❃
|The Fields of Asphodel|
❃
Emma tried to refrain, honestly, but she couldn't help running over to Graham and pulling him into a hug. His arms were as strong as Emma remembered and he still smelled faintly like rain mixed with the scent of the Storybrooke sheriff's station.
Emma pulled back and look at him, her mouth breaking into a smile. "It's you! It's really you!"
Graham, who had sounded crestfallen moments before, smiled a little. "Yes. It's me. How have you been?"
Emma shook her head and let out a small laugh, "Now that's a story that would take a while to tell." She pulled Graham into another hug, "I can't believe I'm actually seeing you again."
Emma probably would have spent awhile catching up with Graham, but Granny's began to shake just like the Underworld had earlier when Hades had sealed them off from the land of the living.
"Everybody through the back door!" Peter ordered
Everyone seated in Granny's stood up and made their way for the back door. Emma wasn't sure how that would help, but no one seemed to doubt Peter's commandment.
"Something's happened in the Fields of Punishment," Graham explained. "Hades has shut us off from them completely."
❃
|The Throne Room|
❃
When Robin woke up, Persephone was below him talking to Hades.
"I've done as you asked," she told him. "Robin Hood is locked up. Thank you for sending Tisiphone after him."
"No problem. She's on guard duty with the others today, so Alecto or Megaera will check in on him later. In the meantime, I need your help in making sure Asphodel and the Fields of Punishment are sealed off for good. The group is split up, and soon, we can put the second part of the plan into action."
"It would be my pleasure to help."
Persephone and Hades disappeared in a cloud of smoke. So Tisiphone had been right. Emma, Mary Margaret, and David really were trapped in the Fields of Asphodel. Perhaps the fury wasn't as bad as Robin had made her out to be.
However, now that he was locked in a cage, he had too much time to think about what had happened since they had arrived in the Underworld the previous day. To be fair, Robin hadn't gotten a good look at Regina's mother's face, but he would recognize the face of the woman who had killed his sister anywhere.
Regina had told Robin how awful her mother had been and recounted every painful detail of the night she killed Daniel while they were in Camelot, after he had nearly died by Percival's hand. Robin had listened to every word Regina had spoken that night, and held her as she cried for her lost love. Hearing about Daniel didn't make him jealous; it made him sad because Regina had to watch him die by the hand of her own heartless mother.
But now, he understood the extremes Cora would go to for power. She must have been told that Robin and Regina were soulmates and that was what drove her to crush Kira's heart. However, Robin didn't plan on telling Regina that her mother was the one who killed his sister, because he wanted their mother-daughter relationship to mend somewhat, if at all possible.
It was an hour later when one of the other furies flew into his cage before transforming into her human self. She didn't introduce herself, so he wasn't sure if she was Alecto or Magaera. She was younger than Tisiphone was and her hair was a dark shade of red; much darker than both Zelena's and Merida's. She also wore a much more evil-looking expression on her face than Tisiphone did.
"Robin of Locksley," she sneered in an accent much like Robin's own. "So glad I can finally see you locked up."
Wait. Finally? Was it possible this fury was the one who came after him weeks ago in Storybrooke. The whole incident was rather fuzzy, but he was pretty sure Tisiphone had been the one to come for him in the Overworld.
"Have I met you before?"
The fury nodded. "Long ago. You probably don't remember me, or just don't know who I am yet. But you'll find out some day. For now, I can relish in the fact that you are behind bars in the Underworld. and your precious Queen is lost in the endless maze that leads here. Ta-ta!" She transformed back into a fury and flew away.
Robin thought back as far as he could remember, but there was no one in his past who looked like the fury, and no one who shared one of the names that could belong to her. He would have thought it could be Kira, but she would be much older by now if she had been aging and her hair wasn't dark red, nor was it as straight as the fury's.
❃
|The Labyrinth|
❃
Regina had removed one of the torches from the entrance hallway in case she and Henry found themselves in need of light again. After she had a torch in her hand, they began walking.
It wasn't long before the hallway split into two. Regina turned to Henry, "Which direction?"
Henry shrugged. "No idea. Maybe if we just keep our left hand on the wall at all times, we'll find our way?"
Regina nodded, "That could work." So she and Henry turned left, keeping their left hand on the wall. But not even a minute later, they entered a room with eight different doors besides the one they had exited from and they couldn't remember which door they had come from.
"So what now, roll a few dice to pick a door?" Regina asked sarcastically.
Henry shook his head, "This maze...it's like it's trying to fool us. Isn't there some giant maze in Greek mythology?"
Regina smacked her palm to her forehead, "Of course! The Labyrinth! We're stuck in the Labyrinth!"
"And what does that mean?" Henry asked nervously.
There was a low growl that interrupted whatever Regina was about to say. She glanced around trying to figure out which direction it had come from while she answered Henry, "That means the Minotaur is after us."
Another growl sounded, and it was definitely much closer this time. It was coming from one of the tunnels in front of them. Regina turned Henry around and pushed him into a tunnel in front of her. "Run!"
❃
|Entrance to the Labyrinth|
❃
Gold and Cora couldn't follow Henry and Regina through to wherever Robin might be, so they were stuck in the dark.
"What now?" Cora asked. "We just wait for them to come back?"
Gold nodded. "Unless you know a way to get through?"
"Not without a very powerful magical object."
Gold hesitated. He could hand over his dagger; it had no power over him in the Underworld when held by someone who was dead. But he didn't really trust that Cora would bring him along. And if Regina ended up with the dagger in her possession, she could control Gold, seeing as she was technically still alive.
In the end, Gold decided to reveal he had the dagger. Going after Robin Hood was better than being stuck in the dark with Cora for who knows how long.
With the dagger in hand, Cora was able to perform magic powerful enough to remove the cloaking spell, which let a little light in from the hallway through the door. Cora handed Gold his dagger back and the Dark One stepped through the door, Cora right behind him. The moment they were both through, the door swung shut and disappeared, leaving a stone wall behind them.
"No," Cora muttered.
"Let me guess, we just walked straight into the Labyrinth?" Gold questioned.
Cora nodded. "Yes, that is exactly what we just did."
Gold put his dagger back into his pocket. "In that case, our only option is to go after Regina's lion-tattooed boyfriend and hope for the best."
❃
|The Labyrinth|
❃
Henry opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was Regina examining the pocket knife Robin had given to Henry. The room they were in had hay on the bottom and smelled like horses, sort of like a stable without any stalls or animals. Henry wasn't sure why there was a stable-like room in the Labyrinth, but sleeping on hay was much more comfortable than sleeping on cement was, so he wasn't going to complain.
When Regina heard Henry sit up, she looked over at him. "Good morning."
"Morning. How are you?"
"Fine," Regina said, but Henry knew she was lying. She walked over to him and held out the pocket knife. "Robin wanted you to have this, and I know you're responsible enough to handle a knife. I just kind of freaked out yesterday because I didn't know you had it. I'm sure Robin had his reasons for giving it to you, and I agree that you should have some way to protect yourself if something happens."
Henry took the knife from his mother's hand and put it in his coat pocket. He stood up. "I have granola bars for breakfast. He pulled two out of his pocket and handed one to Regina, who raised an eyebrow.
"Robin suggested we pack food and stuff. So he and I might have raided the house looking for things that could help us down here."
Regina took the granola bar from Henry. "For once, I'm not mad about your messes in the house. Now let's go find Robin."
❃
|Storybrooke, One Week Later|
❃
Dorothy was glad the Sisterhood of Witches allowed her to go to Storybrooke because if they hadn't, she would have wasted a whole lot of time searching for a way to make a portal without their magic.
Storybrooke was clearly a more advanced version of where Dorothy came from; most likely a future version of somewhere in America. Dorothy had missed a lot while with the Sisterhood in Oz.
She followed the road, walking to the side of it so she wouldn't be hit by a car. She found the shop she was looking for and entered. She had seen the shop in the Wizard's looking glass, and had expected to find the Dark One inside, as the shop belonged to him.
Instead, she found two women. One had frizzy red hair and the other had dark brown hair.
The redhead spun around, knocked an arrow, and and aimed at Dorothy.
"Woah," Dorothy backed up and held her hands up in front of her. "I'm not here to hurt you. The Sisterhood of Witched sent me from Oz so I could give you the news."
"What news?" the brown-haired woman asked hesitantly. The redhead didn't lower her bow, but Dorothy assumed she was safe for the moment because both women wanted to hear the news she had brought with her.
"Zelena's dead."