Two chapters will be posted today and the final two will be posted tomorrow - just so you all know! ;)

The fire that Charming had built for them in the clearing a good way away from the castle did not do much to warm Emma. She had been crying ever since they had fled from the Queen's home, ever since she had seen the burning pyre. Seeing another fire did not help her get better.

"After my brother passed", Hook said, drawing her attention, "all I could do was relive that final terrible moment."

He paused and looked up at her, trying to give her his usual smile but failing.

"Don't do that to yourself, love. All we can do in times like these is trying to live in the here and now."

"I'm still here", Emma pointed out. Hook opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again.

"She's still alive", Emma continued. "Snow's still out there, somewhere, and we have to find her and... and hope that... however she managed to save herself, she..."

Hook sighed and waved his hand at some bug buzzing around his head.

"That she managed to save Clarissa as well", he agreed. He waved his hand at the bug again, but it avoided his attempts at hitting it.

"Cursed vermin", he growled as the bug flew off towards the trees. "We should head back to the Queen's castle; maybe it was an illusion. Maybe Clarissa created it for both of them."

"Do you think she could have done that?" Emma asked, feeling hope once again. Maybe Clarissa had managed to free Snow with magic without them noticing; maybe they were hiding somewhere.

"Well, it wasn't a trick by the Queen", Hook said. "Regina definitely thought she'd killed Snow."

Then he froze and pointed at her left shoulder.

"Stay still, love."

Emma frowned and looked down at her blue cloak. A small ladybug had landed on her shoulder and was giving off a strange, squeaking sound. When she glanced back at Hook she saw that he had torn a branch from a nearby bush and was preparing to whack the little bug that had been pestering him.

"Wait!"

The yell from Prince Charming caused Hook to freeze. The Prince came running towards them, his eyes on the ladybug.

"Don't harm it", he ordered, then looked up at Emma. "When we were coming to rescue you, Snow told me what her Dark Fairy dust would do to the Evil Queen. She said it would turn her into a form that could easily be squashed."

While Red and Emma's cellmate hurried over as well, he gently guided the ladybug from Emma's cloak to his hand. It was still squeaking, causing Charming to smile.

"A bug."

"You think Snow turned herself into that?" Emma asked, then looked around for more bugs, hoping to spot one that might be Clarissa. No one made itself known like Snow had.

"Well", Charming said, answering her question, "if she timed it right she could have escaped that fireball, faked her death and flown away."

He grinned, looking impressed and, possibly, slightly love-struck, though maybe that last part was wishful thinking from Emma's side. Charming raised the ladybug, now sitting on his left index finger, up so that it was at level with his face.

"Yeah, that's her", he said as the bug kept squeaking. "We just need to find a way to bring her back."

Emma strained her ears and tried to interpret what the squeaking sounds might mean, but had no luck in deciphering them.

"Wonderful", Hook remarked and looked slightly disgusted at the thought of turning oneself into a bug, "is anyone fluent in bug?"

"She's calling for me."

Emma turned at the sound of the vaguely familiar voice and felt her jaw drop. A blue fairy was flying towards them, a serene smile on her lips.

"Blue", Emma said with a smile. The Blue Fairy nodded.

"That's right. And you are?"

"Leia", Emma quickly replied and made a quick curtsey, just in case that was what you did when you met the leader of the fairies.

"No", Blue said, then chuckled and tilted her head slightly to the side, "that's not it."

Emma threw a quick glance in Charming's direction and found that he was looking back at her with a small frown.

"But your secrets can be yours", Blue continued. "I sense it's better that way."

"Can you bring Snow back?" Red asked.

"Dark magic did this to her", Blue said, "and Light magic can undo it."

She raised her wand and the ladybug soared away from Charming's hand, engulfed by blue light. The light grew and, when it vanished, a human Snow White had replaced the small bug.

"You're alive!" Emma shouted and wrapped her arms around the woman. "You really are alive!"

She did not receive a hug in return, which caused her to pull back, still smiling in relief. Snow, however, looked at her with nothing but confusion.

"It... appears so", she said, still frowning at Emma. "Thank you."

She then quickly turned away and walked over to Red, the two women embracing. The joy that they shared upon meeting each other again made Emma's smile disappear. Snow was here and alive, but she was Snow from the past; Emma was no one to her. And that made Emma's heart ache in a way she did not think was possible.

And Clarissa was still gone, which made the ache even worse.

"Regina... the Queen, she was able to stop the Dark Fairy dust", Snow explained later on while they questioned her about her business in the castle. "I threw most of it at her, but she vaporized it in midair. I kept some for myself, just in case, and when she threw that fireball at me I transformed myself into a bug."

She paused.

"The girl that tried to save me", she said and looked at Emma. "Who was she?"

"Leia's sister, Belinda", Hook replied when Emma was unable to respond. "Was she also able to escape?"

"I don't know", Snow sadly replied. "I couldn't throw dust at her as well; my hands were bound, so I was only able to drop it down on myself. But..."

Emma looked up.

"When I flew off", Snow continued, "I didn't see any humans left in the fire. Even if it was a big fire, there should still have been a human visible among the flames, but I saw none."

"So she might have gotten away", Charming said and sent a comforting smile in Emma's direction. "You'll find her, I promise."

After finishing her breakfast in the light of the rising sun, Rachel sat up on her horse and allowed it to walk up towards the farm. Her heart was hammering in her chest and even though she allowed the reins to remain long, she tightened her grip around the leather. She had never met her real mother, her biological mother, and this was possibly the only time she ever would. She had no idea what to expect; after all there were no pictures of her back in Storybrooke as she had died before the Curse was cast.

When she was still a good way away from the farm, a woman dressed in a loose white dress exited the house and started to feed the animals. She had dark brown, wavy hair swept up in a loose bun, with white strands close to her temples, but she seemed to still be in her forties. When the horse closed in on the farm she heard it and looked up, shading her eyes with her hands. Rachel pulled the horse to a halt and jumped off, drew a deep breath and then walked the last bit on foot. The woman studied her intently.

"Can I help you?" she asked, sounding a bit wary.

"I..." Rachel begun, then cleared her throat and prepared to continue. Before she could, however, the woman gasped and dropped the bucket of food onto the ground as she covered her mouth with her hands. Rachel tensed and considered leaving right away, while the woman took a tentative step towards her, then another.

"You're my baby?" she whispered, placing one hand on her own stomach. The dress had hid her small baby bump.

"How did..."

"You look just like your brother", the woman replied, tears forming in her eyes, "except for your eyes. Those you have from your father."

She slowly reached out and placed her free hand on Rachel's cheek.

"I don't know how you can be here", she said, answering Rachel's unasked question, "but I've known you had magic ever since I knew I was pregnant. And I know I can't keep you, because..."

"If you do, Rumplestiltskin might force me away as well", Rachel filled in and smiled slightly. The woman nodded.

"You look so grown-up", she commented with a fond smile, placing both hands on Rachel's cheeks, framing her face. "How many years has it been for you? Twenty? Twenty-five?"

"Twenty-seven", Rachel replied, taking the woman's hands in hers. "I can't stay long; I'm sure people are already looking for me."

"Then why are you here?" the woman asked. Rachel reached into her pocket and pulled out the small envelope.

"David sent me."

The woman opened the envelope and gasped at the sight of the diamond.

"He's contemplating not going through with his marriage", Rachel explained, "and if he doesn't, you must be ready to run. This should help you get far away from here, where neither King George or King Midas can find you."

"Does David know who you are?" the woman asked. Rachel shook her head.

"Not here. In the future, where I come from, yes; he knows. But when I met him here he had no idea."

"Good", the woman said. "I wanted to tell him when he came home from his mission, but when he arrived he only told me that he had to leave and marry King Midas' daughter, and he could never see me again. Because if he did Midas might figure out that he is not his twin brother."

Rachel nodded.

"You're not married either, are you?" the woman asked.

"No", Rachel replied. "Where I grew up people sometimes never get married. But I guess in my case it's also the fact that I never seem to meet... the one."

The woman smiled and placed her hand on Rachel's cheek again.

"You will", she assured her. "Both you and your brother will find True Love one day, I promise."

Rachel smiled slightly.

"Mother..."

"Ruth", the woman corrected. "The woman who raised you deserves to be called your mother, not me."

"I can never blame you for sending me away", Rachel said, "and mother is not something I call the woman who raised me, because with her I speak a different language. Mother is what I will call you."

Ruth looked stunned, before she nodded and kissed the knuckles of her daughter's right hand, which she still held in her left.

"I'm glad you came here to tell me that", she said.

"Then tell Ollivander, when you see him, when you give me to him, that you want me to come back and tell you my story", Rachel said.

"I will."

Rachel smiled and forced back her own tears. Then she took off her necklace with the Icelandic rune and pointed her wand at it. The spell she cast on the rune was silent, but caused the silver to shimmer in all the colours of the rainbow.

"Here", she said and handed it to Ruth. "Keep it with you at all times. It will alert you of when David refuses to marry Princess Abigail. At that point you must be ready to run."

Ruth nodded and fastened the necklace around her neck, then pulled her daughter into a tight embrace.

"I will always love you", she said, "just like I will always love your brother. No matter what happens."

"I know", Rachel replied. She then turned around and walked back towards her horse, swung up into the saddle and rode off without looking back.