"Are you serious? You actually traveled all the way through your kingdom back to the Dark Castle?"

Belle smiled sadly. We were back at my house, sitting in the living room while Mrs. Grace was in the kitchen, and Mr. Grace was at work. I had convinced her to come with me to my home so we could chat and share stories about what happened.

At first she had been reluctant to come here, to a house that wasn't actually mine. But Mrs. Grace had carried on acting as a mother to me and Grace even after the curse.

I was too old to be mothered by someone I barely knew, but until I found another place to live, I would have to stay there. Besides, I wasn't leaving until Grace and Jefferson were reunited, until then, I would stay by Grace's side.

"Well, I tried to, yes. But Regina caught me before I could get there, and had me locked up for countless years."

"My hate for Regina grows deeper every single day," I grimaced in disgust. Of all the enemies I had gained in the Enchanted Forest—and beyond that place, I never hated anyone as much as I hated her.

"Hate is a strong word, don't you think?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you implying you don't hate her? After all she did to you, after all that she made you go through, don't you hate her?"

"I just dislike her very much," Belle struggled to find the right words. "I'm not going to lie to you, I extremely dislike her very being, but no, I don't hate her. I believe that she simply is...a damaged soul, someone that has suffered much in life and tries to overcome the darkness in her."

"Really?" I deadpanned.

"No, not really." Belle admitted. "But I feel like such a bad person for hating her. For hating someone."

I chuckled. "Not hate, just a strong dislike." I reminded her, a small grin on my face as I saw her roll her eyes at me. "And for the record, Belle, you are not a bad person. You actually are the best human being I know."

Belle seemed flattered. A blush made way into her cheeks, giving her a cute look that I was sure Rumple would've swooned over. "You really think that?"

"Of course. You see the good in everyone, even when they don't have one. You believe that everyone can do goodness, and that is the most beautiful thing about you. You still have hope and faith in the world, and in us, in me...that is...beautiful and heartwarming."

I was sure there was no way I would change completely, but Belle's hope in me warmed me.

Belle smiled, looking down at the praise. She gave me a knowing look after a couple of silent moments. "What happened with you after I left the Dark Castle?"

"I moved with Jefferson and Grace. We were happy together for some time, then we had a little accident in one of our jobs and we decided to quit working for Rumple." I grimaced at the last part.

"I can't imagine what could've been so horrible to make you, of all people, quit the job you loved so much." Belle gave me a worried look.

"It wasn't easy," I admitted. "I was way too deep in the power and in the magic that sometimes I actually wanted to just screw everything and go back to Rumple."

"You wanted to leave them?" Belle eyed me with a mixture of disappointment and shock.

I winced at her words.

Of course she wouldn't completely understand. I was more fucked up than she believed, and the thought of someone loving me enough to want me, even with all my flaws and all my problems, seemed a bit too impossible for me to believe, at least in that moment.

I tried to find the right words. "The darkness is addictive. Once it touches you, there's no escaping it. Once you touch it, it never goes away. I was exposed to the darkness since I was a child, Belle. It was my only way of surviving back in our world."

When I stopped working for Rumple, and compressed my magic in an attempt to have a normal life with Jefferson and Grace, I felt like I had morphed into a different me. I was trying to be someone I wasn't, and in the end, that blew up in my face quite dramatically.

"It wasn't easy to just leave it behind," Belle muttered. "Even if you loved them, you still wanted your old life back." she paused, and then said the words I never thought she could say to me. "You loved your magic more than you loved them."

Her words made me angry, extremely angry. I looked at her, unable to hide my annoyance and my disappointment at how her words had hurt me. I thought she would understand, but clearly she was too pure to understand completely.

"You've never been consumed by darkness, have you? You don't know what it's like," I looked away, glaring at something else than her. "It overcomes any other feeling one might have, even love."

Her biggest flaw was thinking it was easy to change into someone you're not. She thought it was easy to change, to become someone you're not and to extinguish someone you've been for years. She expected Rumple to change, and in some way, she expected me to change too.

That's the only thing I despised of her.

The thing was; with Jefferson I had no need to change. I could be myself with him, I always could. The hardest part of our relationship was when we had to leave the darkness behind. Or at least try to. But we were there for each other, that's why I never actually left them.

My love for him- for them- was too strong.

I used to think about leaving constantly, not because I didn't loved them, and not because I was unhappy. But because I was addicted to magic, and it called for me. It called me and tried to pull me back, but Jefferson's and Grace's love was the anchor I used to pull myself back into the neutral side.

"You don't understand, darling. Magic is..." I took a deep breath, feeling my whole body burn with the reminder of my magic. "Magic is addictive. Magic is...power."

And power was triumph.

My body tingled with the sensation of magic, even thought I was sure I had no more magic left in me. After all, twenty eight years without magic was bound to leave me a little rusty in the magic department.

Triumph. Power.
Oh, I missed that. I missed that almost as much as I missed Jefferson.

I could remember clearly the triumph I felt as I stood over my enemies, fear on their eyes and screams leaving their throats. I would kill them with my magic, but most of the time it was with my arrows. The triumph that would follow after their downfall was always so...powerful.

It should make me feel ashamed that such things made me feel triumph, but I couldn't feel like that. For years, it was all that kept me going, all I had, and all I knew. Triumph, power, magic...

If there was something I would always return to it was magic. It is what I knew since I was a child; it's all I knew for countless years.

Now I had none. I don't even have Jefferson with me anymore.

"Oh, you sound just like Rumple," Belle sighed.

"Is that a bad thing?" I demanded, staring at her rather coldly. "Need I remind you I am his ward? Of course I sound like him."

Belle looked away for a second, as if reluctant to say more. In the end, she changed the topic. "Can I ask you something, Artemis?"

Her tone surprised me. "Of course, my darling Belle."

"You've said a million times that no one ever cared for you when you were a child. That you grew up alone and that you turned evil because no one taught you better. You've said a thousand times that you never were part of a family before Jefferson and Grace."

I tensed at how her question was going. "Yes, I do believe I've said that before." I said blandly.

"I don't believe that," Belle said abruptly, making me look away from her. "When you were a child someone must've cared for you. No one can be heartless enough to ignore a child and to let a child rot away in the streets..." She hesitated. "So what happened?"

I couldn't move, I couldn't even breathe properly. All I could do was remember, and drown in my own memories and my own tragedies.

"I never lied about my condition as an abandoned child. Most of my life no one ever wanted me, I grew up alone, completely alone." I paused, seeing how Belle eyed me. "But there do was someone before Jefferson and even before I was completely dark. Someone did care about me as a child."

Belle straightened on her seat, looking at me with all her concentration. "What happened?" She asked gently.

I saw their faces in my mind; saw their smiles and their happiness and even my own happiness.
It hurt more than anything else.

"I don't like talking about them," I admitted in a whisper, hating how even the reminder of them hurt my heart, heart that had been cold and black for as long as I could remember after things happened and I was forced to leave them. "It hurts too much."

Belle took my hands on hers, gently and kindly squeezing mine. I squeezed back, forcing a smile on my face, trying to look nonchalant but I could feel my eyes watering slightly. Angrily I blinked, trying not to show weakness by crying once again.

"I had a family, I had someone that cared about me and I was...happy." The words were burning my throat, making me feel like choking on air. "For the first time in my life I was a happy child."

It made me feel like a hypocrite. I always said that before Jefferson and even before Rumple that no one had loved me.

But it was a lie.

I just didn't liked mentioning them; it hurt too much to even think about them, so I never did.

"You don't have to talk about it, you know, I understand..." Belle rubbed my hand comfortingly.

"They're gone," I managed to say, unable to stop after mentioning them after years of not even thinking about them. "My happiness with them was short lived. When it was over I was forced to emigrate once again. It was back to being how it was, with no one wanting me. I turned to the dark arts once again; I found Ursula then, and later on Maleficent, and then at fifteen I found Rumple."

Belle looked away, as if the weight of my own demons made her uncomfortable. I suppose they did, they even made me uncomfortable.

"The rest you know," I ended.

"I'm sorry, Artemis. I shouldn't have asked."

"It's okay," I lied, waving a hand at her as if it was nothing, as if my heart wasn't breaking all over again.

We were in silence for a long while, but then I smiled softly, a forced smile that didn't fooled Belle.

"I've never told anyone else before. It's my own little secret...and now you know."

"I won't tell anyone," Belle assured me. "Thank you for trusting me with this. And once again, I'm sorry I asked. I know it hurts you."

I simply forced another smile on my face, trying to look strong and unbothered.

She cleared her throat, going back to our first topic. "What else happened after I left?"

I told her how Regina made me believe Jefferson was dead, and how the next thing that happened was the curse. I purposely omitted the part where I cursed Regina. I didn't want her to have something else to patronize me with.

I had enough knowing that my curse would last through the ages, and that because of it Henry had nearly died. I didn't need her disappointment too.

"You weren't under her curse?" Belle questioned. "You knew since the very beginning the truth of everything."

"That's where you are wrong," I tried for a smile, my mind still thinking about my former family. "I was under the curse; I just had a different stage of it."

I offered her more tea, to which she simply shook her head. I poured myself some more, and tried to ignore the way her eyes softened at me. I guided the cup to my mouth, finding on it an excuse to stay quiet for a moment.

The way she was looking at me was making me slightly uncomfortable. Her eyes were so genuinely soft and her whole demeanor was actually nice towards me.

It had been a while since someone looked at me like that, I couldn't count on the people who were nice to me here, and they were all under a curse and didn't know who I really was. Now they did, and just like Granny, they were back to fearing and hating me, which was fine by me.

"What do you mean?"

I put the cup down, feeling the need to be completely fixed in my brunette friend as I explained myself.

"While everyone's curse was to forget, mine was to remember." I paused. Flashes of all I went through choked me. The nights I screamed my lungs out as my brain scrambled and made me forget who I actually was—Melanie or Artemis.

Melanie or Artemis, always the constant pain of not knowing; of being both.

"I remembered everything about my real life. I remembered everything; and at the same time I knew nothing. I was forced to be Melanie Grace yet I was deep down Artemis. I was forced to have to personalities inside my head. That, Belle, that was my curse."

Belle gasped softly. "Oh, Artemis. That is so..." she broke off. "You had both personas in your head? But that is impossible, how come you're not—"

"Mad?" I forced myself to grin, a wide feral grin that Jefferson always hated. "Oh, darling, we're all a little mad here."

Middle East, many years before the events that happened in the Enchanted Forest, a small blonde girl was handcuffed to a table in a tent. The owner of said table, a middle aged woman, was glaring down at her as her brother watched.

"—A mere child," a woman scoffed darkly, looking down at the handcuffed girl at her side. "Yes, you heard me right, a mere child—this child, just came here and stole all the merchandise for this week! The nerve of her! She sucked all the food like a beast—"

In front of her, a man stood, eyebrows raised as he looked down at the child in front of them. "How old are you, sweetie?"

"Oh, for gods sake, Amir, don't talk to her," the woman rolled her eyes, her hands going to her hips. "She's a criminal, you know the punishment for criminals here—cut their hands."

"She's a child, Samirah," Amir rolled his eyes. "She was probably just hungry. I'm not letting you punish a little girl. Besides, she might be a tourist, don't you see? Her skin is white."

"Hungry my ass—" the woman snarled. "And what if she's white? White people never show respect to us, why would we show respect to them—"

"I'm nine," a soft voice perked up, interrupting the woman. Both of them turned towards her, and she blushed, her pale thin cheeks taking colour for the first time in a while. "Nine years old. My skin is white, but I'm not. I don't even know what I am," she ended up with a distressed voice, her eyes suddenly saddening and taking a blank gleam.

The man cooed. "Oh, you poor thing." he lowered until he was standing at her same height. "What happened to you? Where are your parents?" she didn't answered. "Okay then, were you hungry? Was that the problem, sweetie?"

The child shook her head.

Samirah narrowed her eyes, only wanting to get to punish her and then move on with her work. Amir frowned. "You weren't hungry?" she shook her head again, making the man more confused. "You don't have to be scared, sweetie, you can tell us the truth. We won't hurt you."

A smile appeared on the girl's face. Amir smiled too, thinking that she was trusting them. Samirah narrowed her eyes even more, suddenly seeming older than she was.

"I'm not scared."

Amir smiled in a sincere way. "Good, my sweet child. That was it, right? You are hungry. Do you want more food? We can give you more food—" Samirah made a sound of protest that he ignored. "It doesn't matter what my sister says, we won't let a children starve to death—"

"I'm not hungry." she interrupted him.

"Why would you eat all the food if you weren't hungry? Is this some kind of game?" Samirah snapped. Amir tried to hold her back, but Samirah kept glaring at the innocent looking child in front of them, her hijab almost falling as she trembled with anger. "Answer me, child!"

"Sweetie, don't mind her—" Amir started.

"You're right, it is a game." The child smiled, a smile cold and icy, her eyes turning hard and darkening. Samirah took a step back, noticing her change. Amir, however, only frowned. "I was just trying to catch your attention."

Amir's dark eyes took a pitiful gleam. The child was probably lost, maybe abandoned in a foreign realm, with no one for her; she was probably searching for someone to protect her, to take care of her.

"Why our attention?" Samirah snapped. "What do you want?"

"To distract you, of course," the child smiled, a big wide smile that showed she had one front teeth missing. Amir chuckled at the sight, remembering his own son, about her age, who was also at the age of starting to lose teeth. His smile dropped, however, when he realized her words.

"Distract us?" he frowned, voicing his sister's thoughts. "What for?"

The Arabic woman screamed the second her twin brother fell to the floor with a sickening sound, a hole on his chest where his heart should've been. A man stood just where the man had been standing, his hand extended, a big wide red heart on his palm.

"So I can do this, of course." the man muttered, his accent strong. The woman screamed again when she recognized him, but before she could mutter his name in fear, the man glanced at the little girl, who nodded at him.

"They wanted to cut my hands off," the girl spoke.

Samirah glanced at the girl, eyes wide, not understanding how the little girl wasn't scared of the man, didn't she knew he was—

"Make them pay." the little girl demanded, like a child throwing a tantrum.

Samirah sucked in a breath, watching his brother wince on the floor, still alive, but without his heart. Her eyes darted back to the infant, but the little girl refused to look at her.

A sly smirk appeared on the man's face. He had been at first reluctant to recruit a little girl to help him on his plans, but he had quickly realized she was darker than any other child could be. And with Iago's betrayal, he needed someone else to help him, as much as he despised the idea of help.

He crushed the heart without hesitation. "Your wish is my command." he swatted his hands, a look of utter disgust as he cleaned his hands of the dust that had been the man's heart. He turned to the weeping woman. "You're still here?"

She had been hysterically crying, and she looked like she wanted to scream at the both, but when she met the eyes of the tall man, she swallowed the lump in her throat.

"The sultan will know you're back," she dared to speak, though her voice broke pathetically as she trembled, her hands grasping her brother's arm. "She will put a stop to this, as she did before—"

The man rose his staff, which had a serpent's head on top, and the woman gagged, suddenly mute.

"Much better." His eyes were darker than before, anger in them at the mention of the Sultan. He looked towards the girl, and pointed the staff towards her. A second later, her cuffs were gone.

She quietly made her way towards his side. He looked down at her for a moment, before looking back at the cowering woman.

"Now, as for you—" the man stared at her, lost in thoughts. "You will go to the Sultan," he spat the title. "And you will tell her and her good for nothing boyfriend that I have returned. Her rightful husband is back," he gave her a forced grin, one that marked the multiple scars around his face and body. The little girl winced unconsciously, along with the woman. "And this time no one will stop me."

He walked away, his head tilted up. The girl followed him, not before looking back at the woman.

"Sir?" he looked down at the girl, eyes softening almost imperceptibly at the sight of her young face and innocent laced eyes. Still innocent; still a child. So much to corrupt..."Is it true?"

"What is?" he questioned, leading her towards another street. He enjoyed the look of shock and astonishment, followed by fear that his presence caused everyone around them. If Samirah didn't told Jasmine and Aladdin that he was back, someone else would.

"Will you make it? This time will you actually make it?"

He stopped, forcing her to stop too. "Do you doubt me, child?"

She looked up at his long ebony hands, and saw the broken chain on his wrist; the golden chains that identified him as a genie. She observed the raggedy state of his staff, and the broken lamp hidden on his clothes, and she decided that if he was powerful enough to escape his fate, he was powerful enough to get his revenge.

She shook her head. "No."

"Good," he said dryly, starting to walk again. He had walked almost five steps when he spoke again. "This time I will win; no street rat will stop me, and the sultan shall be mine."

"And you'll be happy," she added, a smile on her angelic face.

All the blonde child could see when she looked at the Arabic man was a winner, someone worth her admiration; someone determined to fight for what they wanted. Her pure heart wanted him to be happy, to love her like a daughter. She thought that if he won, he'd be happy and would have time to love her.

Surely he would. He had to; he'd promised to love her, to care for her.

He stopped again. "Happy?" he muttered perplexed. "Is that what you're searching for, child? Happiness?" a deep rich laugh escaped him. The girl winced again, knowing she had said something wrong. "Dear child, happiness doesn't exist. You are the living proof of that—"

She winced again, interrupting him before he could mention her life. "But the heroes—"

"Happiness doesn't exist," he repeated, impatient. "There's only triumph, and triumph is what I shall have when I finally kill him, and marry my betrothed." he took a wild look on his eyes, as if he was savoring that thought. "Triumph is all us villains can achieve for. The heroes think they have happiness, but you know what they actually have?"

She shook her head.

"Responsibilities, troubles, doubts—" he rolled his eyes, moving his hand in an extravagant way. "All of that."

"But—"

"Happiness doesn't exist, girl." he said curtly. "Now move on, child, I don't have all day. And please, do be quiet. I can't stand your chilly voice any longer."

The girl closed her mouth. Jafar smirked, and ventured deeper into the streets of Agrabah, his little apprentice at his heels.

Belle stayed with me for the whole day. In the end, as she was about to leave, I walked her to the door. She was telling me how she was living on her own in the library, for her father had tried to force her to stay with him, and she wasn't with Rumple anymore.

"You know, I envy you," Belle admitted to me.

I stopped in my tracks, completely confused. Belle was all I could never be, she was beautiful, smart and pure. It made no sense that she would envy me. "What?"

"I envy you," she repeated, suddenly embarrassed by something. She looked as if she regretted ever speaking. "I—I love Rumplestiltskin."

"I know that, darling. But what does it have to do with me?" an unsettling feeling grew on my stomach. "If you think that there's something between the two of us, let me tell you you're completely wrong." I quickly added.

I guess that if I hadn't been nearly raised by him, and I did not loved Jefferson, and he didn't loved Belle, something could've probably happened between us. Maybe purely sexual, maybe with feelings, I don't know. And honestly? I didn't care.

I had many "associates" before, but no one ever seemed to care like he did. And in the same way, I cared for him more than any other of my associates.

"You care for him," Belle nodded. "I know."

"Just...don't tell him I said that," I muttered. "He is not very good accepting love."

"Just like someone else I know," Belle gave me a pointed look that I decided to ignore. Jefferson loved me, and that was as much as I could believe. I couldn't see anyone else loving me, not after I became this monster.

"I'm not envious because of that, Artemis."

"Then why?" I grinned slyly. "Is it because of me being a goddess?" I batted my eyelashes at her, enjoying her blush at my flirting. "Oh, darling, don't worry—you're pretty cute for a mortal." and I proceeded to check her out in a very blunt way.

Belle rolled her eyes at me, thought her cheeks took a pink edge again. "Need I remind you you're not the real Artemis?" she raised an eyebrow at me. "You're as mortal as me."

I had admitted to her back in the Enchanted Forest that I was a mere mortal. Besides, she was smart enough to know the truth. Had I been the real Greek goddess of the hunt and the moon, I would've been crueler and more graceful, more...well, godly.

"Believe what you want, darling girl."

"Rumple trusts you," Belle said, going back to the original topic. "He trusts you, and...He doesn't trust me."

"Darling, you can't compare the mere two years you knew him to the decade I was with him. He literally raised me, you know? I was fifteen when we met; besides, I lived with him for so many years..." I sighed. "He trusts me because he knows all I am, and he knows where my loyalty lies."

He literally made me who I was. I changed every time I changed associates. I was someone different every time, and since I had stayed more time with Rumple than with anyone else, I had learned to love who he made me be.

"I know that, but I just wish he would trust me more." She said quietly.

"You know it took him years to open up to me, right? It wasn't as if he told me everything in one day."

I flashed back to the day he opened up to me. I had been nearly murdered in one job, and he had saved me and cured my injuries in a way that...was so tender and so genuinely soft that I couldn't believe he was the same man that I knew.

The tender look on his eyes...almost as if he loved me. The same love I had seen parents give their children, and...I couldn't stop myself. I asked him if he was a parent. I saw the hesitation on his eyes, I could literally see his mind screaming at him to lie to me, but he didn't.

Instead, he told me the truth.

About himself, about Baelfire, and about Milah.

That's when I discovered the love he hold on his eyes for me as he cured me wasn't exactly directed at me at all, but at Baelfire. He saw his son in me, that's why he had looked at me like that.

"Give him time, love. Trust and love doesn't come easy to him, he's damaged like most of us, and he needs reassuring and constant reminder that he is loved. Give him time."

"I will. Actually, I asked him out on a date." Belle blushed, looking down at the floor with a smile.

"Perfect. That way you two can get to know each other more, it's not the same to know him as your master than as your boyfriend." I paused, a sly grin appearing on my face. "Though it can be the same thing if you enjoy that sort of things."

I laughed as she blushed madly and scolded me.

Agrabah fell into chaos not long after Jafar made himself known in the kingdom. Aladdin and Jasmine were under a big pressure, for they had been planning their wedding when the news of Jafar's return reached them.

"What are we gonna do?" Iago paled, knowing that Jafar probably wanted to kill him too for his betrayal. He had been the servant of the wizard for almost all his life, but had decided to side with the heroes once he realized that all Jafar did was lie, and all he cared about was himself. "Oh, he's gonna kill me, I must go..."

Before he could cross the door, a young man grabbed his arm, stopping him while rolling his eyes. Aladdin hugged Jasmine closer to him as they shared an uneasy look. Abu kept holding Iago's arm, all while pursing his lips.

"Calm down, Ia," Abu forced himself to smile. "We stopped him once, we can do it again. Besides, we're not gonna let anything happen to you—Iam not gonna let anything happen to you. For that, he'll have to kill me first."

"Something he already plans on doing!" Iago snapped hysterically. "And don't call me Ia."

Abu smiled down at the boy at his side. His lips curled in a way that made Iago's stomach churn in a way that was completely not unpleasant. Abu bumped shoulders with Iago, his eyes shining mischievously. "You know you like it."

Iago tried not to smile. "Can you focus on what's important? Jafar is back—"

"I won't let him hurt us again," Aladdin promised seriously. His young face suddenly seeming very old and serious. He gently moved away from Jasmine, only keeping their hands intertwined as a comforting contact. "Not again."

"We won't let him," Jasmine corrected him, as strong as her boyfriend. "We are so close to our wedding, to the beginning of our happily ever after...I'm not gonna let him ruin this again."

The couple shared a long look. Jasmine pursed her lips before facing Iago and Abu again. "We'll take whatever forces are necessary to stop him. I won't lose someone else because of him."

Aladdin gave her a soft squeeze to the hand, a comforting gesture. Last time Jafar fought them, they lost Jasmine's father, forcing her to become Queen, or Sultan in the girl's case. It had been almost two years, but the pain was still there.

"You won't lose any of us," Abu promised. Iago nodded, sharing a long look with Abu before looking back at Jasmine and Aladdin. "He won't win; remember, Jas, good always wins."

Aladdin nodded. "Good always wins," he repeated. "And—"

"Evil always loses," Jasmine finished for him.

They scattered all around the room, ordering the guards to reinforce every gate and entrance.

"I heard he has a new slave," Abu admitted. They all turned to look at him. Abu saw how Iago paled again, remembering what it was like to be his slave, and regretted ever opening his mouth. "A girl."

"A girl?" Jasmine questioned.

"A child, actually," Abu seemed uncomfortable. "People that saw them agreed that the girl was very young; still a child."

"Her daughter, maybe?" Aladdin frowned as Jasmine looked disgusted at the thought of Jafar being a father.

"I doubt it," Abu shook his head. "He doesn't like it when races get mixed, and the little girl is apparently white skinned and light haired."

Iago, however, shook his head slowly.

"He doesn't have a daughter. He doesn't even like children, I don't understand what he's doing with a child..." he frowned, remembering how his former master had been keen on the thought of corrupting children. For him, the younger they were, the more potential they had to be evil. "Oh, fuck."

"Language," Abu smirked at him. Iago had the sudden desire to whip the smirk off his pink lips, but not exactly with a punch. The thought of all Abu's mouth could do made him shudder with desire, something that only Abu noticed, and his smirk widened.

"What is it, Iago?" Jasmine narrowed her eyes at him, interrupting their heated stare.

"Well, I don't know if this is what he's doing, but he told me once how he thought children were perfect, easy to corrupt and everyone thought them innocent, so they could be good to fool other people."

"So he's using her?" Aladdin frowned.

"Probably," Jasmine said darkly.

Abu nodded. He remembered the frightened look on the woman that told him about Jafar killing her brother, and how she had mentioned the girl had fooled them, and how she had stayed silent when asked about her parents.

"She's all alone here, no parents and no family. At least that what she implied to Samirah."

Aladdin suddenly swallowed. "Is she, now?" he thought of all he had to do to survive as a child alone in the world, without any parent to guide him, or anyone to help him survive. He forced not to shudder.

Jasmine squeezed his hand, guessing what was going though his mind in that moment. "Maybe we can still save her," she said softly. "She's just a child, after all. There's still hope for her."

"But that's the only second chance we'll give." Abu said darkly. "No more chances for Jafar. He has to die."

"But the girl lives," Aladdin said seriously. "There's still hope for her. I know that better than anyone," he smiled briefly at Jasmine, who smiled back. She leaned forwards, kissing him softly on the lips before moving away.

"The girl lives," the gorgeous sultan nodded, a firm look on her eyes.

I found out Mrs. Grace in the kitchen, talking to someone animatedly. I heard laughs and soft giggles, making me think that Grace had brought a friend home and they're were now taking to Mrs. Grace. Not wanting to dampen any good mood with my presence, I quickly made my way upstairs, and locked myself in my room.

With a sigh, I checked my phone. As always, I had a message from Henry. He was still keen on me helping them bring Snow White and Emma Swan back, but I really couldn't help them, even if I wanted to. And I really could care less about them.

I had no more magic left in me, so far every time I tried to do magic I ended up frustrated and with a severe headache. And using Jefferson's hat was too painful for me, besides the fact that it was broken and that I was never able to actually use it myself; it was always Jefferson.

But the real reason I checked my phone everyday was because of August. He was still missing. I had the slightest idea that he'd become wood completely, but not even his body was left behind to corroborate my theory. He had disappeared completely.

I was surprised with myself. I was actually caring for someone else besides the obvious people. But August was my friend, I supposed. He helped me find Jefferson, and that is something I could never forget. I wanted to help him find his father as he helped me, but he disappeared before I could.

"Artemis."

With a smile, I turned towards the door. Grace was leaning against the doorframe, a wide smile on her face. Her face was so bright and so joyful that it was as if something had started my brain. The joyful look on my young step-daughter, the way she had her cheeks slightly red as if she'd been crying...

It clicked together.

I sucked in a breath. "You found him." I tried to keep the emotion off my voice, but it was impossible.

Grace's smile got bigger. "No, mama, he found me." She quickly crossed the distance between us and hugged me tightly. I hugged her back, enjoying the way she laughed with delight at the thought of her father. "Mama...Artemis, he found me. He found us."

He found us.

I swallowed the lump in my throat at her words. My hopes were still on, how couldn't they be?

After our encounter and the way he looked at me, the way he seemed to crave me as much as I craved him...I couldn't help but feel hopeful.

He broke out of his self-pity and worries for a moment enough to find Grace and approach her. What was stopping him to do the same with me?

I forced myself to extinguish the hope I felt inside. Hope. That was all it was, I couldn't really rely on that. I needed proof, actions. I needed to know if he still loved me. But I knew he was still convinced it had all been his fault. I knew he still needed time, and as much as I needed him now, I would wait until he was ready to be with me.

If he even wanted to.

I understood him better than anyone else, and I knew him. I knew him completely, and I understood the barriers he now had, and I was going to respect them, even if it hurts me.

And it hurt like hell.

"My darling Grace," I sighed, separating from her and kissing her forehead lovingly. She smiled at me, the hope and joyfulness alive in her beautiful brown eyes. "Tell me all about your encounter."

And she did.

She told me she was just getting out of the bus when she heard him call for her. Turning around she saw him waiting for her, and she run towards him. They hugged tightly for a long time, before he quickly apologized and she cried, happy tears, and they came back here.

I stopped breathing at that. Jefferson was here, in the house?

Grace didn't notice my reaction, she only smiled and continued. She told me she came here with him because he wanted to thank Mr. and Mrs. Grace for taking care of her all those years, and then he was taking her to his house. Grace was moving back with her father.

Everything was as it should be.

But where was I in all of this? Grace was leaving me, leaving to live with his father. Jefferson hadn't talked to me just yet. I had no idea where that left me.

Still, I forced myself to smile down at my beautiful Grace.

"Oh, darling, that is beyond perfect. I'm so happy for you, Grace. But please, promise me you'll call me," I took her hands on my own, giving her a soft squeeze. "And I hope we still meet for our daily tea parties and games."

Grace gave me a confused look. "Why are you acting as if this was goodbye?"

Because maybe it was.

She was moving with Jefferson, and I wasn't going to stay in this house for much longer. I was moving too, maybe I could find an apartment, and if not, I could always move back with Rumple. He'd already offered me a room on his house; same treatment as before, I cleaned and helped him in his schemes and I could live there.

If not, there was always something to do, somewhere else to go.

Rumplestiltskin was almost done with the potion that would help him leave town to search for his son without losing his memories, and I wanted to help him. I promised him, long time ago, that I would help him find Baelfire, and as always, I wasn't going to back out on my promise.

I opened my mouth, trying to find an answer to give to Grace, but nothing came out of my mouth. She and her father were the only thing that tied me to this town, to this life, and I knew I could never leave them. I could never give them up.

But if they wanted to give me up, I understood that.

"I haven't told her yet, baby."

At the familiar voice, my heart jumped almost painfully inside my chest.

Jefferson was standing in the doorway, exactly where his daughter had been just minutes before.

He was looking at Grace with love and adoration, a lazy smile on his lips. He looked far better than the last time I saw him, happier. He was dressed in dark again, and I found myself admiring how the colour contrasted against his creamy skin. Just like before, a scarf was wrapped around his neck, hiding the scar I knew was there.

Then he looked at me.

I was scared that he would be closed off; that he wouldn't want to look at me or to talk to me, our first encounter in this land was still fresh in my mind. I still remembered how he'd acted when we met in his house, how he was cold and unattached to me before admitting how he actually felt.

But none of that happened now.

His smile was still intact, leaving me breathless in a way that I haven't experienced in way too many years. His eyes still held love and adoration, making my heart feel like it was about to explode. His smile was so perfect, so genuine and full of joy...

"Hello, Artemis."

"Hi." I breathed out.

Grace had a big bright smile on her face, a smile that seemed to brighten not only her face but the whole room too. She seemed like she wanted to stay and watch us, that big smile all too present on her face, but she was a smart child; she'd always been.

So she excused herself, and left the room, leaving me alone with Jefferson.

For the longest while, there was only silence between us. A comfortable silence that I longed so much for, the comfort and the warmness that I remembered, the beautiful indescribable feeling of just being with him. His eyes smiled down at me, a genuinely happy smile that made my whole heart swell.

I smiled too.

His eyes were watching me, looking at my face into my eyes and reading me as if I were an open book to him. In a way I've always been. I took my own time watching him too, a feeling beginning on my chest as I took him in. A feeling I've nearly forgotten completely.

Happiness.

My body craved his; my fingers craved to be intertwined with his, his hand on my cheek, his lips on mine. The warmness of his body against mine…

My heart craved his smile, his laugh; I craved to see his sleepy yet joyful eyes in the mornings, the gentleness he always took with both Grace and I, the way he laughed...

I craved him completely. I wanted him back; I wanted to be with him once again, to be loved by him, to be happy at his side once again. I missed my best friend, my lover. I missed him greatly, more than I ever dared to admit to anyone else besides my lovely Grace and my closest friends.

"You came back for Grace," I finally broke the silence. "Good. It was a good decision."

I gave him a significant look as I took a seat on the edge of the bed. He joined me instantly, sitting so close to me that I could almost brush shoulders with him. I couldn't keep the smile off my face, and apparently he couldn't either.

This encounter was so different to the one we had a while ago on his house, but yet so similar. I knew him enough to now he was still a little hesitant to be here with me, with Grace. But he was trying, I could see it. And his happiness, it was so genuine and so brilliant.

"I was fearing you'd hurt me if I didn't," he teased, giving me his brilliant smile, his eyes twinkling.

I was embarrassed when I felt my cheeks burning, as I were a teenager with a crush instead of the grown up woman I was, the grown up woman who was currently talking to her old flame.

"You know me so well," I smiled fondly.

"However, I didn't just come back for Grace." Jefferson said, abruptly looking away from me. "I also came to thank her adoptive parents for taking care of her all those years. It's you I can never thank enough; you've done so much for our Grace."

His words send a wave of warmness and contempt at me. Our Grace.

"I love Grace, Jeff. You know that," I gave him a gentle look, feeling extremely weird for using that facial expression as Artemis with someone else than Grace and Belle. "I would do that and so much more for her."

His hands came to rest on my cheek, the skin contact sending a wave of electricity through my whole body, a wave of electricity that was warm and comforting and everything I ever wanted and missed greatly. I couldn't help but lean on his touch, a lazy smile on my lips.

He seemed like he was going to say something, anything. Anything could fuel my love for him in that moment. Yet he stopped himself. I could see how he thought about something else, something that was, apparently, eating his mind away.

"Why were you talking to Grace as if you were saying goodbye?" he suddenly asked, his eyes searching mine with a desperation that I couldn't really understand. "You surely can't be thinking of leaving with Rumplestiltskin again, are you?" Another idea struck him, and he seemed to swallow. "Or is it with James you're leaving?"

I wasn't surprised to know he knew about my infuriation as Melanie with James. What truly surprised me was that he would go as far as to even believe that I could ever feel some sort of love towards James.

Doesn't he know my heart still belongs to him?

"Didn't you know I would come for you too?" His words made my heart jump, my hopes rising "Of course, that young fellow looks like a good choice, a good man..."

I voiced my thoughts to him."You're being ridiculous, Jefferson," I scoffed, not missing the way his eyes suddenly gleamed at my words. "My love...my love for you- my feelings for you- hadn't changed, not one bit." I bit my lips. "I can never leave as long as you are here, not willingly at least. My feelings bound me to you, it's not healthy..."

"When has out love been healthy?" Jefferson mused. "It can't be healthy this obsession I have for you. I've never met someone so in love with someone else as I am with you. This love is...too much. It's obsessive."

"It's always been like that," I whispered, not knowing how to take his words. "But it made us happy, even as we consider it to be maddening and obsessive, it made us extremely happy. You..." I stopped myself, but then gradually continued as I found my strength. "You made me happy."

Jefferson smiled gently at me, his hand lowering from my face to my own hand and intertwining his fingers with mine, once again making my heart swell.

"My dear goddess, you are the definition of happiness to me. I can't begin to describe how immensely happy you've made me over the course of the years."

I had a bad feeling about how this conversation was turning. I had the most horrible nagging sensation that this would end up taking a bad turn, that I would not like the ending of this.

It scared me more than anything else ever had.

"It's funny, you know..." I chuckled, looking down at our intertwined fingers. "Even after all this time, I'm still bewitched by you. You fascinate me in a way that I can't begin to describe. You still make me immensely happy. It's ridiculous actually, how much I still feel for you; how I still can get happy just by seeing you..."

He sucked in a breath, making me look back at him. His blue eyes were searching mine, searching for something that I was more than willing to give him. "Do you still love me, Artemis?"

The question made my heart race.

I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at him. "Haven't you been listening to all I've been saying to you? I thought it was clear, I thought you could read between the lines as you always did. Jefferson, I'm still in love with you. I've never stopped being in love with you."

I was as nervous as I had been the first time I admitted my feelings for him. Yet I had no idea why.

He seemed almost surprised, yet grateful. "I needed to hear those words; I thought I was simply letting my hopes get the best of me."

His words sparkled my hope. "Really, now?" I muttered, my heart thumping so loud inside my chest that I couldn't listen to my own words. "Why would that be?"

Please, please, please...let this be what I think it is.

"I'm in love with you, Artemis. I know I'm not the best boyfriend you could ever wish for; I know I'm not enough, I'm not even close to being enough and worthy of your love. But if there's one thing, just one thing that I can assure you with is this, this love that I feel for you. I'm completely in love with you. Always will be."

"You are enough," I whispered, feeling my cheeks get wet with the tears I couldn't hold any longer. "You've always been enough for me."

Always was such a long time, and we were so young.

He took my face on his hands, his touch soft and gentle on my skin. I grabbed his hands, sliding my hands over his until I stopped at his upper arms, which I gripped softly.

"Always and forever." He whispered.

I sucked in a breath, the reminder of the oath we made a long time ago making my heart swell with love and hope. I nodded wildly on his hands, seeing him staring at me in that loving way that made my knees all weak and wobbly. I was overwhelmed in a good way, I couldn't even breath.

"Always and forever." I breathed.

He leaned closer to me until our foreheads were touching. I inhaled deeply, my heart still thumping loudly in my chest, a warm contempt feeling spreading all over my body.

Before he could kiss me, I wrapped my hands around his neck, hiding my face on the crook of his neck. He hugged me back tightly, making all my fears disappear.

Everything disappeared, there was only Jefferson and I.

"Goddess...let's go home?"

It sounded like a question, and as we separated, I saw the nervousness on his eyes. It was endearing, actually, how even though we've been together for years we could still feel like this was the first time, like this was our first day as a couple.

I caressed his cheeks, my fingers tracing the outline of his jaw line, and then his lips. He kissed my fingers lovingly, making me smile. His eyes were almost sad and hopeful, his whole look being almost a puppy dog look. I could help but lean forwards and kiss his cheek.

"Let's go home." I nodded, my voice soft and full of my love for him.

He leaned forwards to kiss my lips, but we were interrupted when Grace burst into the room, making us laugh at her obvious eavesdropping. She jumped on our arms, making me chuckle once again as Jefferson kissed her forehead and I kissed her cheek.

"Let's go home," Grace repeated our words happily.

It took a year to defeat the evil ex-genie.

As it was to be expected, the heroes won; Aladdin and Jasmine fought bravely side by side with all their friends and kingdom. They lost Rajah, Jasmine's best friend and pet tiger, but as much as she was grieving him, she was happy that it was finally over.

Abu and Iago were alongside Aladdin, who was keen on finding the young child that had sided with Jafar.

They searched for a week before finding her. The young blonde child was alone in a street, silent tears falling from her cheeks as she hugged herself to try and warm her cold limbs.

The desert was hot in the day, yet in the nights it was colder than any other place she's ever been at.

When she saw the Sultan's boyfriend appear in front of her, she seemed for once truly afraid. Her master was dead, she'd seen his decaying body by the river, and now she was sure they would kill her for aiding the villain.

She didn't even run, she simply looked down, as if accepting her fate, and closed her eyes. She opened them abruptly when she felt something warm sliding up her shoulders, warming her up. One of them, not Aladdin but one of the other two males in his company, had given her a blanket for the cold.

"Don't be afraid," Aladdin said gently, kneeling in front of her to be her height. "We're not going to hurt you."

Surprise shone on the girl's face, making them look at each other pitifully and with sympathy. Iago knelt too, quickly followed by Abu, who had one hand tightly wrapped in Iago's calloused hand.

"What's your name?" Abu asked gently.

The girl suddenly swallowed, a lost look on her eyes. A look that made Aladdin suck in a breath and look a way, recognizing the emptiness and the fear and how lost it felt to be completely alone in the world.

"I don't have a name," The young child admitted. Her voice was soft and melodious, yet a little hoarse for lack of use.

"Jafar didn't name you?" Iago frowned.

He thought that since his former master spent a whole year with the child, he'd at least been polite enough to call her something else than just girl or child. Anything, anything would've been better than just child or girl.

The girl shook her head. "He said he loved me..." Her voice broke suddenly, and she wiped her tears furiously. "But he was lying. He didn't love me. No one loves me."

She usually was stronger than that; having learn to hide her feelings, but she was so weak and so hungry that she couldn't care about it anymore.

Aladdin took her in arms, and for once she was too tired to fight back. She let them take her away, to where she wasn't sure, but if they were taking her to her death, and then she was more than ready for it.

"We're not going to hurt you," Aladdin told her gently as he carried her towards his magic carpet. "You're okay, don't be scared. We're going to take care of you."

His voice was reassuring and completely full of gentleness. She felt at ease for maybe the first time in years, but then Jafar words came back to her.

Love doesn't exist.
Happiness is not real. Neither is gentleness.
No one will ever love you.

"It's okay, my dear child..." Iago whispered to her gently, taking her hand and squeezing comfortably. He knew perfectly well the effect Jafar had on people. "He's not here anymore; it's going to be all right. He was lying; all he ever did was lie. Don't believe for one second anything he said to you..."

But it wasn't that easy.

"What would you like to be called?" Aladdin asked gently. At the child's curious gaze he continued. "What name do you like?"

The girl seemed lost. No one had ever asked her to think of a name for herself, none had they been so gentle and nice to her as Aladdin was being. He was completely different of what Jafar described. He didn't look like a street rat, or like a buffoon. He looked...nice.

"I don't know," she said quietly.

"Mmm..." Abu and Iago shared a look, both of them thinking along the same lines. "What about Diana? It's a beautiful name."

Aladdin looked at the child, who was thinking this through, unable to hide her emotion after someone showed her kindness and was even searching a name for her.

"It's not Arabic, as you might have noticed..." Iago quickly explained. "It's the Roman name for-"

"Artemis," Abu continued for him, ignoring his annoyed glance at his interruption. "We figured Artemis is too harsh for such a innocent looking chid as you. So Diana came to mind."

The child frowned suddenly. If she remembered correctly, Artemis was the Greek name of a goddess or something like that, and Diana was the Roman name to the same goddess.

Aladdin smiled at them, unable to keep the happiness off his stare as he saw the connection his best friend had with their former enemy. Iago and Abu were closer than they would like to admit, even sometimes seeming to read each other's minds, as he and the child noticed when they searched for a name for her.

"It's a pretty name," Aladdin said, turning back to the child. "What do you say, dear? Do you like it?"

The child didn't really think much of the name, she could only think about the fact that someone bothered to come up with a name for her. Someone thought her enough to have a name of her own, someone...seemed to care.

"I love it," the child breathed. They all smiled at the way her eyes gleamed, at how overwhelmed she looked. It was touching, really.

"Very well, Diana..." Aladdin smiled gently once again. "Let's go home, shall we?"

They were in complete silence for a long time; Diana's hair swiftly moving with the wind as Aladdin's magic carped took them to Jasmine's castle. She examined the three heroes with curiosity, seeing in them what Jafar had long ago denied...they looked happy.

The evil ex-genie had claimed that happiness wasn't real and yet those three heroes looked happy and whole. Complete in a way that the child wasn't. She didn't knew how to describe it, it just was.

"Why are you guys being so nice to me?" Diana asked quietly. "I helped Jafar, I...I've done some terrible things."

It was hard to hear her quiet voice when the carpet was riding more fast now, the wind roaring on their ears. But Aladdin managed to hear her, giving her another of his gentle and genuine smiles.

"Because I know how it feels to be alone in the world," Aladdin said gently to her, softness on his eyes that warmed the little child. "Now you won't have to be alone, you'll be with us- with Abu, with Iago, with Jasmine, with me...You'll be a part of our family."

Family.

Diana swallowed thickly at that, and said quietly. "No one has ever wanted me to be a part of their family."

"That's about to change, Diana." Aladdin smiled at her again, a big wide smile that seemed to lighten up Diana's world. He looked like a happy puppy, she realized. A gorgeous, happy and gentle puppy.

Iago and Abu joined Aladdin in smiling at the small petite child between them in the magic carpet. Overwhelmed by the change of events, yet extremely exuberant at the new perspective of being part of a family, Diana smiled back hesitantly.

"Oh, you're going to love Jasmine," Aladdin sighed happily. "Together we can be a family, how does that sound, Diana?"

"Not just Aladdin and Jasmine," Abu jumped in, wrapping an arm around Iago, who blushed at the sudden public contact in front of someone. "Us too, Iago and me. All of us."

Aladdin nodded. "All of us, Diana. All of us can be a family together."

"That sounds like a dream come true," Diana gasped, her green eyes gleaming with a feeling she never knew, but with time could begin to identify as happiness; tears starting to form on her eyes, tears that she fought bravely to hide but couldn't.

"Look now, Diana dearest," Abu smiled. "We're home."

Just below, the beautiful Kingdom of Agrabah awaited them.