Regina's Jewel

Chapter Twenty-Six

The man who everyone thought had died by the hands of Jewel and Regina, smiled sheepishly and stepped forward before he was brought into a bone-crushing hug by Jewel. He was stunned for a few moments before he gently hugged her back before they both pulled away.

"I thought you were dead!" Jewel gasped out, "We all thought you were dead! People thought me and my mother had killed you!"

Archie looked confused. "Er..what?"

Jewel then explained how the night after he had shared an argument with herself and her mother, Ruby said she 'saw' them both enter his office and return a few minutes later. The next morning he turned up 'dead' and people were believing that Jewel and Regina had killed him, and that was 'confirmed' when Emma used her magic and saw it happen.

"No matter how many times we told everyone we didn't do it, they wouldn't believe us," Jewel finished the story whilst shaking her head. "It was tearing me and my mother apart knowing that people weren't going to give us a chance,"

"Oh, well, I'm sorry you had to go through that," Archie said. "But I'm fine,"

"Yeah," Emma says eyeing him over. "but that still doesn't explain what happened to you"

Archie glanced at Jewel with no emotion on his face, yet he was thinking about how much this was going to hurt the young woman. 

"Well?" Jewel prompted, sitting down at the table with Henry beside her.

Emma holds up her hands. "Wait, does Regina know?" she looks at Jewel.

"Like I said on the phone Swan, I haven't seen my mother all day," said Jewel.

"Maybe we should tell her that Archie is okay," Henry suggested beside Jewel. 

"Yeah...but something tells me we're gonna pay the price," Emma says grimly. 

Jewel chuckles. "Oh, you sure are. Be thankful that I haven't started yet"

Just then, before anyone could speak up, Emma's phone rang and she answered it quickly before her face turned into shock. She hung up and looked around her at the curious faces staring back at her. "There's been an accident down at the town line.."

*

Meanwhile, at the town line, Gold was preparing to cross the line in hopes of finding his son. Belle was with him saying goodbye, neither of them knew that they were being watched from the shadows. 

Gold placed the potion on the piece of his son's clothing as Belle held it. The clothing lit up a shade of blue before turning back to his natural brown colour. Gold ducked down so Bella could place the clothing around his neck and stood up straighter when it was in place.

"Okay," Bella whispered smiling. 

"Here we go," Gold said. 

Whilst still holding onto Belle's hand, he turned and face the town line before slowly passing across it. Belle held her breath, hoping that the potion had worked and his memory was still there. Gold stood frozen for a few seconds hoping too that it had worked, and when he realised his memory was intact, he turned around and faced his love who was standing at the other side of the town line.

"Belle," he pointed at Belle with a smile on his face and Belle laughed out of relief. 

"It worked," Bella said stepping closer to the town line and grabbing his hands. "now you can find your son,"