I'm currently doing a practical course so I'm quite busy during the weeks, so for a while I think you should just expect updates during the weekends. Hope that's alright with you all!
David was the first to reach the Sheriff's department, but stopped right across the threshold, staring at the cell where Zelena had been placed the day before. It was empty.
"Zelena", he said as Regina reached him, "she's gone."
"No, she was here when I left her", Regina protested, frowning at the cell.
"But if she escaped", Belle said, "that would explain the time portal."
"Without the emerald she's powerless", Toby responded. "The Witches of Oz all had pendants that enhanced their powers, but if they removed said pendant from themselves all of their magic would be gone as well."
"How did you learn that?" Tessa asked.
"Yesterday, when we activated the hide", Toby said. "It just... came to me out of nowhere."
"Point is she's powerless", Regina interrupted. "How could she have escaped, let alone opened a time portal without magic?"
She glanced at Robin, who in turn looked at Gold, causing the Mayor to narrow her eyes at the newly freed man.
"Unless", she said, "you did something to her."
All eyes turned towards Gold, who looked baffled at their silent accusation.
"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint, but no", he said. "Even if I wanted to, Belle has the Dagger. She would certainly curb any homicidal tendencies."
"It's true", Belle agreed.
"David", Rachel said, drawing their attention. She had sat down in front of an old computer screen. It currently displayed the group in the room as they looked from above, meaning there was a security camera linked to it.
"That looks ancient", Indira pointed out.
"Well, it works", David said and sat down next to his sister, "and it should be able to tell us how Zelena escaped."
He pressed a few buttons and typed in the previous day's date. Regina then provided him with the time of her departure; since the Mayor had been the last one there that would be as good a place as any to start. David forwarded the recording slightly until they all saw Zelena rise from her cot and study the bars.
The next moment the recording went static.
"What's that?" Regina asked. "What just happened?"
"Yeah, we could use an upgrade", David muttered and hit the computer in annoyance. Slowly the image cleared again. Zelena had now moved to the back of the cell, standing as close to the wall as possible. Her face looked determined as she raised her right hand in the sky and then, slowly, ran it down the length of her body, a few inches in front of her face. The moment the hand passed a part of her that part turned into porcelain and in the end there was no human flesh left; just a porcelain statue. Gasps were heard around the room and Regina's face went pale as the statue shattered and the pieces turned into a fine powder.
"What?" Indira hissed, staring at the screen.
"It seems her great escape was of a more permanent nature", Gold said from the back of the office. "I won't ask for an apology."
"That's not possible", Toby agreed. "She didn't have any magic; how could she do that?"
"She must've had just enough residual magic to... do herself in", Regina said and swallowed.
"Then who opened the time portal?" Rachel asked.
"Only she could've done it", Regina replied, "so it must've happened when she died; once she was gone the magic in her pendant no longer had a master. It was set free."
"And with that she got her wish fulfilled", Indira filled in.
"So how do we un-fulfil it?" Robin asked.
"Until we figure it out, no one should go near it", Gold decided. "A trip to the past can have catastrophic repercussions."
"I'll alert Emma", David said, pulling out his phone. One by one the others left the Sherriff's department, eventually leaving Toby, Indira, Tessa and Rachel.
"Do you still feel her?" Indira asked. Toby narrowed his eyes at the cell as he thought.
"I don't know."
Emma studied the vibrating phone in her hand. David. She sighed and clicked the Decline button; she definitely did not feel like talking to her father right now. Instead she looked out across the pond in front of her; she had taken refuge in the Storybrooke park and was sitting cross-legged on the same bench she and Henry had been sitting on a few days earlier when she had told him about Neal's death. However, it felt like that was an eternity ago.
"You're making a mistake."
Emma groaned internally and put her phone away as the pirate approached her, followed by Wolfgang and Clarissa.
"I don't want to talk to you about this", she said.
"Don't listen to me", Hook replied, "listen to your son."
She glanced at him and saw him opening a satchel. She had seen him wear it back at Granny's, but had not really questioned what he might be keeping in it. What he now pulled out was definitely not what he had been using it for back then; the storybook.
"He thought this might remind you of what you're leaving behind", he said and reached it towards her, "your family."
Emma stubbornly refused to look at the book, let alone accept it from him.
"Henry is my family", she stated, "and I'm taking him where he is safe."
"No, Swan", Hook said, his lips curving up in a slight smile of amusement, "the safety-first nonsense is just that. You've faced down the Wicked Witch and Pan. You broke the Curse. And still you keep running. What are you looking for?"
"Home", Emma replied, her voice quiet.
"And that's in New York?" Clarissa said as she and Wolfgang slowly approached.
"That wasn't real", Hook said. Emma rolled his eyes at him.
"The last year was."
"They were false memories", Hook groaned. "It was based on magical nonsense!"
"And now we have our memories back and can make it real", Emma replied."
"Why can't you do it here?" Clarissa asked. "I mean, your whole family is..."
"Because of this!" Emma said and grabbed the book, flipping it open in her lap. "I don't see my family here; I see... fairytales. I see stories of princes and princesses and it... it's not me. I was never a part of this."
"Then what are you a part of, Swan?" Hook asked and sat down next to her on the bench.
"Besides Henry, I don't think I've ever been a part of anything", Emma replied.
"But you could be", Wolfgang said and cocked his head in Hook's direction, causing the pirate to glare at him. Emma stared speechlessly at the pair at first; it had never occurred to her how much alike they acted. Was that how it was like for all of these... connections that they were talking about? Were she and Clarissa that much alike?
"Look", she said, casting these thoughts aside and closing the book, "when I was a kid, I ran away. It's just what I did, but the first time I did it, I had the same exact thought. I wondered 'What if I'm making a mistake? What if I miss this place?'"
"Did you?" Hook asked. Emma shook her head.
"Not the first time, or any time."
"So you just kept running", Clarissa said, "and you still do that; you still run."
"I learned something a long time ago", Emma explained, feeling her throat constricting with unshed tears. "Home is the place when you leave, you just miss it. So yeah, I'm going to keep running until I feel that."
"So you're just going to leave your parents, then", Hook said, looking crestfallen. "Do you even care about them, or anyone in this town?"
"Of course I care", Emma whispered. "I just have to do what's right for me and Henry and..."
She stopped. Her eyes had caught sight of a strange pillar of fire shooting up into the sky.
"What the hell is that?" she asked.
"I have no idea", Hook responded, frowning slightly. Emma glanced at Clarissa, who shook her head.
"No, no idea here either. Wolf?"
The boy shook his head in response. Emma quickly stood up and threw the book onto the bench.
"I'm checking this out", she said and ran in the direction of the pillar.
"Emma!" Clarissa called and ran after her.
"Swan, wait!" Hook called. Emma did not stop. She ran through the forest as dusk slowly settled around them. By now she knew this route all too well; this was the route to Zelena's farm.