Time has seems to slow, as seconds feel like minutes, ticking away on a broken clock tower. The group setting has sifted in the middle of their crisis. No one is surprised with this, only startled with their new companion, for they were warned, about the realm, hours earlier when standing in their 'town' cemetery.
The underworld has a way to bring out a person's nightmares; though, unfortunately for Emma this was as real as her beating heart. The only factory that the underworld has in shaping it is by making her feel as though they are back in town for all to see. To see what she buries, for she feels that if she reveals them, her scars, her past, then they will leave her for dead like all those before them have.
But Emma can't help standing in between her nightmare (the lion) and the ones she loves, so seeing how the magic is heading towards Regina she leaps; however, not quick enough as Regina is held, screaming, in the air being electrocuted.
Emma shouts for her family to stand away, leave, run, anything that requires them away from witnessing this madness, and hopefully she could avoid them being caught in the pain. Knowing there is only one way for Regina to be released she yells, for Athena, and stands in between the lion and the electric charge. Regina falls to the floor, coughing, as Henry and Robin both run to her side as Athena reappears.
Everyone can see the pain revealed on Emma's face, though nothing is heard by her. Athena walks slowly towards the blonde, "Emma, what will you have me do?"
Emma looks at the goddess and says harshly, "heal her. Please," she looks defeated towards Regina who is still catching her breath.
Athena nods and walks over to Regina, hands over her heart and heals her, "thank you," Regina breaths out, "what about her? what of him?"
Standing straight she utters, "she can do this, I can't intervene," though worry is clear on her face.
Emma gives one last look to her family, looking Regina in the eyes. She exhales slowly, and thrust her hands toward the ground as they sparkle with magic. She turns toward her attacker and blasts him through a tree, walks to him and kicks him, though winded she stumbles. The lion gets up quickly knowing that the blonde will be slow and dizzy from the pain. Her nose bleeding as she catches her fall and hits him in the jaw, he laughs and gets up.
"I've already won this, Emma, or have you forgotten? This isn't over!" he disappears and she signs with relief as she falls to her knees against a tree.
Everyone rushes to her, Snow and Regina both holding Emma trying to help her stand, "ah," she whimpers softly, and shakes her head, not ready to move.
Snow looks up at Athena and begs, "can you heal her? please," though Athena shakes her head and apologies, unable to do so. "I don't understand, you healed Regina," she pleads.
Looking at Emma, the goddess asks how they don't know, "you've been in a town with magic for years, and with your record, I don't understand," she says a bit mad to have to explain, for Emma is too disturb to speak.
"What are you talking about?" Henry buts in.
"You mean to tell me no one has ever tried to heal her?" Athena says and Regina mentions a time she thought she needed to but was stop by the blonde's stubbornness. The goddess signs, "that may not have been stubbornness. Someone who bares the marks of the lions cannot be healed by magic. And if he set his mother's curse in motion then she will only survive with true love and acceptance but still no magical healing, weird curse, I know, a bit difficult to gasp."
Regina looks Emma in the eyes and softly asks her if she is a guardian, the one Cora had mention, Emma nods and looks at her shaking hands, tears in her eyes she won't shed.
"I'm sorry," Regina whispers, Emma looks up, nods and tells her she's ready to move. Needing help, both Regina and Snow slowly guide Emma up and for a minute she leans on Regina then moves away stiffly.
"Okay, we don't have much time," she says to Athena, "please find out what you can."
"Yes, your grace," she says as she once again vanishes in a golden light. Everyone dumbfounded and a bit mad at Emma for not telling them sooner.
"What would you have had me do? I didn't lie, and I all I really only held back…"
"Everything!" Henry shouts.
"Not everything, just the pain. You wanted a savior, not some broken, worthless, orphan," she walks a few feet away from them wanting some distance but not wanting to run like she always had in the past.
Regina walks up to Emma, standing just in her eyes view, "here, you need to drink," she says handing a glass of water to Emma as it appears in her hand. After Emma thanks her and drinks the water down, Regina moves closer to grab the glass, "what you said isn't true, dear, you're not worthless," she says trying to convey her understanding.
"I do, thank you; it's just the lion's words running through my mind. It's harder to block them at the moment. You guys have to get back to Storybrooke, well, the real Storybrooke, and I have to return to the council for awhile. You should be able to head back through the well, one way door though," Emma says, still with some difficulty.
"You honestly think we would leave you now?" Regina states, Snow, David, and Henry saying they will see this through, Gold mutters under his breath and Robin stands a bit on edge.
Emma ponders for a moment before looking at them, "a dark one cannot go into the 'in between' realms of the guardians, and neither can the rest of you. There is no bending of the rules; especially, when war is upon the realms. If you are to join me, you all must meet me in Narnia, I can take you there, but the council is not for debate. I'm sorry, not even the gods are allowed.
As the illusion of night washes over the underworld, the group of heroes, villain, misfits, and a guardian stand in front of the door to Narnia, "so does this mean we must travel through here on the way back," Rumple says.
"Depends on how well you behave, Gold. If you do so much as help power the other side, or betray us and the realm, Belle finding out the truth will be the least of your worries. Understood?" nodding and taking a step away from the blonde, Gold wonders just what he has got himself into.
Opening the door before Hades changes his mind on allowing a one way door to be turned into a portal, the group of misfits step through, walking out of the underworld and into the bright realm of Narnia.