Thanks to Clopin's hints, he had a feeling that when King George summoned him, he would be asked to help with the slaughter of a dragon, perhaps a potion to ensure Prince James' safety. He did not expect what he actually saw.

Prince James, laid out on a table, unmoving. He was difficult to see through all the bodies and chainmail, but he could see the King before him staring down at the pretty face he'd been watching since birth upon the altar. Eyes closed. Unnaturally still. Suspiciously deathlike.

He nearly lost his breath when he focused his attention and magic onto the boy in front of him to confirm his suspicion.

No heartbeat.

He was dead.

He almost betrayed his presence in the room by letting out a groan at the realization of…everything. Damn this gift. Damn the fact that it was sometimes an utter mystery to him, unexplained and unknown until one thing happened and everything else seemed to fall into place. He should have panicked at the idea that his golden boy was dead, and he did feel angry at the fact that George had let the one person in the world he'd entrusted to him perish, but he felt neither of those things because the sense of realization was too overwhelming.

He was a fool. All this time, he'd had everything he needed right in front of him to put it together, but he hadn't until this moment right now. That feeling he'd had the morning he'd first dropped him off with George, that James was the wrong Prince but the right one all at the same time. The fact that he was unfit for Snow White but perfectly fit for a Prince which made him neither the False Prince nor Prince Charming. He was the right Prince at the right time. But now he was the wrong Prince. But his brother...he was the right Prince. Humble, born of nothing, raised in poverty, unafraid to speak his mind and do what was right just because it was honorable, willing to fight for the common man, eager to wait if love was the prize. David was the False Prince. Someone who would never fit in with the royals no matter how much he dressed him up. He would be Prince Charming. And James…the right wrong twin…for if James had never come here in the first place, the path would never have been cleared for his brother to be raised the way he was but had the opportunity he had before him now; an opportunity to take his place. How had he missed that?

"Goodbye, my son," King George muttered as a few of those soldiers he'd been standing behind moved forward and carried the body away. He could smell blood, old and stale as if from a wound. Perhaps that was what did the good Prince in.

"Your Majesty, there is no time to grieve," one of the soldiers suggested sidling up beside the King. "If Midas learns he is dead, he will find another warrior to slay his dragon, and we will never see an ounce of his gold."

"Yes, yes. The Kingdom must survive," the King agreed half-heartedly. That was interesting enough. Half-hearted was still half a heart more than he ever would have guessed Old George had.

"So, what are we to do?"

"I have asked for help," he responded after a short pause. "It should be here soon."

Ordinarily, he wouldn't have heeded the summons considering what had been so carelessly done to James. But at the pronouncement, he rose out of his chair at their pretend round table. It was his cue. With careful steps, he could fix this. He could set things the way they were always meant to be.

"Oh, it's here."

Angry as he was, first and foremost, he was the Dark One. He had a reputation to live by, a mask to wear for those who expected it of him. He had experience with George, he knew what he wanted, which was why when the soldiers all turned around to look in the direction of the strange voice, he made sure he was the only one wearing a smile. A knowing smile, but a smile just the same. He was upset, but he was comforted by the knowledge the Seer had given him years ago. This was fixable, he just had to speak to the King, who, to his shock and amazement, did, in fact, have tears in his eyes.

"Leave us," the King instructed the guard at his side.

The guard gave a skeptical sort of look, but nonetheless took steps forward. "Move!" he ordered, and just like that, the rest of the guards filed out of the room, leaving him all alone with the King.

"So, this is how you treat my gifts? You really must be more careful," he chastised.

"He was not a gift," the King argued weakly. "He was my son."

"A son I gave you."

"In a deal we made!" he fought back, all the while he smiled on. It was cute, really it was, whenever royals and other "higher-ups" attempted to assert their dominance over him. It never worked. He would always be the most powerful person in the room, no matter who's Kingdom he was in. "You did me no favors!"

"Yes, yes, I did!" he insisted, turning to face the man. He'd offered a mirror, one to another realm that had been quite helpful in ridding himself of Cora and finding Jefferson, which had been a very profitable relationship, all was true. But what the King didn't understand was that he would have brought James here for nothing if he'd had to. He was essential to his plan or at least that was what he thought. Now, it turned out, all the cards were in his hand again. And he wanted to be sure the King knew it. "Shame you and the queen couldn't conceive a child on your own. My price for that was a pittance. But now that she's gone, well, I assume that conceiving another heir is out of the question – let alone a dragon slayer."

"Then let's do another deal," George shot back. He rubbed his hands together, nervously, trying to form his idea. "Bring him back. I need my son to do this. I'll give you anything."

He had a feeling that he knew what the King would ask for the moment he realized the situation, but he also knew that he couldn't give him what he wanted, not without tracking down the Doctor in a Land Without Color. However, his knowledge of the future told him this was a situation he had to deal with. He'd been watching David compulsively for decades just as he'd been watching James. He knew George and his family, and he didn't exactly expect the King and David would get along half as well as David would with Snow White. But then…wasn't that the secret? He didn't have to make it work with David and George for an eternity, he just had to make it last long enough for him to encounter Snow White. Maybe even less than that, if Clopin's intelligence was true. He just had to get the boy engaged to Abigail. By then, the lie could become a truth. He could do it. But this required careful wording

"Anything?" he challenged. That was one of his favorite words. There was always a lot of potential in "anything."

"What do you want?"

Besides David at the side of Snow White…not much. This was a deal he'd never really planned on making, but he couldn't just let him have David for nothing! His reputation was at stake, and the King might suddenly grow a brain and think that he was up to something. What did he want for David? A vision he hadn't had for a while flashed in his mind.

Six wands lined up on a wooden stand in a place he did not know yet.

Six wands…he had six wands, but one of them was not part of the six, and he only currently owned five of the six after Robin stole one. He could think of one thing the King could give him, one thing the Seer was compelling him to ask for. He'd been watching the King all his life, and as he felt like he was nearing the end of this journey, there was one thing he wanted but had yet to get his hands on since his own had gone missing. The King did have a partnership with a certain Gold Fairy. It was better than nothing, lest the King figure out he was up to something.

"There's a magic wand I desire. It belongs to a certain fairy godmother, who's patron to your family. And I want to know her whereabouts." Wouldn't that be a perfect way to get back at the Blue Fairy for the trouble she'd caused? Take out one of her most decorated Fairies and acquire her wand along the way. Oh, he could barely wait!

He watched as King George thought about it, pressed his teeth together so hard a muscle jumped in his jawline. "Done!" he finally snapped. "Now tell me–how do I bring my son back to slay the dragon?"

With careful wording of his own...

"Bring him back?" he questioned falsely. "Oh, no, that's out of the question. He's dead. Magic can do much, but not that."

"But you just said-"

"Nothing about resurrection!" he corrected, shouting right back at the King. His terms were that he needed a son to slay the dragon, and so he would have a son to slay the dragon…it just wouldn't be Prince James. He hadn't figured that part out yet, it seemed.

"Then, my Kingdom…is lost," the King pronounced so dramatically he rolled his eyes. "I'm alone."

Fools. Did they think that he made deals just for the fun of hearing words? He'd gone through the trouble of stating a price, and he was a busy man. Did the King not wonder why he would put a price on something he couldn't do?

"Oh, dear," he chimed, sounding falsely upset and dancing closer to the King just to make him feel uneasy. He was a man in mourning, but as far as he was concerned, he was a father who had allowed his child to die. He had little pity for him. "Oh, dearie, dearie, dear. Did I not tell you that I could have your son slay the dragon? And am I not a man of my word?"

"I thought you said he was gone forever?" the King yelled in frustration.

"Oh, that he is," he confirmed. "But his brother…"

"His what?!" the King demanded, his interest suddenly roused.

"His twin brother," he asserted, letting another important detail slip. "Did I not mention there was another?" he laughed as a spark of hope danced into King George's face. That was the look of a man who was desperate enough to play his games willingly. It was a look that would sign away the shepherd's fate.

Dear David would become a false prince if there ever was one, he would come to know Snow White in every way a man possibly could know a woman, he was the real Prince Charming.

Yep! It's time! It's time to get into some of the Snow White Prince Charming drama! It's funny the things that you learn when you are putting everything in order for this fiction. I had never thought David became Prince Charming so early on, while Belle was at the castle. But, then we remember that this will lead into the 3x21/3x22 chapters, which she was clearly there for, and that after she's gone Regina makes a comment about Ariel and by that episode it's also clear that Snow has already met Charming. And so, it all starts coming together. Like I told you in the beginning...rubber...meet road.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Jennifer Baratta, Grace5231973, and Alarda for your reviews. I'm glad you were pleased to see Clopin in the last chapter and thought he was a good fit! Jack Horner will be back soon enough and I think by then it'll all be a lot more clear about what it'll lead to. Unlike this chapter. We know what this leads to. Anyone wanna meet a Shepherd? Peace and Happy Reading!