Chapter 14

Past

The tavern Sinbad was staying in was rowdy as ever. He helped himself to fine rum by wasting his money away to gamble and drink to his heart's content. The only clothes he wore were old leather he nicked off some poor man a few villages back when Sinbad gave up his title as King of the Seven Seas. He was no one now to all, just a disgraced drunk who threw his life away. It was the only thing he could be now. After all, Sinbad was a wanted man by all pirates since The Code clearly states that if The King of the Seven Seas gives up their title, then they are wanted.

As soon as Sinbad finished his drink, he placed a shilling towards a bar wench to get himself another drink before he looked over at the poker game that a few sailors were playing, so Sinbad rose from his stool and headed over to them with a toothy grin as soon as he was served his drink. "Mind if I join?"

"Who are you?" one of the man asked, almost annoyed that Sinbad interrupted their game.

Sinbad smirked as he took out a small bag of silver coins and threw it on the table. "What do you say we play, and we forget the name?"

The man then gestured to the seat across from him, so Sinbad graciously sat down and looked at his opponents. One of them looked rather mean with his stink-eye, and another one was rather bony that Sinbad could twist him like a twig so easily, and the dealer was very beastly looking with wild, matted hair. Sinbad was given his hand, and the game was at foot.

Sometimes one of the men beat Sinbad, but Sinbad had the upper hand with his winnings as he slammed his cards on the table to show that he had a flush or a full house nearly every time before collecting the money. The tides soon turned though when Sinbad thanked them for a wonderful game and gathered his coins to put them in a pouch. One of the men then grabbed his wrist by slamming it down, causing Sinbad to question what he was doing. His expression turned grim when the dealer pulled out a card from Sinbad's sleeve, causing Sinbad to get concerned since he knew how this was going to turn out.

Sinbad gave them an awkward smile since he had been caught as he tried to deescalate the situation. "I understand how this looks-"

Without a warning, one of them punched Sinbad straight to his jaw, causing his head to snap back and made him tumble to the tables. A fight soon broke out when Sinbad grunted and slowly got back up to smash a bottle against one of the men's heads. Even when one of them drew a dagger out, it didn't matter to Sinbad. He ducked out of the way and knocked the dagger out of his hand before punching him in his gut and knocked him down.

One of them then grabbed Sinbad from behind and brought him down to his knees, putting him in a chokehold. He struggled to breathe as he desperately clung to the air in his lungs. Finally Sinbad moved his head to bite hard onto the man's fingers, causing him to cry out when Sinbad drew blood and practically bit one of his fingers off. As soon as the man let him go, Sinbad immediately grabbed him and decked him in the face, knocking him out.

Everyone in the tavern watched the display in horror and utter bewilderment, but Sinbad didn't care. He collected his earnings even though he cheated to win and downed his rum in one go before he went over to a couple of women who smirked at him suggestively. They wrapped their arms around him as he led them upstairs to have his way with them.

Unbeknownst to Sinbad, a man wearing a cloak observed the whole thing and smirked to himself as he knew that Sinbad would be useful to him. The man knew exactly who Sinbad was after hearing tales of his conquests like battling a giant cyclops or how he inhabited a giant whale after mistaking it for an island with his crew.

Present

Graham was eating breakfast at Granny's Diner on his own in one of the booths reading The Daily Mirror. It was busier than usual, but Graham didn't mind so much. He did ask if Nora wanted to join him, but she said that she had too much work to do, so he let it go. Perhaps another time he thought. At least he had some coffee to wake his mind for the day as Ruby poured him another cup.

He soon turned to the door when he saw Mary Margaret coming in with a clipboard and cleared her throat to gain everyone's attention. "Excuse I have everyone's attention. I'm sorry to interrupt your morning but I just wanted to remind everyone that a very special occasion is upon us: Miner's always the nuns of Storybrooke are hoping that everyone will get involved and will help sell their exquisite we need are a few energetic volunteers. So who wants to join me?"

It must have been a bit embarrassing for Mary Margaret. As soon as she made her little announcement, no one bothered to jump in the first chance they got to help out with the festivities. Everyone resumed eating their breakfast and talking to each other, leaving Mary Margaret standing there. Graham was a little surprised to see Leroy approach her as she asked him if he wanted to volunteer, but Graham should have known that Leroy's attitude would make the situation worse by telling Mary Margaret that she was blocking the door.

As soon as Mary Margaret stood out of his way, she stopped him to say, "Uh...You know, if you wanted to help it could really be a-"

"Oh yeah, right. Quite a team we'd make. Town harlot, town drunk," Leroy cut her off. "The only person in this town people like less than me is you. If You're coming to me, you're screwed."

Graham looked down in disappointment when he heard Leroy said that. He then saw how upset Mary Margaret was and pitied her. After the town discovered her affair with David Nolan, the people have been cruel to her. Graham never really got to know Mary Margaret, but she didn't seem to be the type to intentionally do something awful. On top of it, she was Nora and Emma's friend, so Graham thought he could be supportive of her.

He set his newspaper to the side and left a tip for Ruby before catching up with Mary Margaret outside. "Hey, mind if I join you?" She seemed surprised that he came to check in on her, but he knew she was still upset that she was the arguably the least likable person in this town. "So, you're helping out with the holiday for the nuns?" When there was still no response from her, he tried to uplift her spirits a bit by saying, "Don't let them bring you down."

"Last week I had ten volunteers. This week they all dropped out."

Graham then looked at her as he questioned, "And it's all because of David Nolan?"

"I know it is. A few of them told me as much," she immediately almost immediately. "I've never...been a home-wrecker before."

He knew that wasn't true. Mary Margaret was anything but a home-wrecker. Graham should know. That was why he didn't want her to feel this way.

"You know, what I did was much worse." Mary Margaret then turned to Graham as he added, "I went out with Nora and intentionally slept with Regina for my own personal gain when I should have been honest in my relationship with Nora and ended things with Regina. You should've seen when people found out that I've been sneaking behind Nora's back. Ruby didn't want to wait on me, and when she did, she gave me an extra charge for wanting pickles in my burger."

That made Mary Margaret smile a bit at least as she said, "Sounds like her."

"Right, so, don't beat yourself too much on this. This will all blow over soon. It may just take time for people to forget just like mine."

When Graham's phone rang, he looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Emma, so he excused Mary Margaret to take the call. He listened to her every word as she told him that they got a tip to meet at the town line. Apparently Kathryn Nolan's car was found there, but she wasn't inside after a local gym teacher told the sheriff about it when he called the station.

"Alright, I'll be right down," Graham said before hanging up and turned to Mary Margaret. "If you need to talk more about it, don't hesitate to reach out. I'm a pretty good listener, at least that's what Nora says."

"Thanks, Graham," Mary Margaret said with a kind smile.

After offering her a small smile, he headed to meet Emma at the town line. Emma was already taking pictures of the crash site. Kathryn Nolan's car was off the road a bit going into the woods, and the passenger door was wide open.

"Found anything?" Graham asked.

"No. Not really."

Graham then inspected the car himself, but there wasn't really much to give them any clues besides the airbag that went off. Nothing really out of the ordinary when he dug through inside. As Graham tried to figure out what happened, he saw Sidney driving up to them, causing Graham to get annoyed a bit since he knew Sidney was here to serve as the mayor's puppet.

"What are you doing here?" Graham turned to him.

"My job. I heard about the crash, so I came to report it," Sidney told him bluntly before turning to Emma. "So, what do we got here?"

"Gym teacher found this thing on the side of the road,abandoned, engine running, nobody around. Registered to Kathryn Nolan. She's MIA."

Graham didn't like the perturbed expression on Sidney's face as he pressed, "Kathryn Nolan? Whose husband very publicly left her? I mean the story writes itself."

"Don't turn anything just yet," Graham jumped in when he knew exactly what Sidney was implying. "We're here to investigate, not to draw conclusions."

"Right. Of course."

Graham couldn't care less how Sidney looked at him. He never liked him to begin with since he was always a snake. The only reason why Graham read The Daily Mirror was to see what horrible lies Sidney spread through town by highlighting the mayor's accomplishments.

Emma then went over to the back of the car as she said, "Well, Kathryn got accepted to a law school at Boston. Maybe after David dumped her, she decided to leave town. Car broke down, she hitched the rest of the way. That's what I would do if I was running away from my problems."

As soon as Emma opened the trunk, they all stood there in bewilderment when they found Kathryn's suitcase. "And, uh, would you leave your clothes in the car?" Sidney asked.

Emma then had the brilliant to pull out Kathryn's phone records so that they could see who she spoke to last. It was a great idea, and it may be the lead to tell them who did this. Someone had to have taken Kathryn. There was no possible way that Kathryn would just leave her luggage if she was heading to Boston. Graham was a bit skeptical when Sidney even said he was willing to help them since he had contact from the phone company. He didn't trust him, but right now, he was their best shot at obtaining evidence.

"Great. Call me the minute you get your hands on those phone records," Emma told Sidney.

As soon as she said that, they saw David Nolan pulling up with his truck, so Graham questioned, "You don't think he knows, do you?"

"We're about to find out."

Meanwhile, Amir met Regina walking down the street as she greeted him even though she didn't look too pleased to see him. Amir didn't mind though since he felt the same way. It wasn't as if they particularly liked each other, but they were powerful allies who needed each other to work their way around the system.

"You seem in a festive mood, Khan."

"Am I?" Amir asked with slight amusement. "Perhaps. I mean, it is Miner's Day."

"And, since have you ever cared about such a ridiculous holiday?"

"Well, it's the one time everyone gets together. A perfect chance to get acquainted with new faces."

Regina knew exactly what he meant as she told him bluntly, "You mean a chance to involve them in your business."

Amir couldn't help but smirk since Regina knew him well enough to know almost everything he was up to in this town. "What can I say? I'm a man of...persuasion."

"I still could not figure out what Rothbart ever saw in you. He must have found your actions completely vile."

"On the contrary, he was much worse than me. I had way more compassion than him back then," Amir scoffed, and Regina soon listened to him intently when he added, "and if I'm being honest, I actually admired him, because he did things that I couldn't even stomach towards people,especiallywhen it came to Nora Moon, but then again, it was what made him powerful, and I soon realized that if I wanted to gain such power, then I needed to lose a part of myself, even if it meant being the most despicable villain in town."

Past

The moon was promising to say the least at night. It lit the way, providing Sinbad safe passage through the docks with a rum bottle in his hand. He sat on a barrel and slurped the rumor, wiping some that spilled on his cheek using the back of his hand. He stared out into the open water while the sea breeze wafted through his nostrils. For once in a long time, Sinbad was at peace, and no one was around to interrupt him, or at least, he thought so.

"My, my, isn't this a sight." Sinbad turned to see a man wearing a raggedy old cloak. "A drunk in the docks."

The man's tone was cold but there was amusement in the way that he spoke, and it made Sinbad wary of this man. "Who are you?"

When the man uncloaked himself, Sinbad took in his face. He was much older than him with sleek ginger hair, and he possessed dominating blue eyes that could frighten a man with a single glance. Despite wearing the tattered cloak, Sinbad could see underneath how wealthy the man from his leather and embroidered clothes and gold chain across his breast plate.

"Rothbart, and I know exactly who you are, Sinbad, King of the Seven Seas," the man said, causing Sinbad to freeze for a moment before quickly collecting himself.

"I gave up my title."

"Yes, I'm well aware. You are a wanted man by the pirates if I'm not mistaken, and now, you made yourself a home here, wasting away by being a stinkin' piss drunk every night." Sinbad then chugged the bottle and soon stopped when Rothbart added, "I am here to offer you a deal. I will grant you all of the riches and the power you so desire by making you a lord for my Queen if you procure me an item."

"What item?"

"A diamond...from ROC Island."

Sinbad's eyes shot up with interest, but he soon chuckled. "ROC Island? You've lost your mind! You do realize the diamonds over there are cursed magical objects. Why would you ever want something like that?"

Even though Rothbart's smirk never faded, his tone remained unkind as he told him, "All in due time you'll find out, but I need you to agree first. So, what do you say?"

Sinbad thought about it for a moment, but he had no idea who this man. Quite frankly, he also didn't trust him. There was something rather off about this man, almost a dark presence about him, and it unnerved Sinbad. However, Sinbad had encountered many men in his past, and only one had ever frightened him, which was a pirate who left him the bloody scar across his chest. If it weren't for that nasty hook, then Sinbad wouldn't have gotten hurt, but the pirate was much more skilled than Sinbad realized. That was why Sinbad was not going to allow Rothbart to do as he pleased by intimidating him.

"No, thank you. I am perfectly content with my life right now," Sinbad told him before sipping more of his drink.

Rothbart smirked wickedly as he replied, "I see. Well, no matter." He then flicked his wrist as a burnt orange cloud surrounded his hand and a whistle appeared in his clutch, so he threw it at Sinbad. "Use it in case you change your mind. Enjoy the rest of your drink."

With his final words, Rothbart disappeared into a cloud of orange smoke. Sinbad then looked at the wood whistle he gave him and thought that he had no reason to ever summon this man. Even though Sinbad wasn't living in the best conditions, he at least made the best of it. Still, he hated to admit that he did miss the life where he conquered many lands and stole their treasures for kings to be envious of. For now, he was going to stick to the village and hold out until it was time to move on to the next one.

Present

The rest of the day went rather well, but Nora braced herself today since her rent was due. She already had it out so that Gold wouldn't stay in her shop too long since she didn't want to face him a minute longer. For now, she was doing some inventory by setting up the accessory and the jewelry counters before she did some bookkeeping to see how much she sold this month. At least her profits were good. She managed to hit her goal over how many units she sold as she noted in her journal.

When the bell rang, she saw Gold standing there for a moment before limping his way inside. He was quiet at first when he made his way inside but he eventually greeted her when he made it halfway towards her, so she greeted him back cordially. She certainly didn't want to cause a scene in her shop. They were for business, so that was how Nora was going to treat it as she handed him the money.

"This month's rent. Let me know if you need anything else from me." She then turned her attention back to her journal to continue making notes to it. "Have a good day."

Mr. Gold was still standing right in front of her, and Nora felt his eyes on her, making her uncomfortable. "We need to discuss this-"

She set her pen down as she confronted him by cutting him off, "There's nothing to discuss."

When she went to go fix the clothes on the mannequins by her window, he followed her. "You have to understand that I did what needed to be done, and Deputy Humbert wasn't going to tell you anything."

"Even so, the way how you did it wasunbelievablycruel, and the worst part about it, was that you never took my feelings into consideration," Nora explained, facing him.

"Except I was taking your feelings into consideration. I forced you to open your eyes so that you could see how much he hurt you."

She couldn't believe his pathetic excuse. He may have seemed like he was looking out for her, but he really wasn't. What he did was much worse than Nora imagined. Instead of telling her, he went behind her back by blackmailing Mr. French to send her the lilies so that he could keep his van. That was why Nora called him a coward when she saw him at the streets with Graham. Gold didn't have the decency to tell her. He hid behind his actions and attempted to justify his deeds, but Nora was not going to fall for it.

"And you did for a while, but now, you lost me as a friend."

Gold simply stared at her, and he almost looked conflicted to say something, but he eventually opened his mouth to say, "Well, you know what they say, dear: no good deed goes unpunished."

At that moment, she turned back to him only to see a smirk crossing his face. He then walked out of her store while saying his goodbye to her, but Nora didn't bother saying it back since she was still upset at him. She hated how their relationship strained since she still felt some sort of connection with him and she didn't want it to go away, but it was better this way. Gold proved to her that he only cared about himself, which was why Nora was never going to forgive him for what he did to her.

As time slowly passed by, Nora closed her shop up early so that she could meet with Ruby at the diner. Granny greeted her as usual. When Nora looked around though, she didn't see her friend, so she headed to the back, but Granny stopped her, "You won't find her here. She already went to the Miner's Day festival. She was in a rush getting there too."

That was odd. Both her and Ruby already made plans to meet at the diner. Nora then thought that maybe she met a man at the diner who invited her to go to the festival. Not that Nora really mind since Ruby liked to have fun with various men in town, but it still annoyed Nora a bit since Ruby went off on her own. Nora then thanked Granny and headed out of the diner to go to the Miner's Day festival on her own, and hopefully find Ruby there so that she could tell her off a bit.

Meanwhile, Emma and Graham explained the situation to David at the crash site. They told him what they think happened by speculating that someone just took Kathryn while Sidney took more photos of the scene to gather for the paper. David seemed surprised to hear that Kathryn just vanished without a trace.

"You really don't know anything, do you?" Emma asked him.

"I-I don't- I don't understand. Wh-what happened?"

"We don't know, that's what we're trying to find out," Graham told him. "Is there anything you can tell us? When was the last time you spoke to her?"

"Yesterday afternoon."

Graham then looked over at Sidney who watched David carefully. He didn't want to believe that David would do this. It didn't seem like he did, but if there were any evidence against David Nolan, then they needed to do something about it. Graham just hoped that they found an alibi for him, but for now, he couldn't rule him out as a suspect just yet.

While Emma continued talking to him, Graham went over to Sidney who turned to him before glancing back at Emma and David and whispered, "You even got to admit that something isn't right about this. I mean, David Nolan? It's the only logical explanation."

Graham was getting more annoyed by Sidney's theories as he told him lowly, "Well, we don't know that. He may be a suspect, but that doesn't mean that he's guilty."

"Well, at least I have some photos for you and the sheriff to look over if you want."

When Sidney handed him the pictures, Graham flipped through each one and didn't really find anything, or at least, he thought so. His eyes soon narrowed when he saw a picture of one of the car's wheels deflating, but it wasn't the wheel that caught his attention. It was the blood spots next to them that were in the corner of the shot. You could hardly see it at first glance, but Graham caught wind of it when he saw something red up close to his face when he looked over the pictures.

Graham then went over to where Sidney would possibly take the shot as Sidney observed him squatting down to get a good look at the ground. Sure enough. There was blood. Graham knew he was onto something when he realized that there were also signs of struggles when he saw the dirt being smudged into the ground as there was a much bigger splatter on the ground.

"Emma!" Sidney called.

Both Emma and David looked to see Graham going deeper into the woods, so they went over to catch up with him with Sidney trekking by their side. "Did you find anything?" Emma asked when she made it to his side.

Graham then pointed to some of the blood droppings that were spaced out a bit but still led a trail. "I'm thinking it'll take us to her."

They then hurried, and when Sidney froze as he looked up and muttered, "Oh my God," they all then drew their heads up and saw a woman's body on the ground. David was the first one to rush over to her, and not long after, Emma, Sidney, and Graham followed his lead. David was the first one to get down to turn Kathryn Nolan over where he found blood streaking down from her forehead.

Emma immediately phoned in her radio to call for emergency while David tried to wake her up, but her eyes refused to open. At that moment, a chill swept through Graham's core as he realized that someone wanted Kathryn gone and succeeded. Those prints on the ground were signs of struggle, and the injury on her head could be a cause of blunt force. For now, they needed to take Kathryn to the emergency room to get treated.

Past

Sinbad was practically thrown out of the tavern he was staying at since he couldn't rent a room anymore after spending all of his money away to gamble and on drinks. He glared at the man who threw him out and wanted to fight him, but he realized that he wasn't worth it. Sinbad then dusted off his clothes and went back to the docks, thinking about his past.

If it hadn't been for the damn Code, then Sinbad would continue to travel, but he was wary that he would come across pirates to kill him so that they could inherit his title. However, living on land with no money wouldn't last long, and pirates tended to pillage villages, so he was bound to get discovered. If only Sinbad obtained his own property, then he would have nothing to fear. He would wine and dine as much as he pleased, be acquainted with pleasurable company for the night, and have men who followed his every order. That was when Sinbad thought about Rothbart as he took out the whistle.

Sinbad never liked depending on anyone, but if the sorcerer, Rothbart, did as he was promised, then Sinbad would be content with his new life, so he blew the whistle after giving it some thought. At first, nothing happened. There was a pinging sound, and Sinbad wondered if the sorcerer heard it. When he looked around to see that Rothbart was nowhere to be found, he immediately gave up, thinking it was a lost cause.

Not long after Sinbad tried to walk away, the same burnt orange smoke Rothbart used appeared, and sure enough, the sorcerer came. "I knew you'd make the right decision." Sinbad simply narrowed his eyes at him since he didn't like it whenever someone was right and he was wrong, but his eyebrows soon furrowed when Rothbart whipped his hand to summon a dinghy. "I'm afraid a ship won't due without a crew. Will this make do?"

Sinbad looked over at the boat and nodded, "Yes. It'll do just fine."

Before Sinbad had a chance to get on the boat, Rothbart stopped him. "Remember, don't touch the diamond. Your life's not the one I want."

Sinbad already knew enough about the diamond after hearing many tales of it during his voyages. Nearly every sailor was aware of the ROC diamonds. They may be precious gems to the eye, but they were nothing more than cursed magical objects, and not many were aware of them. Sinbad, however, only knew after witnessing one of the members of his crew's soul being drawn out when the man touched it after Sinbad and his men went to procure it for the black market a few days later after a girl that he fancied kissed another man. Whoever Rothbart wanted to kill, then Sinbad knew that this person was someone he despised so much. It wouldn't matter to Sinbad though since he was going to get the diamond for Rothbart and live a wealthy life.

Present

When Nora went to the Miner's Day festival, she saw everyone lively. They were all having fun by winning some prizes whether it was tossing rings at the bottles or shooting a cork out of a gun to hit the prizes. Nora, however, looked around for Ruby, but she couldn't find her anywhere. Her eyes soon widened though when she saw Ashley with Amir. At least Sean and Alexandra were with them, so Nora knew that nothing was going to happen, but it still didn't mean that she didn't want to be careful as she made her way over to them.

They all soon found Nora heading their way as Ashley greeted her, so Nora greeted her back with an awkward smile as she glanced at Amir who smirked at her. "We were just gonna go around the festival. Do you and Graham want to join us?" Sean asked politely.

"Graham's not here. He's working on something." When Nora looked back at Amir, his smirk never faded as he stared at her with intent, so she turned to happy family and said, "I actually came to talk to Amir about something."

"Me? What for?" Amir asked with his brow raising in amusement.

"Just some business."

Ashley and Sean then looked between the two of them before Ashley understood that Nora wanted to talk to Amir alone. "Alright. Well, we'll catch you later then?"

As soon as Nora nodded her head, Sean wrapped his arm around Ashley and led her away, leaving Nora and Amir alone. Nora would admit that she was uncomfortable around him after everything he did to her, which was why she crossed her arms. Amir then walked by her side as they slowly strolled through the festival, taking everyone in.

"So, Moon, what business did you want to discuss?"

Nora got straight to the point by telling him firmly, "Stay away from Ashley."

"Oh? I was just thanking Sean for helping me with my bar a while back."

A horrible feeling soon welled inside Nora as she speculated, "Did you involve Sean?"

Amir stayed quiet but smirked, and Nora felt sick to her stomach to think that Amir would involve a married man, but she hated the game that Amir played when he finally confessed, "No."

Nora was relieved to hear that, but the pit in her stomach was still unbearable. "Just...leave them alone, Amir."

His eyebrows shot up in interest as he reminded her, "You seem to be forgetting that I own you now. That's why if you don't do what I say, then I'll expose you."

If Nora didn't get involved with Amir, then none of this would happen in the first place. Graham may not forgive her if she confessed to him, but it would be better if it came from her than finding out from someone else. That was why she had enough of Amir's threats. If this was how he was going to play, then she didn't care anymore. What Graham did to her was no excuse either, but he at least told her the truth. The guilt that Nora had for betraying Graham was eating her from the inside. She wasn't going to let Amir hold the video against her anymore.

"Go ahead then." Amir's smile quickly faded when he heard her practically seething. "Post the video. Show everyone what I did with you. I'm not letting you guilt-trip me anymore, and Graham deserves to know the truth."

For a minute there, she thought she had him as he was speechless for a moment. He didn't know what to say. It was probably the first time he heard someone speak against him like that. Nora endured so much in her life growing up being abused both physically and mentally. She wasn't going to let someone like Amir Khan disrupt her life.

"Fine, if you're okay with what happens to your friend there." Nora's breath went still when he gestured over to Ashley. "You'd be surprised when men can get a hard on towards mothers, especially with a young woman, and believe me, I can't even control them if they scar that pretty face of hers. Now, do you really want that to happen? Because, I honestly don't, but I will make her life so miserable, and not just her-people only you care about, and it'll all be your fault...unless you don't tell Humbert, the Sheriff, or anyone, and you can continue to live your life without hurting anyone else. Just keep that pretty mouth of yours shut."

Nora was nearly on the verge of tears to hear Amir's cold threat. She wanted him to be bluffing, but after hearing how sincere he was, she knew he would make good on his word, and it made him even more dangerous. It chilled her to the bone just thinking about Amir getting someone so sweet like Ashley involved, or what if it wasn't Ashley he ended up going after? What if he went after Ruby, Mary Margaret, or even Graham? Nora couldn't allow that. Their misery would be her own doing if she didn't go along with Amir.

Amir then broke into a sickening grin as he leaned in and told her, "Enjoy the festival."

When he walked away, Nora watched him leave and was completely dumbfounded. She couldn't believe that he got the best of her. Nora didn't even know how to stop him now since he threatened the people she cared about. Nora's heart clenched, knowing that she had to keep suffering with this guilt since she couldn't tell Graham, not unless she wanted him to pay for her misfortunes.

After taking Kathryn's body to the hospital, Dr. Whale confirmed that she was dead, leaving David disturbed by this announcement. Emma then ordered that they need the autopsy as soon as possible, so Dr. Whale got to work on it, leaving Emma and Graham completely dumbfounded as they tried to figure out who would do this. Sidney already tried to convince Emma and Graham that it had to be David, but they quickly denied it by saying that they didn't know that. When Sidney tries to explain the probability of David being the prime suspect, Graham snapped and told him to just look for Kathryn's phone records as he argued that it'll be their clue, so Sidney went to get the phone records.

Emma and Graham then went to the festival to scout out the people by thinking about who could have killed Kathryn, but they couldn't think of anyone. "You know how serious this is, right?" Graham asked, looking around.

"Yeah, I know," she told him.

Of course it was serious. First, it was a missing person's report, and now, they were dealing with a homicide case. This was absolutely insane. The only person who Graham thought was capable of murder was Amir Khan, but he couldn't think of any reason for Amir to do this. At least, Amir was behaving himself by doing charitable work for the nuns even though Graham knew it was all a facade.

From everything Graham understood, the only two people who would have clear motives were David Nolan and Mary Margaret, but they didn't seem like they were killers, which meant that the killer was still out there. Graham truly believed that David and Mary Margaret wouldn't kill Kathryn. Only time will tell for Emma and Graham to catch the person.

He then noticed his girlfriend, Nora Moon, with Ashley, Sean, and baby Alexandra, and not long after, Nora noticed them, so she went over to them with a smile with Ashley and Sean following her and they greeted Emma and Graham. "You guys here to celebrate with us?" Sean asked.

"We can't. We're dealing with something right now."

"Busy day?" Ashley asked.

"Oh yeah," Emma told her.

Graham then looked over at Nora and saw that her eyes were a bit puffy. She was crying about something earlier, and it made Graham question it. It wouldn't be because that he wasn't there with her for the festival and now she was a third wheel for Ashley and Sean. He knew something else was bothering her.

"Nora, you okay?" Graham asked.

Nora snapped her eyes at him, and her lips slightly parted in surprise before her lips curled into a sad smile. "Yeah. I'm fine. The festival's just...a little overwhelming."

Even Emma raised a brow when she heard Nora's excuse. This wasn't like Nora at all. Something or someone made her upset, and Graham wanted to know what. He wanted to ask her, but Emma soon got a call from Dr. Whale, telling her for Graham and her to meet at the hospital.

Graham then turned back to Nora and gave her a quick kiss, telling her, "I'll see you soon, okay?"

When she nodded her head, Graham and Emma got in the car and headed to the hospital. Dr. Whale led them to the morgue where he showed Kathryn's body to them. She was much paler now and lifeless on the table. Dr. Whale then opened the report as he explained, "Turns out Mrs. Nolan had many bruises and a blood force trauma to the head here, but this blunt force didn't kill her."

Emma and Graham immediately turned to each other before Emma questioned to Whale, "Then what did?"

Dr. Whale immediately removed part of the sheet to expose her calf as he showed them two small puncture wounds that were only a few inches away from each other. "According to my tests, she was injected with poison."

"Poison?" Graham pressed.

"Oleander poison to be specific."

Both Emma and Graham stared at Dr. Whale in disbelief since they realized that someone really wanted Kathryn Nolan dead, which meant that her murderer was still on the loose, so they needed to find them before they got away with it. Right now, it didn't really good for David since Sidney already thought that David was the one who killed her. No doubt Sidney would put his theory in the newspaper.

Past

Sinbad sailed long and hard with his small boat, but he eventually made it to ROC Island. It was small. Not too many travelers would see what was so special about it, but that was because they never looked hard enough. Going through the mountain was always gruesome by swatting away pesky insects and climbing over fallen trees, but what lied beneath was the key to find the precious diamonds.

When he reached a clearing, he pressed his face against the wall to listen to a hollow spot. As soon as he heard it, he needed to wait for it to be night. So, Sinbad waited for the moon to go to its peak. The light shined at the clearing, and not long after, blue symbols appeared in another language or something as they created a frame of some kind, revealing a door. Sinbad honestly didn't want to go there again since he knew what was inside, but he had no choice if he wanted to live a new life.

He took daunting steps inside and found many ROC diamonds deep within the cave. They were all in a variety of colors. All Sinbad needed to do was take his pick. However, he stopped moving when he saw a a ginormous bird sleeping in its nest high above a column. It wasn't just any bird though. It was a ROC bird. They were known to be great winged beasts from legends that could carry an elephant away. Its size would intimidate any sane man, but Sinbad didn't have time to be afraid. He needed to get the diamond, so he cautiously went over to the wall where there was an array of diamonds stuck inside.

Sinbad remembered not to touch the diamond. He wasn't going to allow it to curse him. He slowly ripped off a piece of his fabric, careful not to wake the creature as it moved its head a bit. His hand moved towards the diamonds as he made sure to place the fabric over his hand so that he wouldn't touch as he tried to pull it out.

When that didn't work, he took out his dagger and tried to pry it out of the wall. He used his tool like a chisel by mining out the diamond so that it popped out. Sinbad was getting more and more anxious though when the noise got a lot louder as the ROC bird kept fidgeting. Finally, he popped the blue diamond out of the wall and was careful not to touch it as the fabric laid between his hand and the diamond when he put it inside his pouch. He then quickly hid when the ROC bird snapped its beak and woke up.

It made a shriek that pained Sinbad's ears, but he couldn't make any noises to alert the beast, so he remained hidden. However, he didn't know how he could escape considering that the bird was a giant, and it was much faster to him. There was no possible way he would make it to the door in time. The only reason why he got away before was by losing seven of his men to be eaten by the creature.

Sinbad crawled, making sure that he wasn't being detected, but when he looked back, the creature stood a few feet away, so he dashed towards the exit when the ROC bird shrieked ferociously. It then ran over to him using its large talons. When he looked back to see its neck stretching out, ready to take him, he knew he wouldn't make it, so he leaped out of the way, causing the giant bird to keep going until it came to an abrupt stop and turned back to face him only to see him climb up the wall as he avoided touching the diamonds.

The great winged bird flapped its wings, causing the dust and dirt to blow away, hitting Sinbad in his face. He coughed and closed his eyes for a moment before he continued climbing. As soon as he looked to see the bird flying towards him, he knew he needed to wait for the right moment until it got close enough. As soon as it was, he dropped himself and fell only to catch its legs, causing it to go on a rampage as it tried to shake him off by flying at an intense speed. Sinbad held on tight though, refusing to let go until he got close enough to the door as he tumbled to the ground. He then hurried to the door before the bird had any idea, however, not long after it saw him, so it flew towards him again.

It was going to be close, but Sinbad wasn't going to die today as he threw himself out the door right before its head got stuck on the door. Sinbad huffed out breaths and looked back at the creature for a moment, smirking to himself as the bird tried getting out but to no avail. Sinbad then rushed back to his small boat so that Rothbart could collect the diamond from him, and hopefully, keep his word by giving Sinbad what he wanted.

Present

As Emma and Graham were still perturbed by this whole case, Graham hated to admit that David and Mary Margaret were the only two people with clear motives. David could be to get rid of Kathryn so that he could be with Mary Margaret, and Mary Margaret may be so that Kathryn wouldn't be in her way. However, Graham didn't want to believe that it was them. There was something not right about this case as he kept looking over the photos that Sidney provided and the autopsy report. He was trying to figure this whole thing. It almost felt like Derek's case now that he thought about it.

Not long after, Sidney appeared, grabbing Emma and Graham's attention. "You find something," Emma asked.

Sidney then handed her Kathryn's phone records in a file. Emma looked over at the document with Graham by her side to see everything while Sidney explained that it contained all of the calls she made the day of her death, including an eight minute phone call she had between herself and David. It alerted them to hear that, especially when Sidney informed them that David and Kathryn talked on the phone one hour before she was killed. This evidence didn't look good for David at all.

"That's not possible. He said he didn't speak to her that day," Emma told Sidney.

"He's lying," Sidney argued.

"No. I know when someone is lying, and David-"

"It's right here on paper, Emma. Phone records don't lie – people do. And our friend David does it better than most. Don't beat yourself up over this. You're not the only person David fooled."

Graham wished he could do something to ease Emma's worries, but he hated to admit that Sidney may have crucial evidence against David as he told her, "Emma, maybe he's right."

"These phone records don't mean that he killed her, Graham."

"You're right, he's innocent until proven guilty," Graham agreed, but he reminded her when he gestured to the phone records, "You also can't forget that this is a murder investigation now.This is serious. And, as much as I don't think he did it either, we can't rule him out, especially now that we have this."

Meanwhile, Nora was still at the festival, smiling with her friends, Ashley and Sean, and her smile grew when she watched Ashley cooing over baby Alexandra. Nora then told them that she would be right back as she was going to explore around to see what other games there were as she told them to have fun. It was a lousy excuse to get away from them, but she knew it was better for them to go off as a family instead of having her tag along.

Her eyes soon narrowed though when she saw Ruby in the distance with Amir. They were talking about something, but she couldn't tell what. Her eyes soon widened when she saw Ruby being given a load of cash as she discreetly put it in her bag and walked off as Amir gave her his signature smirk when he watched her go. Him handing her money reminded her when Amir gave her money. She then thought that maybe Amir involved Ruby, and at that moment, she realized that Ruby ditched her to be with Amir and his sick games.

Past

When Sinbad made it back to the docks, he met Rothbart who grinned from ear to ear when Rothbart handed him the pouch. He then took it out, and Sinbad was a little wary at first until he saw that Rothbart wore leather gloves, protecting him from the diamond's curse.

"You did well," Rothbart told him.

As Sinbad stared at the diamond in the sorcerer's hand, he wondered, "So, tell me. Who do you want to kill with that?"

Rothbart finally turned to him as his smirk grew wickedly. "You'll know soon enough when I bring her to the Queen's castle."

"Her?" Sinbad mused. "The poor lass won't expect it."

"As it is my expectation." When Rothbart put the diamond back inside the pouch, he grinned when he remembered Sinbad's state after seeing his appearance. "Of course. How could I forget? I am a man of my word after all." He extended his hand out, causing orange smoke to surround Sinbad before they dissipated, and Sinbad soon found himself in fine velvet clothes fit for any lord. "Now, come. I won't waste anymore time in this disgusting place."

As Sinbad went to his side, he questioned, "If you are so eager to kill this woman, whoever she is, then why not do it yourself? Why procure the cursed diamond?"

Rothbart then stopped to face Sinbad as he told him lowly with a sickening grin that honestly shook Sinbad when he heard his menacing tone, "Except the best way to vanquish your enemies is by attacking their heart first, and with this diamond, I have everything I need to get what I want."

Sinbad didn't question him anymore after hearing him. Rothbart was entirely serious, and it made Sinbad a bit wary since he heard the desperation in the sorcerer's voice. People who were desperate tended to do crazy things to get what they wanted even if it meant losing themselves to begin with. Whoever this woman was needed to prepare for the Hell about to come, because it was clear to Sinbad that Rothbart would make this poor lass suffer greatly if she was in Rothbart's company and touched the diamond that he would give her.

Present

After the lights went out at the festival, Mary Margaret and Leroy sold out all of their candles. Nora thought she might as well help them out for their cause as she carried a lit candle around with her, but her smile faded when she saw Ruby laughing with Ashley and Sean. She knew that Ruby had to be involved with Amir after she caught her with him. That was why she needed to confront her about it.

Gathering up her strength, she went over to the small group as Ashley greeted her, "Hi, Nora. We were just about to go to Granny's to get something quick to eat before we went to bed. You wanna come?"

"Um, yeah." Nora smiled awkwardly as she remembered why she was there, so she turned to Ruby as she said, "I just-Can I talk to you first for a second?"

Ruby seemed taken aback at first but willingly agreed, "Sure."

As Nora led Ruby away from everyone else so that no one else would hear them as she confronted her. "What's up?" Ruby asked.

"I saw you with Amir." Nora got straight to the point, and just as she predicted, Ruby's smile quickly faded. "He gave you money."

Ruby quickly composed herself as she tried to brush her aside. "So what?"

"So, he had you do things to get them, didn't he?" Nora didn't want to think about it, but as soon as she saw Ruby with Amir, she quickly realized that maybe Ruby was the one who convinced her to go to Amir when she knew what Amir was capable of. "Just like what he did to me, right? That's why you had me go to him."

Ruby desperately looked around and turned back to Nora to whisper, "I didn't have a choice, okay?"

Her eyes widened when she quickly realized, "He's blackmailing you too, isn't he?"

Ruby was silent for a moment until she confessed, "Amir doesn't just approach anyone. He goes to people who desperately need money. The only reason why I went along with him was because he said he would give me enough money for the debts I owed after losing the money I stole from Granny's to gamble at his bar. I had no idea he was gonna record me though until he showed me the video. He'll only go to you if he needs you for something, which is always accompanying a man and get him drunk enough to take him to the VIP room in his bar so that they could have their way with us."

This whole thing sickened Nora as she asked, "But why? What does Amir gain by doing this?"

"He wants information on people. Amir always wants to know what's going in everyone's closet, especially if there's a horrible secret that they don't wanna reveal. That's why he recruits women and sometimes men to have sex with people so that we would find out from them without getting his hands dirty."

Nora shook her head, horrified. Not only was she intimate with Amir for that horrible one night stand, but now, she may have sex with complete strangers. This was just unbelievable. Nora couldn't lose herself in this mess. However, she also didn't want any of her loved ones to get hurt. There had to be a way to stop Amir.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Nora asked, desperate to figure out a solution. "There's got to be a way to stop him. He can't get away with this."

"You don't think I tried?" Ruby asked. "When I didn't want to be his little bitch anymore, he graffitied Granny's diner and ripped the place apart. Granny had to use her retirement money to fix the diner, and I felt awful about it, especially when we lost a week and a half of business worth. He even had his gang jump me in an alleyway. I woke up in the hospital that night."

Nora had a chill when she heard how Amir hurt Granny to get to Ruby, "Amir even threatened me when I told him that I was going to tell Graham everything. He said he'd go after people I cared about."

"Yeah, that's what he does. No matter what you do, you're going to lose, Nora. He won't just hurt you, but he'll hurt the people you love to get to you."

Yay! We finally got a bit of Sinbad's backstory and how he became a lord, and we also finally saw what Amir's goal is by using people to get information on the people in Storybrooke like how he involved Ruby. I also hope you liked the twist I did by killing off Kathryn. Trust me when I say that the story is going to get much more intense as it progresses. Hope you enjoyed the chapter by the way. Please let me know what you think or what your expectations are in the review section and stay tuned for more exciting chapters heading your way.