The next few days were both a blessing and a curse (though thankfully not a literal one). They originally had planned to leave the next evening, however things didn't quite work out that way after Killian discovered someone he knew with direct ties to his contacts would be coming by within the next week or so. He visited the small village to trade with one of the neighbouring people every month without fail. With that in mind, they agreed to put off their travel plans in order to catch Killian's friend instead and hopefully shorten what was originally going to be a very long and very blind search.

The blessing part of their stay meant that Alice had more of a chance to enjoy a few more hours of peace and sweet needed recovery and rest. She spent most of the time eating hot meals that Robin was able to bring up to her and sleeping off the last of her remaining aches and pains, treating her injuries, bruises and unattended wounds with a special ointment made by one of the barmaid's good friends in between. And, of course, she was also enjoying having Robin's endless company for the whole time as well.

Because they still couldn't let anyone discover who Alice was, they decided to play on the barmaid's earlier concern, claiming Alice had gotten extremely sick after keeping her wet cloak on all last night and now needed constant bed rest to get well again. Robin would stay by her side in case she needed anything while Killian attended to what he referred to as "personal business" in order to get them going as soon as Alice was "back on her feet". The barmaid who had signed them in had the evening shift, so they didn't have to deal with her being overly helpful during the day time and the winnings Killian had earned over the nights was more than enough to keep anyone else from bothering them in the mornings.

But as much as Alice loved having Robin by her side and having these extra days to simply rest after everything they had been through, she was also still constantly on edge. Every second they wasted was not only another second for Gothel to regain her full power and come after them, but it was also another second for Zelena and Regina to cast the Dark Curse, sacrificing one of their lives in the process. And then Robin would be as alone as Alice once was...

Alice couldn't let that happen.

The only thing that gave Alice some form of hope was that she was sure they wouldn't cast the curse while Robin was missing from their care. Surely both Zelena and Regina would want the chance to talk to their daughter/niece once more before they did anything as drastic as ending their own lives. Or even just make sure that she was still alright and safe before throwing her into a whole new and strange world without some form of prior warning about it.

Gothel, however, had no such restraints.

"What you thinking about?"

Alice glanced up from where she was sat by the window and looked over her shoulder. Robin was passing through into the room, kicking the door shut with her foot and carrying a wooden tray balanced on one hand. Since claiming Alice was bedridden with sickness, they had been able to lift the ban on upstairs food, but only for her. Robin and Killian were still exiled to eating their main meals down with everyone else – though that didn't often stop Robin from sneaking something up every now and then.

That certainly made life easier for them, although being stuck inside the same room day in and day out was starting to grate on Alice's nerves. It was a little all too familiar for her and, while she was doing her best not to make a scene and constantly remind herself that it was only tempoary, she felt she wasn't far from losing what little calm she had left. In fact Alice was sure she would suffer badly if she didn't get out soon.

"Just bored." Alice said, trying not to flex her fingers or so obviously clench her jaw.

"Won't be long now." Robin said, setting the tray on the end of the bed. "Your dad says that friend of his sent word ahead that he's gonna be in town sometime this morning."

"Oh thank God!" Alice gasped. Robin shot her a funny look and she blushed slightly. "I just hate being cooped up all day. It reminds me of my tower."

"That memory's still pretty realistic to you, huh?" Robin asked.

"Well it is real after all," Alice sighed, turning back to stare out the window again. Now that the rain had finally stopped, she saw what that barmaid had meant about the view. It really was a lovely sight of the town, stretching over the houses and into the hills and trees in the distance... But Alice had long since learned that it was hard to enjoy a view when you were constantly stuck with the exact same one all the time.

Robin watched her for a moment, thinking something over, before she quickly walked over to her. "Hey, how are you at climbing?"

Alice gave her a curious look.

A few minutes later, Robin had pushed open the window as far as she could and slipped her body through the awkward gap. Alice followed easily behind her, balancing up along all the edging of the window and onto the slanted roof as smoothly as if she were climbing around the inside of her own tower. It was like the old riding a bike saying, only for Alice it was more like scaling a wall (since she'd never actually ridden a bike before).

Together the two of them crawled along the roof, careful not to disrupt the uneven tiles under them before they reached the top. Once they had settled themselves down on the tip of the roof's point, they shuffled around until they were side by side, gazing out over the top of the town's many buildings, big and small alike (though mostly small). It was roughly the same view that Alice had from the window, and yet it was somehow still so much more breathtaking.

"Say what you want about this world Gothel's made. The Enchanted Forest will always be the most beautiful place." Alice said wistfully.

"Yeah," Robin sighed. "Just wish the people in it were as beautiful."

"Well, I think you took all the beauty from everyone else." Alice grinned.

"Very funny. Besides, I meant on the inside," Robin said, rolling her eyes but was smiling slightly all the same.

"My point still stands." Alice grinned.

"Jesus, do you ever stop?" Robin said, shaking her head.

"Not around you." Alice reached over, sliding her hand over her leg. "Never have, never will."

"Okay. Look." Robin turned suddenly to face her. "I don't want to talk about this world or that world. Or Gothel or The Dark One, or any of that."

Alice frowned slightly, cocking her head. "Well what do you want to talk about then?"

"You." Robin said, turning and swinging her leg around so she straddled the roof top between her knees. "All I know about you is the stuff I've seen these last few days and heard from other people most my life. And since those two things completely contradict each other... Well let's just say I think it's pretty obvious that things aren't quite like I thought anymore and you're much different to what I expected. So let's just cut the middle man. Just tell me about you?"

"Oh, well… I mean, I've told you most everything." Alice shrugged. "I grew up in my tower, separated from the rest of the world-"

"No," Robin interrupted. "I said no more talk about your world. Or mine."

"But…" Alice said, frowning at her. "My world is me."

Robin leaned towards her. "No it isn't. Our worlds – where we're from – they don't define us, or who we are. I mean, you think you're in another world, right? Well, you're still the same you and you keep saying I act like the same as the me from your world, even though this one is so different. Right? So ignore the world you're from and just tell me; what's your favourite food?"

Alice smiled instantly. "Orange marmalade sandwiches."

Robin laughed at her quick response. "I've never had one of them…"

"I'll share one with you sometime." Alice grinned, and then paused. She already knew the answer, but she was kind of enjoying the little game all the same. "What about you? What's your favourite?"

"Fresh pears." Robin smiled.

Alice nodded, like this was interesting news to her. She listened patiently as Robin explained that her mother and aunt were apple obsessed and often made various meals with them, leading Robin to get sick of the taste very early on. Then the story went in two different – but still quite similar – directions. In the real world, Robin swapped lunches with people in school all the time and during a hot summer day when she and a new girl went for a walk, the new girl picked a fresh pear and gave it to Robin in exchange for one of her apple tarts. In the fake world, Robin was travelling an abandoned area when she saved a young girls life by helping her slip out of a trap she had gotten herself caught in and the girl had nothing to thank her with but a fresh bundle of pears she had been collecting at the time.

"So… Favourite colour?" Alice asked. She knew this one already too. It was blue. The same shade of blue as Alice's eyes.

"Blue." Robin confirmed.

"Why?" Alice pressed.

"I dunno," Robin shrugged. "I just… I've always loved the colour. No real reason, I guess."

Alice had to fight the urge to giggle knowingly. It really did make her happier knowing that in this world, she couldn't even think of any reason as to why she loved the colour so much. Because Alice was her only reason.

"Mine's green." Alice noted, leaning closer to her. "Like your eyes, funny enough."

Robin smirked, shaking her head at her. "Okay. Favourite and least favourite season? And why?" She asked.

And on and on they went, lightly quizzing one another with innocent questions. After they had finished on all the favourites and least favourites that they could think of, they moved on to hobbies and activities, even the weirdest dreams they had and so on. All the while without actually going into detail about the worlds they grew up in or remembered. Their talk was so casual and easy, so simple and worry-free. It almost seemed like they were back to normal, and there was no separation of any kind between them.

As time wore on, they were so absorbed in describing their dream house pet, that they didn't even hear Killian calling for them back inside the room. Which led to feel a fast growing worry on Killian's part upon seeing the empty room. If he hadn't heard the sound of soft giggling from somewhere above him, he might have ran from the building looking for them. Luckily the whispers led him towards the open window, where he stuck his head out and twisted around just far enough to catch the sight of a pair of toes swinging overhead.

"What are you two doing?" He called, finally catching their attention as he pushed half his body out the window to try and see the rest of them.

"Having a chat," Alice laughed, leaning over the edge of the roof to look down at him. "And getting some fresh air."

"Well come back inside," Killian said. "We all need to get some sleep while we can. We're heading off at sunset."

"Wait, what?" Robin scrambled to swing her leg around to look over the edge and almost lost her balance in her haste. "You've found the guy you're looking for?"

"Aye," Killian grinned. "I found him."

O*U*A*T

"What have you been up to?" Robin asked, astounded.

"Well I could hardly sit around and do nothing." Killian smirked proudly. "So I kept myself busy and earned a nice sum in the mean time."

Alice grinned widely, walking over and wrapping her arms around one of the two horses that Killian had purchased for the next part of their journey, giving him a long hug. According to him, this friend of his that they were looking for was passing through a small town not very far from where they were currently stationed, but it was still best to get there as soon as possible in case they decided an impromptu travel for their next location. And what better way to get there than on the back of a good pair of mighty strong steeds?

"Come on, let's head off. We have no idea how long before they might move on." Killian said, walking over to one of the horses and climbing atop its back.

Until they were safely out of the town, Alice once again had to keep her hood back up, shielding her face as much as possible. And while this did a well enough job to hide her face, it also meant that she couldn't quite see enough of her surroundings to ride on her own. Not that she was complaining when it meant the only other option for her to sit behind and wrap her arms around Robin, hugging onto her tightly in order to avoid falling off.

Yeah, Alice was completely okay with that part of the ride.

Robin settled herself on top of the second horse before reaching down and giving Alice a hand to climb up behind her. Once they were both as comfortable as they were going to get, Alice ducked her head into Robin's shoulder and they gave the horses a gentle nudge to start out of the stables and down the street. They were leaving early on before the sunset, so there were still a few people bustling about with their day, most of who paused to watch as they rode by but no one made any move to stop or hinder them despite their curiosity. And even though there was a great urge to take a peek back at them as they left, Alice kept her head firmly down until finally, she felt Robin shrug her shoulder, giving her head a slight nudge.

"You can look up now." She said.

As soon as Alice lifted her head, she reached up to push her hood back off, stopping short when her father spoke up from ahead of them. "Better leave that for now, love. Just in case someone comes by and you need to duck down again."

Alice reluctantly let her hand drop back to Robin's waist and glanced around – the little that she could without accidentally knocking the hood off. They were heading down an open road and a quick glance over her shoulder saw the town already fading from sight.

"So how far away are these friends of yours?" She called, turning to watch the back of her father head over the top of Robin's shoulder.

"No idea," Killian called back. "I've never been to these parts of the land before. My expertise is more focussed on the water."

"Then how do we know we're going in the right direction?" Robin challenged.

"We don't." He answered simply.

"Oh that's reassuring." Robin mumbled.

"It'll be okay." Alice said softly. "I know my papa won't let us down."

"I hope you're right." Robin muttered.

They fell quiet after that and Alice had to admit that she understood Robin's tension. Even with trust in her father, she felt it too.

Every time they entered a darkened area or turned a corner that they couldn't quite see completely around, Alice expected to run into trouble. In fact every time she couldn't see directly what they were heading towards, she thought a group of guards were going to appear, blocking the way with their weapons aimed at the ready and a fight at hand. And each time they didn't, just made her all the more sure that the very next time they definitely would.

Things had been going too good lately. She and her papa were back together, she and Robin were finally getting closer, and they had a real plan for what to do next to stop Gothel once and for all. On top of that, they were properly well rested, bathed and fed for the first time since this nightmare started. It was great. But worrying. Things were just too damn good for them right now. They had to take a turn for worse sometime.

Alice just hoped she'd be prepared for it when the time came.

"How much further?" Alice asked, her stomach was getting so tight with nerves that she was surprised Robin couldn't feel it happening against her back.

"Won't be long now." Killian called confidently.

"You okay?" Robin asked her.

"I feel like something bad is going to happen." Alice mumbled.

"We're in a land that is ruled by Gothel. Of course something bad is going to happen." Robin snorted.

"I know I just mean… Things have been going too good." Alice whispered, rubbing her face gently against the back of Robin's shoulder.

Robin hesitated, then let go of the horses rein with one hand and placed it over the top of Alice's, entwining their fingers together. She wouldn't pretend like there wasn't still a questionable voice arguing in the back of her mind whenever she looked at Alice, or that she didn't have doubts that Alice might revert back to her old 'Mistress' self at random, but she also wouldn't deny that things had changed between them now – and in a big way. There were feelings that Robin couldn't explain. Thoughts she couldn't make sense of. But she did know that no matter who was telling the truth and what memories were real, there was no going back from here.

A long stretch of pure silent riding later, Killian slowed his horse to a light trot, allowing the girls to catch up until they were marching side by side. Robin hesitated, glancing around at the open pathway and trees beside them curiously. "Is this it?"

"Aye. This is it." Killian nodded.

Alice looked up over Robin's shoulder, pushing herself up and letting the hood fall back so she could get a better look at their new destination. And if she was being honest, it wasn't exactly what Alice had been expecting.

They were close to the sea, but not beside the water like she had thought they would be, and almost all of the houses looked like they barely contained a single room in each of them. All of them looked like they had seen better days, dirty and dry, yet somehow still standing with tall narrow roofs and very little of anything green around them, replaced instead with sandy grains of dirt and scattered gravel that crunched under their horse's hooves as they closed in on them. It was quiet too, but still with a few people drifting around outside their homes in the late evening, some carrying boxes while others carried worn woven bags, cradled tightly to their chests as if they were afraid of them being dropped.

"Do you know where exactly they're staying?" Robin asked.

"Not quite…" Killian mumbled. "Alice, pull your hood back up and both of you keep your heads down for a bit. Just follow my lead."

Doing as she was told, Alice pulled her hood back into place and ducked her head down into Robin's shoulder once more. They let the horses take a slow stroll into the village (even calling it that was a generous stretch) and Alice fought against the urge to take some peeks at the short buildings around her curiously. Robin still had her fingers looped with hers and she drew strength from them, shutting her eyes and praying that this would work. That Killian's friend would be able to help them stop all of this once and for all.

"Excuse me." She heard Killian call out. "I'm looking for someone. Goes by The Believer."

Wait what? What did her father just call the person they were looking for? The Believer? No, it couldn't be. Could it? Was the person they were trying to find…

No. That would be a crazy coincidence. Even more so than anything else that had happened recently.

"Well, well. Long time no see, Captain." Came a familiar voice from up ahead.

Forgetting about everything else, including the danger they were still technically in, Alice sat bolt upright on the spot, her hood falling back slightly out of the way of her face from the force of her jerk, not that she noticed. She was far too busy staring in awe at the very person she had been searching for not more than a few short days ago back at the rebel camp.

"Henry Mills…" Alice whispered.

He looked just like he did back when she had first met him in the Enchanted Forest, right down to the slightly ruffled dark brown hair on his head, and the blue prince-like clothing he wore that hugged tightly onto his torso and showed off all the not-so-subtle muscles underneath. And on top of all of that, the most familiar part was the same cocky smile he had on his face as he walked towards them, a little happy light in his eyes as he stared at his old pirate friend. And he was focused on Killian not yet paying any attention to the other two women riding alongside him just yet.

A smile was just beginning break out on Alice's face as he drew closer to them. She was a second away from jumping off the horse altogether to greet him, when the joyful moment Alice had begun to feel was shattered as someone let out a sudden scream.

"IT'S THE EMPRESS DAUGHTER!"

"Look out!" Robin shouted, grabbing the horse's reins and twisting it sharply just as a neaby villager lunged at them, blade appearing from nowhere and slashing at them. It missed where it had been aiming for – in the soft spot between Alice's ribs – and instead scratched the back of their horse's leg, causing the creature to let out a loud shriek of shocked pain and kick out in surprise.

They tried to do what they could to stay sitting on the animal, but the horse threw back up onto its hind legs in protest and they knew it wasn't going to be long before it managed to twist and toss enough to throw them both off. So Robin, always the quick thinker, let go of the reins and grabbed Alice's wrist, jumping off and pulling Alice with her before they could be thrown down. They landed on the other side of the horse away from their attacker, but hit the ground awkwardly, slipping off their feet and hitting their knees and hands against the ground as they dropped. Luckily they managed to move right after and so avoided breaking any bones under the still rampaging horse, throwing itself around violently beside them.

When the horse had moved a safe distance away and they had gotten their bearings back under them, the two of them twisted around on the ground and started to climb back onto their feet. Only they didn't get very far before they found themselves completely surrounded by the villagers. And each and every one of them all had some form of weapon in hand, pointed directly down at them.

Alice turned to look at Robin. "I told you things were going too good." She mumbled unhappily.

To Be Continued...

Chapter Twenty-Five: Old No-Longer Friends - Sneak Peek:
"We are not animals. And no matter what Gothel does to us, we won't become like her." The woman said, her voice carrying with the natural authority of a clear leader. "I shall see to these people personally. Now go home and rest and trust that I will do as I always promised and protect each and every one of you."
There was a slight grumble from the crowd but already most of their anger seemed to ease out of their eyes, at least enough that Alice allowed herself to let out the breath she had been holding since hitting the ground. Meanwhile Robin loosened the grip she had that was almost crushing Alice's fingers. But even then, it was still hard for Robin to resist the urge to notch an arrow into her bow now that she had the space to do so. In fact the only reason she held back was because she got the feeling it would do more harm than good at this point.
"We trust you, Queen Jasmine." One of the men said finally. "But… That girl is-"
"I know who she is." The woman – Jasmine – said. "And I shall deal with her myself. Now, please. Go home."

Omg! She's still alive! She still on this planet and she's actually posted a chapter of her story! Who would have believed it!
So yeah, the usual apologies for slow updates. I haven't been too motivated lately but I do have the chapters ready so I'm gonna be posting as much as I can! Thank you to anyone who's still managed to hold on XD

Please comment, tell me what you think of the chapter, tell me what you think is going to happen in the next chapter, tell me what you wish would happen, tell me if you're going to Enchanted3 to see CuriousArcher!
Thank you! ;)