Finding You Always

A Bitter Draught, Pt 2

Chapter 127: A Bitter Draught, Pt 2

Emma glanced at her mother out of the corner of her eye. So far, they weren't suspicious as she was on a normal patrol route. But that was about to change quickly, as she turned a corner and picked up speed.

"Emma...where are you going?" Snow asked.

"Uh...just an alternate route," she fibbed.

"This isn't an alternate route, Emma. This is the road to the town line," David interjected from the backseat. She winced, knowing what was coming.

"Emma Ruth...you tell me where we are going right now," Snow demanded.

"New York...you two can lay low in Neal's apartment until this thing blows over," she replied.

"Emma...we are not running from this guy," David protested.

"He wants to kill you both!" she cried.

"And we have faced worse than this! We will not leave our town and our children to fight our battles for us," Snow said hotly. But Emma stubbornly drove on.

"Emma Ruth Swan Nolan Charming...you better turn this car around right now," Snow ordered, causing her daughter to wince again. But she drove on and as they were about to drive over the town line, suddenly the car felt like it hit a bubble, bouncing them back. Emma slammed on the brakes and they screeched to a halt.

"What the hell...we should be able to pass right through the barrier. I thought you and Dad created this one with the Chalice," Emma said.

"We did," David confirmed, as they got out of the car and Emma dialed Regina.

"Hey...you need to come to the town line. We have a problem," she said, as she hung up and waved a magical hand over the barrier.

"This is definitely not the barrier we put up," Snow said, as Regina and Robin appeared.

"Who would put up a new barrier? Someone from the Land of Untold Stories?" David wondered.

"I'm afraid not," Regina said gravely, as she waved her hand over the magical barrier.

"It seems like the one that was up during the first curse," Emma surmised.

"It's not like it...it is the exact one that I had up during the curse," Regina confirmed.

"I don't understand," Snow said.

"She's alive...and she's here. We just saw her," Regina replied, as she looked at both of them with a troubled expression.

"But...you crushed her heart! That can't be!" Emma exclaimed.

"I guess since I'm still here...so is she. She's part of me," Regina said uncomfortably.

"So...she's back," David stated, as he felt himself instinctively pull Snow closer to him.

"It gets worse," Robin added.

"Of course it does," David scoffed.

"She got into my vault. I don't know what else she took, but she has the Count's heart. I could never find him to give it back," Regina informed.

"So that means there's no calling him off. She's controlling him," Snow realized.

"There is one way..." Emma said, as her parents looked at her.

"It's a last resort," she assured them.

"I started this and I have to fix it. In the meantime, you two need a protection detail," Regina said.