{ enchanted forest }

14. { manhattan }

Hook returns from the Gold house defeated. He had not yet found a way to break the protective barrier around her, therefore he could not take her yet. The pirate decides on visiting the Mayor's house, hoping to find both mother and daughter there.

He was in luck, since both of them were there and told him that Rumplestiltskin had left town. It brought opportunity. Outside of Storybrooke even the Dark One would be without powers. He could kill him then, since his skills didn't rely on magic.

Cora reminds him that they couldn't go across the border since they would lose their magic. Hook inquires if the same goes for their memories, but Regina explains that since they were no victims of the Dark Curse they wouldn't be affected by it.

Hook was about to leave to continue his quest when Cora reminds him that, with Rumplestiltskin gone, they could freely search for the one weapon that might actually kill him. The Dark One dagger.

"And then you can be the valiant hero and slay the beast of your princess," she teases. Hook narrows his eyes at her, not amused by her joke. "Well, why are we still standing here," he asks, his voice reaching a dangerous low.

He turns on his heels and marches out of the house. It is time to find that blasted dagger.

●

It was raining in New York City and it shows on the tarmac. A yellow taxi stopped before an apartment building which looks much like all the others. The doors open and three persons step out, carefully avoiding the puddles of water on the street.

Mr. Gold stares at the building without saying a word. Emma observes him. He was acting a bit unusual, hesitant even. She asks if there is something wrong and if this is the right place. He says it is, which leads to Emma's next conclusion: his son wasn't expecting them.

When Mr. Gold says nothing she rolls her eyes. "Well, who doesn't love a surprise," she asks to no one in particular. She and Henry head to the entrance of the building, followed soon by the hesitant man.

He follows them inside the building, where Henry was looking over all the names besides their respective doorbells. None of them named a Baelfire. "Yeah, that probably wouldn't fly as an alias. Your magic globe didn't give you an apartment numer," Emma asks, turning to address Gold. 

Henry moves out of the way and Rumplestiltskin leans in to look at the names. "It doesn't work that way," he explains to the blonde, looking through the names. Henry then asks if any of the names mean anything to him. "Well, names are what I traffic in, but sadly, no," the man responds.

Emma looks over the man's shoulder and notices one of the apartments has no name attached to them. "Here's your boy," she says, pointing at number 407. "Well, or it could just be vacant," he rationalizes, but Emma was sure of it. "You might traffic in names and magic, but I traffic in finding people that don't wanna be found. And those sort of folks don't like to advertise their whereabouts," she argues.

She presses on the doorbell and speaks into the intercom that she has an UPS package for 407. The line disconnects and after a smart comment from Henry they hear a crashing sound coming from upstairs. "He's running," Emma comments as she dashes outside of the building. They can see someone jump down the fire escape and run away.

"That favor you owe me, this is it. Get him to talk to me. I can't run," he says, pointing to his bad leg. Emma tells him to watch Henry and runs after him. She sprints after him right over the busy road, following him through a maze of smaller streets until she found a way to catch up to him. When he ran past, he was suddenly tackled by her.

They both glide over the street, hurting themselves in the process. Emma tries to catch her breath. She lifts her head up to look the son of Rumplestiltskin in his eyes, but was met with a most shocking discovery. "No," she whispers when she realises who she just caught.