Sound of Surviving

24

"Okay, listen. I need my family. There's magic here now. There will have to be ways to follow them."

"Follow them where? Into a sucking airless void? And good luck getting magic to work. Because, as you said, you'd be charcoal."

"Oh, frustrated, are we? Serves you right. You've earned every bit of this."

"Keep on baiting me, Charming. Right now, I don't have magic and I don't have my son. But, when I get one, I get the others. And you don't want to be around when that happens."

"If you have to use magic to keep your son, you don't really have him."

ENCHANTED FOREST - PAST

A young Evil Queen rode along a road in the woods on horseback and said, "We're almost free!"

Suddenly, several vines magically appeared and plucked her from her horse, suspending her in the air. Cora appeared with a book opened in her hands. "And I thought we were done with all this nonsense."

"Hello, Mother. What evil have you conjured?"

"Not evil, darling. A barrier spell." Cora gently blew across the pages of the book, causing a black dust to lift off the pages. The vines released the Evil Queen. "Designed to keep you where you belong."

"I can't leave?"

"Not alone. Not without the King. We've been through this. In two days, you'll be married – you'll be Queen. After that, you're free to go – whenever you're with him."

"Momma, I don't want to marry the King. I don't want this life!"

"You're just frightened of having all that power."

"I don't want power. I want to be free."

"Power is freedom. Don't worry. I'm here to show you."

STORYBROOKE - PRESENT

David arrived at the Crisis Center, where he spotted Henry.

"Henry!" David called. "Have you seen Blue? Uh, Mother Superior?"

Henry shook his head and replied, "No. But everyone is looking for you."

Several people began harassing David with questions.

"Do we know where Rump- Mr. Gold is?" Ruby asked.

"Wait! Does the Queen still have power?" Archie asked.

"I thought I would find my boy," Marco said.

"Please! We've got to be planning something!" Henry exclaimed.

"Hey, let me ask you something?" Dr. Whale said. "Are the nuns still nuns? Or can they, you know, date?"

"Uh, I don't know," David replied.

"Don't say it's me asking..."

"Blue!" he called, seeing Mother Superior. "Could there be a tree on this side? The way we sent Emma through as a baby. Maybe I could go after them that way."

"It's possible, but without fairy dust to guide us here... No, it's hopeless," she answered.

"You'll find another way," Henry reassured. "In the book, things always look worse right before there's good news."

Leroy, along with the rest of the group, came rushing in.

"Terrible news!" Leroy cried. "Terrible news! We were out at the town limits. Tell them who you think you are, Sneezy."

Mr. Clark frowned. "Oh, will you stop calling me that. You know who I am. I'm Tom Clark and I own the Dark Star Pharmacy. What's going on here?"

"If you cross the border, you lose your memory all over again."