"We did it!" Emma said with a grin as she led the way into Rumplestiltskin's castle. The strange man was standing by the table in the middle of the great hall, surrounded by vials of potion ingredients. He did not look up from the potion he was preparing when he answered.
"You're parents are together?"
"They're right back on track", Emma said, "and we're ready to go."
"I see", Rumplestiltskin said and looked up, pointing at the unconscious woman Hook was carrying on his shoulders, "and you brought some luggage."
"Long story", Emma said and shrugged. "So, how's the portal coming? Can you open it?"
"I cannot", Rumplestiltskin replied with a small smile. Emma felt her heart drop down into her shoes.
"Then", she said and looked at the vials on the table, "what are you working on?"
"Oh, this is for me", the imp replied. "A forgetting potion. I know too much about my future. The only way to protect it is to forget it."
"But, what about this wand?" Emma said and pointed at the object, which was also present on the table. She had seen it once before, back in Storybrooke, when Gold had used it to bring Henry back to his own body instead of letting him be trapped in Peter Pan's. It was made out of a black material that she doubted was pure wood, which was twisted into a spiral shape like the horn of a unicorn, and the top of the handle was adorned with strands of silver.
"Oh, that", Rumplestiltskin said and leaned forward. "Well, apparently only those who've used the portal can reopen it. So unless you can wield magic, I'm afraid you're going nowhere."
He tossed the wand to Emma, who clumsily caught it in her hands. It felt cold to her touch.
"Can you?" Rumplestiltskin teasingly asked. Emma looked down, feeling her cheeks burn with shame.
"Thought not", the scaled man said with a grin, before he returned to his potion.
"So you just expect us to stay here?" Hook growled. "What about protecting your precious future?"
"Well", Rumplestiltskin said and rubbed his hands together, "that's exactly what I'm going to do."
Hook shifted the woman's weight onto his left shoulder and used his now free right arm to draw his sword.
"He means to kill us, Swan", he warned, forcing her to step in behind him. Rumplestiltskin giggled madly.
"Oh, no", he said. "I mean to put you someplace safe. Someplace even I dare not go, where I store the magic that is too dark or unpredictable even for me."
"Rumplestilt..." Emma begun, but the dark wizard snapped his fingers and surrounded them with red smoke.
"...skin", Emma continued when the smoke cleared. The transportation had been immediate and their surroundings were no longer the great hall of the Dark One's castle. This was a dungeon, of a sorts, but with the highest walls ever built for such a place. Orbs of ghostly white light were attached to the walls, providing the only light in the room that was filled with strange objects and artefacts. Emma took a step forward and found, to her surprise, that she was no longer in a dress. She was wearing her normal clothes; jeans, boots, a grey turtleneck and her favourite red leather jacket. In her right hand she still held the black wand.
Hook grunted behind her back as he placed the woman down on a spare table.
"Well", he then said, "at least he did us one favour."
Emma turned around to face him and he sent her a grin. He was back in his leather coat and his hook was once again visible, something he had noticed in a nearby mirror.
"I'm devilishly handsome again."
Emma rolled her eyes at him, before turning around. There had to be a way out. If they climbed up the ladders leading to the other sections of the room, maybe they could find something there.
She turned around to suggest this to Hook, only to see him take out an urn from a cupboard.
"Don't touch anything!" she exclaimed, causing him to nearly drop the object. "If Rumple's afraid of this stuff, there's got to be a reason!"
Hook placed the object down on an empty shelf to his right.
"I'm just trying to figure out how to get out of here", he defended himself.
"I don't think there is one", Emma sighed, "and what's the point? You heard what he said; we can't reopen the portal. We can't go back. Besides, if we did... what would people say when they realized Clarissa was... is..."
"You don't know that, Swan", Hook said comfortingly. "She might have gotten away as well; Snow said she saw no other human in the fire when she escaped. Besides, Clarissa had magic..."
He nodded at the black wand in her hand.
"And so do you. You're the Saviour, Swan; you can do it."
"Not anymore", Emma muttered. "I lost it."
"When Zelena died", Hook argued, "all of her spells were undone. Your powers should have been restored."
"Believe me; if I could make it work, I would!" Emma exclaimed. "You think I'm faking it?"
"I think not having magic makes it a hell of a lot easier for you to run back to New York and pretend to be somebody else", Hook replied, his blue eyes shooting daggers as he stepped even closer, "but listen to me, Swan; you're not! It's time to stop running!"
"You think I don't know that?" Emma replied, her voice barely counting as a whisper. Hook looked taken aback by her reply.
"Yes", she said, raising her voice and tried to keep her tears at bay, "I run away. That's how I always survived, but, believe me, I want this to work! I want to go back! I want to stop running!"
"What changed your mind?" Hook asked, his voice now softer than before. Emma inhaled deeply before she replied.
"Watching my mother die. Before I realized that she could not be dead because I was still here, when I still thought that I'd lost her. You saw what happened when she came back; I was so relieved and I hugged her. And you know what I saw in her eyes? Nothing. She didn't know who I was."
She felt the first tear fall down her cheek, but forced herself to continue.
"I had saved her and lost her, too, and that's what I've been doing to her since I met her. It's got to stop. When Henry brought me to Storybrooke he told me I was the Saviour. I didn't see what he was really doing. He was not bringing me back to break the Curse; he was bringing me home."
She smiled.
"Neal was right", she added.
"About what?" Hook asked.
"You don't have a home", Emma explained, "until you just miss it. Being with my parents these last few days, but not really being with them? I've never missed them more. Storybrooke. That's my home."
The corners of Hook's mouth suddenly tilted upwards in a triumphant grin, causing Emma to tilt her head at him.
"What?" she asked. He nodded at her right hand.
"Look down."
Emma did has he said and felt her jaw drop for who knew what time since they had arrived in the Enchanted Forest. The black wand was shining with white light. Magic. Her magic.
"I'd say you've got your magic back", Hook said, still grinning. "Now, shall we go?"
Emma returned the grin as Hook stepped aside to, once again, pick up the unconscious woman from the table. She then raised the wand, closed her eyes and focused on Storybrooke, on the time when they had left it.
She felt the heat and energy radiating from the portal before she realized that she had succeeded.
"Well done, Swan", Hook said with a grin. He then stepped through the portal together with Emma's cellmate, disappearing. Emma was about to follow when something gripped her arm. She turned around and gasped when she saw Rumplestiltskin.
"You opened it", he said.
"Let me go!" Emma yelled as the portal gained strength. She could not let it suck him to the future, but she also could not let him stop her from going back to her home.
"My son", Rumplestiltskin said, "what happens when I find him?"
"I thought you wanted to forget!" Emma shouted over the sound of the portal. She heard a rattling sound and saw that the urn that Hook had taken out earlier was shaking where it stood on the shelf.
"Before I do", Rumplestiltskin said, tightening his grip on her arm, "I need to know. Does he forgive me?"
"Yes", Emma replied, hoping that this answer would be enough to satisfy him. Rumplestiltskin studied her face intently, before tightening his grip even more. Emma cried out in pain
"Yes, but what?" he growled. "What aren't you telling me? Tell me or you will never leave!"
"He dies!" Emma cried. Rumplestiltskin's grip immediately loosened slightly, but not enough to let her get sucked into the portal.
"He forgives you", Emma continued while tears fell down her face. "He loved you. He died to save all of us; don't let that be in vain."
"No, but", Rumplestiltskin protested, "I can change what happened. I can save my boy."
Emma shook her head.
"You think you can change the future, but you might make it worse. I loved him too. I wanted to save him. He died a hero and you can't take that away from him."
She nodded towards the vial in the Dark One's right hand.
"You have to drink the potion", she said. "You have to forget everything I just told you."
Rumplestiltskin hesitated, before uncorking the bottle with his teeth and, while putting the vial to his lips, released Emma's arm and sent her flying in through the portal. She did not see it close behind her, but she could feel it and she knew that she was now going back home. To Storybrooke, Maine, 2014.
"Well", Toby sighed and watched as the screens disappeared in puffs of white smoke, "that's it, I suppose."
He turned around towards the others. All of them were assembled again. Rachel had appeared through her door after her little adventure was finished and explained that she had gone to see her biological mother, which somehow seemed to have been meant to happen since it had not upset the timeline further, much like Indira had been meant to go even further back in time to meet Rumplestiltskin before he became the Dark One. Clarissa and Rowan had appeared together; Rowan had managed to go through his door just in time to pull Clarissa away from the Evil Queen's fireball and bring her back to the TCHQ. She was unharmed apart from her singed blonde hair and, once she had recovered from the initial shock of nearly being killed, she had commented that maybe she should dye her hair fiery red to celebrate her survival. The fact that she had also been saved by Rowan had done nothing to keep people from naming them their own True Love Couple – despite them not actually dating (yet).
They had been able to watch Emma's and Hook's screens until the timeline was restored. After that the doors behind the screens had vanished and now the screens as well.
Their time, their adventure, was over.
"We'll still have each other", Tessa commented. "It's not like we lose that."
"No", Catriona agreed, "we still have each other. We're all still here and alive, and that's what matters."
They all joined together in a massive group hug, before being engulfed in the white light that would bring them back to where they ought to be. Orlando, Florida, 2017.
Only the epilogue left now, people! The story is coming to a close!