"And that's how you defeated her," Mary Margaret said. "Emma, you'll never know how proud we are of you."
Everyone seemed overcome by emotion, but Hook found he couldn't ease the smile from his face. Emma had confessed that she loved him in front of the whole of Storybrooke and nothing else seemed to matter.
"But what happened to the Snow Queen, and to Elsa?" Henry wanted to know.
"Oh, that," Mary Margaret said. "It turns out that the Rock Trolls had been hiding around town all along. Those statues that we were all walking past every day…"
"Those were the actual trolls?" David asked.
"Yes. After Emma and Elsa let loose with their power, they revealed they'd come to help."
"You spoke to them?" Emma asked.
"To the leader, yes."
"That was Grand Pabbie," Belle said. "He's the one who tried to help me."
"He told us that they could take the queen and Elsa back to Arendelle. Many spells were broken after the evil was defeated. They knew where the queen had hidden Anna. That's all Elsa needed to know."
Emma frowned. "But what about the mind wipe?"
Snow sighed. "There is a lot of history back in their land, related to Elsa and what happened with the Snow Queen and her sisters. They want to protect everyone there, so I promised to keep those parts of what happened secret." She paused and looked at Emma with deep affection. "Emma, we all hurt you and those memories are gone, too. One day, maybe we can face that together."
"But not right now," Emma said.
"And so they changed the memories of everyone here," Hook surmised. "That's all well and good, but what about the dashing man in the mirror? How did I escape?
Emma nudged him in the ribs with her elbow, and he took that as an invitation to pull her closer. "Mr. Gold said something about an act of true love," Emma said.
"And where is Rumpel?" Belle asked.
Mary Margaret held up her hands. "I will tell you what I know about the stone and the spell, and I think I know now how it was broken."
"So what am I supposed to do?" Emma asked. "True love's kiss the mirror?"
Her father moved to stand beside her. "I don't think that will work. It didn't with Frederick,"
"When this is all over, someone is going to tell me about Frederick. Right now, I need to figure out how to get Killian back. He's the only one who…I just need him."
"I understand." Her father looked up at Gold. "Do you have any ideas?"
"None," he said. "Only Miss Swan can access what is in her heart."
Emma heard a grinding sound, and turned to see a large round stone rolling toward her. It stopped and she realized she was seeing a very short sort of man with a thatch of green hair that she had mistaken for moss.
"Who are you?"
"That's Grand Pabbie," Elsa said. "He's the king of the Rock Trolls, and they are the family of my future brother in law."
"Your sister is marrying a rock?" Emma asked.
"He's adopted," Grand Pabbie said. "But young lady, I think I can be of some help to you in your quest."
"How?"
He went on to explain about their country and their need to take care of their inhabitants. They had a place for Ingrid and would help her, but they would also help to heal the town.
"We will create a stone for one person here, to know the history and the reason for our secrecy. It must be someone who is utterly trustworthy and will put the needs of others ahead of their own."
Emma stepped forward. "Since I'm the Savior, I guess that's me."
"Perhaps it isn't and perhaps it is not, but it is your decision."
"So let me get this right, whoever gets the stone will get to keep all of their memories, and everyone else will forget that the last few months ever happened?"
"That is correct, and we have one other request of you."
"And that is?"
"There is a magical hat in the possession of the one you call Mr. Gold. He goes by many names, but the hat does not belong to him. We will need that as well."
"That isn't going to happen," said Gold. "Miss Swan cannot help you obtain that."
The Rock Troll studied him silently, and then said, "Our magic is tens of thousands of years old. We have our ways of taking care of what is ours."
"We will see about that," Gold said.
Grand Pabbie turned away from him, and back to Emma. "So, my dear. Have you decided who will remember and who will not?
Emma looked to her parents. "Mom, Dad – what should I do?"
Snow took Emma's face in her hands, "Sweetheart, we can't undo the mistakes we've made, but you have some good memories of this time with Killian. We might have messed up and not been there for you like we should have been, but he always was, and you were happy." She reached around to embrace Emma. "You're going to have his child, and you should remember that and how that child was created from love. You need to have the stone."
Emma closed her eyes, and hugged her mother tightly. "And what about you, and baby Neal?"
Snow stepped back, "What about us?"
Emma took her hands. "We've all lived with the pain because we lost our time together. You shouldn't lose any more time with a child."
"Emma?"
"I can't undo our past, but I can make sure you don't miss anything else. I love you, Mom. The stone will be for you. That's my decision."
"Wow," Emma said.
"I agree," said David.
"Am I still in the bloody mirror?" Hook asked.
Mary Margaret laughed, and her bright smile beamed up at all of them. "I think that Emma broke the spell!"
"With the stone?" Emma asked.
"Sweetheart, you showed true love when you put my needs ahead of yours. At the time you were so hurt and angry with me, and you chose me anyway."
"Did you see Killian break free?"
"No. As soon as you chose, the deal was done. We were all back at our homes, not knowing that anything had changed."
Hook nodded. "True. I woke up this morning and headed off to buy you some doughnuts." He turned her around and kissed her right there in front of her parents and son. If he lingered over the embrace longer than propriety allowed, they would just have to understand.
Emma finally pulled away to gulp in some air. "I suppose I really shouldn't have thrown those away, now that I know what you had to go through to bring them to me."
"Perhaps it's best that we don't remember all the nasty details," he said.
"But, what about Rumpel?" Belle asked.
Hook had forgotten about the librarian, and it appeared that Emma had, as well, judging by the surprise that flickered across her face.
Snow shook her head. "Belle, I wish I could tell you, but I don't know."
Hook looked over at the sweet woman, whose face was crumbling over her uncertainty and loss. "If I may," he began. Belle nodded, so he continued. "Rumpelstiltskin is many things, but most of all, he is driven to have what he thinks will assure him of control over his life."
"Yes, that's true." Belle said.
"Then he is assuredly on a quest to regain what was taken. If I know the Dark One, he found a way to escape with his memories intact."
"But then why would he leave me here, alone?"
Emma spoke up. "Because in his way, he loves you, Belle, and he's going to try to do what he can to prove it."
Belle nodded. "I can see that. I just wish, for once, he could trust me to work with him."
"Trust is a long journey," Emma said. "He just isn't done with his yet.
Hook pulled her close again, and buried his face in her hair, taking in the scent of his fair princess. Gaining her trust, and her love, had been well worth his sacrifices, and they could live without those missing memories. The future was theirs and, as for the memories, they would just have to make more.