AN: Warning: Mentions of sexual assault

Edited: 09/04/2023

Introducing Mike Colter (Luke Cage) as Lance

After his afternoon shift at the Hidden One's, Lance or as he went by in this realm, Luke, sat at Granny's diner looking to find something warm and homemade to eat before he ended back out patrolling the borders of Storybrooke with a few other fellow former mercenaries to stop people from accidentally stepping over the border.

He had known the redheaded assassin for years working for her for years leading up to the dark curse. When she returned to the dying city after years of neglect he was the first to offer the mercenaries to help her overthrow Tybalt, it seemed to be the best decision of his life as he had enjoyed the redhead's loyal friendship ever since. Throughout the good and bad times she always had his and his brother's best interests at heart, something Tybalt never once cared about during the years he had been left in charge.

So to repay her, he and his men would help whenever they could with her vengeance against the other assassins. Wherever she was they would be there throughout the Enchanted Forest, only a wave of her hand away from helping her out of tight situations. The same went with the thieves that ran out of the city she protected.

Their loyalty remained in the Land of No Magic, he was cursed as the bartender and manager of the Hidden One's. He and few other mercenaries and thieves had been employed at the bar while only a few had a job in town.

Now un-cursed and back to their regular self's, they were stuck patrolling every night for the Prince that only saw them as hired soldiers and criminals. They were in for another long night as even the drink and money Amelia was offering wasn't even doing anything from refusing to show up at the troll bridge to start the patrol.

Only at the moment she didn't seem to care what they did.

He didn't know what happened, but the redhead was refusing to come out of her office, only to go home to her apartment at the end of the day. Whatever happened involved the bruise that she didn't bother to hide around her neck. She would often show up with cuts or bruises back home and nothing was said about it more, but this time he saw the haunting in her eyes. She hadn't even gone to see the Queen. Which was highly unusual for the woman.

As he tucked into his meal his attention was taken from the hot meal in front of him to the sounds of cheers and glasses being clinked together as he looked up to see none other than the Prince with a wide smile on his face and a glass of beer in his hand with the dwarfs and a young woman named Belle that had re-opened the towns library under the clock-tower. Pausing from his meal, he also saw Mother Superior celebrating with them.

"Hey Red" he called over the werewolf who was working bar. The she-wolf sauntered over to him with a friendly smile that did little to lighten his mood.

"Luke, you know you can call me Ruby" she told him with a friendly smile. He couldn't help but to mirror the smile on her face as his features softened as he spoke to the attractive woman in front of him before continuing his line of questioning. He really wanted to ask for her number, but as the day's flew by and his schedule tightened, he couldn't see himself making the time he needed to ask her out on a date anytime soon.

"What's happening over there?" he gestured to the rounds of cheers.

"Oh, didn't you hear?" she ask him "The dwarfs found fairy dust in the mines. Blue says she can use it to bring Emma and Snow back, isn't that great!".

The mercenary couldn't share in the woman's excitement as he felt his stomach drop at the revelation.

"That's where they've been all this time" he spat in disbelief as his fork clattered onto his plate. Food forgotten as he fell back in his seat in exasperation as he and the other's had been pulling double shifts for day's busting their ball's while the heroes were mining for fairy dust.

"Didn't..Amelia know?" Ruby hesitantly replied to the large built man seeing his simmering anger.

"Know what?" he asked looking back up at her.

"That they've been in the mines all this time?" she meekly replied, knowing that if Amelia hadn't been informed of the change than her best friends true love was in a lot of trouble.

"There's only one way to find out" he huffed as he threw a twenty-dollar bill on the table telling the waitress to keep the change. Angrily snatching his jacket from the coat rack, his shoulder bumped into Albert Spencer's on the way out throwing a small 'sorry' back towards the former King heading straight to the bar looking for answers.

Sitting behind her desk in her office she drowned herself in whatever paperwork she could find to keep herself busy as an excuse not to see anyone outsdie the bubble she had made in the four walls of her office. Which meant, No David or his allies. No Regina. And defiantly No Henry until the bruise around her neck had faded away.

The last part made her heart ache knowing the young boy had been itching to see her ever since their time in the stables from the texts she would get from his grandfather. But she didn't want him to see the hand shaped bruise that wrapped around her neck.

Luckily for her, she had always seemed to heal faster than the average person. The bruise that still remained was faint, but it was still there is she looked close enough. In the meantime, she had doubled her appointments with Dr. Archie since she killed her only childhood friend from hurting the woman she still loved and hid herself in her office and apartment as the world continued around her.

The unhealthy choice as Dr. Hopper would like to put to her. But after the stable incident she had started to open up to the man, even going as far as telling him about John and Thomas.

The peace and quiet she gained from her choice was abruptly disturbed as the door to her office was burst in. Glancing up from her paperwork without stopping she saw that it was Lance's large figure filling the doorway.

"Please do come in, I've been looking for any excuse to punch someone lately" she drawled to the mercenary as he let himself in her office.

"Do you know about the dwarfs?" he started as he slammed shut the door behind him.

"That they are shorter than the average man. Yes, I did. I know we have all been cursed. But there's no need to point and stare".

"No" he said stomping towards her desk before leaning down with his hand resting wither side of her desk "While we've been breaking our backs pulling double shift, hardly seeing our families patrolling the border, they've been mining for fairy dust".

"And how much beer did you have to drink before this grand discovery?" she replied before Lance closed fist hit her desk angrily making her look up forgetting her paperwork.

"I am not drunk" he lowly told the assassin who looking like she was about to stab him let alone punch him "The Prince and the dwarfs were celebrating their find at Granny's".

Amelia paused as Lance's anger towards her simmered down as it dawned on her what the Prince had done with her back turned as Lance continued his angry tirade towards the assassin "That's why he took them off patrol duty, he wanted to find the fairy dust for that damn hat!" her bartender and friend summarized for her as waited for an answer from her "Well? What are we gonna do? We can't stand for this!".

The master assassin took pause thinking about their next move. She had to do something, she couldn't let the Prince get away from pulling the wool over their eye's so easily. It was insulting really, that she didn't see this coming.

"Call the boy's on patrol tonight, tell them to go home. No more patrol's. I'll deal with the Prince myself" she coolly replied. Her answer seemed to do the trick as Lance let a calming sigh from his nose before leaving her office, happy with her decision to call their patrols off for the foreseeable future.

The Prince lied to her, and her mercenaries, the people who out their trust in her were hurt. She tried to warn the man and he didn't listen. But, his own gumption will be his own downfall if he is not careful.

The next day she tried to get a meeting with the David, only to be brushed off by an emergency, instead she had been sent to the loft. Henry had been having nightmares. She knew what they were like. Except she had to face her nightmare every day in the training ring and it was a matter of life or death that she got over them.

Stood in front of Charming's loft door she gently knocked on the door already knowing who was on the other side minding her son, knowing she would have to face the music sooner rather than later, she heard heels hitting the wooden floor on the other side of the door until the door swung open to reveal a surprised Regina on the other side.

"Melia" she heard the surprise in the dark brunette's voice seeing the redhead on the other side.

"David told me that Henry was having nightmares" the redhead told the woman in front of her "He's been asking for me".

"Or, he asked you to check in on his own mother looking after him while he's gone" Regina retorted with a suspicious brow on her face as she saw the faded bruise on the assassin's neck, the one that Daniel had given her before she and David had finally reached her in the stall.

"He didn't mention you at all actually" Amelia smoothly replied seeing the suspicion in her eye "I came to check in on Henry, having had experience in them after all".

It was true, there were many nights the redhead would suddenly wake up in a cold sweat after a night terror, she would leave the bed and didn't return. Instead, she found fatherly comfort in her own father. The former Queen would often find them speaking in the garden sat under the apple tree. She never knew why she couldn't turn to her for the comfort. One of the worst one's she had was when she was suddenly awoken by a tight hand on her neck.

She didn't even know what she was doing until Regina had sent her across the room, waking her from her violent daze. That time she didn't return for a whole week. She knew who she was dreaming of, but she never spoke their names or what they did to her after she had crossed them off her list.

"Come on in. He's been sleeping mainly" the former Queen informed the redhead as she moved aside to let her walk into the loft before closing the boor behind her.

"That's good, I guess" she hummed to the older woman as she found the boy in question sleeping soundly in the bed downstairs as the former Queen walked towards the small kitchen to fix the redhead a cup of coffee. She looked like she hadn't had a good night's sleep since the last time they had seen each other. She knew she hadn't.

The assassin had kept her distance from her ever since she had killed Daniel for her in the stables. Maybe she thought she would be angry for doing that to her fiance, on the contrary all she wanted was for the assassin to be there for her. Then she remembered what her first love had called her. Leela. A nickname she had never heard before with such familiarity was the last thing that left his lips before she let him go.

An uncomfortable silence stretched between the pair as the redhead joined the brunette on the other-side of the breakfast bar, perching herself on one of the stools as Regina poured out the dark liquid into a mug as she thought this was also a cleave ploy on the Prince's part to get the women to speak again since the incident at the stables. They needed to talk about it. but the other was waiting for the other to start as the former Queen slid the cup of coffee towards her old partner.

"I…" the pair started to say at the same time, taking them by surprise as a bubble of laughter left their pair's throats at their embarrassment.

"Uh, you,first" the assassin gladly offered the floor to the older woman in front of her as she took a hold of the warm cup of coffee in front of her.

"I didn't know you knew Daniel" Regina started the off again.

"He was a friend" the redhead timidly informed her "His father ran the stable's in Monteriggioni. I met him after I was given Achilles's and started my riding lessons. We were...friends, until his father got another job at a Duke's estate. I never saw him again until-" she didn't need to finish the sentence as they both knew when the last time would ever be "I didn't realize he was your Daniel. I'm sorry" she offered the woman in front of her "Can I uh..ask, how?".

She wanted to know how her friend died in the first place. All she knew was that it was Snow's fault for ever telling her mother she was planning on running away with a boy she loved when she was engaged to Leopold. She didn't need details on her Queen's first love or how he died. All she knew was they both shared the trauma of losing the man they loved. It was staggering how much she truly didn't know the woman in front of her.

"My mother" Regina simply stated to the assassin, knowing she knew all about her mother.

The redhead opened her mouth to speak after hearing the new piece of information when she was interrupted when Henry started to scream in his sleep. Jumping from their places the pair forgot about their conversation as they rounded the bed as the dark brunette roused her son from the nightmare.

"Henry? Henry, wake up. It's okay. It's okay. You're okay" Regina coaxed him out of his sleep as Amelia walked to the other side of the bed and sat down at the foot as Henry sat up awake with sweat covering his face. The first thing he saw was his mother and Amelia with him instead of his grandfather.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" he panted out to the pair "Where's David?" he questioned them.

"He got an emergency call this morning, and he asked me and Melia to look after you" Henry looked towards the redhead at the foot of the bed who gave him a gentle smile before looking back to his mother "He told me you've been having nightmares. It's okay. You can-"Regina continued as she takes his left hand into her's in comfort only for him to recoil in pain.

"Ah!" he hissed in pain making Regina a grab his hand again to see a nasty burn on the side.

"Is that a burn?".

"Oh, yes. You were quite right to call me" Mr. Gold addressed the pair of woman as they stood either side of Henry at the breakfast bar.

The older man had received a demanding call from the boy's mother asking for assistance surprised to see the redhead already at the loft. But any comment about the united front they put on for the boy were put in hold when he saw the burn on his hand.

"So y-you can help?" Henry asked the older man "It was just a dream".

"Well, what you're describing's certainly not a dream" Gold tells him.

"Then, what was it?" Amelia asks him getting impatient with the man's riddles. As soon as the burn happened her blinked her sixth sense to see any residual magic around the hand that might had caused it, but there was nothing. She was the one to suggest calling the old man to the loft to which the older woman agreed. "I couldn't find anything magical that could've caused it" she added.

Her concern made the man smile to himself seeing how much she cared for the boy since the curse had broken. She was easy to read when it came to the people she cared about. One of her weaknesses. With her other one stood next to her trying to help her son.

"It's uh something your little trick won't be able to pick up on I'm afraid" he says making the redhead roll her eyes at him "A side effect" he stated as he turned to Regina "You know, it's remarkable you'd cast a curse you know so little about".

"Our vic-" she started only to get interrupted by Amelia clearing her throat, to correct the former Queen "My victims are not supposed to wake up. So I certainly never cared what happened to them after" she tells her old tutor before looking down at her son "Until now" she adds guiltily as Gold tuned and approached his bag sat on the table behind him.

The redhead watched the man's action's closely as he started to take various items out including a few vials of liquid and an old necklace as he spoke.

"When people fall under a sleeping curse, the soul travels to a Netherworld, where it resides until awoken. Now, this world is between life and death, and it's very real. However, even when the curse is broken, sometimes, in sleep, the victims find their way back to that world. Victims like you" Gold tells Henry looking at his with some sympathy.

"Victim's like Snow you mean?" Amelia spoke up from her spot in front of the breakfast bar.

"Certainly Miss Montague" he confirmed to the redhead as Regina escorted Henry to the man.

"This other world is tormenting my son every time he sleeps. I want you to give him something that will keep him from going there" Regina demands out of the man.

"Well, I'm afraid that's not possible. I can, however, provide you with something that will allow him to control his actions whilst in that world. And once one controls something, one no longer need fear it" He holds up the finished product to the eleven year old.

A necklace.

"A necklace?" the boy questioned the man.

"Yes. I gave Miss Montague here something like this back home. It allowed her to face the sources of her nightmares head on so to speak" he informed the boy as Regina glanced towards the redhead as Gold continued, the assassin didn't seem to flinch at the story. It was true.

"You wear this while you're sleeping" the older man instructs the boy "Once you control the journey, fear will stop. And then, you can come and go as you please" He tells the young boy, extending the necklace to Henry, but Regina stops him from taking it.

"Everything comes at a price with you. What do you want for this?" the former Queen asked.

"For a house call? You couldn't afford it" he tells the former Queen "But this is for Henry. This one's on me" he says handing the necklace to Henry, who, this time, takes it "I'll uh see myself out" the old man announced before packing up his bag, before limping towards the door.

"Thanks' old man" Amelia called out from the breakfast bar making him look to her, with a nod, before leaving the three to themselves inside the loft.

"Lia?" Henry called out the assassin making her look to him "Is what Mr. Gold said true?".

She knew there was no good lying to him. Or to his mother. "Yes Henry, it's true" she say's as she feels her phone buzz in her pocket, taking it out to see a text from David asking her a bizarre favor.

"Did it work?" his voice distracting her from the odd text.

Pocketing her phone, the assassin strides over to the young boy who was looking for a little comfort from someone who had gone through what he was going through before. Her eye's briefly meeting his mother's brown eye's as she dragged out a chair from the dining table to perch on the edge to speak to him.

"Henry" she started, gently clasping the chain of the neck on her fingers "What was happening to me, wasn't a side effect of a curse. It was a side effect of the things I was doing while I was awake. Of the people I was hurting during my worst days" she admits to the young boy.

She needed to be honest with him so he would believe what Gold had given him was the real deal, that it helped her. And it did, after two weeks away from Regina after waking up from a violent dream only to find out she was hurting the woman she loved. The Dark One had her stay at his castle as she dream walked through her darkest nightmares.

Dream walking was a dangerous route to go down, but she was desperate enough to risk it. One wrong move and she would've been stuck forever in her dreams never to wake up. Not even true loves kiss would work. He was the only one powerful enough to help her. To act as an anchor to the real world if she ever found herself slipping away. It wouldn't stop her nightmares completely, but it stopped her from hurting someone she never wanted to hurt.

"But the potion Mr. Gold was speaking of, allowed me to take control of them, so my body and mind could finally rest. So yes it works, you can trust him on this, okay?".

Henry nodded with a tight-lipped smile, knowing she was being honest with him. At that the eleven year old threw his arms around her neck in a tight hug that was quickly mirrored. Leaving a comforting kiss on his crown she pulled them apart and looked him straight in the eye.

"I've got to go and hold your grandpa's hand for a while, be good you your Mom okay" giving the assassin a firm nod she stood up and left the loft.

The bizarre favor David had asked of the assassin was to make a quick detour to the town's small morgue at Storybrooke General before heading to the station to present her finding's to the former Prince.

One a call during her way to the building, the town's sheriff had informed her that Ruby had escaped the confines of Granny's freezer during her first wolf's time since the curse had broken. And now, Billy, the towns mechanic was now dead.

Look's like she needed to learn how to service her own car for a while.

David needed her to take a look at the corpse and determine if was actually a wolf that had killed the man, knowing she would be able to tell the difference. She was tempted to tell the Prince where to go after the previous nights discovery, but when he mentioned Albert Spence by name, she quickly forgot what she was mad about.

You see, Albert Spence wasn't just the town's Attorney General, he was formally King George. And she'd been waiting for an opportunity to get him back for what Prince James once did to her when she was only sixteen. And she wouldn't let that opportunity slip through her fingers no matter how mad she was at the Sheriff.

As she stepped into the station she was met with the sight of Ruby sat in a jail cell with chains tied around it's door as David turned around to see her, his features visibly relaxing as he let out a sigh of relief at the sight of the redhead as he crossed the bullpen "Amelia" he sighed out "Good, you're here".

"Well as least someone's is" she replied as Ruby didn't even try and look up to see her as the sheriff directed her to the small office closing the door behind him giving the she-wolf one last look of concern before focusing on the assassin in front of him.

"What did you find?" he asks her crossing his arms across his chest, ready to hear what the assassin had to say.

"Other than the look's I got from the orderly's, the cut's aren't animal, defiantly human" she reported to the man "Billy put up a good fight from the defensive wounds I found, whoever it was did their best to make a how of it".

"Are you sure?" he said giving the she-wolf another look.

"Wolves use their teeth to take down their prey not their claws. If it was a wolf or a werewolf out of control, they wouldn't leave their food untouched. There would at least be some bite marks and like I said Billy put up a fight. A human caught by a werewolf wouldn't even get a chance to fight back".

A furrowed brow grew on the sheriff's face as he took in the new information "What could've they used, to make it look like it?".

"From my experience and there is a lot to choose from, but it looks like an axe from the shape of the cuts made".

"Your experience?" a curious brow rose of his face.

"Don't ask" she says as the man opens the door back up "I'd reckon you'll have Billy's real killer by the morning" she says letting Ruby overhear her as Albert Spencer walked into the station making her skin crawl at the appearance of King George.

"You already have" the former King addressed the pair "That thing. That she-wolf" he sends the words towards Ruby.

At the Kings appearance David stormed out of the office to face the man head on "Get out. Whatever issues you have with me, don't involve her. There's no proof Ruby had anything to do with what happened".

Albert's eye's trailed across the redhead and the werewolf in cell, before landing back on the Prince "It seems to me, that you're allowing your emotions to cloud your judgment".

"Leave him alone" Ruby yelled from the cells only for the older man to ignore her.

"Protecting your friend at the peril of everyone else" Spence tells David "I knew you'd slip up, shepherd. It was only a matter of time".

"What do you want?" David demanded out of the man.

"Justice. Hand that over to me, and let the town decide her fate".

"Never. I know exactly what kind of justice you have in mind".

"This town is bigger than you think. I start telling people that you're putting their lives in danger to protect your own interests? You'll have a mutiny on your hands" the former King threatened.

"Yeah, we'll see. You want her, you have to go through me" David tells him.

"And me" Amelia said without a beat, making the man look at her. Scoffing at the woman he turned back to the Prince.

"I look forward to that" at that he left the station.

It was decided between the assassin and prince that the station was too dangerous to stay at the station, she couldn't take on an angry mob with spilling too much blood, which was no good for anyone.

So, the safest place for Ruby was currently being cuffed to a radiator in the library. While David sorted out the arrangement with Belle and readied Granny to start their search for Billy's real killer, the assassin was left to her own thoughts as they drifted towards the former King.

She wondered if he even recognized her. It had been more than a decade since she and her father had met the King and his 'son' James. She never met the man again before he became distracted with David and Snow White. Even his alliance with the Evil Queen never involved her only when there was actual fighting between his armies and theirs. She made sure she stayed away from the man. He had always called her by her other name not Amelia, maybe he hadn't made the connection. Whatever it was he was keeping his cards close to his heart for now.

"You ready to go?" David's voice brought her out of her thoughts.

"As I'll ever be" she went to leave only for the man to get in her way.

"Wait" David quickly stops the redheaded assassin in her tracks "What was that back there?" he inquired with the woman.

"Back where?".

"At the station. With my father. You seemed to tense up seeing him".

The assassin could only scoff at Davids use of the word 'father' "Please, that man is not your father, I know what Rumple did".

"Then what is it? I know you fought for him back home".

"My business with him goes further back. From even before I met Snow and Regina. It's messy and I don't even think he even remember's me. So can we drop it until we can prove Spencer wrong" accepting her answer David nodded knowing that it could be answered another day, now they had to prove his friends innocence with a woman he once called his enemy.

With Billy's overall's in hand and Granny's keen sense of smell David and Amelia followed the grandmother through Storybrooke on the moon lit night as she followed the scent. The prince had tried to get Amelia to use her 'special gift' she exhibited while on the hunt for Belle days ago only to let the Prince down telling him it only came in handy when following an actual person or a trail of blood, which either was not available to them at that moment.

The grandmother had led them down the street leading them to black car to the trunk Granny guided them as she heard the angry mob the King George had promised them.

"You might want hurry up there Sheriff" Amelia gently reminded the prince as he managed to unlock the trunk door. It looked like just any other trunk, nothing incriminating as Amelia switch on her sixth sense. A faint gold glow emitted from the spare tire compartment as she pushed herself forward between the pair to pull it open "Wait, underneath" she quickly tells the Prince.

David looked to her, taking him by surprise to see her eyes almost glowing in the darkness. That must be her gift then. Doing what she told him he opened the compartment on the floor of the trunk to find a bloodied hatchet and Ruby's signature red hood from back home. She was right.

"The wolf didn't kill Billy" Amelia tells them as her eyesight went back to normal.

"Ruby's hood" Granny gasped as the Prince took it out of the trunk.

"So, she'd be forced to change back into a wolf. So whoever killed Billy could pin the murder on her" David easily deduces.

"Who would want to hurt my Ruby?" Granny asks them.

"Present company not included, hopefully?" Amelia inquired as she snatched up a crowbar from the trunk, rounding the car with David following her as she flips the bar in her hand before sending it into the drivers widow, smashing the glass before reaching in, ignoring the small shards of glass, as she opened the door to let herself into the car to rifle through the glove compartment until she pulled out the driver's licence and papers, pulling herself out as David joined behind her reading who the owner of the car was.

"This isn't about Ruby. It's about me" David says taking the licence from the redhead "Spencer".

"King George?" Granny asked.

"David" Amelia caught the sheriff's attention "He needed a reason to wrestle power away from you, so he created one" she tells him just as they her a wolf howling in the distance.

"She's out" Granny stated the obvious.

"The mob. They're going to kill her" David said and the three went running.

Splitting from the grandmother and the prince the assassin easily tracked the mob until they came to a chain link fence that partitioned the street from an alley Red was using to hide from the angry mob in her wolf form.

Leading the group around the corner, Albert found the she-wolf cowering between industrial bins only to stop when Amelia sauntered out, putting herself between the werewolf, King George and his torch wielding mob.

"You arranged an angry mob without inviting me? How rude" she said to the former King.

"Step aside Widow" he spat out the last word "this has nothing to do with you".

"Oh, I think it does" she calmly retorted.

A smirk grew on the man face as a chuckle escaped "Look at you. Trying to be the hero" he drawled "You have more blood on your hand than that thing does, and yet you stand here to stop justice run its course".

"There is no justice here, not when we know who the real killer is" murmurs came from the angry mob as doubt started to spread. Planting the seeds to Albert's downfall.

"Enough!" the former King bellowed at the crowd as he slowly rose him arm up aiming the gun he held at the assassins head as a growl is heard from the wolf herself "Let's see if you can beat a bullet assassin".

Holding her ground the redhead stared down the barrel of the gun as she waited for the King to pull the trigger. The gun goes off just as a crossbow bolt hit it sending the bullet into something down the alley making it explode. Her left ear rung out as she ducked her head as she saw the source of the crossbow and her new savior Granny, who was standing on top of David's sheriff car with her weapon in hand.

"The next one goes between your eyes!" Granny warned Spencer as David pushes his way through the crowd.

"Listen to me! Ruby didn't kill Billy" David addressed the crowd turning to Spencer "He did. He stole her cloak and killed Billy in cold blood to make it look like a wolf. All to get you to think I wasn't leading this town as I should." The wolf suddenly growled making the crowd start to move forward but David stopped them. "Hold up! Somebody already died because of what this man did. Let's not spill more blood. She won't hurt anyone. She's just scared".

To prove his point, he turned and walked down the alley slowly approaching the werewolf with the red cloak in hand "Ruby?" he called out to his friend "I know you're in there, so listen to me. It was Spencer, not you. Don't let him trick you into thinking you're a monster" he says only to make her growl "Alright, alright. Poor… Poor choice of words. Please. Ruby. I know you. I know the real you, and I know you can control the wolf. Ruby. Ruby? Ruby" David's hand is now inches from Ruby "It's me – David" The wolf stops growling and obediently sits. David quickly throws the hood over Ruby, transforming her back into a human.

Amelia was transfixed on the scene in front of her how he managed to talk through to her in her worst form. She didn't know why she was so drawn to it.

She was watching the scene so intently she hadn't realized that Spencer had ran away from her before she heard a small commotion behind her to see Granny on the ground. Running forward, she, David and Ruby helped the older woman off the floor.

"What happened? Where's Spencer?" David asked the grandmother.

"He's gone" she tells them.

"Go" Amelia tells the man making him look at her as Granny kept a tight grip on her hand as she got her bearings from being pushed on the concrete "I've got everything here. Go" she insists.

David nods at the assassin "Okay" at that the Sheriff ran after the man with Ruby following close behind him leaving her with the elderly grandmother.

"Thanks for the save Granny" she tells her as she assists the older woman on her feet "But between us, you should've gone with between the eye's".

"Your welcome dear" Granny huffs at the redhead.

The hat was gone. Spencer destroyed it. With it any hope of using it to get Emma and Snow back.

So, this is what it felt like to get back to square one. It sucked. Something she had never let herself feel that sort of disappointment before. David caught up with her at the station telling her not to give up hope. Blah. Blah. Blah. Honestly she didn't listen to it, she just wanted to get away from the prince and finally face the man that was partly responsible to what happened to her by his son.

David needed Spencer in a more secure place after he arrested him. She knew the perfect place to put him.

With David returning to the loft to be with Henry. Amelia headed to the hospital where she was let into the building's basement, she was greeted by Nurse Rachet who sat behind a desk like it was the most normal thing in the world as a zombie like patient mopped over that same stop of tiles.

Taking herself down the hall she quickly found the cell David had told her Spencer was in, she let herself into the cell with him still dressed in his own clothes sitting on the uncomfortable looking mattress, she let the door shut behind her as she broke the silence that had engulfed the pair.

"Enjoying your new home, Spence?" she greeted the former King.

"Widow how nice of you to visit" he replied "I expected you'd come sooner to see me in this...hole".

"You should be pleased with this one" she states casually pacing the small room "I called in a favor with the Mayor to make sure you get one of the best. We were friends once".

"Yes, I remember" he answers her "I also remembered your reluctance for such a partnership. I've always wondered why?".

"Well, it was her decision to make, I was only there to advise, it was up to her to listen which wasn't much".

"You know you have an uncanny resemblance to a girl I once knew" he suddenly says "We came to meet when she and her master saw to seek refuge from a storm that had swept through. My son James took a liking to her straight away, I tried to discourage it. But you know young boys, they don't listen".

She knew the next part of the story, she remembered it every night and day after it happened. It's what made Claudius accelerate her training by a few years, he couldn't risk his best apprentice falling pregnant with a Prince's bastard just as she was showing signs of being the Master Assassin she was prophesied to be. Not that she wanted it to happen. He was too strong for her. She was only thankful that Paola the madam of the brothel she lived in saw the pain she was in, she knew the look best.

"Is there any point to this story?" the redhead interrupted him.

"You thought I wouldn't recognize you Amelia" the smile that grew on his face made her stomach churn, it was the same one he used to welcome her and Romeo into his castle all those years ago.

"I did punish him once I found out what he did to you. When the Brotherhood of Assassin no longer want to trade with you, it can only be for one reason for it. It took a while, I must admit, but then I remembered the look on your face when you left. You were broken".

"Do I look broken now?" the redhead asks him holding his gaze.

"You look like a woman that's accomplished her mission. But I still don't understand why you would want to help the Shepherd. Regret perhaps?".

"Trust me Your Majesty. The only thing I regret is that I wasn't the one that killed James. And I would've enjoyed it so much" with those last words the assassin left the man to his cell.

Making her way back to the loft later that night, the assassin couldn't help but feel the fatigue of the long day set into her legs as she climbed the stairs as she heard the sound of a wolf howling in the distance. Somehow this shitty turn of event had some sort of happy ending as the she-wolf had overcome her control of her wilder side.

All she wanted to do was to fall into bed and sleep the day off, but she had to find out why David had lied to her, not only to her, but to the mercenaries and thieves she called family.

Gently knocking on the door to the loft for the second time that day, the drained assassin waited for the former Prince to answer the door this time.

"Oh, Hey" the sheriff greeted her in slight woman's sudden appearance at his door.

"Hi, I wanted to see how Henry was doing" the redhead started.

"Sleeping. Thank god" he breathed out in relief as he glanced back to see his grandson sleep sound in the bed downstairs before looking back towards his visitor "He said you really helped him today. Thank you".

"No problem" she tells him "Do you have a minute to talk outside for a minute?".

"Sure" he answered as the assassin stepped back to let him step out into the hallway to close the door to, ready to listen to whatever the woman had to say.

"I uh just wanted to say sorry about the hat. I know how much you were relying on it to get Snow and Emma back".

"I know" he replies as a forlorn look overcame his face "I don't how to tell Henry he may never see either of them again".

"If I know Snow as well as I do, she'll be doing everything she can to get back to you and Henry, she has this uncanny ability to find any flicker of hope in anything situation".

"How do you know that?" he asks her

"Because I was the one to teach her that. I taught her everything she knows about fighting for what you believe in, even if I had a different way of doing that. And if Emma is anything like her mother, they'll both looking for a way to get back to their family. They'll have their own plan on getting back home" she reminded the man in front of her.

"And if it's any consolation, the hat had it's limits on what it could do anyway, it's own rules. You wouldn't want to get caught out the worst moment".

"Thank you" he breathed out "But you know how hard travelling between worlds. It took an entire curse to bring us here, without the hat-"

"Is that why you needed the fairy dust the dwarfs were mining?" the redhead interrupted the man, she needed to get to the point of the meeting. The Prince's breath caught in his throat hearing that Amelia knew what the dwarfs where trying to find.

"How did you know?" was all he could ask her, not sure how to respond to something like this.

"Luke" she answered him "He saw you celebrating with the dwarfs and Blue in Granny's last night" she informed him.

"Amelia-".

"I get it okay, you can't trust me" she interrupted him "But I'm putting everything I have spent a decade trying to build on the line trusting you. Believe or not, I have been were you are David, trying to get people to believe that I can lead them through a hard time. I have made decisions so hard, that I wanted to give up and let someone else deal with it, but I couldn't because they looked up to me to keep their best interest at heart, like they had for centuries before"

"-Some of the things I've done as the Black Widow was for my home, to keep it a sanctuary for people who had been screwed over by people like Rumpelstiltskin and the Evil Queen. I understand that you can't trust the Widow, but you can trust me, like you have today. If not for me, than for my people who rely on me to keep their families safe that have been caught up in a curse because of the Widow".

"Amelia, I'm so sorry".

Nodding in acceptance the pair had finally come to some sort of understanding that hadn't been there before. As he was stepping up to his role of protecting this town, she was trying her best to protect the people she most cared about because of her. But she was more importantly doing her best to forgive herself for letting the curse happen.

"I'll handle Luke and the others, but don't expect them to do you any more favors soon, they need time to cool off" she informs the former Prince.

"I understand" he tells her "Are we okay?" he asks, knowing he still needed her and her knowledge on just about everything to help him find a way to get his wife and daughter back home, if not but for Henry's sake, she seemed to one of things keeping him afloat at the moment, he couldn't lose one of the people he trusted, when he needed her the most.

"Yeah, we are" she says heading for the stairs "Let me know if you need something else Charming" she says just as the Prince remembered what Ruby had told him before running out to enjoy the rest of her her wolfs-time.

"Actually there is" he says making her stop halfway down the stairs to look up at him at the railing "Could you head to the library before you head home?".

"Sure. Got a book late past due or something?".

"More like Ruby handcuffing Belle to the radiator. Could you go free her?".

"Of course she did" she sighs out pinching the bridge of her nose as she tried to muster up whatever energy she had left to go find her friend "Fine, I'll go rescue Belle from the library".

"Thanks" he breaths out "Not used to recusing Princesses huh?".

"More used to recusing Queen's actually. Night" she retorts just as she left the apartment building.

"Goodnight Amelia" he says to his friend, before letting himself back into the loft.

AN:

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