Operation Mongoose: Part 1 & 2

Snow White hummed lightly to herself as she stood in the garden of a castle that had been home to her for years now, not even minding the staining happening to the bottom of her white gown from the grass she was stepping on. She was too happy, too bubbling with joy, to mind anything that day, not even the early hour she'd risen in to get her work done. Dawn had just begun yet there she was, tending the flowers with a wide grin, and how could she be anything less than thrilled?! It was such an exciting day it made her infinitely happy. As was her current task, however small it might be.

There were only two sets of a specific bush growing in the garden of the castle, two bushes that had been requested so many years ago and that had grown large and full over time with careful care. She had debated whether to pluck the white variety of flower growing before her, after all it would fit the theme of the day so much better, but, well, the red really would make the day that much more special.

And she wanted it to be perfect, the small bundle of flowers she was gathering, she had so little she could offer now, but she could make this small gift. She just wanted it to be absolutely perfect for…

"Whatever are you doing up so early?" a voice said behind her.

Snow White nearly squealed despite being 30 years of age as she spun around, beaming when she saw her cousin standing behind her, "Rose!" she cheered, rushing to the older woman and hugging her tightly.

Cousin was…not quite the word she would use to define what she and Rose Red were to each other. Yes, cousins by blood, their fathers were brothers after all. But Rose was so much more than that to her. When her mother, the late Queen Eva, had passed, Rose had truly become like a mother figure to her, especially after her soon-to-be step-mother, a lovely woman named Regina, had disappeared the night before her wedding was to take place.

Rose was older than her by 14 years, and like her, she had lost her mother as well, though not quite as young as she herself had. While Eva had passed when she was a mere 10, Rose's mother had lasted a handful of years after that, Rose well into adulthood. It had devastated Rose, as well as her father, King Ethan, to lose her mother Ilayda, it had hurt even more because she knew that Sirens had a special method of tending their dead, a special ceremony that no one would be able to replicate for the late Queen despite how Ethan had tried.

Ilayda had been a Siren, but her daughter hadn't inherited anything of that, no magic, no music, nothing but a similar coloring to her mother, blonde hair, pale skin, tall and lean, but her eyes were the same green that all the men in their family had, the same green eyes that she herself had.

They had buried the queen in the family mausoleum and hoped that it would be good enough for such a wonderful woman. She wasn't lonely there, for only a few days later, Ethan too had passed of a broken heart. It had nearly crippled Rose to have to endure the loss of her father and mother so close to each other, but she had a responsibility to her people, to rule, and had picked herself up and done what had to be done, become Queen in her father's place.

When her own mother, Queen Eva, had passed, Rose had been there for her, as had Ilayda, but she had always been closer to her cousin than her aunt. Rose had stayed with her, helping her uncle with his daughter, helping the two grieving individuals, for three years, until it appeared that he might marry anew. Rose had been very vocal about her disgust at his next wife being only 18 years old, only 5 years older than his daughter and not even 10 years younger than his niece. Rose had been a staunch opponent of Leopold marrying Regina, and she had quarreled with her cousin most heatedly about it, had accused her of terrible things, like wanting her to be miserable and wanting to be the only one of the two of them to have a mother.

When Regina had disappeared, fingers had turned to Rose, that she had something to do with the girl's escape, but there was no evidence. Leopold had looked for his bride-to-be for only a few months, before he realized that he truly was marrying the woman for the wrong reasons. He wanted to give his daughter a mother instead of because he loved her, and how would that set a good example for his daughter, to not marry for love? Eventually he had called off the search but there had been no more news of Regina since.

Snow had taken longer to get over the loss, but with time she had realized that wanting a mother was not a good enough reason to condemn someone to something as lasting as marriage when there was no love between the two marrying. She had apologized to her cousin for her words, and they had grown into more of a sisterly bond as she grew older.

Rose was everything to her, especially after her father had passed in his sleep mere days before Rose's own parents had passed, which had been a blessing to Snow for a short time. She was of age, 21, when her father passed, which meant she could take the throne herself instead of needing a regent, not that anyone thought her cousin, serving as regent would take advantage of her, but it was better for Snow to take it herself and on her own. It had truly proven how close their little family was when the two brothers passed within a week of each other, despite how it had devastated their daughters, but they made due, honoring their fathers and trying to rule well.

Sadly, one reign came to an abrupt and sorrowful end.

Only 4 years after King Leopold had died, Snow White met a man that she knew in her heart was her true love, a simple shepherd from the country, a boy who bore a striking resemblance to Prince James, son of King Spencer, though both prince and King denied any connection between the two most vehemently. Luckily for Snow, despite his similar appearance to the prince, the shepherd, David, was nothing like the man. Snow had been riding in the woods when her horse had thrown a shoe and had stumbled upon the small cottage and farmland of David and his kind mother. The two had been smitten from first sight and married shortly after.

And therein was the problem.

Snow, as the last heir to Leopold's realm, had a responsibility to wed and produce an heir, but more than that, she was meant to wed a prince, not a shepherd. Her council warned her against it, but she had insisted on marrying the man, citing her father's lesson to marry for love. She had even gone so far, in her anger at what the council, men she had trusted, were suggesting, that she had declared she would rather renounce her crown than marry someone she didn't love. It should have been a testament to her strength, to her will and to her heart...but it had not gone well at all.

The people had revolted, had been outraged that their Queen would be so willing to give up her title and place, that she would turn her back on them so easily for one person. Wasn't the Queen meant to put her kingdom first? Were her people supposed to come above and before anything else? Yet she had been so ready and willing to abandon them for a Shepherd!

Snow had been dethroned as a result.

If the Queen did not want to rule any longer, then do not let her, was the rationale it seemed.

She had fled as her castle was attacked by the people, she and David barely escaping with their lives and fleeing to Rose Red for protection. Rose had taken them in, of course, had provided for them since, food and shelter and clothing, protection. She had come to rely on her cousin for everything after that night. She could still recall how Rose had been willing to go to war, to arrest and punish the people for their actions, but Snow, in her infinite goodness, had begged her cousin not to, to forgive the people as she had. She understood their feeling of betrayal, she had deserved the consequence of their reaction to her words, had declared that she would be Queen no longer if that was what the people truly wanted.

But she had also begged her cousin to watch over her people for her. It was, after all, a part of Rose's kingdom now too. The lands that their fathers had ruled were the result of two kingdoms joining together and when they produced two male heirs, it made sense to allow one to rule one kingdom and the other the next. Now that one kingdom was without rightful heir, it had been integrated back into the original kingdom. Rose Red was declared Queen of two kingdoms.

The people hadn't been happy with that turn of events, but they knew that those of Rose's kingdom favored their queen and no coup or dethroning would happen against her, even with the traitor Snow White seeking asylum there.

Rose had never thought her cousin, so beloved by her people, would be so despised by them merely for the sake of love, but she would protect her cousin with all she had, as she had done her entire life. She hoped, very dearly, that Snow and David would produce a child soon, so that she might declare it heir to Snow's Kingdom as was right, and then declare any child she might have herself the heir to her own.

"You seemed very deeply in thought, Frosty," Rose teased as she pulled away from her cousin's bear hug, snapping herself out of her thoughts as well.

Snow rolled her eyes, "I was making you a gift, Rosie," she shot right back, using nicknames that she knew would irritate her cousin just as 'Frosty' irritated her. She held up the small gathering of red roses she had in her hand, "For your wedding."

THAT was what had her enormously excited, so focused on the red rose bush that she hadn't heard her cousin approach, her cousin was getting MARRIED.

For as long as she could remember, Rose has always been hesitant around men, not wanting to be taken advantage of by those seeking her throne instead of her heart. She guarded it fiercely, so much so that many had feared she wouldn't ever wed. She was past 40 now, almost beyond child bearing years, and had yet to wed.

And then the most amazing thing had happened, five years ago she had met a man that had won her heart. No one had known at all that she'd been courting him, or that he had been courting her. Rose had insisted on secrecy, had wanted her cousin to be secure and loved first, wed and ready for children, before she even considered allowing herself the same happiness. Rose was selfless like that, always looking out for her cousin above herself from the moment the girl had been born.

The first time Snow had even met the man had been at her own wedding, when Rose had appeared with the one person no one had ever thought possible.

Rumpelstiltskin, the Light One, the greatest sorcerer of light magic in the land.

It made sense though, to her at least, if there was one person that would ever be good enough for her cousin, that she would trust with her heart, it would be the paragon of good. She trusted him to be a good person, pure of heart, strong and powerful enough to keep her cousin safe, and in love with her as deeply as Rose was him, someone that would endeavor to see her happy.

It had brought tears to her eyes when she had finally seen her cousin smile, seen her interact with a man that clearly meant much to her. And it had truly made her cry when they had told her how they even met. She had gone to Rumpelstiltskin to make a deal, for her cousin, to help her find her true love. She had had nothing to offer that would matter to the man, he had magic and power and riches and what could she offer him that would earn his help. He was a good man, yes, he would help anyone that needed it, he was a true knight of the realm, a hero, but she was not one to accept charity. If he was going to help her, she was going to find some way to repay him.

Her company had not been what she had expected him to request of her at all. But he had explained that, despite being the Light One, it was a lonely existence. He had been alone for 300 years, never wanting to get close to anyone, especially not since his son had died, not wanting to risk them growing old while he stayed ageless. But he was tired of that, he was tired of people coming to him for something or wanting help without thinking of offering something in return. He always did help, he couldn't abide seeing others suffer, but so many hardly seemed to think of that, of how they took advantage of his kindness and good heart. He didn't fault them, desperation made people eager for help that they so little thought of those that had helped them.

She had been the first person to insist that he ask for something from her in exchange for help in…more years than he wanted to remember.

It had sparked something in him, this woman that was so different that she didn't just expect him to help her nor wanted him to do it for nothing at all. It had endeared her to him all the more that she had come to him for help in a selfless reason, to see her cousin happy instead of some material thing or magical cure to an illness. She was the first person in decades that he found he wanted to get to know, to spend more time around.

And so they had, he would visit her at her castle as often as he liked, they would talk. Sometimes he would take her with him on quests or to show her the beauty of other lands whenever she wouldn't be missed by her kingdom or council. They helped each other, they healed each other of the hurts they hadn't even realized they'd been feeling. And it had blossomed into something beautiful, the connection they shared was just lovely and heartwarming and everything Snow had wanted for her cousin. To find that Rose and Rumpelstiltskin had had a hand in bringing her and David together had been something she would always treasure despite what she might have lost in choosing her true love over her kingdom, it was worth it.

It had taken Rumpelstiltskin a longer time to find David than it should have, given his powers, and the reason for it was just adorable in Snow's eyes, so much so that she couldn't even find it in her to be angry with him for purposefully delaying finding her true love. He had been frightened that, once he found the then-Queen's True Love, that her cousin would cease to spend time with him. That had been their agreement, her company for his help finding her cousin's true love. What would happen when he DID find the man? Would Rose stop speaking to him? Discard him? At first it truly had been that he had had more pressing issues, Ogre Wars and plagues and dangerous magical artifacts to deal with, something about a green woman terrorizing a far away land, that had taken his time away from finding a single man for a Queen. But after he spent more and more time with Rose, Rose not even hounding him about if he was even looking for David but trusting him, he had begun to love her dearly. He had truly been fearful that their relationship would end if he found David.

But he had made a deal and he always kept his end of a bargain, so he had picked himself up by his bootstraps and found the shepherd…and been overjoyed when, instead of leaving him, Rose had kissed him soundly for it.

Had Rumpelstiltskin known that Rose had been waiting for her cousin to find a true love before she could admit her own growing feelings for the Light One, she was ever so sure that the man would have found David instantly so that he wouldn't have wasted so much time. But the way it happened was sweet and perfect and she wouldn't change a thing about it.

It had been the talk of the kingdoms since they had come out together and now they were FINALLY getting married!

Today!

She couldn't wait to see her cousin married to her true love, it was something she had been waiting for since forever.

"Are you excited?" Snow beamed at her.

"Very much so," Rose smiled, "I cannot wait to call Rummy my husband."

Snow nearly snorted at that, no one in all the realms but her cousin would get away with calling the Light One 'Rummy.' But that was alright, no one but Rumpelstiltskin could get away with call her 'his flower,' not even her. Normally Rose hated when people called her a flower, despite her name, because too many people had 'complimented' her on being as delicate as a flower or as lovely as a flower or so many other things that she had come to hate the use of it. But when Rumpelstiltskin said it, she knew it was with love, it was his way of calling her beautiful constantly.

"Nor you my wife," another voice spoke behind them, "My flower."

Rose turned, her smile softening with love as she looked upon her soon-to-be husband, standing before her in his golden, shining armor, "Rummy," but her expression grew more serious when she caught the concerned glint in his eyes, "What is it?"

He sighed, "There is a man in the throne room," he informed them, "Here for you, Snow White," he glanced at her

Snow frowned at that, since she had been deposed, no one came to see her or speak to her, not even other royals that she had considered friends, "Has he said why?"

Rumpelstiltskin nodded, "He claims to have word of Regina."

Snow gasped, a hand flying to her mouth. Even though her father had stopped the manhunt for his wayward fiancé, she had never given up at least putting a word out for information on her, at least while she had been Queen though Rose had continued to keep ears out for word of the woman for her sake. She didn't want the woman to come back to the kingdom if she didn't want to, she had learned her lesson in that. But her father was dead and Regina had seemed so kind and she was SO worried about her. She just wanted to know if Regina was ok, if she was even alive, she just wanted to apologize, she wanted to be forgiven for the mess she'd made of her life. She couldn't help but feel like it was all her fault that Regina had fled to a life unknown. Truly they didn't know if she was in another kingdom or what she was doing for livelihood or if she'd even found happiness elsewhere. She just wanted to know the woman was alright.

Rose straightened at that, drawing herself to her full height as she put her arm around Snow, "Are you certain his knowledge is truth?"

He nodded slowly, "I sense no falsehood off him."

Snow White nodded, glancing at her cousin for permission as was proper since this was NOT her kingdom and she had no right to call court any longer, "Rose?"

Rose gave a gentle nod, "If you wish, Snow."

Snow took a breath at that, reaching out, gripping Rose's hand as they headed off to the throne room, not even noticing the small, loving kiss that Rumpelstiltskin bestowed upon her cousin's hand as she passed him, the man walking behind them.

~8~

It almost appeared as though court had been called in the throne room, had it not been for the lack of a crowd. All the most important people to Snow White were gathered there as they knew how important word of Regina was and, to be honest, they had not heard tell of the woman in a very long time. Seven Dwarves that had run into her and Charming during their escape to Rose and had helped them were there, as was an old woman and her young granddaughter, two who had been brought to trial for wolf attacks and pardoned by Snow White due to it being a misfortune of birth as a werewolf instead of malicious will; they had heard of the anger in the villages and come to warn Snow and David of the coming attack. David, of course, was standing just beside the thrones, staring at his wife as she approached, his entire focus on her and if she was alright, understanding that she was still very attached and concerned about Regina.

The man that had summoned Snow White was there as well, standing in the middle of the room, but his gaze was locked on someone he seemed entirely too shocked to see before him.

There were only two other people there waiting for Snow to arrive with Rose and Rumpelstiltskin, one was a blonde woman in a long blue gown…who was glaring at the man with venom in her eyes.

"Emma?" Rose called as they entered the room, seeing the woman staring down the pale man, "Are you well?"

Emma. Emma Swan. She was an enigma, someone they were sure shouldn't exist, but somehow she did. It had been only a few weeks ago that they had been gathered for a small picnic near a lovely (siren-free) lake when a storm had suddenly appeared along with a swirling portal that had opened up above the waters. A blur of yellow and red fell out of it, right into the lake.

Had it not been for the instant reaction of Rose's Captain of the Guard, Killian Jones, the second person in the room with them all, who had accompanied them as escort, jumping into the water and swimming to the fallen woman, she would have died.

She had revealed her name was Emma Swan. That had been all for a long while. She had tried not to say more, but she so clearly wanted them to trust her that she had let slip a few details.

She was from the future, according to her, which might be the truth as neither Rumpelstiltskin nor Rose had sensed any lie on her. She said that she had been sent through a time portal to the past, to prevent a great tragedy. But she couldn't say more than that as even a small detail change in her being there could alter the future more than it should be. She was to be as silent and invisible as possible, not mentioned nor talked about to any outside the group that had seen her appear, almost like a ghost.

They had, of course, assigned Captain Jones to be her personal guard, despite his protests of having to much to do and see to to babysit some wayward blonde. But they weren't completely naïve as to let her roam around without someone watching, they knew she wasn't lying but she wasn't telling the full truth either, so they wanted to watch her. It hadn't been till Red Riding Hood had spoken to him in private to...persuade him...that he'd given in and agreed without fuss. Such was the ways of a woman when dealing with the man courting her, she had Captain Jones wrapped around her finger in a way that almost seemed to pain Emma. But Rose had forced herself not to speak of what she noticed in Emma's face when Captain Jones and Red were together, she was intent to see Emma as merely someone to be watched. Though it was difficult to do when Snow and David were both lobbying that Jones should be a guard as well as a spy and keep her safe. They just couldn't help but want the girl safe. They didn't know why but looking at her, something tugged at their hearts and there was an almost instinctive need to keep her from harm.

Emma had seemed wary of them, more so than the others, seemed to gravitate towards spending time around Rumpelstiltskin and Rose than the two that had argued for her safety. They just assumed that, in Emma's future, she was close to them and that was fine. She asked them odd questions though, something about a wooden boy called Harry or Henry or other such nonsense, but she quickly stopped when she seemed to realize they had no idea what she was talking about.

She seemed very, very angry about it, though she never said why.

They had done as requested, made no mention of her to anyone outside the group that had been there when she'd fallen. So it was odd to Rose that the man that summoned them seemed to be looking at Emma as though she couldn't possibly be there, as though HE recognized her. Emma, for her part, was showing equal signs as she glared at him, though she noted it was the same look she had gotten when they had shook off her questions about the wooden Henry boy.

"I'm fine," was Emma's curt reply.

"You," Snow called, reaching David and taking his hand, turning to face the man that had been brought in as Rose and Rumpelstiltskin moved to her left, Rose taking her place on her throne as the Light One stood beside it, resting an arm on it in support, "You know something about Regina?"

"We found him in the Queen's Woods, Snow," the grumpy dwarf stepped forward, "With this," he offered her what looked to be a pin with paper encased in an odd glass disc, the words 'Long Live Regina' written on it.

"Regina…" Snow breathed, looking up at the man, "What's your name?"

"I…Isaac, ma'am," the man stuttered, still looking at Emma, growing paler the longer Emma glared at him.

"And you know Regina?" Snow sounded so hopeful that Rose winced when Isaac spoke again.

"Not exactly," he admitted, flinching as he looked back at Snow White's crumpling face, "But um…I can tell you that she is in danger."

"How do you know this?" David asked this time, his arms going around Snow in support as she trembled at the thought of Regina being in danger.

"A magical book told me everything about this land and the events to come," Isaac informed, "There is a boy, he's just arrived through a portal. He fancies himself a hero but his presence will mean Regina's end. Somebody has to stop him before he finds her."

Rose frowned at that information and looked at Emma, "Through a portal, you say?"

Emma glanced at her, noticing the implication, the question of whether this was the great evil she had claimed she was sent back to stop, and back to Isaac as the man took a step forward, nodding, "Yes. His name is Henry."

"Henry?" Rumpelstiltskin blinked at that, "I saved a young man named Henry from an Ogre," he remarked thoughtful, "He did not seem a threat then."

"I can assure you he is very much a threat," Isaac insisted, "He will destroy everything," he looked at Snow White who had grown more distressed, "He'll be the cause for Regina's death."

"We have to find him," Snow turned to Rose, a plea in her voice, knowing she had no power any longer to command troops or guards, but Rose did, "We need to find him and…and bring him here, keep him away from Regina and…"

"I'll go," Emma stepped up, her voice hard and cold, though Rose noted she appeared to be directing it more at Isaac than the situation, "It's what I did, back home, I found people."

"Would you?" Snow breathed, relieved.

"I um, I don't think that's wise," Isaac cut in, nearly smirking when he saw them all look over at him, "You shouldn't trust her with him."

"And why not?" David frowned.

Isaac's smirk grew far too pleased, "She's his mother."

~8~

Henry was nearly out of breath as he ran through a small village in the Enchanted Forest. If he had known it was going to be that hard to keep up with a running horse, he would have found one of his own…or tried to bring his bike along for his trip there. Not that he had planned the trip into Isaac's new book, 'Heroes and Villains,' but hindsight was 20/20.

Oh he'd had the most insane day of his life, topping nearly dying from a poisoned apple and breaking a curse on a town. He had woken up in Storybrooke just after the Author's magic had struck…and been very alarmed to find that he was alone and the town was abandoned. That wasn't right, it couldn't be right! The Author was meant to help give Gold's heart a boost and cure it, not…not whatever had happened. He'd felt so angry after the concern for where everyone was had worn off. Because he could guess what happened, he was a smart kid and he knew enough about magic that it didn't take a genius to work out really.

Isaac had double crossed them, he'd done something more in the book than just fix Gold's heart. And he doubted very much that the man had told Piper or Gold about it, they NEVER would have gone through with a plan like this if they had known that he would be abandoned during it. Piper especially would have killed the Author for leaving him behind had she known he would be. He didn't blame them for not knowing though, they both had way, WAY too much on their plate with Gold's heart dying in his chest. The last he heard from Emma as she and August had headed off from the shop, Gold was in a very bad way, the last few seconds of his heart beating before the magic struck up. With the stress Piper was under and the pain Gold was in, it was understandable that something had slipped by.

They were the experts on desperation, and he knew that a situation like that would make even the Dark One and Pied Piper desperate enough to miss something.

And he knew, without a doubt, that when everything returned to normal, because it would, it HAD to, his grandpa and Aunt P would probably make sure the Author paid for it too.

That was the thing though, he had to get everything back to normal first. He'd managed to track down Isaac at a book signing, confronted him about the story and the magic and how he'd rewritten more than he was supposed to, and even was able to get them both sucked into the story too, into the very last chapter of the book. He'd been nearly left for dead by Isaac's hand to face down an Ogre before Gold, er…Rumpelstiltskin, had saved him.

It was weird, now, to him to see his grandpa as a knight of the realm, the Light One as people called him. He felt like he should be happy that his grandfather was a hero, shouldn't that be what all little boys wanted? Hadn't that been what had driven him away from his mother in the first place, that she was a Villain and he wanted to be a hero? Times had changed, it seemed, he had grown up from that, he understood more, understood it wasn't that simple or clear cut anymore, everyone had the capacity to be good or evil or even bits of both.

And seeing his grandpa like that, it was just wrong, it wasn't who he was, it wasn't him.

Much like his mother wasn't herself either. He'd tracked down Regina in the middle of the woods, seeming to be living there. It wasn't quite like Snow White's bandit days, she robbed sometimes, yes, but it seemed like she was really trying to make a life for herself in the woods. It made sense, when she was going to run away with Daniel they were going to do the same, live simple lives as peasants or make a home in the woods and survive off the earth. She only robbed when she needed something, though she seemed very angry that Robin Hood seemed to steal everything, which made it hard to get anything. She had seemed to pick up Snow's skill with a bow though, which, also, made sense if she needed to hunt for meat.

For a moment he'd thought Isaac had been completely unoriginal and just swapped Regina's story for Snow White's, that Snow would be the new Evil Queen, that is until he'd followed her through the woods to her latest heist and found the woman being confronted with none other than the Wicked Witch of the West, green skin and all.

She had been planning to rob a carriage, and been truly frightened when the door opened to reveal Zelena smirking at her.

Apparently she had seen in her crystal ball that Regina was going to plan the heist and wanted to finally end her little sister's miserable existence.

Regina hadn't seemed surprised when Zelena called her that, had just kept trying to apologize for something he wasn't sure what. It wasn't till Robin Hood appeared on a horse and saved Regina that Henry even breathed freely again, waiting till Zelena had disappeared in a puff of green with an angry screech before rushing after his mother. He'd managed to follow them to a town and was following the whispers of the people towards a tavern.

He glanced in, heaving in relief to see Regina and Robin Hood inside, the two sitting at a table, mugs before them, talking. Regina seemed to be moved by what Robin was saying and, from what he could see, Robin had the same look in his eyes, the same expression on his face, that the man always got when he would look at Regina in Storybrooke. He must be talking about love! This must be the part in the book where they started to fall in love!

He was just about to grin at that…when the duo turned as someone called out to Robin, the man getting up and hugging Maid Marian...wait, what?!

He blinked, even went so far as to rub his eyes, completely sure that he wasn't seeing what he thought he was. Marian was dead. No one could bring back the dead. It was why Regina wasn't with Daniel.

He had managed to read enough of the book to know that a lot of it had happened as it originally had. Regina has saved a very young Snow White from a runaway horse, had been proposed to by Leopold, and Cora had accepted, had torn out Daniel's heart and crushed it. But one difference was that Regina had banished her mother and this time NOT gone through with the marriage but run away. She had been living in the woods for years now, living a quiet life of a peasant, a life she would have shared with Daniel, keeping quiet about who she really was. It wasn't till a short while ago that she had started to try and save money to leave the land.

He hadn't gotten to why, but he could guess that it had something to do with Zelena. Clearly she had confronted Regina a time or two before, had revealed who she was. If this Zelena was anything like she had been in Storybrooke, she probably targeted Regina because she was envious of what Regina had in growing up a princess, was angry at what Regina had given up in denying Leopold and refusing to be Queen. If she was anything like the Zelena of Storybrooke…she wanted to ruin her sister's life.

His eyes, he was sure, couldn't have gotten any wider than they did as another thought hit him. If Zelena was like she had been in the original story…if she was using the same tricks…then the woman being held in Robin's arms as his mother looked on with a growing expression of heartbreak…was Zelena too! She was using the same magic to appear as Marian here! She was STILL trying to ruin her sister's life!

Because that couldn't be the real Marian, she was dead. It had to be an impostor, and the only person that would even want to take her appearance, or anyone else's appearance to get close to a simple thief, was someone that wanted to hurt Regina and had magic and knew who Robin Hood was to her. And that was only Zelena. A woman that had green skin would especially need to look like someone else to not be suspected of things. And if she still had magic, which he knew she did, then she probably had been digging into Regina's life, she probably learned about Robin Hood being her soulmate some how, as a way to find a method to truly devastate her sister.

It was funny, it seemed like heroes were getting short changed and villains were getting everything here. Zelena was making out like a bandit, so to speak, in getting both. She was STILL a villain, still had her magic, and was still able to ruin Regina's life...which was her happy ending in a way.

He was just about to charge in there, shouting the truth whether it was smart or not, when he ended up jumping back as Regina half-ran out of the tavern.

"Oh!" she gasped, when she nearly tripped over him, "You again," she huffed, rolling her eyes and pushing past, walking on quickly.

"Mom!" Henry rushed after her, trying to ignore how she brushed him off, reminding himself she had no memories of him as her son.

"You have to stop calling me that. How do you keep finding me anyway?"

"I followed you," he shrugged, "I figured you'd end up in Sherwood Forest with Robin Hood and…"

"I hate to break it to you," she cut in, "But Robin's already found his true love. And they're getting married today."

Henry didn't even bother to look back at the tavern Regina was gesturing to, he wasn't sure he wanted to see any interaction between Robin and Zelena while they were in private, "No, no, no, no. This is all wrong. That's Zelena," he tried to explain, "It's got to be!"

Regina let out a bitter scoff, "No, it's not."

"She's got magic, she can look like anyone!"

"Trust me," Regina muttered, "Zelena is NOT that good an actress. She would never be able to pull off those wide innocent eyes."

And why on earth would Zelena go THAT far as to have entered a courtship with a man that, up until today, SHE had never met nor had any inclination she would love or be loved by? That made no sense at all, no that was a real woman that really loved Robin Hood and who he loved in return, not her insane and jealous Sister hell bent on ruining her life just because she'd been born and kept while Zelena had been abandoned.

Henry bit his tongue from lashing out that yes she could, and yes she had, and she'd fallen for it once before too, instead going with, "No, you have to listen to me…"

"I heard enough," Regina huffed, "And look, I have to go."

Henry nearly ripped his hair out for how stubborn his mother was being, but had to remind himself he had gotten his stubbornness from her, and ran ahead of her, trying to block her path, "You can't tell me that you didn't feel anything when you met Robin Hood," Regina was silent, making him smile, "See, that's proof. He's your true love!"

"No," she sighed, "It's proof that I'm not the kind of person who gets a happy ending," she looked down, muttering, "I'll never have true love," to herself more than him, before realizing she'd said it aloud and glaring at him, "But you. You gave me the worst thing you can give anyone…hope. Now, I'd like to get far enough away that I don't have to hear Robin and Marian's wedding bells proclaim their love."

"Wait," Henry quickly moved to the side as she tried to sidestep him, "Did you say wedding bells?"

"Yes," Regina huffed, "Now please, let me be."

"Bells!" he moved to the other side, cutting her off again, "From the end of the book," he gestured wildly, trying to remind her of the book he had showed her earlier, a copy of Isaac's, also recalling his words from when they entered the story, when the bells tolled everything would be permanent, "That's what he was talking about. Those bells, this wedding…it's our last chance to stop this from becoming real forever!"

"It already IS real."

"Not yet," he insisted, "We have to stop this wedding!"

Regina sighed, "You seem like a nice boy. And clearly you believe all this...nonsense…" she paused, thinking of something he'd mentioned when he first tracked her down, "Didn't you say I was your adoptive mother? That you have another mother somewhere, named, uh, Emma? If you want help, maybe you should start by finding her."

"I tried," he admitted, "She wasn't in the book. And if she were, believe me, you'd know. She's the most powerful sorceress there is!"

"The only sorceress in this land is Zelena."

"Oh she's more powerful than her," Henry smiled, thinking of his Mother, "She has, uh, special magic."

"Special magic?"

"In our world, she was called 'the Savior,'" he watched Regina's face carefully, but there was no sign of recognition, "She was, well, she also had these…quirks," he couldn't think of a better word, "Because of Aunt P, remember her? The Pied Piper?" Regina's face was still blank, he knew he'd mentioned Piper to her though, "Well, Emma got some magical mojo from her too, really small scale things though, Siren magic and…"

"Siren magic?" Regina frowned, before shaking her head, "No one here with that magic either," she quickly tried to move past him, but Henry caught how her eyes flitted away to the side, unable to look him in the eye.

"Mom, no," he moved into her path one more time, "I know that face. What aren't you telling me?"

Regina sighed, "The only Siren around here was Queen Ilayda," she explained, "But her daughter, Rose Red, she wasn't a Siren at all. And she's certainly no Piper…"

Henry nearly smacked himself for that, he was so used to calling Piper 'Aunt P' or referring to her as Piper that he hadn't even realized he'd never called her Rose Red. That had always been his grandmother's thing, calling her Rose, no one else did it, no one else saw her as Rose Red still, so he hadn't even thought of it. He KNEW Rose Red was Queen here, he'd glimpsed as much in the book as he'd rushed through it, he hadn't quite known she wasn't a Siren though…

"She's very kind, from what I've heard," Regina went on, not noticing his revelation, "She even took in her cousin, Snow White, when she was dethroned."

He frowned, watching her again, "What aren't you saying?"

Regina hesitated, "There was a rumor, once, a while ago, during a terrible storm that appeared for only a few moments, that it was the work of magic. Some claimed they saw a portal open up near Rose Red's castle. One of my friends, she's courting one of the guard captains, she told me that a woman appeared in it."

She honestly wasn't sure if she should tell him that, Red Riding Hood had helped her once when she had gotten dangerously ill during a bad winter, she and her grandmother. In repayment, she had tried to help Red find the cause of wolf attacks in the girl's village, only to discover it was Red herself, unknowing she was a werewolf. She had nearly died when Red attacked her till the girl's grandmother had come to the rescue. She had sworn to keep the girl's secret if she would, in turn, swear to not tell another living soul that they had met, she didn't want anyone, least of all Snow White or Zelena now, to find out where she was or how she was surviving. She was sure Snow would be searching for her in villages and other kingdoms, she wouldn't think to look to the woods and she wanted to keep it that way. Red had agreed with the added stipulation that they be able to meet at least once every few months, so she could be sure her friend was doing ok, promising Snow would never find out about it.

She shook herself from those thoughts, "If you're looking for someone with magic, a person thrown through a portal might be a place to start."

"Isaac lied!" Henry declared, recalling how Isaac had told him that Emma didn't exist in the story, that he had written her out the same way he'd been written out himself, "He couldn't write her out of the story!" especially not when Emma WAS in the fairytale book, right at the end, but she was IN there, "Where can I find her?"

"Last I heard, she was at the Queen's castle, but no one has actually seen her since that storm."

~8~

Rumpelstiltskin walked through the halls of Rose Red's castle, following the tug he felt on his heart towards where he knew his wife-to-be would be, and there she was, standing in a small room filled with portraits of past kings and their families, her arms crossed as she looked up at the last painting of her father.

"Rose," he breathed, moving over to her side and hugging her tightly, glad he'd found her, when she hadn't come to noontime meal he'd been worried, "You've heard?"

She nodded, leaning back against him, "Emma has departed with Captain Jones and Red Riding Hood to apprehend this Henry boy."

It had been decided, after much debate, that Emma WOULD go to find this Henry fellow and escort him to the castle. Snow White and her Shepherd had argued against it, believing Isaac that the boy would bring harm to Regina and believing that Emma would not be in the right frame of mind to force the boy back. They had wanted to send the Dwarves, had hoped that, in doing this, it would show Regina that they meant her no harm and she would come back or at least agree to speak to Snow. She had made the argument that, even if Emma couldn't be trusted, Captain Jones had more than proven his loyalty to the crown and that his betrothed was also an expert tracker and could help, for surely a young boy would leave more tracks than the seasoned Regina had. And, ultimately, she reminded them, it was HER kingdom and HER say as to who went on this quest. She hated to pull rank on her cousin, given the circumstances, but she had to sometimes. Snow was naive in her own way, but she was young still. SHE, on the other hand, was older, wiser, had had more training in what it took to rule a kingdom. She always tried to look at things distantly, logically, without emotion clouding her, as her mother had often helped give her father perspective in such, to make the best decision for a situation.

She just could not shake the feeling that Isaac was lying, that he was trying to manipulate the situation. How could a child bring about the downfall of a woman? Why was this grown man trying to get them to target a young boy? Was this boy truly so crafty that he could not be dealt with by a single man? And wouldn't the best person to find and talk him down BE his mother?

She trusted Emma more than she did this Isaac bloke. Emma had been with them for a while now, had done nothing at all to harm them, had seemed to care about them, even Regina. She had noticed Emma's attention lingering on Captain Jones longer than was proper, had seen the hurt and pain in her eyes when he would smile and spend time with his own courted lass, Red Riding Hood, but she never interfered, never tried to get in the way. It was clear Emma cared for Captain Jones, even if it pained her to do so.

And the way she looked at Snow White and David, it was like she had a hard time being around them. She had noticed Emma could never seem to look them in the eye as they spoke, more from a discomfort than anything. When she had asked once, Emma had admitted that she knew Snow and David from her time, that they were very close to each other, and to have them look through her and not know her, it hurt. No matter if she had been at odds with and upset with the other thems, it still hurt how they looked at her HERE. She had to wonder if Emma felt the same about HER, if they had known each other as well, for Emma seemed to have no difficulty being around her. Emma had been quite honest that yes, they did know each other and care for each other, but that it was different when it came to her. Because, apparently, SHE was different than the one that Emma knew. It was easier for Emma to be around her and even Rummy because they were both so completely different than what she was used to, it was almost like they were new people that just shared the face of people she knew.

Emma had said that, honestly, it was more than a little creepy to her, to see them acting how they did, but she hadn't elaborated as to what that was.

"You made the right decision, Rose," he murmured in her ear, "A boy could not possibly be such a threat."

"Peter Pan was," she reminded him.

"He was not a boy," his grip around her tightened at the reminder of his father. It had been a truly devastating battle between him and the man, but he had come out victorious in the end, the realm was safe, as was his beloved.

"No," she could admit to that, "Still, I cannot shake that Isaac has more behind what he says than just a simple care for Regina."

"You'd be right," a voice spoke behind them, making them spin around, Isaac wincing as he was thrown back from a blast of magic from Rumpelstiltskin in defense, though he pushed himself to his feet, "There IS more going on."

"What?" Rumpelstiltskin demanded, frowning at the man, not liking how he'd managed to sneak up on them.

"I didn't just come here to warn you about the threat to Regina," he agreed, "I came here to warn YOU as well, the both of you," he looked between them, "Your happiness is in danger."

"From a child?" Rose scoffed, not believing him. If this boy, this Henry, truly was Emma's child, she had a hard time believing he was a threat to anything.

"Yes, actually," Isaac nodded, "He's on a mission to see that Regina finds her happy ending. If he succeeds, everything you have will be destroyed. Not to mention what I have."

"Nonsense," Rumpelstiltskin shook his head, "How can some stranger's actions affect our life?"

"Because your happiness, your entire life, the family you two have built, the kingdom you have," he looked at Rose more for that, "It's not real. I know because I am the one who created it with magic and it is all about to crumble. Regina's true love is about to marry another. She's going to try and stop the wedding. You cannot let her succeed. You have to kill her."

Rose stiffened at that, "You sent Emma after the boy, so there would be no one around Regina to help her."

"I did," Isaac agreed, "I hoped to do that. I don't know if Emma will allow it. She's probably gung-ho to help him help Regina too."

"Regina should have her happy ending after the life she has led," Rose shook her head, "How would her being happy end our own?"

"The magic I used will break if she shares true love's kiss with her soulmate," Isaac warned, "True Love's Kiss can break any magic, all of this was done to take away the happy endings of the heroes, if a hero gets their happy ending, it's over, it will end everything I have done for you. You will find yourselves dying," he looked at Rumpelstiltskin, "Your child dying," and back at Rose Red, "Your sons have already been lost, your family broken and scattered, fractured and at odds with each other, your kingdom in flames, all your allies against you. You will constantly be seen as villains to everyone around you. THAT is the world I saved you from, that is the misery I helped you escape. I gave you this, your happy ending, as humans," he emphasized at Rose Red, letting her know that in the other world she had most certainly inherited something from her mother, "As heroes," and to Rumpelstiltskin as well.

"No!" Rumpelstiltskin roared, pulling his sword from its scabbard, "You've been sent here to try to corrupt us!"

Isaac held up his hands, backing up slowly, "You have already been corrupted. Before all of this, you were both villains, maybe the worst of them all. You…" he frowned at Rose Red, "You were a monster that parents warned their children about, you were a terror villages warded against, a creature with a heart of stone and no regret," he almost smiled when he saw Rose step back at that, "And you…the Light One," he scoffed at that, eyeing Rumpelstiltskin, "You were the DARK One, filled to the brim with centuries of dark power, selfish and cruel, delighting in the desperation of others, always willing and ready to take advantage of their needs. And that's why you had me use magic to help you, so I rewrote your story. Your heart couldn't take the evil in it any longer, it was failing," his gaze flickered as Rumpelstiltskin put his hand on his heart almost unconsciously, "Deep down, you know I'm right," he insisted, "You're not really a hero, neither of you are, and if you don't kill Regina and keep her from her happy ending, then everyone will know too, they'll remember, and they won't be happy. Neither of you are strong enough to stop them coming for you, and they will, with pitchforks and torches and weapons you can't even begin to imagine. They will be out for blood," ok, he doubted that last part, doubted it would get THAT extreme, but anything to scare them, "I know you'll make the right choice," he looked between them, "You always do, to protect your family."

And with that, he turned and strode out of the room, a smirk on his face, knowing he'd gotten through to them. They were villains, they were selfish and greedy, they would do anything to preserve their happy ending once it had been handed to them on a silver platter. For Gold to have a happy ending, he needed two things, his heart cured, for darkness to never have touched it which meant he needed to be a hero from the start, and for Piper to be happy. For Piper to be happy, she needed her family together and safe, at peace with and accepting of her. The only way for that to happen was for her to not be a Siren, that was what had driven a wedge between her and Snow White in the first place.

He had to be creative in how he got his own revenge against the heroes while still giving the villains what they wanted though, especially when he wanted the heroes to suffer and a large part of a particular happy ending was for a certain hero to not be harmed. It was a tricky choice, whether to condemn Snow White and let Piper have her revenge, or to erase that feud and have them reconciled. It would be far, FAR too easy to just let the heroes suffer openly, to have Piper target Snow White in revenge just as the Evil Queen had done. And that story had already BEEN done, no...he wanted something fresh.

Here, Piper held all the power over Snow White, she was the most beloved, SHE was the Queen, she held Snow's life in her hands. Snow had lost EVERYTHING. She had lost her crown, her parents, her kingdom and people, the respect they had for her, she had thrown all of it away on love, as she had been willing to do in her true past as well. She hadn't cared about the lives of others so long as it helped her get her Charming back, it carried over. A few other little details here and there and Snow White was as good as a peasant and nearly hunted down, a pariah among everyone else outside this castle, just as it had been for Rose Red being half-siren as a child. It was only through the benevolence and care of her cousin that she survived and had a home and food. And now, Emma being there almost made up for the threat to his story playing out and becoming real. With Emma there, another Emma couldn't exist, couldn't be born. Snow White and her Charming shepherd would never be able to have a child so long as Emma existed here, the magic wouldn't allow it.

It was bittersweet, to take everything Snow had ever had and cause her to lose it, to give Piper the entire power over her cousin's life and happiness, in a way he knew Snow White could have had and somewhat had as well. Now Piper was the one controlling Snow's fate and protection, just as Snow had given up on Piper's.

And Villains did love their power, he was sure, certain really, that neither Rose Red nor Rumpelstiltskin would give this world up.

Though, if there was one thing he'd learned from villains, it was to always have a Plan B, and lucky for him...he knew exactly where to find it...

~8~

"Found me again, have you?" Rose Red murmured as she stood before a wide window this time, mere hours later, looking out at the courtyard of her castle where Snow was directing everyone in preparation for the wedding. It was to begin in only a few short minutes, the sun just beginning to ready to set. She was ready for it too, a white gown fitted to her, a veil in her hair, a small bouquet of red roses that Snow had made resting on the windowsill before her. A gift she knew her cousin desperately wished she could give a better version of. But Snow truly had nothing to her name anymore, and she did appreciate even the smallest of thoughts and gestures from her cousin in return.

"I will always find you," Rumpelstiltskin remarked as he joined her, "It is rather bad luck to see the bride in her gown before the wedding, but I could sense you needed me."

Rose smiled at that, turning to look at him, "I feel conflicted."

"Not about the wedding, I should hope," he grinned.

She shook her head, her smile reassuring him it wasn't that, "Emma, Henry, what that man said," she sighed.

He grew serious at that, stepping up to her and taking her hands, "Whatever you want me to do, Rose, you need only ask and I shall. If you wish me to find them and return them here, or stop Regina, or...anything," the implication of what that encompassed wasn't lost on her, "I would do it, for YOU."

"That is just it," she admitted quietly, "I feel as though...anyone else, anyone at all, would ask that of you. That I SHOULD ask it, but..." she seemed to struggle with the words, "I cannot. Emma was...familiar to me, in a way that reminded me of Snow. And Henry is her son, I would not see them harmed over our lives remaining as they are," she looked up at him, "Does that make me selfish in your eyes? That I value their lives over what we have?"

He reached up, gently stroking her cheek with his hand, "You, Rose, have always been the most selfless woman I have ever known. The way you put your family first, you would do anything for them. We know now that Emma is your family in the future."

She nodded slightly at that, thinking of a message, a note she had found when she returned to her rooms after Isaac confronted them, left for her by Emma. She had wanted just a moment to herself, to gather her thoughts, before her maids would rush in to prepare her for the wedding, when she had seen it resting on her bedside table. It was the girl apologizing, because she was going to do exactly as Isaac warned, and help Henry instead of return with him. She had explained that yes, Henry was her son, but Snow White and David were her parents, in the future she came from, which made her family to Rose as well. She apologized for the harm her actions might cause, but truly believed it had to be done, that what was going on had to be stopped.

This was not the right world, this WAS fake, and it had to be set right again, because Isaac had gone back on his word, he had changed things that weren't meant to be changed, for his own selfish gain in being able to sell a good story.

She had stressed, in the letter, she was doing it for Piper too, her Aunt P, as she called the woman, HER. This Piper was herself, was Rose Red in the other world. And what Isaac had done was a betrayal to her and 'Gold,' her Rummy. Because in the other world, she was more Siren than human, and Isaac had torn her family apart in this realm. He had made Emma an outlier, he had erased a boy that was her nephew in Henry, he had removed her son August's memories of her yet again, and caused her cousin, Snow, to suffer in the loss of everything she had ever had. It had to be stopped, because her aunt, while wanting to save her true love, would not have wanted this to happen to her family. Worse yet, he had stripped this Piper woman of everything that made her her, her Siren traits, her history, her magic. He had purposefully made her powerless so that she wouldn't be able to stop him. He may have given her back her kingdom, but it was really Snow's, her parents were still dead, her sons still lost, her family broken, and now her memories tampered with.

He had had to strip her of everything that made her her, to have this story play out. The only way to make sure she wouldn't remember, as Siren magic was said to protect the mind, was to unmake her, to have her be human instead.

And the worst yet...he had taken her child, he had erased it from existence. She had been pregnant in the other world, but she was not pregnant here. The man had ended its existence before she had even felt it here.

She knew any other person would be happy with what she had, would have wanted to stop Emma and keep things as they were, because she was happy. She still had a kingdom, she had her true love, she had her cousin, it should be enough.

But it was all wrong.

She couldn't help but feel, deep down, that they shouldn't interfere with Emma or Henry's plan. If it happened, then the world would be righted again. If it didn't, then this is what their lives would be like and, she was hopeful, Emma would return with Henry and perhaps they could attempt being a family again. She also knew, though, that for their lives to continue as they were, that something would have happened to Regina. The only way Emma and Henry could fail now would be if Regina died, as Isaac claimed, and it would devastate not only Snow to lose the woman but Henry, who had been adopted by her in the other world, as well.

"You would not fault me if our story changed?" she asked, searching his eyes for the answer, for the truth.

Rumpelstiltskin could only give her a gentle smile, "So long as I have you, Rose, so long as I have your love, our story could change in any way and I wouldn't mind it, just as long as I have you in the end."

She let out a relieved breath and hugged him tightly, feeling him rest his chin on top of her head as he wound his arms around her.

They would not interfere, no, they would let what chips fall as they may and see where the story went.

~8~

Rumpelstiltskin could not have smiled any wider than he was as he saw his truest love walking down a small aisle towards him, petals of red roses drifting down from the sky, sprinkled over them by magic as she walked, escorted by David as her father was no longer living. Snow White was already at her position next to where Rose would be standing, ready to support her cousin in this important moment.

The wedding had come, they were finally going to be married, and he could feel his heart swell at the thought that they would finally be husband and wife after so long.

He held out a hand as Rose reached him, a tingling shooting up his arm as her skin touched his, as it always did, his body humming in excitement and washing with love for her as they faced the priest, though he hardly heard the words the man was saying, his attention was so fully fixated on Rose beside him. It seemed she couldn't quite look away even as their bodies turned to face the man.

They had wanted a simple ceremony, only their closest friends and allies present, not long and drawn out and formal. The priest's speech was simple, short, but full of everything they knew they meant to each other and promised to be to each other. It was almost like the blink of an eye before it was time to exchange the rings and speak their vows. They had decided not to say their own but to merely follow the lines fed to them by the priest. There was no amount of words in existence, nor time enough to speak them, that could adequately describe what they felt for each other. They were hardly going to try and sum it up, instead knowing that the vows they made were meaningful and real, their feelings were true and their promise lasting.

That was all they needed.

It was with wide, beaming smiles that they leaned into share their first kiss as man and wife…

And nearly pulled back with a gasp as ripple of rainbow colored light waved out from them, the sign of a spell or curse being broken with the use of True Love's Kiss.

Their eyes were wide in horror as they looked at each other…before Rose Red's expression hardened into something so dark and dangerous that Snow White nearly gasped at the sight of the foreign expression on her cousin's face, "Isaac!" she spat, sounding for all the world as though she were about to murder someone. But then another thought struck her and her eyes locked on Rumpelstiltskin's again, "Henry!" she gasped, "Rummy…"

Rumpelstiltskin just nodded, swishing his hand and causing them to disappear in a swirl of white smoke.

"No!" Rumpelstiltskin shouted as the smoke died down to reveal chaos before them, the man quickly throwing out his hand and sending a green-skinned woman flying back into the air.

They had transported to a church where a small gathering had come to stop just outside the doors of the building. Isaac had mentioned Regina's true love about to be married and now there they were, at the very church it was going to happen at.

Though it seemed like it HADN'T happened at all.

Robin Hood had been standing, in all his wedding finery, just beside Regina, his arm out to protect her as he'd faced the green-skinned Wicked Witch in all her glory. He was clearly defending her from the woman, and the fact that Regina had been standing beside him, that he was guarding her, that everyone was gathered outside and not just leaving with the bells tolling, meant that he hadn't gone through with the wedding. But in the blink of an eye Zelena had sent a fireball at the man…and Regina had leapt in the way, which was when Rumpelstiltskin had thrown the witch back with magic, the two of them rushing over.

Rose…no, Piper, she was PIPER, she remembered now. The kiss she had shared with Gold had broken whatever magic Isaac held over their minds, even if she wasn't a Siren here, she could remember being one. And now she remembered everything.

This was NOT what they had agreed upon, this was not the story that she knew Gold had devised for Isaac to write down, this was the farthest thing from it. All he had needed to do was change a few small details of the past, make it so they'd been in the Enchanted Forest when Gold had freed himself of the Dagger's hold, there would be no town line to cross, they would have finished the ritual perfectly. He was even meant to rewrite some of the darkest deeds from the Dark One's past as a defensive response instead of giving into the dark, to give them more time in case something interrupted them, give them more time to work out a second plan B to heal his heart.

This was not at all the story they had believed the man to be writing.

And why should they have believed him? She could have slapped herself for not realizing, for not doubting him. She should have watched him more closely, but with the baby and Emma and August and the Queens of Darkness and Henry and Gold's heart and her war with Snow, it was too much to focus on. Gold was in no condition to do it. But she should have found a way. She thought she had intimidated him enough to have him not cross her, it appeared she'd failed. And in her failure he had taken advantage of them, he had caused all of this, he had nearly caused her to lose Emma and Henry, he had already made her lose her child and she was going to tear him limb from limb for it.

Oh she should have just taken his heart and dictated what he should write!

She was going to kill him.

But not until she'd made sure Emma was alright.

While Rumpelstiltskin's attention had gone to the catalyst that could reverse all this nonsense and how she was struck down by a fireball, her attention had gone to her niece, lying on the ground with a frightened Henry trying to wake her, clearly having been in some sort of battle with Zelena before they arrived. She would never forgive herself for that.

"Emma!" Piper gasped as she dropped to her knees beside the blonde, "Emma!"

"Aunt P?" Henry looked at her cautiously. He'd had a hell of a time getting his adoptive mother to believe him, had been half scared to death that Emma wouldn't know who he was either, but had been relieved that she had. If Piper didn't know him…he didn't know what he'd do.

"Henry," Piper gave him a brief nod, leaning over to lightly slap Emma's cheeks to rouse her.

Henry let out a sigh of relief, sitting back on his heels just a bit, silently cursing Hook. He had been at the docks, trying to find the man to get his help in finding Emma, because a Pirate had to be good at breaking into places. But he hadn't been there.

It seemed Emma had had the suspicion that that was where he'd go first, and tracked him down in the middle of a confrontation with Blackbeard. He'd been so happy she remembered him, and a little concerned that Hook, who accompanied her with Red Riding Hood, didn't seem to…and that he had two hands. The man had hardly glanced at Emma, which was weird, but then he'd seen how the man focused on Red, how they smiled at each other, and he realized what Isaac had done.

It wasn't just his one mother that Isaac was trying to torment, but his other mother's as well even if it had been unintentional. Isaac had said Emma couldn't exist here, so he'd paired Hook off with someone else for some reason, it just so happened that Emma WAS there and now she was forced to deal with this too. He knew his mother felt something for Hook, though she was being more cautious about it now. But she still felt something, when she wasn't angry that is. To see a man she might have a future with being with another woman, being happy with her and showing no interest in Emma, it had to hurt. But Emma had put on a brave face and decided to help him convince Regina to go after Robin Hood.

Hook, er, Captain Jones, hadn't been happy with that decision, had even tried to forcefully return them to Rose Red's castle, but they'd managed to fight him and Red Riding Hood off and flee. He was sure the man had gone back to the castle to warn the others with Red, but it would take them too long to reach that than it would THEM to reach Regina and the church.

And speaking of Regina, he looked over and let out a strangled cry when he saw his other mother lying on the ground, a hand pressed to her stomach where he could see blood and burned flesh. He raced over, nearly shoving Robin Hood aside from where the man was kneeling, holding her hand and head, till Rumpelstiltskin, who had been trying to heal her with magic, stood, his face grim, allowing the boy to take his place.

"Pip," Rumpelstiltskin called over to her as Emma slowly regained consciousness, unconsciously letting Henry know that HE remembered too, that he was Gold again. He shook his head telling her that he couldn't heal her, "Blood magic."

Piper closed her eyes, letting out a hiss at that information. Of course Zelena would take care to use the one magic that no one else would be able to counter, not even the Dark/Light One. And she could guess who had put the idea in her head, Isaac HAD disappeared from Rose Red's castle shortly after the confrontation with him. He could have easily gone to find Zelena and warn her of Henry's quest, remind her that blood magic could only be undone by those of your blood, and Regina, in this realm, had no magic either. Even if she did, she had no memory of how to use it and healing spells took a special kind of magic and focus.

"Mom!" Henry half-begged, trying to keep Regina conscious.

Emma winced as she blinked, coming out of it, "What…"

"Zelena attacked Regina," Piper stated.

Emma blinked at that, "You believe me?"

"I remember you," Piper corrected, helping Emma up.

"Regina!" Emma gasped, seeing the woman and hurrying to Henry's side as well, Piper moving to stand beside Gold as they looked on, both keeping tense and wary, Zelena had disappeared…

"Why did you do that?" Robin shook his head, looking down at Regina, "Why…"

"I couldn't let you die, Robin," Regina breathed weakly, wincing as bells began to toll, ending the hour.

"We're at the end of the book," Emma realized, looking up at Piper and Gold for help, "We're not gonna be able to change anything now, are we?"

Piper looked around as she heard Robin trying to reassure Regina, but the woman being realistic about her chances, when her gaze landed on someone that very much COULD change something, "You!" she hissed, stalking across the small gathering that had clearly been Robin's wedding party, towards the one man trying to sneak off. She grabbed Isaac by the front of his shirt and half-hauled him backwards, out of the gathering and into the open, "You. Fix this. Now!"

"It's too late," he just smirked.

"This was not our bargain," Gold stepped threateningly towards him.

"And what are you gonna do about it?" Isaac taunted, "YOU don't have your magic here," he pointed at Piper, though his gaze flickered to a glaring Emma too, reminding her she was powerless also, "And YOU," he smirked at Gold, "You so much as give me a papercut out of vengeance and your darkness will be right back in your heart, eating it up faster than ever."

Emma pushed herself up and stalked over, pulling back her arm and punching Isaac deftly across the face, "You're gonna change things!" she repeated, threatening him, here she wasn't the Savior either, so that meant no chance of darkness infecting her right? "Return things to the way they were. Bring back everyone's memories, save Regina…"

"I can't," Isaac panted, "I'm not the Author anymore, I wrote my own happy ending, I'm out of the job. I can't change them now," he winced from where he'd fallen to the ground at the force of her push, hardly even noticing the quill and ink that had fallen from his satchel…though someone else had.

Henry quickly stood up and walked towards the quill, so focused on it that he might as well have been in a trance, before he picked it up…the small pen starting to glow blue in his hold.

"Whoa, kid, what the hell?" Emma breathed.

"No!" Isaac cried.

"What happening?"

Piper, though, smirked, able to guess, "Henry is the next Author."

"I…I can feel it," Henry breathed.

"Henry," Emma moved to his side, picking up a few scattered papers and offering it to him, "Fix it. Write everything the way it was."

Isaac snorted, "Without ink, he's not writing anything."

"Then it's a good thing we have it," Gold remarked, snapping his fingers and making the small inkwell that contained the ink appear in his hand, offering it to Henry. He had kept careful eye on how much the Author was writing even if he hadn't known what the man was writing, there should be enough, just a little left...

"But…" Henry looked at him, opening the well to see there was just enough for one more line, "Grandpa, if I…you…"

Gold gave him a sorrowful smile, "When we return," he told Henry, "YOU can write my heart cured and protected once more. I trust you Henry."

Henry nodded slowly at that, he had hoped he wouldn't have to pick between his dying mother and dying grandfather, and he wouldn't. If he reversed everything, they'd be right back to where they were, with Gold's heart failing, but now that HE was the Author, he could change that. HE could write that Gold's heart was free of the infectious darkness and protected from darkness ever harming it again, but he needed to get back to Storybrooke to do it. He hadn't seen Lily here, he knew where she was in Storybrooke, he could find her and get more ink, but he had to get there first.

"Don't!" Isaac cried, about to lunge for Henry as the boy turned to kneel beside his fallen mother and rewrite the story again…but Piper was quicker and kicked him in the jaw just as he lunged, sending him flying onto his back.

Gold quickly lifted his hand as a blast of magic was sent at them, the Wicked Witch on her broomstick, ranting about how Regina had ruined her plans at a happy ending once more and trying to hurl fireball after fireball at them, but the magic of the Light One was holding so far.

"Henry, hurry," Piper warned, it wouldn't take Zelena long to realize she should use blood magic here as well.

"'Thanks to the hero Regina's sacrifice," Henry quickly wrote, reading aloud, "Isaac's villainous work was undone!'"

Henry dropped the pages as a blue light blasted out of them…

~8~

Piper gasped as she shot up from where she was lying on the floor of Gold's shop, a quick look out the window telling her they were back in Storybrooke. She turned to Gold, seeing him on his back, struggling to breathe, her gaze turning back to Isaac as the man seemed to look at them, terrified.

Before she could even open her mouth, he had his hands on his ears and was running for the door, seeming ready to slam his way through it so he wouldn't have to risk uncovering his ears...only for the door to be shoved open from the other side as August entered, glaring down at the man he'd purposefully forced the door open to hit, assuming the coward would try to run and thanking god that he and Emma hadn't exactly gotten far away before the story was changed.

"Nice try," August almost sneered, leaning down to haul the man up, he looked at his mother, "Emma and Henry are tracking down Lily, just hold on a little longer," he added to Gold, before turning to push Isaac out of the shop, needing to get the man locked up and away from his mother. He was sure he could spin a tale that it was all Isaac's fault and not Gold or Piper's what happened, get the heat off them, especially when it was mostly true. Isaac was never meant to change THAT much.

"Hear that?" Piper turned back to Gold, stroking his hair and cheek, trying to comfort him as best she could, "Just a little longer, Rummy," she lifted his hand to her lips, pressing a kiss to the back of it as she held it, "Hold on, for me."

He tried to smile as she began to hum a tune he knew was meant to help him relax and to dim pain, to give him strength, he could admit it was working just slightly, "At least, in the end, we were married," he tried to make light, "Never…never thought we'd see the day."

"You could have asked," she muttered.

"You'd say no," he knew her well, she hated all the conventions and propriety of it all, she loved him, they didn't need a piece of paper or rings to say so.

"I might change my mind," she tried to barter, "You hold on and I shall marry you. Deal?"

He managed a weak laugh, "Best deal I'll have ever made."

She smiled at him, humming more, glancing at the door every so often hoping Emma and Henry would burst through it with the ink.

~8~

"Yes!" Henry cheered as Emma came back to where she had ordered him to wait at the edge of the trees near the highest point in Storybrooke.

She had guessed that Lily and Maleficent would be there, being dragons and with the debacle that was Lily's flying before, and…perhaps even a small niggling in her magic that led her to Lily as well what with the girl having her darkness and some magic too. She had managed to convince Lily that they needed a sample of her blood, to prevent a great evil from being released, and, with a few select words to Maleficent about just what that evil was and how it would turn on everyone and their child, had gotten her to listen. She held up the small inkwell for her son to see, hence earning the cheer from him.

He had the quill in hand, saved from the other world, and she had the ink, they could go help Gold and…

"It is tempting, is it not?" a voice spoke behind Henry, making them both turn to look over, seeing the Apprentice standing there, a small smile on his face, "The power of the quill."

"I know, I know," Henry said quickly, "I get it, I do. But I just need to use it one more time, to help grandpa and then…"

"No," the Apprentice shook his head, "The truth is what you must write, and only what you may write. I hope that you can resist the temptation of the quill."

"I can, and I will," Henry nodded, "AFTER I help Grandpa!"

"Then I am sorry, Henry," the Apprentice sighed, his hopeful smile falling as he held out his hand, the quill flying out of Henry's hand and into the Apprentice's, "My Master and I agreed, if we could not find a suitable Author to replace Isaac, then no Author would come again."

And with that, he snapped the quill in half.

"NO!" Henry cried as he watched the one thing that could save his grandfather, the one thing that could finally give HIM a way to protect his family, be destroyed.

"The power to change reality is only outweighed by the cost," the Apprentice stated wisely.

"And what cost would be higher than NOT helping Gold and letting the Dark One free in Storybrooke?" Emma demanded.

"If Henry were to write the Darkness banished from Rumpelstiltskin's heart," the man stated, "It would need to find another living vessel to enter," he looked at Emma, "A concept, I am sure, you're familiar with."

Emma glared at him for that, clearly they weren't going to just banish the darkness. They wanted to protect Gold's heart from the infection of it, not get rid of it. Just imaging the Dark One without a dark heart was ridiculous, imagining Gold without his darkness was equally so.

"I can help," the man continued.

"How?" Henry seemed to be on the verge of crying. One thing, he had ONE job to do, one quest that only HE could do to get his grandfather healthy again, and he'd failed. How was he going to be…anything…if people kept stopping him? Kept thinking he couldn't handle it?

"I may be able to contain the Darkness in something else."

~8~

Piper glared at the Apprentice as he stood over Gold, now lying on a cot, with the bucket-like box that contained the Sorcerer's Hat in it. She reached out and grabbed his arm as he leaned nearer to Gold, "You trap him in there, I kill you," she warned him with a snarl.

"Rose!" came the automatic and chastising voice of Mary Margaret as she stood to the side of the pawn shop with David and Hook. Emma, Henry, and August were on the other side, all of them watching what the Apprentice would do.

She was loathe for Mary Margaret and the other two to be there, but the hat had been kept in Mary Margaret's apartment, they had seen Emma and Henry come to collect it and followed them off.

"This is…not unlike that," the Apprentice remarked, not making a comment about how THEY had forced him into that hat, "We are pulling the Darkness from him and containing it."

"No," Piper did snarl this time, "I will NOT allow that ritual."

"If it can stop the Darkness coming to power..." David began to argue…when Piper shot him her most venom filled glare, actually making him stop.

"Have we not learned enough from it?!" she stood, angry, moving to put herself in between Gold and the Apprentice, "This could very well KILL him!"

Hook scoffed at that, "If the Crocodile managed to survive 300 years, I'm sure he can survive one bloody ritualistic heart cleansing."

"Hook!"

The sound of Emma snapping at him, the glare that she was sending them was enough to both confuse them and worry them.

"It's just going to heal his heart," Mary Margaret tried to defend, "It'll keep the town safe."

Piper rolled her eyes at that, at the same excuse that the woman had used in banishing him and condemning him to this fate in the first place, "Just like you kept Emma's soul safe by cursing another child?"

"We did what we had to!" David defended.

"You did what was EASY," Piper shot right back, "This ritual…" she couldn't even speak of it.

Emma reached out for Piper's hand and grabbed hold of it, the look passing between them making Mary Margaret shift, it was like they knew something no one else did. Like Emma was trying to reassure her of something, which she was, because she knew exactly what ritual Piper was thinking of.

"It must be done," the Apprentice spoke.

"Like hell it must!" Piper nearly lunged at him, only for August to pull her back.

"Mom!" he struggled to hold her as she tried to attack the man, "Mom, stop! Stop!"

"None of you understand a thing about this!" she hissed at the heroes, ceasing her struggles but August didn't let go of her just yet, the glare she was sending the Apprentice told him she'd likely kill him if released, "None of you understand a thing about HIM!" she pointed at Gold.

"We know his heart's dying," David defended, having gotten a gist of what was going on, "You'd think you'd want your true love alive."

"Whoa!" August grunted, only barely managing to pull his mother back as she tried to turn her attack on Charming.

He knew what was happening, it was the instinct, the Siren-instinct that her mate was in danger and she had to protect him. Clearly this was going to happen whether Piper wanted it to or not, they were out numbered by 'heroes' and the Apprentice, Gold was down for the count, Emma no matter how angry at her parents wouldn't attack them, he was non-magical as was Henry who was also a child, and Piper was in no proper state of mind to control herself. He had to keep her restrained till she could get a hold of herself, but the heroes weren't helping matters.

"This will kill him," Piper argued, "This will torture him!"

"I can preserve him," the Apprentice offered, "Sedate him, even," he added as Piper turned her narrowed eyes on him, "He won't feel anything..."

"I doubt that," Piper snapped.

"This ritual is different," the man insisted, "It will affect only the Darkness brought on by his curse," he gave Piper a look, as though he knew what she was thinking of, "It will not separate the darkness from his own soul. The curse of the Dark One is to force the Darkness into someone, I will merely release him from the Darkness that is feeding on him, the Darkness that is not his own. We will be able to purify his heart until it can be protected."

"And then we shall put the Darkness back," Piper finished, yanking her arm out of August's grip to hold up her hand when the 'heroes' tried to protest, "You wish to condemn Rummy to this, to turn him into something he is not, you wish me to stand aside? Then you GIVE him the Darkness back when his heart can handle it."

It wasn't a matter of giving Gold the power of the Dark One, it was that...after 300 years, the Darkness has become his, had grown used to him, bonded with him. To try and remove that from him, he wouldn't he HIM, he wouldn't be whole without it back, so she would find a way that, when he woke from this nightmare, he was himself again. That was something no one seemed to understand, not the heroes, not Belle, that this was who Rumpelstiltskin was NOW. He may have been human 300 years ago, but he had had decades, centuries, being the man he was NOW. This was all that was left. She had no doubt, even without THE Darkness in him, Gold would still be every bit as conniving and manipulative and dark as he had been, because that was who he was NOW. He was a villain now, he WAS the Dark One. No one seemed to grasp that he had WANTED to be the Dark One, and so he would be once more. She'd make damned sure of that.

She had experienced what it was like to have a part of you taken away, something so intrinsic to your nature, something that was in your blood and body and soul. What Isaac had done had violated her more than anyone could realize. It took away her magic, it took away her heritage, her personality, her spirit, her life and experiences and hard taught lessons. It cut her off and broke her down and repieced her into something she wasn't. She would NOT condemn her true love to that, to wake and find himself without a part of himself, to find himself changed without his permission or authorization. She would not have him suffer that.

She had realized what August had, this was going to happen no matter how hard she fought, the heroes would force it to. The most she could do to help her true love was to ensure he woke only when he was himself again.

"You swear to me," she looked the Apprentice in the eye, shaking with the effort it was taking her not to lash out at him, attack him, as the instinct was demanding she do, "That this is different than the other times, that he will not feel it, that he will wake only when his Darkness is restored, when he is whole again. Swear it on your magic."

"I swear on my magic," the Apprentice acquiesced, knowing that this was a very traumatic topic for the woman before him. Despite her having experienced something similar as a child, it had NEVER left her, it wasn't something that ever would, and he understood her need to know this wasn't the same.

In her mind, if she had nearly died for being dark a mere 4 years, what would it do to Rumpelstiltskin who had been dark for 300? But this truly was very different. The darkness in her, she was born with it, it was her own darkness. The one he was going to remove was another entity entirely, a separate organism so to speak, a parasite that was unrelated to the darkness in Rumpelstiltskin at all. If he could pull the darkness that had latched onto him off, the man would still remain, but that cursed darkness would be taken.

"He will live," he swore to her, "On my magic, on my life, he will live."

It was the only promise he could give her that he knew she'd accept. If he was willing to risk losing his magic and his own soul should the promise be broken. The others wouldn't know, wouldn't realize that he'd sworn a magical oath in this, that he was swearing Gold would be well or else he would lose everything he had sworn in the promise.

But it was the only thing that had gotten Piper to step aside, though she pointedly took Gold's hand and refused to let go.

He gave her a nod and pulled the hat from the box, holding it in one hand as he began the spell, "Purest evil, blackest bloom, darkness, too, can find its doom..." he reached into Gold's chest and pulled his heart out, the thing nearly completely black, just the barest speck of red still in it, and held it up to the Hat as he activated it, "Never dying, but contained, bound inside the falcon's chamber, shorn of anger, thornless danger, there for now it shall remain," he squinted as a golden light began to shine from the Hat, a darkness starting to pull away from the heart, like a sticky mass with tendrils clinging to it as it was sucked towards the portal.

Piper gasped as she felt the Dark One's dagger burning against her leg and pulled it out of her boot, staring as Rumpelstiltskin's name began to fade from the blade.

"It is done," the Apprentice intoned as the glow faded, leaving him holding a pure white, shining heart that he placed back into the man's chest, "Rumpelstiltskin was the Dark One for centuries. His return to the man he used to be will not be easy, nor permanent," he added for Piper when she essentially growled at him, waving his hand over the man to cast the promised preservation spell, "This will preserve him, until we discern a ritual to guard his heart...before returning the Darkness."

"Should we really ret…" Mary Margaret had JUST started to speak, before a blast of light shot out of the Hat.

"Everybody step back!" Emma cried, pulling Henry back as the hat fell over, the black mass that was the Darkness shooting out of it, rising into the air and rushing at the Apprentice, circling him, striking at him as he tried to push it away…till it flew down his throat, choking him from the inside.

Piper tried very hard to be surprised at the action, she truly did, but she knew the Darkness that resided in the Dark One, it would NOT be happy to be forced out of its host, it would want revenge.

Emma quickly rushed forward, her hands glowing as she used her magic to pull the Darkness out of him, trying to pull it back towards the hat when she lost control and it shot out of the room through the mail slot on the door, the Apprentice falling to the ground, barely breathing.

"You three!" Emma turned to Mary Margaret, David, and Hook, "Go after it! I'll be right there!" before she turned to August while they ran out, "Help me make him comfortable," she nodded at the Apprentice, August rushing to help get the man up and moved to a table, Henry by Piper, checking on Gold, "I gotta go," Emma tried to get up to leave and help the others when the Apprentice grabbed her arm, coming to for a moment, "What is it?"

"Long before your stories began," the man wheezed, "The Sorcerer battled the Darkness. He was able to keep it from consuming the realms by tethering it to a human soul, so it could be controlled with a dagger."

"The Dark One," Piper stood and moved to Emma's side, having heard the story from Gold himself.

"The Sorcerer is the only one with the power to destroy the Darkness once and for all, before it destroys everything."

"Destroy the Darkness and you destroy the balance of all things," Piper shook her head, disgust in her voice.

These heroes! They were worthless! This was almost as bad as what Snow had done to Emma, being so frightened of the dark that they sought to destroy it, so that there would only be light…not even realizing that light wouldn't and couldn't exist without the dark! Contain it, trap it if you must, but never ever destroy it or risk unbalancing the entire universe!

Emma's jaw tightened at that, seeming to hear the same thoughts about her parents in that, "Where is he? Who is he?"

"He is far, far from here," the Apprentice murmured, "Find him. His name is...his name is…"

"Merlin," Piper cut in, why could heroes never just get to the bloody point!

"Yes," the Apprentice breathed, "Merlin. You must...stop...the Darkness. Find...Merlin."

Emma shook her head, "I need to go," she turned, "Henry, stay with August and Piper, I need to go make sure the Darkness doesn't attack anyone," she looked at Piper, "Maybe I can get it back in the hat before it strikes."

"Emma!" Piper shouted as Emma turned and ran out. She shot August a look before rushing after her niece, knowing that there was likely no way, now that the Darkness was truly free, that it could be contained in the hat.

No, in order for it to be controlled and neutralized…it had to be IN someone.

It would be attracted and drawn to the person with the greatest potential for corruption, the person with the least darkness in them.

And there was one person the dimwitted heroes had ensured that would be.

Emma.

~8~

Piper was very thankful that the Darkness hasn't gone far, she hadn't had to run too quickly or too much to find Emma, nor did she have to wait and try to work out where the Darkness might be lurking.

It was quite obviously attacking someone right at that very moment, Regina.

There, in the middle of the street, just outside of Granny's, was a large vortex of Darkness swirling around the woman. Robin Hood, she could see, had tried to break through but fallen back. It did make sense it would target Regina before Emma had left the room where the means of trapping it, the Hat, had been resting, Regina did have the second darkest heart in Storybrooke besides for Gold. HER heart was more stone than dark, she doubted it could be sensed, and the Darkness clearly wanted something to latch onto.

Darkness called to darkness, she had said once. The Darkness would be drawn to Regina, before, she knew, it would settle for Emma, wanting a bigger feast of purity to devour.

And she was not going to let that happen.

She took a breath before she pulled the dagger out of her boot and held it up above her head.

The reaction was nearly instant, the Darkness swarmed into the air, releasing Regina to her knees, and shot straight for her, circling her instead.

"PIPER!" Emma screamed as she saw it, running over to her, trying to see her through the swirling of the tendrils, hear her above the noise of the Darkness.

Piper was breathing heavily as she stood in the middle of the cyclone, one hand pressed on her stomach, realizing far too late that this had been the worst thing she could do, but it got all muddled in her head. All she could feel was the knowledge that the Darkness would go after Emma, that it would attack her family, and she had to stop it, prevent it…and now she and her child were at its focal point. This was exactly what Gold had been fearful of, that her instincts would push her to put herself in its path for the sake of her family.

But, as she stood there, she realized…it wasn't attacking her.

It was swirling around her, yes, it closed in every now and then, as though it were trying to touch her, to cling to her…but it kept bouncing back. The moment it got near her stomach, it swelled away from her.

It seemed she and Gold had both been correct, the Darkness would target her if she put herself in its way, but it DID sense itself in her, in her child, and would not destroy a second vessel.

And that was when it hit her, it would sense the child in her, the Darkness in it, but she doubted, without a host, that the Darkness was conscious enough to understand what was in her. It likely saw her as a second Dark One and it couldn't occupy a host that was already taken…

She needed to think quickly before it realized that and latched onto someone.

"Piper, no!"

She could hear Emma through the Darkness though she could hardly see her, vaguely she thought she heard Mary Margaret shouting out 'Rose' too but she doubted it. She looked up at the dagger in her hand, she needed a plan, she needed one fast, she…

"EMMA!" she cried when she felt something shove against the dark cyclone, only to see Emma, her body encased in the soft glow that she'd used to grab the Darkness before, pushing her way through, "Get back!" she tried to warn.

But the look in Emma's eyes, the determination, she knew her niece would not be deterred…

So she did her best to hold onto the dagger even as Emma reached out and tried to pry it from her hand.

"No!" she struggled, but the Darkness was starting to slip from around her, it was starting to move towards Emma, to push HER away from the girl it now had a taste of, "Emma don't!"

It was too late, with one last yank, Emma managed to pull the dagger out of her hand, stumbling back as Piper fell to the ground behind her, the Darkness swarming Emma as she looked at her.

"I'm sorry!" Emma yelled, before looking over her shoulder at her family and Hook, "I'm sorry!"

And then, in the span of a mere second, a flash of light went off…and the dagger Emma had been holding dropped to the ground, the only thing left behind of her.

The street grew silent as the small group stared in horror at the dagger now bearing Emma's name on it...and that was when the true magnitude of what happened finally sunk in, when they looked around at who was left standing.

For not only had Emma vanished…

Piper had too.

To be continued…in…Black Roses!

A/N: Long note to follow, but talks about my reasoning/thoughts for the chapter and the changes to the episode ;)

First off, I HAVE to say...did anyone else go 'Oh my god' when Gold was all 'I will always find you?' I feel like, just to be a little evil, I had to stick that in there. Just once, just ONE time, I had to have Dark Rose say Snowing's line, it just HAD to happen once ;)

Moving on to the meat of the chapter, I was very conflicted about what sort of story should take place in this AU chapter. A part of me wanted to have Snow going Dark and Piper being dark and the two of them just ruling over the land with an Iron fist and causing chaos and devastation together. But at the same time, I felt like how the episode went was a let down, because all they did was swap stories, Regina's for Snow's, and it wasn't very original. I wanted to try and give a unique take on it, change it in more of a realistic way, where it wasn't just a copout of swapped stories, make it more of a story that actually follows sense and logic and shows how a few minor changes to history can alter everything.

I tried to keep more consistency in the chapter than I felt the episode had in terms of consistency in how villains and heroes were 'rewarded' or 'punished.' Like if Isaac wanted the Heroes to lose...why make them the very villains he supported? Wouldn't that eventually mean that he'd want them to win? If he wanted the heroes to suffer, why make Regina still a heroic figure that people would love? Why give another hero, like Robin, A happy ending? I tried to make it a little more of a pattern here.

The foreshadowing I mentioned earlier was when Gold and Piper were talking about if she should try to find a way to reconcile with Snow, Gold knew without a doubt that Piper wouldn't be happy without her family being at peace with her, so when he said to Isaac that he wanted Piper to be as happy as possible, it meant giving her her family back. Gold's happy ending was having his heart cured and having Piper happy. Piper's happy ending was having her family all together with no fighting, just BEING family. The only way that could happen, to Isaac, was for her not to be a Siren, something that was the catalyst for their falling out. I didn't want to just swap stories with Snow being a Siren instead, because that was too unoriginal and felt too much like the copout episode we got. I felt it would change far too much and make this entire episode/chapter too convoluted and I wanted to stay away from that. Isaac being able to 'undo' that part of Piper, making her not-a-siren, seemed to make sense to me. If he could make Emma not-the-savior and take her magic, something she was born with regardless of if the savior thing was forced on her, being a product of true love, then I felt Isaac could manipulate Piper's birth too, make her non-Siren this time. Though I really did want to stay away from swapping Piper and Snow's story too obviously.

But, equally, how could I make it so Snow, as a hero, DID suffer and wasn't fully happy?

So I thought, you can still have a decent life, but not be happy with it. Here, Snow lost everything and ended up having to rely on Piper for everything, ironic in a way. She lost her mother, she never got a step-mother, her father died, in order to marry her true love she had to face a consequence and lost her right to her kingdom and throne, became a pariah and hated and seen as a traitor to her people. I don't know if that would actually happen, but this is Isaac's retelling and he'd do anything to give Snow a harder time. Adding on, with Emma being there, Snow and David couldn't have their child because it would BE Emma, and you can't have two existing at the same time or you get a paradox and, with a greater magic than time travel being involved, I felt that the magic would be far more sensitive to disturbances in it. So no new Emma while Emma was already there, and now Snow's also lost her ability to have children. She would have NOTHING, not even her life, if not for her cousin. She essentially became and is suffering what Piper did as a child, if she steps out of her family-bubble and into the kingdom, she's loathed, but in a different manner than Piper too.

I think Isaac's whole thing was that he wanted the heroes to STOP getting everything handed to them, so he took everything away from Snow.

I wanted to incorporate Hook also, and I thought that Ruby would be an interesting choice. He ended up with a good position, but unrelated to his love, the sea. And, in this case, he also ended up with another woman besides Emma, which hurt Emma in the long run, so another bonus to Isaac for heroes suffering. Also, making him loyal and basically a servant of Rose Red's kingdom means that Hook was working for Piper and had to do what she ordered him to, he had to obey her and respect her and dedicate his life to protecting her and her kingdom, a far cry from how Hook felt about Piper ;)

I was originally going to focus on JUST Piper's scenes in this chapter, but I felt that, with the changes to who the heroes and villains were, I needed at least one scene with Henry and Regina, and Robin, to portray who the true villain was and how both Zelena and even Marian featured into this. Here the villain was the Wicked Witch, she wanted what Regina had, but when Regina fled Leopold instead of staying married to him, she was even angrier that the woman gave up being queen and hunted Regina down like Snow did in the episode. Because, in the episode, it was Zelena that Robin married, I wanted to find a way to keep that, because Zelena's happy ending would be not only being powerful and the greatest sorceress but also destroying Regina's happy ending. So she did what she did in the show, used an image of Marian to pretend to be another woman that could woo Robin without the 'green skin' thing being noticeable, and really ruin Regina's life by taking her soul mate away on top of everything else.

I also wanted to make this chapter reveal that this was NOT what Piper and Gold agreed to. But with all that was going on, similar to how Piper was when Gold was captured by Zelena in the Enchanted Forest and how Gold was when Piper was in the hospital, they became the desperate ones. As villains often do, they were too overconfident in the fear they'd put into Isaac to think that he would betray them. But Isaac knows his characters, better than they thought he did, and he knew if he wrote THIS story, then Piper and Gold would be powerless and wouldn't be ABLE to threaten him or harm him. He felt safe. He tricked them and wrote a story that seemed to give them happiness, but it was at the expense of other people's.

Isaac, similar to villains, also underestimated the 'goodness' in Gold and Piper, the one that only comes about when it comes to family. He underestimated how much they still loved their family and the bonds that tied them to Emma and Henry even while in the story. He thought they were villains so of course they'll want to keep their power and happiness no matter what. But he failed to understand that Piper will always put her family first, that villains aren't all evil and heroes aren't all good. Lines are blurred and there are numerous shades of grey. So what he was expecting them to do, they didn't, and he had to resort to going to Zelena to warn her as well.

I can say that the Apprentice snapping the magic quill and not Henry choosing to do so will be very important later. I felt like, unlike in the show, Henry had a real reason to want to USE the pen and after the debacle the Apprentice faced with Isaac doing the same, that he and the Sorcerer would be in agreement that they would take one more chance, find one more Author that could handle it or that was it. Given that Henry snapped the quill and they are very hard to come by in the show, it didn't seem like the Apprentice was overly concerned about Henry actually being able to BE the Author if he had no pen to do it with. So why wouldn't HE be the one to snap it this time if he felt Henry was going to fall into the same trap as Isaac. I think, in his mind, he was also protecting Henry, keeping him from starting to use the power for a 'dark' purpose like Isaac had, and also giving them a different way to get the Darkness out of Gold. But it will have an impact on Henry that will be important in the next story ;)

I'm sorry if this chapter let down anyone in that it was more 'heroic' and calm than villainous and dark, but I was just really annoyed at the actual episode for not trying to come up with unique things in how to make the heroes villains and villains heroes than to just swap stories. So I tried to be different while still keeping the overall spirit of the episode and the characters in tact.

And...end my notes on the chapter lol :)

For the next STORY, I decided that 'Black Roses' would be a good title as they are often symbols of anarchy and there is going to be a lot of chaos and things being thrown off balance, a lot of darkness and challenges, and things being twisted. I'm really excited for the next story }:) It should be up shortly after season 5's last episode airs ;)

For anyone interested, I'll be posting my new/next Thor/OC (Athena) story today too, in a few hours ;)

I want to take a minute to thank you all also, for all your understanding with the delays to the story and your continued support. It really meant a lot to me and I am so happy that you've enjoyed the story so far :') Thank you, to anyone that read/reviewed/favorited/followed/anything this story, I love you all so much you have no idea :')

Some notes on reviews...

I'm actually really glad that you think Piper is smug, it's very much intentional. I think a lot of villains are smug and it often causes them to fall into traps and overestimate themselves and their plans. We see some here, Piper was smug in thinking she'd frightened Isaac into doing their bidding, but he turned the tables on her. She was overconfident in thinking she could take the Darkness and hold it at bay, and realized too late that wasn't the case. They eventually fall into traps where their smugness causes issues, not always right off the bat, but as the story goes ;) When it came to listing the family history, I feel like I had the intention clear in my head but I don't think it came across, Piper was saying it because Zelena was there and she wanted to sort of rub it in the woman's face that SHE, a dark creature, has a family that loves her (for the most part) and wants her around and is connected and there for each other, while Zelena was abandoned. I'll go back and see if I can make that clearer though, thanks! :) And I understand the villain-sympathy. A lot of it is intentional as a set up for the next story where we'll see Emma actually coming to understand a villain mentality and the actual temptation of the dark and how they view their own actions. Some of it is an effect of the half of the season, Piper's been in the shadows, operating behind the scenes and not really actively doing much villainy but letting Snow dig her own grave, so to speak, and get others to do the dirty work so it comes across (as she gains more people knowing the truth of what Snow did to Emma and herself), that she's in the right more. She hasn't really been able to actively DO much villainy and what she does do others interpret out of context so it seems like she hasn't done anything wrong, because she hasn't really DONE anything lately :) But I do understand and there will be instances in the future of people questioning her actions more and remarking on what she's done too ;) I can say Camelot will especially be very on edge about the Piper being there and bring up a lot of her darker past ;) We'll also see more of Piper being firmly planted in the villain category in the next story. I was trying to have this story be more obvious about her walking the line between hero and villain, flitting between them as you said, because this was the story where she really started to feel the strain of having family on both sides pulling at her. It was also a lead in to her finally falling to one side more permanently too, so I'm actually really happy that you picked up on it and that it got to you :) I think a lot of why people are 'ok' with what Piper or Gold do is context and mentality. In the real world, yes you'd call the cops on someone you loved if they murdered someone to protect you...in cold blood. But would you call the cops if they murdered someone in defense of you, like legitimate self-defense of you being physically attacked in front of them and, in the course of protecting you, killed the other person? Probably not. A BIG part of why no one (Henry, Emma, August) was ok with what Snow did in banishing Gold was, in their (Henry, Emma, August's) POV and having only really read about but not witness/experienced nor been exposed to all the really deep and dark things Gold (or Piper) had done, it was preemptive. She was operating under the assumption that, because he was free, he was going to go on a rampage, when he really wasn't. I mean, he hasn't gone through the town burning down buildings and tearing out hearts and murdering everyone in sight...Regina did that to Piper's entire kingdom, but she's still not a 'threat' to the town because of Henry...yet Gold is, despite Henry being his biological grandfather. The story also focuses on mostly Snow, Henry, Emma, and August outside of Piper and Gold with a little Regina thrown in, and of that small group, three of them are swaying more towards Piper and Gold's side. So it's not really everyone is ok with it or sympathizing, the entire town would back Snow up and all the other heroes would agree with her, but a minority (that the story follows more of) didn't, so it comes across as everyone being ok with it, when it's really just three people, we will see more of how others are reacting to this in the next story though ;) I think the show, also, operates in a 'pick and choose' mentality for the law. Like, Emma murdered Maleficent, but she was a dragon, so medieval/fairytale law. Gold sends a wraith after Regina, fairytale law. Regina essentially attempts murder and nearly kills her son, she's not locked up or tried for it, fairytale law. They seem to go back and forth between what's accepted and lawful based on the real world and the fairytale world and, more often than not, fairytale law wins out, which is reflected here. It's just normal and expected, what villains like Piper and Gold do, in fairytale law sort of thing, I think :) But I really am very glad you picked out those four points, I was really trying to make those come across a little clearer, probably not in the best way (I'll work on that), but a lot of it was to set up the next story so I'm really glad that they stuck out at you ;) Thank you! And I'll keep them in mind as I go forward :)

The AU won't be up for a while yet, with OUAT only halfway through the season and this story still needing to get through season 5, I'm not sure. Originally I was planning to put it up after the show was officially over. And, as bad as it is to say, I'm hoping this season is the last :/

Not quite what we got here no, sorry! I hope you still liked it though :)

I think I'd feel better about Rumbelle if they had some sort of honesty between them too. A relationship built on lies won't last and I feel like ALL Gold had done in the show was lie to Belle and Belle, even when she suspected he was lying, fooled herself into thinking she was wrong and it's not healthy for either of them :/ Thank you for the story suggestions, I try not to read stories in the same fandom I am or plan to write in though, so as not to be influenced by other works and preserve the integrity and originality of my own work :) And so far it seems like I'll be writing OUAT for a few years yet lol :)

I haven't considered an AU like that, no :) Mostly because Sirens are so family based that, unless Snow was actively cruel and cold and hurtful to Piper, she'd still love her and I can't see Snow being like that to anyone ;) I can say that I come close to that at one point in the AU I have planned, Piper will discover something while raising Emma that makes her think a little less favorably about her cousin yet she still raises Emma with love ;)

I'm glad you liked how Regina sort of played the 'woe is me' card for a minute lol :) I think it's a very human thing to want to feel that you're the one wronged the most even when you've hurt someone else, but it's also a very 'villain' thing to do, had to have a touch of the villain-Regina coming back to play :) The story will probably be Captain Swan, but a slower pace than in the show. My Hook/OC will be very Swanfire though :) Oh Isaac SO double crossed them, and in leaving Henry behind sort of sealed his fate when the Siren gets loose one day }:) I can't believe it's over too! I'm very excited to post season 5's story though, hopefully the second half of the season won't completely destroy my plans for it though, fingers crossed :) In the AU, Henry would be seen by Piper as more her grandson than nephew yup, but we'll have to wait and see if Henry is even born or if it's the same Henry and things ;) I hope you liked the chapter! :)