The name of the Moonshine Alley suggested a pretty street, full of magic and wondrous creatures. The reality, however, looked completely different and stared at Hook from dark eyes.

"What are you doing here? You have no business here!" The stooped man in a black hooded cloak stood in front of him, leaning on a gnarled staff, and even if his appearance did not appear to pose much of a threat, Hook knew all too well that one could easily be mistaken in such assessments.

"I'm inclined to say that this is a street with stores that are open to everyone. Or am I wrong?" he nevertheless dared to ask.

"What do you want here? You have no business here!"

Hook's eyebrow shot up in disbelief. "We've been over this, buddy. I want to shop here. Move aside." He didn't have time for such antics and didn't want to linger here any longer than necessary.

There was a loud bang and Hook flew a few feet into the air, landing roughly in a haystack that had fortunately been piled up next to an archway. "How I hate this pack of wizards," he muttered, picking himself up and patting shreds of dried grass off his clothes.

Meanwhile, a young man in a cloak hurried past him, held out a golden pendant on a chain to the gatekeeper as he passed and disappeared into the next house.

"Hey, what the..." Hook's expression darkened.

"You must be a member of the guild to enter Moonshine Alley." The gruff voice behind him made Hook jerk around.

"The guild?" he asked the old man in midnight blue robes who had stepped up behind him.

He nodded. "The 'Guild of the Bloody Moon' is an ancient wizarding organization based here. They don't let just any run-of-the-mill wannabe mage into their ranks, and they certainly don't tolerate walk-ins overrunning their stores. You don't seem to belong to any of these groups, so what brought you here?"

Hook was displeased that everyone here seemed to want to know about his plans. "I'm looking for a magical item. I was told I might be able to get it here."

"That's quite possible. Unfortunately, I don't see any way for you to gain entry." He tapped the brim of his pointed hat and started to walk away.

"Wait, sir!" Hook called after him and caught up after a moment. "Are you a member of the guild?" he asked him, almost hopefully.

"I was once a member, but that was a long time ago. Good advice, my friend: stay away from here. I'm sure there's another way to get what you want." Once again, he walked on and this time Hook didn't stop him.


"I can't reach Emma and Mom!"

Zelena and the Blue Fairy winced as the door to the cellar flew open and banged against the stone wall.

"Henry, what do you mean?" Zelena wanted to know immediately, distracted for the first time by the shattering realization they had come to that afternoon.

The young man rested his hands on the wooden table, his cheeks flushed and out of breath, as if he had run all the way down here from his sleeping chamber. "I activated the crystal and wanted to talk to them, as we agreed for the evening. But they didn't respond to my call."

"That could mean anything," the Blue Fairy said calmly. "Maybe they're out and about and have just left it somewhere," she suggested.

Zelena rolled her eyes. "As if the two of them would just leave the only source of communication linking them to their son lying around somewhere!" She turned to Henry. "Are you sure you used the crystal properly? Is it perhaps no longer charged?"

Henry shook his head. "It worked. It was glowing and everything, just like it should. It's just that I didn't come in touch with someone," he explained.

Zelena's fingers tightened around the back of the chair she was clutching. "Your mother wasn't well, Henry. I'm sorry, I didn't tell you because I didn't want to worry you," she said after a while.

"What are you trying to say? Aunt Zelena!" Henry looked at her reproachfully.

"I cast a spell that brought me to them for a short time. Or rather, a reflection of me. Whatever. Regina was injured by Gothel, obviously not life-threatening, but she definitely wasn't well. But Henry, Emma is with her. Whatever's going on or happened, she's taking care of her. And maybe the Blue Fairy is right." She pulled a sour face as she agreed with her; but at least she was doing it for Henry. "Maybe they missed your call. You can try again later," she suggested.

Henry's jaw muscles twitched as he thought about it. "I got the impression the last time we spoke that Mom wasn't doing well. She was very taciturn."

"Well, my sister isn't exactly a woman of many words."

"She was dying to finally hear from me. I doubt she'll be at a loss for words when she has the chance to talk to me."

"There could have been many reasons for that. Maybe..."

"It's nice of you to try to reassure me," Henry interrupted her, "but I won't be reassured until I get some sign of life from them. Until then, I'll keep trying."

"I understand what you mean. But remember that the crystal is not inexhaustible. It will be a whole month before the full moon is in the sky again. Be prudent and don't waste the charge by trying to make contact again and again tonight. Try again and if they don't get back to you then, try again tomorrow."

Henry was about to retort, but Zelena cut him off as he caught his breath.

"That's a lot to ask, I know that. But you know I'm right."

They gazed into each other's eyes for quite a while before Henry finally nodded, turned away and left the cellar, taking two steps at a time.


Emma spent the next few hours at Regina's bedside, holding her hand. Nurses and doctors came and went, but she barely noticed them. Her eyes were only on Regina's pale face and her thoughts on the fact that she hadn't shown any movement since Emma had been here.

"You should go home," the voice of Regina's doctor, Dr. James, said, who had also looked after her during her last stay at the clinic.

Emma shook her head without turning to face him. "I want to be here in case she wakes up," she explained.

"That's not going to happen in the next few hours."

Emma snorted snidely and turned to face him after all. "Well, since nobody's talking to me, it's hard for me to know, isn't it?"

"I understand your anger, but we can't change the rules to suit ourselves. Who can assure us that Ms. West is okay with us sharing sensitive information about her health with you?"

Emma had to think for a moment about who he meant by Ms. West until she realized that he still thought he was looking at Regina's curse self, Roni West. "No offense, Doctor, but I don't give a shit about your rules! Do you really think a complete stranger who finds Re...Roni on the street would refuse to leave here and would want information? She's my friend and as you know, she's never had any visitors. I'm the only one she has and I just recently arrived because I had to cross half the state. Do you understand me? I drove here from Maine, by car, nine months pregnant, to be with her. Do you think I would do that if I didn't care about her and she didn't care about me?" She realized that she probably shouldn't be shouting like this, but it made her incredibly angry that no one here believed her.

"I've never doubted that Roni is important to you. But there are certain rules that we unfortunately have to abide by."

Emma snorted; she hadn't expected any other answer.

"I need to check on the other patients. Please excuse me, I'll be back in half an hour." He looked at her piercingly and folded Regina's medical records conspicuously closed, but left them on the shelf in the room as he left.

Emma took the hint and had to admit to herself that she had misjudged him after all. As he turned the corner, she stood up and took the file. She wished she knew more about all the medical stuff, as it was a very tedious task to look up everything she didn't understand on her smartphone. After about 20 minutes, however, she had managed it and put the file back where she had found it before settling back down at Regina's side.

"What you did was so stupid," she whispered, "but I thank you for saving my baby." She gently stroked the bandage covering Regina's forehead. "I'll fix it, you bet I will." Emma realized that she couldn't overdo it; she couldn't worry about the broken bones she'd already had. Her focus had to be on the brain hemorrhage she had suffered as a result of the spell to save her, which had caused her brain to swell. This had led to unconsciousness and a status epilepticus, a series of multiple seizures, as Emma now knew from her research. Although the doctors had operated on Regina immediately to reduce the pressure in her head, it was only possible to tell whether she would retain any damage when she woke up. And the longer this took, the less likely it was that she would survive the whole thing without consequences.

But Emma wouldn't let it get that far. "I don't know what's going to happen," she began slowly, lowering her gaze briefly to her belly, which she stroked immediately afterwards before looking up at Regina again. "All I know is that I can't leave you to your fate. I found you, then you saved my life. Now I'm saving yours. That's what we do and always will."

Emma took another deep breath. She really didn't know what was going to happen, but she only had five minutes before Dr. James came back and she couldn't let him catch her doing magic. Still, it was an advantage that he would be here soon in case the whole thing went wrong and she did more damage; or she would need a doctor herself. She swallowed hard and stood up from the hard plastic chair to place her hands carefully on Regina's temples. Warmth flooded into her hands and as she realized that it was her magic she was feeling, she closed her eyes to better focus on the inside of Regina's head and the words she had read in the file.

Healing spells were very complex and Emma had only managed to close superficial scratches and wounds so far. Suddenly, she was afraid she might accidentally fry Regina's brain if she put too much energy into her spell and reduced the stream of bright light flowing from her fingertips.

The headache set in and became an intense throbbing in no time. Just when she thought she couldn't take it any longer, the stream of energy subsided and finally stopped completely. Emma opened her eyes and tears streamed out as the bright light in the room hit her sensitive retinas. Nevertheless, she looked at the monitors and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the still steady ECG curve, which indicated Regina's well-being.

Exhausted, Emma dropped back into the chair; not a moment too soon, as the sliding door opened and the doctor reappeared. Emma wiped her eyes dry with her sleeve and was glad that he would interpret her tears as a sign of concern for Regina and not question it.

"Her blood pressure is rising," he said, before adjusting something on one of the machines.

Emma felt herself go white as a sheet.

As he seemed to notice when he turned around again, he immediately shook his head. "Oh, no, no, don't worry. That's a good sign. I may have been wrong in saying she wouldn't wake up in the next few hours."

Emma forced a weak smile. "Thank you. For everything." She nodded as inconspicuously as possible to the file that lay innocently on the shelf and now wandered back into Dr. James' hand.

"I don't know what you mean. Lie down for a while, you're a bit pale," he said before leaving the room.