Kyla took hold of Rider, who woke just moments after her.
"What the hell?" He breathed as Kyla pulled him to his feet.
"You okay?" She asked.
He chuckled. "So, that's what your magic looks like, huh?"
She shook her head. "I'm so sorry," she said, embracing him. He held her tightly for just a moment before she pulled away.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Hook..." she said. "David stabbed Hook."
"Is he..."
"And Regina...she was dying!" Kyla exclaimed.
"They're dead?" Rider asked.
"I don't know," she said, grabbing his hand and dragging him up the stairs with her.
They ran from the manor into the town, finding Regina, Emma, Henry and Robin standing out by the library. Kyla's eyes widened as she let go of Rider and ran to Regina.
"Are you guys okay?" She asked, breathlessly, pulling Regina into a hug. She felt tears stinging her eyes.
"We're fine," Regina said. Kyla could hear the smile in her voice. When they pulled away, Regina looked behind her. "You found him."
"I did," she breathed. She then turned around to Emma, who was pulling away from a hug with Henry. Emma's eyes met Kyla's. "Hook."
Kyla immediately followed Emma while Rider ran to keep up with her. They burst into the loft, finding Snow and David hugging each other.
"Where's Hook?" Emma asked.
David pointed at the ground, fear entering him. "He was there right before we got dragged away."
Emma walked slowly into the apartment. Kyla moved closer to Rider, who instinctively put his arm around her.
"Everyone reappeared where they were before this whole mess started," Emma said, her mind turning to the worst.
"There's no way," Kyla breathed.
"Yeah, sorry about the mess," Hook's voice came from the loft. They all turned their heads up to find Hook looking down at them from upstairs. Relief washed over everyone in the room.
Emma ran up the stairs, pushing Hook over with a hug, leaving Kyla with her sister.
"Kyla-" Snow started. Kyla put out a hand to stop her sister.
"Don't," she said. David's arm went around Snow, like he was protecting her, but Kyla shook her head. "If you're about to apologize," she continued, "don't. We were cursed."
Then, she reached for Snow's hand.
"And I'm not mad anymore. About any of it," she said.
"Really?" Snow asked.
Kyla shook her head and smiled. "We're good."
Snow pulled her sister into a hug. Rider walked around to shake David's hand and caught Kyla's gaze. Being the only one to see her, he knew the look on her face wasn't one of forgiveness. It was sadness.
She really wanted to leave.
Hook and Emma came down the stairs. Kyla embraced Hook, who hugged her right back, tightly.
"I'm glad you're okay," Kyla said.
"Me too, love," he said with a smile.
"Hate to break this up," David said, looking at Kyla. "Want to help me find Isaac?"
"Me?" Kyla asked.
David shrugged. "You trusted me," he looked at Rider, then back to Kyla. "Come help me."
Kyla nodded, then looked back at Rider. "Are you okay here?"
He smiled. "Maybe it's time I get to know your family," he said, looking at Snow.
Kyla tried not to make a face. She knew he was doing it for her, and she knew Snow wanted to get to know him as well.
"Good," she said. He leaned down and kissed her, then she and David left, flying down the stairs and out to the sheriff's car.
They knew Isaac would be on the run, probably in Cruella's car, so they searched for that.
"How are you feeling?" David asked.
"In what regard?" She asked him.
"Your magic," he said.
"It comes and goes," she said, honestly. "I didn't realize how much I had missed it until I had it again."
David sighed. "If you leave Storybrooke, you'll never get your magic back."
"I'll never get my magic back anyway. Neverland sucked it up," she reminded him.
"I'm sure we can find another way," David said. "We always find another way."
Kyla rolled her eyes. "And how is that going to help Rider?" She asked.
"We're making it a point to get to know him. We just haven't had a moment to breathe since he showed up."
She couldn't argue with that.
"I know you're right," she said. "I've just been a little freaked out."
"Of course. But you can take a step back now. Allow yourself a moment?"
"I let him down."
"You didn't. You saved him," he said.
Kyla stared out the windshield. She didn't know what to say.
All she could think about were Henry's words in the book:
"You were just one of the good guys."
Which meant that she was a villain in their story.
How was she supposed to live with that?
She tried to be neutral. She tried to stay out of the darkness. But she was selfish. Everything she did was selfish. Did she end up turning herself into a villain?
"Got him!" David yelled, pulling her out of her thoughts.
They circled around, a cut through through the trees and screeched to a halt adjacent to his car. David and Kyla slowly exited the car. Isaac was unmoving. David opened Isaac's car door and yanked him out.
The curse was officially undone. Isaac was no longer a best-selling author.
Everything could go back to the way it was.
They decided to celebrate at Granny's, of course. Everyone was happy to be reunited.
Rider came back from the bar with two iced teas in his hand, setting one down in front of Kyla.
"This is delicious, by the way," he said with a smile.
She chuckled. "Not used to tea that isn't hot, huh?" She asked.
Rider slid into the booth.
"So," Kyla continued. "How was getting to know my sister?"
"She's just so..." he couldn't find the right words.
"Nice?" She asked.
"Eager," he decided, which made Kyla laugh. "No, really," he said with a smile, "it was like she was making up for lost time. And then, of course, the conversation turned to you. To us."
"Oh," Kyla said, folding her hands on the table and leaning forward slightly, "and what did you talk about?"
"She seemed happy that we found each other."
Kyla nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense. After the whole Peter Pan thing-"
"Peter Pan? That evil sorcerer?"
Kyla's eyes widened. "You know Peter Pan?" She asked.
"You know Peter Pan?"
She gaped at him. "I...dated him. Kind of."
"What?" He said, shock running through his body.
Kyla couldn't help but laugh, hands up in defense. "It's part of my whole convoluted past, which now that we're talking about it is making more sense."
"What is?" He asked, still in shock.
"First, would it help if I told you that we were together over 30 years ago?"
"Before the curse?" He asked. She nodded. "For how long?"
"Um..." she trailed off, knowing it was going to sound ridiculous. "Just under 20 years?"
Rider's eyes widened with even more shock. She reached out to touch his hands.
"See," she said, "there's so much we don't even know about each other."
"Why did you never tell me about this?" He asked.
"Because he's evil. Or was evil. And he was Rumple's father. And he tried to kill me a few times. And he's dead! Which, by the way, led to us meeting. So, if anything, we should be thanking him."
Rider stared at her for a long moment before reaching into his cup, taking a bit of the tea and splashing it toward her with a smile on his face. She covered her face, laughing.
"Wow," he said. "Your story seems a lot more interesting than mine."
"Oh, that's not even half of it. But I'll tell you in time," she promised.
Rider was quiet for a moment, knowing he had a question for her.
"Are you still thinking about leaving?" He asked, his voice quiet.
Kyla sighed. She looked around, noticing everyone was too busy in their own conversations to pay any attention to theirs.
"Back in the curse," she started, "we were on our way to find you: Emma, Henry and myself. I was explaining to them how you weren't yourself and how Snow wasn't herself, that you were both-"
"Villains," he breathed.
"Right," she continued. "I said how I couldn't even fight against my own sister because I was weak in spirit. But Henry said to me it was because I was "one of the good guys" in that story."
"And?" He asked, not understanding.
"Well, if you, Snow, David, the fairies were all villains and Regina, Gold, Hook, Zelena, they were all heroes?"
"Everything was opposite there," he said.
"So, if I was a hero in that story..."
"You're not a villain," he said. "You followed Snow's orders."
"I couldn't bring myself to go after Hook or Emma. I couldn't hurt Henry. Snow did those things with ease. I was hesitant every step of the way because I knew it was wrong. I was more of a hero there than I ever was back in the Enchanted Forest."
"You're not a villain," he repeated.
"I won't be," she said, "if we leave."
He leaned back. "What does your sister say?"
She shook her head. "She doesn't know. David does, but he thinks he can change my mind before I make a decision and keep it from Snow."
Rider sighed. "You know I'm going to follow you anywhere," he said. "Can we take a breath to think about it?"
"Of course," she said, knowing her mind was made up.
They smiled at each other, finally at peace. However, it was cut short by Belle running into Granny's with more bad news.
Gold was dying.
And the Darkness would be freed.
Without hesitation, they ran to Gold's shop. The Apprentice, who they had freed just before the cruse hit was with them, attempting to free Gold of the Darkness before it consumed him.
And it worked. Then, it engulfed the Apprentice, almost killing him. Emma was able to blast the Darkness away, out of Gold's shop, but when they followed it out, it made its attempt on Regina.
As the Darkness began to swallow her whole, Emma jumped in, holding the Dark One's dagger close. She wouldn't let Regina become the Dark One.
She would do it herself.
In a blaze of smoke and lightning, Emma watched her family as she was taken by the Darkness that had finally evaded Rumplestiltskin after all those years.
Once Emma was gone, everyone stood, frozen.
Hook was the first to move, running to where the dagger had dropped from her hands.
Kyla moved closer, away from Rider, to bring some comfort to her friend, only to see Emma's name written on the dagger.
Fear shot through her. Through everyone.
"If we can't find her, I can damn well bring her to me," Hook said, picking up the dagger and holding it out in front of him. "Dark One, with this dagger I command thee return!" He commanded into the air.
Nothing.
"Appear!" He screamed into the nothingness.
"Put that thing down before you hurt yourself, Guyliner," Regina said, losing her patience. "I thought you knew the dagger's rules."
"With it I can summon the Dark One from any corner of the world," Hook said.
"There's your answer," Kyla spoke up. "She must not be in our world."
"Then where is she?" Hook asked, his anger boiling.
"Your guess is as good as mine. Where is the Dark One born?"
"Gold would know," David said.
"Gold's out of commission right now," she said. "No, we've got to find another way."
"We have to ask the Apprentice," Regina said.
The Apprentice, though, was too weak to use any magic. He handed them a wand that would take them to the land they desired:
Camelot.
The only catch was because it contained light magic, dark magic was needed to enact it.
Regina snatched the wand from him, pointing it up to the sky. But it didn't work.
She wasn't dark enough anymore.
There was an answer though: Zelena, who was still pregnant with Robin's child.
While Regina and Robin worked on getting Zelena to help, Kyla mentioned leaving again. Rider pulled Kyla to the side.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"We can't leave now," Rider said.
"This is the perfect time to leave! I do not want to get sent away to some other mysterious magical land, okay? I'm done."
"Kyla-"
"When you needed help, no one was there for you. Why should we bend over backwards again to help Emma?"
Rider exhaled. "She's your family."
"You are my family," she said.
"You'll regret it."
"You don't know that."
"Kyla, I know that look on your face. That determination? We can use that to help Emma."
"Why are you so concerned with helping Emma?" She asked.
"It's what heroes do," Rider said.
Kyla paused. "Are you...are you worried I'm going to end up a villain?"
"What?" Rider said. "No! Not at all. But I want to be a hero. It's kind of why I chose the name I did."
"Flynn Rider?" She asked.
"Flynnegan Rider. He was a character from a book I read long ago. A true hero. One that put others before himself, just as you do everyday."
Kyla looked up at the man she loved. It was important to him, but she knew that they could easily get hurt on this journey. Was she ready to risk losing him again?
She sighed.
"Okay," she breathed. "Only for you, though."
"Really?" He asked, not wanting to push it.
"You give up everything for me," she said, "it's about time I listen to you, huh?"
He smiled and pulled her in for a kiss.
"I love you," he said.
"I love you too," she said with ease.
The heroes had tricked Zelena into using the wand to get them to Camelot. They used Granny's as a vessel to take them only to be quickly transported in a cloud of green smoke to this strange new place: Camelot.
There, they found Emma, holding the heart of a red-headed girl. Emma was about to squeeze.
Kyla held on tight to Rider as Hook was able to talk her down.
Finally, Emma returned the heart and walked back with them to Granny's.
As they made their trek back, Kyla felt a twinge of pain in her chest.
"You okay?" Rider said, holding her hand as they walked.
"I'm fine," she lied.
As the sharp pain in her chest faded, she noticed her vision was more alert. Every color around her seemed more vivid. And everyone's emotions were becoming more clear.
Her magic. Was it restoring?
Before she could put any more thought into it, a few men rode in on horses to meet them at Granny's. He called himself King Arthur and said that there was a prophecy.
Merlin, the Sorcerer, was cursed to live as a tree. The Savior was meant to save him and bring him out of the tree to destroy the Darkness.
However, the Savior was now taken over by said Darkness.
Anxiety rose in everyone, most of all Emma.
King Arthur welcomed them with open arms into the city of Camelot.
As they walked up the pavement to the castle, darkness covered their eyes.
Kyla's eyes opened. She shot up from the ground of Granny's Diner, in an off-white, medieval dress she knew wasn't hers. Rider, next to her, was also in an outfit she had never seen. Suddenly, everyone who had made the trip to Camelot awoke from the ground, looking at everyone in confusion.
Two dwarves ran in, claiming it had been 6 months since they made the trip.
Once again, their memory was gone.
And even worse, Emma had succumbed to the Darkness, taking on the full title of the Dark One.
"You all failed me," she announced after walking into Granny's Diner. "And for what you all did to me, you are about to be punished."
Kyla's senses were dialed to 11. Her mind was trying to take hold of everyone's emotions, but it was becoming too much. Emma sauntered over to Kyla, seeing the look on her face. She got close enough to Kyla's face that they were almost touching.
"Whatever it is you're thinking, don't," she whispered. "You will never have enough power to kill me."
"If I had my magic," Kyla said.
Emma straightened, and without another word she walked away from her.
Rider pulled Kyla closer to her. She was just thankful he was safe.
Emma used her magic to poof out of Granny's. Kyla was still feeling jittery as the question lingered in everyone's mind:
What happened in Camelot?