Third Person POV:
Regina, Henry and Aubree were eating dinner in silence at home. The doorbell rang.
Regina frowned. "I don't recall us expecting company."
She got up to answer the door. It was Emma. "Sheriff Swan. What are you doing here?"
"Henry and Aubree invited me," Emma replied.
"Do you honestly believe, I'd allow you into my house for dinner, after all the threats you made to my family?"
"I didn't come for dinner."
"Then, what did you come for?"
"You."
Regina, confused, looked behind her into the kitchen and saw that Henry and Aubree were gone. She turned back to Emma, where several Storybrooke citizens had gathered behind her.
"We all did," Emma added.
Regina turned around and retreated into the house, when she saw Henry and Aubree holding nooses at the top of the stairs.
"Henry. Aubree," Regina called.
The mob brought Regina to the main street, where an apple tree had sprung up in the middle of the road. They tied her to the tree as she protested. The rest of the town watched.
"No... No... Let me go. I command it!" Regina cried.
Ruby narrowed her eyes. "After everything you've done to all of us?"
"My apologies, Your Majesty, but my conscience is clear!" Archie said.
"You're not Queen anymore, sister!" Leroy added.
"Tighter!" Granny ordered. "She needs to feel our pain!"
"You took our love and ripped it apart!" Mary Margaret yelled.
"And now, you're going to pay!" David finished.
Emma approached Regina and picked one of the blackened apples off the tree. She held it in front of Regina and crushed it in her hand. "Rotten to the core."
"I just wanted to win... For once," Regina admitted.
Emma grabbed Regina by the throat. "You took away our happiness, and now it's our turn to take away yours."
"...What? Henry. Aubree. Henry, Aubree, please don't let them do this to me."
"You did this to yourself," the twins said.
Emma wielded the sword, aimed for Regina and swung. Before the sword hit her, Regina awaked from the dream and jolted upright in her bed. She quickly got up and headed to Henry's room to check on him. Inside, she saw him underneath the blanket. She checked Aubree's room to check on her. She saw her underneath the blanket.
Instead of the kids under the blankets, it was a pile of pillows.
Aubree's POV:
We drove along the road that led out of Storybrooke.
"Is that all your stuff?" I asked.
"All I need," Emma replied.
Henry frowned. "Wait. You want to go now? We're leaving now?"
"Uh-uh. I'm getting you two out of here. Away from all this. Away from her."
I shook my head. "No, no. Stop the car! You can't leave Storybrooke. You have to break the curse."
"No, I don't. I have to help you two."
"But you're a hero -- you can't run," Henry told her. "You have to help everybody."
"Henry, Aubree, I know it's hard for you two to see it, but I'm doing what's best for you two. That's what you both wanted when you two brought me to Storybrooke."
"But the curse... You're the only chance to bring back the happy endings."
"Henry..."
Henry reached over and grabbed the steering wheel. I reached in front and grabbed the wheel as well.
"Henry! Aubree!" Emma cried.
Henry and I, mostly Henry, caused the car to go off the road into a ditch.
"Henry! Aubree! What were you two doing? You could've gotten us killed!"
"Please!" Henry cried. "Please, don't make us go! We can't go! Everything's here... Me, Bree, your parents, your family. Please, Emma. They need you. Your family needs you."
"Emma, please," I whispered.
Third Person POV:
From her window, Regina watched as her apple tree wilted. When she went to investigate, she found that the apples were beginning to rot. She made her way to Mr. Gold's shop.
"Your Majesty," Mr. Gold greeted. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"My tree is dying," Regina said. "Why?"
"Perhaps, it's your fertilizer."
"You think this is funny? Well, I'll tell you what I think. I think it's a sign of the curse weakening because of Emma. But do you care? No. You're content to just sit back and do... Whatever it is you're doing, while all my hard work burns."
"That's not all, is it? Come on. You might as well get everything off your chest."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Henry and Aubree. Miss Swan wants them."
"She'll have that boy and girl over my dead body."
"The curse was meant to take away Snow White and Prince Charming's happiness. Perhaps, you giving up Henry and Aubree is just the price to keep the curse unbroken."
"I think I'd rather just get rid of her."
"Well, well. You're going to have to be quite creative. We both know the repercussions in killing Miss Swan. The curse will be..."
"The curse will be broken. That's because you designed it that way. Undo it."
"You know... Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. Magic... Well... Is in short supply around here and dwindling by the minute."
"You want the curse broken. Why?"
"That's not something I care to discuss."
"Don't bother. You can shove your reasons. I want to strike a new deal. One where I can get rid of Emma without shattering the curse."
"Unfortunately for you, a negotiation requires two interested parties, and I'm already planning a trip."
"I'll give you anything."
"You no longer have anything I want, dearie. But I will give you a piece of my advice, free of charge. I'd plan a trip of your own. Because, once people wake up and remember who you are and what you did to them... They are going to be looking for blood."
Outside the school, Regina found Paige's bike locked in the bike rack. She stuck a 'White Rabbit' card to the back of it and walked away.
Emma returned to Mary Margaret's apartment.
"Oh. Thought you'd left," Mary Margaret said.
"Mary Margaret..." Emma began.
"But I couldn't tell for sure, because you didn't bother to say goodbye. Do you remember when I left? When I ran? What you said to me? You said, we have to stick together. That we're like... Family."
"Yeah. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left."
"You're right -- you shouldn't have. So why, after everything, did you just go?"
"I don't want to be Sheriff. I don't want people relying on me. I don't want this. Any of it."
"What about Henry and Aubree?"
"I took them with me."
"You abducted them?"
"Maybe."
"So, you don't want people to rely on you, but you took your son and daughter? Now, that sounds like a stable home for them. What the hell is wrong with you?"
"I want what's best for them."
"And running is what's best for them? Or, is that what's best for you? You're reverting, Emma, into the person you were before you got here. And I thought you'd changed."
"You thought wrong," Emma replied.
"Well, regardless, you have to do what's right for Henry and Aubree now."
"What's that?"
"Oh, I don't know. You're their mother -- that's your job. So, you figure it out."
Regina was staring at her apple tree from the window of her office when Jefferson entered.
"Jefferson," Regina greeted. "So, you got my message."
"How could I miss it?" Jefferson shot back. "You know I watch her."
"It must be so painful, your daughter Paige being oh, so near."
"Grace. Her name is Grace. You should know that -- you changed it. What do you want?"
"Your help."
"And what makes you think, I won't kill you after everything you've done?"
"Because you don't have it in you. If you did, you would have done it 28 years ago when I brought you here. Because you know if I'm dead, you'll never get back to your daughter. And I have a way for us to both get what we want." She grabbed Jefferson's hat box and placed it on the table.
"My hat."
"I want you to use it again."
"I can't make it work. No one can. Not here. Not without magic."
"Well, then you're in luck, because I happen to have some. Not a lot... But hopefully enough... For one last journey."
"Where?"
"Back to our land. Where there's a solution to a very delicate problem I have... How to get rid of the one person who could break my curse."
"Emma. And why shouldn't I let her do just that? End the madness and go home."
"To your hovel? Selling fungus at the fair? Why? When you could just stay here in the mansion I gave you? My problem, Jefferson, is the same as yours. It's family. We both want our children back, and we both can get them, if we work together."
"Why should I trust you now?"
"You shouldn't. But it's the only offer you've got. After we're through, I'll wake up your dear Grace, so she remembers who you are."
"No. Remembering is the worst curse. Two lives in her head, like me. I want to forget. I want you to write us a new story, a fresh start, here."
"Well, my dear Jefferson, then that's exactly what you'll have. Oh. After we take care of Miss Swan."
Aubree's POV:
Henry knocked on August's door at the inn.
"Hang on," August said.
August answered the door and Henry and I pushed our way into the room.
Henry immediately said, "August, please. We need your help. Emma wants to leave."
"What? Slow down."
I looked at August. "Y-You were going to make her believe. You have to."
"I know, Henry, Aubree. I'm sorry. I... I failed."
"Failed?" Henry and I repeated.
"I tried to show her. At first it was my legs, and now... Now take a look... At the unvarnished truth." He pulled back his sleeve.
Where his skin should've been white, it was wood.
"It's wood," Henry and I said.
August nodded. "Yes."
Henry and I looked at each other before he said, "All of this... Bree and I were right. The curse... It's real!"
"You're smart kids."
"And you're Pinocchio," I said.
"What gave it away?"
I frowned. "But, what are you turning back to wood? Your story... You should be real."
"I'm changing back because... I haven't exactly been a good boy. And... Well... If the curse doesn't break... This doesn't stop."
Henry was silent for a moment. "So, we show Emma that you're turning back into the puppet you were, and then, she has to believe. And when she does, she could break the curse."
"I tried that. She doesn't want to see, so she doesn't. There's nothing more that I can do. I-I'm getting tired. It's hard to ride and it's hard to walk. Soon, it's going to be hard to breathe."
"So, we have to do something fast."
"There's nothing to do. And with what little time I have left, I want to spend it with my father."
"Marco," Henry and I replied.
August smiled. "Told you you're smart kids."
"So, everyone's giving up," I said sadly.
"I'm afraid that I don't have a choice. I'm sorry, kids, but I'm out of Operation Cobra. Now, it's up to you two."
Third Person POV:
GRANNY'S DINER
"Emma, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you don't have any case for custody," Archie said.
"Even after everything she's done?" Emma asked.
"Which you can't prove. Let me just ask you a question -- with this war raging on, who really is getting hurt here?"
"I know. Henry and Aubree. But isn't it a good thing that they're spending time with me? I'm their mother."
"Yes, you are. And so is Regina. And l-look, the court is going to come in and look at them and see how they've been since you've come into their lives."
"And they've been happier, right?"
"Maybe. I mean, objectively? They've skipped school, they've stolen a credit card, they've run off, they've... They've endangered themselves, repeatedly. And so, in the eyes of the law, it's not so-"
"And what about in your eyes? What do you think?"
"I mean, awhile ago, I told you to engage them in their fantasy life, and... And perhaps I was wrong, because they've only retreated further into it."
"You think they're better off with her?"
"I never said that."
"Do you think that she would ever hurt them?"
"No. Never. I mean, everyone else, but not them. Look, right or wrong, her actions have all been defensive. I'm not judging, but... In many ways, your arrival has woken a sleeping giant."
"Tell me honestly -- have they been better off since I got here?"
"It's not a matter of better off. It's... It's a matter of this war has to end. If you two are going to be in their lives, you have to figure out the best way to do that."
Regina led Jefferson down a set of stairs of a tomb. Several urns and boxes lined the wall."
"Watch your step," Regina warned.
"What is this place?" Jefferson wondered.
"Where I've kept the last bit of my magic. The only magic in this world his the things I brought with me."
Jefferson placed his hat in the center of the room and nothing happened. "It's not spinning. It's not working."
"It needs to absorb the magic that's here. I have some things left. A few trinkets."
Regina took a box from one of the side walls, and dumped its contents into the hat. Again, nothing happened.
Jefferson frowned. "It's not enough. You need something that still works."
Regina pulled out Daniel's ring and held it up. Produced by magic, Daniel's face appeared in the middle.
"Who's that?" Jefferson wondered.
"Someone long gone," Regina replied sadly.
"Well, whatever or whoever it is, it still has magical properties. Give me that, and let me see what I can do with it." She hesitated. "If you want your son and daughter back, if you want your revenge, give it to me."
Regina dropped the ring into the hat. A slight purple vortex began forming, but the hat stopped spinning.
"What's wrong?" Regina asked. "Why isn't it opening a portal?"
"The magic -- it's not enough. We can't go anywhere."
"Then you failed."
"Maybe not. There's enough magic to touch the other side, just not to get us there. There might be enough to... Reach through and retrieve something."
"I can bring something back?"
"Is there an object that can help you? Perhaps, I can open it enough and reach through and grab it. It would have to be small. Something that you can take with your hand. Is there anything like that that can help you?"
Regina smirked. "Yes. Yes, I believe there is."
"Then, you need to direct me to the time and place where this object exists." He handed the hat to Regina.
"How?"
"Think about it. Guide the hat."
Regina closed her eyes and thought for a moment. When she placed the hat back on the ground, a proper vortex began to form.
"Excellent," Jefferson said. "It appears to be working. Now, what is it we're after?"
"An apple."
They watched and waited and soon, the apple appeared in the Real World through the hat and Jefferson caught it.
"Is this it?" Jefferson asked.
Regina nodded. "Yes. Yes, it is."
"And my daughter? My Grace?"
"First things first. The deal's not done. Not until I've solved the next conundrum. How to get this savior to taste my forbidden fruit."
REGINA'S KITCHEN
Regina chopped up the apple and made it into a turnover. While it was baking Emma rang the doorbell and Regina answered.
"We need to talk," Emma said.
"Yes, I imagine we do," Regina replied. "I was just about to call you. Come right in." She let Emma into the house. "Do what you're so skilled at and make yourself at home. I believe you came to see me."
"Right. Look, this isn't easy. I think that this... Whatever is between us needs to end."
"At last, something we can agree on."
"I want to make a deal with you about Henry and Aubree."
"I'm not making any deals with you-"
"I'm leaving town."
"What?"
"This... What we're doing is a problem, and I'm going to go, but I have conditions. I still get to see Henry and Aubree. I get to visit and spend time, whatever."
"And you get to see them. You're still in their lives."
"Look, in any idea, both parties are a little unhappy. But, let's be honest -- we both know the world where I'm not in their lives no longer exists, and there's no one who can do anything about that."
The timer on the stove beeped.
"You're right," Regina agreed. "Would you mind following me for a moment?"
They made their way into the kitchen.
Regina took the turnover out of the oven as she asked, "So, what are you proposing?"
Emma shook her head. "I don't know. Just figure it out as we go."
"But they're my son and daughter."
"Yeah." Emma went to leave, but Regina stopped her.
"Oh, Miss Swan? Maybe a little something for the road?" She took out a Tupperware container and gestured to the turnover.
"Thanks."
"If we're going to be in each other's lives, it's time we start being cordial. My famous turnovers. Old recipe. But delicious." She packed up the turnover and handed it to Emma.
"Thank you."
Regina smiled. "I do hope you like apples."
Regina entered Mr. Gold's shop. "I hope you bought travel insurance, because no one's going anywhere."
"Oh, really?" Mr. Gold questioned. "And why's that?"
"Because I found a solution to my Emma Swan problem."
"Oh, yes?"
"An old, reliable solution."
"A sleeping curse. Might I ask how you managed to obtain one here in Storybrooke?"
"By sacrificing the last bit of magic I had left."
"So, you made magic from magic. Well, I'm sure I don't have to remind you that, uh, all magic comes with a price."
"Then you can pay it. Because now, the curse is going to be stronger than ever. And you will be right here where you belong. Don't you understand? I won. So, whatever plan you had... Whatever reason you wanted the curse broken... Too bad. Because it's never going to happen."
Aubree's POV:
"Henry? Aubree?"
"Yeah?" Henry and I asked.
"Could you two come to Mary Margaret's apartment? I need to talk to both of you."
Henry and I made our way to Miss Blanchard's apartment and knocked on the door. Emma answered and let us in.
"Hey, Emma," Henry greeted. "Everything okay? You sounded strange on the walkie."
"Oh, um... No, I'm okay," Emma said. "Just, um... Yesterday, when I tried to take you two away, you two were right. I can't take either of you out of Storybrooke. But I can't stay either."
Henry and I frowned. "What?"
"I have to go."
"Go?" I repeated. "You mean leave Storybrooke?"
Emma nodded. "Yeah. I spoke to Regina, and we made a deal. I'm still going to be able to see you, just not... Every day."
"No! No, you can't trust her!"
"I have to. It's my only choice. It's what's best for you two, Henry, Aubree. Every time I fight her, someone else gets hurt."
"No, no, no!" Henry cried. "You're just scared. This happens to all heroes."
I interrupted Henry. "It's just the low moment before you fight back."
"Henry! Aubree! This isn't a story. This is reality. And things have to change. You two can't skip school. You two can't run away, and... You two can't believe in curses."
"Y-you really don't believe?" Henry and I asked sadly.
"I... This is how it has be be right now. I made a deal, and I used my superpower. She's telling the truth. She's going to take really good care of you two."
"Yes, but she wants you dead," Henry said.
"Come on, Henry!"
"You're the only one that can stop her," I told Emma.
"Stop her from what? All she's ever done is fight for you two. It just... Got out of hand. I'm sorry."
Henry and I hugged Emma and noticed the turnover on the table.
"Where did you get that?" Henry and I wondered.
"Regina gave it to me," Emma replied.
"Apple!"
"So?"
"You can't eat that," I said. "It's poison."
"What?"
I threw my hands into the air as Henry said, "Don't you see? The deal... It was all a trick to get you to eat that, to get rid of the savior."
"Henry, Aubree, come on. Why would she do that when I just told her I was going to go?"
"Because as long as you're alive, you're a threat to the curse," I told Emma bluntly.
"Henry, Aubree, you've both got to stop thinking like this."
"But it's the truth!" Henry and I yelled.
"And you leaving isn't going to change that," Henry added.
"I'll prove it to you," Emma said as she pulled out the turnover.
"No!" Henry and I cried as he took it from her.
I grabbed half and held it.
"Henry, Aubree... What are you two doing?" Emma asked.
"I'm sorry it had to come to this," Henry said. "You may not believe in the curse... Or in us. But we believe in you."
We took a bite of the turnover and nothing happened.
"See? You two want some ice cream with that? And then we can go back to talking about..."
Third Person POV:
Henry and Aubree suddenly collapsed and Emma ran to them.
"Henry? Aubree? Henry? Aubree? Henry! Aubree!"