Chapter 75

I can't believe we've made it to chapter 75! Thank you to everyone out there who's still reading! Have any of you been here since the beginning? Let me know! Hope you enjoy :)

Hanna sat outside Granny's and scrolled through her phone. She came here with her parents this morning to help with the new people in town. She helped a few get settled into rooms and served breakfast for awhile with Granny. The place was getting a little crowded though, so Hanna decided to come outside to get some fresh air. She heard the door open and looked up to see Henry. She noticed the letter he held in his hand and could tell he was looking for someone.

"What is that?"

Henry just looked down at the letter, but didn't say anything.

Hanna grinned. "Is it a love letter for Violet?" She stood up and walked closer to him, trying to see what was written on the front.

"So what if it is?"

Hanna could tell by the look on his face it wasn't. This letter was something else. "Let me see it." Hanna reached out for it.

Henry quickly pulled it away. "It's not for you."

"Henry, just let me see it." Hanna tried to grab it again.

"No." Henry held it up high.

Hanna looked up at the letter and smirked. She waved her hand, making the letter disappear from Henry's hand and appear in hers. She saw her parents' names written on the front of the envelope.

"Hanna give it back!"

Hanna turned away from him. "No!"

"I need to give it to Grandma and Grandpa." Henry grabbed ahold of the letter.

Hanna held tightly to the other side. "You're gonna rip it. Let go!"

"You let go!"

"Hey, you two, that's enough," Snow said.

David walked over and took the letter from the kids. "What is this?"

"Someone left it on the counter," Henry told him. "And then he just vanished."

David and Snow opened the letter.

"The Count of Monte Cristo?" Snow asked.

David looked to his wife. "Why would he want to meet with us?"

"He doesn't," Regina said as she came out of Granny's. "He wants you dead. He wants his revenge, and that's the only way he can get it."

"That doesn't make sense. We've never even met him," Snow said. "Why would he want to kill us?"

"Because I hired him to do it."

"You what?" David asked.

Regina shrugged. "Let's just say there were a lot of ways I tried to kill you back then. We'll find him though. We can clear all of this up. It'll be fine."

"Let's go search his room," David said.

Snow turned to Hanna. "You stay here with Henry."

"I'm not staying here with him. I'm gonna go find Emma."

Snow sighed. "Okay. Just keep your phone on you."

"I will." Hanna didn't even bothering looking at Henry before waving her hand and sending herself to her sister. She appeared right in front of Emma just as she was coming out of Dr. Hopper's office.

"Hanna!" Emma jumped back. "You really need to stop doing that."

"What?" Hanna asked.

"Just…appearing out of nowhere. At least give me a heads up first."

"Okay…did you go see Archie again?"

"Yeah."

"How did it go?"

"Fine."

Hanna sighed. She was hoping for more information about her session. She wasn't going to keeping asking questions about it though, she was just glad Emma was going. Then Hanna remembered what was happening with their parents. Just as she finished filling her in, Emma's phone rang.

"Come on," Emma said once she finished the phone call.

Hanna followed her to the squad car. "What happened?"

"Regina is meeting with the Count to try and stop him."

Hanna climbed into the front seat. "Where are we going?"

"We're picking up Mom and Dad. We need to be close by in case something happens."

Emma and Hanna raced to get their parents, then went to the spot where they would wait for Regina to call.

"We knew him." David said.

"The Count?" Hanna asked.

"He was our wine steward," Snow said.

"Or at least he pretended to be to gain our trust," David added.

"He didn't do what Regina wanted and I guess he went to live in the Land of Untold Stories."

"Why does he want to kill you now, then?" Hanna asked.

"We don't know," David said.

Snow leaned forward from the backseat. "How did your session with Archie go, Emma?"

"It was fine."

"That's all I get?"

Emma sighed. "You know, actually it wasn't fine. I don't think I'm going to see him anymore."

"Why not?" David asked.

"Emma, I really think he can help," Snow said.

"He can't help me. Can we just drop it?"

Hanna looked over at her sister and could see that her hand was starting to shake again. Emma quickly grabbed ahold of it. Hanna looked up and made eye contact with her. She was about to say something when Emma's phone rang.

Emma exchanged a few words with Regina, then quickly hung up her phone and started the car.

"What happened?" Hanna asked.

Emma quickly drove down the road. "He's not backing down."

"Where are you taking us?" Snow asked.

"I told Regina I'd take you somewhere safe."

Emma was driving right towards the town line. "Emma, no, we're not leaving town. We're not running from our wine steward," Snow said.

Emma ignored her mom and continued to drive.

They were about to go over the line when all of a sudden the car slammed into an invisible barrier, sending them all flying backwards into a ditch.

"What the hell was that?" David asked.

"Looks like the Count doesn't want you running either," Emma said.

Emma called Regina and told her to meet them at the town line, then they all got out of the out of the car. David stayed back to assess the damage done to the car while Emma, Snow, and Hanna went to inspect the new spell that surrounded their town.

Emma waved her hand over it. "I don't think the Count crashed the car."

"How can you tell?" Hanna asked.

"Wave your hand in front of the barrier."

Hanna did what her sister said.

"How does it feel?"

Hanna concentrated as her hand moved along the spell. "Like we can't leave…" It was more than that though. This feeling was too familiar.

"Just like…" Emma knew, but wanted to see if her sister could figure it out.

Hanna waved her hand over the spell again. "It's like Regina's spell. The one that prevented us all from leaving during the first curse."

Emma nodded. "Exactly."

Snow shook her head. "But Regina wouldn't…"

"Did he do this? Did the Count crash your car?" Regina asked.

"It's a protection spell," Hanna told her.

"Just like the one you cast to keep everyone here," Emma added.

Regina waved her hand over the barrier too. "Not like it. This is the same spell. The only way to do that is with the ingredients from my vault, which I sealed with blood magic."

There was only one other person in this town who could get into Regina's vault.

"Regina, I got your message. Is everyone okay?" Zelena asked as she walked towards the group. She noticed the car. "You know I'll never understand why you parade around in these deathtraps rather than just magicking yourself around town. What happened?"

"Well, someone put a protection spell on the town line," Regina told her.

"Really? Well, who would do that?"

"You," Hanna said under her breath. She felt her mom give her a nudge with her arm. Hanna looked up at her and didn't like the look she got in return. She quickly turned back to Regina and Zelena.

"You're accusing me of causing this?"

"Oh come on, Zelena, other than me, you're the only one who can open the lock to my vault."

"That's not true!"

"Really? Well, if it wasn't me and it wasn't you…then who?"

Zelena shrugged. "I have no idea, sis. But I'm getting tired of this inquisition." With a wave of her hand she sent herself away in a cloud of green smoke.

"I'm starting to think the Count isn't the only one we have to be worried about," Regina said.

As soon as Regina left, Snow's phone rang. Hanna could hear Granny's voice. She was watching the baby right now.

"Is Neal okay?" Hanna asked.

"He's fine," Snow nodded. "Hanna, can you go get him and take him home for us?"

"What? No, I want to help."

Snow sighed. "I know you do, but two of Granny's waitresses called in sick and she is swamped with all of the new people. Your dad and I have to deal with the Count right now, Hanna. Please?"

Hanna looked over at her sister and glanced down at her hand. Thankfully, it wasn't shaking at the moment. Hanna looked over at her dad, who was still by the car. Then she looked back to her mom. She really didn't want to leave, but she knew they could handle this without her. Hanna knew Regina and Emma wouldn't let anything bad happen to her parents.

"Okay, I'll go get him."

Snow pulled Hanna into her arms. "Thank you. We're going to see you soon, okay?"

"Okay." Hanna stepped back and waved her hand, sending herself to Granny's.

Hanna paced the living room floor, trying to get Neal to go to sleep. A few hours passed since she left her parents and sister. She hadn't heard from anybody and didn't know if they were safe. Hanna looked down at her brother and didn't know why he wouldn't go to sleep. She fed him and changed him. Hanna tried his favorite pacifier, but for some reason he didn't want it right now. The kid didn't want his thumb either. It was his normal time to go to sleep, but for some reason he was fighting it tonight. Hanna had one more trick up her sleeve. She carefully pulled his baby blanket out of his grasp, which caused him to start crying.

"Shh. I know…I know, but you're going to like this I promise."

Hanna walked over to the dryer and threw the blanket inside. She pulled it back out after a few minutes and wrapped Neal in the freshly warm blanket. She could tell he was calming down again. She walked over to the rocking chair and by the time she sat down, Neal's thumb had found it's way into his mouth. Hanna let out a sigh of relief. She knew that meant he would be asleep soon. She rocked him a little while longer. Once he was finally asleep, Hanna took him over to his bed. As soon and she laid him down, the front door opened. Hanna looked up and saw her dad…just her dad

Hanna ran over to him. "What happened? Where's Mom? Is she okay?"

David put his hands on her shoulders. "Your mom is fine. She just went to Granny's with Emma and Regina."

Hanna let out a sigh of relief. "Good. So what happened with the Count?"

"That…is a long story."

David led Hanna over to the couch and told her everything that happened today. They learned that the Evil Queen is back. The part of herself Regina thought she destroyed back in New York was here in Storybrooke. She had the Count's heart the whole time. She was the reason he wanted to kill Snow and Charming. He found them at the docks and couldn't stop himself from fulfilling the Queen's demands. Ultimately, Regina stopped him. She had no choice but to kill him herself. They learned that was all part of Evil Queen's plan though. She wanted Regina to kill the Count all along. It was the only way to show Regina that no matter what she does, the darkness will always be inside her.

Hanna tried to wrap her head around everything she just heard. She looked up at her dad. "So she's really back?"

David nodded. "She is."

Hanna sighed. She had experience with the evil version of Regina before. She grew up seeing the very intimidating "Madame Mayor" around town. Regina was a little better after the curse was broken before she truly changed, but Hanna also remembered seeing the Evil Queen in action when she fell through the portal with Emma and Killian. That side of Regina terrified Hanna. Now that version of Regina was here, but this time there was no good part of her to help offset the bad.

"Hey…" David put his arm around her. "Everything's going to be okay. We've dealt with the Evil Queen before. We'll stop her again."

"I know you will." Hanna leaned into her dad, not totally sure if she believed what she just said. They have defeated every obstacle they've come up against so far, but what if this time they weren't so lucky?

"How was your brother? He didn't give you too much trouble, did he?"

"Not until it was time for him to go to bed."

"He's been fighting us at bedtime lately too."

"Thankfully, the warm blanket trick worked tonight."

"Your such a good sister," David leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "Thank you for helping us today."

"I don't mind. But you know…" Hanna looked up at her dad and grinned. "I should really see what Ashley charges for daycare. I may have to start charging you guys."

"Do we at least get a family discount?"

Hanna shrugged. "We can discuss it."

David laughed. "Alright, well why don't you go upstairs and get ready for bed. I'm sure your mom will be home soon."

"Okay."

When Hanna came back downstairs, she saw her mom sitting on the couch with her dad. She walked over and sat down on the couch in between them, thankful they were both here.

Snow wrapped her arm around Hanna and leaned her head down on top of hers. "I'm sorry your brother was a bit of a pain tonight."

"It's fine, Mom. Although, I did tell Dad I might to have to start charging you if he keeps being difficult."

Snow sat up and looked down at her daughter. "Oh yeah?"

Hanna nodded. "Mhmm…"

"Well I'll be sure to have a talk with your brother and make sure he's on his best behavior from now on."

Hanna grinned at her mom, then looked over at her dad, who gave her a wink. Hanna was so glad that they were safe. She was glad the Evil Queen wasn't successful in killing them. But then Hanna remembered the Queen's plan was successful. She got Regina to kill the Count. The Queen wanted to darken Regina's heart and today's actions probably did that. But Regina only killed the Count to protect her friends, so maybe the Evil Queen's plan didn't work after all. If this plan didn't work, she would only try harder though. The Evil Queen hated her parents. What would she try to do to them next?

"Hanna, what is it?" David asked.

Hanna shook her head. "Nothing. I'm…just tired."

"Come on, we'll take you upstairs to bed," Snow said.

"Can't I sleep down here again?" Hanna asked.

"Why do you want to sleep down here? This couch is not comfortable," David said.

"Yeah it is," Hanna lied. He was right though…this couch was not all that great for sleeping.

"Hanna, we know your having a hard time with Henry and Emma not being here, but…"

"I don't care that they're not here," Hanna told her mom.

Snow raised her eyebrows at her daughter. "Okay, why don't you just sleep upstairs then?"

"Because I think the couch is really comfy." Hanna glanced up at her dad.

"No you don't," he told her.

"Hanna, look at me," Snow said, gently putting her hand under her chin and turning her face towards her. "Tells us why you don't want to sleep upstairs."

Hanna sighed. "It's lonely up there. Can I please just stay down here?"

Snow looked up at David, then back to Hanna. "Alright you can stay."

Hanna was grateful they agreed to let her sleep down here. She didn't like sleeping up there by herself, but knew she would get over that soon. She really wanted to stay down here because of the nightmares. She wanted to be close by so her mom and dad could wake her if she couldn't pull herself out of one. Sometimes she woke on her own, but sometimes she couldn't and Hanna knew at some point during the night she was going to end up back in that Underworld again…

Hanna looked around and saw that she was at Granny's. Only it wasn't Granny that was behind the counter. It was the witch. The one who ate little kids. Hanna sat down in a booth and took a deep breath. This was just a dream. Nothing bad was going to happen. She just needed to wake up. Hanna closed her eyes tightly, hoping it would work. She heard the front door open. Hanna opened her eyes and saw Pan walk inside. Hanna could feel her breathing start to become rapid as he sat down across from her.

"Want to play a game?" he asked.

Hanna closed her eyes again. This is just a dream. He's not really here. Hanna opened her eyes and he was gone, but she was still stuck in this place. She heard the front door open again and quickly covered her face with her hands.

"Hey, sweetie. What's wrong?"

Hanna put her hands down. She recognized that voice. "Mom?" Hanna looked around and saw they were still in the Underworld version of Granny's. "What…what are you doing down here?"

"Regina killed me with the fireball, remember? You watched it happen."

Hanna shook her head. "No…you…you turned yourself into a bug."

"No I didn't. I'm dead."

"This is just a dream. You're…you're fine."

"This isn't a dream, Hanna. The Evil Queen killed me." Snow quickly grabbed onto her daughter's hands.

Hanna flinched.

"I'm dead and so are you."

"No I…"

"The Evil Queen got you too. I'm sure your father will be here soon."

"No that's not true."

Snow squeezed Hanna's hands. "You're dead Hanna! And so am I!"

Hanna closed her eyes and shook her head. This is just a dream. This is just a dream…

Hanna quickly sat up and looked around. She let out a sigh of relief once she realized she was out of that nightmare. Hanna pulled her knees to her chest, trying to calm herself down. She glanced up when she heard footsteps coming towards her. She continued to cling to her knees as her mom sat down beside her.

"Are you okay?" Snow asked.

"They're never going to stop, Mom."

"What, sweetie?"

"The nightmares."

"They'll stop. They always do." Snow put her arm around her little girl. "You've only been back from the Underworld for a few days."

"Something else bad will happen and they'll just come back…again."

"Hanna, no…"

"But they always come back." Hanna looked up at her mom. "I had them for a whole year when we were in the Enchanted Forest, then again after Maleficent put the town under the sleeping curse. Then I fell through that portal, watched Regina kill you, and thought you were dead for hours. I had them when Emma was the Dark One…and now every time I close my eyes I'm stuck in the Underworld."

"Okay, okay. Just relax. You're right," Snow sighed. "Hanna, I know bad things keep happening, but…"

"But what? What, Mom? We need to focus on the good?"

"That's a start."

"There is no good."

"Yes there is, Hanna."

"No…we may be back from the Underworld and Killian is alive again, but now the Evil Queen is running around planning who knows what. She hates you, Mom. She's going to keep trying to kill you."

"We can handle her."

Hanna sighed. Not sure she believed they could beat her this time. "But what about Emma? She…" Tear began filling her eyes as she thought about her sister.

"Emma is going to be…"

Hanna shook her head. "Don't say fine. She's not fine. She said the tremors are just from stress, but she's lying…Mom something else is going on."

Snow reached out and wiped the tears that fell down Hanna's cheeks. "We're going to make sure your sister is okay. I promise."

"You can't promise that." Hanna sighed and laid her head down on her mom. "I just want everything to be normal."

"It will be." Snow held her daughter tightly in her arms. "I'm going to make sure of it."

After a few minutes, Snow looked down and saw that Hanna was asleep again. She took Hanna's pillow and laid it on her lap, then she adjusted Hanna so she was laying more comfortably. Snow covered Hanna with a blanket and sat with her little girl, hoping being near her would allow Hanna's sleep to be free from nightmares. Snow knew their family had been through so much. She wanted nothing more than for things to get back to normal just like Hanna said. Snow wasn't sure how, but she was going to do everything she could to make that happen for her family.

Hanna spent most of the next day with her mom and dad. They went with Regina to see if they could get help from Hyde, but the Evil Queen beat them to it. He was on her side now. Then they went to see Dr. Jekyll, who was working on a potion to figure out why the Evil Queen is still alive. He also thought he could come up with a way to destroy her by remaking the serum they used to separate themselves in the first place. Hanna hoped he could figure out something to help them stop the Evil Queen. Right now her mom and dad were safe, but Hanna wasn't sure about Emma. She hadn't seen her all day and it was making her feel uneasy. Her mom and dad said she could go visit her for awhile while they put Neal to bed. Hanna waved her hand and sent herself to her sister. Hanna opened her eyes and found herself in Emma's living room.

"Hanna!"

"What?"

"You cannot just pop into my house whenever you want!"

"Why not? I wanted to see you."

"Then you need to send me text or poof yourself to the porch and ring the doorbell."

"Why?"

"Because there's this thing called privacy and maybe I'd like a little bit of it."

"Fine. I'll just go then." Hanna lifted her hand.

"Wait…you can stay for a little bit."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Hanna smiled. "So what did you do all day?"

"Henry, Killian, and I helped Ashley sort some things out with her sister."

Hanna's face fell. "You helped Cinderella today?"

"Yeah I put a spell on her shoe to find her. Cool, right?"

"No one thought to ask me to help?" Hanna asked.

"I thought you were helping Mom and Dad today."

"Well, I was but…" before she could finished, Killian walked into the room.

"Alright love, now that my stuff is put away, I thought we could enjoy this rum I've been saving…" He looked up and saw Hanna. "Oh. I didn't know your sister was coming over."

"Neither did I," Emma told him.

"What do you mean you put your stuff away?" Hanna asked.

"Ahh well…" Killian turned to Emma.

"He moved in," Emma told her.

"Oh."

Emma looked towards Killian. "I told Hanna she could hang out for a little bit. Maybe we can save the rum for later?"

"No, it's fine. I'll go." Hanna didn't really want to be here anymore anyway.

"It's alright, love. You can stay," Killian said.

Hanna shook her head, then looked at her sister. "I'm sure you want some privacy."

"Han, no. Come on."

Hanna just ignored Emma and sent herself home. She appeared in her bedroom just like she wanted. She didn't feel like seeing her mom and dad right now. Hanna laid on her bed and couldn't help but to think back to when she and Henry helped Emma with the pregnant maid back before the curse was broken…

It was a Saturday, which meant Hanna and Henry could spend almost the whole day together since Regina had her city council meeting. He just needed to be sure he was home by 5:00. Usually they went to their castle or the arcade, but that day they decided to go find Emma. They found her at the loft, but she said had to help Gold. He hired her to find the pregnant maid who worked at Granny's. Apparently, she signed away the rights to her baby to him. She was planning to back out of the deal though. It took some convincing, but they finally got Emma to agree to let them tag along. Hanna and Henry quickly concluded that the maid was Cinderella. Of course, Emma didn't believe them, but they knew they were right. They learned that Ashley was going to leave town with the baby. She was headed to Boston. Emma tried to leave the kids behind so she could find Ashley in Boston, but Henry and Hanna snuck into her car. They both knew Ashley couldn't leave town. As soon as they approached the town line, they found Ashley on the side of the road, and she was in labor. They raced her to the hospital. Emma made a deal with Mr. Gold so Ashley could keep her baby. Hanna and Henry went into Ashley's room with Emma and got to meet baby Alexandra. Ashley was relieved when Emma told her that she was allowed to keep the baby. Hanna noticed the time and reminded Henry that he needed to get home. They all piled back into Emma's bug and raced towards the Mayor's Mansion. Thankfully, Henry made it home in time and Regina never suspected a thing. Hanna's favorite part of that day, though, was when Emma took her to Granny's for dinner. They each enjoyed a grilled cheese, played a few rounds of darts, and had some hot chocolate before Emma took Hanna home…

That was the first person, besides their dad, that they helped. That day always meant so much to Hanna. Sure the town was still cursed, but she got to spend the whole day with her best friend and sister. It was one of so many adventures they had together during that time. Hanna couldn't believe they didn't ask her to help them today. Not only did Henry leave her out of something again, but now it felt like Emma was pushing her away too.