"We're back", says Snow, without being able to hide her deeply saddened expression from Aurora and Phillip's inquiring faces. It's only after she actually utters the words that the cruel reality starts to set in, and yet another moment passes before she or anyone else even notices their change in attire. They are really back. Even her hair is long again, she realizes as a few strands fall on her face. It's like everything is once again as it should be, except it isn't. Everyone that has just magically reappeared in the Enchanted Forest has, in some degree, a hole in their hearts they know will never be able be filled again – a hole which is somehow made even deeper when Aurora finally finds it in herself to vocalize all her questions: "But…how? Why? And…where's Emma?"

The very mention of her name makes Snow, Charming and Killian all close their eyes in pain, and Aurora just runs towards the man she had never known as anything but a villain with a fury that surprises even herself. "What did you do? Did you take her heart like you did mine?" It takes all of Charming's will to get a hold of himself long enough to stop Phillip from attacking the pirate while Killian replies "I took no pleasure in doing that to you, love, you were just a means to an end" – and at that he can't help but throw a saddened glance Belle's way – "but if you'd recall I also went out of my way to salvage your precious little heart." Thinking back to that moment at Lake Nostos, how her dear Mulan so gently pressed her heart back into her chest, and realizing the Captain is part of the group of the new arrivals rather than their enemy, she consents. "As for my…as for Swan, she and her boy weren't cursed back to this wretched land with us" and, with that, he closes his eyes again and turns his back to the princess, starting to walk away from the group. He stops once he sees Tink and Charming's pleading gazes and takes his place behind the dwarves, looking down.

"What is he talking about, a curse?"

"It's true", says Neal.

"…but we're gonna need some time to explain it all to you, if you can spare it", Charming cuts in and at his words Phillip finally lets go of the man's arm and the couple welcomes the group to their castle.

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The rest of the day is spent with Aurora and Phillip hearing their story in the castle's dining hall. It wouldn't have taken so much time hadn't Snow insisted they'd begin by her first encounter with Regina, but she wanted to make sure the couple would fully appreciate the magnitude of the queen's redemption. It ends up being a good idea as all of the ensuing reminiscing brings smiles to everyone's faces as each remembers details that had been lost on others and there's joking and teasing and shouting, even among the darkest moments for they all know it was all in the past.

In the middle of all the joy and happiness, there's one person who keeps himself apart from the others. Killian never leaves the room, but stays near the corners and seems to only pay attention to his neverending rum flask and sulk while the others have a seemingly great time. However, at any mention of Emma and, by extension, Henry, he raises his head and listens closely, as he frantically fills in the gaps that couldn't possibly be filled just by reading her eyes, her soul, even as clearly and easily as it always came to him. Whenever they talk about her confusion and reluctance in calling them by their non-cursed names, his mind takes him back to her incredulous "Hook? As in Captain Hook?" and he almost smiles.

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The next few days were a bit of a blur, as Killian refers to them. While Snow, Charming and the dwarves were occupied trying to make their palace inhabitable, Regina (having magically fixed her own with a mere wave of her hand) was looking to make amends with everyone she'd meet with varying results. Most times, though, her pride made it seem like she was asking people for apologies rather than giving them herself, so after witnessing her first few failed attempts Tink decided to accompany her old friend and things did start to go much better. Belle had taken Aurora and Phillip's offer to stay with them and was still gathering the strength to move back into Rumple's castle, while Neal had already gone back. As for Killian, he found a tavern their second day in the Enchanted Forest and there he stayed, spending all his days and nights either drinking or passed out drunk in the same booth. Whenever Charming would try to get him out of there, he either ran out of his sight or pretended to be fast asleep and that would be enough for him to leave with only a sigh.

Until the day it isn't. "Well, mate, you leave me no other choice", he hears him say and barely has time to look up before an entire barrel of beer splashes on him.

"What the hell, mate!"

"Good, you're up. Let's go, Jones."

"Go where? I don't have anywhere to be, anything to do. Leave me be, Your Highness."

"You can't stay here wasting your life. I'm taking you back to the palace whether you like it or not. If you don't want to accompany your friend, you'll come by your king's command, given that is how you clearly see me anyway. Up."

"I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm a pirate and as such I serve no king. I was merely paying the respects your title commands. Now go."

"I vowed I wouldn't leave this place without you, so if you won't get up just yet…" says Charming already sitting beside him, "one beer, please!"

"That's a dangerous game you're playing, Dave…I don't think you'd want your wife to catch you piss drunk."

"I'm winning you over, I can feel it."

And with that both men actually chuckle, finish their beers and leave for the castle.