Soul Of The Matter

Megvalto watches Rawi, fluttering between dozens of different forms. Emma freezes, seeing Henry in the hospital bed, not moving. Her lion dæmon turns his head, eyes wide watching Whale shake his head. Jahat is shivering in Regina's shoulder, unable to move his eyes away. Emma drops next to Henry, leaning over him. 'I love you, Henry.' She whispers, kissing his forehead.

Something pulses out, causing Megvalto to jump back, crouching down. Jahat has moved down Regina's arm, trying to get closer to their son.

'I love you too.' Henry whispers and Megvalto is up, nuzzling against Rawi as quick as possible. 'You saved me.'

Emma nods once, looking down at her dæmon. The two of them plough into each other, wrapping themselves around their other half. They are half aware of Regina and Mother Superior discussing something but they don't care. Henry is fine.

It doesn't take long for him to be dragging Emma out of the hospital, Rawi a cat on Megvalto's head. The lion bounds along, wondering what could have excited Henry so much.

Then he spots Salju and Baharu, with David and Mary Margaret. They both turn, running towards Megvalto and wrapping around him.

He has parents.

Rawi flies over to Henry, Shifting to land as a wildcat. Her boy scowls at the form, so like Pan's, so she changes again, a lizard just like Jahat. She shudders slightly, shifting into a lion cub but can't make her mind up, shifting between the few. Eventually, she decides on a mix between the two, a lion cub with scales and fangs.

'See? If we left here, I wouldn't be able to do that.'

Henry raised an eyebrow. 'We'll never see our family again but at least you get to change forms.'

Rawi frowns, scales fading from her skin. 'C'mon Henry...it's not like our life was that good.'

'Actually, it was.' Henry said, standing up. Rawi yowls, jumping up to rest on his shoulder as a dove. 'Until Pan and his lackeys turned up. Why trust someone who ruined our happiness?'

Rawi ruffled her wings indignantly. 'People make bad decisions and you always say they need forgiveness.'

Henry walked into the bushes, away from the shouts of the Lost Boys. 'Why are you defending him? Why does he get your belief?'

Rawi shrugs, flying off his shoulder. 'No ones come to get us yet. Maybe no one will.'

Salju flies through the wood, Snow running just under her. The dove and his human are fleeing, again, from Regina's knights, having stolen food for the local villages. She had allowed the knights to see her, so no one would be forced to turn her in or killed for her. Salju had visited some of the children of the village while Snow spoke with their parents. The dove had enjoyed speaking to all their small, shifting dæmons, reassuring them that Regina's reign would not last forever.

Salju turns mid-flight, landing facing backwards in Snow's shoulder. They have left the knights behind, and the princess' dæmon chirps sweetly. 'Gone. Regina will be angry but she won't send anymore after us.'

Snow frowns as Salju turns, facing the same way as her. 'Do you think she'll go after the village?'

'No.' Salju states, glaring slightly at Snow for thinking that. 'I think she'll be angry but she won't waste knights or magic on a village that didn't really do anything against her.'

Snow nods, coming to the forest road. She turns her head, looking down to see a carriage approaching, surrounded by knights.

'Bet we'd get something off them.'

Salju chirps.

Baharu watches as Megvalto and Emma run away from her, tilting her head slightly. She, like every other dæmon in Storybrooke, has been told of Rawi's theories of fairytale characters but, unlike other dæmons, the lioness was actually interested in what Henry had to say. Having no memories makes you more eager to make new ones.

'I wonder why I settled like this.' Baharu mutters, looking up at David. He is staring, unblinking across at Mary Margaret. The lioness rolls her eyes, sighing when she spots Salju watching her. 'David!'

'Hm, what?' He blinks rapidly, looking down at her. 'Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts.'

Baharu's tail begins to swish, showing her annoyance. 'More like lost in the schoolteacher's eyes.'

David glares, nudging his dæmon with his foot. 'Shut up. I'm a married man.'

The two of them begin to move, heading back to their house. Kathryn is out today, so they don't have to worry about awkward silences and held glances.

'Married man, yeah right.' Baharu snorts as they open the door. 'You don't love her and I don't love him.'

'I know, what are we going to do.'

Baharu blinks, thinking of a dove. 'I don't know.'

Jahat looks down at Rawi, curled up on her six year old's bed. Regina bend to place a kiss to Henry's head, walking out of the house and heading towards the diner. Graham nods at her, having 'agreed' to watch Henry. Jahat, like everyone else, ignores Graham's lack of dæmon, knowing that Mencari belongs to her now and is hidden beneath her crypt.

The lizard rests on Regina's shoulder as the former queen goes through the motions, heading to Granny's, ordering her usual and sitting down in the corner. No one will bother her, except perhaps Sidney or Archie but she is certain the two both have work tonight.

'Was this a good idea?' Jahat mutters as Regina begins to eat her pie. 'The curse?'

'Why wouldn't it be?' Regina smirks, glancing around at the rest of the diner. 'They're all miserable and we have a son.'

The lizard rolls his eyes. 'Yes, but what about the 'saviour'. What if she turns up?'

They both turn as Mary Margaret walks into the diner, eyes rimmed with red and shoulder slightly wet. She sits down at the far table, burying her face in her hands.

Regina smirks. 'It's worth the risk.'

Membari watches Jahat on Regina's shoulder, waiting for some clue that the Queen is lying. But, as the lizard stays still, giving no indication of trickery, the snake begins to fold in on herself. Rumplestiltskin waits for Regina to disappear before collapsing on the ground, heads cradling his hand. Membari slithers across the table, slowly stretching towards her man.

'Rumple?' She mutters, trying to rouse her man from his silence. 'Rumple, what do we do?'

'No magic can reverse death, dearie.' He says, speaking into his hands. 'They're gone. Belle and Fosi are gone.'

The news finally hits the snake and she cries out, whipping into Rumple's arms. The Dark One grabs hold of her, gripping her tight enough to hurt. Membari wonders, if anyone were to walk in, what Rumple would do? She doubts he could stop crying in time. She supposes he'd just kill them and she'd make up an excuse for...no one. She doesn't have to explain herself to the butterfly anymore.

Rumple stands, letting her wrap around his hand. He takes the cup, resting on the table, and places it down on the mantle piece.

Belle is gone and they only have a chipped cup.

Mencari looks up at the ceiling, whining slightly. The other dæmons, all huddled together towards the back, ignore her, each with cold eyes and blank faces. Their humans have long since passed away, only Mencari still having an actual human to be bound to. The rest just have their hearts, beating away in boxes.

A jolt goes through the wolf's heart and she stumbles, knocking into a rabbit. The other dæmon just hops away while Mencari looks up, knowing something has happened to her Huntsman.

She closes her eyes slightly, concentrating. Dæmons are made of Dust, she was told long ago and she can use that to find her man. She jumps, hitting the ceiling and breaking into a thousand pieces. The Dust travels through every in the floor, heading upwards. As it emerges, it begins to reform, although much slower than it broke apart. When Mencari reforms, she sees Regina walking into the crypt.

Mencari runs, following her bond to Graham, wanting another wolf to appear and show her the way. She reaches the station, bursting through the doors.

Her nose brushes Graham's hand as she feels another jolt. Graham strokes her head once before falling. Mencari disappears again.

'No, no, no.' Kayu mutters, jumping around the room and trying to find a way to help her man. Well, half a man. August is turning back into wood, turning back into the tree the were carved from. The squirrel is dimming, fading slowly from view but is lasting longer than he is. 'No, Nocchio, don't.'

August smiles but winces at the wood continues to spread up his left arm. His right is still free so he has managed to text Emma and say sorry. He doubts she'll wonder where he's gone. 'It'll be Kayu. Emma will break the curse.'

'Emma can't even see properly. Emma doesn't believe.' Kayu cries, jumping onto August's chest. 'How can she fix what she doesn't think is broken?'

August shrugs his good arm, crying out as the fingers begin to change. 'I don't know. But Henry will come through.'

He hears noise downstairs just as the wood starts reaching his face and Kayu disappears completely. He cries out, trying to touch his dæmon but he cannot control his limbs.

'August!'

He looks up, spotting Emma in the doorway. She believes, he can tell. Pinocchio smiles. The curse will break.

But he won't see it.

Fotia shuffles closer to Baelfire, the two of them trying to get warmth from one another. They have just got out of Neverland and are stuck in a place with tall, stretching buildings, made of glass and metal. At least London bore some resemblance to cities in the Enchanted Forest. Of course, London had the Darlings as well, which made it a much nicer place.

A passerby drops a coin at Bae's feet and the orphan looks up and smiles. The man doesn't look back, intent on keeping out of the rain. Bae realises he probably didn't realise that the coin fell from his pocket. Fotia shrugs, the raccoon dashing forward to grab the money before it is taken from them.

'We need a new name.' Fotia mutters, crawling closer to Baelfire. 'None of the Lost Boys had names like ours.'

Bae nods, gathering the raccoon into his arms. 'What name? I don't know any from this world.'

'What was the newest Boy called?' Fotia asks, watching the street.

'Which one? Cassidy or Neal?'

'Both.' The raccoon smiles. 'Nice to meet you, Neal Cassidy.'

Bae laughs. 'Come on Fo, let's go steal something.'

Neal and his dæmon run off, laughing.

Ploia walks along the ship, pulling on the ropes with her teeth. The crocodile makes sure the Jolly Roger is sailing properly before joining Killian at the helm. The pirate looks down at her, smiling slightly.

'Alright?' He mutters, making the ship turn slightly to catch the wind right.

'We need a new crew.' She scowls. 'I can't control the ship by myself much longer.'

Killian nods, looking down at the wood. He sighs slightly, tilting his head backwards, towards Storybrooke. 'Did we make the right choice?'

Ploia looks up at him, eyes heavy. 'What do you think?'

His eyes scan the ship, to the place where Stiltskin beat him bloody, to the place Bae threatened him with his own sword and to the place where Milah died in his arms. He looks to where Cora stood, where Emma walked on and where Belle entered below deck. Ploia moves closer to him, watching the place where Rawi ran on the ship, mimicking her for a second before flying off with her human to play. The crocodile nudges her man, waiting for an answer.

'No.' Hook mutters, grabbing hold of the helm and twisting quickly. 'We definitely made the wrong choice.'