Chapter Text
For the umpteenth time that day Emma didn't believe this was actually happening to her.
She was the last person in the world who would have believed all this was real!
But here she was, following a complete stranger who, for all she knew, might have been completely crazy.
And of course he was!
Anyone who believed in things like flying ships, magic beans and characters from fairy tales hanging around the city had to be crazy!
But if August was crazy then she was too, Emma noted with a sigh.
"I owned a magic bean once" the man started as they moved through the crowded streets.
"What do you mean? Don't you have it anymore?"
August smirked.
"I was in need of help and..." he paused suddenly becoming serious.
"I traded it to a powerful sorcerer in exchange for curing a few health problems I had at the time"
Emma frowned.
"Couldn't have you find a hospital? Magic beans are quite uncommon"
August looked away from her.
"Well, they are. You see, I'm Pinocchio, and not long ago I found my whole body turning back into wood. I don't think anyone could have helped me here" he looked almost shy telling her that.
"Yep, seems like a big issue" Emma said already feeling her last glimpse of sanity leaving her body.
"Oh it sure was" August replied trough gritted teeth.
"Who is this mysterious sorcerer anyway? Maybe if we explain the situation to him..." August burst out laughing.
"Explain what to him? That's hilarious!"
Emma frowned at which August regained his composure.
"You see Emma... he isn't a Merlin's kind of sorcerer, he is evil. He practices dark magic, the darkest of all! Believe me when I tell you, it's best to mention him as little as possible"
A dark sorcerer? Emma quickly searched inside her memory. Could he have been...
"Rumplestiltskin?" At that name August froze.
"Are you talking about Rumplestiltskin? I remember reading about him in Henry's book. He's the Dark One, isn't he?"
"Quiet!" August snapped.
He looked terrified.
If Emma remembered correctly, people from the Enchanted Forest were afraid of Rumplestiltskin and they avoided even speaking his name out loud.
"Oh come on! You aren't seriously expecting the dark one to appear here and now..."
At that point August jumped on her and covered her mouth.
Emma was taken aback for a moment and seriously considered punching him in the gut but August looked genuinely scared.
She cautiously freed herself from his grip.
"Okay okay, I won't speak his name anymore if that's what you want" she reassured him.
"Thank you" August closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
They walked in silence until they stopped in front of a building.
"His shop is here or maybe it was here... I don't know his current whereabouts" August said thoughtful.
"Are you telling me that the actual dark one lives in this city?" Emma asked incredulous.
August nodded.
"What we need to do now is go inside his shop and look around for the bean"
Emma widened her eyes.
"Are you insane? You're asking me to break into someone's shop!"
August smirked.
"Well I thought you were used to it"
Emma really wanted to slap him this time.
""It was a long time ago and I was young back then" she said through gritted teeth.
She didn't particularly enjoy remembering her past mistakes and what they had cost her.
"The important thing is that you know how to do it. Do I need to remind you that your son's life is at stake?"
Emma was abruptly returned to the present.
August might have been crazy but he was right. She would have done anything for Henry even breaking the law.
But if she could have avoided ending up in jail for the second time...
"Isn't there any other way to reach Neverland?" she asked hopefully.
August shook his head.
"Fantastic"
Emma walked up to the door, she didn't really want to break in and just tried to open it.
Much to her surprise and relief it actually opened.
Someone was in there then...
She looked back at August who gave her a confused look in response.
Without thinking about it too much she walked in and closed the door behind her.
"Hello?" she asked.
The shop was in dim light and full of pretty much any old thing Emma could think of.
It looked like Rumplestiltskin was a meticulous collector.
Emma walked up to the counter but no one was behind it.
"Hello? Is anyone here?"
Silence.
Either Rumplestiltskin was playing hide and seek or she was about to get jumped by some weirdo hidden behind the old shelves.
Emma started looking around for the magic bean.
After a while she started thinking that maybe August really was crazy, that was just some common pawn shop not some evil wizard's secret lair or anything...
"May I help you?" Emma jumped in surprise.
A man in suit and tie had appeared from nowhere and was looking at her from behind the counter.
He was regarding her with curiosity.
"Ah uhm hello" she stuttered but quickly regained her composure.
"Are you Rumplestiltskin?" she was expecting the man to start laughing and then call 911 on her but he just raised an eyebrow.
"It depends on whom is searching for him" he said.
Emma couldn't believe her own ears.
"I'm searching for him" she said walking closer to him. "Are you Rumplestiltskin?"
His smile gave her all the answers she needed.
"You look different" she muttered scanning him suspiciously.
"I remember you being more..." she didn't know how to put it. "Green" she said.
Rumplestiltskin frowned.
"Have you come here just to tell me that?" he asked.
"Uh no... no!" she said questioning her own sanity once more that day.
"I need the magic bean August gave you" she said.
The man eyed her suspiciously.
"The magic bean? And for what purpose?" he asked.
Emma didn't really want to open her heart to someone like Rumplestiltskin.
"Not your business" she said.
He chuckled.
"I'm afraid it is my business since it's my bean we are talking about" he said.
Emma couldn't retort.
"Well, I need it because..." she took a deep breath.
"My son was abducted by..." she paused. "Some guy and I need to save him and bring him back home"
Rumplestiltskin looked more interested and Emma decided to see it as a good sign.
"He brought him on Neverland and I can't reach that place without your magic bean, please" she tried to remember anything she knew about Rumplestiltskin.
"I would do anything" she said.
It was dangerous, she knew it but what was she supposed to do?
The sorcerer studied her for a while then said.
"I'll give you the magic bean but..." Emma braced herself for what was about to come.
"You'll have to help me when I'll ask you to" he said.
Emma frowned.
"Help you with what?"
Rumplestiltskin smirked.
"I'll tell you when the time comes, do we have a deal?"
Emma wasn't sure she should have trusted Rumplestiltskin but what other choices did she have?
"Deal" she said shaking his hand.
"Good" he smiled.
As she exited the shop August came greeting her.
"Hey Emma! Did you take the bean?"
She showed it to him.
"Here, take this thing and bring me to my son please" she shoved the thing in his hand.
August smiled and nodded.
"Of course" they went by a little garden at the back of Rumplestiltskin's shop and Emma watched in astonishment as a weird green vortex opened on the ground in front of them.
"After you" August said.
Emma looked at the thing for a moment, way too many thoughts were spinning around inside her brain, but as the image of Henry being carried away resurfaced from them, she closed her eyes and jumped.