With the Murry's napkin stained with red lipstick in his hand the Author stood in front of Cruella's casket as he thought back fondly on the time they had years ago before she became evil, remembering the woman he had fallen for underneath the darkness.
"I'll miss her" he tells the Dark One stood next to him as the casket was lowered into the ground "Furs and all, I'll miss her. She was good to me... In her way. Made me who I am".
"Well, someone had to die at the savior's hands" Gold stated dismissing the man's sentiment on what needed to be done for his plan to go forward. She was just the collateral damage.
"Did they?" he questions the man.
"We won't have what we need to rewrite the book, to secure our happy endings, until Ms. Swan has completed her journey. The savior has taken the first step down a dark path. And we have to make sure she stays on it... For both our sakes" he says as he looks across the cemetery to see the woman herself stood there looking straight back at him.
"What about our hybrid?" he reminded the man "You let her get away with her sister and the Apple of Eden".
"Only an arms reach away, I assure you" Gold tells the Author knowing his niece would be busy retrieving her friend from New York to recuse him Zelena's wicked claws.
"Is she really?" the man asks him, unsure of the man who let two key ingredients get away from him. The older man looked at the man in offence at his lack of confidence.
"Might I remind you. It was me that kept her on her darkest path this entire time. If was the one to put Angelo into that tavern for Robin Hood to let him go once again. We wouldn't be here".
He couldn't let his niece turn her back on the path she was on. He still needed her to enact the dark curse with the Evil Queen and use her sill to find her son in the Land of No Magic once it was broken. He couldn't have her running away somewhere finding her happy ending.
That small problem was easily rectified as he plucked Angelo, the man that had started her journey to the Black Widow from his own dungeons and placed him in the same tavern as the thief as his Merry Men, knowing he wouldn't hand the man over to the woman he loved only to be killed.
After Robin let him go, the Dark One simply put him back in his dungeon, ready to be used if the need arose once again to keep his niece on the dark and narrow path.
The man's rant only made the Author smile to himself at the man's words. "You know after all this time, I never understood why William Shakespeare was sent to write Romeo and Juliet's story only to hide her. It was a good story. But I knew the reason the moment she had me up against a wall with a knife on my throat".
"And what's that?" Gold asked through gritted teeth.
"Because everything up until this point it was just the prologue to her story. Her story's only just beginning, and if you don't get her back under your control soon, she'll be ending your's and everyone else's story sooner than you think".
She was getting impatient, and not in the good way.
After the previous day's events, the extended family plus Anastasia, had gathered in Granny's in the early morning after being summoned by the savior herself after she had played right into Gold's plan's into turning her heart dark.
Pushing two tables together the group squeezed themselves around them as Amelia, Anastasia and Tom spilled over on the stools of the bar, behind Regina and Henry while the saviors her parents, Hook took up the other side.
Her sister had adopted a more relaxed tone with her outfit since joining the team, so to speak, choosing to sport a knee high yellow and black pea-coat with matching pants, as her blonde hair sat loosely on her shoulders.
With the blood debt hanging over the heads of Mary Margaret and the redheaded assassin the family lacked it's usual cordial atmosphere as latter avoided every one of the former Princess's attempts to make any sort of eye contact with her, and the circumstance's of Cruella's death had only made it worse.
It took some convincing and a small threat from her partner sat on a chair near her knee's to come to the diner instead of jumping into her car and racing to New York to gut Zelena herself.
"I'm going after Gold" Emma announced to her family as she stood on front them "He made this happen. He needs to answer for it".
"Careful. Don't go off half-cocked" Hook voiced his warnings to his girlfriend.
"Hook's right" David added "He wants you angry" he says as Anastasia brow's furrow and the uncomfortable pit that grew in her gut at the prospect of Captain Hook being right about something. Glancing over to her sister the same look of discomfort grew on her face that matched her own. Leaning into her sister's side she quietly spoke to her sister.
"Why does the pirate being right about something make me feel uneasy?" Anastasia softly asked her sister next to her.
"Don't worry" Amelia reassured her sister "It's a common feeling" she replied as Emma continued her one woman tirade against her Uncle.
"Yeah, well, I am angry" the savior continued "That doesn't mean he's gonna get what he's after. Do I wish I could change what I did to Cruella? Yes. But that's regret, not darkness. I think we've all done things we regret" she threw the words towards her mother before glancing towards the redhead who hadn't said a word. "Right now, we need to focus on one thing…How to keep Gold and the Author from causing any more damage".
"I might be able to help with that" Maleficent suddenly appeared at the door "It now appears we have a common foe" the sorceress tell the savior "Rumplestiltskin" this raised an eyebrow on both Regina and Amelia at Maleficent
"He resurrected you" David questioned in confusion.
"To help himself, not me. Cruella's death and Anastasia's defection back to her sister's side only confirmed that" Maleficent explained glancing over the Duchess sat next to Amelia.
"Oh. Now you want to turn on him before he turns on you" Hook summarized
"I knew Gold couldn't keep the dragon on her leash for long" Regina said with a smirk held out a hand towards her partner.
The family heard the assassin grumble a small curse under her breath as she she reached into her pocket taking out a twenty-dollar bill handing it to the former Queen who put it securely away.
"What do you want?" Mary Margaret demanded out of the sorceress.
"Nothing from you" she tells the former Princess before looking back at Emma "But your daughter, I hear, has a talent for finding people".
"Yeah, I do" Emma confirms "Who do you want found?".
"My daughter" Maleficent answered taking the group minus the blonde assassin by surprise.
"She's alive?" the Princess gasped.
"Yes" she confirms "She survived the journey to this land... The journey you sent her on. You want to prevent Rumplestiltskin from achieving whatever he wants. What better way than leaving this town and helping me?".
"I'm not running away from Gold" Emma told the woman in front of her.
"It's not running from him. It's hindering him".
"What do you know about her?".
"Just what the Dark One showed me... That she was banished to this world 30 years ago, to a place called Minnesota, where she was adopted by a couple. And they named her Lilith"
"No" they all heard the savior mutter to herself in shock. Hearing the name of her best friend.
"Emma?" Hook called out to the blonde as he stood from his place "What is it?".
All questions went unanswered as Emma ran out of the diner, leaving the extended family in stunned silence.
"Does she do this often?" Anastasia blurted out to her sister, loud enough for the others to hear her"If she does, that is really annoying".
Finding the savior slumped back in a chair gawking at a newspaper article about a baby girl with a star birthmark on it's wrist, Regina couldn't help but feel like fate had once again reared it's ugly head, this time for the blonde who had run out of the diner.
She knew how it felt to be on the receiving end of the many twists and turns fate had in store for her.
"Ain't fate a bitch?" her voice made the savior jump in her seat "You know this girl. How?".
"She was my friend" Emma tells the older woman behind her without looking away from the picture.
"Oh, the one you told me about" Regina remembered taking a seat on the edge of the desk "Who you said you pushed away?".
"How is this possible?" she asks the former Queen "Of all the kids in the world, the one I end up friends with is the one my parents banished?".
"Emma, there are powers beyond our understanding, and your parents messed with them".
"So, the only friend I ever had wasn't even my friend by choice" Emma concluded to the former Queen.
"I know. It hurts, doesn't it? I've been there, too".
"Yeah?" the savior wondered out load finally looking away from the screen.
"You think it was a coincidence that I just so happened to adopt the savior's son?" she reminded the blonde "Our actions are our own, but fate pushes us. Maybe it's time to push back" Regina suggested to the savior.
"How?".
"Well, I have to go to New York with Melia to rescue Robin from my insane sister, and you have to find this girl to redeem your parents and show Gold he's wrong about you... That he can't change you. What do you say we help each other?".
"What, like a road trip?" Emma questioned her.
"Well, if that's what you want to call it".
"I'm okay, Regina. I don't need babysitters" she tells the older woman, not needing the pair of former villias looking out for her.
"But maybe we need you" the former Queen tells her "You lived in New York. We've barely been outside of Storybrooke. And Amelia needs someone to have a cool head to stop her doing something stupid, and out of the three of us, I think you'd be able to get through to her if she stops listening to me " she truthfully the blonde.
Ever since she left their vault Amelia has only had two things on her mind. Getting Robin back from New York and finding some sort of justice for her and Romeo. If it hadn't been for Cruella's distraction and her gaining sister back, she would be in New York herself doing things to Zelena not even the Evil Queen would be comfortable to do in her darkest days.
"How about it, Swan? How about we make today the day we both beat fate?".
Hearing that Emma was joining their trip to New York to find Lilith came with a sprinkling of annoyance from the assassin, as it would just delay her getting to Robin faster. But with some more convincing from the woman she loved, she agreed to the road trip with the savior with the agreement they would get to New York eventually.
Sat on the edge of Regina's desk in her office as the former Queen found the scroll Ingrid had used to find Storybrooke, it had finally dawned on the assassin on what she would have to tell her best friend. She hadn't even thought about it until pulled up behind Emma's yellow bug in front of the town hall. She was really doing this, she was going to break his heart again.
She didn't know how long she could stand fighting back fate again and again. It seemed hell bent on getting it's own back for her being born. What her sister had told her was a lot to process still, she missed the days of wondering when the Evil Queen would find out about her helping Snow White. They were easy compared to the storm behind her eyes as Regina noticed the woman staring off to space.
"Ready to go?" Regina prodded the red head getting a small nod from her partner "What is it?" she asks her in concern as she rounded the desk to stand in front of her partner.
"What I am gonna tell him?" she asks the Queen taking her by surprise "I've thought about what I'm going to tell Zelena before I cut her eye's out, but I don't know what to tell him. Isn't that insane?".
She remembered the day she got that note from Robin needing her help, like it was yesterday. Desperate for her help when Marian went missing, by the time they had found out the Queen's knights had taken her, it was already too late. She remembered the look on his face once he told her Marian was dead. But she had to tell him the truth, no matter how much it hurt to.
"No, not insane" the former Queen says taking a breather to sit next to her soulmate taking the redhead's hand into her interlocking their fingers together as if she was anchoring her thoughts to the conversation.
"It makes you his friend. Who know's how it feels to be told something they don't want to hear. When we get to him, you're going to tell him, that my insane half-sister murdered and impersonated his wife for the last three months" she tells the redhead, seeing the corner of her lips quirk up in amusement before she turns her head to look straight at her partner next to her.
"I really don't deserve you" she admits to the former Queen.
"What makes you think that?".
"Just helping me get him back. Despite everything we went through after John came back, knowing our history. No girlfriend would go out of their way to get someone's ex even if it's to save them from their insane half-sister".
"Well I'm not a typical girlfriend" Regina tells her "I'm your soulmate".
"Are you now?" she teases the woman next to her.
"Uh huh" Regina nodded brushing her nose against Amelia's "One that's about to save your oldest friend from someone who doesn't deserve his good heart" standing up from the desk Amelia captured Regina's lips in a bruising kiss that poured all the love she had for the woman, all the hurt and heartache she had gone through in the last few days.
Once the pair of soulmates lost breath they separated except from their foreheads "I love you" Amelia whispered.
"I know" Regina whispered back giving the Assassin a chaste kiss on the lips taking her hand into hers "Come on, we've got a thief and a baby dragon to catch".
Regina led them outside to where Emma was saying goodbye to her parents to see to see Hook and Emma kissing.
"Does that still make you nauseous or is it just me?" Amelia grumbled to Regina as she grimaced to herself at the scene.
"Just you dear" Regina answered as they went to their respective sons bringing them into tight embraces.
"I'll be back as soon as I can" the red head tells her teenage son, as she held him for a every second she could before he ended the hug.
"I know Mom" he mumbled into her shoulder "Aunt Stasia will take care of me" he tried to reassure his mother, which only made her worry more at the thought of her sister being left alone with her son.
"That's what I'm afraid of" she replied making Tom laugh in her arms.
"I heard that sister" she heard Anastasia call out to the red head who stood next to David and Mary Margaret.
"Good" she replied letting her son go to look at her sister "Make sure he brushes his teeth and bed by ten" she instructs her.
"Mom" Tom grumbled in embarrassment "You're embarrassing me again".
"Good" she says patting his cheek twice with a sweet tight lipped smile "That my job" she says as she changes the subject to something that didn't involve Wicked Witches or Pieces of Eden "When this is all over and we get a minute to breathe, will you tell me about this MJ?".
"There's nothing to tell" he tells her as she hears the disappointment that laced his words "She's just a friend". He liked this MJ, she could see it in his eyes. This was the person he had been texting non-stop for the last few weeks. She couldn't help but feel guilty that this was the first she was hearing about this girl having been too busy to ask him. But she could help him now though.
"You know, your Dad was just a friend once" she tells him remembered the early days of their friendship once she was discovered on the Godspeed. "You just have to keep trying, it works eventually" she says with a encouraging wink of her eye. He was like his father like this, so unsure of himself until someone or something brought it out of him.
He was so confident at the wheel of the Godspeed but put them in a room together he would close himself up so quickly, you were lucky if he got two words in with tumbling over his words. It was probably the first time she took a liking to him. He was genuine. The first genuine person outside of the Brotherhood she had ever met. He wasn't afraid to show his emotions, there was no ulterior motive with him.
Remembering how long it took her to finally open up to her first love and vice versa. She wondered why she waited until she nearly frozen to admit she had fallen for the Captain. Maybe they were both afraid to jump into something that could end so easily. They just needed to take that Leap of Faith.
"Really?" he asks hearing this from his mother. Maybe he had been going at his the wrong way after all.
"Yeah, but try not to push too hard, it'll happen when it's right. Just be yourself" she reminds him "She'll see that, if she doesn't, than it's not meant to be".
"I will Mom" he says with a confident nod of his head. At that she and Regina swapped son's as Tom eagerly embraced his mother's partner as Amelia turned to Henry.
"Do me favor while I'm out of town" Amelia said quietly into Henry's ear as she held him tight.
"Anything Lia".
"Find out everything you can about this MJ, and when I saying everything. I mean everything" she emphasized the last three words to him trying to understand the importance of his mission.
Hearing the redheads eagerness of finding out everything she could about their classmate that Tom had taken a liken to since returning to school on a regular basis, the pre-teen chuckled to himself at her over-protectiveness. It wasn't needed, but it was necessary for her trust someone she didn't know.
"Sure thing, we can call it Operation Spider" he quietly tells her as they pull apart.
"Operation?" Amelia questioned the pre-teen with a curios brow. She was getting an operation. Not that it was like the first two, but it was still meant so much to her to get honored with an Operation of her own, no matter how petty it sounded. She just needed to know if they MJ wasn't going to hurt her son.
"Yeah, it's important to you, which means it gets a name. It'll be our own secret mission".
"Why Spider?" she asks him as a smile played on her lips.
"Spider as in Spider-man in my comic's and he has a girlfriend called MJ" he concludes "That and Tom love's Spider-man".
"Smart" she says with a smirk, before Emma spoke to the couple.
"Did you get what you needed?" Emma asked Regina after she separated from Tom.
"I'm not going into a land without magic without bringing some of our own" the former Queen tells her showing the savior the scroll in her hand "The Snow Queen's scroll... In case we have any trouble getting through the cloak put around this town".
"Sounds good. Let's get out of here" As Regina and Emma got into the bug while Amelia headed to her's.
"Lia.." Mary Margaret called out to the red head is desperation to talk to the Assassin before she left to save her closest friend from the Wicked Witch of the West.
Lowell, Massachusetts
The trio's first stop was at a rundown apartment building in Massachusetts that for better words had seen better days.. or decades. Litter filled the hallways as they made their way to Lilith's last known address that was five years old. Or Lily as Emma knew her as. Her old childhood best friend.
The redhead had to sympathize with Emma on this one. Fate really was a bitch.
Placing her boot covered feet carefully on the worn, stained carpet the assassin didn't want to take any souvenirs from this trip back into her car as she followed the savior and her partner through the various tight hallways that eventually led them to the apartment they were looking for, as they heard muffled voices of arguing resident's and infants crying filtered through the thin walls as the three of them rounded the corner to the apartment that Lilith rented out.
"Why did I go through the trouble of creating Storybrooke when I could have cursed everyone to live here?" Regina grimaced as the came round the corner to the apartment Lilith rented.
"Because you have better taste and sense in color palates than whoever designed this" Amelia answered with her own grimace as she caught a whiff of something she had only smelt in a tavern that sourced mushrooms from Wonderland, and even then that smell made her gag "-and hygiene apparently" she added pushing the feeling of queasiness to the back of her mind avoiding a very suspicious patch on the floor and wall.
Emma was the one to knock on the apartment door that was Lilith's last known address only for a man down the hallway to answer them "Yeah?" he asked the three women.
"Oh. Sorry to disturb you" she greets the man "We're just looking for Lilith Page. Is she around?" Emma asked who she presumed to be the landlord.
"No, she ain't around. Not for years" he told her.
"You know where she moved?".
"Lady, she ain't moving nowhere" the man bluntly told her "She's dead".
"What?".
"Car wreck a couple years back. Pretty sure she was drunk" the man continued "Not that anyone missed her. I mean, she was a weird one. Kept to herself. 'Course, she had one of those personalities that you wanted to stay far away from. A real loser".
The guy was suddenly cut off when Emma grabbed him by his throat, slamming him up against the opposite wall in a move that surprised the couple watching on.
"She was my friend!" the blonde screamed in his face ash she pulled back a closed fist only for the redhead to put herself in between her fist and the man.
"Emma" the redhead's voice managed to get thought the woman's haze as her eye's flickered over to see her "It's not worth it" the Assassin sternly told the savior after a beat Emma let the man go making him fall onto the floor gasping for air.
"Hey. You okay?" Regina called out to the savior as the redhead crouched down to the man caught his breath.
"I'm fine. I'm absolutely fine" Emma told the former Queen before walking away from the pair.
"Hey, your friend is crazy!" the landlord panted to redhead that had saved him as he clutched at his neck.
"You should be careful how you speak of the dead" Amelia told him as she lifted her arm a hidden blade spring from the gauntlet under her jacket sleeve, making the man scrambled back in fright at the sight of a sharp blade "Or next time find your tongue on the floor" at this the man hastily nodded at the red head before the blade quickly slipped back into her arm as quickly as it appeared.
Standing up from the floor she walks away from the man looking towards her partner "And you said she'd be the one with the cool head, your exact words" she told Regina making her way out of the building.
She couldn't help but be concerned with the blonde's behavior back at the apartment building as she followed the savior and her partner in the yellow bug in front of her, hoping Regina was doing her best to get Emma to open up with what transpired with the landlord. She was taken out her thoughts when her phone rang from the hands free handset that was attached to her dashboard. Seeing it was Henry she answered the call.
"Hey Henry, that was quick" she spoke out load "Any update on Operation Spider".
"A little" he answered "She lived with her Mom near Grandma and Grandpa's castle before the first curse" he informs her.
"That's great. How did you find that out? she inquired with the pre-teen "The storybook?".
"I asked her" he tells her making her wince gripping her steering wheel slightly.
"Honey no offence, I don't think you quite understand what covert means".
"I understand what it means Lia. Why do want to know so much about MJ, she's nice enough" Henry inquired with his mother's reassurance did nothing to ease the gut feeling she had about the girl, even if she hadn't met her. Her gut feeling never lied to her before, but she struggled to find an answer that Henry would understand making her say nothing "Lia?" he called out to her, hoping he hadn't upset her.
"Everything's fine, don't worry" she told the teen "How about we put Operation Spider on hold for now" she tells him "What are you all doing now?".
"Nothing much. Anya's telling us stories of the Brotherhood, which is kinda gross. Did you know that Assassin's used to cut off their finger? Gross" he grimaced. She could see the grimace on his face even if she could see it, which made her smile to herself.
"I did. I'll explain more about it when I get back" she tells him "What else has she told you exactly?" she asks as her curiosity gets the better of her, wondering what else her sister are telling the pair.
"Just you two growing up. Your old home sounds beautiful. It sucks it's gone now though".
"It was and it does. I think your Dad liked it though".
"Really? He went there?" Henry asked her with interest.
"He did, before…" she cut herself off.
"I know" he added she heard the drop of his tone at the mention of his father.
"What's Tom doing?" Amelia quickly changed the subject.
"He's asking Hook how he can talk to girls".
"Do me another favor Henry".
"Anything".
"Tell Hook if he teaches my son how to flirt like a pirate, even Emma won't be able to find him".
"Will do" Henry chuckled over the line "See you soon Mom".
Henry hung up before she could reply. He called her Mom. Maybe it was a mistake. A slip of the tongue? What ever it was it sounded good.
The redhead came out of her thoughts when she saw Emma swerve off the road and almost crash into a ditch "What the hell?" she says to herself as seeing the cause of the accident of a grey wolf running down the road. Coming to a stop she climbed out of her car to meet Regina and the savior on the road.
"What was that?" she asked the pair, looking at the blonde for an explanation as she stared down the road where the wolf was.
"This has happened before, the wolf in the road and an accident..." Emma tells them "The first time I tried to leave Storybrooke".
"Stop overthinking" Regina tells her kicking the flat tire "It's not fate. It's just a flat. You need a new tire" she says looking up the road they see a sign for a service station.
"Unless fate wants you to go to the coffee mug diner for help, I'd chalk it up to "accidents will happen".
"Get in" Amelia tells Regina and Emma indicating to her car "We'll get a tire. You get some coffee".
While Regina and Amelia went to find some help, the blonde savior made her way into the small diner.
"Hi" she greets a brunette waitress finding an empty table for the three of them.
"Hey" the nameless waitress greets her back seeing her.
"Three cups of coffee and a pack of Advil" Emma orders taking a seat "Make it two packs".
The waitress picks up three empty cups with a pot of coffee and takes it over to the blonde's table "Tough day?" she asks Emma pouring out the drink.
"You don't know the half of it" Emma reply's noticing something on the inside of the waitresses wrist. A star birthmark. The same one Lily had on he wrist.
"I'll leave the pot here, then" the waitress says as Emma's eyes glance up to her name tag thinking she would see 'Lily' printed on the tag only to to see the name 'Starla'.
"I'll be right back with your Advil" 'Starla' tells her walking away as Regina and Amelia finally join her at the table, taking the free chairs at the table.
"Car's being towed in" Regina announced to the blonde only for the pair to see the look on her face
"What's wrong? See another wolf?" Amelia teased the woman only for her jibe to go unheard as Emma moved forward to speak to the pair quietly.
"It's... It's her".
Leaving the couple in the diner to confront 'Starla'. The pair were left in comfortable silence as the redhead reached for her cup only for the sour waft that usually relaxed her whenever she smelt it at Granny's made her stomach churn as she brought it up to her lips, only to make her gag, which didn't go unnoticed by her partner as she watched the redhead slide the cup away from he to get it as far away from her as possible.
"Service station coffee, Emma really should not have" Amelia commented as she took in deep breath of fresh coffee free air, relaxing into her chair.
"I think I've spoiled you dear" Regina eyed the red head's odd behavior. And not just because of when she had been put through recently. This was just another example to add to the growing list she had noticed over the last few weeks.
"Please" the redhead scoffed at her partner "I'd give anything for one of Granny's cups over yours any day" under the table the Queen sent her Assassin a kick to her shin making the red head bounce in her seat making her hiss in pain.
"What's with you lately? Despite the obvious, you've been..off".
"It's nothing really" the assassin tried to dismiss the former Queen's line of questioning only to get a questioning brow sent her way, the one that told her that the conversation wasn't over "Okay, fine. Like I said, it's nothing, but I may have asked Henry to look into who this MJ is".
"You what?" her partner gaped at her in disbelief.
"You really think I wouldn't want find out who this girl is" she questioned her partner.
"No" Regina answered knowing the redhead too well not to do something like this "but did you have to drag Henry into it".
"I didn't drag, I asked" the assassin corrected her "And he wanted to help, even given it it's own Operation" at the mention of one of his Operation's, Regina couldn't help but see the smile that grew on her partner's face. It annoyingly cute to see her love smile like this.
"Did he find anything?" the former Queen asked, she had to admit she was interested to know who this MJ was too.
"Nothing much" the redhead shrugged "She used to live in Snow and Charming's kingdom before the first curse".
"Conveniently vague" Regina commented.
"Mhh I know" Amelia hummed "Shall we see if Bella Swan found her wolf?".
"Only way to find out" Regina said getting up from her seat with Amelia following suit leaving her cup on the table.
They easily found the savior around the back as they walked past a young brunette woman similar to Emma's age heading toward a school bus that had pulled up near the station. Finding out the tire on Emma's bug had been fixed.
"Tire's being fixed" Regina announced to the savior as they came to a stop to look back to the woman Emma said that was Mal's daughter with a young girl old enough to be her daughter.
"So it was her" Regina asked the blonde who nodded as the redhead's eyes flickered gold as "Well, Emma, looks like you didn't ruin her life after all" she said as the redhead listened to what Lily was saying to the girl.
"You know me from the diner right?" Lily asked the girl "Free burger's for a week if you smile, take my hand, and walk around the block with me. But you have to decide now" after a beat the girl smiled and nodded taking Lily's hand to walk away.
"Think again sweetheart" Amelia tell her partner making her look her way to see the golden tint to her green eyes as Emma continued to watch them.
She never thought stealing a swipe card in the world of the no magic would make the adrenaline pump so much thought her system. She really had been out of the game for a while now. Too long.
"You got it?" Emma asked the Assassin as she joined the assassin to make their way back to the cars.
"Yep" she confirmed giving the time card to the blonde as Regina finds them after disappearing together.
"Emma, what are you doing?" Regina questioned the blonde finding her soulmate with her. Whatever it was, wasn't good.
"I just swiped Starla's time-card" Amelia tell her partner It has her real address as the Queen joins them.
"But she said she didn't want our help" Regina argues looking at the Assassin for some sort of backup.
"And she was lying" Emma tells the older woman, givign her the slip of paper.
"You saw her with her child" Regina argued as the reached their cars.
"A child" Emma corrected her "You know me. I know when someone's lying, and she was Lia heard them with her vision thingy" at the words vision thing the redhead gave the blonde a sideways look of annoyance.
"You did?" the former Queen asked the assassin who simply nodded at her in confirmation as Emma continued.
"She always has. Why would she be any different now?" Emma ranted to the pair as they reached to their cars that were parked next to each-other "Something's wrong. We have to go find her. I'm gonna help her this time. I'm gonna get her back to her mom".
Lilith's time-card took them to a run-down trailer park, with junk was haphazardly littered the around the small homes as the three women pulled up in their individual cars. Amelia quickly identified the mobile home that belonged to Mal's daughter as she parked in front the small home with Emma and Regina in the former yellow bug behind er.
"How are we doing this?" Amelia asked the blonde savior as she got out of her bug "Quick or quicker".
"The quicker way" the blonde answered the woman.
"You know me so well Swan" the assassin praised the blonde as she made her way to the front door.
"I'm afraid to ask what the quicker way is" Regina said out-load as she followed Emma up the front porch as her question was answered when Amelia kicked down the front door, shattering the lock from it's place as it slammed open "I was right" she grumbled as redhead let the blonde into the small home first closely followed behind the red head herself shutting the door behind her.
"No kid's stuff. No sign of a husband" Emma observed as Amelia observed the basic furniture and decor that made the home.
"That, or she's a very good cleaner" Amelia mused as she looked for anything that might tell them anything about the woman as she headed towards the far end of the home towards the bedroom.
"Well, if you want me to admit you were right... Well, you were right" Regina tells the savior as the former Queen follows her partner down the hallway.
"Can't blame her for running off" Emma pondered as she followed the older woman "I was about to tell her she was Maleficent's daughter".
"Yeah, that might have been tough to swallow".
"Yeah, well, you know how long it took for me to believe, and that was in Storybrooke" Emma points out "For her, it's not gonna be simple".
"Try being one of those people waiting for you to start believing" Amelia drawled to the savior as she came to the master bedroom, to come to abrupt stop to what she saw taped on the wall.
"Holy shit" the redhead hissed to herself as her eyes followed the various post-its connected by red lines.
A map of the Maine coastline was pinned up marked with areas Lilith thought Storybrooke was. It held post-it notes with names like, The Author, Maleficent, Snow White, Prince Charming, Evil Queen and many more.
But the part that made a shiver shoot up her spine was the post-it that stated 'Black Widow' in it. Attached to it was her parents names 'Romeo and Juliet' with information about Shakespeare's portrayal of them. It also held the Brotherhood's insignia that looked like an arrowhead next her father's name and the red Templar cross next to her mother's name.
The words 'Star-Crossed Lover's' and 'Pieces of Eden'. underlined several times.
"Emma" Amelia called out to the blonde as Regina stopped behind her seeing what she was seeing, over her shoulder.
"What?" Emma said joining the former Evil Queen and her Black Widow at the board.
"It might be simpler than you think" Regina added.
"Son of a... She knew" the saviour concluded "She already knew".
"And she was looking for you" Regina points out to the blonde at a Polaroid picture of a teenage savior pinned to the board.
"No. My parents..." Emma corrected the Queen seeing her parent's pictures crossed out with red pen, in a similar way she crossed out her old family's portraits when she killed them "She knew everything. She wants revenge" she concludes as all three women inside the home snap to the sound of a car engine roaring to life from outside.
"Really?!" Emma exasperated as she ran out of the door to see her yellow bug being driven away "Lily!" Emma called out to her former friend as she and the assassin ran out of the home to try and catch the woman, sprinting down the ramp the assassin vaulted over the wooden railing to try an catch up the woman only to give up as Lily sped away from the assassin.
"cagna!" the assassin yelled at the quickly disappearing yellow bug.
"Emma!" Regina yelled after the savior as she caught up to Emma and Amelia outside "The apprentice's scroll... It was in my bag in the car!".
"She wanted a way into Storybrooke. Now she's got one" Emma tells them looking at Amelia's car. "Give me your keys!" the redhead complied and quickly fished out her keys and threw her set to the blonde as Emma walked over to the driver's side of her car.
"What are you doing?" Regina asked the savior as she opened Amelia's car door.
"That girl destroyed my life with one family. I'm not letting her do it again".
She deeply regretted giving Emma the key's as soon as the blonde sped down the road to catch up to Lily in the bug. Choosing to stay in the back while Regina took the passenger seat they held onto whatever they could as Emma pushed the Assassins car to its limits.
"She's doing it again" Emma tells the pair "Every time I let Lily in, she rips apart my life. Now she's going after my parents. I have to stop her".
"You will, but you can't go in with a head of steam" Amelia tried to temper the savior from the backseat "You'll end up doing something you regret".
"Really?" Emma glanced into the rear-view mirror to look at the former Assassin "Tell me, milady Widow, what are your plans for Zelena?" she questioned the redhead in the backseat "A nice chat over tea?".
"That's different" Regina retorted from the passenger seat defending her partner's intentions for what she had in mind for her sister in New York.
"How? If Zelena lays a hand on Robin Hood, you'll destroy her, right?" Emma questioned the red head only to be answered by silence "Right. So I'll do the same thing to Lily".
"Careful, Emma" Regina warned her "You're starting to sound like...".
"Like what? A villain?" Emma finished for the former Queen "This is the real world" Emma told the pair "There are no heroes and villains... Just real people with real problems. So, if you're gonna try to stop me, you can find your own way back to New York" the blonde warned as she continued to race down the road as Amelia sat back and tried to not throw up.
"There she is" Regina announced as they saw Emma's bug in the distance making Emma push down the accelerator. further. The tire's on the assassin's car screeched on the asphalt as the blonde had finally caught up to the bug, pulling gout into the road to pull up alongside the bug. The three glance over to Lily in the bug as she looks back. As Maleficent's daughter see's Emma the former swerves out nearly hitting them as she speed up making Emma swerve from being hit, making them drop back behind the bug.
"Swan, watch it!" Regina warns the blonde as she steady's their car. The two battled it out trying to drive each other off the road until Emma went out wide on a straight bit of road and sharply turned, pulling on the brakes so that the swung in front of the yellow bug making Lily stop.
Jumping out of the bug, Lily tried to make a run for it only for Emma to easily catch up to her as Amelia and Regina climb out of the car after the blonde saviour.
"Hey! Hey!" Emma yelled catching up to the woman whirling around to face her "You know. You know everything. Did you know when we were kids?" she asked her former best friend after seeing everything in her home.
"Of course not" Lily tells her.
"But now?".
"Yeah. I learned it all".
"How?" the blonde asks her.
"Does it really matter?" Lily questions her "It doesn't change anything. You screwed me over before we were even born" she accused the savior.
"I had no more say in what happened than you did" Emma retorted.
"But your parents did" Lily calmly tells her "And the minute I get to Storybrooke...".
"You lay a hand on them, I end you!" Emma yelled in anger shoving Lily onto the ground.
"Emma, stop!" Regina warned the blonde as she and Amelia kept their distance from the two women.
"Yeah?" Lily goaded Emma as she picked herself up "And how are you gonna do that without your magic, savior?" Lily says before sending a closed fist into Emma's face as thunder and lighting rolled in the sky above them and the headlights on the bug exploded.
"Your parents are monsters, Emma" Lily continued as Emma looked back at her wiping her lip "They banished me and threw you in a wardrobe. And now here you are, ready to die for them, because you're so perfect. The Savior. Well, they deserve to be punished. And there's only one way to stop me, and you know it" Lily goes for the blonde only for Emma to easily grapple her back onto the ground.
Taking the former assassin and evil Queen by surprise, they suddenly see Emma with her handgun pointed straight at a defenseless Lily on her knee's aimed at her heart.
Hearing a familiar click next to her, the Queen glances down to her love's arms to see her soulmate loading an attachment to her gauntlet she called the phantom blade, ready to do something if Emma didn't put the gun down.
Dark chuckles left Lily's lips seeing the savior actions "Of course it ends this way. This just makes too much sense".
"I'm just trying to stop you from doing something you'll regret" Emma tells the woman on her knee's.
"You can't. Thanks to you, I'm hardwired for bad decisions. So come on... Just put me out of my misery. You know the truth. We both know my life isn't worth saving" Lily scoffs as Regina slowly approaches the scene leaving the redhead behind.
"-And if you let me go, I will destroy everything. It's what I do. So come on... Be the hero and end this right here before it even starts... Come on, Emma".
"Swan" Regina called out to the savior as she saw from the corner of her eye Amelia stood behind the former Queen with something that looked like a small crossbow attached on her gauntlet aimed straight at her, slowly approaching the scene herself.
"Put the gun down. If you pull that trigger, you will be the one who ruins your life this time" she tells the savior "And Henry's and your parents' and everyone else's" the former Queen tried to beseech to the savior as she places a hand on Amelia raised arm to push it back down to her side.
"I have to protect them" Emma tells the former Queen.
"Then lower the gun. Your parents need a hero, not a murderer" Regina points out to the savior who still hadn't lowered her gun.
"I'm already a murderer" Emma tells her.
"Cruella was an accident" Regina tells the blonde "But if you cross this line, the journey back isn't easy. Trust me I know" Regina tells her "This is what Gold wants you to do. So don't!" the former Queen sternly states only for the savior not to move "Emma! You're better than this.. you're better than us".
The seconds felt like hours before the blonde finally lowered her gun from Lily's heart as a collective breath of relief leaves the former villains lips.
The redheaded needed that coffee now.
As the tension dissipated Emma and Lily sat on some industrial tubing that have been left in the field near where their car's had been left. Regina had received a phone call and it wasn't going well by the scowl on her face.
"We have a problem" Regina announced to the redhead as she hung up the phone "Apparently a dragon isn't enough to guard a bookworms heart".
"What? How?" the assassin questioned the former Queen "You spelled the door".
"I'm aware, she said some thief got in while Gold distracted her".
"Scarlet" Amelia growled under her breath "He's playing house with Belle, Gold got to him" she deduced knowing the young thief "I knew I should've put Anastasia on heart duty" she grumbled to herself before looking to her partner "You get Tweedledum and Dee, and I'll warm up my car. We're moving up our timeline. No more distractions. We're getting Robin now" Amelia said as she stormed to her car while Regina headed to Emma and Lily.
She was getting her friend now. And no one was going to stop her.
It felt like a lifetime ago since the last time she climbed the stairs up to Neal's apartment. Back then Henry was just Regina's son. Not the boy who had just called her Mom, even if it was just by accident. Back where she thought her father had been dead for some time. Back then it had been Gold trying to look for someone that had been lost to him. This time it was her turn.
The ball pressure she had felt pushing against her heart and lungs since she finding out who had really been living with Robin felt like its was about to burst as pushed her feet towards the apartment she had sent her friend to to three months. She was so close now, it almost made her think this was all just a very bad dream she was urging herself to wake herself up from.
Regina, hung back with Emma and Lily as the red head hastily knocked at the door with her heart pounding in her throat "Robin?" Amelia called out for the man through the door "Robin, open up!".
Amelia's eyes lit up as the door opened to see Robin her closest friend on the other side with dis-belief and confusion on his face seeing the redhead he had left at Storybrooke's town line "Amelia?" he gasped "W-what are you doing here?" he asks her as she grabs him, engulfing him in a tight embrace that was readily mirrored.
Amelia held him tight against her as she smelt the forest on him. Even in the city he still smelt like bark making her chuckle to herself "I missed you" she tells him as the other watched on at the reunion.
"And I you" he replies before pulling away, seeing Emma and Regina behind the red head with another woman he didn't recognize, his hands sliding down to clutch her hands "What's going on? W-why are you here?" he asked her in concern.
"I can explain everything. But first, where's Marian?" Amelia asks him.
"She's at the store. Why?".
"Good. Then there's time. But we have to act fast" Amelia tells him encouraging back in the apartment with the others following suit.
"Wha... W-what's this about?" Robin asked the former Assassin again.
"Marian..." Amelia started as the words she had thought over again and again suddenly came tumbling out to her friend "We have to leave before she gets back. She's not who she says she is".
"What?".
"She's... My sister... Zelena" Regina answered from behind the red head helipng her out.
"The Wicked Witch?" he almost spat out looking at the former Evil Queen, before looking back at Amelia "But she's dead. Y-You told me you saw that!".
"Somehow, she tricked us and went back in time" Amelia began as she felt her throat close up, but she had to push through it, not for her but for him. She had to tell him everything, even if it hurt him, like he did with her all those years ago.
"Robin..."she started again "She went back, and she killed Marian. She took her place to get back at me" she choked out as she felt the anger and heartache burn through her chest like the first time it did when she listened to Zelena's message to her.
He looked at her like the first time she had told him that she would've been executed if the Evil Queen had arrested her. He shook his head at her in denial as she saw his heart break. It was happening again. she was going to lose him all over again, all because of her. because of what she did, what she was, it was her fault again.
Robin stepped back shaking his head "No,no" he almost whispered trying to see the lie in the Assassins eye "This is madness".
"Robin you have to believe me" she plead to him "Please you just have to".
"Robin, what's going on?" a voice made Amelia look back at the door to see Marian come back with groceries in her arms "And what is she doing here?" she asked her husband seeing Amelia with him.
Stepping into the apartment the assassin quickly reacted by lifting her arm in front of her friend, tensing her forearm a hidden blade quickly shot out in warning.
"Cool" Lily whispered in wonder of seeing a hidden blade so close.
"Amelia! No!" Robin jumped forward pulling her blade arm back stared 'Marian' down as the woman freely entered the apartment.
"It's over, Zelena" Amelia growled in anger eyes solely focused on the woman in front of her "I told him everything".
Putting the bag of groceries down, she felt Robin let her arms go and maneuvered around the Assassin as the hidden blade slipped back into its gauntlet putting herself behind her husband "What's she talking about? And who's Zelena?" Marian/Zelena clutched onto her husband's arm in fear towards the redhead.
"Amelia, you're scaring Marian" Robin tells the Assassin.
"Good" Amelia seethed "Where's the magic? You must have brought something to make this glamour work. Where is it, Zelena? Show me, or I will rip you apart until I find it!" the redhead's anger slipped as her arm tenses again making both hidden blades jump out from her gauntlets.
"Amelia, that's enough!" Robin suddenly scolded her seeing the fear on his wife's face "Look, I know that this is hard. For all of us. But this is the new reality. I'm with her! I'm with Marian".
Amelia watched as an evil smirk grew on Marian/Zelena's face as she stepped away from her husband's protection "Actually... Not exactly" the woman says taking something from under her shirt to reveal a necklace with a pendent on it. It shone green as Marian turned into the Wicked Witch.
The witch looked straight towards Robin making him jump recoil in fright "Hello, dear husband" she greet's him.
"No" he gasps in fear as Zelena steps forward only to be stopped by a blade attached to Amelia's arm blocking her path.
"Step any closer and you'll wish you never came back" a dark voice came from the red head that Emma had never heard come from the woman before.
"What the hell was that?" Lily ask Emma seeing magic for the first time in her life.
"That was magic" Emma answered her before focusing on the scene before them.
Looking back to her friend, she saw the look of heartbreak upon his face as he looked at the woman that had been standing in as his wife for months..or at least what she thought looked like heartbreak to her. Whatever it was, didn't matter, the only thing that mattered was getting him back to Storybrooke after they dumped Zelena into some sort of insane asylum and throw away the key.
"Come on, Robin. We have to get you and Roland out of here" Amelia tells her oldest friend, only he didn't seem to hear her as he stared at Zelena "Robin" she call out to him again "Get Roland and let's go!" she loudly tells him only for him to ignore her again.
"I think he still wants to stay" Zelena tells the Assassin with a wicked smile on her face.
"Robin, what are you doing?" Amelia voice bring him out of his thoughts making him look back and forth between her and Zelena "Get your son and let's go" she pressed him further taking her arm back as the blade jumped back in her arm.
"I can't!" he tells her.
"Yes, you can!" Amelia begged as angry tears make her eye shimmer as she takes his hand into her's ready to drag him out of the apartment if she needed to "Just come with me. Come on. Let's go".
"I'm sorry" he tells her "I can't leave her here".
"What?!" Amelia exclaimed.
"Do you want to tell her?" Zelena suddenly asks him as she moves between eh assassin and her thief "Or should I?" she says into the assassin's face.
"Tell me what?" Amelia spat at the wicked witch in frustration as she felt her heart beat in her chest "Robin?" she called out to him once again only to met with deafening silence between them "Tell me what?" she calmly repeated herself to the man she once fell in love with.
"She's pregnant".
AN: Hello there!
Slowly edging towards Operation Mongoose! Yay! and then to Season 5! Who's excited!.
A big hello to a couple new followers! HELLO!
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