Agrabah
Many Years Ago
He knew these street's like the back of his hand. He grew up on them, stole on them, even trained on them when Roshan took him into the Brotherhood of Assassin's when he was a younger man. So when he returned to the streets of Agrabah alongside his half-sister in search of a thief for a task they could not do alone, he knew how his home had changed since leaving.
As a bastard son of the Sultan, he would never be in line to become the next but a theft if he was to survive since his mother's death. But everything changed when we was given a task to steal a shipping ledger that would lead the Roshan and the assassin's to an artifact that had been delivered to the palace. He only escaped thanks to the Princess and Roshan coming to his aide in time.
Breaking into the palace himself to steal the artifact to prove himself to the woman that would come to the thief guild he was a part that he could be more than just a thief, his ambitions to join her creed nearly got him killed as he came across the villainous grand vizer himself Jafar that the whole of Agrabah knew had the Sultan under his thumb.
He would need to be weary returning to his old home, his sister had informed him of how much had changed since he last stepped in the kingdom.
Making his way through the the vibrant marketplace the assassin kept his hood over his face as much as he could as he slyly picked up an ripe orange from a stall without the vendors giving him a second look. You may take the thief out of Agrabah, but you could never take the thief out of the man.
"Get on your knee's vermin!" he heard someone shout taking his attention as he settled herself in the background as man, restrained by metal cuffs around his wrist was thrown down onto the ground by a guard in the square, making him fall over as a couple more joined him, being pushed down onto heir knees by guards.
A second later they were joined by a man Basim knew well. Jafar. Quickly making his presence known, the man dressed head to tow in a black robe and turban stepped forward with a gold staff shaped like a cobra to address the crowd.
"The Sultan does not tolerate thieves in Agrabah" Jafar announces to the crowd as Basim catches sight of the thief he was looking for getting to work while his unsuspected victims are distracted by the Sultan's advisor "And more importantly, neither do I. Our city has become overrun" he goes on.
"You vermin" he sneers at the men on their knees "Nothing more than street rats" he says before waving his staff towards the thieves on their knees. Smoke engulfs the men before it dissipated leaving rats where the men were, making those watching gasp out in fear at what they had just witnessed "Now as you should be" he adds before Basim see's the thief turn and walk away from the scene.
Finding himself a quiet stop to got through the trinkets and pouches he had stolen during the public display, Aladdin took his time to examine his takings for a feminine voice to disturb him.
"So, are you as bold as they say?" the woman asks him, making him quickly collect his takings
"Oh, uh, no. Just, um... late for work at the, uh, bakery." he quickly denies to the woman as he stands and turns to see the woman in question dressed in a deep turquoise sequined robe and hood with a veil covering the bottom half of her face from view "Look at the time. Got to get that yeast rising, you know?".
He goes to leave only to be stopped by a man dressed in a light coloured robe and hood with leather gauntlets covering his left wrist and forearm, his arms crossed over his chest made him look bigger than he did making the thief take a second thought
"You're not a baker" the man states to the thief.
"Well, the truth about that is...".
"And you're a terrible liar" the woman quickly retorts silencing his efforts "Relax. We're not here to report you. We're here to hire you, Aladdin".
"Well, I'm at a disadvantage. Who are you?".
Answering his curiosity the woman removes the covering from her face before lifting the thick hood from her head to reveal her recognisable face to him, Holding her gaze with the thief in front of them.
"You're the Princess" Aladdin realized in awe "Jasmine. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at, like, a palace or something?" he questions her.
"I don't care for the palace, thank you very much. Not since Jafar became our father, the Sultan's, advisor" she informs him making the thief look at the man stood behind the princess with furrowed brows. The Sultan didn't have a son. Only a daughter.
"He's a despot" Jasmine goes on "He's taking advantage of our father's kind heart and destroying Agrabah from the inside, starving citizens and delivering brutal justice when they're just trying to grab a crust of bread for their families".
"That's why we've come to you" the Princess's 'brother' spoke up.
"You want me to steal bread?" Aladdin asks the pair.
"No".
"We want you to help us defeat Jafar" Jasmine takes over once again.
"Defeat Jafar?" he challenged the Princess's request "Did you miss what he just did?. He turned people into rats. He has magic" he goes to leave only for the Princess to step in his way.
"Please" she pleads with him "Only you can do this. I need your help, Aladdin. Agrabah needs your help".
"Sorry, Princess. Only person I help is me" he tells the pair as he walks around the Princess's brother only for his voice to stop him.
"Look in your pocket" Basim tells the thief making the man stop and look back at the siblings.
"What?"
"Look!" the man presses him. Doing as he was told Aladdin pats his front to feel something in the pocket. Taking the small object out he finds a fold pendant shaped like a scarab.
"The Golden Scarab of Agrabah. One of the great royal treasures".
Take it back" the thief tells the pair hold it out to the Princess "I don't care how much you're paying me".
"Oh, you don't understand. It's not payment" Jasmine tells him "Oh, no! It's missing!" the Princess feigns panic as she loudly professes to the market square gaining everyone's attention "The royal scarab! Thief!" she yells outs.
"Shh! Okay!" Aladdin pulls her back under the gazebo to place her back next to her brother "Okay, shh! Okay, I'll do it. I'll do it".
A satisfied smile grow's on the assassin's lips at his sister theatrics making the thief look at him in disbelief.
"You knew she was going to that didn't you?" he asks the man.
"Of course I did" Basim shrugs at him "Who do you think taught her?" giving the man a annoyed glare the thief turned back to the Princess.
"So, what are we stealing?" the thief asks the pair.
"Nothing much" Jasmine shrugs "Just the most powerful magic in all the realm. A weapon known as the Diamond in the Rough".
"Right" Aladdin drawled out as his eye's caught sight of a red bird flying away from the rooftop.
Changing their fates seemed like an impossible task. Chasing a bird in the forest to find the Oracle was easier said than done as Emma and Amelia led Archie through the forest with Pongo on his leash following the same red bird the pair had encountered before first meeting the Oracle that foresaw their deaths.
After telling the blonde that she was having the same vision she was it felt like some of the weight had lifted from her shoulders. The same could be said for the saviour as she listened to the redhead tell her what the other assassin, Basim, had told her. About the reason why the assassin was getting them too.
They were connected.
Neither knew how or why, but they both agreed that they needed to whatever it took to change the outcome of the visions. Together.
"Emma. Amelia, I really don't think chasing a bird is an effective form of therapy" he voices to the pair as they continue to follow the bird that flew in between the branches above them.
"Trust me, this is better than my usual form of therapy during my Widow days" the redhead supplied to the therapist.
"W-What other form?" he asks her in trepidation.
"Assassination" she nonchalantly replies "It relaxed me back in the day. It's like yoga, except I got to kill something".
"Last time, he took me to the Oracle" Emma quickly changed the subject "He'll do it again, she knows what's going on with our visions" she argues as Amelia concentrated on the branches above them keeping her eye on the bird that was guiding them to the Oracle.
"She says she knows, but I can actually help you" Archie argues to the pair.
He really thought Amelia had finally seen the light, so to speak. To work with him through everything that had happened in the last few weeks. However, the bitter taste of disappointment soured his tongue when she told him the real reason for the sudden appointment.
Instead she burying her problems, with this mission of saving her and Emma from the visions of the future.
"This is not dream interpretation" the man continues to argue making the blonde stop and turn on the man behind them "Emma, this is the opposite of how therapy's supposed to work. I mean, we're... we're making progress" .
"Well, I don't see it" she retorts "My hands are still shaking and the visions are still haunting me despite all the hours on the couch. So no more talking. Today we do something".
Turning back around the pair where met with a figure sat on a log in the distance. It was the Oracle.
"Whoa" the blonde breathed out seeing that their plan had worked "Hello?" the blonde called out as the three approached the figure sat on the log.
"Hey" Amelia called out to the young girl she had met a few days prior, reaching the Oracle first the assassin reached out and placed her hand on her shoulder hoping not to spook her, only for the Oracle to lifelessly fall onto the forest floor. Dead.
The pair of women froze in shock seeing the dark veins the crawled up her face from her neck as Archie jumped in between the pair to aide the girl.
"Oh, no" Archie panicked seeing the body as he jumped forward in between eh shocked pair to try and hep "Is she...".
"She's dead" the redhead confirms to the man as they heard a branch snap behind them, Blinking on her sixth sense the assassin whipped around in alert to see what made the noise.
"Who would do this?" the therapist said to the saviour as the rustling continued.
Whoever did this to the Oracle was still out there, they were in danger.
"Shh!" Amelia quickly hushed the man as Emma joined her in the search of the voice she had heard too. A second later a woman jumped out from behind a tree fleeing the scene, only for the assassin and saviour to quickly run after her.
"Stop! Hey! Hey, stop! Stop! " the blonde called out as the woman stumbled and tripped on the ground in her attempt to run allowing Emma and Amelia to easily catchup.
Upon reaching the woman, the blonde turns her over to see who was trying to run from the crime scene, recognising her straight away, this didn't go unnoticed by the assassin as she looked at the blonde in concern.
"You know her?" Amelia asks the blonde.
"My Mom knows her" she gulps before the pair pulled her onto her feet to take her to the station for questioning.
She had to admit, she liked being on this side of the double sided mirror in the Sheriff's station, with the Charming's as they looked at the woman who was fleeing the scene of the dead Oracle in the forest. Her name was Shirin. She came from the Land of Untold Stories, under the guise of being Snow's knew aide.
"I guess Shirin was after more than just a fulfilling career in education" Snow sighed out sadly to her family as Amelia stood between the mother and daughter duo with her arms crossed over her chest staring intently at the woman in the other room.
The royal couple were left a little perplexed why the assassin was there. But the saviour came to the rescue saying that she had called her to find out what kind of poison the teacher's aide may have used to kill the Oracle.
"If that's even her real name" Emma retorts holding up a dream catcher in her hand. It was extreme but they needed something drastic to make sure the woman was telling the truth "Let's go find out" she says.
Leaving Snow and Amelia behind the pair of sheriffs joined Shirin on the other side of the mirror as the pixie haired teacher looked over at her friend beside her. They hadn't had much of a chance to spend any time together since Hyde and the other residents of the Land of Untold Stories came to town, and now she was back to teaching, she felt like she hadn't seen the redhead in ages.
She looked tired, like everything was finally catching up to her. Amelia wasn't the sharing type, but with coming back from the Underworld and finding out about Robin, it looked like she
"Are you okay Amelia?" she asks the woman beside her.
"I'm fine Snow" she tells the younger woman.
"I know, but you know you can talk to me right. About anything, even if its something stupid like what type of bottle to use for Helen".
"I know".
"It's just" the former princess went on "You've kept secrets from us before, like being pregnant when-".
"Snow" the redhead interrupts the rambling teacher next to her from going into her poor tack record of her keeping secrets from the people she cared about "I'm fine" she insists. She had to be.
"So, let's talk" the pair heard Emma say in the interrogation room as she took a seat opposite the woman in the woods as David took a place behind his daughter "Who are you really, Shirin? What are you doing here? Let us help you. Tell us who you are".
"I... I can't tell you. I've had to keep my true self secret for many years. In the Land of Untold Stories, Hyde... he could use this against me".
"Hyde's dead" David informs the woman.
"Really?".
"Yeah, he's gone" Emma confirms "You don't have to be afraid of him".
"I'm Princess Jasmine of Agrabah" the woman admitted to them much to their surprise "And I swear to you I am innocent of this crime" Jasmine insists to the blonde.
"Another Princess" Amelia drawled out in annoyance to herself "Really?" she sighed. She was surrounded by them.
"I believe you" Emma tells her taking the Princess by surprise.
"Really?".
"I have, kind of, a superpower" the saviour tells her.
"So if it wasn't you, who was it?" David asks the Princess as he takes the seat next to his daughter.
"I have no idea. That girl, she was my friend. She was helping my brother and I find a man who we cared about a long, long time ago".
"Aladdin?" Emma asked the woman as Amelia focused on the other piece of information that the Princess disclosed.
"Brother?" Amelia voices to her as Snow looked at her hearing this from her friend.
"You know him?" Jasmine asked Emma as the conversation carried on.
"No, I just saw the movie" Emma reassures her "It's a this-world thing. But where is he?".
"I wish I knew. He was quite special. He was..the Saviour".
"What?" David and Emma gasped hearing the Princess say this as Snow and Amelia heard that same thing only for the assassin to connect why Basim knew so much about the visions and the nightmares. Hyde knew, what he was running from.
"WHERE IS SHE! " the voice brought her out of her thoughts made her and Snow look towards the door as the Sheriff's heard the same as it was followed by a series of crashing and glass shattering alerting the Princess of who had come to find her after not finding her in the woods.
"Who is that?" Snow fretted to the assassin as the same question was being asked in the interrogation room.
"My guess, the brother" the redhead tells the Princess as she head to the door, grasping the door handle before looking back to the former Princess "I have a feeling I know who it is. Stay here".
"Amelia!" her protests wasn't heard as the assassin abruptly left the room to find the assassin that was looking for his sister.
"Who is that?" Emma asked the Princess in as David rushed to the door only to see a figure thought the window making their way into the bullpen.
"Oh no" the princess fretted to the sheriffs "It's my brother, please he's only looking for me. We were meant to meet in the woods before you found me"
"Brother?" Emma gaped at the Princess opposite her.
"Half-brother. Please Basim is very protective of me. He's an assassin of the Brotherhood, he won't hurt anyone".
"WHERE IS MY SISTER!" his voice boomed through the station again as more crashes came from down the hallway.
"Assassin?" she exclaimed at the Princess as the door to the room was suddenly opened for Snow to rush into the room in a panicked state to find her daughter and husband "What do you mean he's an assassin?".
"Emma!" her mother's voice took her away from the Princess to those of worry "Amelia's gone".
Making her way down the short hallway between the interrogation room and the bullpen the redheaded assassin felt her heart beat harder in her chest as she felt a cold sweat come over her by the time she reached the main room to stop his tirade.
"WHERE IS MY SISTER!" he yelled as he tipped a desk over making the items on top of it fall onto the floor as he let the metal desk drop heavily onto the ground along with the other's that had been tipped over. It looked worse from when the Evil Queen and Black Widow fought the Charming couple during the spell of Shattered Sight.
The windows to the sheriff's office had been splintered from the chairs that had been thrown at them as the man continued to show his strength to those inside the building.
"Hey!" Amelia barks at the assassin gaining his attention as he whirled around to see her "You need to calm down" she tells him with a level voice.
"Calm down!?" he continued to rage "You dare tell me to calm down after you once threatened my life".
"That's fair, but being angry won't get you anywhere here Basim" she calmly replies stepping further into the room to close the distance between them "Believe me, I know".
"No" he shook his head at her as they were quickly joined by the Charming family and the newly discovered Princess Jasmine and he flicked out his left wrist for a hidden blade to shoot out of the hidden blade "No, you don't. Not yet. You don't know how far I've gone to not be the man I was destined to be. I am no protector".
"I think I do know how that feels" she retorts "To have people get hurt and killed around you and not be able to do anything to stop it. It physically...hurts not to see them again and tell them how much I loved them. And that.. is a pain I don't even wish on my worst enemy".
"But there's a chance for you Basim" she says taking a step closer to the erratic assassin "We know who your sister is now. We can try and help you find Aladdin and prove to you that your story isn't set in stone. You just need to stop".
Gently taking hold of the leather bracer, the redheaded assassin looked into the pained gaze of the male assassin as short pants left his lungs "Please stop, this isn't helping anyone".
Relaxing his arm the assassin lets the hidden blade slip back into his bracer before the redhead lets go of his arm as Jasmine steps forward to bring her younger brother into a tight embrace while the redhead lets out the breath she had been holding onto, feeling a wave of dizziness come over her as she steps away, bringing her hand to her head she feels the world around her spin as a shooting pain comes from her side as her heart thumped hard against her chest. God she's felt awful.
"Lia?" Snow called out in concern seeing how pale the assassin had suddenly become as the dizziness suddenly stopped and the assassin seemed to blink out of whatever was going on to see Snow and Emma watching her closely.
"I'm fine" she made herself say to the pair ignoring the pain on her side and the cold sweat she could feel on her forehead "I'm fine".
Returning to his office from his eventful joint session with Emma and Amelia to find more answers about their visions. Leaving his umbrella and briefcase by the door, the therapist shrugs his suit jacket off as he hears a voice behind him.
"It's about time the doctor's in" the Evil Queen sighed out making the man whirl around to see her sat in his brown leather armchair.
"What do you want?" the man demands from the woman in his office.
"I want to talk about Emma Swan" she answers him.
"You know that I cannot talk about my patients" he tells her making the Queen laugh as she stand from his chair to round the furniture to face him.
"Oh, I think you'll make an exception for me" she grins "Now, Mr. Hyde, before his untimely demise, told me the Oracle gave Emma and Amelia visions of their future, and she wasn't willing to tell me about them, so...".
"It was you" Archie easily deduced "You killed her" She had killed the Oracle.
"Well, if that surprises you, you're not much with reading people. Probably not good for a therapist. But since the Oracle is gone, I need information, and you, Cricket, are my only source".
He needed to find help. Now. Running for the open door behind him he was stopped as it was magically closed as the Queen continued to try and convince the therapist to help her.
"Don't you remember what a great team we made? Let's do it one more time for old time's sake".
"No" he refused standing up to her.
"Well, I always knew you had a conscience. Tell me, are you developing a spine to go with it? No matter" the Queen shrugs his refusal off waving a hand over herself to turn herself into a carbon copy of the therapist.
"If you won't tell me about Emma's and Amelia's visions, then I'll just ask them myself".
Stepping onto the street as Archie Hopper, with the man himself safely stashed away with her older sister at the farmhouse, the Queen quickly found the saviour with her yellow bug with the hood up as the blonde packs a bag of supplies
"Emma, we need to talk" the therapist caught the woman's attention.
"I don't remember scheduling another session. Did we schedule another session? Did Lia?" she asks from the ground in confusion.
Once the redhead had admitted to her that she was having the same visions, the pair agreed with Archie that she should schedule joint sessions as a way to figure out if anything had changed for either as well as individual sessions much to the redhead's chagrin. But if was going to help them change the outcome of the vision she would have to grin and bare for their sake.
"No, no, no, no" he stammered as the blonde packed the bag into the trunk of her car and pushed the hood down "But I-I just was thinking about yours and Amelia's situation, and, uh, I just couldn't let go of it, and I-I just think we've got more to explore with that vision".
"I don't think we need to" she tells him "Things have changed" she says heading for the driver's door.
"They... they have?" he questions her.
Yeah, there's another Saviour one that came before me, and, Archie, he's alive"
Climbing into the driver seat the therapist crouched down to peer through the open passenger window to find out more about what Emma was talking about.
"Wait, a... another Saviour?".
"Yeah" she confirms pulling her seatbelt on "Aladdin. You know, like "A Whole New World" and magic carpets, Aladdin. He made it. He's okay, which means if he is, then maybe the vision doesn't matter. Maybe it's wrong".
"Maybe all Saviours don't die, then Amelia doesn't have to die, and then it's okay that I can tell my family because there's nothing to tell" she concludes "See ya" at that the saviour pulls away from the curb to start her search for the saviour.
Tea is was she needed to sooth her stomach after her sudden turn in the Sheriffs station, if only that same feeling of respite was felt by the others in the loft as they tried and failed to use a simple locator spell on some of Aladdin's personal belongings. Turns out everything he owned were stolen.
Sat beside her wife at the dining table, the Charming couple were stood with their hands on their hips as Jasmine paced the floor in anxiety as her brother stood in deep thought with his head perched on a closed fist as he tried to keep himself calm as he leaning against the bathroom wall keeping his distance from the extended family that awaited Emma to return.
The front door opening announced the saviours return taken aback as she looked upon her extended family plus the newly discovered Princess Jasmine and the assassin her half-brother already there.
"What's wrong?" she asks the forlorn looking group
"We just hit a dead end trying to find Aladdin" David informed his daughter.
"We tried a locator spell. It didn't work" Snow continued "Nothing belonged to him. Everything he had, he stole".
"Should have really seen that coming if we're being honest" Tom mumbled out loud from his place behind his mother and step-mother earning a gentle slap on the hand from his mother.
"Ow" he complained rubbing the back of hand as it stung.
"Not. Helping" she sternly tells her son.
"And we're giving up?" Emma asks the group.
"We're not giving up exactly" Amelia spoke up next "But the outcome looks pretty bleak" she trails off as the saviour saw through her words to what she was referring to. They had their assassin in Basim, but that meant nothing if they couldn't find their saviour.
"So, we may not find Aladdin" Jasmine concluded to the saviour as the assassin sees Archie walking through the open door.
"Which means you're running out of excuses, Emma" his voice makes the blonde turn to face him surprised at his presence as the assassin looks over to the man.
"Did you follow me here?" the blonde questions him.
"Yes" he confirms "I mean, look I couldn't leave knowing that you and Amelia were gonna continue to lie to yourself and to your family".
"What is going on?" Snow spoke up in concern, looking between the pair.
"Emma and Amelia have a secret" the therapist tells the family present.
"Archie" Emma sharply interrupts him as Amelia froze in her seat as she felt her son's and wife's gaze on her.
"No. Continue" Hook quickly intervenes from behind the blonde.
"Killian" Emma tried to speak to her boyfriend.
"Emma, if he thinks it can help... Cricket's always been on your side" Hook tells his love.
"Mom, please" Henry pleaded with his mother.
Looking towards the redhead, the blonde looked to her to try and do...something to stop their secret from being told. Only the assassin knew they would keep on if they didn't say anything. They had been put into a corner neither could get out of this time.
"We've.." Amelia spoke up making the group look to her at the dining table "Been having visions of what we think is our future. Emma's hand has been shaking. I've been...distant" she gulped.
"In the vision... we die" Emma continued for the redhead "According to Hyde, all Saviours die. Aladdin was also a Saviour, so we thought if we found him, if we found him alive... that he could help us avoid our fate".
Slipping out of the room the Evil Queen posing as Archie could help but to revel in forced confession that would ripple through the family like a tidal wave as she left the pair to face the torrid of question that were sent their way as she made her way down the stairs from the apartment.
Stood in front of the metal staircase together the Savour and her assassin revealed the details of the vision the pair had been having;
Two figures. Armed with swords and daggers. In the middle of the street with her parents, Killian, Tom and Henry behind her. Protecting them. One figure in a brown hood and the other in a white hood with long red hair. Only for Amelia to jumped out to take a killing blow that was meant for Emma before on of the two figures kill her anyway as the assassin lays dead in the middle of main street.
While the blondes parents moved to the kitchen to do something with their hands as their daughter told them she was going to die protecting them, the redheads watched as her son's world crumbled in front of him as he tried to listen to how he stood by and did nothing as his mother died. Again.
All the while the former Widow was trying to get a reading off her wife as the former Queen seemed to be in deep thought.
"So, I'm not there?" Regina questioned the pair, taking the redhead slightly aback as she tried to figure out how she fitted into the vision, having been the only one not there to see Emma and Amelia fighting the two figure.
"The figure's in the hood kill us while I protect everyone, but no, you're not there" the blonde tells the former Queen.
"Well, where do you think I am? Dead?" the former Queen question further as a series of looks went around the room as the same thought came to their mind.
"Or I'm one of the figures under the hoods?" she easily concluding what everyone in the room was thinking. She was one of them.
"Now, Regina, don't be angry" Emma tried to reason with the woman seeing her starting to spiral "This is a vision. It's not a dream. It's not like it's our subconscious at work".
"I'm gonna find another way to track down Aladdin" Regina suddenly announced as she tried her best to process the new piece of information "If I can't be of help in the future, I sure as hell better do my part now" she tells the group heading for the door only for Emma to stop her.
"Regina-".
"Just give me an hour. Meet me at my vault. I've got this" at that the former Queen walked out of the loft without a second glance to anyone
"Call if you need me" was all the assassin said before heading for the door to follow her wife out,
She caught sight of her retreating soulmate as the door to the apartment closed shut leaving Emma to deal with the rest of the family while she spoke to her wife.
The former Queen was quickly descending the stairs of the apartment building needing to be anywhere but there after discovering what her love had been keeping from her and the rest of their family
"Regina!" she called out for the woman only for the former Queen to avoid her by summoning a cloud of purple smoke around to take her away from the chasing assassin as she halted her pursuit of the woman at the top of the stairs
"Damn it" she curses to herself clenching her teeth in annoyance "That's not fair, I can't do that".
At least she knew where she would be. The vault it was.
Leaving back in the loft with the absence of the redhead, Emma was left to deal with the rest of the family as Jasmine approached the lone blonde saviour, leaving her younger brother to comfort the redhead's teenage son as he sat in a chair with his head hung low from the admission with a hand gripping his shoulder, trying to convey as much comfort he could to someone so young to be subjected to this kind of pain.
"Is it true?" the Princess asks the Saviour.
"What?".
"Is Aladdin dead?".
"I don't know" Emma admits to her.
"H-how does my Mom fit into this exactly?" Tom soke up from his place "W-Why is she having these visions too?".
"The Saviour and their Protector" Basim answers the boy's questions as well as the others "As mine and Aladdin's, their fates have been intertwined since before the first time they met".
"First met?" the pirate question the younger assassin with furrowed brows "You mean when the curse was broken".
"No" David spoke up from the kitchen shaking his head to himself "They technically met briefly before the curse took us all here".
"You mean.." the saviour trailed off.
"When she helped you get to the wardrobe".
"You mean since then she's been destined to protect Emma"
"Yes. No" Basim shrugged to the pirate unsure taking his hand off the teen "There is no definite answer. The first time I had a vision of Ali. I had no idea who he was. I hadn't even met him, only that I had to protect him when the time came" he tells the family looking towards the former Prince "The event in which you speak of wasn't some piece of destiny in the grander scheme of the vision, it was an assassin doing her duty to protect an innocent" he adds looking towards the blonde "Allow me to go find her. I have been through the jahim she is going through". (hell)
"Thanks" Emma replies with a nod allowing the male assassin to leave the apartment to find the one person that could possibly help his new friend in this moment.
She wasn't sure what to expect when she made her way down the narrow stone staircase down to the vault to speak privately with her wide over the secret she and Emma had been keeping from everyone. Reaching the assassin turned to the left to find the former Queen in deep concentration with vials and goblets on
"Regina" she called out to the woman only for her to go ignored as she continued to add ingredients to whatever she was trying to make "Regina!" she repeated herself louder this time making the woman stop , knowing she couldn't' ignore her as much as she wanted to.
"Come on Regina, we need to talk about this" she pleaded with her love "I didn't think Archie would corner us like that".
"Well, I'm sorry if I'm a little busy trying to save yours and Emma's life" she snapped at her love, making the assassin go quiet.
"How long have you known exactly?".
"Not long. The vision's only started when we were looking through wreckage of the dirigible".
"Only then?" she dryly scoffed to herself, rolling her eye's in distain that she was right back to where they were before the Underworld; Amelia keeping secrets from her "So all those plan's of a honeymoon once this is all over, was for what? To cover up these visions of your death from me?".
"No of course not!" the redhead exclaimed at the accusation "I didn't know what the visions meant when we were making those plans. They were just that, flashes that didn't make sense and left me paralyzed until they stopped".
"Now I do know now, now I can try and change it. I can change the outcome of that night so we can have a life together, to have a stupid honeymoon. Speaking with the Oracle was one of the way we could change it, she told me what they were, she warned me that I wouldn't be able to unsee what I saw, but I did it anyway, because I needed to know what was making me feel so...powerless".
"I went to find Hyde, because he knew something I didn't, that's why I was in the ward that night before the Widow found me".
"So that's what you meant" the brunette said outload "That the only other person that did know, was Hyde". the redhead could only nod at her love.
"I was going keep it to myself, like I always do, but then you asked me to kill you if the darkness came back like with Jekyll-".
"You made a different call" Regina trailed off, recalling their previous conversation on the boardwalk.
"I told Archie and Emma" the redhead clarified "I told the two people who I thought I could tell, that could help. But-" she cut herself off from say anymore.
"But, what?".
"I haven't told them everything" she admitted to the former Queen.
"What do you mean?".
"The Oncoming Storm" she quotes to her soulmate "That's what I was told before I came back. It was the reason I was brought back in the first place, not as a reward for defeating Hades like Hook, it was to be here to fight beside the saviour".
"Who told you exactly?".
"When I moved on from the Underworld, I ended up in another part of it, where it was ruled by another God, Persephone. She was the one to bring me back here after winning a trail that Hades designed himself".
The small room was drowned in silence as the redhead tried to gauge how her love would react to the piece of information as the former Queen stood in the middle of her vault with her hands on her hips looking at her like she had just grown a second head.
"I know it sounds crazy. But it was real. I remember waking up in paradise. I remember meeting her and telling her that I would do anything to get back to you and our family. And she agreed I didn't belong there, because I was needed here for whatever this fight is. I need to be there Regina, not because I need to be there to help Emma, but for you and Henry, and Tom and Helen
"I believe you" her wife voiced to her, making the redhead pause.
"You do?" she questioned her love.
"I do" the brunette echoes with a small nod as her hands fell from her hips "I just wish you told me sooner" she tells her love.
"I know" the redhead gulped "I'm sorry. I just..got scared".
"Which is exactly when you should talk to me" her love told her closing the distance between them, the former Queen took hold of her hands "I understand that these last few months have been. Difficult for you. But we don't keep secrets from each other. You promised me, no more secrets" she pressed the reminder.
"I know" she gulped down the guilt that "It's just-" the words caught in the assassin's throat as she wanted to tell the woman she loved the truth of how she had been feeling since returned from New York.
"Just what?" the brunette furrowed her brows before her love's green eye's met hers.
"I don't think I know who I am without the Widow" she truthfully tells her love, taking the former Queen aback as her hands slipped out of hers like she had just burnt them in the surprise of the silent admission. She wanted the Widow back.
This is what her honesty got her. This is what keeping secrets saved her from. From her wife looking at her like she had just completely betrayed her, by admitting that some part of her wanted the Widow back to be able to cope with the stress of everything. The Widow wasn't lying what she said she needed her. She was vulnerable without her, and she hated the feeling that she had no defence
The sound of the redhead's cell phone was the redhead's saving grace as she answered it by the second ring.
"Hey, it me" Emma's voice met her ear as the redhead watched as her wife turn away from her with her hand back on her hips "I know you're busy, but something's happened" the blonde went on.
"What did you need?" she forced herself to tell the blonde despite her not wanting to leave the room without knowing her admission wasn't going to break their relationship. She would stay for however long it took for her wife to forgive her for feeling this way.
"We think the Queen has Archie". Now it was her turn to be surprised by the outlandish claim made by the saviour.
"What makes you think that exactly?".
"Leroy called saying he wasn't there for an appointment and he had plenty of time to get there from here".
It wasn't like Archie to miss an appointment. But then it dawned on her how much 'he' pressed them to tell their family about the vision.
"She tricked us" the assassin realized in distain. They had fallen for her trick. It was a good one too. But she should've seen it. Again.
"That's what I'm thinking" Emma voiced to her over the phone.
"Let me find her. I can at least find out he's okay".
"Are you sure you should do that?".
"I worked for her for over a decade, trust me I know what's she's capable of. And give me some credit I taught her some of those tricks" she reminds the blonde.
"Lia,-" she heard the woman about to argue with her only to quickly interrupt her.
"Emma. Let me do this" hanging up her cell the redhead finds her wife back at the pedestal focusing back at whatever potion she was making to help them find Aladdin.
"I need to go" she tells her love "Turns out it wasn't actually Archie that cornered us into telling you all about the visions".
"The Queen" Regina drawls out pausing what she was doing to look at the redhead that had hurt her only few minutes ago. "You should go".
"Regina-" she didn't want to go. She needed her to tell her not to go.
"You should go" the former Queen repeats herself. There was no use arguing. Instead the assassin turned and walked up the stone staircase to leave the former Queen to think on what her love had told her. If she really thought going back to the Widow was her only way out of the vision, then she needed to work harder on a way to find Aladdin.
If she knew the Queen like she knew she did, The Evil Queen wasn't one to hide while the hero's reeled from the news of her and Emma's death in a vison they both had been having, she'd be out in the open, revelling in her small victory over the other.
Finding herself outside the 'Three Bears Day Spa' it the only place in town she could think the Queen would ever step into. She was not subtle. Not at all.
Stepping into the building, customers filled the room as she sought out the woman that knew where Archie was only for an employee to quickly intercept her search for the Queen.
"Hello. Do you have an appointment?".
"Oh I'm not here for an appointment, its one of your customer's I need to speak to actually. A certain Queen, yay high, has a big stick stuck her incredibly tight ass".
She didn't have the patience to be subtle either as her voice carried through to the back to be heard by the one woman she was looking for.
"Well, if you wanted to speak dear you should have just asked" the Queen said as she swaggered from the back in a black robe and making headpiece with a dark jewel imbedded in the middle and a wicked smile on her smile.
"Where is he?" Amelia went straight to the point of her 'visit'.
"Who dear?" she feigned ignorance "I've been enjoying a lovely spa day with my dear sister".
Looking past the Queen the assassin saw Zelena in a blue ensemble as the witches gaze met her's as the assassin gave the woman a tight-lipped smirk before turning back her attention to the Queen.
"Playing coy isn't not a good look on you Your Majesty, especially first thing in the morning".
"Why don't you join us?" The Queen asks her "I'm sure they have something that goes with all that red in your ledger" she drawled out with a toothy grin.
"Your little trick back at the loft won't work".
"I just thought I would give you the saviour a little push in the right direction".
"Or push us off a cliff edge" she rebutted.
"All the same to me" she shrugs to herself.
"You might want to take a trip through memory lane, every time we've come across someone like you, we always punch back harder" she reminds the Queen.
"That may be true, but I think this time you might find yourself on the back foot for once".
"Where's Archie?" Amelia huffed out in annoyance "Don't make me ask again. You know how how I hate asking a third time".
The threat coming from the assassin made the Queen chuckle to herself knowing she wasn't as threating without her darker self to back it up "You may want to dial down on the threat's dear. You've lost your bite. The cricket's safe for now, but I think you should be more worried for yourself seeing that you don't have much time anyway".
This made the assassin look at the Queen in confusion "What are you talking about?".
"Tell me, have you been feeling sick lately, dizziness. Cold sweat. Tired more that usual?" she listed to the redhead as the woman stood frozen as the Queen closed the distance between their faces before moving over to her ear.
"You can feel it can't you?" she purred into her ear "The poison slowly crawling closer to your heart through your veins each time it beats. I'd put good money it'll kill you long before you get the chance to reach the vision with the saviour".
The Dream-shade. She found it the morning after the stabbing, she recognised the dark veins that started to crawl from the wound, the same one's she saw on David on Neverland.
"Why?" was all she could ask the Queen. Why would she poison her, if she loved her like she said she did.
"I thought it..poetic" the Queen states to her "To die of the same thing that killed dear old Romeo in the end" she said with a false frown to flash onto her face before it disappeared "Unless someone has access to the cure that was intended for your father only if he hadn't given up on you".
"Let me guess..." she almost growled out the last word knowing the answer already "You".
"Still clever I see. Call the dream shade your countdown to finally coming to the conclusion that staying with the hero's will be your demise. Or you can join the side that's going to win".
"Never".
"Wrong answer" the Queen replied with a flick of her wrist the door to the spa opened behind the assassin before the redhead was forced out of the building by an gush of wind before the door closed itself, shutting the assassin out as she landed on the sidewalk in a painful heap as the redhead struggled to get back off the ground as she felt her side flare out in pain feeling the dream shade once again crawl up her side from the
"Amelia!" she heard her name being called out as two pairs of feet ran towards her before finding a the familiar four three fingered hand of Basim's appear in front of her to take and pull her off the ground and back onto her feet to meet him.
"Are you okay?" the assassin asked her as he looked over her figure for any injuries
"It's fine" she pants out, holding her side "I just pissed off a Queen. Happens all the time" she tell the man seeing the familiar figure next to him. She'd seen him around town before, hell even from the Hidden One's but couldn't put a name to his face "Who's this?".
"Amelia" Basim starts looking between the stranger and the redhead "This is Aladdin".
After literally being thrown out of the spa, the assassin found herself strolling into the woods with Basim on one side and Aladdin on the other as they explain everything they knew about the vision as they could. Telling her the story of how Aladdin found about his his powers when Jasmine and Basim asked for his help to find a weapon that would defeat their villain Jafar from harming their father, the Sultan further.
The saviour also told her of the pair of golden shears that Jafar had given to him when the burden of the saviour became too much for him. The man in question was currently holding them out to her, the same way he once offered the chance to Basim to cut his ties of being the protector. Only he refused, while Aladdin chose to use them severing the connection they had once and for all.
"You used them" Amelia states to them as they came to stop.
"Yeah, I did" he admits to her as she heard the pain from making the decision lace his voice "And Agrabah fell. So, I fled to the Enchanted Forest and got swept up in the curse".
"So, you've been here, this whole time" she states to the mam.
"Luckily for me, the sheriffs in town and their assassin are too busy saving the world to notice a common thief. A very good one, to their credit. Even if I did work in the assassin's bar" he tells the woman in front of him.
That's how she knew him. She had seen him in and around the bar, working
"So, you were-".
"Hidden in plain sight" he grinned to himself "Something Basim taught me how to do a long time ago, it came in handy especially in the weeks after the curse first broke".
"I never intended on revealing myself, but after how Basim found me so easily. He told me about you and how you've been having the same vision's and but after knowing about how much you've sacrificed for your family. I couldn't keep these to myself" he offer's them to the assassin.
Taking the shears from his hand the assassin was left stunned of how light they felt despite the heaviness of the burden they would be relieving if she used them. She would be able to save herself, and possibly Emma. She had a shortcut.
"No" the redhead quickly returned them to Aladdin's hand "Keep them" she tells the former saviour as Basim watched on "Nothing is True. Everything is Permitted. I was taught from a young age that not everything I'm told is true. Only by experiencing the events directly can we know the truth. My fate is what I make of it, I'm the architect and I need to live with the consequences, whether glorious or tragic".
She wasn't going to make the same mistake again.
She had some hard work to do, and she wasn't going to take anymore shortcuts.
Arriving back home from the long day, Regina and Tom stepped into the large home together ready to see out the rest of the evening trying to relax from the events of the day only to find someone was home already as the light's to catch their attention as a figure steps into the foyer from the kitchen with a kitchen towel her hands as the familiar aroma of lasagne drifts from the kitchen.
"Hi" she greets her wife and son from the other end of the foyer.
"Hello" the former Queen greets the woman as Tom looks between his Mom and his step-mom as he felt the tension between them grow not sure what to do.
"I made dinner" she tells the pair as she wrung her hands together "Lasagne, with red pepper flake's to give it some kick" she tells them only to get no reply from the pair.
"The dinner is an apology by the way" she admits to the pair "About today. I should've been honest with both of you with everything that's been going on since coming back. Keeping secrets from the people I care about the most is my way of protecting myself. It's just my default setting. And I want to work on that once we get Archie back from the Queen".
"I'm also sorry I didn't trust you. But I want to promise you that I'm going to everything I can to change that vision. When I saw the vision in full I should've remembered that; Nothing is True. I'm responsible for my own future, not the one that's been shown for me whether it ends up with me and Emma dying or us somehow winning".
Looking towards her step-mother the teenager looked at her with those big brown doe eye's he knew that would work on her, silently begging her to forgive the redhead for today. He was itching to go over and forgive and forget. Giving in, she gave the teen the go head by nodding.
Turning to his mother, the sneaker's on his feet squeaked on the floor as he quickly made his way over to his Mom, engulfing her in a tight embrace that she instantly mirrored. Closing her eye's the assassin let herself savour the moment for as long as she could before having to face the music with her wife.
"Go upstairs and wash up" she tells her son, making him pull away from the hug "Dinner's almost ready" at that the sixteen year old turned to climb up the stairs to leave the married couple alone.
"Amelia-" she started once Tom was out of earshot.
"I'm sorry, for what I said earlier" the redhead interrupts her "I'm not going back to the Widow if that's what you think, even if I find a way of doing that. Not after everything we've been thought to part ourselves from them. You didn't force me to go through with it. I wanted the Widow out as much as you wanted the Queen out".
Nodding at the woman's words the brunette slowly made her way towards the nervous woman trying to apologize.
"Do you, still feel like you don't know yourself?" she asked the woman in front of her.
"I do" she tells her "I've lost so many people i care about Regina. I feel like I haven't gotten a break, it's just been villain after villain and then, I died. And it wasn't just the one time. It's why I can't read that damn letter. I can barely look at myself in the mirror without-".
"Without thinking there was something I could've done more to help them. Stopped Neal from opening the vault. Luke from dying alone. From Robin, trusting me" she tells her "If I couldn't save them, how the hell I supposed to help Emma".
Silently closing the distance between them, the former Queen gently took hold of her soulmates head and face to cradle in her hands, wiping away the tears the had leaked from her emerald eye's, the same eye's she had fallen for all those years ago, they were still there, but so full of pain.
"By being you" she tells her love as the redhead reached up to take hold of her hand, "Whatever this new you is, I'm going to love you just as much and I always will. And you're not going to be alone to protect Emma, if that's what you need to do. Whatever it takes".
Closing the distance between them the former Queen placed her lips on the assassin's that quickly relaxed the redhead to melt into the embrace before the former Queen pulled away.
"Now, did you want me to check on dinner?" she asks her love, she knew how useless she was around the kitchen, she was surprised the redhead had even attempted to make the dish on her own.
The redhead had lived on Granny's, Mac and cheese from a box and PB&J for the last twenty-eight years, before the brunette decided to teach her how to cook actual food when they got together and spent more time together in the house.
"Actually, I might have got it from Granny's" she meekly admits to her wife "It's only re-heating. But I did add the flakes".
"Hmmm" she hummed to herself separating herself from her wife to venture into the kitchen "That's what I thought dear" She knew her wife better than that.
Once her wife was safely in the kitchen, the assassin snuck up the stairs to their bedroom, to find the bottle's of her tonic that she had hidden in a drawer of her walk-in closet.
Taking two vials from the small box the assassin made her way over to the shared bathroom, locking the door behind her, the redhead turned to the mirror to meet her pale almost sickly complexion looking back at her. She needed to take it easy, the poison had made her dizzy in the station that morning from the hike in the woods and stopping Basim's tirade of the bullpen. Being thrown out of the spa didn't help matters neither as the assassin braced herself to what she would find when she lifted the hem of her shirt to see the damage.
In one motion the assassin pulled the shirt up to see the dark veins protruding from the white gauze that covered the stab wound. The dark poisoned veins were just about making it up to the bottom of her ribs as they had started spread across her flat stomach, towards her belly button. Just seeing it made her vision swim.
Moving through the wave of dizziness the assassin quickly picked up the first vial of tonic that helped David survived a little longer before they reached Dead Man's Peak for the the water that would cure him, uncorking the vial with her teeth, the assassin spat it back out into the sink before downing the medicine like a shot, emptying the bottle, before it met the surface of the counter as she watched the veins recede back towards the white gauze, feeling the full effects of the medicine, the air seemed easier to breath as they stopped short of where she needed them to be.
Out of sight and out of mind.
A second was needed. Repeating her previous actions, the assassin forced the second vial of healing tonic down her throat, fighting the feeling to spit it back out, the glass vial nearly cracked from the force it met as the assassin watched the last of the veins disappear under the gauze leaving the clear protruding veins behind as she waited out the wash of nausea that came from having the two vials one after the other.
It wasn't a cure. She knew that. But it was the best way to keep it under control until she figured out a way of getting a cure without having to go through the Queen, because she wouldn't just give it to her for nothing in return.
She would have to pray to whatever deity that would listen to her, that the day the tonic stopped working wasn't too soon. For it would be the day she would have to get the cure from the Queen.
Throwing the shears into the sea seemed like the only logical thing to stop herself or Amelia from using them. Despite already knowing the redhead had refused to use them, and to safeguard them from someone getting their hands on them to be used as a weapon. She was going to trust the people she loved to find way out of the vision that had set the blonde saviour and the assassin on a course towards their demise.
From the boardwalk, the saviour watched through the light fog as Killian Jones rowed back on a small boat from throwing the shears into the sea. Only she wasn't the only person watching the man return from his task. There was one person that could see, what the man had done for his love, or at least, what he hadn't done.
Walking down the boardwalk the saviour met the former pirate as he climbed out of the boat back onto dry land "They're thousands of leagues under the sea" he tells his love "No one will ever find them, not even Poseidon himself" she adds as she stops in front of his to plant a sweet kiss to the pirates lips.
"Thank you" she says pulling away as a roll of thunder sounds out above them.
"There's a storm coming" he states to his love.
"Seems like a perfect night for a fire and some hot buttered rum" Emma suggests to the man next to her.
"Yeah, sounds like heaven. I just need to check in on the old girl, Secure the rigging".
"Pizza or Chinese?".
"Your heart's desire, Swan. I promise, that's all I want you to have" the couple kissed again before the blonde turns to leave the pirate.
Turning his back on the saviour the pirate reached into his jacket pocket taking out the shears out before replacing them again about to walk to the Jolly Rodger only for a voice behind him to stop him in his tracks.
"Wasn't that just sweetest" the Black Widow drawled out behind him making him turn around on high alert to see the face of his friend in the infamous black and red robes, her long red hair sitting on her shoulders in tight ringlets, not even bothering to hide her face with her hood in the darkness "You guys are so cute you make me want to gouge out my own eyes".
"Widow" he growled through clenched teeth "What do you want?" he demands from her.
"You really think you can fool your love like that?" she questions him.
"What are you talking about?".
"Don't play dumb with me pirate. I saw what you did. Or what you didn't do. Do you think they'll forgive you if your Saviour uses the shears on herself. But lucky for you I can here to offer you a deal for them".
"I don't want it" he turns his back on the woman taking a few steps forward to stop again at the woman's offer.
"Not even if I tell you who's under the hood in the vision?" her voice carried along the water.
"We already know Widow; you can stop playing your games, we know it's you and your Queen".
It could be her under the second hood, the Widow and the Queen untied against the saviour and her protector.
"You really think it's just that simple now?" she challenged the pirate taking slow intimidating step towards him, as the man stood frozen to the spot as her face came inches from his "Point the finger at the obvious choice, but I'm afraid that just not that simple anymore".
"Then who is it then?" he asked his breath fanning over her face a finger trailing down the middle of his chest.
"I'll tell you when you give me those pretty little shears. And we, can have a little reunion of our own" she her softly spoken voice her eyelids dropping down inching her lips closer to his, but before she could place her lips on his only for the pirate to quickly pull away from her, putting some much needed distance between them.
"No. Deal" he sneers the words into her face before turning away from the redhead and walking away from her.
"They'll all die!" she calls into the night making the man pause again "Not just your saviour and her assassin. By keeping those sheers to yourself, you're putting everyone in danger! Any villain you have ever faced will be nothing compared to them. Including the Queen and I".
"I think between all of us we can easily take down the likes of you" he turned back at the villain.
"No you can't" she replies "I'm not going to risk my children to your stupidity. Do you hear me? I'd rather put them to the blade myself to save them from you playing hero".
Something seemed to snap in the pirate head at the mention of the redhead's children, because those children included Henry as he closed the distance between them to wrap his hand around the Widow's throat and a Hook under her chin as she grinned through his anger.
"Don't you dare touch them" he warned her as the Widow saw his darker self come through the thick eyeliner.
"Or what? You kill me, you kill Amelia" she reminds the man "Then your saviour had no one to help her in that fight" at that the pirate let go of her neck, the Widow can only grin in amusement seeing the confliction in his eyes.
"Amelia know who's under one of the hoods" she tells the pirate "Ask her about her nightmares and get a message to her. Tell her the Queen is willing to wait for her to make a decision and that the clock's ticking for the both of us. Tick, tock pirate".
At that the Black Widow pulled the hood over her head to turn on her heel to leave the man with the message to be passed onto her other self a disappear into the fog that sat on the board walk, leaving the pirate to think over her words.
AN: Hello! Another chapter! Yay!
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