Ironically we ended up back where we had started, the place of Emma and I's birth, the palace. Snow and Charming had a cell that could hold even the powerful Rumpelstiltskin in one of the underground caves nearby. Snow led us to it and then through the tunnels until we reached the prison cell.
Snow told Emma and I that she had come down here before Regina's curse, where Rumplestiltskin had told them that Emma was going to be the Savior - that it was prophesized. She looked at me then, and smiled, saying he hadn't known I was coming though, which proved that while he may know much, he didn't know everything.
We searched the cell for the squid ink - which we would use against Cora to stun her, steal the wardrobe ashes, and get back to Storybrooke - but found nothing. Aurora, however, found a piece of rolled-up parchment hidden in one of the crevices of the cave walls. She handed it to Emma and on the parchment was nothing but her name - Emma - written over and over again.
Another reminder that she was destined to be the Savior, not me, the only one supposed to be in this story, and felt that familiar clenching in my stomach and chest.
We decided to keep searching while Emma sat analyzing the parchment that had her name written all over it. She seemed unnerved by the fact that Gold knew she was the Savior before she was born. Snow's explanation was simple - he had been obsessed with her since she was the key to breaking the curse.
Mulan finally found the squid ink, but the bottle was completely empty now. That was when Aurora threw a rock against a lever just outside the cell, trapping the five of us in the cell Rumplestiltskin couldn't escape from. That was when we noticed two figures in the gloom of the tunnels beyond the cell. There stood Cora and Hook, leaning against the wall as if he'd been there for hours, looking thick as thieves as Cora revealed that Aurora was helping her.
I clutched the compass, still hanging around my neck, determined not to give it up - I had worked too hard, given up too much, to get it - but with a wave of her hand, Cora had the compass and my neck was bare. Fucking magic. I felt the tinglies again thrumming through my body and wondered if what I had been feeling since Gold had released magic on Storybrooke was just that, magic. I glared at the woman through the bars, casting glances to both Emma and Mary Margaret - Snow - that I hoped conveyed just how sorry I was I had lost our only way home to this terrible woman, putting everyone we loved in danger.
Emma became desperate, trying to break the bars and get the compass back, but Cora reminded her that not even Rumplestiltskin had been able to escape, she stood no chance. Cora thanked Aurora for her help and revealed that her heart had been taken and she had been controlling her the entire time. We had assumed it had been the zombified villagers that had taken Aurora, but it was in fact Hook who had captured her in the woods and brought her back to Cora. Cora had ripped out her heart and allowed Hook to free her so she would find her way back to us and she could use her to send us a false message from Hook and betray us once the time was right.
I called out to Hook and asked if the giant hadn't passed along my apology, the explanation I hadn't gotten the chance to give to him. He stopped and turned around, walking toward the bars as I told him I was sorry, I had to put my family first, we'd only had 10 hours and I couldn't risk waiting for him to wake up and not being able to make it back down in time. I pleaded for him to understand and believe I had wanted to trust him, I just couldn't, and claimed if roles had been reversed he'd have done the same.
He had reached the bars then and just said no, he wouldn't have, actually. Emma pleaded with him then to not do this, for her son, who needed her, but he turned to her and told her if she wanted anyone to blame she could turn to her left, where I was standing. He turned back to me, saying I should have thought of that before I had abandoned him on that beanstalk. He then held up the mummified bean that had been on Anton's belt and asked if I recognized it. I told him yes, it was the bean the giant kept when Emma lunged her arm through the bars for the necklace. Hook pulled it away and out of her reach as if taunting us with it.
He responded, "Yes, indeed. A pirate always keeps a souvenir of his conquest, but this... Well, this is much more than a mere trinket. This is a symbol. Something that was once magical, full of hope, possibility... Now look at it. Dried up, dead, useless. Much like you. The time for making deals is done, just as I'm done... With you." His words hit me like a blow to the gut, and I found myself unable to breathe in the aftermath of his words. Before he turned away from me, our fingers brushed, and I could have sworn he had done the action on purpose, as if trying to send me a silent message. Maybe he was still playing both sides? Regardless, his words still struck their mark.
I stepped back, away from the cell door, backing into one of the cave walls. Hook and Cora disappeared, leaving us trapped in the cell that was enchanted to hold Rumple-fucking-stiltskin.
And it was all my fault.
Snow tried to comfort me but I was beyond comfort and focused instead on trying to dig under the cell with a rock I'd found on the floor, even though I knew it was useless. Emma, on the other hand, was desperately trying to break down the bars with her sword, needing to get back to Henry.
We all played the blame game on whose fault it was.
This time I spoke up and took the blame for all of this - because it was true. If I hadn't given Mulan the order, I wouldn't have had to abandon Hook and betray whatever trust had been building between us.
Snow came over and sat between me and Emma, who she had also gotten to give up whacking away at the cell door uselessly. She had a short "Mary-Margaret" talk with me, not giving me a choice this time. She could tell the Killian thing really hurt me, especially knowing the war I had fought with myself that caused me to make the decision to abandon him on the beanstalk. Even if that particular time crunch had been of my own making, she had reminded me. I told her of the touch he'd given me before he left, and of my suspicion that he may still be playing both sides. She told me that when it came down to it, we needed to focus on getting back, all three of us, together.
Emma chimed in that the pirate had made his decision, as far as she was concerned, imagined touch or no, but that this was her fault, not mine. For being the Savior she wasn't doing a lot of saving, she had told us. Snow turned to her and told her we were going to win this fight - that good always defeated evil. She gave her her own "Mary Margaret" pep talk but Emma was convinced that she was merely a pawn of Rumplestiltskin, waving the parchment at Snow as proof, taking it from her.
Snow realized what we need to do to escape and became even more of a badass bitch than I thought she was. She had been analyzing the parchment she'd snatched from Emma and told us this was our way out. She stood up and when she blew across the parchment the ink literally flew off the page and floated in the air before us. She blew the magical floating ink gently toward the cell door and it dissolved right before our eyes.
We were free.
Aurora elected to be tied up and stayed behind, not wanting to risk betraying us while Cora could control her, and Mulan swore to get it back for her. We ran out of the tunnels and tracked down Hook and Cora thanks to Snow's tracking skills, finding them in the middle of a mostly dried-up lake that looked vaguely familiar from Henry's book. There was a huge spinning vortex in the middle of said dried-up lake that I could only guess was our way home.
Cora and Hook had been about to jump through the portal when Snow shot the compass out of their hands and told me to get it while she, Mulan, and Emma went after Cora. I liked to think it was her way of letting me redeem myself after I had lost the compass. I ran around the vortex, sword drawn, determined to find the compass, get us all home safe, and stop Cora from reaching Henry.
I met with Hook on the opposite bank, our swords clashing as they struck each other, the force of the blow surprising me. I kicked him back, trying to get space between us to lash at him again but he parried my advance, knocking my sword out of my hand skillfully before flipping me onto the sandy ground, taking advantage of my loose footing and lack of proper training. I tried to crawl for my sword but he dragged me back closer to him and away from the weapon.
I had just remembered the dagger in my boot and was going to reach for it when I saw Hook lean back over the portal suddenly, arm extended, grabbing the small satchel that held Aurora's heart before it could fall into the vortex, lost forever. I took the opportunity to get out of his grasp, and rolled backward and away, grabbing my sword, preparing to fight again. Hook tossed Aurora's heart to Mulan with a line only a pirate would think to say and Snow sent her off to return Aurora's heart. Mulan gave Emma her sword, explaining that it could deflect Cora's magic, and was off.
When Hook and I squared up again I had the chance to plant my feet and prepare for his lunge, having learned from our first round. He commented as he stepped, swords ringing as they clashed together, that he only returned the heart because he liked a fair fight, not because he had a "soft spot" as I had claimed.
He was faster than me, far more skilled, and I was only holding my own against him because he was allowing it. He complimented my form before saying it wasn't good enough, grabbing me from behind the leg, his hook around my ankle, throwing me off balance and onto my back in the sand.
I thrust my sword up between us, trying to keep it between him and me, but he slowly slid his hook down my sword and pinned me to the ground. And the bastard, the bastard, had the audacity to say, as he did it, "Normally, I prefer to do other more enjoyable activities with a woman on her back. With my life on the line, you've left me no choice. A bit of advice? When I jab you with my sword, you'll feel it. You might want to quit."
I could feel something poking against my back, and dug around in the sand, feeling something round, and smooth, under my back. I asked why I would do that when I was winning, flashing him the compass that was now in my hand, the chain wrapped around my wrist. I flung a handful of sand in his face, distracting him enough for me to be able to kick him off me.
Emma came up from behind me and punched him in the face, knocking him out cold - poor guy. She offered me a hand up out of the sand and I showed her the compass, now wrapped around my wrist three times and hidden in my jacket so Cora couldn't see it and poof it away again. Emma nodded her understanding and we turned to face Cora and help our mom.
She went after Snow, knocking Emma and me down with a wave of magic, preventing us from coming to her aid. Cora was about to rip out Snow's heart when I felt a surge in me and the electric tinglies and felt the magic holding us back evaporate. Emma acted quickly, jumping up and shoving Mary Margaret aside, Cora's hand sliding into her chest cavity.
Snow and I started - shocked, and terrified - but Cora couldn't remove her hand from Emma's chest. She couldn't rip out her heart! Emma defeated Cora by accepting that love was strength and a wave of magic shoved Cora away, knocking her out, giving us the chance we needed. We ran to the portal and I unwrapped the compass from around my wrist, holding it out. We all put our hands on top of it, interlocking fingers, and jumped through the swirling vortex portal.
Finally heading back to Storybrooke. Home.
Falling through the portal we all gripped onto one another, refusing to let go. My entire body was thrumming with energy and I felt like I was glowing when we finally came through the portal, showing up at the bottom of some kind of hole. Emma climbed up first, followed by Snow. By the time I had gotten out of the well, Emma was already holding Henry to her like she was never going to let him go.
We had done it, we made it home. I realized the hole we had arrived in had been the wishing well August and I had found all those weeks ago.
My heart squeezed seeing Emma, my sister - my twin - loving her son so fiercely given how their story started. Ruby and Regina were also standing nearby, Mr. Gold disappearing down the trail. While Snow reunited with Ruby I walked over to Regina, telling her that Cora reminded me a lot of the woman that raised me and that she could do better and break the cycle if she chose to.
Mary Margaret rushed down the trail, eager to get to David and free him from his sleeping curse. I followed after everyone to where David was being kept at Mr. Gold's shop, Emma and Henry not far behind. I got there just in time to watch her wake him up, breaking the curse.
Emma whispered to me that she was going to confront Gold and asked me to keep an eye on Henry and our parents while she did, which I was more than happy to do. Henry asked me questions about what happened over there and I told him it was going to be a very long story, but I got to climb the beanstalk. Henry walked over to talk to Regina after I told him I wouldn't divulge anymore until I had some coffee in me. As I watched the two talk I could tell Regina was at least trying to do the right thing, although not always succeeding, given what Ruby had told us on our way over here.
We all agreed to get dinner at Granny's and catch up. I invited Regina to the dinner, knowing she probably wouldn't accept, but wanting to offer the olive branch regardless.
Before going into Granny's I hung back, looking out toward the ocean, having the oddest sensation something - or someone - was coming.
But then the smell of a freshly brewed pot of coffee had me drawn inside, never having smelled something so good - at least not after spending the last week and a half without it.