Edited: 12/02/24
The sound of a siren behind her woke her up from the darkness that had taken over her mind as the dazed assassin found herself where she had fallen unconscious with her ring an arms reach away from her in the cold, wet ground, the arrowhead like symbol she had grown up around blurring in and out of focus unaware that the ring had fallen an inch or so over the red painted town line.
Taking in a strangled gulp of air, the pain was the next thing she felt as her body screamed out from being shot by Captain Hook and hit by a car. It was an entirely new feeling as she had yet to experience, she had fallen victim to never ending lashings, beaten and bruised within an inch of her life and still stood back up to fight some more. But as she lied on her side with thunder rumbling above her, she never welcomed the darkness to take over her once as much as she did right then.
Arriving on the scene with her parents in the Sheriff's car, the town's blonde Sheriff was greeted with the sight of a crashed car with Gold and Belle on the town line with Captain Hook lying on his back in the mud on the side of the road and a mess of red hair she recognised on the ground, and not moving.
Jumping out of the squad car first David ran towards Belle and Mr. Gold with is wife trailing behind to attend to the frighted and confused young brunette that had accidently crossed the town line while being saved from a bullet.
Stepping out of the car herself the blonde Sheriff quickly radios for more help seeing the car that had crashed on the side of the road.
"I'm at the town line. Three people down, maybe four. There's a car – pretty banged up with Pennsylvania plates" Emma says into her phone as she approaches the scene.
"What's going on?" David asked a distressed Belle and Gold helping the man onto his feet while his wife went to the scared and confused librarian on the ground.
"She crossed over the line" Gold informs him "She doesn't remember".
Glancing over to Hook and seeing him moving, albeit in pain, from being hit by said car the blonde headed over to the assassin, who had started to move towards the red line. Moving her feet quicker the redhead barely had a finger tip over the line only to have something pull her further away from her ring that by her shoulders as the culprit called out to her to stop.
"Amelia, no!" she Emma called out to her, stopping her from going near the line "That's the town line" she reminds the woman crouching down in front of the woman, putting herself between the assassin and the redline in case she accidently went over it herself.
"The ring" she groans out to the blonde as she tries her best to push herself up, accidently using her injured shoulder to bare her weight as the blonde saw the extent of the woman's injuries, a nasty looking cut bled from the top of her head, underneath the woman's hairline and cut lip. But the thing that made the blonde wince was the blood that leaking onto the redhead's leather jacket that was starting to seep onto the woman's' shirt and chest from the rain that fell down on them and the thunder continued to roll. She'd been shot.
"Hey, hey stop. You've been shot" she tells the woman as she continues her protest through the pain.
"Had worse" she groans out as tried to got for the line again only for the world to start to spin around her making her fall onto her back as she felt the first signs of blood make her body come out in chills.
"What are you doing? You know you can't go over the line" she chastised the redhead.
"My ring" she panted out from the ground to the saviour "It fell off". Looking behind her the blonde saw what the redhead was talking about a simple ring on the other side of the line.
"It's just a ring" she tried to argue "You need help" she insisted.
"More..than a...ring" the assassin tries to tells her. Despite its ability to allow her to cross that line and keep her memories, it was the last thing her father had ever given to her. It outweighed any care she had of risking her memories.
Reaching over the line for the redhead, the blonde sheriff picked the ring off the ground to bring it back to it's owner, placing it in the assassin's waiting hand.
"Here" she breathes done to the assassin as she hastily threads it back onto a finger "Help's on the way, try not to move, okay?".
"Couldn't if I tried Swan" she groaned out from the ground, letting her head fall back on the hard road, blinking up at the rain that fell on her face as Hook see's the blonde sheriff at the redhead assassin's side.
"Hey, beautiful" Hook groaned out clenching his ribs in pain. Leaving the redhead the saviour walks over to the injured pirate leaving her mother to take over where her daughter had been.
"Lia" she gently called out to the older woman taking her hand in her gloved one.
"Just a scratch Snow" she lazily smiles up to the former Princess not wanting to worry her "I'm fine" she breathes up, feeling her shoulder continued to throb out in pain.
"I know" Mary Margaret tells her gripping her hand in hers as they waited for more help to arrive.
"Here, I didn't think you'd notice" Hook went on from the ground as Emma crouched down to push her hand down onto his ribs, making him yell out in pain.
"Your ribs are broken" Emma pointed out to the onehanded pirate.
"Oh, that must be why it hurts when I laugh" he replied "Did you see his face? His one true love, gone in an instant!" he yelled out loud enough for the Dark One to hear him as he tried to push himself up from the ground "Just like Milah, crocodile!" he continued to yell
Hook tried to see up with his injuries "When you took her from me…"
"But you took her first" Gold retorted as he kicks Hook on the chin sending the pirate back onto the ground, before throwing himself on top of the pirate digging his cane into the man's neck, all the while Amelia chuckled at what the man was in store for even if it made her ribs flare out in pain. It was worth it.
"Gold, are you insane?!" Emma exclaimed as she and David try and pry Gold form his homicidal rage.
"Yes, I am!" Gold retorted angrily to the pair.
"You can't do that!" David yells at the man trying his best to pry the older man off the pirate in his rage.
"I can if you let me go" Gold retorted.
"You don't want her to see that" Emma tried to reason with the man.
"I'm a stranger to her" the older man bit back at the saviour.
"Murder is a bad first impression" she tried to reason further not to let the woman he loved see him kill a man in front of her.
"What would Belle want you to do?" David tried to plead to the man as they heard sirens in the distance looking up they see an ambulance arrive at the scene distracting the pawn shop owner long enough for the former Prince to pull him off the injured pirate.
"I-s is she okay?" the assassin and pixie haired teacher suddenly heard above them as they looked up to see a skittish Belle above them looking down at the redheaded woman on the wet ground.
"Stay here" Mary-Margaret instructs the injured Amelia making the redhead scoff in annoyance as she stood from the ground to up to take the confused and oblivious cursed Belle back to the cars as the paramedics came to stop and jumped out of the vehicle to treat the injured.
"Over here!" David calls the paramedics over to Hook, only for Emma to directs their attention to the driver of the car instead.
"No! Him and Her" the blonde pointed to Amelia still on her back and the man in the car "Take care of them first. He can wait!" referring to Hook
"What?" Mary Margaret asks her daughter having overheard er instructions to the medics as one rushes by her to find Amelia lied out by the town line.
"There's someone in there" Emma informs her.
Placing the confused and dazed Belle next to a car the Princess instructs her to stay promising her to come back before joining her daughter looked at the crashed car as a paramedic looks over the unconscious driver slumped against his wheel.
"Do you know this guy?" Emma asks her mother.
"I've never seen him before" her mother replies as David joins the.
"That's because he drove into town" David points out.
"From the outside?".
"Looks like the world just came to Storybrooke" Emma states to her parents as they stare at the man that had accidently discovered the hidden town.
The redhead vaguely remembered being in the back on an ambulance with a very skittish Belle. Drifting in and out of consciousness as she was wheeled through the entrance of the hospital with a mask over her mouth and nose pushing air into her airways as a paramedic stuck by her side as they were directed by nurses to where she needed to be to be treated for the bullet wound.
Waking up some time later in a warm hospital bed in a grown she felt her entire shoulder taped up and her left arm resting in a sling as a nurse greeted the assassin telling her how lucky she was they were able to get the bullet out without Dr. Whale present. They really needed another doctor in this place.
Wide awake after the nurse changed the bloodied dressing over the stitched up wound, the assassin was left to take in her surroundings as felt the uncomfortable IV needle that had been imbedded into her skin, securely taped to her arm and hand, connected to bag a clear liquid on a thin stand next to her bed. While a number of wires had been stuck to her chest that went to the heart monitor on the other side. She must've been worse than she first thought as the machine methodically beeped to itself as she tried to let herself rest as much as she could.
Her peace and quiet was however interrupted when the monitor next to her started to beep a little faster to itself as she felt the familiar presence of dark magic that had been riled up as her sixth sense alerted her to the danger that was at her door. This wasn't going to be a friendly visit.
Snapping her eye's open, she was greet with the source of the danger of Gold stood there with his cane in his hand, staring darkly at the woman who had pushed his true love over the line making her forget the man she loved.
"I'm sorry" she croaked as the heart monitor to her right stared to beep faster as fear grew at the sight of the angry Dark One.
"As you should" he said through gritted teeth as he slowly approached her bed slowly, taking his time as he heard the fear she felt at his presence on from the monitor. "Your little heroics came with a price dearie" he states to the assassin coming to a stop a foot away from her bed.
"I didn't –" the defence of her action's didn't get very far as the Dark One sharply brought down his cane onto her bruised ribs, knowing the pain would be sufficient enough to punish the girl for being so reckless with his true love. Clenching her teeth together the assassin breathed through the pain as tears leaked from the corners of her eyes to stream down to the pillow that she rested her head on.
She had been on the end of punishments before like this from people she called family, even her own father, but this was borderline cruel as the monitor next to her continued to erratically beep out next to her detecting the pain that went through her body.
"Nevertheless" he continued taking the cane away and back onto the floor "You did as you were ordered, you protected Belle despite what happened" he says reaching up to her injured shoulder the Dark One used his magic to heal the bullet she had taken for his love as a purple hue encased his hand, waving his hand over the shoulder in question, healing it instantly.
Consider this your reward for a job half done" he told before turning on his heel to leave the pian riddled assassin to herself only to stop in the open doorway to look back at her "I expect you to be recovered by the time I wish to resume the search for my son".
"Yes sir" she answered, letting out a breath as he left her, allowing her to let out the groan she had kept to herself as a nurse came to the door to see the reason for the assassin's heart monitor to go off as it had. Meeting the nurses surprised face the assassin gave the woman a simple order.
"Get my things. I'm leaving" she tells the nurse "Now".
As the fallout of the stranger that hit Hook and Amelia in Storybrooke unfolded downstairs, with the only Doctor in town MIA, they waited for the man to operate on the dying stranger. As the sheriff and her parents waited for Ruby to return with Dr. Whale in tow, the subject of the assassin resting upstairs reminded them they needed to find Regina before she did anything rash for wrongly accusing her for murdering Archie.
There was one person in this hospital that knew Regina better than anyone else in the entire town. And she was bed bound upstairs with bruised ribs and a bullet sized hole in her shoulder.
Getting her room number from a nurse, Emma had discovered that Amelia had already requested her personal effects and clothes back ready to be discharged despite the nurses apparent protests.
Upon finding the woman's room, the Sheriff was taken aback when she saw the bed unmade and empty with no sign of the woman she needed to speak to. Looking for help a passing nurse had told her the assassin was at a nurses station picking up the rest of her things the blonde sheriff found the woman already back on her feet in the same clothes she came in with.
The woman didn't look like a bullet had recently been taken of of her shoulder as she rushed through the paperwork the nurses had given her in order to discharge herself from the building
Finding the redhead's room, she saw the woman herself back on her feet and dressed int he clothes she had been taken to the hospital in stood at a nurses station with a phone clutched tightly between her shoulder and ear as signed the paperwork the nurses had shoved under her nose to sign so she could walk out of the building.
"Hey it me...Again" the redhead said into the receiver as a paper bag of painkillers was deposited in front of her by a nurse "I have no idea if you've been getting my messages, my phone got smashed when I was run over by a car an hour ago, after I was shot in the shoulder" she paused as let her head catch up with everything's that's happened "It's been a long night".
"Listen, Cora's in Storybrooke. She's the one that framed us for murder. I've got pretty good idea how she got here and it involves Captain Hook but at the moment I've got to settle something with the old man. I'll give you a call when I get my burner from the bar. I need you to be safe. Please be careful. I-" she stops herself uttering the same words she only told her only a few nights ago again "Bye" she sighs out before hanging up the phone.
"You know eavesdropping is considered rude" she called out to the blonde that had overheard every word she had left in the message for the former Queen to listen to. Stepping around the corner the blonde saviour came into view.
"How did you know I was there?" she questions the redhead.
"Call it a gift" she answers the woman "What do you and your parents want?".
"We heard you were leaving. You've had a rough night" she voiced their concerns to the redhead.
"I've had rougher nights and still managed to take down men twice the size of Captain Hook with broken bones" she tells the saviour sliding the ring the Sheriff had stepped over the town line to get for her onto her middle finger.
"Still, I don't suppose you had bullets in the Enchanted Forest" she continued.
"My target's didn't. I did" she corrected the blonde as she sent to replace the silver necklace that lived around her neck only for the movement to aggravated her bruised ribs, making her drop the necklace back onto the counter in front of her to clutch at the area that flared up in pain an making the assassin hiss out an 'Ahhh'.
Seeing her in pain the saviour stepped forward with her hand held out to the redhead, offering to put on the piece of jewellery for her. She was in too much pain to deny her help. Handing the necklace over, the blonde stood behind her threading the silver chain around the redheads neck catching a glimpse of a circular stone pendent and a silver wedding band, before it was quickly tucked under the assassins jacket collar
"Please tell me Hook's in more pain than I am" she asked in hope the man
"Don't worry. He is. Broken ribs. Concussion".
"Good. He still owes me money. Any chance you might tell me where in the hospital he is?".
"Nope" Emma answered as the assassin snatching up her brown leather gauntlets to slid back onto her forearms securing them into place.
"Thanks for the help and everything but I need to go" Amelia tells the woman picking up the bag of medication as she headed for the exit.
"Back to Regina?" Emma asked the woman making her stop "We need to tell her about Archie. We were hoping you would give us a clue to where she is?".
Shaking her head the redhead continued her journey out of the hospital, making the blonde run after.
"Weren't you bails bond woman-" the redhead started.
"Person" Emma correctly her as stopped in front of elevator door's, the assassin pushing the call button, several times wanting a quick exit to catch up with Rumple.
"Bails bond person" Amelia corrected herself "Isn't that you do, find people that don't want to be found" she paused a minute but got impatient with the world's technology and headed for the stairs.
"Yeah but with the outsider and Gold and Belle, we could really use the help".
"Outsider?" Amelia questioned the blonde as they descended, the stairs. She was surprisingly fast for just being hit with a car and shot a couple hours ago.
"The car that hit you and Hook had Philadelphia plates. The guy driving isn't from here".
"Looks like a problem for you to deal with Saviour" Amelia told her as they reached the lobby.
"What about Regina. Cora's in Storybrooke, aren't you worried?".
"At the moment between Cora and Rumpelstiltskin. I am more worried of the latter" Amelia walked past Mary Margaret, David and Grumpy in the lobby.
"Lia!?" Mary Margaret exclaimed in surprise seeing the redhead on her feet.
"Snow. Charming. Dwarf" she acknowledged the couple making the dwarf growl at her as she walked past seeing how Emma was struggling to keep up with the redheaded assassin.
Looking at the other in concern, the started to follow their daughter chase down the injured Assassin out of the hospital as they reached the entrance. Hearing the extra footsteps behind her, the redhead stopped and turned to face the Charming family.
"I don't know where she is, she hasn't been picking up my calls, she could be anywhere by now and I don't have time to go look for her" she tells the family "So unless anyone's gonna offer me a ride to the bar, leave me the hell alone so I can finally be free of the Dark One once and for all".
No one spoke and allowing her to leave the hospital to head to her bar.
She had time to get back to her apartment and find a hot shower to wash off the events of the night and the smell of the hospital off her before heading to the Hidden Ones to hand everything over to Luke and Puck for the next few days.
As far as she was concerned The Hidden One's was open for business as usual while she was being framed for murder and while she worked off her debt to Rumplestiltskin. Resident's filled the bar and wooden tables. enjoying the pool table and dart board as music played in the background, finding Luke stood at the bar busy serving drinks as she made her way upstairs to find her cramped office, moving through groups of people who thought hanging around a staircase while drinking was good idea.
Once her foot met the landing, her eye's instinctively found her office door that she kept under lock and key for obvious reasons only for her brows to furrow in confusion when she saw the door ajar.
It was always locked. Even if she wasn't around. She had the only key for it.
Lifting her right hand into a fist letting the hidden blade jump out the redhead slowly pushed the door wider to see the top of Puck's brown hair behind her desk going through its metal drawers.
With the drawers to the metal filing cabinets already open and paper covering her office floor. He was looking for something.
"What the hell are you doing?" in the surprise of her sudden appearance Puck jumped and hit his head on the underside of the table making the piece of furniture move with the impact of hitting his head. "Ow" she heard him groan before he stood up from behind the desk holding the back of his head.
"A-Amelia, I-I thought you were in the hospital?" his voice squeaked and stuttered out in panic.
"Answer my question first" she demanded out of the younger man as she stepped into the room blocking off his only exit.
"I-I can explain" he stammered as Amelia shut the door behind her with her foot, shutting them both inside the small room.
"What are you looking for?" Amelia clarified herself.
"Launce-" he started by Amelia interrupted him.
"Enough!" she yelled at him "Tell me. why you're in here or I will make you talk" she warns him showing him the unsheathed hidden blade.
"Amelia, come on..it's me" he tried to speak to the woman's' softer side only to be met with a hard look that told him he wasn't going to get anywhere.
"In the matter of two days I have been accused of a murder, found the victim of that murder alive and well, been shot and run over. Answer the damn question or I'll make the last forty=eight hours of my life look like a god damn fairy-tale to you".
A second or two late the innocent act fell off his shoulders as a devilish smirk grew on his lips making her heart skip a beat or two before she pushed the feeling aside to allow her to concentrate on the task at hand.
"You all really thought you'd beaten the Queen?" he tells the redhead in front of her.
"Which one?".
"The Queen of Heart's" he clarified "She's here".
She knew what the older woman wanted straight away. She made that clear the last time they spoke.
"The Apple's not here" she tells him "The Dark One made sure it didn't come through in the curse".
"And you really trust him of all people to keep his word?".
"I trust him more that you right now" she tells him "You're confusing me for one of the hero's Puck. I assume you and Cora were behind Archie's disappearance".
"She needed to break Regina and get you out of the way" he gritted out to her.
"So, you used a cloaking spell Cora made to make it look like me and Regina going into Archie's office, using Ruby as an eyewitness".
"It was too easy" he gloated as he stepped out from behind the desk.
"So, you admit to framing us and kidnapping Archie".
"Yes. We had the hero's and the damn saviour eating from the palm of our hands" he happily boasted to the redhead.
"Thank you.." she said to him as Puck blinked in in bewilderment as she saw the hard angry look on her face relaxed into a almost sad smile "..for your cooperation. I'm gonna miss you".
"What?" he questioned in confusion. Pointing to the wall mounted camera behind him, that fitted the whole office into one frame, the young man's stomach dropped seeing the red dot that had recorded the entire conversation that could be used as a confession to court of law.
"You bitch" he snarled at her and ran at her with a dagger in his right hand, launching himself over the desk, aiming for her throat only for the seasoned Master Assassin to step to the side, allowing the man to hit nothing but air as hard fist hit his stomach making him double up in pain as he was grabbed by his shoulders and effortlessly slam his back into the surface of her desk.
Snatching the dagger from his hand her fist flew into his face, knocking him out as the door to the office flew open behind her to see his boss stood over an unconscious Puck with a dagger on the floor having heard a loud commotion over the music from behind the bar.
"Get some chains and a padlock" she ordered the man as she pondered what to with him. For now she would give him over and let the law of this land do it's job but afterwards, he won't be so talkative after the thieves have their way with him.
Dropping Puck in one of the cell's in the station, chaining the man into the cell, the redheaded assassin left a USB on Emma's desk that held footage of Puck's confession of the frame job and kidnap she made her way to the pawn shop and let herself into the shop to see Rumple staring into a yellow globe at the far counter. Hearing the Assassin enter he looked over his shoulder briefly to see the woman walking up behind him.
"I see you've recovered quickly" he commented on the women's recovery "Yet you still took your time" he added.
"Apparently getting hit by a car is nothing compared to weeding out the weak in your own house" Gold looked over his shoulder to the redhead to elaborate "Puck" she supplied "He's been working for Cora".
"Good you found out now and not later Miss Montague" she nodded along with the man.
"So what now?" the red head asked the older man.
"We're moving forward with the search for Baelfire".
"You have a location for me?".
"New York City".
Arriving home to the loft after spending the whole night at the hospital waiting to find out if the stranger had seen anything 'magical' on his into town, only to get the all clear from the Sheriff after Ruby found and bought Doctor Whale back to the hospital to perform he life saving surgery..
They had all dodged a bullet.
Hearing movement downstairs. Henry hurried down the metal stairs to find his grandparents and mother working together to make coffee and breakfast for the tired adults.
"You were out all night!" the eleven year old told his family "Where were you? Granny wouldn't tell me anything. Did I miss it all?" Henry quick fired the questions at his family as Emma stepped forward to greet him.
"Cereal okay?" David asked Emma form the kitchen as Mary Margaret prepared the coffee.
Encourging her son to sit at the breakfast bar next to her, his grandmother explained what had happened the previous night near the town line "Rumpelstiltskin, Amelia and Captain Hook had a fight, and someone got hurt." she tells her grandson.
"We weren't sure if Dr. Frankenstein could fix him, but he did" Emma added.
"Doctor?" Henry asked confused "Oh… That's who Whale is!".
"Yeah, but without the neck bolts" she adds
"The monster had the bolts, not the doctor" Henry corrected the blonde.
"Right. But either way, some of us having known him, it's weird".
"It's not weird" Mary Margaret spoke up "We're past it. We were cursed".
"What are you talking about?" Henry asked his grandmother in confusion.
"Nothing" David quickly added.
"Wait" Henry tried to broach the subject his grandmother was talking about.
"Really, it's nothing" Mary Margaret brushed it off again. Leaving the bar as David gave Emma a bowl. They tried and failed to stop him as he ran over to the other side of the loft to a bookcase to grab him storybook returned with it to retake his seat next to his mother.
"Frankenstein isn't in here. It's not even a fairy tale. That means it comes from another land with different stories,. Like Amelia's, she's not from any fairy tale".
Placing the bowl of cereal on top of his book the blonde saviour tried to get him to eat so she could go to bed "Eat. I really want to go to bed".
"If the curse went to places with other stories, then who knows who else is in this town?" he told him making Emma groan out in annoyance as she but there was a sudden knock on the door.
Standing from her stool to answer it, the saviour didn't get far as the door opened by itself as Mr. Gol let himself into the apartment with Amelia behind him, stood leaning in the doorway as she waited for the old man to make his demands known to the Charming Family.
"Gold" she greets him "We've all had a long night" Emma started only for the sorcerer to interrupt her.
"You remember that favour you owe me, Miss Swan?" he began.
"Yeah" she said apprehensively glancing towards the redhead who looked like how she felt.
"I'm cashing it in" he simply states to the woman as David joins her daughter to face the man.
"It's not… A good…".
"You do honour your agreements, don't you?" he interrupts her stuttering "I need to find someone, so we're leaving today. Pack your bag".
"Leaving?" Mary Margaret asked from the kitchen as she received a wave from the redhead.
"W-where?" Henry spoke up stood between his mother and grandfather.
"Wait" the blonde stops him "Find someone? Who?" Emma asked folding her arms against her chest.
"My son" Gold tells them "It has to be today, because every minute I'm here, is a minute closer to me killing Hook. So, it's really best for all concerned if I leave, and you're going to come with me.
"Oh, and, um, we have a long history. So know this, and know it to be true. If any harm comes to Belle while I'm gone, I'm killing all of you" he threatened the whole family "I'll see you at noon" at that he left the family to their morning with Amelia hovering at the door to address the sheriffs.
"This might be a bad time, but you two might want to swing by the station at some point. Left a little present for you there" she threw a key towards David who caught it easily "And uh..keep him away from my thieves otherwise, you'll have a real murder to investigate" as she finished, she turned and headed down the stairs of the apartment building leaving the Charming family in silent shock.
AN:
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