Last chapter before the curse! We made it! Amy and I have been laughing about how long it has taken us to get here for weeks. Anyway, Enjoy!

Peas and carrots, Carrots and peas, book come out, please please, please. 'Why?'

"Don't judge Helena's childhood."

'What are we looking for?'

"Books in other languages."

'Why?'

"Because…" Helena trailed off as she tried to read the title of an old book. She had wondered her way into a part of Rumple's library that held books as old as he was. Which in and of itself was amazing, Helena loved old books, but with the age of these books, she was significantly more likely to find what she was looking for.

'Which is?' Rieka prompted.

"Oh, sorry, I want to see if we know any more languages. Since we apparently know German."

'Of course, we do. I'm german.'

"That doesn't automatically mean we can speak it. I'm part Irish and I can't speak that language. Nor any of the other languages from countries I happen to have a relation to."

This seemed to stop Rieka for a moment so Helena went back to reading the titles of the old tomes. Since she had the time, Helena had decided to learn any useful language she could. She had already started learning French. It seemed prudent to learn since Amy was prone to ranting in French. German was already in her head thanks to Rieka. And finally, Helena started learning Latin which she decided on and practically was forced to since many of Rumple's spell books were in Latin. No, her parents never needed to find out that learning Latin, when they wanted her to, might have been useful. Of course, there was every chance they may never see her again anyway. So, there was that.

'That was a dark thought.'

"What? Does it bother you?"

'No, you just don't think about your parents much when you're thinking of going back. In your memories, I always see that girl with green eyes.'

Helena hummed in acknowledgment "Emma," She said. "She's the most important person in my life and I would very much like to get back to her."

"Helena? Are you okay?" Amy asked concerned, poking around the bookshelf at her, beginning to approach her, "Oh! I'm… how did I scare you?" Helena had startled for a moment, tensing up, placing a hand to her heart in fright, then sending a sharp glare in Amy's direction. Amy looked pleased with herself to accomplish such a feat, "Ha! I scared you and no one was here to witness it. Dang it! Anyhow, you've been talking to your… oh duh you're talking to Rieka. Nevermind. Have you found anything?"

Helena sighed, shaking off her fright, and annoyance at being frightened, to grab a random book from the shelf. "No," She said, "None of these books seem to be on anything that could-" Helena stopped. Out of habit, she had flipped open the book she picked up and glanced down at it. "Nevermind, I lied. This one might actually be useful." She said turning the book around to hand it to Amy. Amy took the book from her and looked at it intently for a moment as the gears in her mind began to turn quickly, a smile forming on her face. She turned out of the aisle heading back to the sitting area with the book still in her hands. "Well, that's a start." Helena said, not sure whether she was talking to herself, Rieka, or Amy's retreating form.

As soon as Amy saw what Helena had found, her mind started to race. The book Helena found was about a curse. A curse that could go wrong in many ways. If used properly, the curse was supposed to punish or force two people to either switch bodies or live within one body, depending on how the curse was cast. If it failed, a number of things could happen, something fairly similar to being splinched from the Harry Potter books, or a scenario where both people could be in both bodies making it entirely confusing, and more importantly if the spell was cast in a circumstance where there were portals or ways to enter other realms, they could actually pull people similar to them from other worlds. Like the new Spiderman movie with all the Peter Parkers! The latter was what Amy's mind was racing on.

Amy grabbed a quill and paper and started writing her ideas down. Writing had always helped her think through things, even if she couldn't understand half of what she wrote when

finished with it. It could work, I don't understand why Rieka would have any reason to be cursed or who would have cursed her. Rosette could have been playing with spells. 'I wasn't.' Okay, did Rumple create the spell and it backfired? 'That's more likely. Despite what Papa thinks, he still messes up… a lot.' Ok, so more likely but, why Helena and Rieka? What does it have to do with them? Red's mother was…ehh… I don't know who's worse, Rumple or Red's mother… what's her name? Amy looked up from her writing to look at an entertained but mildly confused Helena, "What's your mother's name?"

"Anita. Why is that important?"

"It was bugging me, I can think through this now." Amy then thought for a second, What is Reika's past like? If she's anything like Helena, 'And she is.' I'm not going to find out and there is no way to question around it, she'll notice immediately. Amy bit the inside of her cheek undecidedly, "When it comes to either me or Helena, straightforward is the best way to go." Dang it, Dylan. Amy swallowed the pride she had to follow Dylan's decent advice. I'm so glad you're not here to witness this. Not that you'd notice anyway… but still. "Rieka? I need to know if there was anyone who would have such a grudge with you to have cursed you?"

Helena could feel Rieka's confusion before she seemed to work it out herself.

"MInd if i…?'

"Nope"

Suddenly, Helena's stance changed to a slightly more slumped position, and when she spoke it was with a slight accent.

"My Mother and the pack are the only people that could possibly dislike me that much. But my mother was dead before Helena got here."

"Okay… was there…" Amy hesitated, trying to find the best way to ask this, she always hated probing into other people's lives. Generally, she noticed that people would just tell her in time, For Dylan, it took two days. but she needed to know. She took a deep breath, trying to distinguish where Rieka was emotionally and where her boundaries were, she did not want to push too hard. "Was there anyone who would have blamed you for your mother's death?" Amy remembered Snow and Red were there, but how did Rieka play into that?

"I'm sure there are plenty of wolves that blame me for not being there to protect them. I left my pack long before they found Red."

"Got it." Amy jotted down a note, placing the quill to her forehead like she would a pen, then realized the quill was not as sturdy. She placed the quill down. Rieka wasn't there. I doubt her pack knew of any magic. They could have always asked Rumple, but that's not really how that pack works if I recall correctly. This has to work somehow. Amy flipped the page for more information and studied it, trying to come up with a solution.

'Should we ask her to tell us what she's thinking?' Rieka asked.

Helena sighed, or she would have if she had been in control of their body, 'No, If we ask her to explain her thoughts before she has them sorted out it's not gonna make any sense to us. Better just to let her go. She'll tell us eventually.'

There was a pause, 'Alright. Whatever. You can have it back now.'

Helena sighed as she straightened up their shoulders, she hated slumping.

Amy stared at a sentence on the page that read; The curse, although not its sole purpose, can be used to talk to or experience loved ones' circumstances for themselves if one is in dire need of finding a person. Could…? 'Mama?' Possibly. But why Rieka and Helena? Clearly, this curse was messed up somehow because Helena and I are both here. But, why Rieka? 'Could we ask her again?' Amy thought for a second, then shook her head, No. We need to earn her trust before she would ever tell us something like that. 'You could ask Helena to-' Nope. Won't work either. She's loyal and would rarely divulge a secret unless it was practically a life-or-death circumstance and this doesn't count. 'Then-' Amy and Rosette both stopped. Rosette pushed Amy off the chair in an attempt to protect her.

Magic.

Rosette! 'No, it's my father, not yours. He's my fight.'

Amy felt herself tense, as Rosette was preparing for a fight she couldn't win. Rosette rose up lighting a magic fireball in her hand. They could sense the dark magic cloud from afar, but could not see it. Helena. That triggered a different protection reaction from Rosette, because although Helena had been here for Amy, Rosette had grown attached. "Helena?" A French accent graced her lips, she turned to look at Amy's and her friend who in but a few minutes they would not know at all. They might not even be friends, but enemies. A tear formed in her eye, as she allowed Amy to take part of the seat, the realization hitting her slowly, "It's coming."

"Oh…" was the only response Helena could come up with. They had wanted to figure this out and leave before the curse hit, but now they were out of time. So, she did the only thing she could think of and opened her arms in a telltale gesture.

Amy ran full force into Helena, at the same time not trying to knock her balance but definitely failing in that moment. She clung to her. Twenty-eight years. I won't remember her for twenty-eight years. "I love you." was all she could say.

Helena tightened her grip on the smaller girl, she wanted to give her a whole speech on how everything was going to be okay and they would figure it out, but she could see the purple-ish clouds moving quickly toward them.

What's happening?

Helena sighed, mentally turning to Rieka. "I don't have the time to explain-" She said, cutting herself off when a thought struck her. "Come here, maybe if we are both in control it will dilute the effects"

"What effects?" Rieka's voice sounded almost frantic.

"We don't have the time!" Helena mentally insisted, gripping Amy tighter, wishing she could protect both her and Rosette better.

Apparently, that was a sentiment Rieka could get behind because she stepped forward. Both of them caring enough to hold the smaller girl protectively until the purple cloud enveloped them.

Amy smiled slightly and buried her head further into Helena's shoulder as the cloud covered the room, 'Wait… does this mean we have to see Papa again?' Crap. Yeah… he-

Let us know what you think. Leave a comment or something. We'd love to hear what y'all think so far.