With Tamara in town learning about the real-life fairytales that inhabited the place, Emma was growing oddly suspicious of her. Emma had claimed that she had a "superpower" and could tell when someone was lying. Her radar had been going off like an alarm ever since Tamara got to Storybrooke. Everyone, though, passed it off as a hint of jealousy toward Neal's new fiancee. Emma swore she had no feelings left for Neal, but Kyla knew better.
"Look," Kyla had said when they had a moment alone at the Sheriff Station, "I don't talk about it often, but I can feel other's emotions. My magic comes from a special flower and with that came the power of empathy, so I know you still have feelings for Neal."
"Kyla," Emma started, but Kyla put up a hand to stop her.
"However," she continued, "I'm also getting a weird vibe from Tamara. And unlike everyone else, I trust your judgment and really don't believe that you'd put us in jeopardy just to get your ex back."
"Thank you," Emma breathed. "I think I'll always love Neal, I just can't let Henry know that. He already thinks that if he tries hard enough, we'll get back together."
"Yeah, I can see that," Kyla agreed.
"But Tamara is up to something. She had a list of all of your names and who you were in the Enchanted Forest," Emma said.
"Okay, creepy. But what are you going to do about it?" Kyla asked.
"Well, I'm going to need all the help I can get from my partner," she said, smirking at Kyla.
"Oh, so we're partners now? I thought that was reserved for your dear father who I think still believes he's the sole sheriff of this town," she teased, rolling her eyes toward the end of her statement. Emma laughed.
"Yeah, well, I'd rather have you on my side," she said with a smile.
"Okay, then," she said, leaning her elbows on Emma's desk, "so what's our first move, boss?"
"I may need you to distract Neal," she said.
Kyla nodded. "Not a problem." Then, Emma sighed.
"Are you ever going to tell me how you know Neal? Or Hook?"
Kyla smiled and shook her head, politely. "If it were important, I swear I'd tell you. Speaking of, have you heard anything from the pirate?"
Emma shook her head. "And I'm a little worried. He could be hiding out here."
"I wouldn't be. The worst he's going to do is try to kill Gold and get killed himself. Now that Belle is...kind of back in his life, he's not going to let anyone get near her."
"Which is weird, right? I mean, you're going to tell me that that is the person Regina created in the curse?"
"Yeah, I really don't know how that works. She made some of us so drastically different," Kyla answered, shuddering at the memory of her goody-two-shoes alter ego.
"I definitely like this version of you better," Emma said, almost under her breath.
"Thank you!" Kyla said in agreement. They both laughed, enjoying a bonding moment between the only two sane people in all of Storybrooke. Then, she decided to ask, "How are you doing after August?"
Emma sighed, leaning back in her chair. "At least he's not dead. But Tamara did try to kill him."
"And you're sure about that?"
"She had to be the 'her' August was talking about."
"Yeah, but why him? What do you think he knew?" Kyla asked. Emma shrugged.
"Maybe they knew each other? He has to know some secret of hers."
"It's a lot to prove," Kyla stated.
"And I won't stop until I do."
Later that day, Kyla went to the room that Neal had booked from Granny's and knocked on the door. She and Emma knew Tamara wouldn't be there, so it was the perfect opportunity. Kyla would get Neal out of the room and Emma and Henry would search it, looking for anything that could help prove Tamara was guilty. Kyla, feeling that Emma truly believed it, was willing to do whatever she could to help her and to stay away from Snow and David.
"Rapunzel," Neal said with a smile. He was surprised to see her at his door.
"Hey," she returned the smile, "I was wondering if you wanted to get some coffee or something? Catch up?"
Neal turned around, scanning the room, then back at her. "Coffee sounds great, actually."
"Tamara's not here?" She asked, knowing she wasn't.
"Nah, she's out for a run. She's training for a marathon," he explained.
"Nice," she said, "well, let's go. You'll never get enough of Granny's," she teased with a roll of her eyes. He chuckled and shut the door behind them.
He told her everything: his life after Neverland, where he grew up, the people he met and how he met Emma and how he found New York. Which led him to Tamara.
"I ran into her on the sidewalk, spilled her coffee all over her, gave her my scarf and then she called me. It's really romantic," he teased.
"And she's the one," Kyla said with a smile.
"Yeah. You know, after Emma, I didn't think I'd move on with someone else. But something about Tamara, it's just so mesmerizing. She makes me a better person, you know?"
She nodded. "It's just...it's amazing to see you all grown up. I mean, not only are you getting married, but you have a kid."
"Yeah, I'm still a little shocked by that, if I'm being honest. Henry's a great kid and I'm excited to really get to know him and really be his dad, but it's still a little scary."
"Yeah, family can be intimidating."
"Right, Emma told me that Snow White is your sister. Which means you're Emma's aunt," he said, trying to wrap his head around it. "and you're still as young as I remember you."
She laughed. "Yeah, well Neverland, being trapped in a tower and being stuck in a curse really does wonders for the skin."
They both chuckled and fell into an awkward silence. Kyla took a deep breath and decided to get back to Tamara. "So, how is Tamara liking Storybrooke?"
"Well, if I'm being honest, I told her about us," he started. "She was skeptical at first, and I mean, who wouldn't be? But she's really trying to understand where I'm from. I even gave her a list of everyone and who their fairytale counterparts are. She's willing and that's all I can ask from her."
"You gave her a list? So she knows I'm Rapunzel..."
"And my dad is Rumplestiltskin and Regina is the Evil Queen and Mary Margaret is Snow White. It's a lot to take in," he said.
"Tell me about it," Kyla said under her breath.
"Speaking of," he pulled out his phone, checking the time. "Tamara is going to be back soon, so I should probably head out, but hey," he leaned in and kissed her cheek, "thank you for this. It was nice to just talk. No surprises. Let's do this again," and with that, he walked out.
Kyla quickly got on her phone, texting Emma that Neal was on his way back upstairs. She knew that Henry was most likely being the lookout, so it should have been fine. She enjoyed a few moments to herself until David and Snow came bursting through the door with Leroy trailing behind.
"Kyla!" Snow cried. Kyla looked up from her cup of coffee, seeing her panicked sister.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"The beans we've been growing to take us back to the Enchanted Forest? They're gone," she explained.
"Burnt to a crisp," David added.
"What? How?" Kyla asked.
"We don't know how or who did it," David said.
"Really? Who else would want to keep us here under their control? It's got to be the Evil Queen!" Leroy said. All three shushed him at once.
"Keep your voice down," Kyla said, then turned her attention back to Snow. "Do you think it was?"
"Like Leroy said, who else would want to keep us here?" Snow said.
"Okay," Kyla said, then she looked up at David. "Emma's upstairs right now. She's still focused on the Tamara thing, but tell her we need to get to Regina's office now."
"You think that's going to help with anything?" David asked.
"Well, we accused her of killing Archie and that turned out to be untrue, and then look at how she reacted to that. The least we can do is ask her," Kyla said with a shrug.
They got Emma and Henry and charged over to Regina's office. Emma, David and Kyla went in first, guns in Emma and David's hands and magic in Kyla's. Snow stayed behind with Henry until they knew it was safe.
They barged in through the open door, finding the office empty. It looked like Regina hadn't been there at all that day.
"It's okay. She's not here!" Emma called and Snow and Henry slowly made their way in.
"When you find her, you're not going to hurt her, are you?" Henry asked, his voice shaking.
"No, we just want the beans she stole from us," Kyla explained while Emma checked the security system hanging on the wall.
"I don't get it," Snow started, "why would Regina leave her office unlocked?"
"Especially when she's keeping the beans here," David said. Henry turned his attention to the terrarium where Regina was keeping the beans.
"They're gone," Snow said. .
"Something's not right," Emma said, still at the security system, "Regina would never leave evidence like this behind."
"Maybe she already used them to portal out of Storybrooke," David suggested.
"Without Henry?" Kyla asked.
"I don't think so," Emma said.
Kyla was beginning to feel everyone's uneasiness, but she had known something was off from the moment she stepped into the office. There's no way Regina was hiding.
They concluded that someone broke into the office, stole the beans and took Regina with them. Emma suggested that Tamara was the one who kidnapped Regina. Her parents quickly disagreed. Kyla spoke up.
"I agree with Emma," she said. Snow looked at her.
"You do," she said with an exhale, almost sounding annoyed.
"You know my sixth sense," she started, "and something has felt off about Tamara since she got here. All of a sudden Regina's missing? It can't be a coincidence."
"But what if you're wrong?" David asked. "If Regina's in trouble, we can't just drop everything else because of a hunch."
"Which is why we're not going to drop everything else," Emma said. She directed her gaze to Kyla. "Go to Gold. I'm sure he has some kind of magic that can locate Regina."
"Where are you going?" Snow asked Emma.
"Back to Tamara's room."
They dispersed, the Charmings and Kyla going to Gold and Henry and Emma going to Granny's. Gold was able to help, but only through Mary Margaret. He had a tear of Regina's and needed one from the person who hurt her the most. They all knew it was Snow White, the one who killed Regina's mother. The spell would help Snow see exactly what Regina was seeing. David, of course, contested, afraid it would be too dangerous.
"You don't have to do this, you know," David said back at their apartment. They were sitting at the table and Kyla was standing over them. "You've been through enough already."
"That's why I do have to do it."
"She's the only one who can," Kyla said. David looked up at her, anger on his face. She shrugged. "You know I would if it would work." She said, which made him nod and turn back to Snow.
So David stood up, tilted Snow's head back and placed a drop of their combined tears into Snow's eye. At first, nothing happened, which was disappointing for all three. Then, Snow began to convulse, clearly in pain. David reacted immediately, screaming her name to try to snap her out of it. Kyla ran to her side, holding her head in place so it didn't jerk around. The pain only seemed to last for a minute, Kyla feeling every bit of it. She squeezed her eyes tight to fight it off, but her sister's feelings were too strong. She exhaled, remembering the breathing Rumplestiltskin had once taught her to stay calm during an episode until Snow stopped moving so violently, finally relaxing back in the chair.
She was incoherent, spewing nonsense about pain and the pain that Regina must be feeling. Then she was able to communicate what she had seen: her hands tied down and a cold place that smelled like sardines.
David rubbed his wife's shoulder, trying to calm her. Kyla looked at them both, then cleared her throat.
"I'll call Emma, tell her it didn't work," she muttered.
On the phone with Emma, she explained the situation.
"So she didn't see anything," Emma said, trying not to sound defeated.
"Not much," Kyla said. "She could sense Regina was in pain. It was cold. She was strapped down. And she said she could smell sardines?"
Emma didn't speak. There was an eerie silence on the other end of the line until she said, "Get down to the docks right now," and hung up the phone.
"What?" David asked, still consoling Snow.
"I think she found something," Kyla said, looking at Snow. "We've got to go to the docks."
David grabbed his gun and he, Snow and Kyla drove to the docks, entering the cannery. They found Emma and Neal right away, Emma giving them instructions to find Regina at any cost.
They ran straight to the basement, finding a small room where Greg Mendell, the stranger that hit Hook with his car, stood over an unconscious Regina strapped to a metal bed.
David ran in, shooting a machine that was hooked up to Regina, chasing Greg away.
"David!" Snow yelled as David began to run after him, "We can't leave her. She'll die if we don't get her help."
Kyla walked slowly up to Regina as Snow and David frantically untied her from the bed. She could feel tears start to swell up as this woman who was once her friend, a close friend, like a sister, was dying on the table. Fear entered her as she thought of the idea of losing Regina. Regina had done some terrible things, but Kyla, for the first time in her life, was afraid to lose her.
"Kyla, come on!" David yelled, snapping Kyla out of her trance. Once she was removed from the table, Kyla concentrated on Regina's body, putting her hands on both arms, and poofing all of them out of the cannery, back to the Charming's apartment. They placed Regina on the bed and waited for Emma and Neal to return. Kyla never left Regina's side.
Emma entered sometime later, slowly. She broke the news that Tamara had shot Neal before he fell through a portal, killing him. While David sat with her on the stairs trying to comfort her, Regina began to wake up, seeing Snow White and Kyla standing over her. Snow was dabbing her face gently with a cool towel.
"You saved me?" Regina asked, looking at Snow.
"Yes," she answered quickly.
"You really think we'd let you die?" Kyla asked, her voice shaking. Regina turned her head, tears flowing down her face.
"Despite our differences, we're family," David said, walking over. Though he was speaking to Regina, his attention was more focused on Kyla. She brushed off the comment.
"Where are Greg and Tamara?" Regina asked.
"They got away," David answered.
Panic washed over Regina as she exhaled sharply. "So they still have it."
"Still have what?" Snow asked. She and Kyla shared a look. Kyla shrugged. She had no idea what Regina could have been talking about.
Regina began to explain the fail-safe that she had built into the curse. It would destroy all of Storybrooke, turning it back into the woods that it had been 28 years before. She then explained that she was going to use the beans she stole to get Henry and herself back to the Enchanted Forest, then use the fail-safe to destroy everyone else.
Kyla stood up from the bed, shaking her head and pacing around. All of the fear was back in one swift motion and she could feel her heart beating through her chest.
"And in the process kill all of us!" Snow said.
"You want to discuss justification? You were going to abandon me," Regina answer.
"Can we discuss a more pressing issue?" Kyla said, her voice steadier. She allowed herself to feel angry rather than take on everyone else's emotions. "Regina no longer controls the trigger!"
"So what are we going to do?" David asked.
They stood in silence for a moment, until it clicked for Kyla.
"Gold," she breathed. "He'll know a way out."
"You think he's going to want to help after finding out Neal's dead?" David asked in a hushed voice, trying to keep Emma out of the conversation.
"If it means saving his own life, yes," she whispered back. "Go. Go find him," then she turned her attention to Regina. "Rest up because we have work to do."
Snow, David and Emma left to find Gold, who just so happened to be hanging around where Granny was watching Henry. Emma told Henry what happened to his father, while Snow and David tried to get an answer on how to stop Greg and Tamara. His answer was he's made peace with dying and couldn't help.
And it was too late, because Greg and Tamara had already activated the trigger, and everyone in Storybrooke was going to die.
Except for Henry, but he didn't like that option.
"I don't want to lose anyone else," he was saying. "We have to work together."
Then a cold chill went down Kyla's spine. She cringed, knowing exactly who was about to walk through the door.
"From the mouths of babes, I'd say the lad has a point," Captain Hook said as he entered the apartment, a grin across his face.
David barely looked at him before punching him in the face, which made Kyla laugh.
"That's for the last time we met," David said, pulling out his gun and cocking it. "Now tell us why you're here before I use something else, other than my fist."
"That was kind of hot," Kyla muttered to Snow, who slapped her on the arm. "Joking," she said, rubbing the sting.
Hook went on to explain that he wanted to help the heroes in stopping the trigger and defeating Greg and Tamara, though he was just working with them to get his revenge on Gold.
"There is no stopping it," Regina explained, "the best I can do is slow it down, but that will only delay the inevitable."
David brought the idea up to steal back the beans and take everyone back to Storybrooke with them which Snow and Henry gathered everyone in town and Kyla and Emma went with Regina to find the trigger, which was a diamond hit with a dwarf's pickaxe.
When the three of them reached the tunnels in the mines they found the diamonds almost immediately. Regina slowly walked over to it saying that it would require all of the energy and magic she had, and she wouldn't make it out in time.
"What? Well, let me help you," Kyla said, running to the diamond, but Regina stopped her.
"Kyla, I have stolen enough from you. I've hurt you in more ways than I can count and," she directed her attention to Emma, "no offense to your family, Emma, but it's the one thing I regret more than anything. I could have treated you better. I should have treated you better. You were my only friend. So, let me do this for you. Get out of here, save yourself. Please," she said, tears welling in her eyes. Kyla just stared at Regina. The thought of her dying was too much for her to process, and she just continued to stare.
"Let's go, Kyla," Emma said, grabbing her arm, but Kyla didn't move. She eventually was able to yank her away by wrapping her arms around her stomach and physically pulling her.
"No!" Kyla yelled as Emma kept pulling on her. Then, Regina began, the power of the diamond overtaking her. Kyla's eyes were filled with tears as she yelled Regina's name, but Emma still pulled her out of there.
"We're going back for her, I promise," Emma said, grabbing her shoulders. "We're not letting her die."
Kyla could feel her body shaking. She hated Regina at some points, at others, Regina was her sister. She felt that loss again and was terrified.
After finding everyone at Granny's and taking the bean from Hook, they went back to Regina, desperate to save the woman who was risking her life for all of them, only to find that Hook stole the bean he and David had recovered and they were all going to die anyway.
"Wait," Kyla said, breathing more steadily again. "The power of three is stronger than any other power there is."
"What does that mean?" Emma asked over the loud sound of the trigger.
"I mean we could destroy that thing if we both jump in," she said, running back to it.
"I don't have magic," Emma said.
"Yes, you do!" Kyla shouted. "I can feel it in you, Emma. Concentrate. On your friends. On your family. On Baelfire. Do this for him. You can do it."
Kyla proceeded to use her magic on the orb, feeling it encase her whole body. She could barely move, only feeling the magic being drained from her. And it only took a few moments for Emma to do the same. Once Emma had latched on, the diamond was destroyed, flinging them all backwards and saving the town.
It took some time for them to arise from the magic jolting them back, but when they did, the rejoiced in being safe. That was until they realized Henry was missing.
Immediately, they left the mines and headed straight down to the docks where they had found Greg and Tamara before. And they found them, with Henry and the last bean, and watched as they jumped through a portal, taking Henry with them.
"We have to follow them, there has to be a way!" Emma yelled as David held her back from jumping into the water.
"Not only do we not know where they went, but Hook stole the last bean," Regina explained.
"I don't care! We can't just let them take Henry!"
"They've taken Henry?" Gold's voice came from behind them.
"Yeah," David said, "you're the Dark One, do something."
"There's no way. I spent a lifetime trying to cross worlds to find my son. There's no way in this world without a portal."
"So that's it, he's gone forever?" Regina asked, trying to hold back her tears, "I refuse to believe that."
Belle, who was Belle again and no longer Lacey, pushed past them, looking out into the lake. "What is that?" She asked as they watched the Jolly Roger sail closer to the docks.
Hook, when reaching them, came down his stairs, holding the last bean in his hands. He handed it to Emma and Regina instructed them to go.
"Go? Go where? I thought we were saving the town."
"We already did," Kyla said.
"We need to get Henry. Greg and Tamara took him through a portal."
Hook offered his ship and services to help find him and Gold said he could track them using a globe and a drop of his blood.
A small map appeared on the globe and Rumplestiltskin, Captain Hook and Kyla looked onto it with immediate fear and discomfort. Kyla's body froze as she saw the horrors that awaited them.
"Where is that?" Regina asked, "Where have they taken Henry?"
Kyla and Hook shared a look with each other, like they shared a secret of the place, Kyla then looking into Regina's eyes, fighting to be strong. She took a deep breath and said the dreaded word.
"Neverland."