic really his happy ending? Arthur was right about one thing, he never believed in his happy ending. Time and experience had proven that. But then again, what was his happy ending? What did it even look like? All he knew was that everything and anything significant he had ever done with his life was out of his love for his family and that being with his family was what made him happy. Perhaps, he speculated, wherever his family was, that's where his happy ending was too. With his happy ending standing in front of him, it made him realize that choosing the hat was superfluous. His family stood before him nervously and waited with bated breath for his answer.

On two occasions he had sacrificed his power for his family. He saved his family when he killed himself to kill Peter Pan, and when he tossed the Dark One dagger to Zelena to prolong Neal's life. Those memories, as painful as they were, weren't just reminders of his failings in his quest for power, but evidence that he could choose his family over power. He knew he could make the choice because he had done it before. That was the choice. And with the evidence surmounting before him, he knew what he had to do.

"Lily…" Gold began to say as he took the pen from Henry.

"Yes, Papa?"

"The dangerous choice is choosing whether or not to allow people or things dictate your happiness. Everyone wants to believe and trust that the penholder to our stories has our happy endings in mind. It's dangerous because once you believe in that you're doomed for disappointment and misery. Life just doesn't work that way. I used to believe that magic would make me happy, but it actually doesn't. Time and time again happiness has proven to be the price at having magic. Seeing Henry, you… your mother," he said as he glanced over at Belle, "made me realize that."

"Well, who decides your happiness, then?" Lily asked innocently.

"No one can define your happiness but yourself. Only you can make your own happiness, and for the first time, I now know that being with my family… is my happy ending."

Gold turned to the parchment on the counter and wrote quickly,

"Rumplestiltskin destroys the Sorcerer's hat and everyone's happy ending is restored."

In a blinding light, everyone disappeared into nothingness.

… …

… New York City…

Lily woke up suddenly in pool of her own cool sweat. Was that all a dream? It all felt too real for it to be a dream. It felt like a nightmare. She was kidnapped to a place called Storybrooke. Magic existed there. Her parents were there. There were all sorts of fairytale characters present as well. Her parents are fairy tale characters. She is magical. She remembered something about a time loop and her father making a grave choice. Scared at the sudden insight, she leapt out of her bed and ran straight toward her parents' bedroom. "Mama! Papa!" Lily cried out into the darkness.

Rumplestiltskin turned on the lamp that was by his side of the bed and with squinted eyes scanned the room for his daughter. In a groggy voice he called to his daughter, "What's wrong sweetheart?"

Lily didn't say a word as she immediately hopped onto her parent's bed. She quickly dove between her parents and tucked herself beneath their covers. Her silence scared Belle as she said to her daughter, "Honey, was it a nightmare? What happened? Say something."

Lily remained silent. How could she explain what she just saw from her dream? Or was it a nightmare? A vision? Belle felt her daughter's head and became alarmed, "She's clammy." Lily began shaking beneath the sheets. "Rumple, she's trembling!"

"Darling, what was the dream about? Can you talk about it?" he asked as he tucked his daughter's sweaty hair behind her ears.

Lily didn't want to think about the dream. She wanted to sleep by her parents and not have to think about it at all.

Posted a day early because I knew I wouldn't have a chance to post on Sunday. So here it is. What did you think of my twist at the end? I'm eager to hear what you guys think.

I'm getting close to writing the end of this story and when I'm done, I intend on just posting as soon as I am able to edit them. As I look back at what I've written I am actually quite amazed by it all. It's been one heck of a ride, if I do say so myself and I have you to thank for supporting me along the way.

Speaking of which… Thank you Imusicluver23, NatalieMosherRumbelle, ladybugsmomma, Grace5231973, BreathingintheSun and Montreat11 for your encouraging reviews! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You guys are awesome. See you next chapter!