As another day dawned in the sleepy town of Storybrooke, Tom stood in the loft with his baby sister in her cot next to him on his left as Snow stood to his right holding baby Neal in her arms as they were being informed by Merida, that King Arthur had escaped his jail cell in the station.
With his arms crossed over his chest and a permanent scowl on his face the teenage assassin had to listen as Merida informed them how the dwarf, aptly named Sleepy, who stood in front of them holding an icepack to the op of his head, had fallen asleep while on guard duty. Now the King that had killed his mother to free Juno from her prison was now free in Storybrooke.
It hadn't been long since he and Snow had come back to town via OZ, but as the days went by the teenager felt like the chances of his mother coming home were getting slimmer by the minute. As he tried to occupy his mind catching up with schoolwork and MJ to not think about his mother and father in the Underworld, growing frustrated at the lack of action he could take, growing restless most nights until he distracted himself by looking after baby Helen when she made a fuss in the cot.
Living in the loft with Snow wasn't as bad as he first thought, the pair of them leant on the other to get through the days without their families as they looked after the infants between them. Even taking up cooking for the pair of them between feeds, naps and diaper changes.
But now he wanted to use that restless energy to hunt down the man that had gotten them into this mess in the first place with his obsession with using his mother's position as the Products of Star Crossed Lovers to find his revenge against Merlin.
"What do you mean Arthur escaped?" Snow questioned the young archer as she bounced Neal in her arms "I thought you were guarding his cell".
"It's not my fault" Merida defends herself as she joined Snow and Tom looking at Sleepy at the breakfast bar "This useless lump fell asleep on watch" she gestures to the dwarf.
"You put a dwarf called Sleepy on guard duty" Tom sniped at the redheaded archer that he had spent time with listening to the story of how she met his mother when she was younger "It's all your fault" he tells her straight making Merida chuckle as his temper got the better of him.
"You're more like your mother than you think y'are boy" the archer drawls at him making him turn towards the young redhead with his nose flaring ready to fight her.
"Tom" Snow sharply stops the teen from furthering the argument "That's enough".
"You left for weeks" Merida goes on to say "It was the best I could do with who I had" Tom rolled his eyes at the girl not interested in her half excuses. He would've done better.
"All right, well, we can blame each other later" Snow spoke up seeing Tom's agitated state "Right now, we need a search party. Gather the dwarfs. Go" she instructs the pair.
"Let's go, Sleepy" Merida says heading towards the door to begin their search.
"I told you it was Walter" the dwarf corrects her as he follows her out of the apartment.
"I should go" Tom announces to the teacher walking to the breakfast bar to pull his gauntlets onto his arms fastening them tight against his muscular arms "I can find him faster" he adds. At least he'd be able to use up some of that pent up energy that had been keeping him up at night, not even spending some time after school in the training ground was helping him, it just made him miss everyone.
"Tom" Snow sighed out seeing how much he resembled his mother "I know it's been hard since coming back but you need to have clear head out there" she reminds him.
Pausing at the woman's words the teen takes in a deep breath that his mother had told him to take whenever he felt like his head and chest were about to explode. He needed to meditate soon, reset his mind the way she and Romeo had taught him.
Tom pauses taking in a deep breath that his mother always told him to take whenever he felt like his cheat was about to explode. He needed to reset, clear the thoughts from his mind and focus.
"I just miss them" he admitted to the woman as Neal gurgled to his mother.
"I know. I agree. We need our family back soon".
"Soon enough?" a voice they recognised came from the door to see David. Tom stood in stunned silence as David and Snow quickly evaporated the space between them and greeted each other with a sweet kiss.
Looking towards the door a wide smile grew on the older teens fae as he saw his little brother walk into the apartment.
"Henry!" he called out to him in excitement as he felt his foul mood brighten in an instant as he sprung forward to quickly gather his best friend in his arms that was mirrored by the young Author, happy to see the older teen back home safe and sound.
"Hey, big guy" David cooed to his son taking him from his mother's arms "Oh, I missed you" David cooed at his arms taking him from his wife's arms as Emma made her way into the apartment.
"Hey, Mom" Emma greeted her mother as she closed the apartment door behind her
"Emma. Henry!" Snow said engulfing her grandson in a warm hug, wondering who else had made it back to Storybrooke "Did everyone else...".
"Regina and Robin. They're here, too" David supplied to his wife as Henry stepped out of the hug "So are John and Stasia" he added looking towards Tom stood by the metal staircase as the Prince cuddled his infant son.
"Grandpa came back with Belle" Henry tells his Grandmother "At least, we think he did".
"Hook and Lia?" Snow gently enquired with her daughter, glancing at the older teen behind her Grandson.
Emma glanced over at the teenager with a solum look on her face as she failed to come up with the right words to tell him his mother wasn't coming back to him as the smile she saw on his face when he saw Henry vanish as he realised what had happened. She hadn't made it home. She was gone.
Numbness washed over his body the same way it did when he found out Romeo hadn't made it to Storybrooke as he managed to find the metal staircase behind him to sit on as he held his head in his hands.
"Oh, Emma. I'm so sorry" her mother told her daughter gathering her in her arms as Henry moved to the stairs to try his best to comfort his big brother, he could only imagine he was feeling worse than he did at that moment.
"I made so many mistakes, Mom. I should never have gone down there" Emma admits to her.
"It's okay. Look, we all made it back" Snow said pulling away not letting go of her hands "And we helped so many people move on. You got to see Hook one last time".
"Well, there's more to it" David spoke up making Tom look up at the man "We weren't the only ones that came through the portal. Hades and Zelena. They made it back, too. They have Robin's baby".
At the lake where it all had started Regina couldn't help but feel the ache in her heart from hurting each time she thought of Amelia. This was the spot she first had to say goodbye to the assassin as she lay on the grass dying from Excalibur, promising that she and Tom would be okay. Why did she have to lie to her? they weren't going to be okay, for a while at least.
Now they had to clean up the mess that had been created allowing Hades to trick them. She needed to find Tom and explain everything to him. That's the least he deserved. But right now she had to get Robin Hood's daughter back from her sister after her wife told him she trusted the Wicked Witch only because she trusted her word over her own gut feeling.
"Don't worry. We'll find her" Regina tried to reassure her soulmates friend "I promise".
"Regina!" the pair heard Zelena call out to her sister as she made her way to her younger sister taking her hand into her's once she had made it "You made it back".
"Where the hell..." Robin started only to get interrupted by Regina, trying to keep him as calm as she could. That's what Amelia would do.
"Wait" she paused the thief before continuing herself "We need some answers" she calmly tells her love struck older sister.
"Where the hell is my daughter?" Robin demanded to know out of Zelena.
"With Hades" she answered him making both their stomach drop "Look, I came to explain to everyone that he's changed".
"I hate to be the one to break this to you but no, he hasn't!" the thief tells her.
"What are you talking about? He helped you. He took your names off your graves".
"No, it was a trick so we'd trust him" Regina told her sister "He tried to trap us down there. He had Amelia's old Brotherhood attack her!" she pressed to the Witch.
"What? No, no, no. I was with him the whole time" the Wicked Witch argued in disbelief "We waited for you".
"That was a show for your benefit. You cannot trust him with your daughter" Regna tells her.
"You're wrong. Hades is different now his heart is beating" Zelena went on making Robin scoff in disbelief "Love has changed him. I've changed him".
"I know you want to believe that. Sometimes the truth really hurts. Why don't you just tell us where he is?".
"And what are you planning to do when you find him?" the Witch asks them suspiciously.
"Well, that depends on him. But we'll do whatever we have to protect this town" Regina tells her as the older sister hears the silent warning in her words.
"You mean imprison him" Zelena accuses her.
"We'll do whatever we have to" the former Queen retorts "I know this is hard to hear, but he is not the man you think he is".
"Actually, he's not a man at all. He's a god" her older sister corrects her getting angrier at her younger sister's accusations "And if you try to hurt him, you do so at your own peril" she warns her summoning a cloud of green smoke to leave both the former Queen and the thief.
Once the Wicked Witch disappeared Regina was left looking into the scenery when a figure made her freeze in place knowing it was impossible for them to be there. Because in the treeline for a split second she swore she saw Amelia watching over the conversation for a split second before disappearing again.
"Regina?" the thief called out to her in concern as she stood staring into space for minute too long.
His voice made her shake herself out of thoughts as she pushed the grief she felt for the assassin down to focus on the issue at hand. She didn't have time to be seeing things.
"Come on. We've got to warn the others" at that she turned to leave with the thief following close behind.
Walking down the familiar streets of Under-Brooke felt odd as she headed inside of Granny's the only source of comfort came from other than the silver ring at now sat on her ring finger. Entering the diner, she no one dared look at her as she found Hook wallowing on a table in the window.
"Seat taken?" she asked the pirate indicating to the empty chair in front of him gaining his attention.
"Go ahead Madam Mayor" he answered giving her a sarcastic grin.
The redhead scoffed at the man as the Blind Witch herself came over with both her hands wrapped in bandages as she deposited a bottle of rum and two glasses between them before scurrying away, to her place behind the bar serving lost souls.
"I take that was your doing?" the pirate asked her to refer to the bandaged hands.
"Ophelia helped" Amelia answered the man pouring out the drinks for them.
"And Cruella? No-one's heard from her since yesterday" he enquired with the woman in front of him that was looking more like her alter-ego the longer her family were away from her.
"She spent the night at the shelter" she tells the pirate.
"In a cage, I heard" he quickly adds.
"Rumours" she quickly told him taking a sip of the liquid "I let her out in the morning. Can you imagine the mess?" she grimaced to the man.
"Heard there was a new Sheriff as well" he questioned her.
"Aren't you just the most curious pirate there ever was today?" she drawled out to herself "And yes, seeing as the I threw the last one into the River of Souls, Shay Cormac has happily taken the open position for the next hundred years or so".
"And Ophelia? Have you given her a job, perhaps she should take Archie's position as the Underworlds resident therapist".
"That's not actually a bad idea Jones" the assassin in opposite him paused as she actually gave his suggestion a thought or two.
"Aren't you worried you're getting back into bad habits without our family here".
"Not in the slightest" she told him picking up her glass of amber liquid and holding it out towards the man opposite her as he saw the silver band he and the others had witnessed the former Queen placing onto her finger "Now are you gonna drink to the next eternity here with me? Or are you going to be a complete bore the whole time?".
Reluctantly the pirate joined the woman in the well earned drink as he picked it up, mirroring her.
"To eternity my lady Widow " he states clinking their glasses together as the bell above the door rung out.
"Complete bore it is" she sighed out downing the drinking in one gulp as she and Hook looked at who was came through the door.
She nearly dropped her glass on the table as they saw none other than King Arthur walk into the diner. Seeing the man that was responsible for her first death in Camelot, made red hot anger rush through her body ready to give the man a taste of his medicine right there and then only for the pirate opposite her to catch her with his hook on her leather gauntlets to pull her back onto her seat.
"Easy luv" the pirate tried to soothe her thoughts as they listened to the King speak to a young boy at the bar.
"Excuse me. Can you tell me where I am exactly?" the King asks the boy, making the latter look at his from his bowl of porridge only to go back to it without answering him.
"He stopped talking centuries ago" the blind witch informed the newcomer "Coffee?" she offers the man.
"No, I don't want coffee" Arthur tells her "I want to know what this place is!" he demands out of the witch.
"I think that's quite obvious, Your Majesty" Arthur look's over at the corner where the voice came from and recognised not only one of the tables occupiers but both of them.
Standing from their table the pirate stepped out of the window seat to confront the King only for the latter to quickly find a knife to pin Hook against the diners front door, holding the knife to his throat.
"You got lucky last time we met" Now you tell me where I am or I run you through".
"I wouldn't be so hasty Your Majesty" a voice drawled out behind him as the feeling of a blade in his back of his neck made the King freeze as the redhead he executed to release Juno was now behind him "I may not be able to kill you down here from everything you did to me, but accidents do still happen".
"Well, you can't kill a dead man, I'm afraid" Hook informs the King "Are you having a hard time accepting it? But you know where you are" Hook goes on as Arthur lets him go as Amelia sheathed the blade from her gauntlet. Pausing the King takes a second look of his surroundings as Amelia joins Hoko stood at the entrance waiting for the man to finally come to the conclusion of his fate himself.
"No. But I had so much left to do" Arthur tells them.
"That makes three of us" Hook stated as the King stumbled further into the diner with the pirate following him "I promised someone that I would move on from this place, but I still bloody can't, so I need to know what the hell is going on up in Storybrooke. Who killed you?" Hook demanded out of the man.
"Oh, no! No! No!" Arthur continued.
"Denial, grief, anger" Hook listed off "Can we just get to acceptance? Who killed you?".
After taking a deep breath Arthur finally answered him "He said his name was Hades".
The answer made the redhead stiffen at the thought of the man on a killing spree in Storybrooke. But somehow, something told her Regina would be okay. He couldn't exactly go after his love's siter yet, she had time, some, but not a lot, But the other's would be targets.
"Did you see Emma and the others? Have they any idea how to stop him?" Hook quickly questions the man.
"Haven't you learned anything?" The blind witch interrupts the conversation "Hades never reveals his weakness".
"Shut it witch! Or do you want your face on the stove next?" the redhead warned the witch making the woman back away.
"You know what?" Hook stated pointing at the witch as paused "You're right. Hmm. Hades protected his secrets well. But now, now he's not here so, Your Majesty, how would you like to go on another quest?" he asks the man.
"With you?" Arthur laughs at Hook's request "Not a chance" he says throwing the knife away.
"Have you got any idea why you're down here, mate... and not up in some blissful afterlife or fiery hell? It's because you are a terrible king with loads of unfinished business. When you leave here, you're either going to the better place or a far, far worse place".
"I think I prefer the first option" he answers thinking through what Hook had described to him.
"Oh, and you're gonna need a seriously good deed, you know, to make up for the bad ones".
"If I say "yes", what exactly are we questing for?".
"An answer to defeating Hades. You can call it my holy grail" he tells the King before looking back to find Amelia still stood at the door with a raised brow on her face "Fancy one last adventure luv?".
Pausing the assassin thinks through her options until the corner of her lips pull up in a tight smirk as the look in her eye's told him all he needed to know a smirk of his own mirrors hers.
"If it means we get to kill the son of a bitch" she says looking straight at King Arthur "Then you've got yourself another partner".
Gathering outside the Town Hall where Zelena and Hades were held up with her daughter with a protection spell that now surrounded the entire building. With the discovery of King Arthur's dead body, left by Hades, the blonde saviour was looking to send the God of the Underworld back where he came from only to ignore the concerns from her father of an all out attack against the God that currently sat in the Town Hall with his true love and her infant daughter.
It wasn't hard to see the grief on the woman's face at how hard she was taking Hook's demise and failed venture to bring him back. Neither was she if she were being completely honest, losing another love wasn't something she ever thought she would have to go through again, but she had to concentrate at the task at hand, getting Robin's daughter back and to get her wife's best friend out alive.
She didn't have the luxury Anastasia and John had to drop everything to concentrate on grieving and comforting Tom, she had to step up and stop her sister from doing something stupid like allowing her love for Hades hurt more people than it already had.
"My sister cast a protection spell on the building" Regina informs the others that had gathered outside the building.
"We can't just stand here and do nothing" Robin fretted from behind her.
"I wasn't planning on doing nothing" she tells the former thief before return to the subject in hand "As a matter of fact, I know exactly what to do. There's a secret tunnel that goes right under the town hall" she tells them, looking back at the thief "We don't know how to defeat Hades, but maybe we can get your daughter back and talk some sense into Zelena, if you're with me".
"Of course I am" Robin agrees with her, putting his trust into the woman that his friend call her love.
"Then I'm going, too" Emma invites herself ready to face the God herself.
"No offense, Emma, but you're too emotional" the former Queen tells her, knowing how hypocritical it sounded at that very moment making the blonde blink at her in disbelief "I-I understand. You had a loss. A-And so have I" she adds her mind wondering back to her assassin once again "But you're not thinking straight. I am".
"Is that you th... is that what you all think?" the blonde saviours accused the rest of her family.
"Emma. We still don't know how to stop Hades" David tells his daughter "Until we do...".
"So then we figure it out" Emma carped at them.
"Well, then do it quickly" Regina tells her "Cause once we get that baby back, Hades will be coming for us".
Letting herself down the hatch and down the metal ladder to the tunnel that would take her and the former thief under her sister's protection spell around the Town Hall, her mind couldn't help but wonder back to the time she and Amelia were doing the exact same thing over a year ago. She had invited herself that time to repay her for saving Roland from a flying monkey that was coming for her, to take down the protection spell that surrounded her palace to take it back from her older half-sister.
This time it was with Robin himself to find a way to get to his young daughter before the saviours went in guns blazing. She had always been, somewhat jealous of the relationship the pair had, especially during that year they were back home for. Now knowing it wasn't all in her head and that they had tried to be more to each other seems to quell her jealousy for a time, even those six weeks she was scared to wake up one day to find out that the redhead had left her and Storybrooke to go to New York to find him. .
But as the weeks went by and she heard nothing from the man in New York, there seemed to be a turning point where she wouldn't jump each time her phone rang out. She had given up on the man before she discovered that Zelena had been playing housewife with him behind their backs.
Which made the God's trickery even more stinging. She and Robin turned a corner to follow the concrete tunnel lined with piping that would take them underneath Town Hall, leaving them in comfortable silence as she came to realise this was the first time she was alone with the man without Amelia being around. The only other person she ever truly loved beside herself and John.
"Look" she started breaking the silence between them "I'm... I'm sorry I trusted Zelena with your daughter" she told the thief hoping her words would try and mend some fence between the pair of them.
"Glad to finally hear it" Robin sighed out as he lead the way through the tunnel with a torch in his hand.
"Just for once, I was trying to be optimistic and give her a second chance like you gave Melia and I".
"You both deserved it" he told her which surprised the woman "She doesn't".
"All she wants is what I have. I made her think love was possible" she goes on to say only for the man to disagree with her as he halted their progress towards the Town Hall to speak his mind to the former Queen.
"So you're... you're not actually apologizing" he corrects her "You're defending her again?".
"Robin, no...".
"No, forgive me if I don't care to listen. I have a daughter to save" he went to storm off ahead only to double back to face her with anger in his eyes "You know the thing I most admired about Amelia is..."he trailed off as the Queen heard his own grieve for the redhead come through his voice as he pushed back his emotion to continue. "..was her ability to own her mistakes. Especially when it came to my children".
"Well, she's not exactly here to apologize" the queen retorted feeling her eye's starting to sting.
"Yes, because her love for you blinded her judgement of your sisters trustworthiness" he snapped at her "That in the end, nearly didn't get us all home" at that the thief stormed down the tunnel without the former queen as she watched him before moving her feet to catch up with the thief. Maybe he was not keeping it all together as she thought he was after all.
Killing a God was no easy feet. Take it from the redheaded assassin, she would know best. But the God of the Underworld, well that's where the assassin's knowledge in the subject came to an end. However, the leather clad pirate seemed to know more about the God as he took the redheaded assassin and the King of Camelot to Hades 'Throne Room' where all five rivers that ran through the Underworld met. It hadn't changed since the God himself left, which meant they had the freedom to search the place without being caught. Just how she liked it.
"If there's a way to defeat Hades, the answer will have to be in here" Hook stated to the former assassin and king as they stepped further into the God's mancave that included a pool table.
"What is this place?" the King asks him.
"It's his throne room, or dungeon, depending on his mood" Hook answered the man "Last time I was here, I spent most of my time at the end of a lash".
"Good times" the assassin sighed out recalling her time at the end of Iago's lashings.
"Sounds like this Hades was an even worse king than I was" Arthur stated as the three started to look through anything that wasn't nailed down, it means furniture, ornaments and books "What exactly is this holy grail we're looking for?".
"It's pages from a storybook" Hook answered making Arthur look towards the pair in disbelief "I know it doesn't sound like much, but Hades went to great lengths to keep them from us" Hook goes on And I think these pages can tell us his weakness. All we have to do is find them" the trio continued to look through the gods belongings.
Blinking on her sixth sense the assassin's eye's shone gold as she searched high and low for the pages but nothing of interest was being picked up in the world of blue that surrounded her. Giving up she blinked, her vision going back to normal as she searched for the pages the old fashioned way.
"There's nothing here" Arthur voiced to the pirate "Maybe you were wrong about this".
Hook looked to the redhead as his last chance "Luv what about your vision, can you see anything?".
"You think I haven't already tried" she snipes back at the man.
"I can't be wrong!" Hook yelled in frustration "Hades is out there now, threatening Emma, and I bloody well need to find a way to save her".
"I get it now" Arthur spoke up "This is all about a woman".
"Aye" the pirate confirmed "A woman who risked everything for me, and the last promise I made her was that I would move on from this place, and I can't do that... not while she's still in danger. Now, please. Come on, you-you were a king once. Where did you hide your treasure?".
The answer came in the form of Hades 'throne' as Arthur inspected every detail of the chair "The most important stuff, I hid in a place no one would ever dare touch. My throne" he inspected every nook and cranny until he stopped and pulled at something making the front of the chair open up to reveal the missing pages from the storybook "Well, look at that" he says picking up the pages to hand to the pirate "Your holy grail".
Stood in silence the King and Assassin waited for the pirate to read the pages the God had hidden from them "I have to get this to Emma" he concludes to the pair.
"What have you found?" the King asks him in curiosity.
"The one answer she's been looking for most of all. The way to destroy a god".
With determination in his step Hook led Arthur and Amelia back to the diner where they needed to speak to Cruella herself after her overnight stay at the shelter. They needed to get the information they had discovered to the living and the one way they could do that was the phone booth the heiress had taken away to severed the only tie between the dead from communicating with the living.
But the one-handed pirate seemed to notice something off with the redhead that trailed behind him and the King. She hadn't been herself since their family left this godforsaken place. Like her heart wasn't in it anymore.
Pausing his haste to get to the diner he allowed the King to carry on as he waited for the redhead to catch up to him to come to stop in front of him.
"What?" the redhead snapped at him "I thought we were in a hurry".
"What's wrong with you?" he demanded out of her.
"What do you mean? If you haven't noticed pirate we're running out of time" she went to carry on only for Hook to take hold of her arm stopping any movement away from him.
"You've been distant since yesterday, you're slipping back into your old ways. Don't think I haven't noticed" he calls her bluff "You need to tell me you believe in my plan to help our friends or you have some other unfinished business you need to attend to while Hades wreaks havoc in Storybrooke".
"You really think I'm not worried about that?" she retorted "My sons are up there".
"Then where are you exactly?".
"I-" she stuttered as her shoulders slumped "I don't know exactly" she admitted to the man "Ever since they left I've felt…".
"Felt what?" he pressed her.
"Like I'm done" she admitted outload for first time.
"You're done?" he questions her "With what exactly?".
"With this" she gestured to the pages in his hand "With all of this" she gestured to the street "Running around fixing everything that goes wrong, every villain, every plan. I'm done Killian".
"So let me get this straight" he started taking a step away from the redhead pointing an accusing finger at her "You want to give up".
"I'm not" she corrects him, pushing his finger out of her face "It's not giving up when I finally feel like I'm ready to move on".
"That's easy for you to say you've married your love" he dryly retorted.
"Your right I did, because it's the only thing I've been wanting to do since the first curse broke. To be with her, to have a family with her, to make a vow to be with her for the rest of my life. "How the hell can I be with her when I'm stuck here playing hero".
"You don't believe I can get a message to them" he accused her narrowing his eyes at her.
"I'm not saying that" she quickly defended herself "Look, this is your holy grail or whatever you call it. Ever since they left I've had this feeling that I needed to jump. And it's only getting stronger the longer I'm here" hearing this the pirate's head bowed as wave a guilt he felt for being angry at the woman when she made it her mission to get him home.
"Then what do you want to do?" he gulped meeting her green eyes. He wasn't ready to say goodbye to her just yet.
"I need to find Ophelia first. After you've finished with whatever you need to do. I'll meet you at the cavern".
"First I need to visit Ophelia but after your done with whatever you two need to do. I'll wait for you in the cavern".
"And if I don't?" he gulped clenching his jaw.
"Then I guess this is goodbye for the both of us. Good luck with your holy grail Killian. I hope it gets you what you need before you come to join me. Waiting at a bar with a drink at the bar ready to toast to eternity".
"Always Amelia" at that the redhead stepped forward engulfing the one-handed pirate in a warm embrace that the man slowly mirrored, savouring the unspoken goodbye from two people who had seen the other on their darkest day and lived long enough to see them change for the love a woman.
"Thank you" he heard the woman choke out onto his shoulder "For saving me".
Just as quickly as the embrace started it was needed when the redhead pull out of his arms, turning her back on the pirate, forcing herself not to look back as she headed to the last piece of unfinished business she had left before move on from this place forever.
With the air still tense between the former queen and the thief, the former silently guided the man though the tunnels closer to the Town Hall with each step they took as they both silently hurting from losing the woman that connected them. She could see why he was blaming her, Amelia always gave her the benefit even when she knew she was wrong and that in the end had been their downfall in the end.
Seeing the end of their short walk, she had one last chance to clear what little air that stood between them, if not for Amelia, then her herself. She needed anyone who was willing to get her through the pain and grief of losing the woman she loved, and who better than a man who had loved her possibly as much as she did. He was the only one who would understand, having lost her before to the Black Widow's anger.
"Welcome to the Town Hall" Regina announced to the man as she saw the end of the longest walk both of them had gone through.
"Secret passage indeed" he sighed out before looking at his friends love "Thank you, Regina".
"You're welcome" she replied "And I know you can't accept this right now, but I do feel horrible for what I did. I'm sorry Zelena has your daughter, and I'm really trying to make up for it, especially after Amelia put her trust into her because of me".
Seeing the guilt she held made the thief regret his words to her earlier. He acted too harshly to the woman who was in much pain as he and other's were in to lose Amelia.
"You're right" he tells her "We do owe Zelena another chance".
"Oh, don't just say that to appease me..." she tries to tell him.
"No, I'm not" he reassures her "If being around you and Amelia has taught me anything, it's that we all have the capability to change. In the past, I've always blamed the Evil Queen for what she was doing to Amelia's heart, for turning her heart dark, for turning her into the Black Widow".
"And now?" she gulped.
"That is was my fault as well, for not believing in what she was doing for her family. I pushed her over the edge after letting Angelo go. I should've believed she wouldn't become the monster, if feared she would become if I had taken him to her. Instead of helping her mend her heart, I broke it further. And as hard as it was to admit to myself that you were good for her, she was always going to choose you in the end. You were always her future Regina. The last thing I want in this world is to put you in harms way".
"What are you saying?" she asks the man in front of her.
"I'm saying, that as long as you allow me to, I would like to be your friend, until the day we can find her again, and we will".
"Okay, thief" Regina said with a smile "Tell me what the plan is".
"Well, Amelia and I always followed one rule... don't go into a job without a good plan to get out, but with my daughter on the line, I have broken my own rule. I-I have no plan. So if you want to turn back..." he offered the woman a way out only for the former Queen to interrupt him.
"I'm with you. Always" she repeats the same words her soulmate would say to her, making the former thief smile to himself seeing how his best friend had rubbed off on her over recent years.
"Good" he states taking her hand "Well, then let's go save my daughter" he says guiding her into the building. As he walked by the former Queen was once again stood frozen in fear by a image of a figure that shouldn't be there, in the darkness of the tunnel before blinking out of existence as a sense of dread grows in her stomach, like it was warning her.
Seeing the former Queen's sudden change of demeanour the thief looks to where the woman was looking only to see nothing but the concrete tunnel they were in with pipes welded in place.
"Regina?" the thief called out the woman "What is it?".
"N-nothing" she stutter's shaking herself out of the feeling that had crept up on her "It's nothing" she makes herself say to him.
"Whatever it is-" he continued to fret in concern.
"It's nothing" she stop him from worrying further "Really, I think my mind is plaything tricks on me".
"Regina-" .
"Robin. I'm fine" she insists not quite believing what she was saying but with a nod of his head the thief believed what she was saying before continuing their mission to get his daughter back. Whatever Amelia was trying to warn her about, she needed to be be extra vigilant when and if they came face to face with her sister and her true love.
Letting herself into the Hidden Ones was weird to say the least, there was no music playing, no customers, no assassins out to get their revenge. Well it wasn't completely missing of assassin as the remaining member her old family sat hunched over the bar with a bottle of amber liquid in her hand and two glasses nearby. She had been waiting for her.
"Took you long enough to find me" the brunette addressed her presence without looking at the door.
"Had a pirate to say goodbye to" her former student replied making her way towards the bar as her old teacher poured them both a generous amount in each glass.
"Ready to move on then" Ophelia states to the younger woman as the latter takes the open stool next to her.
"It's time" she tells the brunette "I just need to know something".
"Well, I'm all for helping nowadays" she drawled out picking up her glass to take a deep swig of her drink before thumping the empty glass back onto the counter "What do you want to know?".
"Did you know? About me?" she asks the woman next to her.
The question had always played on her mind, since that night, who else knew and didn't say anything about it like she did with Tybalt and Michelle. The chances that her father could've truly kept her a secret for nearly two decades were unlikely. No one was that lucky for no-one to notice.
"Your father was never one for subtly" she retorted refilling her drink "Especially when he only ever visited one courtesan who already had a daughter".
"Why didn't you tell anyone?".
She would've been a hero, a true assassin of the Brotherhood that had
"Because believe it or not, I was his friend" she shrugs at her.
"You loved him" Amelia easily deduced.
"It's not hard to fall in love with a Montague" Ophelia said before looking at her "Especially since I did it again" she admitted to the redhead next to her.
"Then why didn't you stop them from banishing Romeo? Like you helped me yesterday".
"Because I was a coward" the older assassin professed to the younger one "I wanted to help him. But by the time I came to warn him it was too late" the brunette tells her "I tried to keep them off your trail, but then I got banished myself".
"Wonderland" Amelia stated already knowing where she ended up.
"The Queen of Hearts promised me a way back in return of my unwavering loyalty. But then you and the Evil Queen showed up instead, that changed everything".
The last words her old teacher breathed out before dying echoed in her mind 'We didn't kill him' had haunted her from that day in the Wonderland. She didn't know to what 'he' she was referring to, but she didn't care. All that mattered was another name that had been crossed off her list.
"You tried to tell me he was still alive" the redhead recalled to the older brunette.
"You were too far gone to believe me. I couldn't blame you, if the same happened to me, I wouldn't rest until they were all gone".
"And look how we both ended up. I know you wanted help to move on, I can stay and help" she offered the woman, it was the least she owed her for not listening to her.
"No, that's something I've gotta find out on my own" Ophelia denies the redheads offer " Someone needs to keep Cruella on a tight leash without Hades here, there's a lot of people who need more help than I do. Besides I'm enjoying bristling Shay Cormac's feathers a little too much" she says with a sly smirk of wink of her eye making the redhead smile up to the woman as the latter stood from the stool and pick up her leather jacket from where she left it on the stool on her other side.
"Come on kid, its time you get the hell out of here".
Leading the pair of the bar, the redheaded assassin couldn't help but to pause at the door and take one last look at the bar that held more good memories than bad in. Despite being cursed, she felt most at home behind the bar than anywhere else and missed the days where she and Luke would just sit and talk about everything and nothing as they relaxed before a busy service. She missed her friends so much, it was hard to think that it was only over a year ago since she lost them during the Siege of Monteriggioni. They had died for her and she tried her best to repay them by sacrificing herself to get them back to Emma and Storybrooke, but it wouldn't be long until she saw them again.
"See you soon guys" she whispered out to the bar before closing the door for the last time.
Storybrooke
A Few Weeks Ago
Before the Underworld, before Juno and Camelot and Queen's of Darkness hell bent of changing their stories, the former Queen recalled an evening as she and her soulmate cleaned up dinner with their son's in her kitchen when a question came to her mind, seemingly out of nowhere, but all the same she always wanted to ask the woman next to her as she dried the dishes with a dish towel, deep in thought.
It had been a few weeks since they had finally decided to leave all the hurt in the past to concentrate on their future together, since she had shown her love the box of feather's she had collected of the years and kept during the first curse, to show her that she loved her despite her worries about how fast their relationship should be going.
"So.." the former Queen broke the comfortable silence between them "I've got a question?".
"About what?" the redhead asked the former Queen as she placed the freshly dried plate on the stack that was slowly growing from two to four for most nights "Quantum Physic's? Or do you have a subject in mind Queenie" she replied with an amused smirk on her lips.
"Why feathers?" the brunette asks ignoring the redheads 'joke'.
"What do you mean? I told you the story behind them" thinking about the evening the other week when the boy's 'parent trapped' them.
"I know that. I meant why did the Brotherhood used them".
"You really wanna to know?" she asks the woman with a raised brow.
"I do".
"Okay" she says discarding the dish cloth onto the counter "Our tradition of the feather came from the first assassins that worshiped other gods, the feather represents their God of the Underworld Ma'at. The feather or a heron were dipped in the blood of the targets. These would be for the Lord of Duat to judge. To remind us to remain humble and know our place in the process. Messenger's of justice not the final judge".
"Hold out your hands" doing as she was the former Queen's held up her manicured hands so that her palms faced up as the redhead snatched a red apple from the island to place in the woman's right hand "So imagine the Apple is a heart, and your hands are scales, the feather is placed on the other scale" Amelia describes placing her finger in the middle of her left palm "The feather was weighted against the person's heart. If it scaled lighter than the feather they would move on to the afterlife" she says pushing the former Queen's hand down like a scale to keep the 'heart' in her right hand level "If heavier.." she says gently pushing her soulmate's empty hand back up so it scaled higher than the 'heart'.
"Well... that's bad" she gulped in fear, knowing she would be the latter. The good she was doing hadn't quite outweighed the the bad. There was still red in her ledger no matter how little it dripped now, it wasn't enough that could comfort her for what the afterlife had in store for her.
Seeing the look on her love's face the Queen clutched the apple in her hand before placing it back onto the counter to focus on the woman in front of her and the sore subject she had accidently brought up.
"You think you'll be the latter. Don't you?".
"It's hard not to" she tells the former Queen turning back to her task of drying the dishes "It's just.."
"Just what?" the older woman ask's leaning her hip on the sink to give her love her full attention.
"For as long as I can remember, I've been told that death is initiable for people like me. For Assassin's. That one day Death will be call for us to pay the same price as all of our targets had. Before it didn't seem to bother me much, that I knew that if I died, I'd be dying for the Brotherhood, for everything that it stood for.. But since getting Tom back, being with you-" the assassin stopped becoming as the thought paralysed her in fear as she gripped the dish towel in her hands to make the feeling pass through her quicker.
"You're scared" she observed outload that the redhead couldn't deny.
"I'm scared that no matter what I do, I will never be able to tip the scales the other way, there just too much red in my ledger still. That everything I've done to change, had really been for nothing".
"Melia, you can't think like that" she tried to tell her love.
"But I do" she corrected the former Queen throwing the towel onto the dried plate to turn and face the older woman "I always think about it. Back home, when I asked you to use my heart to get us back here to find Emma. I believed that you could do it more than I was scared to think of what kind of fate I had. All that mattered was getting you all here to fight the Wicked Witch. But when she had Tom in her hands" she paused closing her eye's as she relived that moment in her head once again, before making herself open her eye's again "I think that was the first time I was scared of dying, scared of what came afterwards".
"What if there was a way to tip the scales in your favour? Then maybe your red ledger wouldn't matter so much".
"Maybe" the redhead trailed off in thought.
"But until that day" Regina interrupted the redhead's thoughts by cupping her jaw between her hands "We have two very excited teenage boys to entertain with a movie night" she reminds her soulmate with a gentle smile on her lips before leaning forward to give her a chaste kiss on the redheads lips before pulling away.
Making herself smile at her love the former Queen moved around the redhead to head out of the kitchen to find the boys only to pause to see that Amelia wasn't following her to see her love with an envelope in her hand.
"You coming?" she prompts the former assassin making her jump, quickly pocketing the letter in the back pocket of her jeans.
"You know what, I forgot to drop something off at the bar this afternoon. Start without me. I'll catch up with something from Granny's".
"Sure. But can't it wait until the morning?" she questions the woman.
"It's to do with the new hires. Aron will need it first thing, payday is coming, at the rate we're going at the library I won't be out until lunch. Ten minutes tops. I promise. I'll take my bike".
At the mention of the redhead's motorbike, the former Queen grimaced at the thought of the woman riding this late on the two-wheeled death trap. She hated the day the redhead decided to take it out of her rented garage to show the boys her more adventurous side.
"You know I really don't like that bike".
"It's safer then Emma's bug" she quips at the woman making her chuckle "I'll be careful".
"Aren't I suppose to say that?" Regina asks her.
"I'll let it go this time. Tell the boy's I'll be back soon" with that the redhead left the house through the back door to post the letter that she had been putting off posting for the last week or so to New York.
Storybrooke
Present
How could've things ended so badly?.
Stood in front of Robin Hoods casket, dressed in black, the former Queen stood numbly under an umbrella that shielded her from the falling rain, as she watched person after person set down an arrow with a flower tied to the shaft of the weapon of choice that the man lying in the casket had mastered over his life.
The first to pay their respects to the man that had helped them through everything were the Charming couple before Roland, Robin's young son was taken to his Papa's casket with Little John behind him every step of the way. Next to step up to the casket with an their own arrow's in their hands were Tom, John and Anastasia.
Trying his best to put on a brave face for the other's the youngest of the trio dressing in a suit and his hair neatly combed back the way his mother had showed him, Thomas Smith stood forward placing his arrow on the casket, but his arrow differed form the other's as instead of a simple flower tied to it, the teen had managed to tie a long white feather to it that was getting drenched by the rain above them, before his Aunt and Father laid down their own.
Without giving her or the other's a another look Anastasia guided Tom away from the casket with a gentle hand on his back as the blonde assassin and novice left the funeral party, heading towards where the vault was.
They said they wouldn't be staying for too long. They had their own goodbyes to make in another part of the cemetery. She would be joining them soon.
Turning to face the former Queen, John Smith stood with a solemn look on his face with his hands stuffed deeply into the pockets of the black dress pants that matched his suit and tie, he simply gave the woman his first love had left him for a firm nod that told her that they would be waiting for her before leaving this funeral party with his head hanging low, to join his son and his new love to say goodbye to the woman that all loved in one way or another.
The last to set down their arrows were Henry and Emma before she herself made the short distance to the casket with two arrow's in her hand. One from her, and the other from the only other woman the thief had ever loved, who had once gave up everything for. Including her.
Turning her back on the reminder of the guilt she held for allowing the man to jump in front of the Olympian Crystal, she was met of the image of the crowd behind her parting to allow Zelena and her's and Robin's infant daughter through, before coming to stand next to the former Queen looking over the casket covered in arrows.
"He never even got to name his daughter" Regina told her sister.
"There's only one name I can think of that's fitting" she tells her younger sister "Robin" she states to her sister.
"Robin" she tests the name on her lips peering down to her niece as she felt her eye's water at her sister's decision "Of course" with a comforting hand on her sister's back, as the her younger sister looked dead ahead not wanting to go to their next destination.
"Come on" Zelena encouraged her forward "We'll do this together" with her sister behind her the former Queen made her feet move towards where they had lied her soulmate to rest.
Located deep in the graveyard of Storybrooke, Maine stood a small structure made of stone that housed every magical item the Evil Queen had kept from the Enchanted Forest, safe from others. It also housed of what remined of the Black Widow, from weapons, trinkets and the infamous set of robes that would strike fear in those who would see them.
Nearby sat three head stones. One that had the name inscribed of the man that had kept his greatest creation a secret for eighteen years of his life. The other that was freshly inscribed the name of the woman that man had made his wife when he had found out she was pregnant with his child on a mysterious island, going against his order and family to love her until the day she died at his hands.
And the third, which earth had been recently disturbed. Rested in place the child of the first names who had ventured down the path of darkness to see the light that had remained in her heart, dying to save the family she had made as she took a lighter path to redemption.
Making their way towards the freshly covered grave, the Mill's sister's found John, Anastasia already there waiting for them as Granny stood nearby with Helen, cooing to herself in her arms as they waited for Tom to return with what they needed to say goodbye to the redheaded assassin.
The headstone stood in stark contrast to the one the Underworld had conjured for her. In place of the marble statue of her likeness stood a simple headstone inscribed with her soulmates name and the few words that best described her.
Amelia Montague-Mills
Daughter. Sister. Mother. Wife.
Hero.
With no symbol of the Brotherhood of Assassin's in sight, she would be remembered as the woman she was at her core with no clue to the order that had birthed the Black Widow to the Enchanted Forest. Whoever came across her now would see her as she was when she died, not who she was in the past.
"Sorry I'm late" the former Queen tells the others as she and Zelena come to join the others stood at the end of the disturbed plot of earth that had flowers laid upon it from mourners that had visited her grave.
"You're just in time" John reassures her with a sad smile as the door to his mothers vault opened from the inside for Tom to step out with a familiar mahogany box in his hands with a codex page under his arm to find his step-mother and Zelena in attendance to the small 'service' as Henry, David and Snow finally joined them, the former Prince holding onto his grandson's shoulder as his wife gripped his arm for support as Tom came to stand on Regina's other side as he felt her free gloved hand take his by his side.
Approaching her nephew the blonde assassin took the box of white feathers that the former Queen had collected over the years to hand out to those in attendance. One by one the most important people in Amelia's life took out a single white feather that she had once given to her Queen. When Anastasia reached Regina, the former Queen dryly gulped before reaching out to take one for herself to place on her grave.
"Wait" her step-son's voice stops her from taking her feather from the box to taking something from the inside of his suit jacket to take out a brown coloured feather from his pocket offering it to the older woman that had taken him in as her second son "This one's for you".
Nodding stiffly she takes the feather from him as they hear movement in front of them to see Senu perched on top of the headstone of her former owner as the former Queen see's where her feather had come from. It matched the brown feather's on the loyal eagle that had followed and stayed by her side through her darkest days.
One by one, just as they had with Robin's casket, each member of her family placed their white feather onto the disturbed earth in front of the headstone, until it came to Tom.
The feather in his hand suddenly weighted a tonne as he stepped away from the comfort of Regina's side to walk to Granny, holding baby Helen in her arms, gently cooing in the older woman's arms until her big brother gently took her from the elder woman to take her to their mother's graveside with Granny herself following them to hold up in umbrella above them from the rain that continued to fall as he crouched down.
Placing his feather on the ground, the teenager reached into the blankets that shielded his baby sister from the cold to take out the feather tucked into the layers to place onto the wet ground next to his. Standing tall the teen felt the hot tears fall from his eye's as he turned to take his sister back to their father and aunt, leaving Regina to place the final feather.
With her sister's hand on her shoulder for support the former Queen took the first away from her comforting touch to step towards her soulmates grave. Letting out a shuddering breath the former Queen crouched down and placed the feather that came from Senu herself, along with the other's. The feather towered the other's she had collected over the years, drops of rain coating each feather that lied on her grave.
"Goodbye my love" she managed to whispered to the headstone before placing her light brown feather onto the ground as she allowed the warm tears to fall down her cheeks before standing back up to find her sister before leading the funeral party away from the grave to make their way to Granny's for the wake. Hearing the sound of feather's rustling and Senu calling out above them, the former Queen looked up to see the Eagle soaring the grey sky that hung over them, unaware of the reunion that was happening between the blonde saviour and her one-handed pirate.
The cavern didn't seem as scary as she once though once she took the first few steps in. It seemed welcoming than the first time she set foot in the place when they were saying farewell to Hercules and Meg. Stopping short of the edge, the redhead looked back to see Ophelia with her hands stuffed into the pockets of her leather jacket
She stopped just short of the edge as she looked back to see Ophelia with her hands stuffed in her leather jacket as she watched the redhead
"Do you think it'll be quick?" she asked her old teacher.
"Quicker than falling asleep" she tells the younger woman she watched grow up from a four-year-old that got in all sorts of trouble around town to a frightened eighteen-year-old who was forced out of her home for the 'sins' of her parents.
Glancing over to the entrance, she willed for Hook to come walking in any second to see her off only to know deep down he wouldn't stop what he was doing to come and say goodbye to her. Maybe she was being selfish for wanting to move on while she still could, but as the seconds dragged her mind was telling her to forget about the cavern and find him to continue his hold grail. But its what he needed to do, not her.
Her job was done when they made it to the portal on time. her Queen was safe.
"The longer you wait for him the harder it will be" Ophelia's voice floated into her ears.
"Your right" she sniffed with a deep nod "I can't wait any longer" she walked towards the brunette and engulfed the woman is a tight embrace as Ophelia did the same wrapping her arms around the redhead torso.
"Don't wait too long" Amelia tells Ophelia "Romeo would want to see you".
"You can count on it kid" she replies as she pulls out of the hug holding the redhead by the shoulders "Now go, it's time".
"Thank you" Amelia tells her "For everything".
She was the one to teach how to survive as a woman in the often cruel world of the Enchanted Forest and survive in a Brotherhood lacking female assassin's to learn from. She was the one to comfort her after Prince James. She was her first hero.
Pulling away from the brunette she turned and made the first steps towards the edge.
Ophelia watched as the redhead stepped closer to the edge the fiery cave quickly changed to warm white light as Amelia stopped at the edge bringing her feet together and raising her arms up either side of her before in a blink on an eye the warm while light engulfed the assassin as she took her final leap of faith into the unknown.
AN:
R.I.P Robin Hood
Getting to the end of Season 5! Exciting!
Happy New Year!
2024!
Can't wait to get the next chapter up. One of my favourites to write and Lana Parilla's performance was nothing short of amazing.
In the meantime:
Remember to:
Follow/ Favourite/ Review/ Comment
