Chapter Twenty-Six—"Pieces in Play"

13 Years, 8 Months Before the Curse

She was crazy.

For a month or so after Zelena had arrived, Rumplestiltskin had dared to hope that his initial visions had been more correct, and that Cora's firstborn daughter—who his old lover had dropped into his lap, just like that—would cast the curse. When Zelena had first come to him, her potential had been enormous, and unlike her mother, she'd been so eager to please. Like Cora, Zelena was a quick study, too. She was actually quicker than Regina, naturally gifted in ways that Regina wasn't, particularly when it came to dark magic. Regina could embrace darkness and rage when she so chose, but her strong ability to love often overrode even the fury she could summon up when thinking of her mother. Zelena, however, had no such restraints—or any at all.

That didn't mean she wasn't worth teaching, however. Rumplestiltskin was hardly one to let opportunity slip by, and even if Cora did cast the curse—something he was depressingly certain of now that he'd had time to study Zelena's terrifyingly unstable personality—he was not adverse to having a second wildcard to fall back upon. Zelena was far easier to manipulate than Regina, too; while he had to work to build up a relationship with Regina, Zelena wanted to jump into one headfirst without so much as dipping her toe in to check the temperature. Rumplestiltskin had thought he could use that in the beginning, but her clinging started to get really old four months after he started teaching her. By then, she was baking him meat pies and trying to take over his castle, and Zelena quite obviously fancied herself in love with him.

Rumplestiltskin was having none of that. He'd had his fill with her mother, and this less-stable but younger version of Cora was not what he would have wanted, even if he had been looking for love—which he wasn't. Zelena wasn't in love with him, anyway; she was in love with his power, in love with the idea of being accepted for who she was. Rumplestiltskin wasn't so desperate or so lonely that he'd accept that frenzied imitation of love; he had known love, after all, real love, and he wasn't such a fool to think that he'd ever find it again. The one person who had ever really loved him was the son he'd abandoned, and there was no room for anyone else in his heart. He had no doubt that Zelena would find someone to cling to eventually, but it certainly wouldn't be him.

"You were teaching someone else today," she said as soon as he returned to the Dark Castle late one afternoon, and Rumplestiltskin didn't bother to hide his scowl. The foolish girl needed somewhere else to live, somewhere that wasn't his castle. Zelena was going to drive him mad if she stayed much longer.

"And?" he demanded, wheeling to face her. Zelena's face was screwed up in a pout and her arms were crossed; she looked barely ten, not like a talented sorceress in her twenties.

Talented indeed. Just not long on self-control, unfortunately.

"I thought you were teaching me," Zelena replied, and Rumplestiltskin gestured airily.

"There's plenty of me to go around, dearie. No need to worry."

"Who is she?"

"Who is who?"

Zelena stepped up closet to him, and his curse could smell the rage on her. The envy. If she wasn't careful, with all that power of hers, she was going to get herself in quite the pickle. "This other student," Zelena snapped. "Who is she?"

"My, my, we're a bit worked up, aren't we?" Rumplestiltskin giggled before he could stop himself, egged on by his curse and enjoying her discomfort more than a little. Contain yourself, he told his curse firmly. She might yet be useful, and antagonizing her isn't the best idea. Still, it was nice to see Zelena a bit out of sorts for once; heavens knew, she was driving him insane already.

"Just tell me!"

Oh, was that a small spot of green growing on her neck? It wasn't quite visible to the naked eye, but his magic could just detect it.

Rumplestiltskin shrugged. "Your younger sister, of course."

That brought Zelena up short. "I have a sister?"

The bell ringing brought Rumplestiltskin out of his reverie, and that was probably a good thing. He'd been left alone with his thoughts for too long, too lost in the previous evening with Cora. She'd kept through the night this time, laughing about how his 'little maid' would probably not miss him at all. He'd mouthed off, of course—although not about Belle, since he kept well away from that topic around Cora—and had paid the price for it. Rumplestiltskin had barely gotten a wink of sleep that night, and had contemplated closing up the shop and going home for the day to rest his aching body. But he didn't. As much as he wanted to, Rumplestiltskin refused to show that kind of weakness. Even if it was only Cora who knew that he'd given in and run away to the safety of his own home, Rumplestiltskin knew he couldn't afford to be that weak.

So, he stayed in the shop and pushed through the exhaustion, glad that it at least numbed the pain a bit. Moving was sheer hell; everything between his legs was burning, and Rumplestiltskin wasn't sure how he was going to go home to Belle like this. He was fairly sure that being touched right now might make him scream, and how was he going to explain that to her?

"Gold? Hello?" Emma Swan's voice drifted in from the front of the shop, and Rumplestiltskin limped out from the back room. For once, he was glad for his infernal limp; it kept anyone from noticing how badly Cora had hurt him this time.

"Sheriff Swan. What a pleasant surprise," he said with a smile, shoving his discomfort aside. Emma's arrival was a surprise, and a good one. Regina still hadn't come by, so he didn't know how her task of making the Savior believe was progressing. Perhaps he could evaluate that for himself.

"Look, I'm, uh, here for your help," Snow White's brash daughter told him, and Rumplestiltskin managed not to smile.

"Is that so?" Rumplestiltskin asked lightly, and then gave a small shrug as he shifted a set of knives around on the counter. "I'm always glad to do my civic duty, of course."

That made her roll her eyes; perhaps he'd laid it on a bit too thick. "Sure you are."

Rumplestiltskin folded his hands on the countertop and resisted the imp's desire to wiggle in glee. "What can I do for you?"

"Regina Nolan says that you're a lawyer," Emma said bluntly. "And a good one."

"I have my moments."

"You'd better. You're the only one in this screwy little town that doesn't seem to be afraid of the mayor, and I need that," she replied, and Rumplestiltskin upped his assessment of her intelligence by a notch or two. "You afraid to go up against her?"

"I can't say that I am." And this, at least, was interesting. Even his curse liked the idea of tweaking Cora's tail, and the Dark One could feel it quivering in his mind, excited and ready to strike back in vengeance for everything she had done to him.

"I need a restraining order lifted."

Boring. Rumplestiltskin managed—barely—not to sneer. "Whatever do you need that for?"

"Cora filed one against me as Graham's medical proxy. She claims I was responsible for his accident, and for some reason, he won't say anything against that," Emma replied, and Rumplestiltskin perked up a bit. "I want that restraining order lifted."

It was still a little boring, but Cora would kick and scream and be furious at being thwarted, which would at least keep his attention. He couldn't do anything for the unfortunate Huntsman, whose queen had taken away both his heart and now his ability to walk, but perhaps he could help the young Sheriff that seemed fond of the man she'd replaced. Helping wasn't always his style—his curse hated it—but Rumplestiltskin could at least amuse himself.

"I could do that," he mused. "For a price."

"What, another favor?" the Savior countered immediately. "That isn't very original."

Rumplestiltskin chuckled. "Actually, I had something more specific in mind," he replied with a smile. "Belief."

"Belief in what?"

"We'll save that for another day. All I ask is that when the time comes, you grant me a little faith." He met her eyes easily, and watched the Savior contemplate for a moment—but not for long enough. She wasn't ready, not yet, and that realization irked Rumplestiltskin far more than he let on. Hurry up, Miss Swan. We're all waiting on you.

"Sure. Why not?" she shrugged too easily.

Rumplestiltskin bit back the need to shake her. "Then let's go pay Judge Herman a visit, shall we?"

4 ½ Years Before the Curse

"He won't do it, you know," Charming said quietly. The two of them were sharing a quiet dinner in the chambers Snow had been given the day after their arrival in George's kingdom, and Snow had to admit that she was glad to finally be with her charming prince. She'd barely seen him that day, and there was a suspicious emptiness in her heart. He had been deep in George's planning sessions with their military leaders, discussing how to win her kingdom back, while Snow was stuck being fitted for dresses.

I should have been there, she thought, annoyed. The dresses could wait; she was grateful for George's generosity in providing her with a wardrobe fitted to her station, but she would have preferred to be involved in the war councils. Not ignored because I am a princess. My father raised me to be stronger than George thinks.

Thinking of Leopold made Snow swallow hard, the familiar pain of her beloved father's death welling up and making her throat tight. Leopold had killed himself to spare her from doing so, but that did not lessen how horrible she felt. Cora had tried to make her kill her own father. She had forced Snow to fetch the poison for her, had used her heart to turn her against those she loved. Had Regina not acted to free her—and had Charming not helped—Snow would have been executed months earlier. The terrible ache had faded some in that time, but not enough, and the only thing that kept Snow going was the desire to avenge her father and win his kingdom back.

And Charming. Charming gives me strength.

"Won't do what?" she asked now, looking at the man that she was slowly coming to accept was the only man she would ever love in her life.

"Allow us to wait to marry until after we have your kingdom back. His army won't budge unless we're married," Charming told her.

Snow sighed. She'd expected this, particularly after George's dismissal of her on grounds that Snow needed to 'rest', but she had hoped that the king would agree to her demands. "Don't you mean your armies? You're the heir to this kingdom."

"Sometimes I don't feel like it."

"Don't say that," she replied, reaching out for his hand.

"Well, I'm just kind of new at this," Charming said frankly, and Snow felt herself smiling at him. "I wasn't raised in a palace, or with any of this. I just kind of… I'm doing this badly, aren't I?"

"Not too badly," she assured him.

"I love you," he answered seriously, kissing her hand.

Father would like him, Snow decided. "I love you, too."

Emma watched the pair talk over breakfast—they'd given up sitting at other tables and had started sitting with one another that morning, and Emma wasn't sure how she felt about that. On one hand, she had never seen Mary Margaret so happy. Even at home, Mary Margaret was always singing or humming, dancing around the loft and buying flowers with any spare money she managed to scrape together. Mary Margaret was doing better financially these days; Emma knew that the way she paid half the rent helped with that, but her roommate was still frugal. Splurging on flowers was a sign that Mary Margaret was finally enjoying life, and Emma was so glad to see that.

But on the other hand, her roommate was now more-or-less seeing the husband of someone who Emma had started thinking of as a friend. Even if her relationship with Regina was odd—Henry's adopted mother claimed to be Emma's step-aunt, after all—Emma didn't want to see her marriage ruined. Regina didn't deserve that, and Henry didn't deserve to have his adopted parents split up, either. So, it was with mixed feelings that she watched the two of them fall in love, complete with doe eyed looks and insipid giggles from both of them. Or, in this case, she didn't watch them, because Emma headed out of Granny's without so much as a glance back at the pair. I'm not involved in this, she told herself for the hundredth time. I'm not.

Of course, she ran into Regina while she walked back to the Sheriff's Station, just steps away from the diner's front door.

"Hey," Emma said uneasily, hoping the older woman wouldn't look through the window and see her husband laughing oh-so-naturally with another woman. Unfortunately, Regina did just that.

"Well, don't they look happy," Regina drawled dryly, but there was something odd in the expression on her face.

"Yeah…" Emma replied awkwardly. "I think they're just having breakfast, you know, as friends and—"

"Oh, don't bother," the mayor's daughter shrugged. "I hope they're happy. It's about damn time."

Emma stared. "You can't possibly believe in what Henry's book says about the two of them."

"Can't believe what I lived, you mean?" Regina countered, rolling her eyes. "And try not to mention the book here. My mother is not fond of it."

"Why not? It's just a book."

"One of these days, you're going to believe that it's anything but that, but today obviously isn't that day. In the meantime, give this to your mo—roommate." Regina held out a paper-wrapped bundle that was about the size of Emma's two hands combined. It was tied together with old-fashioned string and heavier than it looked, which made Emma look at the dark-haired woman questioningly.

"What is it?" she asked curiously.

"A necklace. She may not recognize it yet, but I believe it belonged to her mother."

The necklace had, of course, mysteriously appeared on Regina's doorstep that morning with a note that Regina had not included. Regina might have been steering clear of Gold's shop, but that didn't mean that he couldn't put a few more pieces into play, and every little thing that could weaken the curse was a path worth pursuing. So, he had dug the necklace out of the display case where it lived, polished it carefully, and had Dove drop it off at the Nolans'. After all, anything that could job Mary Margaret into being a little less of a doormat and a little more Snow White was a good thing.

Besides which, Rumplestiltskin really did prefer to have Cora direct some of her attention elsewhere.

3 Years, 9 Months Before the Curse

"Why are you so afraid to let people know we are married?" Belle asked him one evening as they lay in bed together. She had been reading a book and his fingers had been playing idly with her hair as he worked some sort of magic or another. So near as she could tell, it was a puzzle of sorts, a plethora of glowing threads dancing across the ornate ceiling of their bedroom, but that was hardly important at the moment. Belle had lost her focus on the book some time ago, contemplating—again—her husband's near paranoia over allowing anyone to know that he had a wife.

First it had been the Huntsman, but it hadn't only been him. Next had been the Hatter, whom Belle had met while Rumplestiltskin's maid, but now whom Rumple insisted must not know of their relationship. Then there had been the group of townspeople who had come to the Dark Castle for Rumplestiltskin to rule upon a conflict between two shopkeepers in the town at the bottom of the mountain. Somehow, Belle had never quite understood that as the lord of the Dark Castle, Rumplestiltskin was also the lord of the town that owed his castle allegiance, and she'd been rather shocked to discover him mediating said dispute. But he'd still refused to tell his people that she was his wife, and Belle found that more than a little irksome. The last straw, however, had come when one of his former students came by that morning and he'd snapped at her to hide herself in the library.

She'd spent the day stewing over the issue and had tried to ignore it. But the question had been eating at her for too long, and Belle had to know.

"What's that?" Rumplestiltskin asked idly, still twisting a lock of hair through his fingers.

"Why did you make me hide?" Belle turned onto her side to look at him. "You had me hide from your old student, and you don't want anyone to know we are married. Are you ashamed of me?"

"No!" Rumplestiltskin looked shocked, his reptilian eyes wide. "How could I ever be ashamed of you, sweetheart?"

"You won't let anyone know about me."

Belle felt terribly childish and rather insecure when she said that; her voice was tiny and uncertain, and she knew that she was looking at her husband with wide and hurt eyes. But her expression definitely got the point across even if her words didn't. Belle saw guilt flash over Rumplestiltskin's features and his shocked frown turned into a somewhat broken and frightened look that she knew all too well. Her husband always seemed to think that she'd leave him if anything even went a little bit wrong in their lives, and even though they had been married for almost a year, Belle still hadn't broken him of that habit. It wasn't as if she was unhappy—far from it!—but having Rumplestiltskin hide her was still far from what she'd envisioned when they'd wed.

"It's not that I'm ashamed of you—I couldn't be—it's just that I have so many enemies," her husband replied, reaching out to touch her face gently. "If they knew what you meant to me, they would want to hurt you."

"Hurt me? Why would anyone want to do that?"

"Because I love you," Rumplestiltskin answered seriously, his voice soft. He was so earnest that it made Belle hesitate; she knew he lived in a vastly different world from the one she had been born in, but surely even the Dark One's enemies would not lash out at his wife?

"But that's…" she trailed off.

"Villains don't have know many limits, my love," he said quietly. "I should know."

"There are lines you won't cross. You wouldn't hurt someone's wife," Belle retorted.

"Wouldn't I?"

She shot him a look. "Rumple, that's not funny."

"It's not meant to be. I have done some truly terrible things in my life. You know the man I want to be…not the man I always am. I have done things that would make you run away from me screaming."

"There's nothing that could make me run away from you, Rumplestiltskin," Belle reassured him, placing her hand over the one on her cheek. "Your past is your past. All I ask is that you try to be better."

Swallowing, her husband nodded, but then shook his head minutely. "You don't understand. What I am… I am the Dark One, Belle. They cannot stop me without leverage, and you would be that leverage. They would hurt you for that if nothing else."

"You truly believe that," Belle replied slowly, watching his expression carefully. She didn't like hiding, but what if Rumple was right? Could his enemies use her to hurt him? Belle would never allow that to happen, for she knew the fragile man beneath the prickly and armored exterior of the monster, knew his fears, his hopes, and his dreams. She knew that he used magic to hide behind, to show strength he didn't always feel he had, and Belle felt it was her job to keep that fragile heart of his safe.

"I know it's true," he said firmly.

"Then I'll trust you. I just…" I'm just lonely. I love you, Rumple, but being here with only you can be so empty, Belle didn't add.

"Feel like you're still a prisoner?"

She blushed. "Is it that obvious? I mean…I don't think I'm your prisoner, Rumple. I just…I just miss people. Doing things. Not hiding."

Belle often saw those who came to make deals with Rumplestiltskin, of course, but it wasn't the same. They either assumed she was his servant or his concubine, and although she didn't care what they thought of her, it did deprive her of friendships she would have liked to have made. She hated the isolation of hiding her relationship with him away…and yet Belle was also more happy than she ever had been in her life. Over the last year, they hadn't just traveled to Amorveria, though they had visited there a second time, just a few months earlier. But they'd also gone to Agrabah, the Southern Isles, Fiore, Brabant, and even Firefly Hill. Rumplestiltskin tended to wear glamours there, and they always used names other than their own, but it was the excitement and adventure she had always craved.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," Rumplestiltskin replied immediately. "I just…I just need you to be safe. If I lose you…I don't know what I'd do."

"You won't lose me," Belle promised, turning her head to kiss his hand. "I will always love you, and no one can change that." She kissed his hand again, and then let her free hand slide down her husband's stomach, towards the waist of the silk pants he was wearing. "If this is what we have to do to keep both of us safe, it's what we'll do. So long as you make a deal with me."

"And what's that?" Rumplestiltskin asked breathlessly, and Belle smiled as she saw a little color entering his cheeks. She let her fingers tease the scales on his stomach, not quite tickling her very ticklish husband, and giggled a little.

"Distract me, and I'll stop asking about it."

Rumplestiltskin grinned. "That I can do."

The attack came just outside the Sheriff's Station. One minute, Emma was walking out, her head full of what she was going to order at Granny's for lunch, and the next she heard Ruby yelling:

"Look out!"

Emma threw herself right, but she wasn't quite fast enough; a body slammed into her own and knocked her right off her feet. Crying out, Emma crashed right into the doorframe she'd just walked through, bouncing off it hard. She caught her balance and pushed her assailant back, but the blonde haired woman came at her again, shrieking furiously and clawing at Emma's face. Jerking her head out of the way, Emma cracked her head on the doorframe and saw stars. Before her vision could clear, nails flashed in and pain exploded in her left cheek. Emma snarled and got her hands up in the way as she ducked down, but her attacker kept frantically clawing at her.

"Vicky!" Ruby shouted again, and suddenly the waitress was there, bodily hauling the screeching blonde away.

"That's not my name!" Victoria Scadlock howled, and Emma distantly remembered that she claimed her name was Anastasia. The skinny blonde kept fighting, but Ruby had a good grip on her, and Emma finally managed to straighten and shove away from the doorframe, her face aching and head still trying to spin.

"Anastasia, then, fine. Whatever your name is, calm down!" Ruby replied, shaking the other woman. "You just attacked the sheriff. What is wrong with you?"

"I had to! I—" Victoria (or Anastasia) cut herself off, going red and clamping her mouth shut.

"You had to?" Emma echoed, bringing herself back on balance.

But the other woman wouldn't say a thing after that, even when Emma threatened to arrest her. In the end, Emma had no choice but to do just that, so she hauled Victoria Scadlock into the sheriff's station and locked her up. When she called Editor Francis Scadlock to notify him that his estranged wife had been arrested, his reaction had been typically arrogant. He didn't care, and he didn't care if she was crazy after all. He just wanted her out of his hair, and he wouldn't pay for a lawyer, either.

Thanking Ruby for the help—who would have thought that the slender waitress was that strong?—Emma stalked out of the sheriff's station after another round of unanswered questions with Victoria Scadlock. She remained stubbornly silent on why she'd attacked Emma, staring at the wall and refusing to say another word.

6 Months Before the Curse

She was supposed to be getting married tomorrow, but instead, Anastasia was sneaking out of the palace of a man who had promised to make her his queen. It was supposed to be what every girl wanted: wealth, power, and prestige. It was certainly what her mother had always wanted for her, and Ana had tried to tell herself over and over again that she should do this. She could marry the king, become the Red Queen, and make her mother proud. She could outshine Ella, even; Ella, after all, had only married a prince. And her real sister, Drizella, hadn't yet managed to snag anyone when Ana and Will ran away. She could top them all, finally prove her mother wrong and not be the worthless waste of money that her mother always said she was.

Except she hadn't, and Will Scarlet was waiting for her.

"Ana! I thought you weren't coming," her love said, jumping out of the wagon with a grin on his face.

"I'm sorry. Oh, Will, I'm so sorry," she babbled, jumping into his arms, laughing and crying at the same time. He held her tight, and Ana clung to him. "I should never have gone with the king. I should have come back to you right away. I love you."

"An' I love you," Will replied. "I talked to the Rabbit. We can go back home, if you want. I mean, if you want t'go with me."

"Of course I do! I should never have left," Ana replied hurriedly, leaning back to kiss him. She couldn't understand how Will could still want her, how he could even begin to forgive her for the heartbreak she'd put him through, but somehow he could.

"Well, then. So long as you promise never to do it again, I suppose you can come back with me," he replied, and Ana kissed him again.

"I promise."

Two days later, the White Rabbit dug a hole into the Enchanted Forest for them, and Will Scarlet and Anastasia Tremaine returned to the Enchanted Forest. They very consciously chose not to return to the kingdom that had once been Ana's home—she had no desire to see her mother and listen to Lady Tremaine say 'I told you so'—and headed north instead. Once they were over the border, they started taking on odd jobs here and there, working to support themselves and hoping to find themselves a place to settle down. Eventually they wound up on the far end of the northern kingdom, having heard of a town where there were jobs for those who were willing to work.

Unfortunately, Argon turned out to be less cheerful than they had hoped; the town was half-deserted and the residents were terrified. Oh, there were plenty of jobs to be had, but then again, that was a fact that was always true when a town was half-emptied out because people were too terrified to stay. Will managed to sign on as a bartender at the local tavern, and Ana started waiting tables there, too. It was far from the glorious life that her mother had always wanted for her, but it made ends meet and gave them a pretty good life. They even managed to rent a little house down the road from the tavern for a decent price, and they'd even scraped up the money to get married for real. Life was finally starting to look up, until Ana came home one night to find a woman outside their home.

She stopped cold. "Who are you?"

"Anastasia, isn't it?" The woman turned to look at her with a friendly smile, but looking at her ornate dress—which had not been so obviously expensive from behind, when hidden by a dark cloak—made Ana draw up short. "I knew your mother some years ago."

Ana swallowed. "Who are you?"

"Queen Cora, of course. And I do believe that royalty is bowed to where you come from."

"I… Of course, Your Majesty." Ana quickly dropped into a deep curtsey, but doing so did nothing to lessen her confusion. "May I ask why you are here?"

"Don't be so polite, Ana. She's the bloody Queen of Hearts, the Evil Queen," Will put in, suddenly standing in the doorway to their little home. "What d'you think she's here for?"

Rising from her curtsey, Ana only then noticed the glowing object in Cora's right hand. The queen, however, was laughing softly.

"Always defiant, aren't you, Scarlet? You should be glad I have a use for you."

"A use for him?" Ana demanded before Will could get a word in.

"Of course," Cora purred, her smile small and secretive. "Why else would I have his heart in my hand?"

"His what?" Telling the queen she was crazy was on the tip of Ana's tongue, but the tormented expression on Will's face told her that this wasn't a lie. So, instead of saying more, she rushed over to her husband's side, taking his hand in his own as Will glared impotently at Queen Cora.

"His heart, of course. I have need of a thief, and will in the future. Your husband now serves me," Cora replied easily.

"You can't!"

"Ana." The defeat in Will's voice made her turn to stare helplessly at him, and he smiled crookedly. "It's true. She's got me heart. I have to do what she says."

"Then we'll get it back!" Ana cried furiously, starting towards Cora, only to have the Evil Queen disappear in a cloud of purple smoke.

"Hey," Emma said quietly, ducking into Graham's hospital room. Her former boss was awake, propped up in the bed and reading the Daily Mirror. But he looked up when she came in, putting down the paper to smile at her. In a flash, Graham went from wan and bored looking to brilliantly alive, and Emma felt her heart skip a beat.

"Hi, Emma." Graham was obviously trying to sound casual, but Emma could hear the excitement in his voice. And the uncertainty. "I thought…I thought you weren't coming back."

"No, that was Cora," she replied with a shrug, sitting down in the chair at his bedside. "She filed a restraining order against me. I just got it lifted this morning."

"How'd you pull that off?" the paralyzed ex-sheriff asked curiously.

"Gold. He's amazingly efficient for such a bastard." Emma bit her lip, wondering how a conversation with a friend could become so awkward. Or was he more than a friend? Emma didn't know. They'd kissed, she was definitely attracted to him…and then he'd gotten in an accident, gone into a coma, and was now paralyzed. Emma had no idea where this was going, or even where she wanted it to, but she had to come see him now that she could.

"I could have told you that," he replied, smiling easily.

"Any news on your legs?" Emma asked.

He shrugged. "Still not working, but Whale says I can go home in a week or so. At least they've decided I'm not crazy, and my insurance is going to pay for the damage to Dave's Fish and Chips."

"Did you ever remember what caused the accident?" On impulse, Emma reached out for his hand, squeezing it gently. Graham gave her a lopsided smile.

"No, not at all. And thinking about it just makes my head hurt horribly."

Emma squeezed his hand again. "Well, then don't. I'm sure that it will come to you eventually."

"I doubt it," Graham said slowly. "I mean, it never has before. My blackouts…well, they always stay blackouts."

"You mean this has happened before?"

"A couple of times over the years. I can never remember what happens," he admitted.

"Graham, that's serious! Have you talked to Whale about it?" Emma demanded.

"No, and I'm not going to. He can't help. It's always been this way, so long as I can remember. I have some meds for it. I'll be fine."

"Of course you will, dear, particularly once Miss Swan leaves you alone," a new voice said, and Emma twisted to look at Cora, her heart plummeting.

"Madam Mayor. What are you doing here?" she snarled before she could stop herself.

"Visiting an old friend, of course." Cora's smile could have slain a poisonous snake with its toxicity. "And I thought you were not permitted to be here. You make a very poor sheriff if you begin ignoring the laws that you don't agree with."

"You should check on the town records more often," Emma retorted. "That restraining order was lifted this morning."

Oh, watching fury flick across Cora's face, feeling the slight taste of victory, was absolutely sweet. Emma knew she shouldn't revel in it, but the mayor was such a bitch. She was probably the nastiest piece of work that Emma had ever met, and that was saying a lot. Even Graham looked downright annoyed to see her, and so far as Emma knew, Graham was friendly towards everyone.

"I'm glad she's here," Graham piped up, and Emma felt his fingers squeeze hers. "And glad she's Sheriff."

Cora scowled. "Don't be too happy about it. She's the one who let loose a half dozen psychopaths so that they could terrorize the town."

"You what?" Graham asked, and Emma saw Cora's eyes gleaming triumphantly.

"I uncovered a hidden prison underneath the hospital," Emma told Graham, but not before she paused to glare at Cora. "And everyone who had been locked away in there—without so much as a trial—was certified as just fine by doctors."

"Which is, of course, why one of them attacked you today."

Emma snorted. "Don't you just have an answer for everything? But until you can pin that on me, Madam Mayor, why don't you get the hell out?"

The evening before she attacked the sheriff, Anastasia—or Victoria Scadlock, as the fools here seemed to think she was named—found herself escorted into the mayor's office by her husband. It's not Will's fault, Ana told herself for the hundredth time. He doesn't know who he is. It's this damn curse, the one everyone said was coming back in the Enchanted Forest. Ana didn't know why the curse hadn't affected her, or why she'd woken up in that horrible asylum with her own memories intact. The two weeks since her release had taught Ana a few important things, first of which was that no one remembered who they were. Her mother was here, but Lady Tremaine thought her name was Victoria and that Will's name was Francis. Ella was here, and although she hadn't seen Druzilla yet, Ana was willing to bet that her sister was around somewhere. Everyone else she knew was.

But none of them remembered, so they didn't matter. Except Queen Cora. She remembered, quite obviously, because the Evil Queen who had cast the curse. After she ripped Will's heart out, and he's still doing her bidding, Ana thought angrily.

"What do you want?" she asked the queen who called herself a mayor, scowling.

"I want you to sit down, dear," Cora replied, gesturing at Will.

Hands landed on Ana's shoulders before she could move, shoving her down into the chair facing Cora. Ana grunted as she hit, knowing that she'd hit hard enough to cause bruises, but complaining wouldn't get her anywhere, so she bit her tongue. Will didn't say another word after that; he just backed off and scowled. Ana watched him for a moment, her heart twisting painfully in her chest. Oh, Will. The scowl was so like the man she loved, but the silence wasn't. The silence was all this Francis Scadlock that Queen Cora had created. Will would have been snapping out something sarcastic by now.

"Now what?" she demanded.

Cora sat back, crossing her legs and smiling. "I want you to attack our good sheriff."

"Why would I do that? She's the only decent person in this town." Ana hadn't figured out who Emma Swan actually was, but she knew that the sheriff was actually honest. She'd freed them all from the asylum, after all, and Ana thought that was worth something. And the Evil Queen doesn't seem able to control her the way she can my poor Will.

"Because if you don't, I'm going to crush your husband's heart."

"You'll what?" That made Ana twist to look at Will again, but he was all Francis right now and didn't even look like he was listening.

"You heard me, Anastasia. You will do what I say, or your beloved husband will die. Understood?" Cora's tone would probably have been the same if she was ordering an insignificant servant about; she sounded completely blasé and uncaring.

Ana wanted to argue, but she wasn't a fool. "I understand," she grated out.

"You will tell no one about this. No matter what happens after you attack the sheriff, you will certainly not tell anyone you have done so at my…request," Cora continued, smiling slightly.

"And then what?"

"Then I will take care of things. You have my word that—so long as both of you behave yourselves and remain loyal to me—I will ensure neither of you are harmed in any permanent way. If you obey me, however, I will make it worth your while. I might even give your beloved husband his memories back."

Ana swallowed hard. She didn't want to hurt anyone, but what did this sheriff mean to her? Emma Swan was no one important, and Will was everything to Anastasia. She only had a split second to decide, but it really was no decision at all. Will was the center of her life, and Anastasia would do whatever it took to save him.

A/N: A few people have asked if Daniel Hari is Regina's Daniel, and the answer is yes, that is the same person. According to Storybrooke's public records, he is deceased. And for everyone who is curious about Daniel's fate in the Enchanted Forest, I promise that it will be revealed!

Stay tuned for Chapter Twenty-Seven: "A Perfect Fit," in which David helps Mary Margaret out of a sticky situation, Henry asks questions about True Love, and Moe French goes to Emma because he's worried about his daughter. Back in the past, disaster comes at Snow and Charming's engagement announcement and Rumplestiltskin gets a few hairs for a certain potion.