Numb.

That's all that she could feel as the funeral party had moved to Granny's for the wake. Sat alone in a maroon booth with a glass of untouched amber liquid on the table in front of her, she barely remembered what the drink was inside the glass, nor did she care as each time the silver band on her finger tapped on the side of the glass it felt like another part of her heart was shattering again as she recalled the albeit temporary vow she made to her soulmate in-front of the small groups of friends and family that witnessed the occasion in the Underworld.

As the Merry Men toasted around a lone portrait of the recently killed thief that held his bow and quiver, she couldn't help but think of how her love would've hated this for her own funeral, let alone for her friend. In a way it had been a blessing that she hadn't made it back to them to see Robin die like that. It was horrible.

Would she have hated her for Robin jumping in front of her? For letting him save her from a fate worse than her's. Would she ever forgive Zelena?.

Her older sister had told her of the promise she had made to the assassin while in Underbrooke. Promising to look out for the father of her child if she didn't make it back, only to let him die at Hades had with the Olympian crystal.

But a question kept creeping up on her; Why didn't she ask her?.

Surely her wife would've trusted her enough to look after one of her closest friends seeing as he was her nieces father after all. But seeing how the first time she tried her best to look out for the man, he ended up dead with no hope of moving on. Well now she understood why.

"Regina".

Blinking out of her dark thoughts she heard her name being called out by familiar sweet voice that was combined with a comforting hand on her shoulder, she looked up to see Snow and Charming stood by her with a look of sympathy for the woman who had just lost her spouse.

"Look, I know that there's nothing we can really say, but we just want you to know... you don't have to go through this alone" Snow placed her hand on her shoulder but she couldn't feel the warmth that came with it.

"She won't have to" Zelena had come back in time to tell the couple with little Robin nestled in her arms retaking her seat opposite her younger sister "I think what my sister needs is a little time with someone who understands what she's going through".

"Zelena, we're sorry" David said to the woman "What happened with Hades, that... can't exactly be easy" he paused as neither had said anything else "We'll leave you two alone" at that the Charming couple left the sisters to themselves as the wake continued around them.

Walking past Tom who was sat in the booth behind Regina with his father opposite him as he numbly spun the small throwing knife around on the table as he ignored the hot cocoa that Granny had given to him.

Feeling David's supportive squeeze of his shoulder made him look up to see Snow and her true love walk past, giving them both a sad smile as his sister sat in her car seat on the table between them, cooed out to herself, thinking where he stood at that moment. In limbo between the apartment he and his mother briefly stayed in and the bigger house with Regina and Henry. He wanted to go home. Back to his room and bed. But whatever choice he seemed to make would end up leaving someone behind, either his father or his step-mother that had barely spoken to him since coming back.

Anastasia hadn't been the same since leaving her sister in the Underworld. Like a part of herself was missing and she was currently trying to fill it with shot after shot of whatever clear liquid she was shooting down her throat at the bar. She was mad about something, that was easy to see, but the teenager wasn't sure what about.

"So, uh what happens now?" Tom asks his father, the former Queen overhearing the conversation behind her as the teen assassin saw a look on his father's face that told his gut that he was keeping something to himself "What? What is it?" Tom pressed him for an explanation.

Seeing no way out of his son's question's the former Captain let out a deep sigh before answering his son's question.

"I was gonna to wait until afterwards but, I was thinking that if the opportunity should come up soon, that we would return to the Forest. Together" John tells him.

"W-Why?" Tom asked in confusion as the former Queen gripped the glass in her hand at the though of her children being taken away from her, but she had to remember they weren't her's. They were Amelia's and John's. And there was only one of them left to decide what was best for his family after losing the redhead.

"We-" John started only to get interrupted from across the diner from the blonde assassin sat at the bar.

"No, you did!" Anastasia yelled across the diner to correct the former Captain making him flinch at the woman's anger. Disturbing the other patrons the other's present including Zelena opposite her looked to see what had made the blonde assassin yell out like that before looking to her younger sister with a questioning look on her face to see if she knew what was going on.

Shaking her head 'No' at her sister the others at the wake went back to their private conversations as the blonde continued to correct the Captain "You decided!" she adds shooting down another shot of alcohol.

"I" the man trails off, correcting himself "...think it would be easier for all of us. With all the uncertainty here. I was talking to Little John, he wants to take Roland away from this place, out of danger, back to Sherwood Forest where he can grow up in a place both your mother and Robin once loved. We won't even have to stay there for long, we can go back to your Mom's home, do our best to rebuild it. I know you loved it there".

"Y-yeah I did" Tom stammers out as he feels his chest tighten at the thought of leaving Storybrooke "But I love my home here" he retorts to his father's idea "W-what about school?" he asked his father "I still have a life here, I have friends. MJ. Henry" he listed off to his father.

"I know you do" his father quickly told him "I know how much you love it here, and you don't have to decide now, but with your mother now gone. I thought it would be good to get away and help you grieve as a family".

"I have family here" he argued "I have Regina a-and Snow and David" he continued as his voice became louder making the others look at the argument.

"Tom calm down" the former Captain tried to tell his son, seeing the attention he was gaining from the other's.

"No!" he yelled thumping two angry fists onto the table, making the diner go quiet as the outburst disturbing Helen in her car seat "Why do you always do this? Why do you run every time things get hard?".

"Because sometimes its the best thing you can do to protect your family" he answers his son "I left so that you and you're mother could be happy with the people here. To give you your best chance at being happy".

"Isn't that the why we fight though? So we can end the fight, so we can go home".

"Every time someone tries to win a war before it starts, innocent people die. Every time".

"You're wrong" he voiced to his father in defiance.

"Try telling that to Robin and your Mother" the Captain snapped at his son making the teen fall silent as he blinked at his father's harsh words as guilt washed over the Captain at how quickly the words came out of his mouth.

"Tom.." the blonde man tried to apologize for his words only for his teenage son to stand from his seat and storm out back, past his unmoving step-mother to disappear out of sight as his best friend watched him leave from the bar.


He just about made it to the end of the long hallway between the diner and the inn before and angry fist flew into the drywall creating a noticeable fist shaped dent in it, before another one and another one landed in the same spot each time before he physically couldn't take the pain in his fist anymore as it flared out in pain leaving behind the evidence of his anger towards everything that was going on around him.

From losing his Mom, to finding her again. Only to lose her again. He wasn't sure how much more of all this he could handle. Magic was tearing his family apart one-by one and he couldn't do anything to stop it. Magic took his grandfather away from him, and now it had taken his mother and Robin.

He needed to do something before anyone else was hurt by it. He could understand now why the Brotherhood hated magic in any form. Light or Dark. Because someone would get hurt eventually whether intentional or not.

But first he needed to clean the blood off his knuckles, looking at the fist sized hole in the wall, he hadn't realized how hard he had hit it until he saw the smudged of his blood on the cracked paintwork. Stepping towards towards the restrooms, he caught his reflection in the mirror that was hung in the walkway making him pause as he took in the image of himself red-faced with tear stains going from his eye's down his cheeks as his tamed hair came out of shape from the amount of times had run his hands and fingers through it.

This had to change. wiping the evidence of his crying from his cheek with the sleeve of his suit jacket, the teenage assassin ran both his hands through his brown hair to sweep it back off his face.

"You're a Montague" he said to the image in the reflection of the mirror "You must be strong. Never forget that" with a nod the teen turned his back on the reflection to go into the bathroom to take care of his hand.


Hand-in-hand, the newly reunited Emma Swan and Killian Jones took their time walking the empty street's of Storybrooke towards Granny's, simply enjoying the other's company until they would join the rest of their friends and family.

"When we get to Granny's, I think it's best if you wait outside" Emma advised her boyfriend as they neared the building.

"Aye, Amelia" Hook sighed thinking back to how they parted in the Underworld "It can't be easy for her" referring to the former Queen that had just lost her assassin.

"And seeing you back, when we had to leave her behind" Emma pointed out to the pirate "Do you know what happened to her after we left?" she asks him.

"Yes, uh, Zeus told me she had moved on before I came back here" he told her with a sad smile on his face.

"She moved on" she stated as a look of relief came over the blonde saviour hearing that the redhead had found a way out of the Underworld. It was a pocket of good news they all needed at the moment. That the woman that had lost everything once in her life at some point of her hard life was able to find peace in the end.

"Aye, that's what he said" he confirmed "Fate is cruel" he mused outload as they reached the picketed fence of the diner.

"It could push her over the edge" Emma voiced referring to the former Queen inside "She cursed an entire kingdom when she lost her first love" she reminded her love.

"Yeah, but she's changed much since then" Hook defended the former Queen.

"I know. But I still need to break the news about you carefully. It's the right thing to do. Especially Tom. You should've seen the look on his face when I had to tell him, he's been putting on a brave face for all of us ever since" worry laced her voice not sure how the teenager would react with his mother now gone for good only to see that Hook had made it back.

"The lad isn't his mother" Hook quickly tells her seeing the worry on her features "The one thing Amelia feared more than anything in this world was thinking he was anything like her. He's been put through hard times before and come out with head held high. And if he's anything like the Montague's. It will only make him stronger for the better".

"You mean even more stubborn than before?".

"Aye" he chuckled out to his love as a smile flashed on his lips "Exactly".


Letting herself into the diner, the blonde saviour quickly found the former Queen sat in a booth with her older sister and son before making her way over to the older woman. Maybe by telling her that her wife had moved on would lessen the blow for her. But as she looked around the diner she saw no sign of Amelia's son as she caught sight of a dejected John with Helen in the booth behind the former Queen and Anastasia sat at the bar with a row of empty shot glasses lines up in front of her all placed upside down.

They were all hurting one way or another. All with the need to fill the Amelia sized hole in their hearts. While John filled it with cared for his daughter and the blonde assassin filling it with whatever drink she could get her hands on.

"Regina" Emma sighed as she reached the table.

"Emma, please" Regina cut her off from whatever she had to say to her "I've already had enough people feeling sorry for me today".

"I know. I just think we should talk somewhere quiet. It's kind of delicate" the blonde said as the ground suddenly jolted underneath them and a burst of magic burst through the building making the lights flicker around them. While others held onto the nearest thing Regina get to her feet.

"What the hell was that?" Tom heard his step-mother exclaim as he came rushing back into the diner to see her on her feet with Emma and Henry as he heard his baby sister cry out from the table he had vacated.

Having felt the jolt from the restroom, the teenage was ready to fight whatever was there only for the front entrance of the diner to burst open and someone he thought he had left in the Underworld step into the diner.

"Swan! Is everything okay?" the occupants where sent into silence as Regina and Tom froze still seeing Hook alive and well at the door concerned.

"Hook?"

"Figlio di puttana" Anastasia breathed out in disbelief, feeling herself instantly sober up seeing the pirate alive and well again as John was doing the same as he was doing his best to calm his disturbed daughter in his arms.

"What the bloody hell's the pirate doing here?" Zelena blurted out as she cradled her infant daughter.

"We thought we left you and Amelia in the Underworld" David voiced to the pirate from his right.

"Aye, you did" he gulped looking at Regina "But now I'm back" he adds trying to tel them that him and only him had come back.

"Delicate, as always" the dark brunette remarked at the blonde making the latter cringe to herself as David embraced the returning pirate in welcome at the door.

"Regina I.." Emma tried talk to the woman.

"I'm used to suffering, Swan. And I'm used to others getting their way" the former Queen tells the blonde biting down her true feeling of Hook's return "Right now, neither one of our feelings matters. Given that blast of magic, there's only one person not present who's powerful enough for something like that".


Leaving the wake, the group of heroes, former villains and assassins' travelled the short distance of the blast, not even needing the teenager's assassin's extra sense to guide them inside the clock tower.

"Gold" Zelena states the obvious to the family as she and the other's below the hole that had melting through the metal grating that Emma and Regina were stood on above them "He's got the Olympian crystal, or part of it, anyway" Zelena adds "Some of it must have survived. I can still feel the aura from it".

"Yeah" Tom scoffed from the Wicked Witches left making her glance over to Amelia's sons as he paced the small space like he was a caged animal trying to find a way out "You're not the only one" he added dryly feeling like he was going to pass out at any moment from the power the spell left behind.

With his hands on his hips, he paced the small space breathing through his mouth as Hook, Anastasia, David and Snow watched on. As soon at the party was leaving in investigate, he left his baby sister with their father giving him strict instructions to take her home without giving him a second glance.

"He used it to cast a tethering spell" Regina informs the other's.

"Tethering spell?" Emma questioned the older woman "What was Gold attaching the crystal to?".

"Storybrooke's magic" Regina answered "That's why he cast a spell here".

"With that crystal, he can harness all of this town's magic for his own purpose" Zelena voiced below them.

"Gold already has the power of all the Dark Ones. Why does he need more?" David spoke up.

"To wake Belle" Emma answered this time "True love's kiss didn't work because she doesn't want to be with him".

"Aye, and once the Crocodile wakes Belle, do you think he'll stop there?" Hook continued. Regina had to blink remembering that he was back "Do you think he'll just turn the bloody crystal and all of its power over to us?".

"He's right. Let's go get that crystal" Emma prompted the group.

"Let's" Regina said "Where should we start?" the groups started to leave the clock tower only for Henry and Tom to stop as they overhear the women above them.

"Actually, um..." Emma stopped the older woman "I was thinking maybe you should sit this one out"

"Oh, that's why you were trying to be delicate with me" the former Queen realised "You're worried the Evil Queen is about to come out to play" the teens started to quietly climb the stairs the two continued to argue.

"No, I just want what's best for you" the blonde states to the woman.

"No, you don't. When you're upset, we follow you to Hell. But when I'm upset, I get a time-out" she argues.

"Okay" Emma stammer's out nervously "You're not in any state to think straight about this".

"And you don't get to tell me what to do" the former Queen retorted "You have no idea what the hell I'm going through" she told the blonde with her anger started to bubble beneath the surface toward the woman's gall to stop her from saving the town.

"Moms, please" Henry's voice interrupts the pair as he and Tom make it to the top making the blonde glance back at the pair.

"Guys, now's not the time" she tells them before looking back at Regina "Maybe just take a minute to cool off and think about it" she pleads with the woman in front of her.

"You don't want my help. Fine. I'll fix this on my own" with a wave of her hand purple smoke engulfs the former Queen taking her away from the clocktower making Tom sigh in frustration as Emma walked to her son placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Kids... go to my place and stay there" she tells them "You'll be safe, okay?".

"Emma I can help" Tom argued to the blonde as she looks the older teen.

"Tom" she tiredly sighed not ready to deal with him as well.

"I'm not that kid from Neverland anymore" he argued more forcefully "I can help, I can fight. This is what I've been training for, to be the one that doesn't need saving all the time. To be brave when I have to be. Whatever Gold is doing I can fight him!".

"No, you can't" Emma snaps at him, making him flinch away from her "Your Mom would kill me if I let you anywhere near this. And I'm not talking about Regina" she tells him making him scoff as fresh tears threatened to spill "We got this" she tells them as they turned to descend the stairs "I mean it, guys" she calls after them "Go right home".

"Whatever" she heard Tom say under his breath knowing he wasn't going to give up so easily. This was the last time they were going to side-line them.


Breaking into Gold's pawn shop was easy enough for the son of the former Black Widow. Letting themselves into the shop he and Henry gathered everything, they could find for the trip ahead, including a set of newer hidden blades that were displayed in one of the glass cabinets, but he wasn't after the gauntlets, he was after the set of small throwing knives that sat in leather holster that would attach to around his shoulder and chest.

He couldn't risk going in the vault to find his mother's weapons, but this was the next best thing.

As Tom gathered weapons for himself, Henry raided his grandfather's safe taking the wad of cash from his wallet as the bell on the door rang out and Violet and MJ entered the shop with confusion etched on their faces as they entered the old musty shop with only Tom and Henry inside.

"What's... What's going on? We got your text" MJ asked the brothers as she saw the row of sharp throwing knifes that were slung over his shoulder, he was no longer in his suit mourning the loss of his mother but in his regular clothes he was comfortable wearing in this realm.

"It's my grandpa" Henry answered for them "He's trying to steal Storybrooke's magic. It made us realize how bad it is. It's always magic. Always. Magic turned my mom into a Dark One, it took away the woman my other mom loved, and now... now I think it's gonna tear my parents apart. I used to think there was light and dark magic, but it's all bad. Look around this shop" he said guiding MJ and Violet around the store, he stopped at the pair of puppets that sat on the countertop "These... These are Geppetto's parents" he picks up a sewing needle "This needle has put dozens of people under a curse they can't wake from, and this..." he picks ups a snow globe "an entire village is frozen in there. It's hurt so many people".

"My mother..." Violet interrupted the teen "that's how she died... magic".

"That's what killed my Mom in the end" Tom spoke up making them look at him "She died trying to protect me from Juno, from the curse that followed our family for years and there was nothing I could do to get her back".

"Tom" MJ whispered as she reached out to the older teen grasping his hand in hers.

"I just want her back MJ" he tells his girlfriend taking in a deep breath before he carried on with Henry and Violet listening "Just ten more seconds so I can tell her how much these last couple years have meant to me" closing the distance between them MJ wrapped her arms around his shoulders as his slid around her waist welcoming her comforting embrace.

"Come with us on a road trip" Henry spoke up again "I-It's like a quest, but on a bus, which is like a horse, but with wheels and seats. J-Just... just come with us. What do you say? I think I can fix this".

"My father would probably kill me" Violet hummed to herself before making her decision "B-But yes. Of course, I'll come".

"MJ?" Henry asked the girl in his arms.

The girl looked at Tom as silently debated to herself what their plan would entail, but the look in eye told her he was going to do this with or without her "Of course I'm in dork" a smile grew on his face as he pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Great. Great. We'll call it "Operation Mixtape." Henry announced as he rounded the glass cabinet in front of the safe "There's just one more thing we're going to need" he said picking up the authors pen in his hand "I promised I'd never use this pen to do anything besides record what happens, but what we're about to do is for the greater good" he said to the three in attendance, he poised the pan to the piece of paper in front of him before looking up to his brother.

"Ready?" he asks Tom who is stood behind Violet with MJ nearby.

Extending his hand out, the teen stood ready to receive the object the heroes' were currently looking for in the Dark One's possession. "Ready" he tells his brother with a look of determination on his face.

"'The Olympian crystal appeared in Tom Smith's hand' "Henry writes on the paper and not a second later white smoke engulfs the older teen's hand as he clutches something in his hand, the smoke disappears to reveal the piece of leftover white crystal in his hand.

"What's that?" Violet gasps.

"The crystal my great uncle tethered Storybrooke's magic to" he tells her before tucking it safely into his coat.

"Wait, I-I-I don't understand. You said magic is bad" MJ speaks up "Why are we going to take it out of Storybrooke?".

"To destroy it" Henry tells the girls "Once and for all".


The promise of a new day did not lessen the anxiety that came with Gold having tethered Storybrooke's magic to the last piece of the Olympian crystal. The heroes' of Storybrooke with the addition of Zelena holding baby Robin in her arms, John and Anastasia gathered around the Charming's dining room table as they examined a map of the town.

"So far, no sign of Gold" Emma said as the examined every detail of the map "Which means we need to expand our search perimeter to include the woods" she was interrupted when the door to the loft was opened, and Regina let herself in heading straight to the stairs searching for something.

"Where are they?" Regina demanded to know from the blonde saviour before walking over to the metal staircase looking for any sign of either of her son's.

"I told you. We got this. We'll find Gold" Emma reminds her.

"Not Gold. Henry and Tom" the former queen corrects her.

"I thought Tom spent the night at yours" John voices to the former Queen in confusion remembering the text message Anastasia had received from her nephew, informing her of his decision to stay at the larger house with Henry and his step-mother.

"Well he didn't. Neither did Henry" she snapped at the man as Anastasia nudges Johns arm gaining his attention, leaning over he saw the woman's screen as he heard Regina read out the same text his girlfriend had received that the former Queen read outload as she approached the table.

"Mom, there's only one way to fix everything that's tearing us apart. We have to destroy...".

"The source of all of our problems." Emma finished for the brunette "I got the same text".

"What do they mean?" Snow asks her daughter from her seat at the table "What is the source of all of our problems? What is he going to destroy?" she was interrupted as footsteps were heard from the door a Gold let himself into the apartment with a tight lipping smirk on his face to greet the group that were actively searching for him.

"Well, I think I can answer that" the older man greets the group stepping into the loft to face the others "The Olympian crystal and all the magic tethered to it. It would appear my grandson and great nephew has outsmarted us all, used the former's Authorial power to steal the crystal right out from under my nose".

"Would Henry and Tom even do that... destroy magic?" Snow asked the man.

"We'd better hope they don't" the older man tell them.

"Why?" Regina questions the man with a hand on her hip "What happens if Tom and Henry succeed?".

"Considering this town was built with magic, what do you think will happen?" he retorted.

"They would never destroy magic if they knew it could hurt us" Emma voiced to the man.

"I'll be sure to tell them that right before I take the crystal back".

"Don't you dare go near my son's" Regina warns the man.

"Sorry, dearie. But they're threatening me now" he says looking at Regina "And uh…if the young assassin is anything like your late wife. Let's just say even our small relation to each other won't stop me from getting something that is mine" with that warning Rumpelstiltskin disappeared in a swirl of red smoke leaving the group to soak in his words.

With the threat to her son's wellbeing's Regina turned and left the apartment with Emma hot on her heels as she went to search for her wayward teenage children.

"Regina, where are you going?" Emma had finally caught up to her in the streets with her red jacket on her shoulders.

"I just lost Amelia. I'm not about to lose Henry and Tom, too" she tells the blonde not stopping.

"I know, but we have to be smart about this" she tells the determined woman making her stop and turn to face her "Gold doesn't know where the guys are any more than we do".

"We? I don't remember inviting you to come along. You benched me. Now I bench you" she says before starting to walk away only for Emma to stop her again.

"Even if I knew how to find Henry and Tom?" Emma tells her.

"All right, Sheriff Swan... where are they ?" Regina asks her.

"You think after all those times Henry's ran away, I wouldn't put a GPS app on his phone?" she say's taking out her phone "I even convinced Lia to do that same to Tom's phone, he shouldn't be too far away from Henry"

A small smile grew on the former queens face at the mention of her wife. She loved the way Tom was protective over the younger teen, they had been inseparable since the day they got their memoires back of each other in Neverland.

"Let's get to the bug" Emma suggested after seeing how far away the pair had gone "We have to catch up to them".

"Where are they headed?" she asks the Sheriff.

"Boston" the blonde tells her.


With the former Evil Queen and the Saviour leaving the sleepy town of Storybrooke for Boston in the yellow bug in search for their wayward son's, the others were left keep the town as safe as word got out over the possibility of the towns unique magic disappearing with the removal of the crystal that had its magic tethered to.

Stood in front of the clock tower, the Charming couple, Hook, Zelena, John and Anastasia were quickly confronted by Merida, flanked by the Merry Men and the few people that came from Camelot as Granny stood with a pram that held both new-born girls side by side wrapped up in blankets to keep the chill in the air from getting to them.

"Is it true? Magic might disappear?" the redheaded archer asks the towns leaders in front of her.

"Only if Henry and Tom destroy the crystal" Snow told the groups honestly.

"Which they won't" David tells them "Not with Emma and Regina searching for them".

"Yeah, but what if they don't find him in time?" Merida points out to them "How are we gonna get back without magic?".

"It won't be a problem if we send you home now" Snow tells her.

"We?" Zelena questions the princess next to her as she takes the wand out of her coat "I think you mean me, dear".

"But this time, summon the portal without the twister?" Snow asks her making the witch pout at her.

"You heroes ruin all the fun. Very well" with a wave of the object a door appeared in the middle of the street, ready to take those that wanted to leave the means to go back home.


Boston

Following the GPS tracker on Henry's phone they were taken to a bus depot where they had cornered a driver that had gone through Storybrooke to take the young teens away. Holding up her phone Regina showed the female driver a picture of Tom and Henry together as Emma searches the bus that the GPS told them the boys were.

"He wasn't on the bus?" Regina asks the driver.

"Lady, I don't know what to tell you. Everyone got off" the driver tells the dark brunette.

"Then why does the GPS tracker still say he's on it?" she barks at driver as Emma steps off the bus with two cell phones in her hands.

"Because they hid their phones under one of the seats" Emma tells her "They wanted us to think they came to Boston".

"Ladies, if you don't mind, it's my lunch" the driver excuses herself from the pair as Regina snatches the phones from Emma's hand.

"Got any more bright ideas?" she snaps at the blonde as throws both phones into a nearby trash can with quickly engulfs in flames "Well... that's new" Regina says in shock.

"How's that even possible?" Emma asks outload "We're in the land without magic"

"And so are the boy's with the crystal" Regina answers

"And all of the magic from Storybrooke" using her own magic Emma quickly extinguishes the fire in the trashcan with a wave her own hand "Regina, if our magic works out here, Gold's magic works out here".

"We've got to find them before he does".

"Well, if they're not in Boston, then where are they?".


New York

Stepping off the bus in New York City. Tom, MJ and Violet's head's craned upwards to admire the tall skyscrapers that surrounded them as Henry watched his friends take in their new surroundings. Ditching their phones on the other bus at the older teen's request, he knew all about the tracker that his mother had put on his phone at the Sheriff's suggestion. They didn't need anyone following them.

"I thought the spires of Camelot were tall" Violet said to Henry awestruck at the buildings around them.

"Welcome to New York City" a laugh escaped the young assassins mouth as he grabbed MJ's hand and followed Henry down the busy streets.


With the portal back home now open for those that wished to leave the town of Storybrooke. David guided them through as John Smith stood next to Little John who had Roland in his hands as he waited to say goodbye once again.

Even if Anastasia didn't want to come with him, he knew he needed to get back to the place where he would no longer get in his son's way. He couldn't force him to come with him as much as he could force Anastasia. But this is what he needed to do. Even if it meant the possibility of not seeing his children again. They would be in good hands with the people his first love cared for, that she fought for until her dying breath.

"Are you sure Regina won't mind us leaving without a goodbye?" Little John asked Zelena. Everyone could see that the former Queen had grown fond of the boy her wife loved as her own.

"She'll understand" she tells him "Robin would want him to grow up in Sherwood forest" wicked witch says before crouching down to speak to small forlorn Roland "We'll come and visit you soon, okay? And we'll even bring your baby sister" at that Granny crouched down with baby Robin in her arms to allow the small boy to kiss her forehead before turning back to Zelena.

Reaching into his sleeve he pulled out the end part of an arrow giving it to the redhead "For Auntie. From one of my papa's arrows".

The sentiment made the witch smile to herself as the boy would call her sister his 'Auntie' like he did with Amelia.

"How sweet" she says taking the piece from him "She'll cherish it".

"Can you tell Auntie Amy I miss her too" Roland asks of her.

The smile on her face dropped as it dawned on her of who he was speaking about. He wanted to give the piece of arrow to Amelia. Maybe he had forgotten she had died as well or that he just wanted to leave a piece of him and his father on her grave.

"I will sweetheart" she promises the young boy before, the boy steps forward to hug her before Little John guides him through the portal allowing John to stand in front of the Witch.

The two pair stood in silence as the Captain thought of anything to tell the woman that had singlehandedly tore his friends life apart. That had helped King Arthur sentence his wife to death in hope it would make true a prophesy of Merlin's undoing. That had lost the man she loved to save the rest of her family.

Underneath the envy was a good woman that now wanted to raise her daughter as best she could. Something he could understand.

"You're a good woman Zelena" he tells her "Don't forget that".

"Thank you, John," she says before he glances over to his daughter now in Granny's arms before making himself look back to the others before landing on Anastasia who stood silently with her arms across her chest as she tried to avoid his gaze.

"Look out for her for me, will you?" he asks the hero's and Zelena "If she's anything like her mother when she older, she's going to be a handful".

A chuckle escaped the Prince's lips at the sentence before nodding "We will" David spoke up for him and his wife "We'll all look out for them both" he promises the Captain as the latter takes out an envelope from his back pocket, handing them to the Prince.

"Could you give this to Tom when he get's back" he asks the man as the Prince hears his voice breaking "I need him to know how proud I am of him".

"Of course" David promised the Captain taking the letter from him to tuck away safely as the latter stood as the last person to walk through the portal back the Enchanted Forest.

Looking back at Anastasia once more. Maybe he did love her more he thought he did as he wished for her to simply look his way, tell him he wasn't just feeling this way because he was leaving. But as she refused to look at him, the Captain nodded to himself before walking towards the portal and disappearing from sight as he stepped back into the Enchanted Forest to restart his life once again.

Glancing towards the blonde assassin, the former Princess could see the conflict in her eye's as she stood staring at the open door that John Smith had just left through. She loved him. She knew the look the best, but her loyalty to her sister and nephew were keeping her from following the man that had managed to worm into her heart, past the tough exterior that she and her sister had perfected over the years of training to protect them from getting hurt.

"Anastasia, you should follow him" Snow tells the younger woman.

"My happy ending is not a man" the blonde assassin tell the Princess stubbornly.

"Of course not" Snow replies "But the possibility of love is part of happiness, and you have to be open to that even if it means leaving Amelia behind".

The shield around her crumbled at the mention of her older sister as tears fell down her cheeks. The part of her that wanted to follow him screamed out, but the other part of her was making her stay to look out for her nephew that reminded her of her father.

"I can't believe she's gone" she wept out to the Princess her voice cracking as she spoke from the grief she felt "I loved her so much".

"I know and Amelia loved you" the Princess wept along side her "You need to think of what she would want you to do. She's not here to tell you what to do anymore and as much as that hurts, you need to follow your heart to the person that make that hurt less painful. If not for you, do it for John".

"Tom will be fine here. He so many people that love him around him. It'll be hard, but not as hard seeing you unhappy because you didn't take your chance to be with someone you clearly love".

Turning her head to look at the former Princess in the eye's for any sign the woman would be lying to her. But she was right Tom would be fine here, not straight away but he would be fine.

"Thank you" she breathes out the younger woman "For everything" she adds before taking the determined steps towards door, walking through the portal to find her future with someone her sister once loved enough to become the worst version of herself for.

"That's everyone" David announces "Let's close it up" the others stood back Zelena took out her wand sending a ball of green magic into the portal to close it just as they hear her name being called out by a familiar voice down the street.

"Zelena!" Snapping their heads up the sound they all froze in shock as they saw Amelia in her the same outfit she was buried in running down the street with a murderous look on her face.

"Bloody Hell" Hook swore as her figure got nearer unaware that the wind had picked up around them and the portal started to misshapen as the woman got nearer and nearer holding a rather sharp long silver dagger in her hand as Zelena tried to control the portal as it became more unstable only be distracted by her sister's wife, making her way towards her at a very fast pace.

"What's happening?" Granny asked the witch.

"Stand back!" Zelena warned the grandmother with the two infants.

"It must have something to do with magic being tied to that bloody crystal" Hook hypnotized as Zelena didn't know what to deal with the assassin coming straight for her or the portal.

"That doesn't explain why Lia's here!" Snow yelled above the wind.

"Zelena!" Amelia yelled again as she jumped into the air with dagger poised at Zelena neck only for the portal to swallow the group up taking them into the portal before the door disappeared.


Spat out of the portal, the group of hero's, former villains and resurrected assassin's landed hard grass as they rolled to a stop making them grunt out in pain and discomfort before back onto their feet to try and find where they had ended up as unfamiliar tree's surrounded them.

"Everyone okay?" David asked everyone as they all got up without any visible injuries.

"For now" Hook answered as Snow sat on her knee's frantically looking for the person they hadn't expected to see.

"Amelia!" Snow called out to the assassin spotting her still on the ground a little away from them with her back to them. Hurrying over with David and Hook following her they pulled the redhead onto her back to see her with her eye's closed and her head lolling to the side "I-is she breathing?" the princess started to panic as Zelena reluctantly followed the group to find her sister-in-law.

She hadn't changed from the last time she had set eyes on the woman; her porcelain skin was without any marks her gauntlets sat on her forearms with the only difference was that she was in her white and red assassin robe, something Regina had insisted on burying the redhead in.

"Here" Hook said finding the dagger the assassin was wielding just before they came to this strange place, picking it up from the ground, the pirate held the steel under her nose as Snow sought out to find a pulse on her neck that would tell them that the assassin was really here and alive again.

The group, including Zelena held their breath as they saw the small puff of condensation gather on the steel dagger before fading away

"Well I'll be damned" he chuckled out with a smile that Snow mirrored feeling the strong pulse on her friends neck "She alive".

"Aren't you forgetting that she was just trying to kill me not even ten seconds ago?!" Zelena angrily reminded the others of the assassin's homicidal rage.

"I thought you said she moved on?" David asked the pirate ignoring Zelena's complaints.

"Aye. That's what Zeus told me, she must have found a way back" Hook deduced. He knew the woman better thinking she would be happy away from her family and friends.

"Then why isn't she waking up" the concerned princess asks her husband.

"I don't know" he said as something caught his eye as he looked for any clue that would tell them where they were "Look" across a rocky gorge sat a large mansion.

"Well, we're certainly not in Storybrooke anymore" Zelena huffed out to the others.


As the group came to the realisation they weren't going anywhere soon. Snow remained at Amelia's side on the ground as she willed for the assassin to wake up and help them figure out how they could get home. Instead, she stayed asleep as the former Princess folded her scarf underneath the unconscious woman's head as she soundly slept off whatever it had taken for her to come back to the land of the living.

"If this isn't Storybrooke or the Enchanted Forest, then where are we?" Snow voiced from the ground next to the unconscious assassin.

"Well, wherever we are, I'd rather not stick around long enough to find out" David said "Can you... use the wand and get us back to Storybrooke?" he asked the former Wicked Witch.

"Not quite" Zelena said as she held the two pieces of the wand in her hand.

"So we're trapped in this mysterious realm, wherever it is" Hook states to the witch.

"You can fix it, right?" David asked the woman.

"Of course. Do you happen to have any duct tape?" she retorted sarcastically "We're not affixing the bumper to that God-awful truck of yours. This requires the proper potions, none of which I have with me. Unless she's hiding anything in that robe of hers" she pointed toward the unconscious assassin.

"Well, then we're just gonna have to go find them" Snow suggested.

"Then we'll have to move quickly. If we don't find Regina and Emma before Henry and Tom destroys magic, fixing this wand won't matter. We'll be cut off from Storybrooke for good" Zelena said glancing towards the sleeping assassin. Only if she know what was happening in the land of the living, maybe she could've given her son good telling off.

David sighed as he heard the sound of clipping in the distance "Hold on, I hear something" he walked toward the sound only to be stopped by his wife.

"Wait, what about Lia?" she said standing from the ground grabbing Charming's hands "She's defenceless out here".

"I'll stay with her" Hook quickly volunteered to watch over his friend, allowing the other's to find whatever help was out there.

"No" David sternly tells the pirate "We need to stick together" he insists to the others.

"David, we can't just leave her like this" he heard his wife plead from the ground, seeing the fear in her eye's at the thought of leaving the assassin behind so soon after getting her back.

"I know your scared we'll lose her again, but she can't go anywhere while she's like this and someone might know how to help her, okay. We'll come back for her, I promise" hearing his promise the former Princess reluctantly nods in agreement as she gave her friend one last look before letting her true love help her off the ground allow him to lead the group toward the sound.


Ignoring the gnawing gut feeling in her stomach to go back and stay by her friends side. Snow left her sleeping on the ground, with the only comfort knowing she was at least alive again as the group came across a garden, to find the source of the sound David had heard to see a man with spectacles and a long brown coat clipping small purple flowers

"Excuse me" David called out to the man putting on his friendliest smile "Can you tell us what land we're in?".

Startled at the strangers that had come into the gardens the man turns to run only for Hook to easily catch up to him and take him back to the groups of strangers, against his will.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! No need to run!" the pirate tells the man as he drags him back to the group.

"Please don't hurt me" the man pleads with them.

"We just want to know what land we're in" David told the man holding up his hands to him "A friend of ours is hurt back there and needs help".

"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers" he tells them, looking out for the groundsman that roamed the gardens.

"It's okay" Snow spoke to the man, trying to calm him down "You don't need to be afraid of us".

"No, you don't understand" he corrects them "You shouldn't be here. You have to go" he insisted.

"Well, that's what we want to do. We're trying to get home to our families, to a town called Storybrooke" she tells him.

"That's a s-strange name".

"We need magic to get back there. Can you help us?".

"Magic? N-No, no, no" he stammers in nervousness "M-Magic is dangerous. If I help you, I'll be punished".

"Punished? By who?" David asked the man as a man dressed in a white coat and matching trousers calmly approached them.

"By me" he states to the groups of heroes from Storybrooke as he didn't give them a chance to speak again as he took out his baton and electrocuted them, sending them hurtling back away from Dr. Jekyll.


She should be used to waking up in the land of the living since this would be the second times she's done it in less than a few hours, but started to come too after being swallowed up in the portal before everything went dark, her mind finally told her to wake up as her eye's snapped open to find herself on her back look up at horizontal bars above her.

As her mind caught up to the present she took in a lungful of air, feeling her heart beat against in chest like a drum, as her body caught up to the rest of her mind as she suddenly sat up to find herself in a cage with Snow, David, Hook and Zelena all looking her way as they got up from a similar postilion she was in.

"Lia!" a familiar voice cried out to her not giving her a chance to she didn't get a chance to exhale as a pair of arms were wrapped around her neck in a welcoming embrace that she heartily returned as Snow's familiar scent engulfed her as she let her mind take a

"Snow" she breathed out as she held her friend with one arm as she breathed in the woman's comforting sent, she had become accustomed to as her eye's closed as she enjoyed the woman's embrace, pulling away from the hug, the older redhead saw the tears of relief that threatened to fall from the former Princesses eyes, holding the younger woman's head between her hands her wide smirk matched the one on Snows.

"You're okay" the younger woman breathed out "You're really here" she added as she gripped the redhead's arms in her hands, not wanting to let go again in case she somehow slipped away from her again.

"I am. I'm here Snow" she croaked out.

"But how? We all though you had moved on" she questioned her old friend as the other's watched.

The question made the redhead pause as she tried to think of way to tell them how she came to be back in the land of the living. She wasn't sure how to.

"It's uh... kind of a long story" was all she could tell her "It's hard to explain right now. I'm not even sure what happened if I'm being honest".

"Then don't" Snow insists seeing the slight look of distress on her friends face "All that matter's is that you're here".

Stepping forward, a Hook entered the assassin peripheral vision making her look away from her old friend to see the one-handed pirate she had left in the Underworld to find a way to save their family form Hades, smirking down at her.

"Welcome back love" he greets the woman back in the land of the living.

Taking hold of the silver hook, the pirate pulls the assassin onto her feet with Snow following her only to flinch in fear as an open handed slap handed hard on the pirates face making his head whip to side, as the other's saw the skin under his stubbled jaw start to turn red as she shook out her hand feeling the sting on the surface of her palm. It wasn't as hard as she would usually hit someone, but it still stung like a bitch neither less.

The whole cage was sent into stunned silence at the woman's actions as they waited for the pirates reaction despite wanting to know why she hit him.

"That" the former Widow panted out "Was for not coming to say goodbye".

"Aye" he stated clenching his jaw before turning his head back forward to look at the assassin "I deserved that" he added with a tight lipped smirk to himself, he should've known she wouldn't forgive him so easily for not coming to the caverns to see her off.

"To be fair.." he trailed off before continuing "I was busy saving our friends from the God of the Underworld".

The assassin remained silent glancing over to her sister-in-law who couldn't meet her gaze knowing how exactly Hades was stopped in the end. Zelena deserved better, all she wanted was to have what her sister had with her assassins, to be truly loved, but his ambitions outgrew any affection he had for her in the end.

"Yeah...I know" she quietly replied with a meek nod of her head "Speaking of" she added quickly changing the subject "Where the hell are we?".

"Your guess is as good as ours" David told the redhead as he stepped forward to hug the woman himself that she welcomed, before pulling apart again as she heard Zelena speak to her for the first time.

"Well, well look who decided to re-join the living" the witch smirked at the redhead from her place in the cage.

Despite the sympathy she felt for the woman at losing the man she loved, the image of Robin's gravestone flashed in her mind, a angered fog came over her as she flicked out her right hand in reply only for the sound of her blade sliding out of her gauntlet never to come, making her look down to see both her brown leather gauntlets missing from her forearms.

"Who took my blades!?" she asked outload as she searched the rest of her body of to find that her outer robe had been taken off her torso, the one that had been displayed in her part of the vault that symbolised her life away from the Black Widow. She knew she had her hidden blades when she was in the cemetery, in front of her own grave.

"I guess now we know what that Groundsman was so afraid of" David commented to the other's as the redhead looked at him in confusion.

"Groundsman?" Amelia questioned the Prince.

"This isn't like any dungeon I've ever seen" Snow added as Zelena examined the bares that encased them.

"These bars are enchanted" the witch reports to them as Amelia inspected the bars herself as she blinked on her sixth sense only to see the 'shield' that kept them inside the cage "Magic won't get us out of here".

"Which means brute force it out of the question" the redheaded concurred with the Witches theory.

"What about the wand?" David asked the witch "Do you still have it?".

"Should I be offended that he didn't frisk me?" Zelena said as she found the two pieces of wand in her coat "Not that this is any use to us in here".

"Hide it" Snow quickly tells her as they saw a silhouette of a man through the doors "Someone's coming".

Jumping towards the front of the bars the assassin watched the the doors to the room open to a man with pale skin and neat haircut and suit in the distance "There you are. The prisoners who attacked my groundsman".

"No, no, no. We didn't attack anyone" David spoke for the group "This is just a big misunderstanding. We just want to know where we are".

"All you need to know is that you don't want to be here, and that you're the ones who are going to be answering my questions" the man retorts as the assassin spots that scar that ran down the side of his face as he walked through the rays of light that came into the room "Like why are you really here?" he asks them.

"We just want to go home" Snow tells the man.

"You must think me so naïve. I know you're lying" he continued not believing them as he climbed the stairs up to the cage "I know who really sent you. So tell me... what does the Dark One want? And why would he send a member of the Brotherhood of Assassins to do his dirty work" he continued looking straight at Amelia, holding his gaze with her eye's

"You know the bloody Crocodile? Who are you? What do you really want?" Hook questioned the man stepping towards the bars only for the stranger to reach in and grab the pirate by the throat.

"Don't lie to me" the man growled out as Hook gasped for air.

Jumping forward the former Prince tries to pull the pirate away from the man only to struggle against the man's simple display of strength.

"He's too strong" David grunts out struggling to help his daughter's love as the redhead sprang forward reaching out with her hand to help only for the man to quickly grasp it to stop her from helping, holding it vice grip hard enough to make the woman wince in pain feeling his grip reaching through the layers of muscles to the bone that felt like he could easily snap if he really wanted to.

"Look, we get it" Snow jumped in to speak to the stranger holding Hook's neck and Amelia's forearm "You're powerful. But killing him isn't gonna change the truth, which is that we don't work for Rumplestiltskin. He's our enemy. He's the whole reason we're here. He tried to steal magic from our town to wake the woman he loves. She's..." the man finally let go of the pirate as he looked at Snow in disbelief "pregnant" she finished.

"You expect me to believe that the Dark One has found love?".

"Yes" Amelia huffed out as she cradled her arm in her hand "So whatever grudge you have against him, we have nothing to do with it. Let us go, and you won't have to worry about us ever again" she tells him.

"In my experience, if you really don't want to worry about something, you lock it into a cage... A strong cage, like this one. It's when you unlock the cage... that's when the trouble starts" he turns and leaves the group in the cage.

"Okay" Amelia breaks the shocked silence as she turned on her heel to meet everyone's gaze one by one as Hook sat hunched over on the ground with David behind him as he recovering from being choked "Someone care to catch me up on what the hell has gone on while I was away?!".

Looking up at his wife in concern, he met her gaze knowing they would have to catch her up on everything's that's happened since they left her in the Underworld. They hoped they might have some more time but the look on the assassin face told those present she wouldn't be happy with anything but the whole truth.

"We'll tell you everything" David promises her "You might want to sit down for this".


New York

Unaware of what had happened back in Storybrooke, Emma and Regina had finally caught up to their wayward teenage sons in New York, more specifically, Neals old apartment.

The last time they had been in here Amelia was here to save her friend from her sister only to find out she was pregnant. Something broke the assassin that night as she left the apartment without her gauntlets, like any chance of them being anything more than just good friends had completely vanished for good.

"Looks like Henry was here, but I don't think he was alone" Emma said as she held up the LP cover to Yazoo's 'Only You' single in her hand "This is, uh, Henry and Violet's song" she informs the older woman.

"They have a song?" Regina asks the blonde.

"He really likes her. She's a nice girl".

"You're just saying that because you feel bad about ripping her heart out in Camelot" she replied as Emma made her way over to the desk where as laptop sat on "I'll like her a lot better when I know where she's taken my son".

"Not just her" the blonde says to her, catching her attention again "Ten dollars says Tom has brought MJ with him"

"I knew I should've left her in that cell in Camelot" the former Queen huffs in annoyance that both of her boys have brought their 'girlfriends' along with them on their endeavour to destroy magic.

"Well, I think I might be able to figure that out" the blonde said as she sits down in front of a laptop to look up its search history "Yes. They've definitely been here. Tried to wipe the search history clean. Luckily, I can get it back" she says taking out the USB on her set of keys from her bails bond days.

"I won't hold my breath" Regina said as she ventured into the bedroom "Maybe there's something else in here that can tell us where they've gone".

Looking towards the bookshelf, the former Queen catches the title of a book she knew well enough to take it from it's place to look at the front cover.

'Robin Hood:

Myth and Legend'

Seeing it again made the former Queen smile to herself as the memories of her love showing it to her after finding it in the library flooded into her mind.

"Did you find something?" Emma's voice floated in from the other room seeing something in her friends hands from her place in front of the laptop.

"One of Robin's books" Regina answered the blonde's question stepping back into the living room with the book in her hands "He must have brought it with him from Storybrooke when he came here. I know because Melia showed it to me before giving it to him" hearing this the blonde saviour flashed her friend a sad smile as the older woman carried on as she held the book like it was one of the most precious things in the world "It's a collection of this world's legends about Robin Hood. She laughed at everything they got wrong".

Opening the front cover to find the inscription the redhead had made onto the front page as she stood at the kitchen counter with her laughing at what the book had said about her friend before quickly writing a small note in front of her soulmate, that simply said:

'My Robin, from Amelia x'

But as she opened the hardback over to find the note, she instead found two envelopes, one opened addressed to Robin himself with the address of the apartment in Amelia's neat cursive handwriting and the other addressed to her wife with the address of the apartment she and Tom had lived in before moving in with her and Henry permanently, ready to be sent to her.

The discovery made the former Queen's heart skip a beat as she gently stroked the dried ink on the worn envelope.

"What is it? Are you okay?" the blonde notices the woman's sudden silence.

"Letter's" she says showing them to the blonde as she stepped towards the woman not knowing what to do with them "One she wrote to Robin, and he wrote one back. She must've written to him without me knowing when he was trying to make things work with Marian".

"Or your sister" Emma corrected her.

"So, what do I do?" she asks for the blonde help looking at the letter her love had unknowingly sent to the thief and the one that remain unsent.

"I think you have to read them" Emma advised her seeing how much this had effected her.

"Isn't that invading her privacy? She never told me she wrote him a letter. He wouldn't even reply to her phone calls".

"Maybe she needed to find some closure after saying goodbye at the town line? I mean they were together once. Weren't they?"

"Mmm" the former Queen hummed nodding in agreement placing the book to one side as she grasped both letter in her hands still not sure what to do.

"Regina." Emma called out to her friend "She's not here to tell you what in the letter" she reminds her.

Regina sat down on the brown leather chair near the window as she re-opened the letter that her wife had sent to her thief mere months ago.

My Robin,

There are so many things I need to tell you;

I miss you.

There hasn't been a day that goes by where I don't think about you and what you nearly told me at the town line. The truth is, if I hadn't stopped you, I would have never let you take a step over that line. Because I love you as well.

I've loved you since the night I met you in the tavern, you were once the reason I wanted to give up everything for.

I can't keep thinking of what if's and maybe's any more, otherwise I wouldn't be where I am now. With my son and a boy that is slowly becoming more of a son to me day by day than a distant cousin and the woman I plan on marrying even if it's the last thing I did on this earth and

I don't expect you to understand, but I will always choose them over anything else, even a second chance with you. Even if it breaks the part of my heart you still occupy.

I made a promise to someone a long time ago that I would stay by her side through the good days and bad. If I can't keep any other promises but that one, then my life would have been worth living.

This isn't goodbye my friend, we will meet again.

Your dearest Amelia.

Wiping the tear that fallen from her eye at the redheads words, the former Queen hesitated before moving onto the letter that was addressed to her soulmate, to read the former thief's response to heartfelt letter that assassin had written him.

"My dearest Amelia,

I know I shouldn't be writing this, but I had to let you know how proud I am of you. You opened your heart to love and let it change you even in your darkest hour. And no matter what separates us, I know you'll always be the heroine woman I fell in love with all those years ago.

Your dearest friend.

Your Robin".

After finishing both letters Regina jumped from the chair and walked back to the bedroom hastily putting the simple letter back into the envelope sleeve as she tried to compose herself.

"Regina?" Emma called out to her seeing her quickly walk out of the room "You okay? What did it say?".

"Please, Emma, if you're gonna try to make me feel better, don't. No, I know that I can't, and I won't" the former Queen replied with her back to the saviour.

"I'm... sorry about earlier" Emma tells her "I was so wrapped up worrying about how you'd react to Hook, I... I wasn't there for you about Amelia".

At the woman's word she turned to look at the saviour "You want to know why I got so angry? Because you're right. The Evil Queen... is inside me... always trying to get out. I can't expect you to get it" she scoffs out the last sentence.

"Well, I fought the darkness. You know I do understand" Emma tried to tell her.

"All due respect, but you don't" Regina retorted "You went up to the precipice. But you got pulled back before it consumed you. I was consumed. And I have to live with it every day".

"I can't imagine how that feels".

"It's exhausting. I'm constantly at war with my instincts. Like with Hook. My first impulse... was to rip his throat out" she tells the blonde with hate behind her voice "Because it's not fair that he survives, and Melia doesn't. But I didn't" she sighed "Because now I know that's wrong. Much as I want to give in to evil, I don't. So I do good... and hate every moment of it" she says taking a seat on the chair she read the letters on.

"You hate doing good?" Emma questioned her friend.

"Yes" she admits to the blonde taking the latter by surprise "It's complicated. I know it's right, but it always leads to loss for me. Yet I keep doing it now, and I keep suffering. But I know the Evil Queen can't return, so... that's how it has to be. I'll never be at peace with myself" still unsettled Regina stand from the chair this time leaving the two letters behind, turning her back on the blonde folding her arms across her chest as if she were trying her best to keep herself from breaking apart Infront of the saviour.

"That's not true" the blonde saviour tells her "You fell in love with Amelia, and you were happy" Emma points out.

"Yeah, and look what happened" she snapped at the blonde turning to face her "I am what I am. I did what I did. Many years ago, I had a choice. Snow White told a secret. And I could have chosen to forgive her. Melia tried to warn me, and I didn't listen. Instead... I did terrible things. Unspeakable things. And even worse I dragged her down with me. That will always hang over me. I've tried to be the hero".

"And you have been" Emma tries to argue snatching up the letters from the chair the older woman had left them.

"But it doesn't matter. There's no redemption for me. There's only suffering. Because now I have a curse. The curse of knowing the difference between good and evil. And I'm caught between them. If I revert, I lose everyone I love. Henry... my friends... Everyone. And if I go forward trying to be good, I have to live with my past darkness and all its well-deserved consequences".

"I don't believe that. I believe in you" Emma tells her.

"That's because... you are good" Regina says placing her hands on Emma's shoulders to meet her gaze "But for me, it's a simple choice, really. I'd rather suffer than see that pain on the people I care about. This is my fate. I'm trapped".

The computer beeping brings the pair out of their moment, instead of going straight to the devise to find out where Henry and Tom had gone, the saviour placed the letter in the older woman's hand with the assassin's letter on top. leaving the dark brunette to away her tears to check the computer.

"They're at the Midtown Library" Emma tells Regina.

"What are they doing there?" the latter reply unbeknownst of Gold stood outside the apartment door.


She was glad she sat down now. Silence enveloped the cage they were all trapped in as Snow took her time explaining everything that had happened since the other's had left the Underworld via the portal. I was a lot to take in.

She had learnt of how her friend ended up in the grave near her own. Hades had killed him in using the Olympian Crystal as he jumped in front of Regina before Zelena turned it on the God himself.

Now both her sons with their 'girlfriends' were on a suicide mission to God knows where hell bent on destroying magic once and for all with the piece of the thing that killed her best friend with her Uncle after them so he could wake his pregnant wife up from her self-imposed sleeping curse.

Snow watched for anything on the redhead's face that would tell her anything to way she was feeling, instead the woman just stared into space with a few tear streaks down her pale skin.

"Lia" Snow called out the woman next to her as she squeezes her hand trying her best to give her as much support as should at that moment. Unknown to her cellmates apart from maybe Hook, she was having a metal battle inside her head. One part of her told her to cross the cage and choke every inch of life out of Zelena's eyes and give into her instinct to kill the person for letting her down and allowing her friend to die with no hope of moving on.

She wanted to do the same to her. She wanted to make her suffer. And she was afraid to admit that part of her was winning. Instead, she stayed silent as David looked towards the pirates as he continued to rub his throat to ease the discomfort from the Warden's grip.

"You all, right?" David asked the man as Snow left the redhead to take in the information, she had just been told joining her husband at the door to the cage.

"Aye. Bloody fantastic" the man dryly replied "Other than that, even in this hellish land, the bloody Crocodile manages to get in my way. What the devil do you think he did to that warden?".

"Well, with him, it could be anything" Snow said as the suddenly heard something break from where Amelia sat to see the redhead standing having sent her foot through the stool she bent down to pick up a makeshift stake before standing up straight to look straight at the Wicked Witch with a deadly look on her face making the latter stand up a little straighter before the door to the room rattled gaining their attention.

"Get ready. Someone's coming" Snow warned them as Amelia's attention was taken away from the woman opposite her to walk over to the front of the cage with the stake firmly in her grasp hiding it behind her back ready for whoever was coming. A look of warning went between Hook, David and Snow at the assassin sudden movements.

"Okay. Let's do this" Amelia's demeanour changed from the state of shock to determination as she hid the stake behind her back as man entered the room but this time instead of the strong well poised Warden came another man Amelia didn't recognize.

"There you are" he greets them his eye's glancing over to the redhead "Ah good…and your friend she's alright".

"What are you doing here?" Snow asked the man from Amelia's right.

"What... what does it look like? I'm here to help you" the man in glasses said as he climbed the stairs up to the cage.

"Help us? Last time, you wouldn't even talk to us" David retorted from Amelia's left as Hook kept an eye on the stake that was in the assassin hand from behind her.

"That's because the Warden was watching me. I had no choice".

"If you really want to help us, prove it... open those bloody bars" Hook demanded.

"I can't. His orderly, Poole, keeps the key with him at all times" he tells them "I might be able to get the magic you need... if you'll make a promise to me first" he bartered with the group inside the cage.

"Tell us" Snow replies "Anything".

"When you leave this place, promise you'll take me with you back to your home".

"To Storybrooke? Why?" Amelia was the one to ask him.

"Because I wasn't always the gardener here. I-I-I was a doctor, b-before the Warden took control and ruined everything. He... he made me a prisoner".

"Look, we need magic so I can fix this wand" Zelena angrily snaps at the nervous man.

"I-I know exactly where to go" he tells her "The hospital lab, but... I can't take anything without the Warden knowing that it's missing. You'll have to give the pieces to me so I can fix it there. Then I'll bring them back" the man reaches inside the cage to take the pieces of wand from Zelena's hand only for Amelia to grab it trapping his arm in her strong grip and holding the point of the stake dangerously close to his eye. David and Hook couldn't do anything at the assassin looked poised to kill the man on the spot.

"Amelia" Snow warned her as Amelia felt her heart beating tenfold in her chest from the rush of adrenaline that pumped through her veins as Snow continued "Please understand, that wand is our only way home. Okay, so why should we trust you?" she continued as the man didn't even struggle to break free from the redhead's grip

"You've met the Warden. Trust me, I want to get away from him as much as you do".

"This is a bad plan" Amelia pointed out the Princess without as she continued to stare out the man.

"It's the only one we've got" Snow told her but the assassin refused to let the man go "Amelia let him go" she tried to prompt the woman only for Amelia to reluctantly let him go to allow Zelena to give him the pieces of their only hope home.


New York

Still unaware of their mothers presence in New York Henry and Tom poured over piles of book in the Rare Reading Room in the Midtown Library under the guise that they needed to research for their mid-term papers in their group study. Surprisingly they had found more of Henry's story book with more stories they hadn't read before in them coming to the conclusion that they were real as well.

But it seemed that they had come to another dead end as they couldn't find anything about destroying magic in any of them.

"Now I see why my dad gave up" Henry spouted off in frustration "There's nothing in here about destroying magic. We came all this way for nothing".

"Not for nothing. You'll figure it out" Violet tried to encourage her friend as she search for anything she could see that would help until she saw a chalice sitting in a glass cabinet.

"Henry!" Violet suddenly exclaimed "Henry, I know why your dad never finished his quest" she said taking her friends to the cabinet "It's because he never visited Camelot. Back in Camelot, my tutor used to show me paintings of the Holy Grail. He said it was the source of all magic. And it looked just like that".

"But the Grail turned into Excalibur. That can't be it".

"No, the Grail was always silver, but... this looks kind of like it... it... its twin. And if the Grail really was the beginning of all magic... This might be the end of it. Yeah" he agreed with the girl before looking to Tom "Do you think you can unlock it?".

"Sure" Tom shrugged "Stand back" the older teen told the others as he picked up one of the heavy books.

"Why? What are you gonna..." Henry's question was answered as Tom used the book to shatter the glass that stood in their way. Reaching in he picked up the grail and placed it on the table before taking the piece of Olympian crystal from his jacket pocket placing it near the chalice.

The four watched as the crystal shone a bright white as it started to vibrate on the table, the silver and black chalice started to move towards it like a magnet.

"You were right" Henry said as a smile grew on Tom's face "This will destroy magic".

"So what do we do now? What... what happens next?" MJ questioned the boys as Henry snatch the grail off the table and packed it away in his backpack as Tom took the crystal.

"Whatever it is, it's not safe to do here" Henry said as all four of them headed towards the door only to be cut off by Mr. Gold himself ".

"Hello, Boys" taking a fighting stance Tom flicked out one of his hidden blades silently warning the man not to get any nearer.

"Get behind me" Tom tells the girls as Henry stood next to him ready to face his grandfather "You're not getting this. Not without a fight" the older teen warns the man.

"Too bad you're gonna lose" with a wave of his hand the four fell onto the ground with their eye's closed as Gold simply took the crystal out of his great nephews hand.


All they could do was wait now. Wait for the Doctor to return with Zelena's wand. Wait for him to let them out, wait until she could get back to the woman she loved and her children.

Wait until the urge to stick the makeshift stake into Zelena's neck to fade away. She leant against the bars as she watched the doors for any sign of the Doctor's return with the wooden stake still in her hand the other's too scared to even dare to take it away from her.

Something needed to be done. The redhead was quickly spiralling into her Black Widow persona, they were all in danger if she slipped. But there was only one person that had any hope of calming the woman done and luckily, she was trapped in the same cage the assassin.

"Lia what was that?" Snow asked the redhead calmly keeping her voice down as the others kept to themselves while keeping an ear out on the conversation.

"What are talking about Snow?" Amelia feigned ignorance as she continued to stare down the door.

"You know what I'm talking about Amelia, you…lost control" she gulped out the last two words.

"The situation called for it, I was only playing my part".

"That wasn't you Lia" Snow argued "That looked more like..".

"The Widow" Amelia finished for the younger woman "You don't think I don't' know that".

"Then why do it?".

Amelia tore her eye's off the door to look between the hero's in their small group "Because the Black Widow is inside me always trying to get out, I can't expect you or your husband ever to get it".

"Emma fought the darkness, we understand" David tried to argue with the woman.

"With all due respect to your daughter, she doesn't, and she never will. She got pulled back before it consumed her. I was".

"I can't imagine how that feels" Snow tried to empathise with her.

"It's exhausting. I'm constantly at war with myself. Take Zelena…"she pause glancing at the witch meeting her gaze "You gave me your word that you would look out for Robin, instead his grave was the first thing that greeted me when I came back. Every fibre of my mind was consumed on making you suffer, the only thing that stopped me from killing you was that portal and coming here".

"And now?" the witch asked her with a curious brow rising on her face.

"I can't stop thinking about putting this straight through your eye" she admitted to the woman indicating to the stake in her hand "But I don't do it because I know it's wrong, As much as I want to give into it, I don't. and I hate every moment of it"

"That's not true" David spoke up "You fell in love with Regina, you were happy"

"Yeah" she scoffed at the man "And look what happened. I tried to be the hero I made the sacrificial play only for that to be taken away for my Uncle to become even more powerful than before" she exclaimed in frustration before she looked to Hook "You want to know what happened to me after I jumped into the cavern, I moved on. I moved on and I still wasn't at peace. I'm trapped".

"Amelia…" Zelena spoke up after Amelia's rant.

"Don't!" Amelia sharply cuts her off "Don't you dare say you're sorry. I trusted you! You allowed me to tell my friend that he should give you his daughter. That is the last memory he had of me before I was attacked by assassin's sent by your boyfriend to stop my family from getting home. And I will never be able to tell him how sorry I am for doing that to him. Save any apologies until we get out of this place and we get back to Storybrooke. Because the only thing that's stopping me from killing you Zelena is that damn wand".

Turning her back on the Wicked Witch the assassin took herself to the far end of the cage to sit herself on the cold floor she had woken up on with her knee's pulled up to her chest as she mentally fought with the Widow in her head, scratching her talons on the edge of her mind to let her anger take control of her body like it did before the portal swallowed them.

Now all they could do was wait.


AN: Hello there!

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter.

Just a quick note to say 'hello' to a few new followers!. Thank you for following this story and adding it to your favourites.

Nearing the end of this season 5!

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