Somewhere in Neverland

39. Heart of Gold

STORYBROOKE - PRESENT - WOODS

"The Author, where is he?" David asked.

"We lost him," Emma replied.

"We know him, Emma," Mary Margaret said.

"What?"

"We met him a long time ago, before you were born. He, um..."

"Manipulated us," David finished. "It's because of him we were put on the path to causing Maleficent to lose her child."

"It's true."

"No," Emma argued. "No, what's true is no matter how you were manipulated, you still did what you did, and you lied to me about it! You've been lying to me about everything! About you, about me..."

"That's not the case," David told her. "It's one incident from our past."

"Don't downplay it."

"Well, we've changed," Mary Margaret reasoned. "We've tried to become the parents you deserve."

"I am only the savior because you altered the entire state of my being at the expense of someone else's soul."

"You're right," David agreed. "What we did, it was wrong. But we... We didn't fully understand what we were doing. We acted out of fear. We're human."

"Yeah, well, right now I don't care. None of that matters now. We have to find that author before Gold does." She turned, hearing crunching leaves. "Aubree, what are you doing here?"

Aubree smiled. "Helping with your investigation. Henry got annoyed with my boredom and told me to find something to do. So here I am."

"Kid, it could be dangerous."

"You'll all protect me. Please, Mom?"

Emma let out a sigh. "All right, kid, but you gotta listen to me."

Aubree nodded. "Okay." She fist-bumped the air.

---

Isaac cut a branch of wood to make a pen.

"Well, I'm not much of a writer, but I do know something about magic quills," Mr. Gold said.

"Such as?" Isaac replied.

"Well, for starters, they must be sculpted from the wood of enchanted trees, which, unfortunately for you, is not an attribute any of the timber in Storybrooke possesses."

"Damn it! I need to go."

"Yes, you do. Or, um... You could come with me."

"Why would I do that? You're quite possibly the biggest pain in the ass I have ever had the displeasure of writing about."

"Yes, there is that. But there's also... This."

"What do you want from me?"

"You are gonna write me a whole bunch of new happy endings."

"Okay."

"I thought so." Mr. Gold teleported them.

REGINA'S VAULT

"Your hands are tied, I'm afraid," Mr. Gold said. "No more magic for you today."

"So now I'm your prisoner," Regina stated.

"You and the Author. Well, actually, he had the good sense to join the team, whereas you... You backed the wrong one."

"What about everything you said to me? You wanted me to find my happiness."