All Magic Comes With a Price:

Page 29: The Secret Plan to Get the Memories Back:

"Hey, Belle." Dream smiled, walking into Gold's shop to see Belle sorting through the books in Gold's shop. Dream did not just lose a father one year ago. Belle lost the man she loved. 

"Dream. Hey." Belle smiled, looking a little shocked to see the girl.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything... But I have something that you might be able to help me with." Dream said, twirling the pink rose in her hand. 

"Something about the missing year?" Belle asked her, before noticing the rose.

"Do you have a book on flowers? Like messages or meanings?" Dream asked when Belle furrowed her brows.

"Floriography? The language of flowers? I'm sure the library has a few books that could help." Belle said when Dream nodded. "Rumple only has spellbooks here..." Belle said, holding up one of the old-looking books.

"Could you help look?" Dream asked when Belle smiled.

"Of course... Any reason you're interested? Besides your birth rose?" Belle asked when Dream did not know how to explain why she needed to know. 

"Um... Yeah. Just wanted to take an interest, I guess..." Dream lied, when Belle nodded, heading to the library with Dream, after locking up Gold's shop.

*Meanwhile*

Regina was back in her office, when she took off her black gloves, reaching into one of her desk drawers. She looked up at the sound of the door opening. 

"An Earthquake?" 

Regina just stood up, seeing Emma's worried expression. "I had to make a statement. And you're fine." Regina scoffed when she looked up at Emma. "So, do you think they bought it?" Regina continued to ask, walking around her desk.

"Yeah, I think they did," Emma said, standing still, while she waited for the next part of their plan.

"Good," Regina said, knowing that the town would not think twice about Emma and Regina arguing over curses and Henry.

"Nice work. Now, let's figure out who really cursed this town." Emma said when Regina nodded at her.

*The Storybrooke Library*

"Anything?" Dream asked, looking through the titles of the books in the library.

"I'm afraid not... Let me check the computer." Belle said when she walked over to the library computer.

Dream looked over to see that Belle was looking at the computer, when Dream sighed, going back to look for any book that could help her understand why a frog left her a rose. A pink rose.

"Any luck?" Dream asked when she got frustrated looking in the "F" category for anything in the flower language.

"I found one online. Would that work?" Belle asked when Dream moved over to look at the computer with her. 

"It's worth a shot." Dream shrugged when she saw Belle looking up the flower language.

"You are looking for roses right?" Belle asked when Dream looked down at the rose she had in her hand.

"Pink roses." Dream corrected, looking down when Belle stopped looking at her.

"I thought you had a red rose?" 

"Yeah... But we can start with pink, right?" Dream asked, looking up at Belle when she seemed nervous.

"Why are you wondering about pink roses, Dream?" Belle asked when she saw that Dream was like her father. She bottled up her real feelings and thoughts. Like Rumple, Dream felt like she could do things on her own and rarely asked for help. Belle smiled a bit, seeing that Dream got one of Rumple's traits. "You're not just wondering about this language, are you?" She continued to ask her.

"A frog left me this rose. He did not say anything, but I just wondered if it was a sign or something... When I looked it up--"

"You saw something that you wanted to double-check, right?" Belle asked, stopping Dream's rambling.

"Yeah..." Dream sighed when Belle gave her a soft smile.

"It's okay. We'll check it out." Belle smiled when she started to look up what a pink rose means in the flower language. "Okay... Here we go. A dark pink rose reveals thanks or appreciation... A light pink rose also shows gratitude... But a tool pink rose--" Belle stopped, while she was scanning the page.

"What?" Dream asked, fearing that her google search was right. 

"It says that a tool pink rose... Like the one you were given is given to send congratulations. What would the frog be sending you congratulations for?" Belle asked, looking genuinely curious as she watched Dream look down at the rose. 

"I don't know..." Dream sighed when she moved the rose toward her chest.

"Dream!" Belle exclaimed, when as soon as the rose touched Dream's chest, she gasped. "Are you alright?" Belle asked, trying to help Dream stand, but she dropped the rose, causing her finger to get pricked by the rose's thorn as it fell.

"Yeah... Yeah, I'm alright." Dream stuttered a bit when she looked down at her finger.

"Here, sit down," Belle said, helping Dream over to the nearest chair, while Dream kept staring down at the rose. "I would not worry about it, Dream... I'm sure that the frogs are just happy you have come back to Storybrooke." Belle said, trying to comfort her.

"Yeah... I'm sure that's what it is." Dream sighed, looking down at the pink rose on the floor.

*City Hall*

Emma checked the outside of Regina's office, while Regina walked over to pull out the small potion box that she keeps in her office. "How long do you think we have?" Regina asked, pulling the box over to the table. 

"Until whoever cast, this curse realizes you're not actually on the run from me. But, till then, no one's gonna suspect we're working together." Emma said to Regina when Regina opened her box up.

"Let's see it," Regina said to Emma as Emma handed her the bottle that Hook had the remembering potion. 

"That enough?" Emma asked her. 

"To use? No. But to replicate? I think so." Regina said, looking at the little bit in the bottle. 

"We can start waking people up. And figure out who sent everyone back here." Emma said, sitting down in the chair at the table.

 "And I can make Henry remember me." Regina paused, setting the bottle down. "Thank you," Regina said, looking for the ingredients she needed.

"For what? We haven't done anything yet." Emma shrugged, unsure why Regina was thanking her. 

"You saw how quick this town was to blame me. But you, you believe I didn't cast that curse. I know that wasn't easy for you." Regina confessed, looking at Emma.

"Sure, it was. I knew you were telling the truth."

"Even though everything that has happened has put me right next to my kids? Maybe this was some super complicated ingenious plan." Regina mocked, knowing how everyone in the town viewed her. 

"It wasn't. My superpower may not be perfect, but with you, Regina, I always know when you're lying. And this time, you're not. You didn't do it." Emma confessed, making Regina look at her, shocked.

"Even though you know I can't live without them," Regina said in a questioning tone. 

"There you go, telling the truth again," Emma said as the two exchanged a smile.

~season 3, episode 13: "Witch Hunt"~

~1162 words~