Sitting at her home office, Regina had just finished signing a waiver for a small business transaction regarding new playground equipment for the park when she decided to pull herself away from her desk to take a quick break. Walking over to Mason who was busy with his homework on the floor, Regina put a hand on his shoulder and bent down to kiss the top of his head. The news that she was now legally his mother had been celebrated as soon as she picked him up from school, consisting of taking him out for ice cream and enjoying it at the harbor docks, letting their bare feet dip into the cool ocean water. Afterwards, it was a bath for Mason and then on to homework while Regina took care of some Mayor business.

“Finish up your homework and I’ll make us spaghetti for dinner.” Regina promised, ruffling up Mason’s hair a bit. Mason craned his neck to look up at Regina with a screwed up face, causing Regina to ask, “What? I thought you liked my spaghetti?”

“That was before you were really my mom. I’d say anything to keep from having to go back to the barn.”

Regina chuckled and gently pushed him away from her playfully and Mason giggled in response, trying to push her back.

“I know my cooking isn’t the best-“

“Which is why we should get pizza.” Mason interrupted confidentially, causing Regina to grin.

“Alright, pizza it is, but you still need to finish your homework. Why don’t you pack up here and finish up in the living room?”

Mason did as he was told and gathered up his books and papers, stuffing them into his backpack before getting up.

“Hey!” Regina called to him before he could turn to leave and poked at her cheek a few times. Mason grinned and went to Regina, throwing his arms around her neck and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before hoisting up his backpack and exited Regina’s home office.

Standing back up straight, Regina took in a deep, relaxing breath as she made her way over to the window to take a quick peek outside. There was something about looking out at her apple tree that brought her a sense of comfort, and that narrow victory with Snow White coming out of her coma; well that was something worthy of needing to relax.

Something was off, however, causing Regina to press her face to the glass to get a better look at her tree. It looked…sick…dying even. Panic shot through her as she quickly left her home office and hurried outside through the back door to get a closer look at her tree. Upon further examination, the apples on the tree looked to be halfway to rotting, no longer providing the red, crisp apples it had been known to give for years upon years.

Tentatively, Regina plucked one of the rotted apples from the tree and held it gingerly in her hand, her mouth slightly agape in disbelief. This wasn’t good, and only one man held the answers she needed; only one man could guarantee what she wanted.

Regina quickly retreated inside, rotted apple still in hand and called to Mason, telling him she was going out to pick up some pizza and to stay inside before grabbing a scarf and headed out to Mr. Gold’s Pawn Shop.

---

Many, many years ago…

Those seagulls were going to give him a headache…

Rumpelstiltskin followed behind Killian and Milah aboard the Jolly Roger, the crew who had noticed the apprehensive look on their Captain’s face making them bustle about to make preparations. Milah was forced to help Killian walk given his weakened state of nearly having his heart ripped out, and with The Dark One following them as casually as if nothing were wrong really put the crew into a panic. He made a point to ignore them, however, passing up the opportunity to scare them out of their wits for a bit of entertainment. There was only one thing on his mind right now, and that was getting answers.

“Milah, what happened?” One of the crewmates asked as the three of them stepped onto the deck of the ship.

“Fetch some water. Get me that prisoner from below deck along with the loot he carried. NOW!”

Rumpelstiltskin stood by to watch as the shipmate hurried off to the command, and felt his blood starting to boil once again.

“Well, well…it seems you’ve finally found a family you could never have with me.” He stated, jovial at first but then slipping into dangerous anger towards the end. He continued walking however, exploring what bit of the ship he could. It looked a bit different now, but perhaps that was because he was standing and walking with authority and not down on his knees with a sword pointed at his throat.

There was a slight commotion and a small group of pirates hoisted out a rather chubby fellow with his arms bound and a cloth wedged into his mouth; the prisoner no doubt Milah had been talking about. The crewmember who Milah had spoken with previously handed her a tiny satchel which she snatched immediately and dumped the contents out into her hand, briskly walking over to Rumpelstiltskin at the ships railing. Her urgency caught his attention, and so he turned to look at her seeing what looked like a clear bean in her hand, glinting mysteriously as the light caught its edges.

Rumpelstiltskin reached out to grab it, however Milah tossed it aside where Killian then caught it in his own hand, the two of them exchanging smug looks at the other at their very quick game of ‘Monkey in the Middle’ with The Dark One.

“You asked to see it and now you have.” Killian said making a fist with his hand where the bean lay hidden.

“Do we have a deal?” Milah asked, finishing Killian’s thought. “Can we go our separate ways?”

“Do you mean, do I forgive you?” Rumpelstiltskin asked instead and began to circle around Milah. “Can I…move on? Perhaps…perhaps…I can see you are…twoooly in love.” He stopped and turned to face Milah, now with Hook by her side, protecting her.

“Thank you.” Milah gave a slight nod and made a movement to turn to Killian.

“JUST one moment…” Rumpelstiltskin said, stopping Milah, a dejected sigh coming from her as she faced her husband once more.

“What do you want to know?” She asked.

“How could you leave Bae?”

A tiny amount of color in Milah’s face began to drain; she had really hoped that he would be past this by now. When she told him that she and Killian had lost her while traveling in a land without magic, she assumed that would be the end; he would go looking for her and leave her and Killian be. Evidently, that wasn’t the case. The ropes binding the main sail down seemed to suddenly spring to life, as if someone had cut the taught rope but Milah, Killian and the crew knew it well enough to be magic; magic from The Dark One.

“Do you know what it’s like, having your entire world come crashing down on you?” He asked, more ropes snapping to life.

“Rumpel-“ Milah tried.

“Thinking for four years that you had been stolen from me-“

“Please-“

“-only to be told that you and Bae were DEAD!”

“I was wrong to have Killian lie to you. I should have told you the moment we got home. I was a coward, I-“

“YOU LEFT HER! YOU ABANDONED HER!”

“And there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t feel sorry for that!”

“SORRY ISN’T ENOUGH!” Rumpelstiltskin shouted as loud as he could, waving his hand in an Italian flourish before dropping his voice and closing the distance between himself at Milah. “You let her go.”

“I let my misery cloud my judgment.”

“Why were you so miserable?” Rumpelstiltskin asked, sizing her up with his eyes. He had given her everything she could have ever wanted. A good home, a family… Milah bent forward, putting her face into his and grit her teeth, summoning up all the courage she had in her. Right now he wasn’t The Dark One, right now, he was simply Rumpelstiltskin; the coward she had left behind.

“Because I never loved you.”

Rumpelstiltskin studied Milah’s face, unsure what it was that he was looking for. Perhaps a flicker of doubt, for her to suddenly say that she was only joking, but it never came. Nothing ever came. Before Rumpelstiltskin even knew what he was doing, his hand had shot forward and embedded into Milah’s chest.

“NO!” Killian cried and attempted to rush towards The Dark One but Rumpelstiltskin raised his opposite hand, an electric purple haze surrounding his hand as suddenly Killian was thrown backwards into the mast, the ropes there pulsing to life and entrapping him there.

With a slight tug, Rumpelstiltskin pulled Milah’s heart from her chest, cradling it in his hand and watching the pain he inflicted on her face.

“NO!” Killian cried again, and tried to fight the magic that bound him, ripping a steel hook that otherwise kept the ropes bound neatly from the wood and clawed his way out, dropping the hook in his haste to reach Milah in time to save her. Milah fell back, too weak to even comprehend the pain she was experiencing but Killian caught her just before she hit the deck and held her closely in his arms, looking down at Milah with such adoration in his eyes, it made Rumpelstiltskin sick.

Milah gingerly reached up to touch Killian’s face, soft whimpers of pain coming from her but she otherwise remained strong.

“I love you.” She breathed out, refusing to move her eyes away from Killian’s.

Rumpelstiltskin crushed the heart in his hand, savoring every feeble pulse he felt on his skin as her heart tried to fight back, every writhing, uncomfortable, squirming motion it made before the heart reduced to nothing but ash and let it trickle out of the cracks in his fist as Milah’s body went completely dead. Killian rested Milah’s head on the deck gently, his hand running over Milah’s face delicately.

“You may be more powerful now demon, but your no less a coward!” Killian shouted as he staggered to his feet to face Rumpelstiltskin.

“I’ll have what I came for now.” Rumpelstiltskin remarked, his lips twitching into a smile. Somehow, there was a satisfaction that overcame him by killing Milah, like ridding himself of a poison that had been slowly killing him for years upon years.

“You’ll have to kill me first!”

“AH-AH! I’m afraid that’s not in the cards for you sonny-boy!” Rumpelstiltskin unsheathed Killian’s sword from his own hip (having not given it back since their duel) and with the flick of the wrist, the sword came down on Killian’s enclosed hand, the hand with the bean inside of it, slicing through the skin, muscle and bone as if it were wet paper and the hand ‘thudded’ to the floor that was otherwise unheard as the air was filled with Killian’s screams of pain.

Rumpelstiltskin bent down and collected the bloodied hand and placed it into a pocket on the inside of his cloak, then pressed the flat blade of the sword onto Killian’s shoulder.

“I want you alive…because I want you to suffer…like I did…” With a quiet giggle, Rumpelstiltskin retreated the sword and put it back into the sheath at his hip, turning his back to Killian to leave the boat. Killian, on the other hand, wasn’t finished. He grabbed the dropped steel hook into his good hand and lunged after Rumpelstiltskin, catching him off guard and plunged the hook into his chest. Rumpelstiltskin didn’t cry out in pain, however, and instead…giggled…increasingly…

“Killing me is going to take a lot more than that dearie!” He chided, pointing at the hook still embedded into his chest.

“Even demons can be killed!” Killan replied, his face only growing more and more angry with each passing moment. “I WILL FIND A WAY!”

“Well good luck living long enough…” And with the wind, Rumpelstiltskin vanished into a puff of red smoke, the metal hook that was once in his chest clattering to the deck without a single drop of blood on it. Killian went to collect the hook, looking at it first, then Milah’s dead body, and then back to the hook, a new found emotion boiling up inside of him; vengeance.

Rumpelstiltskin materialized back into the comfort of his quaint little home and pulled the still fisted hand of Killian Jones from his cloak and set it on a wooden desk. Carefully, he pried each finger open, but when three of the five fingers were open and the bean wasn’t to be found, he hastened his pace until the hand was extended palm-up, and no bean.

With a cry of rage, Rumpelstiltskin flipped the desk and all its contents on the floor. His one hope at finding Baelfire, gone with that bastard pirate. Someway, somehow, he had tricked him, and now it would take years to find another way.

---

Presently…

Mr. Gold watched as Regina’s silhouette walked angrily by the frosted glass window before the woman pushed open the door so hard that Mr. Gold winced, fearing for the safety of the little bell connected at the top. He was currently behind the counter with a book opened up to a specific page, however the book was long forgotten once he made eye contact with The Queen.

“Your Majesty! To what do I owe the pleasure?” Mr. Gold asked with a smile tugging at the corner of his lips as he reached for a bookmark to mark his place in his book, and then gently set the closed book aside. Regina hastily approached the desk and held up the rotted apple for Mr. Gold to see.

“My tree is dying.” She stated, setting the apple down onto the counter abruptly. “Why?”

Mr. Gold took a good look at the apple before looking back up to Regina.

“Perhaps it’s your fertilizer?” He suggested with a mock grin.

“You think this is funny? Well I’ll tell you what I think…I think it’s a sign of the curse weakening; because of Henry. But do you care? No! You’re content to just sit back and do-“ Regina gestured vaguely around the shop. “-whatever it is you’re doing…while all my hard work burns!”

Mr. Gold looked upon Regina thoughtfully, his smirk never leaving his lips.

“That’s not all is it?” He asked knowingly. “C’mon, might as well get everything off your chest.” He said and began walking (cane in hand) from out behind the counter to the main floor of the antique shop, walking first to one of the side glass cases that held the more fragile items inside.

Regina scoffed.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She insisted, arms falling to her sides.

“Snow. She’s awake, and was looking for Charming.” Mr. Gold said in an irritated voice. If he had to drag the information out of Regina then so be it, he wasn’t about to waste time now playing their little guessing games; he had important work to do.

“They’ll be together over my dead body.” Regina glowered, stuffing her hands into her suit jacket pockets with a huff.

“The curse was meant to take away Snow White and Prince Charming’s happiness, perhaps you giving up your power as Mayor is the price to keep the curse…unbroken…” Mr. Gold suggested, crossing past Regina to the glass encasing where another book had been opened up with a pen in between the pages rested.

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh, don’t tell me I’m the only one to realize your authority has been undermined as of late. The people are starting to doubt you. Your pet sheriff, for example; he tried to take Mason away.”

“Yes but you saw to it that didn’t happen.” Regina reminded him, talking to Mr. Gold’s back as he seemed occupied with the open book on top of the glass case.

“And what of Henry? It seems each time you try to do something for yourself; whether it was Mason or Snow, Henry takes another step to breaking the curse. You can’t have both dearie, you can try…but you will fail.”

“I think I just want to get rid of him.” Regina stated, obviously talking about Henry. He did seem to be the bigger threat at the moment, everything else could come later once he was gone.

Mr. Gold scoffed and walked back to behind the counter after grabbing the pen that sat in between the book pages and faced Regina properly.

“Well, well…you’re gonna have to be quite creative…we both know the repercussions of killing Mr. Carlyle-”

“-The curse would be broken.” The two said at the same time, and Regina nodded her head with a subtle eye roll.

“That’s because you designed it that way.” Regina said approaching the counter once again, letting her palms rest heavily on the counter. “Undo it!” She said, as if it were as simple as breathing in air.

Mr. Gold chuckled and once again walked out from behind the counter, pen still in hand and cane in the other, and stopped next to Regina’s side.

“You know, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t.” He said before heading to the opposite side of the room. “Magic…well, it’s in short supply around here…dwindling by the minute.” He stated while jotting down a few things in the open book with the pen he held in his hand.

“You never told me…why do you want the curse broken?” Regina almost hissed.

“That’s not something I care to discuss.” Mr. Gold replied heatedly.

“Don’t bother, you can shove your reasons.” Regina said crossing back over to him and got into his face with a soft smile. “I want to strike a new deal.”

Mr. Gold set down the pen back onto the book and turned to face Regina fully, letting his arm rest on top of the glass case.

“One where I can get rid of Henry without shattering the curse.”

“Unfortunately for you-“ Mr. Gold said pausing to lick his lips. “-that negotiation requires two interested parties; and…I’m already planning a trip.” He gave Regina a quick smile and then headed back to the counter where he took the book that he had bookmarked earlier and pulled it open.

“I’ll give you anything.” Regina said, and Mr. Gold could hear the utter desperation in her voice.

“Ohhhh….” He sighed out, formulating the decision to a very tough choice in his head although he already knew what the answer was, it was like turning down free money. “You no longer have anything I want...dearie” He pointed out, turning to face her slightly. “But I will give you a piece of advice, free of charge. I’d plan a trip of your own. Because once people have woken up, and remember who you are, and what you did to them…” He paused to laugh and turned his back to her again, setting down the pen on the book before turning his attention to a world globe and spun it around a few times. “…they are going to be looking for blood.”

When Regina said nothing, Mr. Gold gave an audible smirk, knowing that he had finally reached her in her stubborn little mind.

“I’ll be having what I want now. Go to your vault tonight, and bring me the apple by morning...please…”

He heard the sound of heels clicking on the floor and then the creak of his front door combined with the tiny jingle of the bell and then the door shut, leaving the pawnbroker alone in his shop once more. Once he was sure that Regina wasn’t coming back, he let lose the cough that had been tickling the back of his throat ever since Regina had entered his pawnshop. He was sure that it was just the one cough, but it was immediately followed by more violent ones, causing his body to tremble and feel as if his thin ribs would collapse under the pressure.

He quickly walked back behind the counter and pulled out a glass bottle of brandy and tossed off the lid. Not even bothering with a crystal glass this time, he raised the bottle to his lips and downed the entirety of the bottle, the liquid rushing down his throat seeming to subdue the coughing…some. His hands were trembling, however, and he had lost his grip on the bottle and it crashed to the floor in a thousand tiny pieces. He seemed not to care, however as he let his back rest up against the wall and pulled a handkerchief from his suit pocket, dabbing the accumulating sweat away from his forehead and neck and trying to regain his breath.

(Collaboration Post Featuring Tanderbolt's Robert Leland, and Major Ursa's Sherry Attar)

Robert was taking a break from his usual patrol, groggy from spending his morning searching the forest. Everything had turned out alright in the end, and he heard that the people at the hospital had actually found something out about who Jane Doe was. His job would be easier if he could find a similar breakthrough on the case of the mysterious woman, but nothing had turned up so far. He was leaning on his car in the station parking lot, looking at his surroundings.

Walking down the side of the road (thankfully on her comfortable pair of flats), Sherry’s hair swished gently and the slight downhill slope caused her to jog own towards the Sheriff’s—oh? In the parking lot, the sheriff was, well, for lack of a better term, ‘chilling’. There were a bunch of things she could ask about the Jane Doe search and rescue, but decided that she could go through different sources for information…better to collect the dripping sap, then to drill a tree. Wait, was that the phrase?

No matter. With her tote bag swishing back and forth, Sherry gave a friendly smile and wave at the sheriff, humming as she made her approach…quite suddenly, she couldn't help but notice, “Oh, tired I see? That isn't good. You are our faithful town sheriff, after all!” Smile widened considerably, as she teased the very serious man.

Reaching into her tote bag, the woman didn't lose eye contact as she pulled out a thermos, unscrewing the cap and pour some of the steaming brew into it. With a dainty hand, she held the cup out to him, “It’s an interesting tea blend to be sure, there are more than a dozen health benefits to this…but, admittedly, it won’t do you tired disposition much better. I tend to avoid the highly caffeinated blends, as they do increase the likelihood of heart disease.”

Robert raised hand to decline the drink, and stood upright. He said "Is there anything I can help you with, Sherry? By the way, I liked your piece in the paper last week."

The journalist’s smile faltered for a brief second, before she tucked a strand of hair behind her ears and looked anywhere but at him. Not pushing her tea on him further, she downed the hot brew in a second and poured out more, before giving the man a sweet smile, “You think so? You…think so…hm?"

Sipping her tea quietly, in an almost meditative manner, "Not much more than writing a short story to a book with no beginning. So many plot developments, but with no beginning, what could they possibly be leading up to, exactly...?”

He was intrigued by what she said, and decided to share a bit of what had been troubling him recently. "I know what you mean, recently I've got a whole lot of questions and no answers. It doesn't help that people seem to be hiding so much from me, even Regina's been less than cooperative recently."

Sherry couldn't help but giggle at Robert's mention of information being hidden. Being a sheriff, an awfully lawful one (even while working with Regina), he didn't have his fingers on the pulse of how strange everything has been. Not exactly. "You're just Regina's chew toy. The bitch needs your help to relieve stress, and to polish her teeth."

Finishing the tea, she screwed the cap back and stored the thermos back into her tote, setting her hand on a hip and tilting her head. Sherry fixed the man with an enigmatic smile, "My gut is hardly ever wrong on this, the story is indeed missing the beginning. I'm shivering right now, because I know...I know..." Letting out a short laugh, she shook her head and started to hum...wagging her finger up at him.

Robert made a slight frown and said "Regina is this town's mayor, and the voting record shows that almost everyone here loves her. I'll always be thankful for what she did for me, before I came here I was shell-shocked and homeless, thanks to her I have a job and a place to call home. You may not feel this way, but I think Regina has good intentions at heart. Recent events haven't change my opinion, I just wish that she'd be more honest with me and show some respect for the law."

With every word from Robert's mouth, the woman kept nodding and 'mmmhmmm'ing, "Sounds like my backstory as well...make no mistake, I too appreciated she she has done for me, but she hardly seems like how I remember." Shrugging, she leaned on the other side of his vehicle, "Don't you get that sense?"

Robert nodded and said "There's a ton of weird stuff going on with her lately. It all started when Henry showed up last week, she's been odd towards him. She told me she saw him steal from her, but I can't find any evidence of his involvement. A few days later, they're hanging around together and he's even a teacher at the school, and she hasn't told me anything more about him."

Staring over at some weed growing out from the crack in the concrete, Sherry opened her mouth as if to speak, but seemed to visibly hesitate for almost a minute. The sheriff did his job, and not much else...should he have caught wind of Regina picking up other chew toys, or would it just suit him to know not much else other than things involving work.

Blinking dully at the weed, her mouth formed into a bit of a pout, "It's going to be all your own fault, later, since you don't follow the more obvious leads." Another pause, "It's almost tragic--no, a crying shame that I have too many pieces of information, secrets...and not an ear to whisper them into."

"If there's anything you want me to look into, just ask. If it's something that you'd rather not risk anyone in town knowing, go to the state attorney general, they can help. I'd be especially interested if you knew anything about the theft of Storybrooke's tax money or other crimes," He could tell that Sherry was looking for a story, but for now he just wanted to give her the minimum amount of information.

"Tell me, Sheriff Leland...do you know the foundation in which this town has been built upon?"

"This town is built on solid granite, both the literal granite that we stand upon, and the figurative granite of our moral foundations. Storybrooke has always been a beacon of honesty and justice, thanks to the good nature and hard work of this generation and those who came before us." Robert was moralizing a bit, but he interacted with others so little that he lept at the chance to talk about the town's history.

"Panties, more specifically, dirty laundry--dirty dealings! Dragging good people through the dirt, and burying others in it...but, now that you mention it..." Sherry feigned the whole 'thinking on it', but it had always been in the back of her mind, "I have two filing cabinets and a shelf worth of dishonesty and injustice, of the past five years..."

Tapping her left cheek with a finger, biting a lip with real thoughtfulness, before Sherry collected herself and smiled at Robert mischieviously, "You sound eager to tell me of the town's history...so I'll lend an ear." Leaning closer, she tucked another strand of hair behind her hear, "Please, go on."

"I'd love to, but I'm on duty. I've got to do another round of patrolling soon, if you have something related to my job as sheriff you'd like to talk about, I suggest you bring it up now before I have to leave."

Sherry shook her head and laughed...almost, it almost seemed like deja vu. Ask someone to recount something deeper in the past, and they seemed busy, or distracted, or tired. Holding a hand up, "It's fine, a girl like me prefers to be mysterious...and for that, I need secrets. I'm sure my secret stash of information will be discovered, far after I die. Now, I believe Regina is the one I really want to speak to about the town's history, among other things..."

With a quick wink, she pushed off from the vehicle and lightly dusted the dirt off of her clothes, "I'll see you whenever I do, probably doing more work for Regina...like last week. If I don't turn up, at all...well," Sticking a hand into her tote bag to pull out her thermos, which she waved in his face, "I probably didn't die of a heart attack, at the very least."

Robert's voice grew quieter, and his tone became deadly serious "Ma'am, if you honestly fear for your life, let me know immediately. I can get a guard posted, I can arrange for you to stay at a safe location, whatever we need to keep you safe."

Brows raising on her face, the side of her mouth twitched slightly, before she let out a few chuckles, "I only joke, I could hardly think poking Regina about the town will get me killed...but, seriously, the foundation of the town is something you really need to look into. You know that quake should have been impossible!" Saying this all slowly, deliberately...she turned and left as quickly as she'd come. Time to confront a lady with all the secrets, while wielding none so powerful on her own.

Collaboration between YoshiSkittlez and Ghost Shadow
--
The afternoon had slowly turned into evening and Henry was none the more melancholy. Faye still distrusted him: to the point of giving her allegiance to Knox Kowalski instead. The very thought of this was enough to make Henry's blood boil...but all he could think of doing now is grabbing himself a drink - and maybe a woman.

Stepping through the front doors to the Rabbit Hole, Henry quickly took off his scarf and coat; hanging them up on a nearby rack for safekeeping. His eyes instantly landed on Ruby, who apparantly hadn't even left since he was last there.

Reaching into his suit jacket pocket, Henry pulled out a single cigarette, planting it in-between his lips. This place always seemed to bring out his worst habits...

Ruby's eyes brightened the moment she saw Henry walking back into the bar, a queer transition from her behavior beforehand. Sure he had only been gone for a few hours, but she felt as if it had been days.

"Henry! Hey! Henry!" Ruby leaned over on the bar stool, looking like she was about to topple over it for a minute but somehow kept her balance despite her lanky figure spilling over the side. "I-----have a queestionnnnn!" She sing-songed and patted the barstool next to her which was currently empty, as were a few glasses that were sitting in front of her. Also in front of her was a stack of what looked like pages of The Daily Mirror; none in any particular order and scattered about like Ruby was about to house-break a new puppy. "C'mere!"

Henry raised his eyebrow curiously: Ruby was drunk. Not a simple buzz or slight intoxication, but absolutely plastered. A small chuckle seemed to climb up his throat as he grabbed a Zippo lighter (designed with the four suits of a playing card deck) from his pocket, using it to light the cigarette in his mouth.

Slowly approaching the bar, per Ruby's request, Henry was whistling a small tune to himself whilst occasionally removing the cigarette from his lips to blow out smoke.

"A question, eh? Well...ask away." Henry replied in an interested tone, sitting down next to her.

Ruby seemed to calm down a bit as Henry joined her, and then turned back around to the multitude of newspapers scattered before her. Each of them had a picture on it, a picture of Henry. There were seven articles to be exact, from the new arrival business to the Jane Doe scandal to helping the nuns raise enough money to keep the convent open. These articles had been passed around Storybrooke quite often as of late, and the older articles weren't exactly hard to find if you knew where to look, but Ruby seemed to take a keen interest in them.

"You-youyouyouyou said you came to Brookstory alone right?" Ruby asked stacking the papers into a somewhat neater pile before laying them flat in front of Henry for him to see. "Remember? Member, member when I told you I knew evry'one here and their favorite color?" Ruby pointed at the picture she had put in front of Henry. It wasn't a great shot, just one of Henry's car with Henry still inside looking over a newspaper from when he had first arrived, but that's not what Ruby was pointing at.

Instead, she was pushing her finger down on a rather round looking man with an even rounder face. It was hard to see his specifics, as he was wearing a trenchcoat with the collar pushed up and a fedora to shade his face as well as sitting on one of the benches next to Henry's car also pretending to read a paper; definitely the look of a man who didn't want to be found.

"So then who's that?"

Henry nodded subtly as she began asking him about how she knew everyone; taking a few drags of his cigarette while carefully watching. His eyes narrowed subtly as they landed on the obscure fellow on the bench.

"I have...absolutely no idea." Henry answered; sounding sincerely perplexed. However, this sudden realization didn't stop him from ordering a glass of wine from the bartender; just as he had done earlier that afternoon.

Ruby didn't look pleased, and then pulled out the next article from underneath the first one. Another picture featuring Henry, this time of him sitting at a booth at Granny's alone, but again Ruby didn't point to Henry, but at the corner of the image where the same man was. This time he wasn't wearing the fedora, and you could really get a good look at his face if you paid close attention to it.

"He's in all of them, but I've never seen him around Borystooke, like...ever, and yet he seems to be in every single picture you are..."

"It appears I've acquired my first fan." Henry said dryly in response; clearly more interested in getting his base needs fulfilled as opposed to working out important mysteries.

"Say..." He began, sounding as if he was going to change he subject. "How much have you drank tonight?" He asked curiously, yet with a hint of mischievousness to his tone.

Ruby furrowed her brows and sat up on the bar stool just a bit to reach over and pluck the cigarette from Henry's mouth, only to put it into her own where she eased back into the stool, giggled, and puffed the smoke out of her mouth.

"I've only had water." She blatantly lied. Henry would then catch the eye of the bartender, signaling to Henry that she probably shouldn't have anymore for the rest of the night.

"But I'll let you buy me a drink or two..."

"Right, then." Henry replied with a small chuckle before waving the bartender over; showing no regard for the man's earlier obscure look.

"Ello, mate! Two tequilas for my....very sober friend here, please. I'll be sure she gets home safe." Henry ordered, flashing a dazzling smile; his last sentence catering to the bartender's suspicions.

The bartender didn't look too happy, but oblidged by refilling Ruby's last drink and grumbling as he walked away to tend to some of the other guests. Ruby snatched the drink which looked like some sort of margarita and drained it's contents with the blink of an eye.

"Didju drive here?" Ruby asked, setting the once again empty glass back down onto the bar.

"Nope! Walked...and I suspect you and I will be walking back home as well." Henry said simply, taking a small sip from his wine as it was brought out to him.

Turning sombre, Henry began to relay his own problems to Ruby, "Faye wouldn't let me in to see the Jane Doe...or Mary Margaret, whatever you prefer. She's afraid I'll just cause more trouble - and who can blame her, eh?" He finished, switching moods in the blink of an eye as he stopped to take another drink.

"I dunno what her problem is." Ruby snorted. "Aint nothin wrong with a Prince Charming running around. I bet she's never even been kissed before; probably jealous. That paper article-" Ruby sat up on the stool again and filtered through the papers she had been showing Henry earlier to find the one written about the Jane Doe incident where Sherry Attar had done a nasty article about him. "Bullshit if you ask me."

"Yes...bullshit indeed." Henry repeated with a small smirk. "You were the only one who saw it, at least - I thank you for that." He commended with a sincere smile.

"So....how long were you planning on staying here, exactly?" He asked, reaching into his pocket again; this time procuring a small box of nicotine gum, popping a single piece into his mouth. "You can try and take this too, if you'd like." He added nonchalantly; as if unaware of the sensual implication.

"I'm good with the cancer stick. At least that will eventually kill me." Ruby grumbled pulling the stolen cigarette from her mouth and patted the ashes down onto the ashtray provided by the bar. "And I'm here until I pass out, and before you give me any bullshit on how that's not a good way to cope...I know...I just don't care."

"Oh, that's alight...I'm here t' encourage ya!" Henry proclaimed cheerily. "You like wine?" He asked with a certain glint in his eyes, as if there were a number of improper thoughts running through his mind. Ruby didn't seem to notice, far beyond the point of picking up subtlety.

Ruby laughed for no apparent reason and let her head rest on Henry's shoulder in a tired-like fashion, or maybe even cuddly...

"I like whatever can get me drunk. And if you can get me drunk, then I like you too!"

'Too late for that...' Henry thought to himself with a small smirk. "Then, I'm happy to oblige..." He said, almost quietly before deciding to order a full bottle.

--

Time seemed to pass all in a rush as Henry and Ruby did nothing but talk, drink (more Ruby than Henry), and even the occasional flirt here-or-there. However, as even the night crowd started to die down; Henry, (under the effect of a rather pleasant buzz), rose from his seat slowly.

"Hour's getting late..." He observed, though wasn't sure what time it even was at the moment. "I best be taking you home." He added on, quite hopeful for any reward he'd receive upon 'delivery'.

Ruby really didn't have any choice but to obey, since she knew that she really wouldn't have any other way home if Henry left without her. She stumbled out of the barstool, using her hands to brace herself against Henry from hitting the floor. Apparently, to Ruby, it was the funniest thing in the world because she didn't stop giggling as they walked out of The Rabbit Hole together. Still giggling, Ruby even managed a flailing wave to a man she spotted in the corner of the room, eyeing the two of them with curious intent.

"Bye Doctor Whale! Have a drink on meeeee!"

Henry cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly as Ruby practically screamed at the doctor. "Don't listen to her, doctor, have a nice night." Henry bid before tugging slightly on Ruby to get her to move faster out the door where there were (hopefully) no other civilians to embarass.

The walk back to Granny's Bed and Breakfast was less than graceful, Henry had almost literally become her own two legs with how heavily she had to lean on him to keep from falling face-first into the pavement. Thankfully the only other person they ran into was Dr. Hopper on a late night walk with Pongo, but neither of them paid much attention to the staggering couple as they walked across the street to the run down building.

Once they reached the second floor (going up the stairs was a nightmare for poor Henry) Ruby tried to find her key in her pants pocket, but she would have had more luck getting struck by lightning right then. Not only could she not remember what pocket her keyring was in, but she wouldn't have even been able to identify the right key if she had managed to find it.

"My, my...lost our keys, have we?" Henry asked rhetorically, more to himself than to her. He couldn't help a truly wicked smile as he began feeling about and in her pants pockets, perhaps lingering a bit longer-than-appropriate; gambling on Ruby's inability to notice.

Eventually after an awkward (yet enjoyable) amount of time, Henry managed to fish out the keyring with a victorious smile. "Ah, wonderful! Here we are, then. Now.....which one.." He finished perplexedly before trying to test all the keys in the keyhole for the right one.

"Hey..." Ruby said excessively patting Henry on the shoulder, though she kept her eyes on the keyhole as Henry tried each key to unlock it. "Hey hey hey! Hey...hey did Granny let you come back yet?"

"Correct-a-mundo!" Henry piped cheerily, only glancing back for a moment as he kept trying the keys. Finally, he seemed to find the right one as it neatly slid into the keyhole.

With a relieved sigh, Henry turned the key, earning a small clack sound as the door unlocked.

Opening it slowly, Henry stepped to the side to allow Ruby entrance first to lie down...or throw up.....or get undressed, whatever the like.

Ruby stepped into the threshold and turned around to face him in the doorway, now using the door jam as a bracer to keep from falling down rather than him.

"Did you get your room back?" She asked, tilting her head to the side like a curious puppy.

"I....assume so-"

"Good." Ruby said with a smile, her curious look shifting drastically to that of a predator. "Then I won't have to worry about getting you home on time." She snickered and with incredible accuracy (for being so drunk) Ruby held her hands on each side of Henry's face and pulled herself into him for a tight kiss.

Henry's eyes widened in shock for a brief moment as Ruby's lips crashed against his. But any previous judgement or willpower faded by the second until nothing was left but impulse. Not letting his lips part from hers, Henry gently pushed her inside and shut the door behind them.

A switch was flipped and the recording stopped, Regina’s pale face staring down at the machine with a scowl that would have made Mason say something had he not been asleep. Good help was so hard to find anymore, and not only her power over the city crumbling into tiny pieces before her feet, but now her mud-slinger of a reporter was beginning to question things. Sherry knew about the mines; Regina didn’t know how, or the extent of what she knew, but even that subtle little drop to Knox couldn’t be tolerated, Regina was just glad to have put a bug on the inside of Robert’s shoe soul the last time he had come to stay the night.

Drumming her fingers on the surface of the desk, Regina relaxed back into her home office chair and let her eyes stare out the window into the black night. She said nothing, but her mind was busy with words up until the point where she could no longer sit still and pushed herself up from her chair.

What was she going to do with Sherry? She couldn’t think on that right now; instead, she needed to visit the only person who truly cared for her; Henry Mills.

Regina walked to the small refrigerator and opened it up, pulling out a bundle of fresh flowers she had been keeping cool throughout the day and then hastily left her office and began the short walk from her home to the Storybrooke Cemetery.

She walked with blatant disregard for the others buried there as she made a direct line to the center of the cemetery, over the tops of other’s graves where a mausoleum had been erected and reached into her pocket to pull out a skeleton key that once inserted, unlocked the door that hadn’t been opened in years. The creaking of the door filled the surrounding air, startling even the vocal owl resting upon a dead tree branch not too far away and caused him to fly off.

Regina stepped inside the small room that held just enough walking space around the stone coffin that sat in the center and shut the door behind her before laying the fresh flowers on the coffin’s dusty surface, engraved in the side was ‘Henry Mills’ but otherwise the coffin was very plain.

“Daddy I don’t know what to do.” Regina said somberly, letting her fingers trace the engraved name into the stone. “I was supposed to be happy here, but Snow just keeps getting her happy ending. The curse is nearly broken, and Rumpelstiltskin won’t help us. Daddy…I’m scared…”

Regina rested against the coffin, letting her forehead rest down on the cool stone as she was bracing herself, ready to cry. In the silence, she could hear her heart beating steadily in her chest where she felt an aching pain for the loss of her father. She rested her hand on her chest, feeling her heart beating against it, taking it as some sort of comfort. If Mr. Gold was right, and he usually was about these things, her heart wouldn’t be beating any longer once the curse was broken and the people of Storybrooke rose up against her.

A second sound came to Regina’s ears, faint at first but steadily grew. She checked her heart again, curious as to why she was hearing a second heart beat, and then a third, until the entire room seemed to be filled with the sound of beating hearts. Regina lifted her head from the coffin and let her eyes fall to where her father’s face would be resting underneath the stone, tears welling up in her eyes no longer of sadness, but hope.

“You’re right! Thank you daddy.”

Regina stood up tall and put both her hands on the side of the coffin, and pushed. It took a bit of effort, but the stone coffin eventually began to slide. Inch by inch the coffin moved until at long last a hidden stone staircase appeared in the floor and Regina descended.

She was grateful for the larger room down under the graveyard. She made a quick point to walk to the opposite end of her vault and pulled down a black leather satchel that was big enough only to fit a single apple inside; the bulge within confirming just that. She then went to a wall opposite the entrance and took a good look at the hundreds of tiny little boxes that had been placed there, each of them blinking at random intervals a glowing red color, like bloody stars twinkling in the night sky.

Regina ran her hand over the boxes’ faces until she came across the very one she was looking for, and pulled the box out from the wall. She carried the box over to a stone table that held vials of potions, ingredients, and other things she had managed to bring over from The Enchanted Forest but she dared not to concentrate on that now.

Opening the box as delicately as if it were made of glass, Regina pulled out the still beating heart that laid inside and cradled it into her hand. How long had it been since she had crushed a heart? She stared down the beating thing, feeling it tremble in her grasp as if it knew what was coming. Regina hesitated though, was killing Sherry really the best option? Would it truly grant her some sort of resolve for the situation at hand?

Regina shook her head slightly. No, she couldn’t think like that, she couldn’t be going soft. She was The Evil Queen, even here in Storybrooke, and she had to exercise that title.

Her fingers clenched around the beating organ and immediately felt its feeble attempts to squirm and write out of her hand but it was far too late. With a final grip, the heart crushed down into dust and Regina let the remains slowly trickle from her fist with a satisfied smirk. Wherever Sherry was right now, whatever it was that she was doing, she was no more.

*~*Collaboration between Guardian Angel Haruki as Dr. Faye Stevenson, and Ghost Shadow as Henry Carlyle, and Alice*~*

Darkness hindered Faye's vision until it finally creeped away and allowed Faye to see. She found herself in a large, grandiose, and yet seemingly empty, ballroom. She raised an eyebrow at her surroundings. Where was she? How did she get here? What the hell was she even doing here anyways? It was at this point that she looked at herself and saw that she was wearing a purple ball gown.

The silence of the dance hall was broken by the sounds of footsteps on the freshly-polished wood floors; echoing off the walls in an almost ghostly manner.

The steps grew louder until Henry appeared behind Faye. Though he looked like Henry, he didn't at the same time. He looked younger, more...renewed, his dark brown hair; formerly styled messily, was now left down and un-styled. Instead of his usual coat-and-suit combo, he now wore very formal, if not somewhat garish, attire consisting of a bright red frock coat over a matching frilled shirt with a black collar around his neck.

Though saying not a word, his warm smile seemed to defuse any wariness or caution from the situation as he gently took both her hands in his, offering a short, gentlemanly bow as a precursor.

Faye turned to look who was behind her as soon as she felt their gaze on her. She was surprised to see that it was...Henry? He looked really different, but there was no doubt that it was Henry. She could feel her worry go away when he smiled, despite the questions she still had in regards to the situation.

She felt her face heat up in a blush as he held her hands in his, and all of a sudden, music started playing despite that there was no source of music in the room.

Henry took the music as an initiative and wrapped his right hand around her waist, placing it just at the small of her back as his left hand stayed clasped with her right.

Still silent; though not losing his grin, Henry slowly began a waltz; his movements fluid and graceful, as though he'd been dancing his entire life. The music seemed to match perfectly with his pace and rhythm as he spun her around the ballroom, letting his blue eyes lock onto hers; a look of complete enamor and affection in them.

Faye danced as well, able to keep up with Henry despite that she never danced before. Her blue eyes were also locked onto his as they continued dancing. As she danced, she felt peaceful and enamored...until a loud buzzing pierced through the air, destroying the disembodied music that had been playing through the air. All of a sudden, she felt something rip her out of Henry's gentle embrace, and pull her away. As she was pulled further away she screamed a different name, reaching for his hand.

"ALEXANDRE!!!"

And then...she felt as though she was falling...

She crashed onto the wooden floor of her bedroom, and she blinked rapidly as she rubbed her temple. She groaned "Owwww!"

She looked around and saw that she was in her bedroom, and the source of the buzzing was her alarm clock. She stood up and stopped the blaring, thinking about the dream in silence. She grumbled to herself as she got ready for work, "What the hell was that...? That person was Henry...but why did I call him Alexandre...?"

She shook her head, trying to shake off the dream, and she muttered "No use in thinking about that..." before she headed off to the hospital, trying to forget the dream.

---

Faye walked to the hospital, completely putting the dream out of her mind. Once there she got to work as she normally would (after she put her lunch in a brown paper bag with her name on it, in the break room), until lunch time came around.

She shook her head at the thought of her last patient as she walked into the break room, only to see a familiar face there. She slumped her shoulders and she asked the visitor seriously, "Shouldn't you be in the waiting area, Henry?"

The man in question looked up from the book he was reading (a copy of Alice in Wonderland) with a friendly smile on his face.

"Good morning, doctor; lovely to see you." He piped cheerily, not bothering to answer, or even acknowledge her question.

"This is one of my favorite stories. I always liked the Cheshire Cat - fantastic character...I always pictured him thinner, though." Henry added absent-mindedly with a small shrug of his shoulders; while internally he was quite offended that some fool had drawn him overweight.

Faye sighed and lightly shook her head at Henry, since he didn't bother to answer. She went over to the cabinet and took out her brown bagged lunch, and she went over to the table he was at, and she stated in concern as she sat at the table, "You know you're not supposed to be in here, right?"

At mention of being thrown out, Henry's expression seemed to sour; if only for a moment. "And what of it?" He asked her, the friendly tone not gone from his tone as he spoke. However, his focus was seemigy diverted to the book in his hands, his eyes on the pages instead of Faye.

Faye pointed out, "After what happened, a guard may be more than willing to try and throw you out despite any resistance. Just saying," She then asked politely and making chit chat after she gave him her warning, "So...how's staying at Granny's these days?"

Again, Henry visibly sneered. He had no fear of any guard or officer...however, he knew he wouldn't stand much of a chace in a fight without magic - only a sore reminder of how much he missed it.

"It's well enough, I suppose. Not much goes on..." Henry answered simply, though a perceptive one could catch a hint of uneasiness to his tone - as he was more than happy to keep his night with Ruby a secret.

However, Faye had heard that Henry had spent an amourous night with the waitress. She had heard about it from Dr. Whale himself. She sighed through her nose and she said to Henry, "Well...I'm sure you're quite happy with Ruby, huh?"
...Why did she bring the topic up? She knew it would've been better to leave the topic alone!

At this Henry bristled, stiffening his posture until it was almost certain he'd snap in half. "Oh?...where on earth would you get the idea that I'm with Ruby?" Henry asked; keeping his tone level. But his body language alone was more than enough of an indicator.

Faye could see from his body language that what Dr. Whale had said was true. She answered him, "Storybrooke's a small town, Henry. Of course news would travel fast here. Dr. Whale did see the two of you head to Granny's together, with Ruby very drunk,"
She shrugged and said trying to keep her tone even, (but she did feel bitter for some reason she could not place) as she took out a packed sandwich, a red apple, and a bottle of water, "Well, if you two are happy together, then you have my congratulations,"

"I didn't know Dr. Whale was Storybrooke's new trustworthy source of information..." Henry rebuffed, perhaps more sharply than intended. Faye knew...not only did she know, but she was now throwing it back in his face. He knew he deserved no less than such; perhaps even more, but his natural defences were more prickly than that.

"Besides...so what? Not like you had any interest in me." He added coldly, not having time to think about what he was saying before his tongue did the work for him.

Faye felt as though she had just been stabbed in the heart by a spear and then had rat poison poured onto the wound right after Henry said that she had no interest in him. Did her attempts at helping him mean nothing to him?! Did that kiss he gave her that night mean nothing to him?! It meant something to her! She clenched her teeth together, and she snapped back "At least I don't lead people on! At least I don't give noncommittal and meaningless affections to every single person of the opposite sex I meet!"

She calmed down a bit, and she stated to him, "Every action has a consequence, Henry. One day, all of that is going to bite you in the arse,"

"I've already figured out who I am..." Henry replied coldly, bitterness mixed in his tone; though his volume remained level.

"I'm not some goddamned Prince Charming to whisk you away to some pretty castle...I'm...this - cynical, philandering...flawed. If you don't like it; then find someone else." He hissed as he finished, eyes filled with a mixture of venom and...sorrow? Though more directed at himself.

Faye felt a chill up her spine when he said that he already knew who he was. Was he alluding to her other self when he said that?

She kept a glare though as he snapped back at her with venom and...sorrow? After he hissed, she retorted irritably "I never asked you to be a Prince Charming! Charming is an epitome of perfection, and news flash Henry! Perfection DOESN'T exist! All I want is some god damned honesty! But you've been anything but until now!"

At this, Henry couldn't stifle what could only be described as a mix between a laugh and a scoff. It almost tasted of bile as it left his lips; as though he was forcing himself. He'd been lying since day one. Not just to her, but to everyone - including himself. He couldn't even remember his own name back home...his entire existence was a combination of falsehoods and mistakes.

"Honesty...is an open wound, Faye - and in short supply here...don't pretend that this is some debate, because it's not. You know nothing about me...and you never will." He finished darkly, eyes narrowed dangerously as he spoke. And he was right...Faye would never know him for who he truly was, for the moment the Curse was broken - she'd die...leaving Heather in her place.

Faye glared at him, remaining unfazed from the dark look that Henry gave her. She then said to him darkly "You can't evade forever. Nobody can evade forever--"

"Watch me..."

After he made his comment, she said to him bitterly and in a foreboding tone, "You are only destroying yourself further with your evasion and 'Woe is me' act. You'll see someday,"

Faye picked up the red delicious apple and she took a bite out of it, creating a loud crisp crunch, and never realizing what she had just done, until it was too late. After she ate the apple, she was about to say something else, but she could only let out a choking sound. Her body convulsed slightly, as though it was trying to get rid of the poison, and she fell out of her seat with a crash. She landed on the cold floor, seemingly asleep.

Henry could only clench and unclench his fists at her warning, preparing to argue further until she took a bite of the apple. Henry had never taken note before - but it was..different: a touch too red, a bit too shiny and smooth. The realization didn't truly hit him until Faye collapsed onto the floor.

"Heather!" Henry cried out, aghast, before running over to where she lay, crumpled on the floor.

"No, goddamn it, not you too!" He shouted, trying to check for any sign of life; anything to give him a spark of hope.

"Heather, wake up...come on, wake up - I know you have it in you...wake...up!" He tried one last time, his jaw clenched so tightly that it hurt as he tried everything in his power to shake her from her sleep.

He finally grew silent, letting his hands fall aimlessly to his sides as he could do nothing to stop the poison apple from doing its work.

Henry stood to his feet slowly, weakly. He only had a few minutes - maybe less, before security showed up to check on the commotion...and right now, he looked like a hell of a suspect.

He frantically looked between Faye and the door, as if deciding which to pick. After a few precious moments of debilitating, Henry gave Faye one more passing look, quietly saying, "I'm so sorry..." before leaving in a haste.

The moment he stepped foot outside, all his senses went numb; his legs turned to jelly as he could barely support himself. Leaning heavily against a tree; Henry slowly looked up to the uncaring sky above.

"Are you done yet?!" He called out, though he wasn't quite sure as to whom. A God, a wizard of some sort, maybe even some celestial animal; he had no idea - and right now, he didn't care.

"Is this amusing to you? This...this depravity - this turpitude? Just finish it, already...there's nothing else left you can take from me." He finished sullenly before slowly letting his weight down on the ground. What else had he to fight for now? He could only let his eyes shut tightly, and let the darkness wash over him...

*~*~*

Henry woke up face-down in a patch of grass; the radiating light from the sun gently wrapping itself around him like a warm blanket. He felt groggy, tired; as though he had just woken up from a long and restful nap.

Slowly climbing to his feet, he realized he wasn't in Storybrooke or the Enchanted Forest - but in Wonderland: home.

The bright colors, outlandish sounds, and overgrown flora hit him with an instant sense of nostalgia and longing, as though this was just a memory; and at that moment, he knew he was in a dream.

He looked down and recognized his old clothes, freshly cleaned and mended. Running a hand through his hair, he felt its locks smoothly flow between his fingers. He was himself - he was human.

He began walking in a random direction, not knowing or caring which way he was going for now. It felt...right.

Though he could *hear* the sounds of Wonderland's creatures around him, he saw nothing of them. Even the larger-than-life flowers which usually chit-chatted about shiftless topics were silent, simply waving lazily in the gentle breeze.

As he ducked through a tall patch of grass that grew far over his head, Henry saw his old mushroom house come into view. The air was a musky, earthy smell; welcoming to his senses as he remembered the months spent in this modest home.

Slowly approaching the fungi, Henry was about to turn the knob of his front door when he felt a sudden urge, a compulsion to turn around.

Obeying, Henry turned on his heel to see, perhaps, the most welcoming sight of all since he turned back human: Alice.

He felt his legs begin to move, though only through instinct instead of will; for too many thoughts ran in his head to control his movements.

He stopped only when he was mere inches apart from his sister, who smiled up at him with the same, sweet smile that made any trouble or issue disappear in an instant.

She looked healthier than ever; her chestnut brown hair freshly washed and groomed, her skin rosy and free of blemish, her eyes so *full* of life.

The two of them, brother and sister could only look at each other in complete silence until a small smile seemed to tug at his lips. Insignificant at first, it only seemed to widen as Henry let the flood of emotions overtake him, suddenly pulling Alice into a tight hug.

"You're here...I found you." Henry managed to say as fresh tears streamed down his face, his tone almost reverent. He could think of nothing else to say; though a million questions registered in his mind mere seconds before.

"You did find me...but I'm not the one you're looking for." Alice replied softly, pulling away from her brother before something was broken.

"What? Alice, what do you mean?" Henry asked, genuinely confused at his sister's crypticness.

Alice reached up slowly, cupping Henry's cheek in her delicate hand before speaking once again, "You already found me, Henry...in Storybrooke."

"That's not you, Sweetling. Sister Charlotte doesn't remember being you...she's, a copy, an imitation."

"But *still* me, Henry...underneath all the false memories and various deceptions - I'm under there, you just need to let me out."

"I can't, Alice...it's too late, now. Heather's dead, Snow's even *farther* from Prince Charming...and I'm alone. How can I break the Curse if there's no one left that can help me?" He asked, despairingly; the memory of Faye's death fresh in his mind.

"You just have to believe..."

"In *what*?"

"Yourself. *That's* who you're looking for, Henry. You've lost faith in yourself, you've tried to bury the past instead of face it - and you'll never be free from that pain until you *do* face it. Only then can you find yourself, and be the Savior you were made to be."

"But why me? I'm not a bloody Savior...I'm a cat...a cowardly, frightened cat."

"Because that's what you've *told* yourself. To the point that you believe in nothing else."

Alice continued, "You can *still* break the Curse...you *can* save Faye, and Snow, and me...but not as the Cat, or as Alexandre Frost, or as Henry Carlyle...look inwards...find the *real* you - Edric Liddell..."

Henry's breath caught in his throat as Alice said those two simple words. His name, his *real* name registering in his mind mere moments after she said it. "Edric...that's...that's me..."

"My brother." Alice added gently, taking his hand in hers. "Now wake up, Edric...break the Curse - and don't be afraid..."

"I won't..." Henry began as he could see Alice fading away before him, like a fine mist. "I won't be afraid." He finished as the world around him dissipated into nothingness...

*~*~*

Henry awoke with a start, eyes still damp with tears shed in sleep. He had no idea how long he was drowsing, but he didn't care. He had a job to do; a job to finish. And he had come too far to back down now.

Rising from his spot in the grass, Henry hastily made his way across the town to the pawn-shop. In a weird turn of events, he genuinely needed Rumpelstiltskin - and something in his head told him that the likewise was true as well.

(Collaboration Post Featuring YoshiSkittlez's Ruby and Major Ursa's Knox Kowalski)

There wasn't a spot of shade left in the parking lot, for him to park his old Camaro. The lunch hour seemed particularly busy, and no doubt the darker tones of the car would cause it to heat up greatly in the sun. Still, it was a matter of personal importance, with no better alternatives possible. Ruby seemed to have his breakfast, early or the rare late, memorised...Knox would catch her off guard at lunch.

Stepping into the diner, most of the regulars of this time were generally confused, but it was busy and they got over the novelty of his presence. Scanning the scene, with the memory of what was usually a near empty diner at surface memory; Knox automatically spotted his usual spot. Such luck, it was unoccupied. Sitting in the near back, but the window, watching the world outside but ignoring the one he was in…so very fucking like him. In his contemplation of the scene, a few people came in and filled up the booth, but he paid no mind.

Flicking his gaze to the tables closer to the front, the one unoccupied table was still being cleared and cleaned…such luck, by the one person he was looking for. Making his way to the table, almost knocking over an occupied chair in his tired stupor, Knox was not yet noticed by the girl as her back was to him; Ruby was leaning over the table to (badly) clean the table as she does. Stopped another waitress to fetch a black coffee for him, the security guard unceremoniously took a seat closest to Ruby, though she didn’t seem to realise who he was yet, not likely to think he'd even come at lunch as it was rare. Not saying a word, Knox let out his usual sigh as he rubbed his tired eyes—the most exhaustion felt in years, the deepest circles under his eyes—and waited for Ruby to finally notice his presence.

The other waitress came over and set the coffee mug in front of him, but Knox could only look up and nod acknowledging at the woman, not even thinking about touching the mug. It…reminded him of a particularly disturbing dream, but he’d rather not dwell on it. Blinking, it seems Ruby was still having trouble with cleaning this particular table,

“Walk around to the other side; you can't efficiently clean up the ketchup spill by leaning on the table in such a way.” His mouth was set in a firm line, but the security guard waited patiently for her response.

Ruby stopped the pointless scrubbing on the table and looked over her shoulder, an orchestra ensemble of varying emotions playing into her eyes as they landed on the dishevelled Knox; confusion, anger, resentment, pity, surprise. She huffed and looked back to the stubborn stain on the table, scraping away at it with new vigour as the 'noon sleepies' escaped her. She'd have to remind Tony to cancel her order of coffee once he was done unwrapping the cheese slices.

"Shouldn't you be with your wife?" Ruby asked, the last word leaving her lips as though it were a bitter poison and finally succumbed to walking around to the other side of the table to attack the stain, though she refused to look back up at him.

Staring down at his mug of coffee dully, the mention of his wife made Knox feel numb,

"Maybe I should be." Picking up the mug, Knox downed it in one go, and continued to stare down at the empty mug almost angrily from there. Slowly, almost expectantly, he turned the mug around...and let out a strangely relieved sigh.

Ruby chose not to respond, instead, she attacked the stain with more anger than what was probably deemed appropriate for such a small stain; it had been wiped up long ago anyway. Once she started to wear into the wood, and realizing it, Ruby let up and blew a stream of air into her face that caught the stray strand of hair that had been bugging her and blew it out of her face.

"Granny! I'm taking my break!" She called out to the older woman.

"No you're not! You still got ten minutes!" The elderly woman called from inside the kitchens.

"Granny!" Ruby called out again, in a sort of tone that might have been code for something. That was only confirmed when Granny stuck her head through the kitchen window where the orders came out of to see Knox sitting next to Ruby. The older woman's eyes squinted, perhaps even glared at Knox before looking to her granddaughter.

Knox noticed the look Ruby's grandmother gave him, and it made his insides twists unpleasantly. It felt familiar, though he couldn't recount the last time he really gotten such a look. Flicking his eyes back to Ruby...

"Tony! Ruby's taking her twenty! Ease up on those cheese slices!"

Ruby gave her grandmother and appreciative smile and headed to leave, probably to hide in one of the back rooms until Knox was gone as she usually did.

Standing up and catching the waitress's wrist, not roughly but carefully. Though the circles of Knox's tired eyes were deep...his gaze was intense, but his voice was quiet, "I'm sorry, I can't apologise enough for what's happened. There is no two ways about this issue; everything that's happened is my fault, with my wife and with you-"

"Knox..." Ruby said in a warning tone, indicating to him that she didn't want to talk about this. Not now, not ever...

"-yell at me, hit me, I would deserve it all...but, damn it, Ruby!" Squeezing her hand in his, he let it go and stepped away, the man didn't say anything for several moments, "Do you want me to forget about you? Tell me what you want, is leaving you alone really what you want me to do?!"

Ruby pulled her hand back and let her arms cross over her chest. Her jaw remained set firmly, but her eyes gave away that this probably just as painful to hear as it was for him to say.

"I'm not mad at you!" She barked harshly, wincing as she realized maybe a bit too loudly as some of the customers turned to watch the scene. "And I'm certainly not going to hit you...even if it might make me feel better..." She added with a lower tone so that only he could hear but then shook her head no. She knew hitting him would only be a temporary resolve anyway.

"What I want Knox...what I want I can't have, and it's not your fault or mine. I can't...I can't even look at you let alone talk to you, it's too painful; a painful reminder that I opened up too soon-"

"And what?" Knox interject, swallowing down the pain bitterly, he couldn't hold back some of the anger and hurt in his tone, "You think it's easy for me to come in here every morning to see if you're in, to see you like this...? No, not even see you, and know the one you don't want to see is me? You think this is better, that running away is better? And after all this, I have to return to my wife, who barely remembers me?"

"-I should have known better, I should have had better instincts or at least followed the crappy ones I had. The saddest part about all of this is that I might have actually even loved you. So yes, yes Knox stay away from me, ignore me on the streets or wherever it is that we pass each other by and I promise to do the same, it is better that way, at least that way I can at least pretend to be happy about it. Mary Margaret will remember you in time, just like you remembered her, and then the two of you can live happily ever after." Ruby choked on her last words, her eyes wettening but she remained strong through her final word.

"Don't...don't you DARE presume to understand how I should feel about any of this, and don't make promises that things will get better when I've only ever seen them get worse. To assume anything-" Knox practically roared out loud that first bit, the diner fell silent at the usually quiet man's outburst, though the rest of what he said seemed to trail off to a cold tone, "-when Red, you hardly know me!"

For a moment, Knox peered down at her dully, before finally noticing the actual wetness of her near teary eyes. Anger built up in his chest, not at her, but in himself. Once again, he could only manage to hurt Ruby further, he should have just shut his damn mouth and left.

Not even thinking, Knox grabbed the nearest object and hurled it at the closest wall. As it shattered and the man came to his senses, he turned pale staring at the bone white fragments scattered by the wall. The attending waitress passing close to the wall had jumped back right before the mug made impact, and looked down at the fragments in horror, but Knox had an even greater look of horror on his face...for what reason, it wasn't apparent.

Suddenly becoming meek, practically shrinking in on himself, Knox spoke up to Ruby again, "We're perfect strangers from here on out. Nothing will ever change it, because this is what you want." Walking up to the front counter slowly as if unsure of his feet, he pulled out his wallet and pulled out all of his paper money to place on the surface, before hurrying out of the place.

Ruby listened and watched with a quiet expression, her face ungiving to any sort of emotion or surprise by both his words and actions. It wasn't until he had left the diner completely did she feel as if she could move again. She made eye contact with Ashley, the other waitress, as she cleaned up the broken bits of mug and Ashley nodded her assurance as if to say 'I got this.' Feeling every single pair of eyes in the diner on her, Ruby hurried back behind the counter to disappear into the kitchens to finally let it all out.

*~*Collaboration between Ghost Shadow as Henry Carlyle, and YoshiSkittlez as Mr. Gold*~*

The front door of the pawnshop creaked open; the little bell attached to the door signaling Henry's entrance as he stepped through the threshold.

"Rumpelstiltskin..." Henry called out as he entered, eyes alert for the old man. His sights landed on a half-empty glass of scotch on the counter - its drinker nowhere in sight.

"Oh, for Christ's sake..." Henry muttered under his breath as he made his way around the counter. The curtain opened up just as Henry reached it, however, and a very confused looking Mr. Gold practically came face to face with him, both parties having to stop abruptly from bumping into the other.

Mr. Gold tilted his head to the side, resting both hands on the top of his cane and looked at Henry quizzically.

"Henry..." He greeted civilly with a curt nod and adjusted his grip on the cane. Although the stench of alcohol radiated off of him like being sprayed by a skunk, Mr. Gold showed no other signs of drinking if but his brown eyes looking a little less bright.

"Gold..." Henry greeted in kind, tilting his head subtly to the side as he took in the (former) Dark One's state. "There's been a problem...and I know Regina's behind it. Faye, she--" Henry stopped himself for a moment to let out a deep breath before speaking once again.

"She took a bite from a poison apple...she's...under a Sleeping Curse, I think - maybe even dead." He finished, fresh sadness in his voice; but his expression remained neutral, if not slightly embittered.

A light snicker came from the older gentleman as he side-stepped around Henry, using his cane to support his entire right side. He was staggering a bit more than normal, but that could just as easily been passed off as a 'bad leg day' as easily as it could be his drinking.

"Oh, well, you know what they say here in this land without magic..." Mr. Gold chided as he made his way back around the counter where his drink had been abandoned and picked it up once more, tipping it towards Henry like some sort of unspoken toast with a grin pulling at his thin lips. "An apple a day keeps the doctor away."

"Oh, that's...that's funny." Henry replied, though his tone said the exact opposite of his words.

"Bet you had time to think that one up, eh?" Henry asked cruelly, but continued to speak before Mr. Gold could answer. "How'd she get a poisoned apple?" Henry asked in an almost demanding tone, obviously speaking about Regina.

Mr. Gold shrugged theatrically, letting the bitter taste of his drink linger in his mouth for a short duration before swallowing and set the empty glass back down.

"You ever think that Her Majesty had better things to do today than to give out handouts? If I were her, I'd be checking all the locks on my doors and windows today." He said as casually as if he were asked about the weather.

"You're evading..." Henry observed soberly, placing both hands in his coat pockets. "There's no way she could have magic here, it's...it's impossible!" Henry finished stubbornly, trying to think of some explanation for the poison apple that took Heather away from him.

"And yet, it isn't." Mr. Gold replied pointing a finger at Henry for a moment, the smirk never leaving his face since Henry had walked in. "Regina managed to bring over a handful of little items from our world to this one...as have I. Mind you, my objects are a bit...harder to come by than Regina's; she's used up everything she had left to keep you from breaking the curse anyway. And it just so happens...I might have something to counteract Regina's last-stitched attempt to make you fail." His voice remained plesant, all the while speaking though he had his back to Henry and was rummaging through a dusty old cabinet until he found another bottle of scotch, and poured himself another drink, coughing a few times as the brown liquid filled the crystal glass once again.

"I'll take all the help you can give me...things are falling apart and Regina knows it; she's cornered, making her far more dangerous. I will finish this - then I'll make her suffer for it." Henry promised darkly, clenching his fists instinctively, as if in emphasis.

"Oho! Get in line dearie!" Mr. Gold chuckled, swirling the contents of the glass around in his hand out of habit. "Once this curse breaks, the line for Regina's blood will take you right up to the boundries of Storybrooke." He snickered and took another drink, letting his words sink in before starting again.

"I have a potion; hidden and out of reach from Regina's claws. Before she enacted the curse, I managed to bottle up true love in it's purest form and hide it from her. If I'm right, and most times I am, it should have been brought over with the curse. There's not a lot of it, but it should do."

Henry nodded seriousy, listening carefully to Mr. Gold's words as he spoke.

"Where is this potion, then? Time is of the essence..." Henry stated simply, cupping his chin in his hand.

With a wry, knowing smile, all Mr. Gold did was tap his finger on the bottle of scotch. Nothing about the bottle seemed out of place, the label was sleek and black looking with the name of the brand in elaborate cursive; a high-end looking bottle that only someone like Mr. Gold could probably afford here in Storybrooke. But taking a second look at the name printed on the bottle would tell Henry more than he would ever probably want to know...

Jabberwocky.

Henry looked perplexed at first before letting his eyes look down at the bottle Mr. Gold was tapping almost rhythmically.

His eyes widened considerably as the name seemed to ring out in his head. "The Jabberwocky? She brought that....that creature here?!" Henry nearly demanded in a slightly panicked tone. The Jabberwock was a fierce creature in Wonderland, enough that tales and songs of its fearsome might were spread out through the realm - and it was here.

"Why do you think Mayor Mills was so keen on paving over the mines so quickly?" Mr. Gold pointed out with a flutter of his eye that could be considered a lightning-quick wink.

Still smirking, Mr. Gold finished up what was left of his drink (again) before walking back out from behind the counter, the dull thud of his cane the only sound in the shop aside from the creaking floorboards under his unbalanced weight. He didn't stop until he reached the opposite side of the shop and ran his hand over a handsome leather case about a foot in width and five feet long. He let his cane rest against the glass casing that the leather case sat on top of and unhooked the brass clasps that kept the case closed, but did not open it and instead turned to face Henry.

Henry's expression turned, perhaps, even more grim as he realized that Regina had kept the Jabberwocky in the mines *all* this time. Since the very beginning it had been hiding under the people's noses.

Henry let his eyes divert over to the case that Mr. Gold wandered over to a finely-made leather case. "A present?" Henry asked with a raised eyebrow, unable to keep a bit of humor from the conversation.

"You know me so well." Mr. Gold scoffed. Did Rumpelstiltskin even know the meaning of present? Everything always came at a price with him, nothing ever given.

Mr. Gold stepped to the side, keeping his hand on the case and pulled the lid open to reveal what looked like a normal sword, though as the dim lighting from Mr. Gold's shop hit the steel, an almost magical type of glow seemed to resonate from it, if but for a moment.

Henry tilted his head to the side, a small, thin smile crossing his lips before forming a line once again.

"A sword? Well, that's all well and good - but I need not remind you that I don't have magic....I can't fight the Jabberwocky without my magic!" He objected, though not rude or ill-mannered...instead frightened.

This gave Mr. Gold a reason to chuckle, letting his fingers drum the top lid of the sword case.

"There are very few things I understand about Wonderland, it's a particularly annoying little world that I have little use for. So useless, in fact, I gave away the very looking glass that established a portal between our land and it..." Mr. Gold began to explain. "However, I wasn't about to let Regina keep a pet that I couldn't very well destroy on a whim, so I procured this." He said gesturing towards the sword, and as if on cue the light seemed to hit the steel just right in making it glow. "The magic it wields now is weak, but once you're down in the mines it will react to the beast. Cut it open, and bring me the potion."

Henry felt his breath catch in his throat as he looked at the blade with a newfound reverence.

"Is this...a Vorpal Blade? The Vorpal Blade?" Henry asked, sounding almost astounded as he let his fingers curl around the cool silver of the hilt that seemed to intertwine around a green crystal that helped make up the grip.

"So you are familiar with it. Good." Mr. Gold said as he watched Henry familiarize himself with the blade.

He lifted it up, out of the case; letting his hand get adjusted to the weight. He'd held very few weapons in his lifetime, magical ones especially.

"The song...about the Jabberwocky mentioned such a sword." Henry said solemnly, though his eyes never left the blade itself.

Finally looking back up at Mr. Gold, Henry cleared his throat before spaking. "Now comes the next part - how in hell am I going to get into the mines now that they've been sealed up?" He asked, a slight hint of concern to his voice.

A smile spread across Mr. Gold's thin lips that reached his eyes.

"Can you not think of a way?" He asked letting the lid of the case close now that it was empty before picking up his cane and heading back to his usual post behind his desk. "Anything strike you as curious here in Storybrooke? Aside from the obvious of course. Can you not think of a single location that might be treated differently than the rest of the town, a place that Regina wouldn't want just anyone to venture through?"

Henry pondered for a few moments, recalling every building in Storybrooke; internally searching for anything that would fit Mr. Gold's hints.

A wide smile crossed his lips as he finally figured out the answer he was looking for.

"The clock tower!" Henry exclaimed while keeping his voice at a level volume.

"Now you're thinking." Mr. Gold commended.

"So, Regina has her own little transportation system that takes her down to the mines...question is; is it as simple as walking up and hitting the 'down' button?" Henry asked, slightly cynical, though there was a small air of confidence to his tone now that he felt somewhat more empowered with information.

"Inside you will find an elevator, it's a two-man job so I suggest you make a friend and have them go along with you."

"Very well." Henry replied curtly, looking once again at the sword he had let lean against the counter-top. "Mind if I have that case for a bit? It wouldn't be good for inconspicuousness were I to wander around Storybrooke with a sword out for all to see." Henry requested with a small smirk at his own words, imagining the look on the townsfolk's faces if they caught a glance of him with the Vorpal Blade in hand. Mr. Gold just nodded and gestured for Henry to help himself to the case.

Henry did so wordlessly, gently placing the sword back in the case with deft fingers before closing and clasping it audibly.

"I'll return with the potion when able." Henry assured Mr. Gold as he turned to leave the shop, "If I don't come back - guess I wasn't the Savior." He added with a small chuckle, masking an ample amount of fear that welled in his chest before leaving the shop, not waiting for the pawnbroker's reply.

"Gold?"

Regina shut the door to the pawnshop behind her, the little bell tinkling for the second time (the first being when it had opened) but Regina paused at the entry; confused as to why the pawnbroker wasn't standing behind the counter awaiting her arrival as usual. Her black eyebrows knitted together as she took a couple tentative steps into the shop, not bothering to look around at the various nick-knacks that she often liked to pick up and examine from time to time (if only just getting a somewhat annoyed expression from Mr. Gold himself).

"Gold!" Regina called again, heading towards the curtain that led into the back room. Over the years she had spent in Storybrooke, and through all the times she had been inside Mr. Gold's pawnshop, not once did Regina take it upon herself to go into the back room without Mr. Gold at least knowing about it, since permission was just a bit below her. Still, when she heard no answer, she pulled open the curtain and stepped into the back room, a small pulse of adrenaline flowing through her blood at the chance that the pawnbroker have only stepped outside for just a moment and caught her where she didn't belong.

That wouldn't be the case.

Regina found the owner of the pawnshop with his head down on top of an old wooden desk, resting on his right arm and turned to the side, sitting in what she could only assume was the matching chair to go with the set. The smell of alcohol reached her nose immediately, and realized that a bottle of what used to be some sort of booze had been knocked over onto the table, staining both the wood and the sleeve of Mr. Gold's dark blue dress shirt.

His suit jacket had been tossed to the floor, unwanted and forgotten, his cane leaning up against the desk just within arms reach. His hair was matted with sweat, sticking to portions of his face and neck while others tangled and splayed out in various areas. His eyes were closed, the age of his face increasing as dark shadows folded neatly into his creases giving him a very tired look, despite his being unconscious.

What Regina found most odd about the scene, however, was not the drunken, passed out, run down, pathetic heap she saw before her, but the tiny teacup held loosely in his left hand, cradled towards his face with the chip in the rim pointing outwards for Regina to see clear as day; and was able to identify it.

What Regina didn't know, however, is that Mr. Gold wasn't unconscious; just hovering between the areas of awake and dreaming. He was lost in his own thoughts, confusing reality with memories...thinking of the past and bringing them here...a happier time when a common girl gave him reason to smile, to want to be a better man, to want to change.

He could still see the way she smiled at him, the way her cheeks flushed the most brilliant shade of pink and the way her amber eyes squinted when she laughed. He could hear her voice, nagging at him in a way no one else dared to. Her eyes, so beautiful, so full of life and unafraid whenever she looked upon him as he spun at the spinning wheel and made light conversation. He could hear her singing, her voice so angelic and haunting it made the corner of his eye grow wet and made the hairs on his arms stand up on end underneath his alcohol-soaked sleeve where the bottle had tipped over. And if even for a moment, he could hear her calling out to him.

Gold? Gold!

He wanted to correct her, tell her that was no longer his name and that he would always be Rumpelstiltskin to her, but his lips wouldn't move, too exhausted to even try.

He could feel her hovering over him, but he knew this couldn't be true. He had watched her die, and so it must have been her spirit looking over him; and it must have been her spirit that he felt reaching out to gently touch his hair to soothe his aching heart, letting him know that she was there with him, always.

A quiet sneer came over Regina's face as she reached out to take the cup from Mr. Gold's grasp and looked it over.

"If only she could see you know Rumpel, I doubt she'd be impressed."

Mr. Gold's brown eyes shot open, and the first thing he saw was the teacup in the claws of Regina, The Evil Queen...the murderer. With a beastly snarl, Mr. Gold sprung up out of the chair, the movement so sudden that the wooden chair toppled over onto the floor behind him but he didn't notice as his hand had wrapped itself around Regina's lithe neck and his laid his opposite arm horizontal to her chest, pushing her up against the wall with his teeth bared and eyes afire.

"PUT IT DOWN!" He roared, pressing his arm up into her chest tighter, watching Regina's brown eyes grow wide in fright and listening to the choking sounds escaping through her closing windpipe. "PUT IT DOWN NOW!" He shouted once more, closing his hand even tighter around her throat.

It took all the strength Regina had to shakily raise her arm and set the teacup down on the edge of the desk, barely able to reach it from her distance pressed up against the wall.

"G-Gold..." Regina croaked, but realized that it was a waste of air as the beast refused to ease up on his hold until he saw the life starting to drain from her eyes. Only then (and with a forceful shove up into the wall) did he release Regina, accommodating the screaming pain in his right leg from putting so much weight onto it and reached for his cane as Regina slumped to the floor in a trembling heap, her hands immediately going to her throat as if that would soften the lingering pain.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Regina finally managed in between coughs, watching as the pawnbroker picked up the teacup ever so delicately with his cane-free hand to inspect it, ensuring that no damage had come to it. What Regina didn't expect, was the sudden spin of the older man with his cane raised up, meeting the handle of the cane to the side of her face with a loud THWACK!

"YOU KILLED HER! YOU RIPPED HER HEART OUT, AND YOU KILLED HER!"

The cane was brought back down on Regina, smacking her across her forehead and splitting her eyebrow clean open. Regina tried putting up her arms in defense, but the blows of the cane kept coming. Right, left, down, backhand, forward hand...it was impossible to predict where the cane would be striking next. Bruises immediately began forming on her cheeks, forehead, neck and arms, her eyebrow being the first to draw blood but then soon followed by her lip and nose.

"GOLD!" THWACK "RUMPELSTILTSKIN! LISTEN T-" THWACK "PLEASE!"

Regina kept crying out to him, begging for him to stop but each time she opened her mouth to speak, the cane was brought right back down on her and her words were drowned with pain.

"She's gone! She's gone, forever! She's not coming back! And it's YOUR fault!" THWACK! "YOUR FAULT!" THWACK! "YOU BROKE OUR DEAL!" THWACK THWACK THWACK! "IT'S YOUR FAULT! IT'S YOUR FAULT!"

Moments ago...

It was terrifying as she stumbled out of the carriage that seemed to drive itself. She almost fell to the pavement but she regained her balance. She shivered slightly, brown hair a mess, amber eyes looking around at the weird buildings and roadways. She wished she was back in that small, dry, dark room. It was familiar to her, it felt safe.

She could hear voices. Moving towards them she pushed a small wooden door open, a bell ringing. The room she walked into had an array of objects on display, some even seeming familiar to her. As she gazed around her attention snapped back to the sounds of grunting and beating, moving forward she entered another room as she tightly held onto the deep red cloak that draped her body, a gift from a friend. She was shocked to see two familiar faces but her eyes soon grew confused, brow’s furrowed. She was used to seeing the queen in such odd attire from the few and far in between visits, but…Rumpel…he practically looked human. He was the only constant in her mind.

Although she had a great hate for the evil queen the young brunette rushed forward. Holding her arm up she took a couple blows before she managed to stop the cane from coming down again. She glared into his eyes.

“STOP IT RUMPEL!” She practically yelled at the man, her eyes not shifting from his.

The dark, inflamed eyes landed upon the beauty staying his arm and the cane clattered to the floor in surprise as he jerked his arm away as if the woman's touch carried the plague. His dry mouth hung open in a silent stupor as he took a few unsteady, shaky steps backwards, his bad leg threatening to give out on him but managed to keep himself from falling to the ground when he had backed into the desk and was able to brace his weight with a hand behind him.

The only sound aside from the miscellaneous clocks that ticked in the shop was a sudden cough and sputtering of what Mr. Gold could only assume was Regina's blood coming up her bruised throat, but he didn't even bother with looking down upon the wreckage he had brought her, his tear-filled eyes never leaving the woman who had instead stopped him, and called him by name.

"Belle?"

Collaboration between Huntress, Yoshiskittlez, and Tanderbolt

A few hours earlier...

Robert had trouble falling asleep the previous night, his mind was still racing with questions. There was the usual concerns about crime and the incident in the mine, but one particular issue stood out. There was certain room underneath the hospital, one that he did not know why it was there or what was inside. The floorplans didn't list it, and the security room had no camera watching it. As far as he knew, only he and Regina knew of its existence, and Regina alone knew what it held.
Eventually, he calmed down and drifted off. While he was asleep, a strange and vivid dream came to him. Robert could even feel the little details, like the weight of his clothing and the cool temperature of the room he was in. He looked around, noticing stone walls and iron bars everywhere. He stared at his hands and found that he was wearing iron gauntlets, complementing the black armor on the rest of his body. It was hard to process all of the unfamiliar sensations, but from what he could tell he was in a medieval time period.

Robert looked around the room enough to get a general impression of the area. It appeared to be some sort of dungeon, fortunately he was standing outside of the bars. A few of the cells were occupied, watched over by guards wearing black armor. He stopped looking around when he heard a loud clattering sound coming from the hallway outside the room.

Through the shadows given off from the torches on the wall, he saw the silhouettes of two armored men carrying a seemingly limp woman into the room. They were still talking when they walked through the door, completely ignoring the woman who they carried.

"She's crazy tough, I'm telling you. I've seen Regina crush a person til they burst with the magic she hit this girl with, can't believe she survived." The second guard said.
"Magic's fancy, but there's something special about doing things the old fashioned way. Remember all the fun we had with the arms we hacked off of that peasent? You can't get that satisfaction from a spell." Strangely, Robert didn't seem to question why these unpleasent people were mentioning Regina.

They stopped talking when they saw him, looking a little startled. The two guards immediately straightened their posture and hardened their faces, trying to appear more disciplined. After a brief but awkward period of silence, one of them spoke to him,

"Roland, sir, everything went according to plan. Regina wants you to bring the second prisoner to other room immediately, Rumpelstiltskin could show up at any time."

While he spoke, one of the guards who had been in the room opened a cell and grabbed an unconscious woman dressed in rags, heaving her over his shoulder. Robert found himself nodding involuntarily, his muscles seemed to work without his will.

Feeling as though he was on autopilot, Robert walked into the hallway with the other guard. As he was leaving, he heard one of the men call out "I know you're tough, but Rumpelstiltskin's on a whole other level. Stay safe, Roland, you've been a great captain to us all." He didn't bother saying anything back, puzzled by how he got into to this whole situation.

At the end of the hallway, he came to another room of the dungeon. It looked similar, but there were a few important differences. One of the cells had bars made from wood instead of iron, and there was a mirror positioned in the middle an empty cell. This room had more guards than the last, and they were clustered around one woman who stood in the center of the room, Regina. Her face was unmistakable, though she dressed differently than the mayor he knew, appropriate for this time period. Somehow, it didn't strike him as out of the ordinary, and he even smiled a little when he saw her.

Regina was lost in her own thoughts though, painted nails drumming against the stone wall in anticipation with an almost worried look on her face. However when he had arrived in the room with the female prisoner, the anxiety washed away and Regina hastily gestured towards the empty cell with the mirror inside of it.
"There. And quickly!" She snapped.

Robert felt himself move over to the cell and open the door while the other guard carelessly dropped the woman on the hard stone floor. He shut the door and locked it with a key hey did not know he had, but this fact did not disturb him. Afterwards, he backed away from the cell and turned to face Regina again. Regina hurried over to the cell and smiled down at the unconscious girl. She waved her hand fluidly, a stream of light purple smoke encircling the girl and when it had vanished, the woman was no longer herself, but an exact replica of the first female prisoner Robert had seen just a few moments ago.

The plan was simple; make Rumpelstiltskin believe she was the real woman...the real Belle, from what he had heard Regina refer to her as a few times. All Robert had to do now was to sit back and watch as a very sick looking Mr. Gold and Regina played a game of cat and mouse until finally, Regina had ripped out her heart and crushed it in front of the imprisoned man.

While he stood by and watched, Robert felt something strange happen. With every passing moment, he gained more understanding of the situation. Memories flowed back to him, giving him knowledge of a past that he had never known before. He knew why people called him Roland, he knew why Regina was doing this, and he knew why he had gone along with it all. It felt more real than than his waking life, more vivid than anything he had remembered before. Suddenly everything made sense and meshed together, free from the fog that clouded his previous memories. While he was still lost in thought, the dream slowly faded out.

Robert woke up, and saw the rays of dawn streaming through his window. He sat up in bed, still processing his dream. This one didn't fade from his memory like a normal dream, it stayed clear in his mind even when tried to focus on other things. He found that the memories from the dream were with him too, still keeping the same fidelity. They eclipsed the memories he previously knew, making them look like pale imitations.

Robert could only conclude that the dream had really happened in the past, and that his newfound memories were real. It was hard to accept that he wasn't going crazy, but he remained steadfast. They explained so many things, Regina's behavior, the mystery of Jane Doe, and even provided a hint as to what the room beneath the hosital might hold. He skipped his normal morning routine to save time, and drove to the hospital immediately. When he got there, he ran down the stairs to the secret room, unlocked the door, and opened it forcefully.

This place was odd to her, still a prison no doubt but not something she had been used to. The walls were stone but so clean cut and stacked high up; large rectangular shapes. There were no torches or lanterns just some sort of fixture that hummed and buzzed, a bright white light emanating from it whenever the evil queen entered the room, which wasn’t often. There were no bars just a large, thick metal door, the smallest slit in it…Wait…that’s a lie…there were bars. There was a small window in the dark, dry room. It had bars on it and it let in a small amount of light. The room was eerily quiet.
After being locked up for so long Belle had begun speaking to herself. Just mutterings and random words, memories. She’d tell herself stories and try to remember facts from the books she had read. On rare occasions she could hear movement and noises past the heavy door. That’s what she had thought this time but instead the door creaked as it swung open in anger, the sound was almost deafening as Belle covered her ears and moved away, forcing herself into the corner as she watched a man walk in. Nothing familiar about him, she had never seen him before.

His stature was intimidating as she tried to move as far away from him as possible. Fingers tightly gripping the red cloak but making sure not to rip it or damage it in any way.
He knew he wasn't crazy as soon as he saw her face. Robert had definately seen this girl before, and she wasn't anyone who he could recall living in Storybrooke. He didn't know much about her, but the information he had would certainly help. She clearly looked dishevelled and out of sorts, but she was not visibly injured. He did his best to appear friendly, which didn't come naturally to him. He said,

"Are you Belle? I've come to get you out of here, away from Regina. I know someone who you will be safe with, and I think he'd be very happy to see you." It was awkward, but that was the best greeting he could come up with.

She nodded in response to his question, her eyes eventually meeting his. “R—Regina?” Belle asked as she tried to calm herself down. “Where am I? What is this place?” If she could finally get answers she would damn well take advantage of it. She hadn’t seen the outside world for who knows how long, although she was excited to get out and leave she was also terrified, this place was safe, almost….home even.

"You're in a room underneath the hospital, one that has been kept hidden from the staff and the public for several years. Storybrooke is a small, isolated town in Maine, Regina's the mayor, and I'm the sherriff. I have reason to suspect that she has been violating the law by holding you here, which is why I am here to release you. If there's anything else I can help with, please let me know." She didn't seem dangerous, but Robert still wasn't sure that his plan would go smoothly.

Her eyes darted across his face as he spoke, words she didn’t recognize. Names that literally meant nothing to her. She just watched him and slowly stood up. She just want to go home, away from all the chaos and commotion, somewhere that she didn’t have to worry, somewhere where she could occasionally smell the pink roses if she wanted to. “I just want to go home…” She muttered and glanced at him.

Robert tried to smile, which was something he didn't do very often. "I'll work on get you home as soon as I can, but unless you happen to live in Storybrooke, I need to find a place for you while I sort things out. There's a man named Mr. Gold who can keep you safe, and I think he knows you." He stepped back from the doorway and motioned with his hands for her to walk outside, ready to lead her to his car and away from the hospital.

Presently...

"Y-you're alive?" Mr. Gold...Rumpelstiltskin...could not fathom what his eyes were telling him he was seeing. It was Belle, and yet, it couldn't be. Her spirit had been the epitome of his sleepless nights, watching over him as he tossed and turned and cried out into the night when nightmares haunted him. She was the subject of many dreams, some good, and others that left him with tears in his eyes when he woke. He had seen her heart get ripped out in front of him and crushed into dust; a fact that finally brought his tearful brown eyes away from Belle and down to Regina who was doing her best to get herself up and off of the floor though he made no move to help her. Instead, he extended a bony finger, pointing accusingly at Regina with his sombre expression gone with the blink of an eye, replaced with a menacing snarl with his eyes growing dark once again with his nostrils flared.

"What did you do?" He asked Regina slowly, setting the chipped teacup back down onto the desk delicately. Regina made no reply though as her full concentration was on her arms pulling her off of the floor with the help of the wall and desk.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Rumpelstiltskin repeated, this time shouting and throwing all caution to the wind. He needed answers...now, before he decided to end Regina's miserable life all together.

"I could have killed her, but I didn't-" Regina replied using the back of her dress shirt sleeve to wipe the blood that ran down her split eyebrow and into her eye, letting her back rest up against the wall in attempt to catch her breath.

"-No...you did much worse than that..." Rumpelstiltskin interjected, the word barely above a whisper, rolling over the top of his snarled lips and began heading towards Regina with a purpose; blood lust in his eyes.

It only seemed to take a couple minutes before Rumpelstiltskin grew vicious, a gaze Belle had seen before. Glancing over her shoulder at the struggling Queen, Belle returned her gaze to Rumpelstiltskin who slowly began to approach. Stepping in between the two Belle stopped the man.

“Leave her be Rumpel.” Belle looked down at the bleeding queen and clenched her jaw. Before returning her gaze to Rumpelstiltskin, she moved closer to him and met his eyes. “ She is a nuisance, yes and a horrible person. Killing her would not make you any better than she.” Belle’s arm rested on his shoulder as she made sure to keep his gaze. “Just leave her alone.”

Rumpelstiltskin's dilated eyes focused away from Regina and onto the beauty that stood in between them, slowly softening until the blood lust left in them melted into anger, and then hurt. Her delicate hand on his shoulder sent electricity shooting through his tempering blood, bringing a fairly new type of energy to the older man that for once didn't stem around anger. It was more than just a reassuring touch to him, it was also the reality that she really was here; with him and alive...really alive!

His face softened as he read the stubborn expression on Belle's face that matched her determined words. It was the first time he was able to look at Belle, really look at her and he couldn't help but to think that she had looked better after spending a week locked up in his dungeon than she did now. Her hair was splayed and disheveled, dark bags hanging under her eyes from lack of sleep and poor nutrition...she looked much thinner than he remembered, probably being starved to death...but despite her current state, she had never looked more beautiful to him. He couldn't push the fact aside though, that Regina had caused this, thus stirring up the angry beast hidden within him, but he remained vigil and kept his anger at bay, instead trying to reason with Belle.

"But she tried to harm you!" He exclaimed softly, afraid that if he were to raise his voice, she would become angry with him.

“But I’m here now.” She spoke softly. It was odd seeing Rumpel this way. He seemed so normal, so human. Belle smiled softly for a brief moment.

Rumpelstiltskin looked conflicted, his eyes darting past Belle to Regina who had made a mess of her own blood on her sleeve as a sort of compress to stop the bleeding. Their eyes met and Mr. Gold could identify the fear she so desperately tried to hide in her eyes.

"Go." He growled and pointed a finger towards the back door of his shop.

Regina's eyes flickered from Mr. Gold to Belle and then back at the pawnshop broker, perhaps with relief as she pushed herself from the wall and headed towards the exit. She supposed she should have been grateful that his little pet had intervened, but she was feeling anything but. She kept her head held high as she left the pawnshop, holding onto any bit of dignity the Mayor of Storybrooke might have left. The door closed shut, and Rumpelstiltskin and Belle were left alone.

Rumpelstiltskin let go of a breath he didn't realize he was holding, his eyes coming away from the door and back to Belle. He set his cane aside, letting it rest up against the desk and placed both of his hands on Belle's arms gently.

"My darling Belle, you have to tell me what happened to you..."

Belle met Rumpelstiltskin’s gaze, the soft smile still on her lips. Seeing him like this, as a man, made her happy. The last time he was even remotely close to looking human had been long ago and Belle had been practically removed from his life.

“She had me imprisoned. It was like a dungeon but different. This world…it’s so odd.” Belle spoke. “I lost count, I couldn’t tell when the days began or when they ended.” She continued. “Occasionally she would come see me. Then the man came he let me out. I couldn’t recognize him, I had never seen him before. He spoke words I didn’t understand. Hospital…Maine?” Belle shook her head and blinked before looking back up at Rumpelstiltskin.

“He said your name was Mr. Gold.” She looked at him with a confused gaze.

Mr. Gold nodded with understanding, though he tried to remain sympathetic towards Belle, he couldn't help but to feel more and more angry with Regina.

"We're in a new land Belle," He began to explain, keeping his hands light on her arms; afraid that if he let go she would disappear, and that this would all be a dream. "The Queen cast a curse on our land, ripped everyone from there and put us all here. It is a land without magic, we all have different lives, false memories...false names. As you said, I am Mr. Gold. Here, everyone refers to me as such. Here, there is no Dark One...no Rumpelstiltskin..."

He studied her face carefully, suddenly realizing that Belle had called him by name to begin with, and his concerned face turned to curiosity.

"But not you..." This gave him pause...if Belle wasn't affected by the curse, there had to be a reason for it. "Five years; five years Regina had you locked up." He shook his head, vocalizing the thoughts running through his head. Where he had been keeping Belle was beyond him, but it wouldn't be the first time Regina had a little hidden place within Storybrooke, though he only knew of the one under the clock tower.

"I can't let this stand Belle-I wont let this stand!" His voice was raised, unable to quell the anger this time though not at all directed towards Belle. He had to do something, simply beating Regina to a bloody mass just wasn't enough; and that was simply because he thought Belle to be dead; circumstances had changed and Regina would pay the ultimate price.

No magic? False memories? The queen used to abuse her powers and in this world she had none, it didn’t make sense to Belle. She looked at the man. “You best not be thinking about hurting her in any way Rumpel.” Belle spoke as she saw a surprisingly familiar glint in his eye. “You have no reason to in this world. She can’t harm you, she can’t threaten your power. All you have are hateful memories, things from the past that can’t be undone. You have me again, we have each other.” Belle moved closer as she made sure their gazes met. “Promise me you won’t hurt her Rumpel. Promise me and we can be together!”

Confliction overcame the older gentleman's face, his eyes darting away from Belle's as for the moment he couldn't look into her bright amber orbs, afraid of what he might find there or even worse, what she might find in his own. What Regina did was inexcusable, she would pay somehow, he would most certainly see to that. Belle didn't understand...how could she? She had no knowledge of Storybrooke, of what had transpired here over the last five years (and more importantly what had happened the last two weeks).

He nodded dumbly for a few moments, gathering the courage to look back into her gleaming eyes and let his hand move up from his light hold on her arm to touch the side of her face delicately with the back of his fingers.

"Oh sweetheart..." He found himself choking on his words. Whatever emotion that was going through him that caused him to do so was a mystery even to him, unable to understand this overbearing sense of protection he had for Belle that had only grown substantially since the very day she agreed to take her father's place as his prisoner. There were so many things he wish he could have done differently back then, in what felt like another lifetime; perhaps it was regret that was causing his brown eyes to well up with tears as he looked upon his beauty with such a look of adoration it was incapable of not being called love.

"I promise."

He didn't realize until their lips had already met that he had taken the initiative to bend his neck down towards her and kiss her with a longing he hadn't known he had held within him, though a small pang of regret tugging at the back of his mind unsure of how welcomed the notion was.

He had initiated the kiss, and she hadn’t pulled away. Belle leaned in with no complaints and kissed him with a passion that she didn’t even know she held for him. It felt right, this is how it was meant to be for them.

At this point, Belle didn’t care that Rumpel had lied to her, told her that she wasn’t meant to be with him, that he had sent her off and pushed her away for his selfish reasons. Now she could finally be with him and not worry about loosing him again.

Rumpelstiltskin's hand let up from her face and found it resting now on the small of her back, feeling the intricate patterns of the red cloak she wore to cover herself, pulling her in closer to him as the kiss was reciprocated and the cold wall of ice he had been building up for centuries shattered, allowing her into him on a level of vulnerability he hadn't shared with a single person in the thousand years of his lifetime, kissing her in a way that no words could ever even begin to compare to relate 'I love you.'

When breath became an almost alarming matter, their lips parted but they kept their faces close, gazing into the others eyes. He watched her smile at what he was sure was a look of sheer stupor on his face and felt his chest grow warm as she nuzzled herself into him and relax. He kept his arms around her, holding her close and resting his chin on the top of her head ever so lightly, content to just hold him to her for the remainder of his days, however numbered they may be.

Despite storming out of the diner in a hurry, Knox has stayed on the premises for almost a quarter of an hour, sleeping in his car. Pathetic. The door was wide open, to prevent the unusual heat of the sun from cooking his old Camaro and baking him alive…at least, not perfectly. Arm resting on the dashboard, the burning sensation under it, his forehead on his arm, the sun beaming through…

“If you can’t wait for me to return, have…David walk you back to our home.”

Eyes opening, the light flooded to him and rendered him temporarily blind. Slapping the top of the warm flat surface, he remembered his sunglasses in the glove compartment. Half-blind, Knox managed to pop it open and retrieve the aforementioned eyewear, as well as his usual security guard gloves.

With his gloves on, slamming the door shut, the heated up steering wheel wouldn’t be a problem, and with his sunglasses on Knox could escape being a driving hazard. Starting his car, and making his way off the premises, he saw through his rear-view mirror that his spot was quickly filled by another diner goer. Deep down, he could only hope that other sorts of empty spots would be filled in, with no more difficulty.

Huh, though lack of sleep made his eyelids feel that much heavier, at the very least he wasn't blinded now…

Blind…there was a few other things Knox wasn't blind to, and the one on his mind was David and Mary Margaret’s subtly developing interest in each other. Mary, the one he remembered so well, wasn't someone who could be coveted…no, she was a woman who was shared by all, and not in the way Ruby—

Breathing out an angry sigh, the man honestly didn't know why he'd been so stupid to leave Mary with that man? The look those to exchanged, she seemed more confused than happy with her actual husband, yet there was a special sort of shine he remembered in her eyes—and what did Knox expect? Coming all the way here to this diner during the lunch hours, that Ruby would ask him to…leave his wife?

The idea made his physically shudder…because somehow, deep down, though at this moment he tried his damned hardest to deny it…Knox was sure he would have instantly said yes. There was nothing left to do but banish those thoughts. Now, to find that wedding ring, the last object he had yet to bring to Mary Margaret.

At present, if would take quite a bit of time to leave town…there had been little to no report of Mary’s vehicle’s whereabouts, nothing of the dear woman’s found anywhere. Everybody had been sitting on these mysterious facts for the past five years. Somehow, he did recall one, but his memory seemed fuzzy on what she had driven.

From the information he had been given, there had only been the Jane Doe, and not much else. In his mind, not even his mind half deprived of sleep, he was sure that the evidence of the wreck was far outside of town. Had to be. Whether he'd find her stuff in the next town over, or have to drive even further to meet a friend of hers…again, his mind was fuzzy on the memories…he had to find a way, sick of just letting things just stand like this.

---

Arm braced against the steering wheel, sore, the loud continuous honk of the horn. There was a sense of déjà vu, lifting his forehead. Burning pain in his arm, no sunglasses…reaching with his less painful arm, he touched along shoulder and chest, feeling the seatbelt indeed present. Lifting his head, blinking his eyes, there was a momentary blurriness to match the fuzziness of his most recent memories. There wasn't much sun peeking through the window, so putting the sunglasses out of his min—what happened to the--?!

Straightening himself up properly in his seat and feeling a sharp pain shoot through his arm, Knox reached over with his good arm to open the door and kicking the door open, but not before noticing…

“Oh no, no no no…shit.” Unbuckling his seat belt and scrambling out of his car, Knox could only stand wide eyed and slightly slack jawed at the sight before him. It was like something out of a movie, the front of his car crushed to a tree, plumes of smoke wafting out of the wreck. Slamming a fist onto the top of the totalled vehicle, cursing under his breath, all that was left to do was take a moment to breathe and collect himself.

“…”

Arm and head sore, the man trudged up back onto the road from the grassy area under the trees, grunting for every strenuous movement of his arm…and wasn't sure what he was expecting. Expectations, he had a lot of those in today. The animal, he had swerved to avoid some sort of animal on his way out of town, and for some reason…couldn't remember what animal, precisely. Pathetic. At least, there was no evidence of him clipping the animal…thinking this, staring at his totalled car.

Trudging back to the side of his vehicle, the smoke clearing leaving only a stale wreck, the defeated security guard didn't even have much left in him to properly check the damage of the totalled car, or his own physical being. His father suffering from some sort of degenerative disease, his wife Mary Margaret an amnesiac and quickly getting over him, Ruby refusing to speak or even see him again, his precious car was totalled…

As Knox dropped onto the grass to sit beside the wreck that was once a fixed up old, roadworthy Camaro, the security guard patted along his pockets with his able arm to eventually pull out his cellphone. Having turned it off for the all-important confrontation he had at lunch, it took about a minute and a half to—?

The plan to call a tow truck was set aside momentarily when he took note of several missed calls, and a handful of voice messages from one of the security staff…perhaps he should have kept his walkie talkie charged and with him today, something had clearly happened during his absence. Shaking his head and opening the first voice message, Knox pressed the cellphone to his ear and felt bewildered by these series of events happening today.

And then, forgetting for that instant that it was a voice message, “F-Faye?! What happened to Faye?!” There a minute that the defeated man sat in silence, before the most absolute anguished cry of utter despair rang out through the wide area.

Henry felt a certain sense of dread seem to wash over him the moment he left the pawnshop. The case that contained the famed Vorpal Sword seemed especially heavy in his right hand as he carried it, the weight almost wanting to pull him down into Oblivion.

He swallowed forcefully, trying to let as much courage as he could well up, this was his trial, it was what Alice would want him to do; or Faye, or Snow. But most especially, he'd have to do it for himself.

He racked his brains, thinking for someone, anyone who would serve as his companion to help power the elevator. "Mark..." Henry said under his breath. Truthfully, the fireman was the only person he could trust to help him do the job - but how would he convince him?

Deciding to figure out the necessities as he made his way to Mark's residence, Henry kept a tight hold on the case, eyes alert for anyone giving him a curious look. Eventually the fireman's house came into view; a rather small, but comfortable looking home. 'Much like it's owner - simple and efficient.' Henry thought to himself with a small smile.

A 2001 Ford Ranger was parked in the driveway just outside the garage door, and Henry could spot Mark's lower half sticking out from under the truck; obviously working on something.

"Good day, Mark!" Henry greeted cheerily, approaching the truck with a warm smile on his face. The man in question rolled out from under the truck, lying atop a dolly. Black, drying oil was stuck to his hands all the way up to his elbows, and he looked slightly impatient.

"Mr. Carlyle...can I help you with something?" Mark asked as he stood up to his feet, walking back into the garage and grabbing a few paper towels to try and clean his hands up.

"Oh! Yes...I could use your help on something important I've just recently discovered. I think you'll be especially interested." Henry said with a somewhat darker smile.

"Something important, you say? Come on, then, out with it." Mark ordered, putting the dirtied paper towel in his back pocket.

"The clock tower. I managed to pick up a few rumours around town that make mention of a secret elevator that Regina has in there, leads down to the mines." Henry said, completely serious.

Mark remained silent for a few moments, a frown forming on his lips. "Henry, when you said something important, I assumed it was something beyond a few rumors you heard." He answered bluntly, turning to go back on the dolly and under his truck.

"No, Mark, you don't understand...haven't things been feeling strange to you these last couple weeks? People acting different, unusual occurrences happening?" Henry asked, masking the anxiousness to his tone.

At this, Mark stopped completely. Come to think of it...the last two weeks have been strange. All starting the day Henry showed up, then going down from there. "Yes...things are...odd." Mark confirmed in a somewhat distant tone, trying desperately to forget his dream from last night...or was it a nightmare? All Mark knew was that this...this woman kept appearing in front of him; and the name Nick Chopper. But what did it all mean??

Mark must have visibly reacted, because the next thing he knew, Henry interrupted his reverie with a concerned, "Mark, are you well?"

"Yes, I'm fine...now, then; clock tower. You mentioned Mayor Mills...hiding something?" Mark asked, switching the subject quickly.

"Erm...right, yes. Remember that day at the mines? When you helped rescue Mason? Regina was *quite* eager to seal the mines up...almost...frantically so."

"Yes…I remember.” Mark replied seriously, recalling the time at Miner’s Day when he had tried to ask Mason if he saw anything down in the mines. “What do you think she could be hiding down there, then?” Mark asked, skepticism still in his tone.

"That's the million dollar question. I want to find out." Henry put in simply, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Besides, I wouldn't mind seeing the Mayor squirm; especially given how she has her fangs bared towards you. Over her...son." Henry added in a suddenly serious tone, tilting his head to the side to see if Mark would offer any sort of reaction.

At this, Mark's hard expression faltered, fading away to one of almost...vulnerability. "He's...he's not her son. Wait, yes he is...excuse me, Henry, I'm...not thinking straight." He stammered, stumbling over his own words, looking confused at himself.

'Oh, I understand, Nick Chopper...I see you peeking out there.' Henry thought to himself slyly. "Oh, no trouble, Mark. Happens to everyone." He said aloud, understandably.

"Now, then...clock tower...let's see if your rumor was correct. I'll be ready in one moment." Mark said seriously before heading inside to wash himself up and get changed.

---

As he stood in front of the sink, Mark took a bit of extra time to rub his face with a cold rag; feeling last night's fatigue weigh heavily on him. His thoughts drifted back once again to the woman from his dreams, his...his wife? "Who the hell am I?" Mark asked himself demandingly, looking at the man in the mirror as though he were an imposter.

“Mason, Nicholas, Catherine…these names mean nothing to me. So why do you keep repeating them?” He seethed, unsure as to whether he was speaking to the woman, or to himself.

“I am Mark Dufresne – I never married, I never had children, and I sure as hell wasn’t a woodcutter. Stop telling me who I am, and leave me be.” Mark hissed venomously, seeing his reflection sneer back at him with hatred.
Letting out a heavy sigh, his shoulders sagging; Mark finished cleaning up and put on a fresh change of clothes before going outside to join Henry once again.

"Lead the way, Mr. Carlyle." He stated simply, though his eyes looked more tired than before. Henry noticed this but said nothing, choosing to walk in the direction of the now-abandoned library that connected to the clock tower.

---

Henry stepped up to the front doors, jiggling the handle to confirm they were securely locked. "It's locked..." Henry stated, turning to face Mark. "You're a fireman, can't you kick the door down?" He asked, sticking both hands in his coat pockets.

Mark was wordless at first, feeling about the door's surface with a careful hand. His mouth curved into a deeper frown as he turned to look at Henry once more. "The door's a pull one, I'd end up breaking my foot if I tried to kick this one down." He told the younger man seriously, letting out a huff.

Henry thought deeply about a workaround, another grin forming on his face as an idea hit him. "The window! Can't you break that?"

Mark took the idea and thought on it for a few moments before nodding curtly. "Yeah...I could break a window. Good luck keeping that quiet, though." He added gravely.

"Lunchtime's nearly over, people are going back to work...they won't notice." Henry replied confidently before adding, "I can keep lookout, though. Make sure no one comes by."

Mark nodded briskly, finding this sufficient before approaching one of the windows. It was moderately sized, coated in a fine layer of dust and grime that had been sitting for years. A few boards were haphazardly nailed across the window, most likely to prevent any break-ins from occurring. Mark couldn't help but frown deeper: he was a fireman, a civil servant, committing a break-in.

Looking about in case anyone was watching, Mark waited until he was sure no one was about to turn the corner when he began pulling at the boards that were lain over the window. The years of just sitting there weakened the wood and nails, making it easier to pull them off the frame. Mark tossed the torn-off boards indiscriminately to the ground, finally leaving nothing but the glass window to take care of.

Mark looked down at his arms for a moment, noting that his thick leather coat should be suffice to break through the glass without injuring himself. Facing the window from an angle, Mark let his left elbow jut out sharply, successfully breaching it through the glass; leaving a gaping hole before him.

Using his sleeve to remove any excess glass that didn't come off in the initial strike, Mark had little time to do more before a rather-pleased Henry returned to Mark's location, grinning almost madly.

"Fantastic, this'll do quite nicely!" The young man commented cheerily, adjusting the case he still held securely in his hand.

Mark merely nodded before climbing through the hole in the wall, Henry following close behind. The ground floor of the library was indeed abandoned, with a thick layer of dust and grime covering every surface imaginable.

Mark placed his (now slightly-torn) sleeve over his mouth, covering a few coughs that threatened to erupt with the dust particles in the air. Henry, on the meanwhile, wrinkled his nose in an almost cat-like fashion before suddenly sneezing; shaking his head quickly afterwards.

"Good work on the stealth." Mark commented dryly, adjusting himself to the stifling air. "Nevermind that." Henry replied curtly, eyes peeled for anything out-of-the-ordinary that Regina could have used to access the mines.

The library itself looked quite plain, with light blue walls and orange-and-white tile flooring. The room they entered was apparently some kind of reception area, as a large wooden desk was set up against one of the walls. Through an open doorway is what led to the main area of the library, where rows upon rows of metal bookshelves stood; crammed full of books and novella.

"I must say, this is an impressive collection." Mark commented, looking at the various bookshelves. Henry, on the meanwhile, didn't answer; his eyes landing on a retro-futuristic looking elevator. The frame around it was rosewood and ornate, with the actual elevator itself being made of brass or copper; rife with various gears and pulley mechanisms. On the sides were innumerable amounts of dials, buttons, and flashing lights.

"Well....I found what we're looking for." Henry stated simply, piquing Mark's attention as he walked over to the schoolteacher's location. "What the hell?" Mark asked, stupefied. The elevator was definitely outlandish, even by Henry's standards. "I think it leads down to the mines..." Henry stated, cupping his chin with the hand not holding onto the sword case.

"Well, then, let's get going." Mark stated, moving to look for a way to open the door. "Only one of us can." Henry told the fireman bluntly. "What? Why for?" Mark asked impatiently, narrowing his eyes habitually.

"This elevator needs one person to power it." Henry explained, motioning with one hand to the set of dials, buttons, and lights. "I'll need to go down there alone...but I promise you, what I bring back will be worth your while- I just know it." Henry assured with a wide grin, earning a curt nod from Mark in understanding.

Turning one of the dials, the elevator doors suddenly slid open, revealing a cage-like interior within. 'How fitting...' Henry thought to himself before stepping in. "Good luck." Mark issued seriously before Henry closed the doors from inside. With a loud creak and groan, the elevator began to slowly make its way down the shaft into darkness....

It took a bit, but Mr. Gold finally got his head back onto his shoulders when it came to everyhing that had happened to Belle. She told him everything that had happened after he had told her to leave his castle. He flinched a few times at the mention of the wedding and the tragedy that Gaston had undergone, but said nothing to the fact that he had been involved with Gaston's death, or even that he was there at the wedding to begin with. The only thing that kept his poker face from breaking entirely was that her (now late) husband was no longer around to pose a threat; to take her away from him. He really had to try hard to keep from smiling as he savored those thoughts, knowing it wouldn't look right for him to smile as she explained Gaston's death. That would all be a discussion for never. He was just happy to see that she still wore the golden rose hair pin that he had made for her (without her knowledge of course). It wouldn't do her any good here in Storybrooke, as there was no magic, but it at least eased his mind that it had gotten to her safely despite Mushu's death.

He learned about her time in the woods, and about her transformation into the beast in her very own village. He learned about a shadow man and a werewolf in a red cloak who had saved her from destroying everything, and helping her in the barn after she had changed back. He also learned of the old woman that pretended to be a relative of Gaston and gained her trust only to find out that it was Regina, and enslaved Belle to take to her tower. And then he learned about the switch Regina had made in order to really get under his skin.

That malicious bitch.

With Rumpelstiltskin brought up to speed, he realized just how much he had been keeping from Belle. His turning a man keen on avenging his kingdom into a rose and presenting her with it in his castle, his real reasoning behind forcing her to leave The Dark Castle, his jealousy at their wedding, his hand in Gaston's death, his fault that she now held the curse of the beast, his watching over her until he found a practical solution that didn't mean losing his own powers in the process of the enchanted rose and many, many other smaller things that would never be discussed if he could help it. Why should they be discussed? It would only be taking a multitude of steps backwards when they were now striving to step forward.

Instead, he in turn told her all he could about Storybrooke; about Regina's curse and how life here was a bit different. He didn't go into as much detail as Belle did when she recounted her story, as he felt that those details weren't at all necessary...and frankly not needed because in the next half hour, he estimated that things would be changing very drastically. Not to mention, he wasn't nearly as good of a storyteller as Belle was.

With the other caught up to speed, Mr. Gold planted a delicate kiss on Belle's temple after taking her hands in his, letting his thumb run over her delicate knuckles timidly.
"There's some old clothes on the rack just there." He said leading her to look where his eyes were towards the back of the room. They still hadn't moved from the back of the shop, and Mr. Gold led her over to it. "Pick out what you like, it's nothing worthy of your beauty, but it's about time you get out of those rags. We'll worry about more serious clothes shopping later, just let me know when you've finished changing."

After Belle explained what had happened to her, she listened to Rumpelstiltskin's explanation about Storybrooke and how life was different here. She noticed that he didn't go into as much detail as she did when she recounted her experiences. But she didn't ask more about it. She could always ask later. After he told her to pick out clothes, she nodded and spoke softly, "Alright. Thank you, Rumpelstiltskin," She then headed to the back room, quietly looking for something that she could wear.

The older man left Belle's side with obvious reluctance, and returned to his forgotten cane only remembering it now since his leg was screaming at him in white hot pain. He coughed violently into his fist as he walked through the curtain, glad at least Belle couldn't see him as he felt another shooting pain course through his back, making the pain in his protesting leg feel like a mere splinter in comparison. He groaned out, unable to hold it in and stumbled over to his desk where he feverishly grasped around the contents stored underneath the counter until he found a paper and pen. He placed the paper down onto the counter, and scribbled out a quick message, then taking the paper and folding it up into his suit jacked pocket, safe from prying eyes.

He was just about to refill his glass of scotch in a hopeless attempt to numb the pain when a second coughing fit came over him violently. He held onto the counter with both hands until his knuckles turned white, trying to keep himself from both passing out from the pain and from falling over. If the little bell in his shop had rang when the door opened, he certainly didn't hear it, but he could feel the looming presense of Sheriff Leland enter into his shop and Rumpelstiltskin was forced to look up at the man with bloodshot eyes and sweat trickling off his brow. He knew exactly why the Sheriff of Storybrooke had paid him a visit.

"Sheriff..." Mr. Gold greeted civilly, althrough in pain through his tightly locked teeth. He tried to keep his voice normal and calm, but it cracked immediately under the pain he was still experiencing but he still somehow managed a sideways smile before sucking in a deep, painful breath and his body gave out on him completely, collapsing down onto the floor behind the counter and taking down a multitude of small objects on and underneath the counter in a loud commotion as he desperately tried to clutch onto something to keep him upright and proceeded with a third coughing attack as he hit the floor.

Robert looked at Mr. Gold and apporached slowly, noticing how he looked so frail right now. His new memories gave him reason to be cautious, he did not know how much magic The Dark One still had. This was a situation where being calm and empathic was much more important than being agressive and unyielding. He said "Are you alright sir? Do you need any help?"

Belle hastily picked out what to wear as soon as she heard Mr. Gold's voice crack with obvious pain. After throwing on the jeans, shirt, and sandals, she left the back room and saw Rumpelstiltskin talking to the man who let her out of that...prison. When he fell into another coughing fit, Belle hurried to his side calling his name in concern,
"Rumpelstiltskin?!" As soon as she was by his side, she helped him up off of the floor. She looked to Sheriff Leland in a silent plea to help him.

Blind with pain, all Mr. Gold could do was to reach out and hold fast to Belle's arm, feeling her trying to help him back up to his feet. He complied to the best of his ability, but with a great amount of effort on both of their parts he was finally in a (somewhat) stable position. He snatched his cane back up from the floor with a pained snarl, for the first time taking note of how much of Regina's blood had remained behind on the golden handle. Even with his full weight back on the cane and his good leg, the pawnbroker still looked as if he would collapse back down onto the floor at the drop of a hat. He kept one hand loosly on Belle's shoulder, more of assurance that she was still there than actual support.

"It's alright Belle, I'm fine." He lied, taking great effort to push the words out coherantly however the pain he was in remained in his ragged breathing. "Now Sheriff, what-what can I-do for you?"

Robert noticed that Mr. Gold looked hurt, perhaps the lack of magic had been causing his body to deteoriate. He did notice a few signs of violence in the store, and what appeared to be a red stain on the handle of Mr. Gold's cane. He didn't want to be confrontational to a man in pain, so he asked a few basic questions.

"You look hurt, do you want me to take you to the hospital? I could take a look at your wounds, I know a bit of first aid. I was just coming here to investigate a rumor, I didn't know this had happened."

Mr. Gold couldn't help but to let out a soft chuckle at the Sheriff's offer to help him. They both knew that wasn't why he was here. He let his hand fall from Belle's shoulder softly to grip onto the handle of his cane, somehow having both hands firmly resting on it making his seem just a tad more stable.

"No one enters my shop without wanting something, so tell me Sheriff-" He paused to cough, "-what is it that you want?"

Robert kept calm, but lost some of the compassion in his voice. "I want to help the people of Storybrooke, if you need medical attention I will get it for you. I had reason to suspect that there was a violent incident at this store, and I would like to get to the bottom of it."

A small snort came from the pawnbroker, his dark brown eyes rolling a bit as he adjusted his grip on his cane.

"And I'll tell you the same thing I told Dr. Stevenson...best leave it alone." He said in a threatening snarl. Even if he wanted help there couldn't be anything done about it, he'd be dead the moment he reached the operating room. "However..." He paused, looking over at his side to Belle for a moment before looking back to Robert. "I suppose I should be thanking you...Count Roland..." His brown eyes never left Robert's, his expression melting from that of pain to knowing. Reading people had always come easy to Rumpelstiltskin, and from the moment that Robert walked into his shop, he knew that he remembered.

"As far as the incident with Mayor Mills goes..." He continued on, not needing Robert to elaborate on what kind of violent incident he was referring to. "...that bitch had it coming." As if to put emphasis on his words, he tossed his cane over to Robert, hearing the wood clink down on the hard floor of his shop at Robert's feet. He had to lean himself over against the counter to keep from putting any weight on his bad leg, but his knowing smirk remained as he kept his eyes on the Sheriff. "Run all the tests you like Sheriff, but I can assure you that is her blood, and I'm sure the next time you return to Her Majesty with your tail tucked between your legs for an evening with 'wine' you'll find some very distinct markings across her body that match my cane without reasonable doubt."

Robert had suspected that Gold might remember the past, but it surprised him that he chose now to bring it up. He picked up the cane with a gloved hand before speaking "I do not serve Regina, I serve the laws of this society. In due time, I will deal with her, but I am trying to deal with the most urgent matters first. If either of you would like to give your account of what happened here, now would be a good time." Gold's reaction had made it absolutely clear to him that he had been responsible for Regina's injuries, but he still hesitated to make the arrest. He did not know enough to conclude it was an assault, for all he knew it could have been done out of self defense.

"Belle wasn't here." Mr. Gold said all too quickly. The last thing he wanted was for Belle to get dragged in through all of this, and even though things would be changing...drastically and very soon, Robert was right; there were still laws to be upheld but that didn't mean he couldn't use his knowledge as an attorney to keep her name clean. "Regina came into my shop and tried to steal from me, and so I took back what was mine." He shrugged casually, though his tone left the implication that the situation was darker than he was letting on. He stole a glance back over at Belle, realizing then that she didn't even know why he had attacked Regina in the first place, that he had brutally attacked The Evil Queen for stealing a chipped teacup...their teacup. It seemed silly now, but thirty minutes ago, Belle was still dead, and the teacup the only thing keeping her memory bound to him.

Gold didn't have to say anything more if he didn't want to, Robert had no power to force him to answer his questions. "So, she stole from you and became violent when you tried to take it back?"

"Oh no," Mr. Gold began, the corner of his lips twisted into a sort of smile, "she had no idea what was coming."

Robert didn't like that answer, and he probed further "You used force to stop her from stealing? Did she fight back or attempt to run away?"

His questions caused a soft laugh to come from the Pawnbroker, his eyes lighting up a bit as he wet his lower lip as he deduced the best way to answer the Sheriff.

"You're looking for a confession...always been by the book haven't you Roland?" This gave him cause to chuckle once more. "Fair enough. I'll save you the details in light of present company, but I can provide you the survailance tapes if you so wish." He said, letting his eyes lead Robert to look at the lone security camera hanging in the corner of the room. It hadn't been that particular securty camera that would have caught the fight since that camera was in the back room, but it at least let Robert know that there was indeed footage. "I assure you though, Sheriff, you'll find exactly what it is you're looking for."

"I'm sorry, but I'll have to take you in to the station. I would appreciate it greatly if you would cooperate. If you are worried about Belle's safety, I assure you I can help protect her while we deal with this." Robert was scared that he might anger The Dark One, but knew that he had a duty to fulfill.

"Of course." Mr. Gold agreed and graced the Sheriff with a slight nod. He then turned to Belle, giving her his full attention once more and put one hand on her shoulder softly and letting the back of his other hand caress the side of her face.

Belle listened to the conversation, between Rumpelstiltskin and...Count Roland. She once opened her mouth to speak up about what happened, but Rumpelstiltskin spoke up quickly saying that she wasn't in the shop when the incident occurred. When Sheriff Leland said that he had to take Rumpelstiltskin to the station, Belle couldn't help but feel worried for him. What if Rumpelstiltskin died in that station? He's clearly in pain, why wouldn't he go to this 'hospital' if it would help him?

She snapped out of her thoughts when Rumpelstiltskin placed his hands gently on her shoulder and face. Worry for him was clear in her eyes as she looked at him.

"It's going to be alright Belle." He said softly, attemptint to soothe the clear worry in her facial features. "This is just something I have to do." Oh, she didn't even know the half of it. "But there is something I need you to do while I clean this mess up..." He removed his hands from her shoulder and face and opened up his suit jacket, reaching a shaky hand inside and procuring a small, folded up piece of paper.

"This..." He said showing it to her with an affirmative nod, his expression now grim and serious. "...this will help me. As I told you, this realm is different and Regina's curse has turned my own against me. You do what I've written on here, and you can save me." He handed the paper over to Belle finally.

"Once you leave my shop, look to your right. You'll see a building with a large clock. Go there, you will find a man named Henry Carlyle. He has what you'll need. It will be difficult for him to part with it, but you have to convince him that his best interest remains at the hospital. There is a woman there who he is trying to help, you have to tell him that he needs to be with her. He'll understand."

Belle took the letter and after she listened to his instructions, she nodded and she answered "Alright. I'll do it,"

A flicker of a genuine smile spread across his lips, but was gone in an instant as he felt the eyes of the Sheriff boring down on the back of his head. He nodded once more, though it was more to assure himself that everything was going to be alright and pulled from Belle reluctantly.

"All yours Sheriff. If we are to do this without the restraints, then I'll kindly ask for my cane back."

Robert was glad that Mr. Gold was cooperating. "No need for restraints, but that cane is evidence in a crime. I will return it to you as soon as I can, but for now I must hold onto it. I could stop by a pharmacy and buy another one if you need."

A tired sigh escaped Mr. Gold's lips and the man just shook his head no. That would be going through far too much trouble for an in-and-out visit. Ideally, the only reason he was going along with this in the first place was so that he could be sure he wouldn't go after Regina with Belle no longer at his side to stop him. He needed the iron bars to contain him, at least until...

"No matter." He replied sounding a bit peeved, but went along with Robert regardless. His bad leg pained him with each step, but he was able to make it the short distance to the police cruiser without much difficulty. As he was guided to sit in the back, he looked out of the car window to Belle who had followed him outside, and nodded to her once more before the cruiser pulled out and away from Gold's Shop and to the Sheriff's station a few blocks away.

The elevator kept going down until finally lurching to a shaky halt in front of a long stone tunnel, lit only by overhanging lights. Henry grabbed the portcullis-like door and lifted it up, stepping out. He let out a deep breath before opening the leather case Mr. Gold had given him, pulling the Vorpal Blade out.

The sword felt especially heavy in his hand now, but Henry could feel the wavering power it still held radiating into his hand. "Come now, Edric...this is it. You can do this. Just a silly old Jabberwock. I'm a cat: quick, agile, poised. No damned beast is going to keep me from my destiny." He assured himself quietly, now holding the sword up higher than before.

Beginning the long, slow trek through the cavernous passage, Henry felt his heart beating heavier in his chest. The tunnel led into a large, expansive cave, rife with drop-offs that seemed endless, the cracks in the ceiling beaming in just enough natural light to be able to see one's own surroundings.

As Henry stepped deeper into the cave, he found a large glass coffin just in front of him; a sliver of the covering having broken off, but the entire structure remained. Henry ran his free hand over the glass with curiosity, wondering who it belonged to.

Shaking his head to focus on the task at hand, Henry backed up until he felt a wall behind him. Readjusting his focus, Henry was preparing himself for battle...until the wall started moving. A large red eye opened slowly, the pupil leering over directly at Henry dangerously before the Jabberwocky's long neck slowly lifted off the ground, revealing the creature in all its might. It let out a loud, ear-piercing screech before breathing what looked like purple lightning out of its mouth, illuminating the entire cave as a thunderous crack struck the ceiling.

The Jabberwock slowly looked down at Henry, a huff of smoke puffing from its nostrils. "So...we meet once again." The creature said in a booming voice, haughty and cruel.

"We've never met before." Henry returned seriously.

"Not you, insignificant Bearer...my ancient enemy, the Vorpal one." The Jabberwocky said in a demeaning tone.

"Enough chit-chatter." Henry called up, feigning confidence as he (somehow) managed to spin the sword around in a way that looked skilled. "Shall we dance?" He added with a short bow, masking tears that stung his eyes as he realized this may be his last few moments.

The Jabberwocky said nothing, only roaring mightily once again before charging at Henry, who quickly sidestepped out of the way of its gaping maw, wrinkling his nose as he could smell the creature's breath; which reeked of sulfur and rotten corpses.

"You know--" Henry began, quickly sprinting across the cave to give as much space as he could between the creature and himself. "They wrote a lovely poem about you. I memorized it, word for word!" He exclaimed, trying to talk to keep himself from losing sanity.

"Silence! Your evasions will save you naught!" The Jabberwocky shouted, causing the rocks in the cave to shake at its voice. Without warning, the Jabberwocky sent another breath of lightning at Henry; who managed to duck behind a large pillar. He could feel the heat of the lightning against the pillar, and knew that a single hit would be enough to finish him off entirely. To keep himself going, Henry began to retell the poem:

"Twas brillig, and the slithy toves, did gyre and gimble in the wabe..."

Dodging another lunge from the creature, Henry continued.

"All mimsy were the borogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe. Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that..." (Another duck), "...bite! The claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun the frumious Bandersnatch."

"I shall suffer you *no* longer!" The Jabberwock cried, this time using the claws on the tips of its wings to jab at Henry; who dodged and rolled with great reflex, barely missing the sharp talons. As one of the wings neared him, he swiped at it with the Vorpal blade, incurring a cry of wrath from the Jabberwock; who recoiled in pain at the blow.

"I HAVEN'T FINISHED MY POEM YET, YOU INCONSIDERATE WRETCH!!" Henry cried at the top of his lungs; letting the adrenaline pump through his veins.

"He took his Vorpal sword in hand; long time the manxome foe he sought— So rested he by the Tumtum tree, and stood awhile in thought. And as, in uffish thought he stood, the Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, came whiffling through the Tulgey Wood, and burbled as it came!"

The Jabberwock, at this time, was growing increasingly impatient, for no meal had been so evasive or irritating before Henry. Abruptly turning around, it swept its large tail to the side with tremendous force, colliding with Henry and sending him flying back into a rock formation; dropping the Vorpal blade in the process. Henry crumpled to the ground with the wind knocked out of him.

Henry tried to climb to his feet weakly, managing only to fall to the ground once again; wheezing most terribly as he could feel an excruciating pain in his chest from where the Jabberwock's tail hit him. Bright lights flashed before his eyes and he became lightheaded and dizzy, his field of vision turning blurry and hazy.

"One...t-two, one..." Henry stumbled again, the terrible laugh of the Jabberwock ringing out in his ears. "Two...And through, and through..."

The Jabberwock cackled almost amusedly as it watched Henry struggle to move once again. "Such *false* resolve. Prepare for the End, Hero..." The Jabberwock stated threateningly before lifting its neck up, preparing to unleash another gust of lightning from its mouth.

Henry made no motion to move, too tired and weak to even try and defend himself as he could feel himself fading away to unconsciousness. Just as his eyes were closing, he felt an impulse to open them once again; and look out in front of him.

Looking up weakly, Henry saw not the Jabberwocky, but instead a vision of those he met in Storybrooke and those from time gone past, each looking as they did in the Enchanted Forest.

"Stand up." Said a deep, emotionless voice as the Steel Monger stepped out in front of Henry; woodsman's axe in hand. However, a fine mist seemed to envelop the machine, and it faded away into Nick Chopper who repeated, "Stand up, Henry."

“One last push, Cat.” Said Jefferson, who stepped forward next, a grim look on his face.

“Tick-tock, dearie, tick-tock! Time’s wasting…” Came the shrill voice of Rumpelstiltskin, who held a pocket-watch in his hand.

“I know you can do it, Alexandre.” Heather said softly, daring an almost loving smile as she did so, moving up with the others.

“You’re the Savior, Chesh…” Said Snow White, who appeared in front of Henry as well.

"Stand up, Edric...for us." Came Alice's sweet voice from the back as she stepped forth, looking Henry directly in the eyes.

"For all of us, lad." Came one last voice, thick with an Irish accent as a tall, burly man stepped forward, dressed in a work apron and tunic, holding a hammer in his hand.

"P-Papa?" Henry said meekly as he looked upon the Carpenter with shocked surprise, the older man’s weathered face curving into a small smile as a response.

Overcome with a new feeling of willpower and resolve, Henry slowly rose to his feet; the pain in his chest seeming to subside as he lifted the Vorpal blade from the ground, holding onto the hilt tightly.

The people in front of him, friends, allies, associates; all began to fade away; for their purpose had been fulfilled.

As the Jabberwocky charged its breath, Henry could see a single spot on its chest that shone a magnificent purple, resonating like a heartbeat.

"The Vorpal blade went snicker-snack… He left it dead, and with its head, he went galumphing back." Henry said quietly, his tone hoarse and cacophonic, but filled with resolve as he threw the sword with all the might he could muster.

Time seemed to slow down as the blade whirled through the air, the Jabberwock just about to deliver the killing blast when the sword plunged itself deeply into the creature's glowing chest.

Letting out an ear-splitting roar of agony, the Jabberwocky flailed violently as a bright light enveloped it fully; disintegrating it into a pile of smouldering ash, the Vorpal blade clattering aimlessly next to it.

Henry, now overcome by pain and fatigue, collapsed to the ground, unable to hold himself up anymore. "I did it." He told himself quietly, feeling at the key around his neck as if to personally tell Alice. "I did it for everyone." He added tiredly

Lying there for what felt like hours, Henry gathered enough strength to crawl over to the still-smoking ash pile, seeing a large, egg-shaped object sitting atop the pile. Reaching for the strangely-cool object, something inside Henry told him that this was it.

Rising slowly to his feet, Henry took the Vorpal sword in hand and made the long trek back to the elevator; collapsing to the ground as soon as he entered. In a half-awake voice, Henry called for Mark to begin powering the elevator once again, taking the time now to finish the poem:

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy…
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy..."

*~*~*Collaboration between Ghost Shadow and I. Ghost Shadow = Henry Carlyle, and Mark Dufresne. And I = Belle*~*~*

It didn't take Belle long to read the instructions Rumpelstiltskin had written down, and find the place he had mentioned. She hurried inside, since the note said that there wasn't much time for the woman that was dying in the hospital. She easily noticed that the doors were locked, so she went in through the broken window.

Mark, on the meanwhile, had gotten to work turning the rather large brass dial that moved the elevator; not paying attention to his surroundings as he focused his attentions on getting Henry back up.

A resounding clang signaled that the elevator had reached the top, the doors sliding away abruptly to reveal a dirtied, bruised Henry; his clothes torn and stained, his breaths short wheezes as he was suffering from what appeared to be bruised ribs.

"Henry, what the hell happened down there?" Mark demanded in a voice rife with concern, but still serious and somber.

Henry, however, didn't answer Mark as his eyes landed on Belle; who had just entered into the library through the window. "Oh dear..." The younger man responded, slowly climbing to his feet with a visible wince; his eyes never leaving the woman.

Belle was concerned when the man, Henry Carlyle, appeared as though he had just gotten out of a fight. She swallowed thickly as she spotted the egg in his hand. When he spotted her, she asked awkwardly, "Um...Are you...Henry Carlyle?"

"How do you know my name?" Henry practically demanded, though there was no anger or unkindness to his tone, but definite distrust and wariness.

Mark could do little but look between Henry and Belle, eyes narrowed skeptically, though he chose to let the information come to him, rather than speak out.

She answered "Th-That's not important as of now. Listen, I need the egg, and you need to hurry to the hospital,"

Henry's expression turned to a glower, his voice turning almost dark in nature, "You expect me to hand this over and go on some wild goose chase and you won't even tell me your name? I don't think so. I went through Hell and back to get this bloody thing!"

Belle jumped slightly at Henry's expression and voice. She said to him, "No, I don't. But I do want to help save the woman in the hospital that you care for, along with the person who is dear to me,"

She then introduced herself, realizing that giving him her name may help the situation, "My name is Belle,"

Henry's expression softened slightly at the mention of Faye...somehow this girl, formally introduced as Belle (a name Henry could have sworn he had heard before) knew about the Sleeping Curse...but how much did she know?

"How do you know about Hea--...err, Faye? I've never seen you in Storybrooke before." Henry asked, distrust still heavy in his tone.

Belle started, deciding about why she seemed new to Storybrooke first might be a good place to start, "The Evil Queen had me in that prison for so many years. I just got out of there---"

At this, Mark intervened, "Wait, what? Faye's in the hospital? Henry why didn't you say anything?!" The fireman demanded harshly, directed solely towards Henry.

Henry took a few moments to wheeze painfully before speaking again, "All in the scheme of things...there are...delicate plans at work."

"Delicate plans? You're a schoolteacher for Christ's sake! What delicate plans could you have besides putting star stickers on test papers?!" Mark retorted, his words denoting humor, while his tone remained abrasive.

"Let me handle this, Nick!" Henry returned, his tone raising as well, staring daggers at Mark. So much was happening right now...things were changing severely.

At the mention of the name 'Nick', Mark seemed to snap. Grabbing Henry by the collar of his shirt, he harshly yanked the younger man down, forcing them both at eye-level. "What the hell did you call me?" Mark seethed, keeping a tight hold on Henry.

Belle watched the argument between Henry and Mark started, and soon she called to them, "Both of you, Stop! Please! This is no time to be arguing!"

Though not looking back at her, Mark's stiff posture seemed to lighten; and he roughly pushed Henry away from him, his eyes looking heavy and tired. "Work this out yourself, Mr. Carlyle. I'm done." He called before leaving back through the window.

Henry stumbled slightly, struggling to keep himself standing as he swallowed hard. "Keep...keep going. Evil Queen, prison, so many years...what's next?" He goaded Belle hoarsely.

Belle blinked and she continued "The Sheriff...or Count Roland...helped me escape. He helped me find Rumpelstiltskin again. But...he's in danger. I fear that Rumpelstiltskin may be dying. He told me what to do with the egg, in order to help him and Faye,"

Henry's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he heard Belle out. "Rumpelstiltskin? What on earth do you care about him for?" He asked quizzically, intrigued that someone sincerely wanted to help The Dark One.

Belle felt her worry and fear increase tenfold as time passed on. Feeling that the question was too personal, she retorted, knowing that he'll come up with the same answer, "Well, what on earth do you care about Faye for?"

Henry felt his fists clench at Belle's retort, swallowing rage as he spoke next, "Faye's not a murderer, a thief, a kidnapper, a liar, a cheater, or a monster...Rumpelstiltskin is." He finished on a dark note.

Belle glared and she stated firmly as she stepped forwards and looked Henry in the eye, "Rumpelstiltskin is not a monster. And I would very much appreciate it if you never said that kind of thing again,"

She then stepped back, and she said to him, "Look, there isn't much time. Can you please trust me? Faye will be alright, so long as you're right by her side, Rumpelstiltskin promised."

"Oh...Rumpelstiltskin promised. How comforting..." As much as Henry wanted to simply shout curses at the girl and her devotion to the Imp, something told him that maybe, this time, he would have to trust Rumpelstiltskin, and by extension, Belle.

Henry sighed deeply, looking conflicted for a moment before handing the egg-shaped object over.

"Take it....return it back to your master if he needs it so." Henry said, adding a bit of mockery to his tone at the word 'master'.

Belle took the egg, and she said to Henry sincerely, ignoring the master bit, "Thank you, Henry..." She then said to him, "Hurry to Faye...She needs you," before went off to go and find the well that was mentioned in the letter.

Collaboration between YoshiSkittlez and Tanderbolt

Robert had a feeling that rescuing Belle would lead to many more difficulties in the future, but he knew it was the right thing to do. In a way, he wanted to thank Regina for the curse, because it had erased his own bargain with Rumpelstiltskin. The past five years had been wasted, but now he could live as his own man, and feel emotions that had been kept from him for so long. Being sheriff was pretty nice too, especially bcause it gave him power that he could put to good use. Robert was driving back to sheriffs office while these thoughts raced through his head, knowing that soon enough he'd have to work on the paperwork involved in bringing down Regina.

When he slowed down to pull into the parking lot, he caught a glimpse of the mayor out of the corner of his eye. She was bruised and bloody, and Robert had no idea why. He quickly parked his car and got out before approaching her slowly.

Regina had thought she had done a pretty good job taking an obscure route back home that wouldn't put her in the line of sight of anyone she didn't want to have see her like this, however hearing the car door slam not too far from her she looked up weakly to see Robert crossing the street towards her. She wanted to smile, though was unable to from the fatigue that washed over her and also some sort of back-burner thought that her lip would split open again if she tried. She hadn't a clue how she had made it this far from Gold's shop without passing out, let alone how she was going to get home, so she was pleased to see that out of anyone in Storybrooke to see her in her condition, it was him.

"Robert." She greeted tiredly, and although she didn't smile, her voice clearly stated that she was glad to see him.

This was going to be hard from him, but he believed everyone deserved fair treatment under the law, even Regina. He looked at her and said "What happened? Are you hurt badly, do you need me to get you to the hospital?"

"No, no I'm fine." Regina assured him. The last thing she wanted was to draw attention to the already pissed off beast, she didn't doubt that if his little pet wasn't there to tug on his leash there wouldn't be anything of her left. "Just a small mixup. I wouldn't turn down an offer for a ride home though." She took a moment to raise her hand (minding which arm she raised since she didn't want to alarm Robert to her sleeve that was soaked in her own blood) and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, completely unaware that the bruises had begun to really show their brilliant color. There was one bruise in particular that stuck out (as Regina was fully unaware), a single bruise that covered her cheek that was the perfect shape matching the head of Mr. Gold's cane.

Robert recognized the shape of Regina's bruise, and his normally stoic expression turned to a horrified one. Regina had been in the absolute least convenient place on earth possible this morning, and his ideal plan was now ruined. "Alright, I can help you over there. You sure you don't want to talk about your "mixup"? This definately looks like someone assaulted you."

"Oh no." Regina waved him off with a pathetic amount of effort from her hand before her legs started to shake and gave out on her, forcing her to stumble into Robert with a hiss of pain from her rib that she was sure was either badly bruised or possibly even broken.

He drove home with her, not saying much. Without her cooperation, it would be unlikely that he could convict anyone for assault. He tried to make a little bit of small talk to pass the time "So, I get that you don't want to talk about what happened. How're things going around town, have you talked to Gold lately?"

Regina's dark eyebrows knitted in confusion at the mention of Gold, wincing slightly as even that subtle facial gesture hurt like no other. As she pulled down the visor of his cruiser to open up the mirror to check the damage done, she spoke.

"Gold? No, that imp has other ants to step on today." She said with a bored tone, finally getting the mirror down. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this. She doubted that all the makeup in the world could cover up her injuries, and she was just looking at what he had done to her face. That was when the bruise on her cheek became more apparant as she was trying to decide the best way to cover it up, and noticed the shape. She sighed dejectedly and snapped the mirror back closed and lifted the visor back up, slumping down in the passenger seat of the police car.

"Don't go after him Robert, not today." She said to him, knowing exactly where his previous question had now come from. "He'll get what's coming to him, that I promise."

Robert took that as a confirmation of his fears, but he still wasn't sure what he would do next. By now they had arrived at Regina's house, and he stopped the car. He didn't answer what Regina said, and tried to change the focus away from Gold. "Whatever happens, stay safe and don't neglect those wounds. A lot of wierd stuff has been happening lately, I wouldn't be surprised if we had another new person running around town."

Regina was about to exit the vehicle when his very last words caught her attention. She stopped abruptly and turned her head over to look at him, trying to raise an eyebrow but stopped when she felt the scab over her split brow threatening to tear open again.

"Right..." She said, drawing the word out longer than she probably needed to. She popped open the door to the car and with a great amount of effort and hisses of pain, she got out of the cruiser and shut the door. Realizing the window was rolled down, she bent over slightly to look into the vehicle and at Robert at the wheel.

"Robert, how long have we known one another?"

Withouth thinking, Robert said "Let's see, five years here and you came to Leopold's like ten-." He stopped himself immediately, and continued on in a much more serious tone of voice "Brain must not be working right this morning, got you confused with someone else. Anyway, I hope you're ok, I'll always remember what you've done for me." He began to pull away, slightly disoriented by his new memories clashing with his old ones.

Regina couldn't help but to let her jaw drop at the mention of Leopold. No one here was named Leopold, no one. She could only watch in horror as the police cruiser rolled off, the pieces suddenly clicking together in her mind. Robert was the only other one in Storybrooke that even had a hint of an idea about the Asylum down in the basement of the hospital...and he-

Regina wasn't sure whether she wanted to scream or cry. Her entire world...everything she had worked for was crumbling apart in front of her. She could trust no one, she truly had no one anymore, and her reign of Mayor was coming to an abrupt halt, Gold would definitely see to that. There was a flickering thought of Mason, but in her mindset right now it would only be a matter of time when he betrayed her too. She wouldn't tend to her wounds like Robert had suggested, she instead retreated into her home numbly, shut and locked the door, let her back rest against it and slid down until she was sitting on the floor. Her shredded fingers went into her dark mass of hair and pulled, letting the tears finally flow in what would start the beginning of a very hard cry.

It took a great amount of effort and willpower, but Regina raised her head from its bowed position as she realized that he cellphone was going off. By reflex, she pulled it out of her pocket to hit the ignore button, but hesitated when she saw that it was Mason’s school calling. She quickly wiped the stain of tears from her cheeks (as if it would matter), sucked in a deep breath and answered the phone, her voice coming out lower and more tired than she had intended.

“Yes?”

“Mrs. Mills? This is Principal Merriweather, I’d like to talk to you about your son, Mason…”

Inwardly, Regina groaned. She had been getting these phone calls all week and as much as she stressed that ‘now isn’t a good time’ before, she never meant it more than now.

“He got into another fight didn’t he?” Regina asked the principal with a knowing tone.

“Uh, yes…how did-ah, never mind.“

Regina couldn’t help but to roll her eyes at the idiocy of the man who claimed to be the head of the school board.

“Send him home, I’ll have a talk with him.” She said after a long pause on the other end, clearly the principal was too frightened to suggest any course of action that needed to be taken hereafter. Mr. Merriweather made a slight noise on the other end of the line that indicated to Regina that he wasn’t at all happy about doing that, but the last thing Regina was about to do was drag her ass halfway across town to go and speak with him in his office right now.

“It’s the third time this week…” Mr. Merriweather began but Regina cut him off immediately.

“And if it’s anything like the last two times, it wasn’t his fault.” The Mayor snapped coldly.

There was a brief pause, and then,

“I’m afraid your son has broken the nose of one of his classmates; August Booth. When we tried asking Mason what happened, all he said was that he deserved it, and August swears up and down he didn’t do anything. Mr. Booth hasn’t lied to us before, and we have no reason to believe-“

“Are you calling my son a liar, Mr. Merriweather?” Regina quickly interrupted. Somehow, she had pulled herself up from the floor in her rage and was now standing tall, looking rather imposing if she were having this conversation with the man to his face rather than on her cellphone. “Send. Him. Home.” She demanded hotly, and promptly ended the call.

Immediately her back hit the door, her legs reminding her of just how weak she still was. She pocketed the cell phone and ran her fingers through her mess of black hair and down her face, albeit gently as she felt a few new bruises rising to the surface. She couldn’t let Mason see her, not like this. Taking in a deep breath, Regina pushed herself away from the door and limped to the stair case. Her nimble fingers grasped down on the hard wood of the railing until her knuckles turned white, and began the painful ascent up to her room where she could get in a quick shower and do a bit of makeup magic.

XXX

“Mom?”

Regina could hear Mason calling out to her, the front door slamming shut behind him and the familiar sound of his backpack being tossed to the floor by the door. Had it been any other day, Regina would have yelled down to him to pick up his backpack and hang it up properly and even though she couldn’t hear it, she knew that his shoes had been kicked off and strewn around somewhere in the middle of the living room. Today, however, wasn’t a normal day and so she made no mention of it.

Regina quickly applied the remaining touches of her makeup to her neck and cheeks before throwing on her black turtleneck shirt and fluffed out her blown-dry hair. She had managed to get the majority of the blood off of her skin in the shower since it had only broken in a few places; unfortunately those places were as plain as day on her face and not somewhere she could hide like on her neck or chest. Still though, the makeup would provide an excellent cover so long as Mason didn’t get too close to her.

“I’m here Mason. Give me a moment and I’ll be right down.” Regina called as she quickly hobbled out of her bathroom and into her bedroom to put on her heels, but she wasn’t given the chance.

“Mom Mr. Merriweather is a liar! It wasn’t my fault this time! August called you a…” He paused as he entered Regina’s room, blushing that what he was about to say next could land him in trouble. “…a witch.” He finished.

Sighing, Regina sat on the edge of her bed and instead of putting on her high heels, she pretended that she was taking them off.

“Mason, if you’re quoting someone it’s okay to say the real thing.” Regina said calmly.

“I did say the real thing.” Mason said, blinking and Regina, in turn, blinked back.

“Oh…”

Mason shook his head and approached his mother further into her bedroom and took a seat next to his mother, throwing his arms around her waist in a sideways hug and burrowing his head into her chest. Regina immediately sucked in a pained breath and tentatively put her arms around her son, holding him to her.

“I don’t like it when the kids at school talk about you, it’s never anything good. They don’t know you like I do, I know that what they say isn’t true but I can’t convince them that you wouldn’t ever hurt anyone.” Mason mumbled into her chest and even though Regina couldn’t see his eyes, she could tell that he was crying. Regina frowned and rested her chin on the top of his mess of brown hair, staring absently at the wall in front of her as she rubbed Mason’s back soothingly.

“It’s alright Mason. You’re going to be dealing with rotten people your whole life. The best thing you can do in those situations is stand up for yourself, or what you believe in, just as you did today.” She reassured her son, feeling her chest growing warm with the love that Mason was showing her right then. Sure, standing up to a nine-year-old wasn’t exactly Knight in shining armor worthy, but she couldn’t have been more proud of her prince right then. He was all she had left, and suddenly, she realized, that would be enough.

She ran her fingers delicately through his hair, easing his sobs until she almost thought that he had fallen asleep like that until he turned his neck to look up at her with a shy smile.

“You’re my mom, I’ll always protect you.”

Regina caught his chin between her fingers and radiated her smile down on him, bending forward to kiss his forehead quickly to keep him from looking upon her face.

“I must be the luckiest mother alive to have the loyalty of such a vigil knight.” She said hugging his head back into her chest again.

“You are.” Mason replied, and the two shared a laugh.

Mason eventually eased out of his mother’s loving embrace and swung his legs back and forth as they dangled off her bed, but Regina kept her gaze away from him as she felt him studying her.

“How about pizza?” Regina asked clearing her throat and getting up and off of the bed. Her ankle nearly gave out on her immediately after standing, causing her to lurch a bit and Mason’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Mom?”

“You’re right, we’ve had pizza twice this week, maybe Chinese?” Regina went on, continuing towards the door.

“Mom?” Mason asked again, more urgently this time as he stood up off of the bed.

“Then there’s always that meatloaf we have in the freezer, I wonder if-“

“MOM!” Mason bounded from his spot and ran in front of Regina, his eyes glancing up at her accusingly as Regina refused to make eye contact with him again. He could see it now, at first he thought it was the shadows of the bedroom playing tricks on his mother’s face but now he saw. Her right eyebrow was swollen and towards the corner stripe of hair missing. Her nose looked a little blue and her lip was just as swollen as her eyebrow. Knitting his brows together in concern, he took his mother’s hands in his, tugging at them slightly and urging for her to look at him.

“You stood up to your bully today, didn’t you?” He asked, the question causing Regina to look upon her son at long last. His eyes bore into hers intently, and she felt compelled to nod and smile sadly, feeling bad for making him look upon her with concern.

“Yes, I did Mason.” She settled on, unable to really tell him the truth. She watched as her son grit his teeth beneath his lips, a flash of anger clouding his eyes for a moment.

“You shouldn’t have gone alone! I should have been there with you! I could of-“

Regina held fast to Mason’s shoulders, staring back at him just as intently and causing him to stop talking.

“You were where you were supposed to be, Mason.” She assured him sternly. “Who knows what would have happened if you had let August run his mouth about me, it could have been chaos!”

Sometimes, Regina wondered where these motherly instincts even came from. Of course what she said sounded ridiculous the moment it came from her mouth, but it seemed to ease Mason’s thoughts a little and he nodded in reply, indicating that she was right. With a somewhat dejected sigh, Regina pulled Mason back into her for a tight hug, holding onto him as if he would vanish from her any moment. She couldn’t afford to think about what was in store for her once Gold had his way; what might happen to Mason. All she wanted was to cherish this moment and think that for once in her life, she had touched the heart of someone else in a positive way and changed their life for the better.

Collaboration between YoshiSkittlez and Tanderbolt

David watched with confusion as he pushed through the hospital hallway as each and every single nurse and doctor seemed to be running around like a flock of lost sheep. There was so much commotion it was impossible to stop one of the nurses to ask what was going on, or even try to listen in on one conversation so see what had the hospital all up in chaos. His heart immediately got a sinking feeling that something might have happened to Mary Margaret, and so without further hesitation he began to run, pushing through the crowd of people and not stopping until he reached her room. He was able to breathe when he saw that she was sitting up in bed looking as content as ever and not surrounded by frantic doctors. He smiled warmly, completely forgetting about the seeming emergency the hospital had gone under.

David wrapped his knuckles on door jam, alerting Mary Margaret to his presence and cleared his throat, still wearing his smile as he ventured further into her hospital room and set down the small vase of assorted wild flowers he had picked up from Game of Thorns on his way to the hospital.

"Hey."

Mary was happy to have a visitor, the hours passed very slowly when she was alone in the hospital. She saw it was David, she had become quite fond of him since waking up. She smiled and said "Hello David, what brings you here today?"
David took his usual spot and took a seat at the foot of her bed, turning his torso to look at her better. He removed his paper-boy cap now that he was inside, the tips of his ears slightly red giving way to the fact that it was starting to get rather chilly outside.

"Well, I might have overheard a couple doctors talking about your potential release today." David started, not realizing that his hands were wringing his poor hat in his slight nervousness. Still, it was better than wiping his sweaty palms on the thigh of his blue jeans. "I uh, wanted to be here...to uh, well, congratulate you and..." His beady eyes looked around the room quickly, noting that the security guard was no where to be seen. "...maybe, walk you home?"

"That's great news. I'd love some help finding my way home, I doubt I'd be able to get to it without some guidance. I want to know more about Storybrooke, I can't wait to get out and experience it on my own." said Mary. She noticed David's nervousness, and tried adopt a calming tone of voice.

David's smile faultered a bit at the mention of home. That's right, he would be walking her to Knox's place on the edge of town. He wouldn't admit it, not openly anyway, but that rather irked him in a way he couldn't explain. He wanted to voice his opinion that if Knox were a good husband, he would be taking Mary Margaret home, but he kept his mouth clamped shut.

"Great! I'll see if I can't wrangle down a nurse and see about getting those papers signed." He said getting up from the bed and put his wrinkled hat back on before heading back out into the hallway.

David returned a short time later with an exasperated looking nurse who practically jammed the clipboard into Mary Margaret's hands, anxiously asking her to sign the release papers so she could attend to an emergency. David's brows furrowed, wanting to say something about the nurse's abrasive behavior but again, said nothing and waited his turn to sign the papers.

Mary borrowed a pen and signed, hoping that her attempt at a signature looked like the ones from before the accident. She said "I hope Knox is home, otherwise we won't be able get in to the house. I guess if that happens you can just show me around the rest of the town."

"The job I offered you down at the pet shelter still stands." David said unable to keep his teeth from clamping down a bit harshly at the mention of Knox's name. He took the clipboard from Mary Margaret once she was done and signed his own name where her husbands name should have been.

The nurse snatched the clipboard away and hurried back out into the hall, leaving David with a rather scornful look on his face as he followed her out with his eyes.
"Must be quite the emergency..." He said a bit bitterly before returning his gaze back to Mary Margaret and then clapped his hands together, rubbing them a bit. "Right, let's get you out of here then, I'm sure your anxious to see something different than white walls." He halfly joked.

"I'll see who's hiring, but I'm pretty sure I'll end up working there anyway. My resume isn't exactly up to par, I love animals, and I think it would be great to have a co-worker like you." She got out of bed, giving her legs some exercise. She had walked around a little bit since waking up, but not enough to fully shake off the feeling that so much bedrest had given her. "I hope it's not a long walk, I'm not sure I'd be up to that."

"Well then I'd just have to carry you." David said with a light wink and held out his arm for Mary Margaret to take, allowing her all the time she needed to get stable on her legs.
Mary grabbed his arm tenderly, and steadied herself "I think I can make it a short distance. Come on, let's go"

"As you wish m'lady." He said with a slight glimmer in his smile and led Mary Margaret out of the hospital, hopefully the last time she would ever have to set foot in that place.
While they were walking, Mary said "Do you ever get the feeling that something about this whole situation seems strange, like it's a dream you're about to wake up from? I talk with Knox about our past it and it all just seems so weird, I don't act anything like the way he remembers."

"All the time." David admitted with a laugh as he continued walking at Mary Margaret's slower pace. "But if I admitted that to anyone else I might find myself sitting with Dr. Hopper on a Saturday night." He chuckled before turning more serious. "Why, are you still not remembering anything?"

"I can remember what kind of person I am, the way I behave and think, but I can't recall any of my past. What I do know doesn't always mesh with what others have said, I don't connect with Knox the way his memories say that I should. My heart is moving me away from him, and bringing me closer to other people... including you."
David knew he should have felt bad for the security guard, but he didn't. Instead, a light smile played across his lips but he kept from looking at Mary Margaret and kept his eyes ahead of him.

"Have you tried, I dunno, kissing him?" He asked with a casual shrug, quelling the tinge of jealousy he felt rising in his chest.
She chuckled a little at David's bluntness. "No, I haven't, it just never feels right to me. Knox has wanted to a couple times, but I stop him. I feel bad for him, but I always trust my own judgment over anyone else's."

"Good." David said quickly, and then immediatly began to stammer after realizing his potential mistake. "I mean, good that you can trust your own judgment...a lot of people have a hard time doing that..." He covered, and kicked a stray pebble that suddenly annoyed him as they continued walking down the sidewalk.
"It's the only way to tell what is right and wrong. People will try to fool you, tell you that it's ok to compromise, tell you can't be sure about a course of action. Good people start to turn bad as soon as they let someone else convince them that there's a place between good and evil."
David nodded indefinitely, agreeing with each and every word Mary Margaret uttered.

"Yeah, I mean, maybe you're doing something wrong, but if it's whats meant to be - if it's whats right - does that really make you a bad person?"
"What's right is what's meant to be, and if you will never be a bad person for doing the right thing. Right now, I feel like we are meant to be here together." Mary said with a happy tone in her voice as she looked at David's eyes. David stopped walking, realizing quickly that she had a few paces ago and turned around to walk back to her, albiet slowly. His ears were getting red again, but it wasn't from the cold, not this time.

"If people are meant to be together, they find a way." He muttered softly, unsure what they were even talking about anymore, unsure if he was still playing the role of Knox's supportive friend, or the role that could quite potentially get him into a lot of trouble.
Mary said "That is very true." and reached out to tenderly hold David's hand.

David looked down between them at their linked hands, a very small amount of panic going through him and making his chest rise and fall a bit more rapidly than normal. His eyes looked back up to the soft features of Mary Margaret, seeming lost in her own eyes for a brief moment before he could find his words.

"Mary Margaret-"

She reached out a finger towards his lips, shushing him. She said "No matter what Knox or anyone else says, I know this is right." She moved her hand away and leaned in, ready for a kiss. Auto-pilot kicked in and David met her lips halfway in a hasty eagerness. He kept hold of her hand and pressed it between the two of them over their hearts while his other hand held the small of her back into him. The moment he felt her kissing him back, David released his lips from Mary Margaret's immediately as he felt something similar to a bull taking his gut head-on. He staggered backwards a few feet, holding his head as a slew of memories quickly entered his mind. He hadn't even time to exhale before it was all over, and panting as if he had just ran a mile, he looked back to Mary Margaret...Snow White...his wife.

"Snow!"

Mary felt a rush of energy the moment their lips touched. It was powerful, like nothing she could remember before. As soon as contact ceased, she remembered the feeling. All of her memories returned to her, clearing her mind like a lantern on a foggy night. She was caught up in a wave of emotions, but for now one triumphed over the rest.

"You found me"

David grinned broadly and approached Snow White as he had before, though took the initiative to wrap his arms around his loving wife and hold her to him, looking down at her with a glint of adoration in his eye.

"Did you ever doubt I would?" He asked but didn't give her time to answer before pulling her into another kiss; everything else could wait just a little bit longer...

Belle held the egg as she hurried, walking and sometimes jogging, towards the well that was in the forest. Nobody seemed to mind her as she headed for the forest which was a relief since she didn't have the time to stop and answer questions. She followed the directions Rumpelstiltskin's letter described, until she reached the stone wishing well. She looked at the placard which read that the waters of the well returned what was once lost. She swallowed thickly as she stared at the well. She hoped that she wasn't too late. She went up the steps to the well and she mumbled,

"Alright, here goes nothing!"

Curiosity took over for a moment, and she opened the egg to see a potion inside. The potion was a magenta colored liquid that seemed to shine with a strange light. She took out the poition and poured the magenta contents into the well and the echo of splashes could be heard. She nodded and she turned to start heading back to the town knowing that there was nothing more to be done, eager to be reunited with Rumpelstiltskin once again, when something truly unexpected happened.

She stopped in her tracks when that familiar, heavy, and dark feeling crept into her heart. She turned and she saw large clouds of purple smoke billowing out from the well. She knew the smoke and feeling very well, exposed to nothing but that forboding feeling during her prolonged stay at The Dark Castle as well as her very short stay at Regina's.

It was magic! But this world didn't have magic! She watched the smoke with wide eyes, unable to turn away as a thought came to her mind. Rumpelstiltskin had lied to her! He would be able to save himself with his magic, yes. But...what of the woman in the hospital? Was her life really going to be saved or was he playing with her emotions again? She fell to her knees at the thought of Rumpelstiltskin betraying her trust once again, and at the guilt in taking away what Henry needed to save his true love.

Before she knew it, the clouds of purple smoke enveloped around her and the well, clouding her vision and watched with helplessness as the clouds continued engulfing the entire town of Storybrooke and even though she had done exactly what Rumpelstiltksin had asked of her, she still felt like she had made the wrong terrible decision.

*~*Collaboration between Guardian Angel Haruki as Dr. Heather Jekyll, and Ghost Shadow as Edric Liddell*~*
Henry hurried from the library almost the exact moment Belle did, ignoring the terrible pain in his chest. If Rumpelstiltskin and Belle were telling him the truth (and he certainly hoped that they did), then Heather would need him...and he needed her.

Practically rushing through the front doors of the hospital, Henry ran straight past any staff in his search, furiously looking for the room they placed Faye in.

His mind ran at a hundred miles an hour, it seemed, rushing through idea after idea until it hit him: the coma patient ward! Given how the sleeping curse worked here in a Land Without Magic, the doctors would have either put her in a coma ward...or the morgue.

Shaking the thought of Heather placed haphazardly in a morgue out of his head, Henry continued his quickened pace to the coma ward; expertly dodging and weaving his way past the numerous amount of doctors, nurses, and other staff members with grace that even surprised him.

Finally finding the room after what seemed like forever, Henry hastily made his way inside, seeing the still-unconscious Heather laying in the hospital bed, strapped to various machines, keeping her alive, but asleep.

Whale and Mother Superior turn to face him as the monitor gave off a long beep, showing a flat line. Whale turned to see Henry enter, and he looked gravely at Henry, his eyes hiding a guilt eating away at the doctor's heart. He said to Henry solemnly, "I'm sorry, Mr. Carlyle...Sh-She's gone..." The nurses started taking the equipment off of Faye and turned off the monitors. Mother Superior remained silent, looking at the floor.

Henry stood still for a moment, feeling as though someone wrenched a blade in his gut.

"What? No, no, that's not right...That's not how fairy tales end..." He said quietly, his voice shaky as tears stung his eyes.

Brushing past the others in the room with little regard to their presence, Henry made his way to Faye's bedside, stroking a stray lock of hair out of her face as he could only stare at her lifeless body. She looked so serene, so peaceful, and yet empty.

"I'm so sorry." Henry said reverently, a single tear falling from his face and onto the floor. Leaning in slowly, Henry could only whisper a simple "I love you" before gently placing his lips against hers, a last goodbye.

A ring of light shot forth from the kiss, startling Whale and Mother Superior. A whisper from the nun could be heard in shock "Again?"

After Henry kissed her, Heather gasped, taking in a deep breath of air, and she opened her blue eyes to look at Henry. She said in shock as the memories came back to her, "Alexandre....! Is...Is that really you?" She laid a hand on his cheek, as though to confirm that he was really there.

She didn't hear Mother Superior state "That was true love's kiss...!" Frankenstein looked in shock at Henry and Faye.

Henry let his own hand place over Heather's, a soft, simple smile crossing his lips as he almost seemed to grow younger, looking more lively and vigorous than he ever had in Storybrooke.

"Actually....you can call me Edric." He told her softly, the loving gaze in his eyes conveying more emotion than words could at that moment.

Heather smiled at him, catching on that he remembered his real name. However as she smiled tears of happiness and relief came down her face, and she said to him, "I'm...so glad you're okay! I thought you were done for when he sent you away!" She then noticed his state of being, and she asked "What happened?"

Frankenstein and Mother Superior left the room silently as Heather spoke with Edric.

Henry couldn't help but chuckle slightly at her words. "What can I say? I'm full of surprises." When Heather asked about his current physical state, his voice turned more serious; though the light expression of mirth and joy never left his face. "Jabberwocky. It was kept under the mines....I had to kill it, to save you." He said quietly, awaiting any scolding or lecturings on how he could have been killed.

Heather was silent, noting how he still had his smile when he spoke seriously, when he answered her question. The Jabberwocky...she had heard of the poem by the same name (courtesy of Edric), but she didn't try to scold him. He had saved her after all. No...instead she felt guilt. It was because of her carelessness once again, that she placed someone she cared for in danger.

She mumbled "I'm so sorry..."

"Sorry? What on earth are you sorry for, Heather?" Henry asked with a small chuckle, though he was genuinely confused by her words.

Heather answered, trying to stop the tears from falling, "My carelessness. It got the better of me again. If I hadn't eaten that apple, you wouldn't have had to fight the Jabberwocky...I placed you in danger. That apple...was the experimental concoction all over again...! I should've known not to eat it!"

Henry's expression suddenly turned to one of seriousness, and caring. "No, Heather, don't say that...you didn't know any better. You didn't even know that you were you!" He reassured, pushing a lock of hair out of her face once again, a small smile creeping on his face as his victory was almost too much to handle.

The amount of Heather's tears seemed to increase after Henry stated that she didn't know she was herself. She shook her head and simply stated to Henry, "She knew. She knew all along. She could've stopped me!"

Now that she had her memories back, she remembered everything that Hyde had done during their time in Storybrooke.

"Heather...I'm not angry or upset at you or Hyde...I'm just glad you're back, the real you." With that said, Henry leaned in and kissed her again; not waiting for a response beforehand.

Heather blinked away the tears when he said that he wasn't angry with her or Hyde. When he kissed her, she reciprocated happily. She was glad he was alright as well, and the guilt went away for now.

However, she stopped when she thought she heard thunder, and she looked out of the window, seeing a large purple cloud coming towards them. She asked Henry warily, "Edric...what is that?"

Henry looked confused at first, his expression darkening as he got a good look out the window. "It's.....it's magic." He said quietly, eyes widened like saucers as the dense fog neared Storybrooke.

He could feel something inside him begin to tingle as the fog came closer - a feeling he hadn't experienced in what felt like forever. "I can....feel it. Raw, pure magic!" He exclaimed vibrantly.

Heather looked to Henry when he gave the answer, and she looked to him in concern. The fact that it was magic didn't sit well with Heather. She held onto Henry's hand instinctively, as though the smoke may try to separate them again.

Henry stared intently out the window, but squeezed Heather's hand to let her know he hadn't forgotten her. "It won't be long now...it's getting close. Don't be frightened." He said, finally turning his head back to look at her, a small glint in his eyes that bode excitement, as though his sanity was the only thing keeping him from diving out of the window and embracing the magic with all his being.

Henry's reaction and the clouds that billowed closer and closer were nothing but foreboding to Heather. The reason being because she knew who would benefit from magic the most. She easily figured out that Mr. Gold was Rumpelstiltskin. She was too weak to try and get out of the bed she was in. But it didn't stop her from trying to get up out of the bed, her hand still in Henry's.

Henry turned around as he saw Heather struggle to get up on her feet. "Heather, no! You're still weak...lie back down." He goaded, his attention diverted from the cloud of smoke that billowed closer to the hospital, the sounds of raging storms from within becoming louder by the second.

Heather pointed out as she still tried to get up, knowing that she had to eventually, despite her medical knowledge (well, her medical knowledge didn't exactly encompass what to do when recovering from a Sleeping Curse). She said to him, distracting him from the fact that she isn't going to lie back down, "Edric...what exactly is going to happen when that cloud gets here?"

Henry let his attention veer back to the window for a moment as Heather asked her question. "Why...I...I don't know. I'd assume we'd all get our magic returned, but...I can't say for sure. All I know is, I can feel it returning to me. A distant echo, but a feeling nonetheless."

As Heather fully stood up on her slightly shaking legs, she asked Henry, "So you don't know if we'll live if that cloud hits or not...?"

Henry looked between Heather and the window as she spoke before grinning almost madly. "I've no idea...hell of a way to go, if we don't make it." He added with a chuckle.

"But if we do live, it'll be well worth it."

Heather sighed at his answer. The only consolation she had, if they were to die in that cloud, was that Hyde would die with her. However, she was still worried for Henry's sake, but she could easily tell that he wasn't going to try and avoid it. She sighed through her nose, and said "Well...if we are going to die, then we've had a good run,"

Henry could practically feel the smoke envelop him, for he knew now it was mere seconds before it would hit.

"Heather...look at me. Don't look anywhere else. Close your eyes if you have to...but it's here - now. Are you ready?" He asked seriously, now holding both her hands in his own.

She looked to Henry, and she nodded in response to his question. She closed her hands around his as she spoke, keeping her eyes on him, "Yeah, I'm ready,"

Henry only leaned his head back, his eyes fluttering closed as the purple smoke seemed to permeate past any solid surface and enclose around them. Henry felt all the magic hit him at once, overwhelming all his senses as he found himself unable to see, hear, think, or even breathe. All he could feel were Heather's hands firmly locked with his as the cloud passed through them, bright flashes of lightning and the crack of thunder all around them.

Heather's senses were also overwhelmed when the purple smoke reached the two of them. She didn't move as the thunder resounded and echoed around them, she kept her hands in Henry's for what could be considered as reassurance. She had expected to feel at least a little pain and her heart to stop beating. But the pain never came.

Instead, the smoke soon passed and the two of them were still in one piece.

Henry let out a deep sigh as the smoke finally passed them by. Releasing his hands from Heather's, he stepped back a few paces, looking down at his hands with sudden interest. Clenching and unclenching his fists to see what would happen, Henry felt a smile begin at the corner of his lips. "Oh, it's good to be back." He said cryptically, an excited, almost wild look in his eyes.

The doctor let go of his hands when he did, and the foreboding feeling weighed on her heart even more when she saw the wild look in his eyes. She mumbled to herself ominously, looking down towards the floor and at her hands, in response to Henry's cryptic statement, "...Is it really?"

Henry chose not to answer that question, too caught up in the idea that he finally had his powers back. With newfound vigor and energy, Henry grabbed Heather's hand and practically dragged her out of the hospital, taking her along with him to the clock tower; where the very confused and discombobulated townspeople had begun to congregate.