Land of Villainous Doom

2: 17

STORYBROOKE - PRESENT - WOODS

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

"We lost him," Emma and Indiana replied.

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

"What?"

"We met him a long time ago, before you were born. Wherever Indy was. 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 and Indy about it! You've been lying to us 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."

Indiana pursed her lips. "Yeah, well, right now Emma and I don't care. None of that matters now. We have to find that Author before Gold does."

---

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."

"Well, that's true. Just not at my expense. You see, the affection I have for you, well... There are limits."

"What happened to you?"

"I lost everything. Just as you will if you don't do as I say. I found this in your pocket. Telephone number registered to a Robin of Locksley."

"Give that back."

"I'm guessing you have this number because you're worried about poor Robin Hood out there in the cold, harsh world. And so you should be."

"What do you know that I don't? What happened to Robin?"