Chapter 3

Author's note: Wasn't sure which way to go plot wise, actually went with several possible different direction plots, but I settled on this one. Enjoy!

Rumpelstiltskin had an agenda of his own. He knew in his heart with all of his being that Emma Swan would succeed. So he went to the Clock Tower. He opened the doors and walked in. He knew that he could subdue Regina easily enough, however he could not stand up to two fully trained Wizards with wands, fortunately he was prepared.

"What are you doing here Mr. Gold?" asked Hermione Granger.

"My concern is for little Henry." said Rumpelstiltskin. "I just thought I'd show up to make sure that the mission was complete."

"Well," said Harry Potter, "if she has successfully slain a dragon with nothing but a sword, that will be nothing short of a miracle."

"Don't worry dearie, she will succeed." said Rumpelstiltskin. "Oh, Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, I have a gift for each of you."

In his gloved hand he held out two small Crystal orbs. Harry and Hermione each took one in their bare hand. And then it looked like Harry and Hermione were both paralyzed with electric shock. While Regina was operating the elevator with her back to him, Rumpelstiltskin quickly grabbed her and muffled her with a gag and then quickly tied her hands behind her back before she could react.

"What did you do to us?" asked Harry as he and Hermione stood there on their feet completely immobile.

"Squid ink." said Rumpelstiltskin. "Temporarily incapacitates any kind of magical being."

"Why are you doing this?" asked Hermione.

"Let's just say I need that potion of bottled love. And not for Henry." said Rumpelstiltskin with a diabolical tone.

He then walked over to Harry and Hermione and while they stood completely immobile, he gagged their mouths.

"Sorry, can't have you tipping off Miss Swan."

It seems that the elevator had stopped just before it had reached the top. He opened the elevator doors.

"Miss Swan, are you there?" asked Rumpelstiltskin.

"Mr. Gold?" said Emma.

"Do you have it?" asked Rumpelstiltskin.

"Yes. Where are Regina, Harry, and Hermione?"

"I'm afraid that the three of them have abandoned you dearie."

"What? That doesn't make sense. I'm coming up."

"Well you can't possibly scale that wall while you carry it dearie. Toss it up to me so you can climb with both hands."

"Very well."

And she tossed the golden egg up to Rumpelstiltskin. Then without a word he ran off.

"Wait? Mr. Gold?" she said in frustration and she then immediately saw a thousand simultaneous red flags that something wasn't right.

She was able to scale the rest of the Elevator Shaft which was only really a few more meters. When she got over the edge and through the elevator door she saw Regina tied up and gagged while the two wizards were just standing there without moving though they could still blink and move their eyelids and their voices were muffled through their gags. Emma untied Regina and removed her gag and then ran over to Harry and Hermione and pulled out theirs.

"What happened?" asked Emma.

"Gold double crossed us." said Harry.

Emma looked at Harry and Hermione as they still just continued to stand there, still, other than being able to talk.

"What's wrong with you guys?" asked Emma.

"Squid ink." said Regina. "A mystical substance from our world. It temporarily immobilizes any kind of magical being."

"I thought you guys couldn't use magic here?" Emma asked Regina.

"We can't cast magic spells, but we can still use magical items and potions." said Regina.

"So how long does this squid ink last?" asked Hermione as she stood there immobile.

"Not certain." said Regina. "I'm surprised that they didn't teach you about it at your school?"

Before Harry or Hermione could retort, Ron came bursting in. His wand at the ready.

"Did you get it?" asked Ron.

"No, Rumpelstiltskin double crossed us."

"Ron," said Hermione, "can you get us out of here? We are under a spell. It seems like an 'impediment jinx'."

Ron pointed his wand.

"Finite incantatem!"

There was a glowing light from Ron's wand. And it seemed to work. Harry and Hermione were then able to move again.

Regina then had a questioning look on her face. "Why aren't you watching Henry?"

Ron then had a disappointed and regretful look on his face.

"He didn't make it." said Ron with feeling in his voice.

Both Emma and Regina had horrified looks on their faces. It was then that their cell phones started ringing, and it was the hospital.

Back at the hospital a few minutes later, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Regina, and Emma all rushed into the room that housed Henry. Dr. Whale, several nurses, and the leader of the local convent, Mother Superior was there.

"I'm so sorry." said Dr. Whale. "We did everything we could. He just slipped away. We just couldn't save him."

Regina burst into tears and then put her face into Harry Potter's chest. Harry put his arms around her in a comforting gesture.

Hermione, though she didn't know this boy, her eyes still glistened wetly. To her a 10-year-old child dying in any way or form was a waste. A small boy with his entire life ahead of him. She took hold of Ron's arm with one arm and placed her other hand on Harry's shoulder.

Regina, after everything that she had been through, she had watched the love of her life, Daniel, murdered by her own mother because she wanted her to marry Snow White's father. And then the anger, the incessant anger at Snow White that she could never forgive because she couldn't let her heart go from Daniel. After the horrible atrocities that she committed against the citizens of the Enchanted Forest, under the guise of her storybook character, the Evil Queen, and then killing her own father in order to enact the curse just for the sake of ruining everyone's happy endings. Henry, even though she had not given birth to him, he was her son through and through! The unconditional love that her heart exuded towards the boy! Henry was the light that kept a shred of pureness within her.

And Emma, Henry's biological mother. When he showed up on her doorstep in Boston 6 months ago? The long lost baby that she had given up for adoption because she wasn't ready to be a mother. At first he was just the annoying little brat that came into her life on her 28th birthday. But yet at the same time she had made a wish upon a single birthday candle on a cupcake. She had wished that she wouldn't be alone on her birthday. And world behold her son enters into her life giving her unconditional love, and now she's made several friends, Ruby, Ashley, Mary Margaret, even August who lay petrified with wood in his room. He tried so hard to make her a Believer before she actually became one. And then, especially Mary Margaret. She had become like a sister to her, though now that she believes, she knows that Mary Margaret is actually her biological mother. (Which is weird.)

But this boy had become a part of her life! A part of her soul! A part of her heart! A part that she now didn't know how to live without!

Emma's heart broke. Broke into a thousand tiny pieces as she mourned and grieved for the boy that now lay dead on the hospital bed.

She leaned in close to kiss him on the forehead.

"I love you Henry!" she says with all of the power of her heart, with tears in her eyes.

Harry and Hermione had seen and experienced a lot of extraordinary Magic since they left their muggle homes at age 11 to become Wizards. But nothing could have prepared them for the most extraordinary display of supernatural power they had ever seen!

For the very moment that the skin of Emma's lips came in contact to the skin of Henry's forehead a rainbow colored pulse wave of pure love rippled out in all directions disturbing anything that it came in contact with like a blast of wind, and in a matter of seconds engulfed the entire town!...and as the power of true love proved more powerful than any curse, Regina's curse was no match for it!

Mother Superior, Dr. Whale, and all of the nurses then shuddered and had a look of disorientation and confusion on their faces for a brief moment, where then one second later their eyes then went wide with surprise and then their faces had looks of dawning comprehension and clarity. But all of that was overwhelmed by the sight of Henry opening his eyes wide and taking in a gasp of air as if he had been holding his breath.

Both Emma and Regina had looks of simultaneous surprise and utter relief as they both saw their son quite literally come back from the dead!

"I love you too!" said Henry as he looked Emma in the face. "You saved me!"

Overwhelmed with relief that he was alive she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a bone crushing hug.

"You did it!" said Regina with awe and disbelief as she approached the hospital bed.

Everyone there looked at the two of them with amazement and fascination, even Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Even though Ron was a pureblood wizard who had been raised in The Wizarding World, even this was something that he had never seen before!

Emma observed the looks and body language of everyone there looking at them.

"Henry? What's going on?" asked Emma with confusion and bewilderment.

"No!" said Regina with a look of horror.

"The curse." said Henry with immediate understanding and unwavering belief. "I think you broke it."

"How?" asked Emma.

"True love's kiss." said Mother Superior.

"But I'm not his romantic partner." said Emma with confusion and disbelief.

"It doesn't have to be." said Hermione as she stepped forward, a look on her face indicating fast logical thinking and figuring things out the way only Hermione could. "We all believed that true love's kiss had to be a romantic kiss between lovers. But that was just our naivety and arrogance. I think we've just made a rare discovery; that true love's kiss is actually a more generalized widespread category. It could be a kiss between lovers, yes, but it could also be a kiss on the cheek between best friends or in this case a kiss on the forehead between a parent and a child."

"No!" shouted Regina with disbelief and angry disappointment. "No, no, no! This can't be!"

Mother Superior then looked at Regina with a kind and polite but warning face.

"If I were you, your majesty, I would find a place to hide."

Harry assumed that the nun was right. If she is The Evil Queen from the Fairy Tail story Snow White and everyone in town is a storybook character from a storybook universe, then no doubt she was going to have an angry mob on her hands ravaging for justice.

Still with tears in her eyes, Regina went over to Henry's hospital bed and took his hand.

"Henry, no matter what you think. Or what anyone says to you about me. I do love you!"

It was then that Regina took her leave.

Dr. Whale then came over and checked Henry's vitals. Dr. Whale declared Henry 100% healthy and discharged him. His clothes were retrieved and he started to dress behind a cubicle.

Had been about 10 minutes now since the curse was broken.

Regina was inside her house. She entered Henry's bedroom. She looked around. It was filled with toys and books and comic books and other things of his personal possessions. She sat down on his bed or she ran her hands over the blanket that kept him warm at night. She then picked up the pillow. Both the pillow and the pillowcase had not been washed. She held it to her face and inhaled deeply through her nose. The pillowcase smelled like him. A smell that she was all too familiar with. And she started crying. Even though she had just witnessed her son come back to life, and she was immensely relieved that his sleeping curse had been broken, and of course was grateful that he was alive, she felt like she was mourning his death all over again because he was not here with her. She felt like he didn't want to be with her.

Out on the street, David Nolan was jogging along looking left and right as he passed by many people that were reuniting with lost loved ones from the Enchanted Forest.

And then he saw her. Mary Margaret Blanchard. The fairest of them all! The most beautiful woman that he had ever seen! Wearing modern day American clothing and her hair was so short it didn't even go down to her neck, but it didn't matter. He recognized the face and it was her.

"Snow!" he called out to get her attention.

She immediately looked in his direction and she smiled at him.

"Charming!" she replied with relief.

They ran towards each other and they hugged like they hadn't seen each other in years. And in some ways they hadn't.

"You found me!" she stated matter of factly.

"I will always find you!" he replied, half a vow, half a statement of fact.

And they locked lips!

"Mother Superior, Dr. Whale," said one of the hospital clerks who came running into the room, "reports are coming in from all over town. Everyone has their Memories Back from when they were in the Enchanted Forest."

"So what now?" Ron asked Harry and Hermione.

"We should probably report this to the Magical Congress of America." said Harry.

"No." said Hermione. "We need more information. Let's hold off on sending an owl."

"Who are you guys?" said Henry as he walked up to them now back in his street clothes and his backpack over his shoulders. "I don't recognize you from town or the book?"

"I'm Harry Potter." said Harry. "This is Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. We're from out of town. We just got in last night."

"You three are wizards?" asked Henry with interest as Emma walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Yes." said Hermione.

"That is so cool!" he said with excitement. "And I promise that I won't tell anyone. Though I don't think you really have to hide who and what you are around here."

Ron smiled and ruffled up his hair.

"I like you, mate."

"Can you tell me all about it?"

"It's a long story." said Harry. "One that might be better told at a more appropriate venue."

"You're probably right." said Henry. "Mom, we need to find David and Mary Margaret."

"You're probably right, kid." she said affectionately as she put her arms around him one more time, still in a state of relief that he was alive.

"One more question." said Henry. "If the curse is broken, why didn't everyone go back?"

"That is a good question." said Harry potter.

"Well," said Hermione, "my observation is that the breaking of the curse only restored everyone's memories."

She then walked over to the nun.

"Mother Superior? Pardon me for asking, but do you have only the memories of when you were in the Enchanted Forest or do you have the memories of your modern-day American Self in this town?"

"Both." Mother Superior answered as she rubbed her temple with her fingers and looked off into the corner in a state of thoughtful pondering. It is strange? It's as though I have a combination consciousness of two people, both my old self from the Enchanted Forest and my cursed self. Though the personalities of both people were similar so there's not really a conflict."

"Curious?" said Hermione with interest.

Then they heard a rumbling outside. It sounded like thunder. And when they looked out the window they saw a massive cloud of purple smoke spreading across the town.

And before they knew it the hospital and the entire room was engulfed in it.

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