Dreams Come True:

Page 79: Calm Before the Storm:

While Emma walked down to check on Gold, Neal was teaching Henry how to sail the ship. When she closed the door, Emma walked down to the crew's quarters, seeing Gold trying to adjust himself on his bed.

"You don't look comfortable," Emma commented, making Gold sigh at her.

"The poison racing towards my heart will have that effect." Gold scoffed weakly, still holding a cloth to his chest, while Emma walked closer. "Tell me about this knife of yours. Cora and Regina, if they do have it, they can make you do anything?" Emma asked him while he continued to keep his eyes closed. "Indeed." He nodded weakly.

"Like, kill us all?" She asked, wanting to be a little clearer.

"Yeah." Gold nodded, opening his eyes to look at her. "You're hoping I bleed to death now, aren't you?" He asked, making Emma sigh at the comment.

"You're Henry's grandfather... We're family now. I'm gonna save you." Emma said, making Gold scoff out a chuckle. "Oh, I feel so reassured." He said sarcastically, making Emma sigh again.

*Storybrooke, Maine*

"Hey. I just talked to Emma. It's a bad wound. She says it's poison. He can only cure it back here in Storybrooke. They're taking the ship home." David said to Mary Margaret over the phone as Regina and Cora listened since they bugged his phone. "Well, let him know that they have the knife, okay? Who knows what that wicked woman would do... I mean, she's controlling her own granddaughter--" Mary Margaret said until Cora knocked over the speaker into the floor.

"Mother..." Regina sighed, getting up to pick up the speaker.

"I don't like what that enchanted box was saying. I'm not... I'm not wicked." Cora scoffed, glancing over to the couch in Regina's office, where Dream was fast asleep due to them staying overnight. "It's not an enchanted box. It's a phone tap. And be quieter... Dream has not been getting any sleep, and it's really worrying me." Regina sighed, setting the speaker back on the desk, glancing over to Dream, who kept waking up, screaming from having nightmares that she would not tell Cora or Regina about. But due to the spell, Regina did not want to force Dream to tell her.

"I don't care. What matters is, they've been warned. Rumpelstiltskin's smart, and now he has time to think." Cora sighed, looking down at the dagger.

"But he's injured." Regina sighed, sitting back down behind her desk as Cora picked up the dagger. Rumpelstiltskin's name was slowly disappearing on it. "More than injured, I'd say. He's dying. And when his name disappears, all of that power of his will just boil off into the air, and there will be no new Dark One." Cora explained, making Regina look worried when she glanced at her daughter. "Okay, so we have to use him to get Henry back before he dies," Regina said, looking back to see Cora moving to stand in the middle of the room.

"Not in his condition. I don't wanna kill him faster... No, there are no other options. I have to stab him with this knife and take his power as my own. I have to become the Dark One." Cora said, turning to look at Regina. "And with his power, there is nothing I won't be able to do." She continued, causing her daughter to look unsure.

"But Henry's never going to forgive that. And Dream was already mad that I kept him out of her life..." Regina sighed, standing up to walk over to her mother. "And the whole point of this is... Wait, what is the point of all this?" Regina asked when she started to believe that her mother was having her own agenda again. 

"To protect our family." 

"Or you gaining your power?" Regina asked her, scoffing a bit.

"Whatever power I gain is for us. To protect you. To protect Dream. To protect Henry... if we lose this battle, we'll spend the rest of our short lives on our knees in front of them. And that, my love, is something I'll never do... And not to mention the thought of Dream joining us. She's not safe like Henry with them." Cora said, making Regina sigh looking over to Dream. 

"Are you okay?" Mary Margaret asked, rushing from David's truck to the dock, where Emma was tying off the smaller boat. "Yeah. Yeah. We're all right." Emma said as David rushed to take Ruby's place by helping Neal with Gold.

"Uh, I drove a ship." Henry smiled, looking at his grandpa.

"Did you, now?" David asked him.

"Yeah, my dad showed me how," Henry said, smiling as he walked on the other side of Neal. "That's me," Neal said awkwardly as David turned his head to him.

"Thank you. Thank you." Gold said as they leaned him up against David's truck.

"Is Cora trying to control you with the dagger?" David asked, still holding him up. "Well, you'd know if she was... because most of you would be dead by now." Gold said weakly when Mary Margaret walked up to him. "Well, then, we'll just have to take the fight to her before that can happen." She said, looking at Gold.

"We will," David said, mainly to his wife.

"And this time, we finish it." Mary Margaret said, sounding a little malice for a "good guy."

"Mary Margaret--"

"David... She needs to be stopped. She needs to be killed. This is our family. We are going to protect it--" Mary Margaret started to rant when David moved her to the side. "Of course, we will. But what you're talking about goes beyond that." He said, trying to calm his wife down. "Does it? Because she is the reason you've never met my mother." She spat, scoffing at him.

"I know. I know what happened to Queen Eva and what she is doing to poor Dream, and I have zero problems with Cora dying for it. But not by your hand. And not out of vengeance." 

"Why?" Mary Margaret asked him, clearly already having her mind set on killing Cora by any means.

"Because you wouldn't be able to live with yourself. You have the purest heart of anyone I have ever known. That's who you are. And that's who you're going to stay." David said, reassuring her that it was going to be okay.

"You okay?" Emma asked, walking over to look at Gold. "Ah, I'm beginning to feel a bit stronger. Take me back to my shop. There's magic there that can protect us." Gold said when Neal and David moved to help him in the truck.

"Let me guess; I get to go with Ruby," Henry said, making Emma turn to him. "You got it, kid." Emma nodded at him.

"I'll keep him out of the crossfire," Ruby promised Emma and Mary Margaret. 

"Thank you." Mary Margaret smiled at her.

"Don't look so worried. You'll stop Cora. You won't let her get away." Henry smiled at his mother before grabbing her hand. "Just make sure my sister is okay." He said when Emma nodded, giving him a smile.

"Dream will be okay, Henry. I promise." Emma said before Henry nodded, following Ruby.

~season 2, episode 16: "The Miller's Daughter"~

~1184 words~