(Hi! Back again with another chapter. Before I start, I'd like to address a few small things. First, Happy Holidays to everyone! Second, special thanks to Wiccancharmedguy for the great idea presented in this chapter. I shaped it up a bit to make the best out of it, but he/she is the mastermind behind it. Last but not least, PopPotter777, I hope you are able to understand what is going on better with the explanation I give in this chapter. But if not, let me know and I'll explain it as best as I can.)
"Why would Adda even want to time travel? And to when?" Regina turned back to Henry, realizing he had no idea how to answer that. She didn't know what was going on, and she hated it. She looked around, and realized that Zelena seemed to be on the edge of a reveal. "Zelena, did you remember anything?"
Just like Regina, Zelena had no idea what was happening. Adda had told her that his plan was to conquer everything, to be king, be the most powerful person in all the worlds. In the middle of all this, Zelena wasn't sure where time travel fitted. But she knew Henry was right: that really was his plan. "When the curse was created, Adda added a connection spell to it. I just realized now why he did it: he is stealing Emma and Killian's essence into himself."
"Wait, he's doing what?" David had no idea what that meant, but he knew it couldn't be good. It seemed that waking up his daughter was starting to be more urgent than ever, which meant his plan to bring back Snow would have to wait a little while.
"It's like what Regina did to enter Adda's house: she had some of Adda's magic and used to trick the shield into thinking she was him. Now, he is stealing their essence, so it looks like he traveled through time before. And once he has it, it will be a whole lot easier for him to open a time portal. As long as they are asleep, their essence is being taken. And when he takes it all, there will be nothing left." Zelena was a bit reluctant into saying specifically what would happen. She didn't want to worry David even more, but she knew he should really be concerned.
"So you're saying that she will...?"
"Die. Yes" Regina may not know what Adda wanted to do, or when he wanted to go to, but she definitely understood what Zelena meant. Without Rumple it wouldn't be easy to break the spell. But they had to try.
...
"This isn't taking us anywhere!" Zelena looked at Regina and threw the vile of potion they had just made to the wall. She looked at it as it shattered, and the green content sprinkled on the wall and to the floor. Three hours had passed since they had started working on it, and they hadn't found anything.
Henry and David helped Belle with the potions, while Regina, Zelena and Elsa tried to think of something they could do to at least break the connection they had with Adda. Elsa even tried to freeze their hearts and bodies, hoping it would stop the essence from leaving their bodies, but the ice quickly thawed. In conclusion, they hadn't found anything other than the fact that the spell Adda created was too strong. Maybe even unbreakable.
Henry wanted to help his mother and step-father more than anything, but he was starting to get really tired. Not exactly because he worked a lot, he didn't, but because they failed in every attempt they made, and that was definitely more exhausting than running a marathon. He sat on the chair, sighing, and thinking of how that couldn't be possible. The book told him that was the ultimate war, and it seemed that they had lost every battle ever since it had started: Snow had been killed, Emma and Hook had been put under a very nasty sleeping curse, Rumple had no choice but to work for the other side... And there was nothing Henry could do to change any of it.
And in that moment, right there on that chair, he realized maybe they couldn't win for that once. Maybe Adda would really get what he wanted, which would mean a fate worse than death for all of them, since he would probably make sure none of them would even be born. However, Emma was right there, in his grasp. He could touch her if he wanted to, and to destroy Adda's plan, all he needed to do was wake her. But of course, that was much easier said than done. Henry could stare at her, could touch her, could kiss her, could read her a story, could believe he could wake her... but he couldn't actually do it. And it seemed like none of them could. It seemed that no matter how hard they tried, Adda was just too powerful. Maybe the book helped them prepare for that battle, but in that moment Henry feared it wasn't enough. Henry feared they would lose after all the fighting.
It was in that moment of despair, that one little tear started falling from his eye. Henry was so caught in his thoughts that he didn't even notice it, but it was clearly there, for anyone to see. He didn't even detect it when it started falling down his cheek and into his shirt. Maybe normally that would be where the tear would stop, but that was a resilient one, and it didn't let itself be absorbed by the tissue. Instead, it continued falling down, slowly in a very curvy line, until it fell on the book, which was on Henry's lap. It was only then that Henry started paying attention again.
Henry was looking to the wall, not seeing it, just lost in thoughts, when he saw a small light coming from underneath his eye. He looked down and realized that the 'O' from 'Once Upon A Time' had a little light coming from it. He looked at it, starting to lean to the book, to try and find out what that was, but before he could, the book opened. Instinctively, Henry raised his head again, always looking at the book, whose pages where moving not really in a logical sequence, almost like the book itself was looking for a specific page. While nothing happened, Henry looked around at his family and realized no one was looking at him. They were all talking to each other, unaware of what was happening.
He looked down again, and saw that the book had stopped. It was then opened, and just like Henry suspected, it didn't stop on any page, but a specific one. In front of him, Henry saw the picture of Emma and Hook dancing inside King Midas' castle, both smiling to each other, happy to be sharing that sweet moment in the middle of all the chaos, in the break of trying to get Snow White to meet her charming prince.
But there was something else which caught Henry's eye. In the page beside the picture, instead of the story of what was happening in that moment, like usually, there was only one simple sentence: 'When all hope seems lost, the heroes prevail.'
Henry leaned towards the book, analyzing both the picture and the sentence with detail. He knew that had to mean something. Maybe that was even the key to waking up Emma and Hook. Henry was just about to call his mom, so she could take a look at that, so she could make some sense out of it, when he started feeling something else weird. As he breathed lightly and with excitement, with his heart racing, Henry noticed that it was almost like the words wanted to go inside him. In that moment, Henry shocked on his own saliva, and when he started breathing more heavily, he felt the words literally go up his nose. But that wasn't all he felt.
Right after that happened, he got up quickly, without even thinking about it, making the book fall to the floor with a loud noise. Everyone immediately looked at him, and Regina could tell there was definitely something not right with her son. She started to slowly walk to him "Henry, are you okay? What's wrong?"
Henry heard his mother's question, but he knew he wasn't going to bother answering it. What he was feeling... it was something more powerful than he had ever felt on his entire life. In that moment, he could feel like he was more powerful than anything, maybe even more powerful than Adda himself... and maybe even powerful enough to break Emma's spell. Was it crazy he felt that away? Totally, but he just couldn't shake that feeling. It may be crazy as hell, but in that moment, Henry believed with all his heart that he could break the sleeping curse. And as a sign of that, his chest, in the spot close to his heart, started to bright with a shade of yellow.
The reason why his storybook suddenly turned to a Book of Shadows, maybe Henry would never know, but in that moment, he didn't really care. Not at all. In that moment, all he could think about, was Emma, and how he needed to wake her. How he believed he could wake her.
As Regina and the others saw all that, they started growing more and more concerned about what was happening to Henry. Regina knew she had to do something to help her son, while thinking Adda was probably doing something to him. All because Henry was brave enough to stand up to him. "Henry, please, tell me what is..." And that was all she had time to say.
As Henry saw his mother walk to him, and continue to ask him questions, he raised his index finger, in an attempt to tell her to wait. But he definitely didn't plan what happened next. With just a sway of his finger, Henry froze everyone in that room, just while he tried to have a minute. Knowing he would be able to undo that later, Henry continued to walk to Emma's body, which still lied there on the table right next to Hook. As he got closer to her, his chest started to bright more and more with that little yellow light.
When he reached his mother, Henry started to lean to her, not doubting his plan even for a second. It would work. It had to, and Henry wasn't even thinking about a reality in which that would fail.
As he touched her forehead with his lips, Henry noticed Emma's skin was ice cold, but in that small second during the kiss, he realized it had already started to heat up. But that was not all. In that moment, Henry saw Emma in a hospital, right next to his own body, as she also leaned to him, and kissed his forehead. That moment, such a long time ago, made Henry believe even more in himself. "I love you, mom!"
And it was right after he straightened himself again, that he saw Emma open her eyes and look at him. Emma looked around quickly, and sat on the table, looking straight at Henry with a huge smile on her lips. "I love you too, kid!" She put her hands on his cheeks, so proud to call herself that boy's mother, and hugged him.
In the moment Emma opened her eyes, everyone in that room was able to move again. They had all been able to see Henry wake Emma, and they were all speechless at that scene, with no idea of what had happened. But they didn't really care. They were safe, and that was all that mattered. David started walking to Emma quickly, and joined the hug. "Emma! I'm so glad you're alright."
It was only in that moment that Emma remembered everything which had happened before she was put under the spell. She remembered seeing her mother dead, right in the middle of main street. She looked around, trying to find her, but she wasn't there. Tears started falling from her eyes, as she realized the truth. "Mom! Is she...?"
David didn't like the word Emma was trying to force him to say. He knew she didn't want to say it, but he wasn't gonna say it either. Not when he had a plan to change that. So he simply nodded. "But we think we can bring her back."
Emma wasn't sure what David meant. Bring her back? How could they do that? It took a trip to the Underworld to try to bring Hook, and that didn't work out in the end. But she trusted him, and if he said he had a plan, then he did. She pulled Henry and David away a little and turned around to face her husband, still asleep on the table. She leaned to him, just like Henry had a minute ago, and kissed him on the lips, immediately feeling that rush of love and happiness around them. Not long after, he woke up.
Emma pulled him to her, and kissed him again. "So much for the prince saving the princess, hum?" Emma hugged him, happy to finally be able to touch him. It was torture being with him in that burning room, and not really be able to talk, touch, sometimes not even see him. There were flames everywhere, and they always tried to keep them apart, making enough noise for them not to even hear each other. But they were finally together again.
"I never doubted you even for a second, Swan!" Hook hugged her back, so glad to finally be with her. With his whole world right there! However, that happiness didn't last long, because while in his arms, Emma started seeing everything in circles and not long after, she passed out. "Emma!" Hook started to slap her face gently. "What happened?" He asked, turning to Regina and Zelena desperately.
Zelena approached them and immediately understood what had happened. Just like she feared. "Now that you're awake, the connection is broken, but Adda still did quite a number on you two. You're both very weak."
"What... What can we do?" Henry knew his job wasn't yet over. He had just saved his mom, but she was still in danger. She still needed more help.
"Well, to make them both have their energy again, and Emma her magic, since she probably doesn't have it all now, we have to return to you what Adda stole. And the only way to do that, is by killing Adda!"