AN: Warning: Mention of a panic attack and suicide

A new day had dawned in Storybrooke. However, the resident Assassin failed to feel the new feeling of ease that had swept through the town as she woke up at dawn unable to sleep in the uncomfortable bed in the room she had been staying in while her apartment was slowly being put back together.

So instead of filling her stomach with Granny's pancakes she found herself with her training gear on early that morning, eager to burn off some of the pent up energy that she had been itching to let off and stretch her legs after being cramped in her room at the Inn.

Her quick feet pounded the forest floor as she ran through the woods with music drowning out her surrounds as she focused on keeping her breathing, working up a sweat in her tight leggings and grey sweatshirt hoodie. As she leisurely jogged, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty about leaving the Charming family to deal with Regina's plan against Snow.

But she didn't help those who had given up on themselves. It was a hard lesson she had to learn when she was younger training to be an Assassin. Snow had given up, so she couldn't help the former Princess anymore, it had to be up to her whether she'd let the guilt of what she made Regina do to bring her down.

Coming to a slow stop she felt her heart thudding in her chest as she saw the woman in question in a small clearing with her bow and arrow and her own white headphone's in her ear's shooting arrow after arrow at painted target on a tree.

At least she wasn't the only one that needed to let off a little steam this morning

Lost in her train of thought she didn't see the stray arrow headed straight at her until she saw the tip of the arrow head feet away. She had to quickly duck as the arrow narrowly missing her head landing on her backside as her trainer covered feet fell from underneath her as the teacher pulled out one of her headphones to see the Assassin on her ass with an arrow lodged in a tree trunk where her head was previously.

"Lia?" the younger woman called out "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" she asked making her way over to her old friend offering a hand of help

"I'm just glad it wasn't Granny's crossbow" Amelia replied taking the former Princesses hand and hauling herself up to face the former Princess face to face since the day before

"I see you've decided to join the living" the red head observed seeing a bow in her hand and a quiver on her back "I'll leave you to enjoy it" Amelia went to continue her run only for Mary Margaret's voice to stop her

"Wait" the teacher called out to her making her stop to face her again. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say more only for words to fail her for the first time. So she could only say one thing.

"You were right" she admitted to the former Assassin. The red head turned and held out her hands towards the former bandit, taking the hint Snow gave the Assassin her bow.

"I was never good at archery" Amelia told the Princess snatching a few arrows from the teachers quiver going to the spot Mary Margaret vacated before running to help Amelia up from the ground. Taking a sideways stance to the target, stabbing the arrows into the ground ready to pick up before removing the grey sweatshirt to see the Assassin in a tight sports bra and loose tank top, throwing it onto the ground not caring it she got it dirty.

"That's hard to believe" Mary Margaret chimed as the trained assassin loaded her first arrow in the quiver. She had seen the assassin hit a target ten times further away than the target painted on the tree

Amelia pulled the string back and aimed for the painted target "I was told I was too impatient to set my aim, I never understood what that meant" Amelia told the Princess as she let the arrow loose hitting the target dead centre, like always.

Picking up another arrow, notching the arrow and pulling back the string. Mary Margaret could see the strong muscles move under the assassin's pale skin as she pulled the string back from years of training. Glancing down the red heads back she saw something that really sent a shiver up her spine. Long white scars littered Amelia's back some hiding under the tank top, which only could've come from a whip. Sign's of a hard life if she ever saw any.

"My Master told me I was thinking too much about where I wanted to hit the target, then when" letting go the arrow again hitting just inside the target "So for about a fortnight I practiced day and night until I got at least one to hit the bullseye" Mary Margaret saw the red head brow furrow in annoyance of not hitting the target

Picking up her final arrow she quickly notched it and in a blink of an eye the arrow embedded itself into the tree way off target. Amelia looked back at the pixie haired teacher "I still wasn't any good at it" the corner of Amelia's lip quirked up handing the bow back to Mary Margaret

The teacher took her bow back off the Assassin taking her spot back in front of the target pulling a notched arrow back aiming for the target again only to miss the tree entirely only to hear a distinct thud of something made both Amelia and Mary Margaret perk up in interest, before they heard the sound of wood snapping.

Grabbing her hoodie and slipping it on she led Mary Margaret forward to investigate the noise leading the former Princess to find a broken arrow before her head snapped up hearing something slam shut. Mary Margret picked up the broken arrow as Amelia pulled out a silver dagger, they ventured further to find an abandoned trailer.

The teacher's eye went wide seeing the weapon in Amelia's hand "Where were you hiding that?" Mary Margaret shout whispered to the Assassin who shrugged her shoulders at the teacher. Taking off her quiver the former Princess left her bow and arrow against the trailer before letting herself into the trailer.

"Anyone here!" Mary Margaret called out as she is climbing into the mobile home with Amelia following close behind her.

"Just me" a voice told them as the heard heavy footsteps from the other end of the trailer to see August completely made of wood with the other half of Mary Margaret's arrow stuck in his leg

"August?" Mary Margaret breathed out seeing the puppet man.

It was Pinocchio

Pinocchio did make it through after all. The last time she had seen the man he was just a boy hiding in the enchanted wardrobe that brought him and Emma to this land before the curse swallowed them up. She remembered August though. The writer had made a bee line for her in the Hidden Ones thinking he was now big enough to face the Black Widow one on one, only to find she had been cursed as well.

With the knife put away, once the initial shock of seeing August again as a walking talking puppet sunk in, the pair had set him down on a seat with Mary Margaret sat next to him while Amelia decided to keep her distance between her and the man puppet leaning against the counters that lined the small kitchen with folded arms

"But the curse broke" Mary Margaret started

"Not for me. When it lifted, I could move again, but I stayed like this" puppet August explained "This is my own punishment, not the Queen's. I did this to myself"

"August, I'm so sorry. Oh. But you don't have to hide. There are people in Storybrooke who care about you... Emma, your father..."

"How is he?" August asked her "My papa?"

"He misses you" Amelia answered him making his piercing blue eyes look at her "He's been searching for you since the curse broke"

"I know" he sighed dropping his head "But I can't let him see me like this... or Emma, it's bad enough you saw me" he tells them

"Please reconsider" Mary Margaret pleaded with him "They could all use you back. There's been a lot going on. Henry's father returned. Emma found him" she continued but at the mention of Henry's father August interrupted her

"Wait. Emma and Neal? They're back together again?" A curious brow was raised on the red head at the man's knowledge of Emma and Neal previous relationship

Mary Margaret shook her head "Uh... uh, no. Actually, he's engaged to someone he met in New York"

Amelia hears a disappointing sigh come from Augusts mouth "I was hoping... That's my problem... hoping. Hoping that things can still work out. Hoping that I can find redemption for the mistakes that I made. But maybe some things you just don't come back from"

"No matter what you've done, you deserve a second chance" Mary Margaret tells him

"That's easy for you to say" August snaps at the former Princess "You never had to worry about forgiveness, redemption. You've never needed it"

"August, it's time to stop feeling sorry for yourself. Come back to town with me. We'll find Marco..."

"You expect me to face him like this? A wood pile of failure?

"Don't say that"

"You wanna help me? Leave. And don't tell anyone you saw me"

At the man puppets demand both women left the trailer with their tails between their legs. Even through her footsteps Amelia could see that the former Princess was now on a mission to help Pinocchio or August as much as she could

"There has to be away Lia" Mary Margaret told her childhood hero "Everyone deserves a chance of forgiveness"

"Are you sure you're not just projecting your own inner turmoil onto the man" the assassin asked the woman

"He needs our help" she pressed further

"I can see that Snow, but he doesn't want our help" Amelia retorted

Mary Margaret suddenly stopped to turn and face the assassin making the latter stop in front the teacher with folded arms "How do you do that?" the teacher questioned the redhead shaking her head "Walk away from people who need help"

"Because some people don't want be helped" Amelia rebutted "If this is about…"

"Of course, it's about that, you walked away when Emma and David asked for your help"

"There was nothing I could do. You were still in bed while your Grandson nearly destroyed public property"

"That is not fair" Snow argued walking away from the Assassin with the former following the latter

"Then tell me Princess Snow how can I help you relieve you of the burden of taking another life" Amelia drawled out sarcastically "Help me to help you, help me to help you"

A lipped smirk grew on the pixie haired woman as she interrupted the older woman's ramblings "Your being ridiculous. I need to find Emma and tell her about August"

"Fine. Get Emma and Marco I'll find you later" Amelia turned and walked back to the trailer

"Lia what are you doing!" Mary Margaret called after her

"What I should have done with you" the red head called back leaving the Princess to get her daughter and Marco. Letting herself back into the trailer she takes the puppet man by surprise as she slammed the door behind her before turning to the wooden man in question still on the couch.

"We need to talk"

"I told you to leave me alone" August repeated himself to the Assassin as she perched herself on the kitchen counter

"Well too bad" she answered crossing her arms across her chest in stubbornness "Snow has got it in her head that she needs to help you, so that's what I'm doing…helping"

"But you hate her" he argued with he woman

"I never hated her" she scoffs at the man rolling her eyes "She and her moral compass got in the way of what I needed to do" she shrugged her shoulders

"You mean for your family" he saw her back stiffen at the mention of the family that sent her down the path of the Black Widow

Amelia's head tilted to the side "Well look who got the whole story" she drawled with a raised brow

"I know about John and Thomas" the man told her "I'm sorry"

"Then you know why I never harmed you while you hid in the wardrobe"

"I do now" he nodded "Did you tell them?" he meant the royal couple

"No. And I promised your father that I wouldn't say anything, he needs to tell them himself"

"Thank you" the wooden man told her "But why are you here, did she ask you to come back"

"She didn't. I'm not sure really, I needed to do something. I'm trying to wipe out my ledger. Its becoming harder everyday"

A smile graced the wooden man's face knowing who was responsible for the assassin's venture "I see Henry's gotten to you already"

"He reminds me of Tom" Amelia tells the man coming to sit beside the grown puppet.

"Can I ask why you were cursed; I thought the Queen loved you"

"She loved the Widow, not me" the red head retorted "After I found you in the wardrobe, I found Charming taking Emma to the nursery and I…let him through, she found me soon after I killed ten of her knights, well..you know the rest"

"No I don't, if you hadn't noticed, I've been stuck in here since the curse broke" he reminded her

"We're not together anymore" she informed him "in any way"

"I'm sorry, you seemed to really love her"

"I guess that's not enough now. But I'm not here to talk about my terrible love life. You need to talk to Geppetto"

"I can't, he'll be so disappointed in me" he said to the assassin hanging his head in shame "He's gonna hate me" He was still that little boy that needed his father's reassurance

"Hey" she tells him gaining his attention by threading an arm through his and looking into his blue eyes "Trust me when I say, he's not going to care about what you've done, he just needs to know that you're okay. He decided something that no parent should ever have to make. He was scared. And as much as he wanted to keep you by his side he sent you somewhere he thought you'd be safe"

"But I had to look after Emma, and I failed"

"You were seven Pinocchio, and you were sent to a land you had no idea about. There are even times I can't get my head around some of the stuff here, makes me miss home even more"

"Really?" he teased her making her roll her eyes at him

"Look Snow seems to be on a mission to help you, just promise me you won't go anywhere until we figure out how to help your…situation" her eye's trailing up his wooden body

"You'd really do that for me?"

"Well, either that or I go back to the Inn and fill out paperwork. This is the lesser of the two"

"Thanks" he chuckles out

"You're welcome" she tells him before freeing herself from his arm and standing in the trailer "I should go find Snow before she calls in a search for me, stay here and think about what I could do to you with a lighter if you don't speak to your father"

"There she is" August commented at the light threat, the Widow as still here.

"What can I say, the assassin in me needs something to" at that the assassin leaves the him to make her way back to Snow and hopefully Marco and Emma unaware of Tamara's presence.

She wished she had brought a thicker jacket with her for her run as the grey hoodie she had zipped to the top as going very little to keep the cold out as she joined Mary Margaret, Emma and Marco speaking to Mother Superior at the convent.

"I know about August" the fairy told them "He came to me shortly after the curse broke and asked if I would return him to what he was"

"Why didn't you?" Emma asked the nun

"Because what he was is what he is" Blue looked to Marco "Do you remember the morning I found you on that beach all those years ago? The day I turned your son into a real boy?"

"Yes" he answered "It was the happiest day of my life"

"I told Pinocchio so long as he remained brave, truthful, and unselfish, he would stay a real boy. But I'm afraid he did not. That is why he changed back. And that's why there's nothing I can do for him"

"It's true he's done some things he regrets" Mary Margaret argued making the redhead glance at the woman "We all have. But shouldn't he have another chance?"

"If there is still a path of redemption for August, it is one that he must travel on his own. No one can force him, or it will not be true" the carpenters face fell in worry for his son over the fairy's words

"Don't despair, Marco" Mary Margaret tells her friend looking at him with doe eyes "I know there's still hope for your son. There has to be"

"Aren't you freezing" Emma looked over to the Assassin who had her hands stuffed deep within her pockets as they trekked the woods of Storybrooke forest looking for the trailer August had been living in

"Well I wasn't really counting on a nature hike when I went out for a run this morning" Amelia argued her case to the saviour as Emma looked over her outfit once more. The slightly older woman was extremely fit, with muscles she had not known ever existed in a woman "And I've been colder, this is nothing" Amelia shook of the woman's concern remembering her short time in Arendelle.

"Right" Emma nodded along

"This is all my fault" Marco fretted about the state of his only son

"Our children make their own decisions, Marco" the former Princess tells him "You can't blame yourself for anything that's happened"

"Yes, I can" Amelia listened to the conversation carefully knowing what he was about to admit to the Princess "And you should blame me, too. The wardrobe I built for you" he made Mary Margaret stop in her path "The one that transported Emma to this world... she did not go alone"

"Of course, she did" Mary Margaret insisted "The wardrobe only had enough magic to transport one person"

"Marco" Amelia warned the older man with a pointed look making the Princess and Saviour look at her in confusion "Not now" she plead to him through her eyes. She knew something either of them didn't.

"No, I must tell her, its time" Marco tells the former assassin before looking back to Mary Margaret "That was a lie I made The Blue Fairy tell you" he explained "It had enough magic to transport two, and it did... your daughter... and my son... Pinocchio"

"I could have gone with her?" the Princess uttered in heartbreak knowing the full truth "With Emma?"

"There is no apology I could give that could ever make up for what I did. But I am so sorry…" he was cut short when Mary Margaret suddenly slapped him round the face

"What are you doing?" Emma asked her mother in disbelief as Amelia quickly put herself in between the former princess and the carpenter "He's apologizing" Emma continued as the assassin turned to see if the man was okay.

"No, no, that's okay. I deserve that" Marco insisted

"No, that wasn't me" she tells her daughter before looking to her friend "Marco, I am so sorry. I'm not myself. You just made a mistake. I would have done the same thing for my child. I forgive you. You were protecting your son"

"No" the man insisted "I burdened him with a weight no child should have to bear, and I called it love" something caught Mary Margaret's eye making her look over the older man shoulder. They all looked to see the trailer. Marco was led the other's down the slight decline, letting himself into the trailer hoping to find his son only to find it empty.

Deciding to head back into town the group where left bereft of hope that the man was okay after seeing the trailer empty

"Lia you went back to speak to him" Mary Margaret asked the red as the stepped over logs and tree roots "did he saying anything about leaving?"

"If anything, I made him promise to stay a bit longer" she answered the former Princess when Emma's phone rang "I even lightly threatened him"

"You what?" Mary Margaret gasped at the redheads admission

"I said lightly!"

"Emma Swan" the sheriff answered her phone "August.." hearing the puppets name Amelia, Mary Margaret and Marco stopped , trying to listen to Emma's half of the conversation "August...Warn me? Warn me about what?"

Rushing back into Storybrooke they found David and Henry as they started their search for the puppet man "If August is still at the station, he's not picking up" David told them as the group of hero's and Amelia approached the station.

Hearing the door to the station open they all looked up to see August himself staggering out of building. He was hurt. Sprinting forward Amelia just about caught the wooden man as August caught her. Unable to carry the sudden weight Amelia gently whispering words of comfort to the man as she gently lied him down onto the ground moving to his head as Emma and Marco joined her on the ground kneeling over their friend and son.

"Oh! My child. My boy. My boy" Marco wailed in grief "What happened to you?"

"I'm so sorry, papa" August told his son as Amelia tried to comfort the man as much as she could stroking his head and hair like a child. Mary Margaret saw the way the red head was trying to soothe the wooden man, something she was see Emma do to Henry.

"No. There is nothing to apologize for. Everything is gonna be all right"

August shifted himself so he could speak to the Saviour "Emma" he started

"August"

"Emma... She's..." Amelia heard August gasp "She..." he was caught short when he let out his last breath as a man before he turned entirely wooden.

"Oh, no" Marco's voice broke "Not again" Marco wept over his son's body holding his son close to him as grief.

The grief that swept through the group was too much for the redhead handle as she suddenly found herself back on the deck of the Godspeed and not the safe streets of Storybrooke, her son's screams ringing in her through her ears a single shot of a gun made the world around her collapse. Shaky breaths left her lips as she tried to wait out the onslaught of the attack.

Blinking out of the flashbacks she was back in Storybrooke as quickly as she found herself back in worst night in her life, on cold hard ground instead of rains soaked wooden deck. she ignored the looks she got from the former Princess and refocused on the scene before her as Neal joined the group seeing his 'friend' on the ground.

"August?" Neal called out in concern

"No. It can't end this way" Mary Margaret argued "He was supposed to get a second chance"

"What happened?" Neal asked outload

"- Someone killed him to stop him from telling us something" Emma explained to her ex "He used his last dying breath to warn us. I will not let that be in vain" Emma vowed to the carpenter

"Brave... truthful... and unselfish" Henry whispered to himself before turning to his mother "Brave, truthful, and unselfish" he repeats to the adults louder "Don't you see what this means? That's what Pinocchio was supposed to be. There's still hope. We need The Blue Fairy"

"I'm here, Henry" Mother Superior suddenly joins them

"What does Henry mean?" the princess asked the fairy

"I was able to turn Pinocchio into a real boy after he sacrificed his life for Marco's" Blue explained taking out her wand stepping over the fear-stricken Assassin come out of her nightmare "If his actions today were indeed brave, truthful, and unselfish, then you're right. There's a chance I can do it again"

"Please, I beg of you" Marco whispered pleading to the fairy who had refused his cry for help earlier "Try"

Pointing her wand at the wooden man, August body was engulfed in a blue light before fading out to reveal "Pinocchio" as a real boy. The boy opened his eyes to see his father cradling him in his arms

"Father?"

"Pinocchio" Amelia let out a breath of relief as Marco engulfed his boy in a warm hug once they pulled apart the boy turned to Blue

"Do better this time, Pinocchio" Blue tells him with an understanding nod from the seven year-old

The boy turned and saw her. Frozen in the boys gaze she waited for any recognition he may have the woman she was trying to become, the woman August saw she was stomach dropped as the boy flinched back seeing the Black Widow right there on the ground.

Letting out a gasp of fear the boy flung himself into his father's arms and cried in fear. The Charming looked at the former Assassin as heartbreak etched the red head's face seeing the boy fear her after all the good she had done for the town, as Marco gave her a sorry look.

Not tolerating the looks she got from the Charming's and Blue, Amelia stood from the ground whirling around and started to walk away from them pulling the hood over her head and stuffing her hands in to her pockets and headed to her room at the Inn.

"Lia!" Mary Margret called after her friend pulling away from David's comforting arms to go to her friend

"Let her go Mary Margaret, she'll be okay" at her husbands words the red disappeared from sight.

The tears wouldn't stop falling once she reached her apartment that evening, not even the water in the shower washed them away as she found herself on her perch watching as much as she could of the town's comings and goings from her room in the Inn.

Seeing Pinocchio look at her like that made her heart ache more than it had since the curse had broken. She wanted to take a page out of Snow's book and curl up in bed and block out all her feelings, but she wasn't so sure she knew how to do that anymore. She'd done it for so long, she was tired of feeling nothing.

A gentle knock interrupted her spinning mind "It's open" she croaked out loud enough for the other person to hear her. She didn't have to look around to know it was Snow letting herself in holding a mug in her hand gently closing the door behind her

"Ruby said you were up here, so I brought you some hot cocoa with cinnamon" she says to the redhead without getting a response she continued as she crossed the room placing the hot mug onto a coaster that sat on a table littered with pieces of paper that had hand drawn pictures on them.

Some of them had obvious tear marks in them that been carefully put back together by clear tape.

The pictures were beautiful. There were two people drawn over and over again, a man with a small boy in his lap "What do you want Snow?" Amelia's voice distracted her away from the pictures

"I just wanted to see if you're okay"

"I'm fine Snow. I want to be alone"

"Lia…" she tried to continue only for the redhead to interrupt her

"That slap is only the start you know" the redhead suddenly tells her

"What?" the teacher asked the woman in confusion

"The slap you gave Marco, it was only the start. The small dark spot in your heart that appeared in your heart after you killed Cora. At first its anger then after a while you stop pulling back your punches, then the next thing you know you've got a dagger buried deep in someone's chest. It grows and grows until you end up feeding into the darkness, so you don't have to feel anything else then soon you'll forget why you even started in the first place"

"That's not me" she tells the woman in the windowsill

"It wasn't me either until it was too late to do anything about it. This whole day wasn't about August at all was it? You just wanted to see that you were the same person you were before the spot appeared, well sorry to spoil your pretty little party Princess, no matter what you do, it never gets smaller, you just have to live with it hoping it doesn't completely consume you one day"

Tears leaked out of the teachers eyes are the redheads words, she was right "W-Why are you telling me this?" she blubbered

"Because its why you came to find me, to see if there was a way out. But you already tried that didn't you? Your little visit to Regina hoping she would crush your heart didn't go to plan, did it? She'd rather see you suffer than do something she's been wanting to do for years"

"H-how?" she stammered. How she know. No one knew. Not even David

"Because I already tried that with Rumple. I just wanted him to end it, but of course he needed me to find Neal so that could never happen" she scoffed "I tried again a few times after that, but he always put it back"

"Lia" she whispered as she took a hesitant step towards only for her voice to make her jump back

"Thanks for the coco, be sure to shut the door on your way out" she didn't look back as she heard footsteps leave the room with the door shutting behind her.

AN: Phew! We got there. A few darker themes this chapter. But we're getting a little closer to the end of the season! Yay!

Expect a few more updates over the next few days.

Thanks for reading so far!

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